Hey y'all. Fat Todd says that he will just start bloggin about what-eva... but he hasn't yet. So here I am with a blog for tha masses.. well the 14 that are followin us.
Never the less... two gigs and some other notes here... Sorry if things are all disjoint.
This past Friday, we played at Luckys. Andy channeled Jason Mraz for the first time. It sounded much better than last practice.. where Andy channeled a rabid duckbill platapuss. Let's just not go there... but Fat Todd and everyone did a heck of a job. The gig was a usual Lucky's gig, with an awesome surprise, my friend Phil and his brother Stevie were in the house, drove up from Joliet, IL area. {old school time.. Asics brothers and Meatball.. ask if you want to know more} never the less, the music was tight, snow fell, no fights, lights fell on innocent people (after their friend fell over them), and people had a great time. I'm truely blessed to be jammin with the Shibs. Far too much fun.
For those that don't know, Friday (Dec 5th) was 2 years for my father winning his battle with ALS (by "winning" I mean dying from). He was far from my father for the last 7 years prior to his passing, he was my best friend. Drinkin buddies, music friend (never missed a concert, never wanted to stop hearing the tunes), and always willing to reach a hand out than to ask for a hand out... He is responsible for my drive, my dreams, and my musical ambition. He did everything he could to give me a good life growing up, and despite some very hard times (long story), I never went hungry as a child (even if it ment hot dogs and steak-ums). When we knew that things were not going to be good, his last request was to have a few, see some racing, and hear the blues. We did just that Sat night. Something that brings a tear to my eyes, he never had the honor of meeting the SHIBS. Their music is amazing, the writing is from the heart, but more than that, they are great people. But I digress...
On Sat night, I sat in with the first band I ever played live with... Cool Front. But I have bigger news...
After dealing with my singing of Tupleo Honey, the love of my life accepted my proposal for marriage. Brian Moll from Main Street Jewelers did the work taking my vision, adding his thoughts and comign up with a 100% custom ring. J-Bah and Cheryl were there, and the other guys would have been if they could. Needless to say, even without being there, they were part of it.... and she said maybe (and by maybe I mean yes). What a ride.....
Lastly, it's tough to type right now, as my hands are extremely swollen from playing congas last night. Thanks to the SHIBS, Mark Devorak (Sparky from Subatomic. ) I have made some small strides in jamming in the percussion world. Jon, has played with the best world wide in terms of drums, and is one of the best jazz style drummers on the planet. The end result was an amazing Evil Ways. We traded off licks in an appoximate 15 minute drum jam. Add to that the fact that Jon commented to someone in the crowd that jammin on tour has done great things for me musically... just made the night complete.
Can't wait for C-Boogs and I to pull something like that off....
Well I should get some sleep... I have to re-design the group policy at work tomorrow, a major snow storm is heading in, and my back is killing me. The last couple of days have been more than tough... Dad's anniversey, my good friend Tom passing from Heart Failure, my Grandmother passing from diabetes, and Jillians' uncle passing. In the end though, I have to say, I'm blessed beyond words. I have a woman that loves me for me (and if you have been reading the blog, that's an accomplishment), I'm part of the Shibs... a group of guys that I'm not only honored to jam with, because they are not only kick "f*ckin" ass musicians, but people that I can call friends, and I have a roof over my head and food in my stomache. It's all about perspective y'all.
Til Next Time...
Mouse
