A Transformative Measurement of Dynamic Change in the 22nd Century

Well it's starting to get cold here. Not cold like Minnesota or Canada, which is the coldest places I've ever been, but cold like Tennesee. Which, if you've never been here, is cold enough for me! We are rehearsing some new material and working on some new sounds for 2008 (you know this year is almost gone!). I'm looking forward to playing out soon. It's funny to play almost everynight for 6 weeks and then just stop for 2 weeks. I mean, I don't stop playing, I play all the time at home,it's just different when you're sitting on your own couch or when you don't even have to finish the song, or when you just play Van Halen covers all night to try and make your wife laugh! Of course, I also dress a little differently when I'm playing "concerts" for my wife..."Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love...I'm trying to get her to hold a lighter up while I play, but she's not even having any of that. It's also kind of strange having internet so close! No Panera Bread! Not even a Starbucks! My wife's coffee is a thousand times better! Plus I get to sleep with the Barista!

September tour in tha' books!

After having a chance to sleep in my own bed for a couple of nights, I'm ready to sum up the last leg of the tour. What a great time we had! It's been a while since we did a 5 week tour in one stretch and in the past, you usually hit the brick wall of despair/anger/frustration/loneliness about 3 weeks into it. This time was different though for a lot of reasons. For one thing we've been going around the country making friends for the last 7 years and now when we go to Des Moines, we look for Duane. When we go to Steamboat Springs, we know we'll see Arnie. When it's Topeka, it's time to see Jeff and Trina. It's so great to have friends in all these areas that come out and support us and welcome us into their towns with open arms. We are truly blessed to have such great friends across the country. Another big big reason for the tour going so comfortable, is the fact that we had several chances to hang with my MF brothers and even JAM!! NYC was Chuck MF Lanza territory and a great sushi dinner with my old friend Arnie G. When we hit Chicago (as usual) all bets are off! Keith MF and Jen Throneberry made the trip with Tyler's mom, Chuck MF a.k.a. Smoke-on-the-MF'n-water! and Lori flew in from NY for his B'day, Randy Z fed us and made the trip up, Superfan was there, and best of all Buddy was there and hanging out with him is something I never get enough of. Keith and I discovered (well he re-discovered) the hottest hot sauce in the universe. This stuff is what hell tastes like <http://www.insanechicken.com/da-bomb-final-answer-hot-sauce.php> You like hot stuff? I mean really hot stuff? Do you like it when tiny men with torches leap on your tounge wearing spiked shoes? Then you'll love The Final Answer! When we got to Minneapolis, it's time to hang with Tim and Susie Obrien and Pappy and the gang. What a beautiful group of people. I am blessed to know them all. We had an amazing oasis in Wisconsin when our man Dino not only put us up at his house, but his supercool mom cooked us an amazing Italian dinner! Dino's friendship is another blessing in my life that I am so grateful for. He's done so much for us as a band with his inspiration and enthusiasm, but it's his friendship that means the most to me. God blessed me with one wonderful brother, Shane, but he's blessed me again with a bigger family of spiritual brothers than I ever dreamed of. And of course, there's my band family. If it wasn't for Richard and Tyler, I'm sure I would have lost my mind many times on this trip. Richard and I have done this for a lot of years, and we're still loving it as much as we did the first time we went out. Watching Tyler grow into this gig has been one of the really fun things about this trip. For 5 weeks, he's gotten better every night. On many occasions, people have been coming up to us telling us how great it is to see us smiling on stage and having fun! I thought we were always having fun, but I'm glad it's showing! It would have been fun to go back to the first nights gig at the end of the tour and see the change. One thing you can't plan for is how people will respond to adversity. You just have to go through it and see what happens. These guys have met every challenge with a positive attitude and a smile. That allowed me to keep my perspective and stay cool when we lost all my cables and my tool box on the interstate in the middle of the night (if anybody in KC finds my roadcase, I'd appreciate it if you could send it back to me!). Every challenge was just an opportunity to get after it and they made it fun for me. We ended up in Louisville at one of our favorite joints Stevie Ray's. My voice, for the first time in 5 weeks, was completely gone the first night thanks to a nasty cold. I'm not a great singer anyway, but when you open your mouth and don't know what's going to come out, it's a scary thing indeed! We got through it with a lot of guitar playing and Richard stepping up with his "Badboy" self! Second night was a little better vocally, but I didn't really get it back until I got home. And that brings me to the best part of any trip, HOME!! My girls are the most important things in my life and I haven't gotten enough hugs and kisses yet, nor have we played enough games of "Princess Monopoly" or Hi Ho Cherrio. My guitars are all put back together and my amps didn't flinch at all this trip. I've got Keith MF lined up to rebuild the trailer, and tonight he and I will take the two most beautiful women in the world to Papa Boudreaux's where we will eat and drink too much and howl at the moon! Man it's good to be home!

3rd Annual Blues Christmas Benefit

It's hard to believe that it's almost Thanksgiving, but this year has flown by! It's time to start planning the 3rd Annual Blues Christmas Benefit. This is our homecoming show and a chance to help our hometown community. The last two years have raised over $13,000.00 for this charity and we're hoping to double that amount this year. As always, the heavy lifting of the planning and prep work goes to Keith MF Throneberry and Xtreme 4X4. In addition to the devastatingly talented Ms. Natale Stovall and her great band, as well as food and drink, we're planning to have a silent auction with memorabilia from various entertainers, sports figures and celebrities. As always, the SHB will be there and we're planning a special show just for this event, with some friends from the extended SHB family. This is our chance to give back to the community that has been so supportive of me throughout my career and the place that will always be my home. If you're coming in from out of town and want info on tickets and accomidations, or If you can't make it to town, but want to contribute (or get a really cool t-shirt or poster), email us at: scottholtband@gmail.com

Day 31 or How to correctly determine the sex of your new sea monkey

Day 31 of the current tour, and here's the kind of day that you're glad you can make it through; We get up on Sunday morning grab a Starbucks and travel 3 hours through a snow storm and over the Rocky Mtns to an afternoon gig in Arvada, just outside of Denver. We load in and play at 2:00 pm to maybe 10 people who are nonetheless appreciative and make it worth it for us. We load out, then we get in the van and drive to a Chipotle for the first meal of the day at 8:00 pm. We then get back in the van and drive 4 hours to a Wal-Mart parking lot where we sleep for about 5 hours wake up in a freezing wind storm and then grab a cup of Starbucks and travel the remaining 5 hours to Kansas City for our gig tomorrow and Wednesday. We resist the urge to get a picture of Tyler sitting on a gorilla (it's just too freakin' cold!) We checked in to our Hotel and then left immediately for a 2:30 pm lunch, (Arthur Bryant's BBQ!! KC's best)returned to find that the hotel we're staying in for 3 days has a broken TV in our room (there's also 2 extremely large Bull Mastiffs inexplicably chained to a small tree just outside our room and no other cars in the parking lot!). We change rooms (far from the deadly canine guardians of hell), get showers (yes we are clean)and head for Panera Bread to get the first Internet we've seen in about 5 days. The connection's too slow to catch up on The Office or any other TV show that we haven't seen in about 4 weeks. I can't even find the Clapton interview from Larry King! (I did just finish his biography a couple of days ago, great book!) I try to respond to some my space messages, but there's a ton of them and I'm always afraid I won't go back far enough! I do appreciate all the messages though and I will get them answered eventually. I did check out footage of the current Van Halen tour (seems to be the exact same show every night which is kind of a bummer, of course that might be the only way they can keep Eddie and Dave from killing each other! they also are keeping Wolfgang in the shadows).Now the goal is get back to room in time to see Curb Your Enthusiasm, do some laundry (we're clean I told ya!) and change some strings on my guitar before hitting the first bed I've seen in 35 hours! Now you want to hear the really crazy part? I wouldn't trade jobs with anybody on the planet! And now for some random thoughts and observations; As I said earlier, I've been keeping up with the current Van Halen tour and listening to a lot of the shows via the Internet. They are sounding better every night, but you just can't go home again. Actually Wolfgang often sounds the best of the lot! It's sad to see how far Eddie has fallen from where he was at his peak.Just found out about this guy Kimbo Slice on You Tube. Holy crap!! this is like the scariest guy I've ever seen! He looks like Mr.T if he'd done real time. He's some kind of backyard fighter that just beats the crap out of people (except for this one fight where the guy uses a choke hold on him). Went and saw 3:10 to Yuma (great film) We Own The Night (...you also own my $10.00 and I want it back for sitting through that slow moving piece of crap that even a nude Eva Mendez couldn't save!) Now I want to see Into The Wild, Eastern Promises and American Gangster. I started an audio diet of nothing but Eric Clapton last Monday, other than Sunday mornings, which I always reserve for Gospel (this past Sunday was Aretha Franklin!!) I haven't really dug into Clapton for a long time and it's really great to revisit some of the old stuff as well as a bunch of "Internet acquired" live stuff that reaffirms my belief in Clapton's greatness. The tree goes like this;
1.Jimi Hendrix

2.Buddy Guy, Jeff Beck

3.Clapton, Earl Hooker, BB King

4.everybody else from here down is constantly fighting it out for position.

Makes me wish I had my Clapton guitar on the road, of course after 5 weeks, at one time or another, I've wished I had every guitar on the road...except in the mornings when I'm loading the van, then I always think I have too many guitars out here already. Especially since I've been playing #1 almost exclusively for the last several shows. I don't know what it is about that guitar, but it just does whatever I ask of it and never complains. I started reading Where God Was Born this morning, great book. Check it out but have your Bible handy to cross reference. Tomorrow should be good, Einstein Bros. Bagels is a block away, we're playing a gig, I'm one day closer to being home with my girls!!!!, Road Food says there's a place that has great fried chicken (gotta love that yardbird) & I get to make music with two of my dear friends. Life's good.

Don't taze me bro!

Today is the start of the countdown to the end of this tour. What a trip we’ve been on so far! Today is day 2 in Topeka KS and we’re looking forward to playing a new club here. We had a blast in the Minneapolis area and saw a bunch of our old friends. It was great to see everybody and hang out and jam with our buddy, amp building genius, Tim Obrien. So what’s an average day on the road like? Well, today is the 3 “L’s”; load-in, laundry & lunch! We also have to find Tyler some new drum sticks. The first night he was with us, I kidded him that there wasn’t any wood chips under his drums at the end of the night, since then he’s been breaking about 4 sticks per night. That’s much more like the SHB! Beat stuff until it breaks!

Sweet Home Chicago

The SHB's gig Sunday night at Buddy Guy's Legends was maybe the best yet. At least it was the most fun we've had there so far! The only thing missing was Buffy, but the MF Mafia was all present and accounted for and the crowd was awesome. Buddy and I got hang out for a little bit before the show and between sets (in fact it almost got me in trouble because we kept starting late because we were having such a good time hanging out and laughing!) The band played great, Tyler's really making big strides an with his mom in the audience, he broke 7 sticks (Vic Firth my ass!)!!! We all play better when our mom's are in the house! Richard won the prize for coolest shirt, and Keith MF Throneberry and Chuck MF Lanza (who both had their beautiful wives with them) tied for best cover song. Chuck jammed on Smoke On The Water and Keith jammed on a medley of Purple Rain / I Just Want To make Love To You. (We all play better when our wives are there!) Randy Z was invaluable in getting the party started with a great bottle of wine and taking care of the guitars that seemed to be breaking all over the place. Rich made sure it was loud enough and Harvey made sure that one really "joyful" gentleman only danced with ladies who wanted to dance with him! Superfan Mike was in the house, and it was great to see him. We had new friends from the UK and France (thanks to Scott Brittingham for giving them a ride!) Like I said, the only two things that would have made it perfect would have been having my beautiful wife there and if Buddy would have jammed with us, but that's just an excuse for us to do it again! Thanks to the Staff at BG's for making every visit feel like coming home. A big thanks to my MF brothers for keeping the show going! Ya'll make me sound so GoooooD!

Cleveland Rocks!

Well it’s been an interesting couple of days! We played at the R&B Grill in Bethel NY on Friday night and had a ball! What a great bunch of people and a tremendously cool environment. Thanks to the great folks at the bed & breakfast that put us up for the night. What a great place to visit. We got up the next morning and went to the site of the Woodstock festival. I stood in the spot where Jimi Hendrix played the Star Spangled Banner! I think I could still hear the notes ringing around the field. On to New London CT where we discovered that the club forgot we were coming and booked another band! (We are freakin’ huge in New London CT!!) They were kind enough to pay us not to play and Richard and I headed for Cleveland early. (Tyler had to go home for his sister’s wedding so Andy Began played with us in NY and we put him on a train in CT and rolled away- thanks again Andy!) Last night was Cleveland where Richard and I played an acoustic show as a duo (first time!) It was a lot of fun and hopefully the people dug it. Tonight’s off so its laundry, internet, etc. tomorrow starts an uninterrupted run for 6 days. Looking forward to getting Tyler back with us, and getting to Chicago on Sunday to see some of our home folks. The MF mafia will be in the house!
By the way, recently I wrote a blog that has garnered some unfortunate attention and led to some misunderstanding, so I want clear it up now, once and for all; I don’t care for Dockers, but if you wear them while cooking barbecue, you instantly leap to the front of the cool line in my book (especially when the ribs are as good as the ones I’m referring to). I think that barbecuing in Dockers makes them okay by default and you overcome the negative ness of their very existence by the spiritual art of cooking. So if you wear Dockers, grab some tongs and fire up the grill! You’ll feel better about yourself, I promise!

The road is long and winding...

Day 4 on the road and we’ve got 3 shows under our belt with new drummer Tyler and everything’s going great. Checked out 3:10 To Yuma yesterday, whacking great film! Tomorrow, we get back to work in NYC and then its roll hard until KY. We’ve got a couple of days off sprinkled here and there to do laundry and glue the guitars back together, but the miles start falling hard and fast tomorrow. I hate off days, so I’m glad to get over this hump in the road. Off days are the Wednesdays of the SHB! For those of you in Bethpage and New London, Tyler is flying home to attend the wedding of his sister, so his spot will be filled by the very capable drumming of Mr. Andy Began. Congratulations to the soon to be Mrs. Ashley Johnson (or possibly Mrs. Ashley Crowell – Johnson or maybe even Ms. Ashley Crowell…maybe her new husband will take her name instead…I’m not sure what the current vogue is for newly weds…maybe they take each others name…in which case she’ll be Mrs. Johnson, and he’ll be Mr. Crowell…what a strange thing that would be filling out home loans or job applications…I once knew a woman who not only didn’t take her new husbands name, she made up a new name for the both of them out of a combination of the letters of their respective names. I thought that was pretty cool. They took the first half of her name and the last half of his name. His name was Benson and her’s was Robertson, so they became Mr. & Mrs. Robertson…actually, now that I see that typed, it looks more like they just kept her name…that bitch! She tricked poor old Benson! I guess he should have made her sign some sort of prenuptial agreement concerning the maintenance of his name. Of course, he must be pretty dumb not to see that coming…”Hey honey, let’s just combine our names to make a new name like the ancient Greeks did. Wouldn’t that be fun? You’ll do it for me won’t you?” Oh what a slippery slope! Well, I can’t feel too sorry for him if he’s not any smarter than that. Anyway, congratulations to the happy couple!)
I’m sorry, but I just got distracted by the two guys sitting across from me. (I’m in Panera Bread of course!) They seem to be planning some kind of takeover for the company they both work for. I don’t eavesdrop, but they’re talking really loud. The one guy seems like a real jackass. “You do this, and I’ll do that and we’ll just take over the whole thing…” If I knew what company they worked for, I’d call the CEO right now and alert him that there’s mischief afoot! Then again, as a musician, I am sort of a modern day pirate; so technically, I should be rooting for the mutiny. Still they are wearing Dockers (which always pisses me off!) and they are really annoying. Maybe we should just take their computers and run. I better find Richard. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Tom Larson

We’ve had some big changes in the last few weeks and after getting a lot of questions about it, I decided that I needed to address what’s going on. As many of you have noticed, Tom is no longer with us. This wasn’t an acrimonious split, no invectives were being hurled, and it was simply Tom’s decision to move on his own path. Tom has been the drummer in the SHB for a bunch of years. He was the first drummer after I left Buddy and played on the records Angels in Exile and From Lettsworth to Legend.
Tom and I met through our wives who worked in the same field. Buffy invited Tom and his wife Misty out to see a show and I called him up to jam. I knew from the first note that Tom and I had a tremendous musical connection. He’s that good. We’ve had some amazing musical moments over the past several years and I remember all of them fondly, from opening in Canada for Buddy Guy to opening this past April for Johnny Winter. We played some musically amazing shows and Tom always plays his heart out, never giving less than his all. Tom’s also been with us through some really hard times on the road, just like every band has to endure and he’s always been a great solid friend. As we move on, Tom’s moving on. I know that whatever project he pursues, he’ll be fantastic in it. If you’re in an area where Tom is performing, go out and support him just like you do us, after all he’s still family and we’ve all got to stick together. One thing I’ve learned in this business is that good musicians are easy to find but good people are more rare and precious. Tom is a genuinely good person as well as being a devastatingly good drummer. I thank Tom for all of his help in getting the SHB rolling and helping to push us further down the line. I thank him for his friendship and I look forward to watching him continue to grow, develop and create.

Sail On

So the new chapter starts on Friday. We move forward and keep driving. No matter what. It’s funny, but conviction isn’t something you can just talk about, you have to walk the walk. I’ve been doing this for almost 20 years now. I started with Buddy in 1989. I never stopped. When I left Buddy, the money went to almost nothing, I went from hotels (real nice hotels) to motels (real bad motels), and I went from a tour bus to a van that I drive and pay for and fuel myself. I’ve had dozens of musicians in this band, some for a while, some for a minute. I treated them all with respect and loved them like family. I’ve never thought about giving up, I’ve never let myself get discouraged by some little pieces of trouble that might have been cast in my direction. I never wondered, “is this all there is?”, I understand that I am doing what I was put here to do and if God wants me to move, He’ll move me or make my situation so obvious that I have no choice but to move. I have an amazing support. My wife Buffy is my best friend and has always kept me grounded while simultaneously giving me what I need to fly. She has supported me without fail from the beginning and that makes the difference. She keeps me in check spiritually as well, reminding me that just because we’re in this world, that doesn’t mean that this is all there is. I couldn’t make it without her. She is the love of my life. I’m her biggest fan.
I have amazing friends who are there for me in so many ways that it’s impossible to describe. I have family that supports and loves me and I’m humbled by all of it. I understand when people who don’t have that kind of love and support crack under the stress and strain. My heart goes out to them. There are people around me right now who are floundering and lost and searching. I want to be there for them and I am there for them, but sometimes people don’t see you, they don’t know you’re there no matter how much you shout or how much you do. I hope that the people in my life who are struggling find the peace that they’re looking for and that they can achieve their dreams.

Snare drum pound of 2 & 4, all the party people get on the floor...

Day 1; we storm through From Lettsworth to Legend from start to finish. Hammering the sword so that sparks are flying off of it. “Rocky” style sit-ups with somebody punching you in the stomach every time you rise up. This is where you find yourself. Are you a “lifer” or you just playing at it? Can you play your hardest with no screaming crowds shouting your name? When your pay for the day is a luke-warm bottle of water, is it enough? The rehearsal space is a metal building with no air-conditioning. It’s loud and hot. There’s only 3 of us in there and the mission is simple; work harder, get better, let the music do what the music’s gonna do! Circle the wagons. Time to empty our cup so that we can get some new tea. Cell phones off. No visitors allowed. We’re playing through all 6 albums top to bottom, working on some new stuff and generally getting geared up to finish kicking 2007’s ass. A 2 hour session ends in you standing in a literal pool of sweat. Your guitar, pedal board and clothes soaking wet. Drums are being bashed so hard, they’re jumping across the floor! The bass growling like the voice of doom. Richard’s right, “You’re mother should know!” This is designed to make the hottest sweatiest gig seem like a vacation. After blasting through this furnace for 2 weeks, any 4 hour gig is going to seem like nothing. Like the song says, “Next time you see me, things won’t be the same…”

Dispatch: Deja Voodoo Chile (slight return)

Van Halen’s getting back together. That’s pretty cool. I wish it was the original four, but one thing I’ve learned is you can never go back. Time is a river that only flows one way, and even if you’re treading water, you’re still being carried down stream. My friend Tim (one of the angels I spoke of in an earlier blog) loaned me his personal amp while mine gets tuned up. There’s a chance that Warren Haynes might play it in a couple of days! That would be too cool. I hope he leaves some notes in it for me to steal!
We had a great time playing in Florida last week, it was great to see all of our friends and make some new ones. I had a chance to visit with some friends from the Koko Taylor band that I haven’t seen in some years. Good to see Vino. A fantastic guitarist and a good spirit. Also got to visit with Damon Fowler and his band. Great bunch of guys. We share the same agent, so we are rarely in the same place.
2007’s been a great year, but it sure has taken some funny turns…to quote Mr. Buddy Miles, “Well my mind is going through them changes…”

Dispatch: Scott's day off and I Spy

Some days, you’re on the road and have nothing to do. So how do you fill your time? Well some musicians do drugs or rob banks or race motorcycles. Some date supermodels, form peace rallies or invent new forms of punctuation. We go to malls. Not just any mall, but we look for the largest most diverse monuments to consumerism that we can find. Malls with more than one Starbucks, a Best Buy, a Victoria’s Secret, etc. Today is such a day at the Coconut Point Mall in Fort Myers, FL. After an evening watching The Bourne Ultimatum (great freaking’ movie! He dies at the end!...no, not really…or does he?...I wouldn’t spoil the movie for you…he dies…just kidding…no really…) We returned here today for lunch at Johnny Rockets (first restaurant opened on Melrose Ave in Los Angeles CA on June 6 1986) another tour around Barnes & Noble, and now were posted up at Panera Bread for the free internet, great atmosphere and friendly people…but mostly for the free internet. A strange bald guy was staring at us earlier, but he’s gone now. He had large glasses that reminded me of those “x-ray specs” that they used to advertise in the back of comic books. I think the couple at table in front of me is having an affair…shame on them! Tom seems to be shopping for yard tools online and Richard is expanding his ever growing legion of Myspace friends. His ultimate plan is to gather as many Myspace friends as possible and then mobilize them into an elite fighting force that will aid him in his quest for control of the free world, all to the dulcet tones of the Beatles…but don’t tell anyone! I am the patient observer, neither judging nor condemning, simply noting the comings and goings of the humans. An older couple to my left appear to be in disguise. You know large hats, dark glasses, etc. They’ve also not spoken a word to each other since they sat down. They may be blind. Maybe they’re not aware that the other person is sitting at the same table. The man looks like he might have killed someone at one point, while his companion looks like she might have commanded him to do it as a test of loyalty…or maybe they’re just old people eating lunch. As I said, I neither judge nor condemn. A woman to my immediate right just took an incredibly large bite of something. I think she should eat smaller bites and chew her food more. She’s looking at me now. I think she knows I’m writing about her…oh wait…no it’s okay; I think she has a lazy eye. 2 guys in front of me are chowing down. They seem to have spent more time on their hair than I do changing the oil in the van. I see a woman drinking beer. I didn’t know they served beer at Panera Bread…at 10:00am…on Sunday…lazy eye’s looking at me again…I think she knows the “hair brothers”…another woman is eating with a spoon, but she’s holding the spoon upside down and just licking the back of it over and over…Geez!...the hit man and his boss are reading the paper…probably about his last hit and how the police can’t solve the crime! Diabolical geniuses! Now a guy in front of me is online and looking up travel websites. Maybe he’s planning that surprise getaway for his wife…or girlfriend…or maybe he’s just planning to escape…into the night…with the money that he embezzled from his job at the Apple Store! Lazy eye’s coming this way…I’d better go.

Dispatch: Florida and the role of Quantum Physics as it pertains to socio-economic stability and global warming

Today we’re in Matlacha Fl., a beautiful little spot on the Gulf Coast of Florida, with a population of 735. Richard’s gone kayaking and Tom’s practicing his tai-chi. I’m working on developing my own language consisting of hand signals and lyrics from various songs that can convey the secrets to the universe that pertain to the colors of the rainbow. As I write this, CNN is on and Kenny Chesney is apparently going to play for the New Orleans Saints football team. I hope they make him an offensive lineman…because he’s offensive…and I like the song Wichita Lineman.
We played here yesterday, and it was great. Normally, we play at 9 or 10 at night. Occasionally, we’ll play at 7 or 8. So we got here at 1:15 pm and discovered that we were playing at 2:00 pm!!! My fault, I just didn’t look at the contract close enough, but my guys pulled it off. We loaded in, set up and were playing by 2:00! That included setting up the PA and I think Richard even got to smoke a cigarette first!
We play here again tonight and then we have a question mark for the next 2 days as we try to sort out what’s going on with the gigs in Port Charlotte. They were on, and then off and now we just don’t know. We just keep our heads down and keep steaming forward. It’s what we do. Well…we do other things to…like chess, or repairing the van or eating Chinese food.
Today we’ll be filming new installments for the YouTube channel. Richard will be beginning a series of bass lessons for beginners. It should be an entertaining yet challenging bit of film.
Listen to the album Dope Dogs by the P-Funk All Stars. Dog Star (Fly On) is a sonic orgasm. Required listening for all guitar players as well as other travelers down the aural stream of consciousness.
Morning rain snaps out the cadence that heralds the coming of the new dawn. Earth’s children await the call of “all clear” that proclaims the surface safe for the harvest once again. As the horizon glows with pregnant pause, the day to come whispers its promise into the dreams of the sleeping ones. Stars cast across the sky like a fistful of diamonds hurled from God’s own hand upon a robe of the blackest velvet, bid the night a glowing and peaceful farewell. A democracy of souls, a tribe of saints to be. Empty your cup.

It's all about your Angels

Sometimes, I have to stop and thank God for the amazing friends that I/we have. There are people in my life that uplift and inspire me every day. They support me/us in amazing ways that rarely get mentioned. People like our friend Kempf Poole. Kempf comes out and travels with us sometimes and after his last trip with us, he sent us a GPS for the van (I guess he got tired of us getting lost!) but it was a huge, profound act of generosity that, as always, leaves me speechless. People like Keith MF Throneberry, who gives us support on a daily basis, but recently fixed our taillights in the parking lot of the gig. Keith does too many things for me to type them all, but that’s the latest one. People like Chuck MF Lanza who’s been a friend for ever and gives support every time it’s needed. People like Randy Z who feeds us and has been a tremendously generous benefactor to our music from the beginning. People like Dino Corvino who devotes a tremendous amount of time and attention and energy to help us climb this mountain called music. As I type this, I worry that I’m going to forget someone, so let me say that this is by no means a complete list. These are just some of the people lately that have been there in the trenches with us. Uncle Wayne, Mark, Tim, Keith, all the Extreme 4X4 people, Gary, Arnie, Michael, NAPA auto parts, Gateway Tire, GHS, Eminence, Mike, Tommy, Tyler, Bobby, Ryan, the list could literally go on and on. People like Chip and Sara from South Carolina, Cody and Chris from Alabama, all the people that jam with us and share their talent and art with us. We are fed, both spiritually and sometimes literally by these angels that surround us. I thank God for all of you.

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.

Damn Right I've Got The Blues

I wanted to post some more thoughts about the new record and talk about the song Damn Right I’ve Got The Blues. This song has special memories for me, because it’s one of the first ones that we were playing with Buddy when his first record for the Silvertone label came out. The intro, I think, Buddy copped from Cream’s Strange Brew, which was actually a lick that Eric Clapton borrowed from Albert King. Anyway, let’s just say that the song’s got some deep roots!
When I started trying to decide which songs of Buddy’s to put on the record, Damn Right was kind of a no-brainer. It’s so strongly identified with Buddy that it would almost seem weird not to at least attempt it. I really didn’t know what to do with it, so we just took the intro and then transformed the groove into a minor key and let it rip. I also listened to the lyrics, to make sure that the message of what’s being said can be accompanied and reinforced by the music and not detracted from it. We’ve all heard cover versions of songs that sounded like they just took some music that they had lying around and wrapped other words to it. Luckily, I think we came up with a nice little slant on Buddy’s version. I’ve said it a million times, but my goal in this project was to pay tribute to Buddy and try and reinterpret his work, not make a slavish copy of what he’s already done.
Playing this song live with Buddy, always used to excite me. This was a song that we knew the crowd would go wild on and Buddy always attacked this song full throttle which made you want to really dig in and get it. Looking back, I’m sure there were times when I probably hit it too hard, but fortunately for me Buddy always managed to forgive my excitement! Thanks again Buddy!
For you tech heads, this song (as well as every other song on this record) was recorded using my trusty Obrien 100 watt head through the Marshall 4X12 cabinet that I used when I was with Buddy. That thing’s got some vibe, let me tell you. It’s also heard Damn Right I’ve Got The Blues as many times as I have! If you listen close on the very first part of the intro, you can hear entire room vibrating! That’s how loud we were going on this record!

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

Dispatch: Portland and the way things go

So the July run to Canada is now officially in the books, (thank you Canadian fans! You guys are awesome!!) But not without one last gasp of drama and intrigue. I usually don’t like to show the downside of what we do, but this story is an example of what musicians sometimes have to go through to do what they love. In short, this is what we get paid for. The last date of the tour was to be a charity event, benefiting battered women. As a side note it was to pay us a fairly substantial amount of money, not big money, but in the course of the way this particular tour was laid out, the money was going to be needed to get us home. Not that someone needs to pay me to be against hurting women, but it’s just how the business end of this particular show worked out. Anyway, the gig was in Portland ME. Stop reading this now, open another window, go to Rand-McNally.com and type in the distance from Nashville to Portland. Figure time and fuel and you’ll see that a gig has to be fairly lucrative to justify that kind of distance. Granted, we were in Addison NY (awesome gig!!) the night before the Portland gig, but it was a 20 hour drive home staring us in the face, with all that that entails.
To continue, unbeknownst to us, the “money man” for the Portland gig disappears about 2 weeks before the show. Why we weren’t notified of this earlier is just one of the many mysteries that fall into place in this narrative. We are under contract to perform and we are warriors, so not showing up isn’t really an option, but the knowledge that suddenly the financial bottom is falling out of the gig does give one pause. From Addison to Portland was a 9 hour drive, so we played Addison and then drove overnight to Portland arriving sometime around 10:00 am. The hotel has rooms for us under the “money man’s” name, but since they haven’t been paid for, we have to pay for the rooms if we want to get into them. We’ve been in constant contact with a nice lady who we’ll call “the coordinator” who after many calls in which she stresses her non-liability and the fact the she’s just “the coordinator” (even though her name and signature are on the contract, but we’ll get to that in a minute), agrees to call the hotel for us. After her call, we then call her back (which we did most of the day as no one seemed to want to call us first!) whereupon she tells us that under advice of LEGAL COUNSEL, she’s not going to put any money out of her own pocket lest she appear liable. The fact that “the coordinator” has sought legal counsel, doesn’t escape me on the warning meter.
Let’s pause for a moment and sum up; We are 9 hours further from home (20 hours total), with no money, no hotel, an uncertain gig (scheduled for 11:00 pm) and no one wanting to take responsibility for this fast sinking ship that only the SHB seems to be riding on. It’s pointed out to me by various people involved that if we don’t play, we void the contract and have no recourse to pursue legal action to get our money back. As I said before, we never really think of not playing because we are warriors and we don’t bend or back-up. Nevertheless, it’s quite a quandary when you think about it, which is really all I’m able to do since I, a) Have no hotel room to sleep or shower in, b) can’t start for home.
So it falls like this. “The coordinator” and a companion meet us and lead us to the gig for load-in at 1:00pm. She then agrees (I suppose against the advice of legal counsel) to pay for our hotel rooms so we can at least have a place to shower and sleep. She does also arrange with the folks at Chili’s to give us a discount for a meal. (Thanks to Chili’s!)We show up at 9:30 as we would for any other gig. We’re 5th on the bill and headlining. One act, a friend of “the money man” is a no show…hmmmm. We play a great set. My boys are bad no matter what the circumstances. We pack up and leave. No one thanks us for being professional and keeping up our end of the deal. No one commiserates our plight, offers us a hand loading out, or throws us some gas money, just the old after show disappearing act. They do, however, record our show (without permission) play it back over the loud speakers while we pack up and then tell us that they can’t give us a copy because they have to leave the venue and don’t have time, but we’re welcome to track them down and they’ll send us a copy when they have a chance.
So what have I learned? I remain staunchly against any form of abuse and I still think that anyone who would hurt a woman is a punkass bitch. I think that our life will go on much as before (albeit, with more conversations with attorneys in my near future.) I’m sorry for what we went through but I’m glad we played. We were professionals. We dedicated a song to Tammy Faye Baker who passed away the previous night. I would love to come back to Portland and play a regular gig. We had some great fans that came out to support us and it was awesome to see some friendly faces in the middle of the siege. “Moneyman” if you read this, I don’t hate you or bear you ill will. I am, however, going to hunt you down and you should pray that the only thing I do is sue the shit out of you.

Dispatch: Buffalo

Buffalo last night, night off tonight and then two more shows and home! Gigs have been going great. The band sounds ferocious (when they’re allowed to…hmmmm). Our gear still limps along battered and bruised but refusing to bow. Much like the SHB. We won’t stop. I’m so excited about the new record. I can’t wait for everyone to hear it. Some of our friends have heard it and they say they like it. These are people that I trust to tell me the truth. It’s much like the time I spent in the Congo working with the Peace Corps. Once I woke before the rest of the team and in the still quiet of the morning in the rain forest, I looked out of my tent and saw a huge silver back gorilla just feet from the campsite. We looked at each other for what felt like an eternity before he stood to his full height and beat his chest. He then disappeared back into the jungle and it was then that I realized what true silence sounded like. Even the birds were still. I smelled something. I was standing in a large pile of gorilla feces. I forgave the gorilla immediately, but I’ll never stand barefoot near one again!
William Shatner is brilliant!