Catching Up Vol. ?

My worries about a sparse crowd last weekend at All Stars were unfounded. The crowd was decent Friday night, but on Saturday, it was a great crowd and we had a blast! Much thanks to family, friends, and coworkers that turned out for the festivities on Saturday, and thanks to the club owner for designating us as "a great band" on the marquee. Even though I work in Monticello, I hadn't seen that sign until I actually showed up to play.

Had to kill time last Friday before time to report for the gig, so I went to see "Wedding Crashers." I was expecting to laugh more, but it was okay.

Went down to watch the first two bands in the Battle of the Bands last week. The first band, the Hammers, consists of friends of mine. They were very solid, but their type of blues-oriented music wasn't quite right for the opening slot for a classic rock show. (We kept getting asked why we didn't enter -- mainly, we didn't think our "style" was right for a hard rock contest, and we also felt that the contest should be for those bands who are actually trying to accomplish something -- and that ain't us. Plus, we were booked already and stood to make substantially more money from the booking than from the contest.) The second band was kind of an Evanescence style band led by a tall Goth chick. They have potential, but need to be tighter -- their first song, if I heard it correctly, had a chorus where they sang "I know the Pope is smoking dope." Had to leave before the other bands came on, but I've heard the winner on the radio since then and......well, maybe they were better live. Hell, any band that day that was halfway competent in that heat and under less than ideal staging-and-sound setups deserves some credit.

My wife is gone to a seminar this week. I need her back. Her birthday is tomorrow.

Something crawled under my house this week and died, presumably one of the many nameless cats that I feed each day. In case this ever happens to you and you don't personally want to crawl under your home and remove the fragrant, bloated carcass, please be advised that this type of service falls under the category of services provided by Austin Pest Control -- thanks a million!!!

As I type this, I am listening to a compilation cd that I made about 3 years ago that I creatively entitled "Shit I Like." A song is currently playing called "Stranger Than Paradise" by Sleeze Beez. It is a hair metal song and I don't recall ever hearing any other song by these guys. Right after that, the old chestnut "Misty Blue" by Dorothy Moore came on. Nice juxtaposition.

I watched a fascinating documentary on PBS last night regarding Sun Studios in Memphis. The stories of Sun recording artists like Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, etc are well known, but this special also gave considerable time to "lesser lights" like Sonny Burgess, Billy Lee Riley, Ace Cannon, etc. It's really something to see and hear people like Robert Plant and Jimmy Page sing the praises of Sonny Burgess and then realize that Burgess and band played the Armadillo Festival and Pink Tomato Festival in recent years and that I didn't even bother to go see them (and Ace Cannon has played every little festival around here in recent years). I haven't given these old veterans the respect they deserve and, if they ever come around again, I'll make sure I go see them. Burgess was very philosophical about never becoming a big star, but Billy Lee Riley was extraordinarily bitter and blamed Sun founder Sam Phillips for his lack of success. I highly recommend this special!!!

Speaking of Sam Phillips, I was reminded of when Phillips was a guest on David Letterman many years ago. Sam was obviously intoxicated. He slurred his words, wouldn't answer the questions, and asked Dave when he was going to "get them damned teeth fixed." They broke for a commercial, came back, and Sam was no longer there. However, at the next commercial break, they showed Sam passed out in the Green Room. Hilarious.