You'll shoot your eye out!....

Random Thoughts;
The iPhone is one of man’s greatest inventions! Right up there with the internal combustion engine and the pyramids!
MOJO is the best music magazine in print today.
A RANDOM SELECTION OF STUFF I’M THANKFUL FOR: (My Wife, Family & Friends are beyond this category!)My Bible, My #1 Fender Stratocaster, Obrien amps, My Grind Fuzz pedal, My Tube Screamer, Wah Wah pedals, Buddy Guy, iPods, Nashville, John Wayne, The MF Mafia, Jimi Hendrix, Ernie Ball Strings, Xbox 360, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Converse Chuck Taylors, Andy Griffith, Ford vans and trucks, B.B. King, Rumi, Dunlop picks and every pedal they make, Johnny “Guitar” Watson, Chicago, Elvis, Bugs Bunny, Prince, Gas station ribs from Jackson MS., Sinatra Live at the Sands, Fried Okra, Aretha Franklin, Football, Album liner notes, Austin TX, Miles Davis, Junior Wells, True Grit by Charles Portis, Catfish, Sponge Bob Square Pants, Independent record stores, Bob Marley, Vincent Van Gough, Chipotle, Minneapolis, Jerry Lee Lewis Live at the Star Club, Earl Hooker, John Coltrane, Timberland boots, PEZ candy, Muhammed Ali, Socks, Starbucks, Mahatma Gandhi, Canada, the Blues, Pandora radio, Sirius radio, Buffy’s Macaroni & Cheese, Carlos Santana, iPhones, The Sex Pistols, Freddie King, Guitar Player magazine, Albert King, Garlic, Paul Reed Smith guitars, Pee Wee Herman, Sweet Potato Pie, Frank’s Red Hot hot sauce, Thai Food, Sushi, Dr. Mambo’s Combo, Fried Turkey, AC/DC, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Donny Hathaway, Mozart, All Music Guide, P-Funk, Stockhausen, Peanut Butter, Jalapeno Cheddar Corn Muffins, My Peavey HP Special guitar, Rolling Stone Magazine, Grosh pickups, Smith & Wesson .357’s, Frank Sinatra, Mad Anthony’s XXX Private Reserve hot sauce, Jeff Beck, Michigan J. Frog, Jerry Lee Lewis, Led Zeppelin, Floyd Rose Tremolo systems, Eric Clapton, Blue Diamond Wasabi & Soy Almonds, Van Halen, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Dilbert, Star Wars, Bone Fish’s Bang Bang Shrimp, Fuji apples, Wired magazine, AquaFina water, Pro-Tools, iTunes, Yellow Labs, My Leather Jacket, Italian Food, Bernie Mac, Al Green, Memphis, Beale Street, Ghirardelli Chocolate, Sonny Sharrock, Eminence Speakers, James Burton, T-Bone Walker, Mitch Mitchell, Marvin the Martian, Black Duct Tape, Mexican Food, Krazy Glue, WD-40, Robben Ford, Ted Greene, The Three Stooges, Peter Green, Little Walter, Cheese Burgers, Woodstock, Road Food (the book), Annie Lennox, James Brown, The Clash, Robert Nighthawk, Electric Lady Studios, the Bacon app for iPhone, BIG TV’s, HD TV, DVR, Las Vegas, Tattoos, John Lee Hooker, Motorhead, LARA bars, Zen Guitar, Nitrocellulose lacquer, Fender guitars, Living Colour, Peach Cobbler, Tabasco, Ruger firearms, Peace, Go-Jo hand cleaner, GPS, Wi-Fi, John Bonham, I-65, Hank Williams, Jim Marshall, You Tube, Nag Champa, Bob Dylan, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Snoopy, dirt roads, kudzu, IMAX movies, 3D, Soul, Harmony, Love.
A public thank-you to my MF brothers for an awesome Christmas gift!! You guys rock!!
As always a HUGE thank you to my wife…for putting up with me and making every Christmas the best Christmas yet!!

What's for dinner Grandpa?

So recently my wife gave me a great idea (most of my great ideas come from her…and the rest are inspired by her!) to start writing about some of the places we eat at on the road. When you travel, food is one of the most important aspects of your journey, (because without it, you would eventually die.) Okay, gas and guitar strings are also very important, but this blog is about food. Obviously Starbucks is a big part of our rolling diet, but we also tend to seek out BBQ joints, funky local places, Chipotle or Red Robin for lunch. I am a big fan of BBQ and the band will usually indulge me unless we’ve had BBQ four or five days in a row, in which case I can usually smell the mutiny over the smoked sweat smell! When I was with Buddy, BBQ was a ritual, especially in Texas. We did the Iron Works, Stubb’s, County Line or Sam’s in Austin, we did Virgil’s in NYC, as well as a bunch of places that are gone or that I just can’t remember now! That’s where I learned the difference between good BBQ and bad BBQ. My BBQ policy is simple; no chains, no b******t! I do make an occasional exception to the chain rule, but only if the chain is consistent. I eat at Whole Hog in Little Rock AR and Dreamland in Birmingham, but the original Dreamland in Tuscaloosa has let me down a couple of times, so now we go to Archibald’s in Tuscaloosa (the original location). I will not eat at Tony Roma’s, etc. In the past few months we’ve eaten at some crazy good places (and had some crazy great food!) Like Takashi Sushi in Salt Lake City UT, Central BBQ in Memphis TN, Snappy Lunch in Mt Airy NC where we had the pork chop sandwich to end all pork chop sandwiches, or Exxon Gas Station BBQ pork ribs in Jackson MS (thanks KMFP), Blues City Café in Memphis for catfish and tamales, Stage Deli in NYC for the GIANT (and expensive) Rueben, Leatha’s BBQ in Hattiesburg MS. The best resource I’ve found for food on the road is a book called Roadfood by Jane and Michael Stern. This book has yet to let us down. We’ve found killer Mexican food in Denver, Lobster Rolls in Maine, Breakfast in Louisville, Hot Dogs in Portland OR and the list goes on and on.
Today, we are in St Louis and we had to go to Goody Goody Diner www.goodygoodydiner.com I had the BBQ Burger with slaw, fries and a side of chili - $10.00 (diet’s going great, thanks for asking!) This place is the bomb! In business since 1948, they do all the old style diner food you would expect. Burgers, Breakfast stuff, they even do chicken and waffles (don’t knock it until you try it!) Their hours, during the week, are 6:00 am – 2:00 pm. We got there at 1:45 pm and the place was packed! The hostess seated us and she even liked my Chuck Taylors! (How ‘bout that Kempf!) The chili was great, spicy and meaty (oyster crackers and Tabasco on the side!). The burger was exactly what you want from something called the BBQ Slaw Burger, it was a delicious mess (4 napkins!)! They’ve had everyone from Al Gore to Cedric the Entertainer as guests and I can guarantee I’ll be back. Next time I’m getting the fried chicken though, because it looked awesome!
As for Chipotle www.chipotle.com it’s a burrito restaurant chain from Denver CO. I discovered them a couple of years ago and when Tyler was in the band, we we’re eating there at least 3 or 4 times a week! For one thing, the food is great, fresh and mostly organically raised fresh guacamole, salsa and chips. For another thing, when you’re on a budget (who’s not on a budget these days, but if you are a musician, it’s a given that you are on a BUDGET!), a huge burrito fills you up for the whole day, so you don’t have to spend all your money on food (especially when you’re in Denver and you need to go to Twist and Shout www.twistandshout.com an amazing independent record store!)! We’ve eaten at the original a couple of times on 1600 East Evans (got the t-shirt too!!) Chipotle is always good. My favorite stuff is either the Carnitas Burrito or the Barbacoa Burrito, chips with the guacamole and the hot salsa and then douse the whole thing in Chipotle Tabasco! $10.00 - $12.00 for that and a drink and you’re good to go.

Possums and the Stimulus Package

Sometimes I get asked about what it’s like to live in Nashville, here’s a snapshot of an average day; Buff and I are running errands on Sunday. We stop at Best Buy to pick up a new hard drive and as I’m stopped in the parking lot, waiting on a car to back out of an extremely good spot (near the door, first row, you know the kind of spot you find and it just makes you want to stay all day!), a SUV is crowding behind me, trying to pass me on the INSIDE! In other words, between me and the space I’m waiting to turn into. I look in the rearview and it’s an older guy. I give him the ‘look’ and speak to him like you do when you’re driving, as though he can hear me, and I tell Buff, “That old guy’s trying to run over us! He looks like George Jones.” We get parked, get out and start to make our way to the front door. The SUV is now almost on the sidewalk right in front of the store!! (better spot than I got) Buff looks at the driver and says, “It is George Jones!” tag on the car was NOSHOW4!! If you have to get run over, it might as well be by a legend I always say. Just another day in Nashville.

Obama legalizes Facebook!

I like Kat Williams. I miss Bernie Mac. I despise negativity. I think that most of us focus too much on stuff. I think that the Great Depression was much worse than what we’ll ever go through. I think that music is powerful and underappreciated as an art form by the American culture at large. Stratocasters will always be the sexiest guitars in the world. One of my favorite sayings from my grandmother; “Can’t never could do nothing!” I hate quitters. I hate racism and I feel sorry for people who suffer from the rampant ignorance that fosters it. I love God. I love America. I love my family. I love music. I love my friends. I think dogs are important. I think we worry too much about getting “screwed” and it blocks us from being true bearers of light. I think Ricky Nelson is underrated. There is no “greatest guitarist in the world” …but Jimi Hendrix is!!! I think it’s ok to say “I love you” to people that you love. I think it’s important to be still. I think Michael Jackson is musically brilliant. In addition, I think that sometimes crazy and talent goes hand in hand. Our generation still hasn’t figured out how rock and roll is supposed to age. Robert Johnson would be freaked out by his success. Additionally, his lawyers would be filthy rich!! John Grisham could well prove to be our generation’s Ernest Hemingway. Cormac McCarthy should be our Hemingway. I wish rehab as we know it now, had existed during Elvis’ lifetime. My top five favorite concerts ever:
1. Elvis Presley at MTSU’s Murphy Center / Murfreesboro TN
2. Buddy Guy and Junior Wells at The London Victory Club / Tampa FL
3. Prince at Thompson Bowling Arena / Knoxville TN
4. P-Funk at 328 Performance Hall / Nashville TN
5. Miles Davis at The North Sea Jazz Festival / The Hague, Holland

My favorite guitar is sunburst. My second favorite is white. I love to feel. My wife is the sexiest woman in the world. If I could spend an hour talking to anyone, living or dead, I think it would be John Wayne. If I could arm wrestle anyone, it would be Eddie Van Halen. I’d like to play miniature golf with Jimi Hendrix. My top five events to witness if I had a time machine:
1. The Sermon on the Mount
2. The recording of That’s Alright Mama
3. A play written and directed by William Shakespeare
4. The opening night of Don Giovanni conducted by Mozart
5. Ringside for Ali – Foreman in Kinshasa
If there is a better film, top to bottom, than True Grit, I’ve never seen it! My wife is a brilliant artist, even if she doesn’t know it yet. God has blessed me with amazing friends in spite of myself! I’d rather be respected than liked. Most of my dreams are in some way related to my work. All of my dreams are in colour. I believe that the body we have is just a vessel to hold the light/soul that is actually us and that when we die we’re released from the body and able to travel on the eternal plane. I hope the last thing I do on this earth is significant. I also hope that it happens in Vegas!!!!!!

Death from Above!

Just something for us to ponder while the glow of a new administration takes charge. There are still horrifying events taking place in the world daily. As a case in point, I reprint this excerpt from a newspaper in Hudson County NJ;

Flaming squirrel ignites car in Bayonne
by N. Clark Judd
Thursday October 18, 2007, 7:29 PM
It's Rocky the Frying Squirrel!
A kamikaze squirrel fell from the sky and detonated a Bayonne woman's car yesterday, police said today.
Lindsey Millar, 23, and her brother, Tony, 22, were both home Wednesday at about 12:45 p.m. when Lindsey's car suddenly started burning outside their 42nd Street home.
Tony Millar said firefighters told them it was the work of a buck-toothed saboteur that had been gnawing on overhead power lines connected to a transformer directly above the 2006 Toyota Camry.
"The squirrel chewed through the wire, was set on fire, fell down directly to where the car was," Tony Millar said. "The squirrel, on fire, slid into the engine compartment and blew up the car."They're always coming around here, chewing through the garbage," he added.
Tony Millar says his sister was fully insured.

Mr. President, I ask you, when will America’s skies be free from the tyranny of these dreaded flaming beasts of prey? At least she was fully insured!

Joe Biden's Ab-Blaster Workout!

Writing a blog can be difficult sometimes. So here I sit with …keyboard in hand… and prepare to write “mon blog”. That’s French. I like the French. Is it un-American to say we like the French? I hope not! I mean I know when we were trying to get countries to side with us for the war, the French said, “Non! Nous n'allons pas vous suivre dans cette abîme de l'avarice et de fausses promesses, ce qui ne aboutir à vous de trouver votre poursuite de votre queue!”. So we said, “Fine we’ll change the name of french fries to ‘Freedom Fries’ that’ll show you!” I don’t know…I am 100% American. I get choked up when I hear (or play) The Star Spangled Banner. I love to see the American flag, blowing in the wind. I believe in our troops and know that they deserve our complete support and gratitude for the unimaginable sacrifice they’re making. I know in my heart that this is, for better or worse, the greatest country in the world. As I’ve grown older, (shudder…I mean more mature…shudder… I mean more evolved!) I realize that all human beings tend to gravitate towards their “zone” or tribe. My tribe has a flag of red, white & blue. Your tribe might have a flag of…orange! (I don’t know, I tried to choose a completely neutral color.) I believe in the good of people. I believe in humanity. I believe that, at the end of the day, languages and cultures aside, we are all first and foremost human beings. We share a genetic code. We are all the same. To all you racists and ‘white supremacists’ out there…sleep tight! I doubt very seriously if very many white supremacists read my blog. I hope they don’t. I think white supremacists can go f**k themselves. I like to think that only intelligent people read this blog. I think that humans genuinely want to do good to one another, but we are at war against …that thing…dare I call it Satan? Or maybe, as Prince referred to it the De-Elevator…or as Lincoln referred to it the lesser angels of our nature. Actually, that’s a misquote. What Lincoln actually said was “the better angels of our nature…”. He was referring to the good in all of us. Lincoln is my favorite president. He managed our country through, arguably, it’s most difficult time. Yes, we’ve had many wars and poverty and injustice, but during Lincoln’s presidency, we were at war with ourselves. That’s beyond what you and I know. Unless, of course, you’re over 240 years old. We know partisanship…or ideological differences, but during Lincoln’s time they knew war, brother on brother war, daddy on son war, ‘burn your neighbor’s house down’ war. My grandparents knew the Depression and WW II, my parents knew poverty and civil rights, I’ve been blessed to know ‘paycheck to paycheck’ and ‘threat levels’, maybe the next generation (including my daughter) will just know ‘minor, temporary cash flow’ and ‘the President’s tie doesn’t match his socks!’. Things do get better. I believe that. I believe that, as Buffy and my dearest friends have a saying, “Life Is Good”. I believe that. I believe that the world we live in can be as good as we can imagine. It can be as good as we are to one another. Or at least as good as we can be to one another. Most of our (when I say ‘our’ I’m referring to all humans) posturing comes from fear. Fear of being taken advantage of, or tricked, or gotten the better of…it’s all the same, don’t fool me because it reminds me that I’m vulnerable. We’re all vulnerable. We all hurt, we’re all scared, we’re all insecure, we all think too much, worry too much, plan too much. All the negative aspects of our nature can be traced back to fear. Greed = the fear of someone having more than you. Hate = the fear that someone might be ‘better’ than you. Etc. None of us are perfect, and it’s a good thing because the only perfect person I ever read about was executed for it! We all just try and through our trying we, maybe, gain understanding and, with understanding comes love and love do make the world go ‘round! Does this sound like “hippie-sh*t”? Cause if it does, I don’t really care. I ain’t scared to love. We’ve got a young man in our crew that often says ‘I love you.’ He says it as a way of diffusing a situation or just filling the air sometimes, but he means it and it reminds me to say it more and mean it always. Love’s not bad, telling people you love them ain’t bad, it doesn’t make you weak or sissy, it’s what we need in these times. More love. Trying to write a blog is hard! I’ve sat here for thirty minutes and I can’t think of a thing to say! Oh well, maybe tomorrow!

Home

Well we got 2008 started right with 2 weeks of gigs that took us from KC to Vegas and back through Mississippi. The last 2 days of the tour, we were the guests of SHB family member Kempf Poole and his family. This is an amazing family! They opened their home to me and the guys as well as to my Uncle Wayne (the legendary Uncle Wayne!) and Bobby Inman. When I say they opened their home to us, I mean they made us feel absolutely warm and welcome. Kempf's wife Sandra is an incredible cook and, for a guitar player that usually eats about one meal a day on the road, it was like a weekend of Thanksgiving dinners every 3 hours! Not only were we served a multi-course breakfast and an amazing dinner that even had Richard loving cheese grits for the first time in his life, but Kempf also had to hip me to some ribs from a local joint that are now in my top 5 (pending a thorough and stringent consistency test). On top of all of that, we played two nights at Schimmels, the best restaurant in Jackson. The owner Jay, a truly class act, made the best shrimp and grits I've had and the bread pudding was to good to even talk about (I'm drooling on the keyboard as I type this!) All this and sweet potato pie lets me know that trips to Jackson will have to be limited to once a year or else I'll be buying all my clothes in the real fat guitar player section of Sears!
The show Saturday night at the Subway Lounge as awesome! We had a lot of fun and I hope the audience did too. One thing I need to address, for those in attendance, was a derogatory comment I made about Kenny Chesney. Often times when I'm onstage, I'll say something completely outrageous just to get a laugh from the audience. I mean no harm when I say these things, it's just jokes...however...I meant what I said about Kenny Chesney. I do not like him Sam I am! I will not like him on a train, I will not like him on a plane. I do not like the way he sings, I do not like him...anything! Listen to Jimmy Buffet, he first and better! Listen to George Jones, he's way better! Listen to a dentist's drill, it's better! My favorite Kenny Chesney CD is any one that's still in the wrapper, That way it can't hurt anyone! If Satan has a jukebox, I bet it's full of Kenny Chesney. Not that Satan likes him either, it's just good to torture souls with! I shouldn't be so hard on really short people, but as my daughter used to say, "me no yiking him!" I actually hope that Kenny makes tons of money this year...and retires to an island far away. Like maybe where Lost is supposed to take place! Not Hawaii, where they actually film, but somewhere in Micronesia where he can play his ukulele in peace and torment only the cannibals that inhabit the island! Sure, someday I might change my mind and learn to like him, then again, I might learn to like skin rashes and the sound of fingernails on chalkboards.

I Like Peaches, Chinese Food, Elvis & Bruce Lee

The peach is the greatest of all fruits. It’s sweet. It’s a little fuzzy, but when you peel it, it’s very juicy. In fact, it’s such a great fruit, that they don’t even call the juice "juice". They call it nectar! As in “the nectar of the gods”! Peach cobbler or fried peach pies are 2 of my favorite desserts. They are the kind of desserts that I’m sure they serve in Heaven. The peach tree is native to China, dating back to the 10th century BC. The modern belief is that the Chinese introduced peaches to the rest of the world, starting in the Middle East. I like Chinese food a lot too. My favorite is General Tso’s Chicken. This is, of course, named after Zuǒ Zōngtáng, a gifted Chinese military leader born in Wenjialong, north of Changsha in Hunan province, during the waning of the Qing Dynasty. He served with brilliant distinction during China's most important (and the worlds largest) civil war, the 14-year-long Taiping Rebellion, in which at least 30 million people lost their lives. The Tso in General Tso is sometimes misspelled "Cho" in English, probably due to influence from Cantonese. The correct pronunciation of the name in Mandarin is [tsuɔ tsʊŋtʰɑŋ]. There aren’t any really good Chinese restaurants in Nashville. P.F. Chang’s is not a good Chinese restaurant. It’s a good restaurant, but it has as much to do with Chinese food as McDonald’s McRib sandwich has to do with BBQ. I wish there were, because I would eat at them a lot! I think that Chinese food may be one of my favorite types of food. China is hosting the 2008 Olympic Games. They should give every athlete who competes in the Olympics a small box of peaches so that they will remember that the Chinese introduced the peach to the world. I don’t think the Chinese are so insecure that they feel the need to keep reminding us of their contributions, just like George Washington Carver didn’t go around bragging about his contributions to agricultural extension education, or his work with the peanut, for that matter. Peanuts are another amazing food. I really like them when they’re made into peanut butter. Much like you would find on a peanut butter and banana sandwich. I love peanut butter and banana sandwiches, especially when they are fried! What an amazing taste experience! They aren’t very good for you, but they taste good. Elvis Presley also loved fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches. I don’t know if he actually ate them all the time, because there’s been so much speculation about Elvis’ private life that I’m sure many stories are now blown up to legendary proportions. There is photographic evidence that Elvis struggled with is weight at times. This could be a result of unhealthy food like fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches or it could be poor exercise habits, or even some sort of medical condition that caused unusual weight gain. He sure could sing though! He’s one of my favorites. He also knew Karate, which of course is a martial art that developed from a synthesis of indigenous Ryukyuan fighting methods, Chinese kempo and concepts from classical Japanese martial arts. "Karate" originally meant Chinese hand, but was later changed to a homonym meaning "empty hand" in Japanese. It is known primarily as a striking art, featuring punching, kicking, knee/elbow strikes and open handed techniques. However, grappling, joint manipulations, locks, restraints/traps, throws and vital point striking also appear in karate. This is not to be confused with Jeet Kune Do (Chinese: 截拳道 Cantonese: Jitkyùndou Pinyin: Jiéquándào, lit. "Way of the Intercepting Fist"), also Jeet Kun Do or JKD, is a martial arts system developed by martial artist and actor Bruce Lee. I like Bruce Lee a lot. My favorite movie of his is ENTER THE DRAGON from 1973. Elvis was 38 in 1973. Peaches would be about 11,973 years old at that point.

Lists and Lists

The new Prince record rocks. Currently I’m reading a book about pirates. Pirates are cool. The “Pig Out Inn” http://pigoutinn.com in Natchez MS, is in the top 5 of all-time for my personal experience with BBQ.

TOP 5 BBQ SPOTS:
1. Iron Works - http://www.ironworksbbq.com/ in Austin TX
2. Sam’s BBQ – 2000 E 12th St. / Austin TX / (512) 478 – 0378
3. Brickyard BBQ - http://www.brickyardbbq.com/
4. Pig Out Inn - http://pigoutinn.com
5. Mark Holt / Carl Counce – Lawrenceburg TN

It still wasn’t enough to make me forget that I missed Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Hubert Sumlin and Buddy Guy in Chicago this weekend! At least Chuck was there to give me daily reports. Thanks Brutha! The Vanity Fair interview with Sly Stone is great. Good to know he’s still traveling in our universe. The Sly & the Family Stone box set is awesome, by the way.

TOP 5 RECORDS I’M DIGGING:
Prince – Planet Earth
Elvis Presley – I Sing All Kinds
Sly & The Family Stone – There’s A Riot Goin’ On
White Stripes – Icky Thump
Funkadelic – By The Way Of The Drum

TOP 5 GUITARS I OWN:
#1 Fender Custom Shop Strat (signed by Eric Clapton)
White Gary Brinkley custom Strat
Paul Reed Smith Custom 24
White Fender Strat Pro Custom
Fender Tele Plus

TOP 5 GUITARISTS…PERIOD:
Jimi Hendrix
Jeff Beck
Buddy Guy
Earl Hooker
B.B. King


TOP 5 BANDS I DON’T LIKE…AT ALL…EVER…I MEAN IT…EVER!
Steely Dan
Kenny Chesney
Montgomery Gentry
Jethro Tull
Rascal Flatts
If I misspelled any of the names, it’s probably my subconscious emphasizing the fact that I really don’t like these bands.


TOP 5 THINGS I WOULD RATHER LISTEN TO THAN THE PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED BANDS:
Jack Hammers
Bagpipes
Pan Flutes
Esteban
A clothes dryer full of gravel and marbles (and the CDs of the aforementioned artists)

TOP 5 HOTTEST WOMEN IN THE WORLD
My wife
Buffy Holt
my wife Buffy Holt
my baby’s mama
my hot, hot, hot wife