HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving from The SHIBs!

Thanks for all of your support...and eat a lot of food!

We love you,

The SHIBs

Not a Summary of the Tour.... But

Hey Y'all... It's the flowery, wordy, harp player layin down the science on the last couple of gigs. I'm not pullin out my tour summary yet... but I am chattin about the last couple.

So at this moment I can't remember which gigs I have talked about or not... so I'm just going to drop the words on the last times that I can recall. Since when have I been structured?

Monday brought us home. Work and responsibility for me, however a headline at the high noon was waiting. What a kewl night. Thank you all for showing up in force. We put a good crowd in the place and for a Monday night, we rocked the house. A great homecoming for the SHIBS and good music for us all. I was able to sit in with the opener, which was a ton of fun. I am a SHIB as long as I'm allowed to be a SHIB, but I still enjoy playing different music with different people.... Thanks Adam for lettin me jam... and the other Shibs for being kewl enough for letting me jam...

The next night we were in a place that I only dreamed of playing... bigger than the music, I was able to see my Grandmother before she passed. God Speed Grandma. With a heavy heart, I personally was in awe that we were playing Martyrs. The crowd wasn't what we wanted, but those that were there stayed.... I again got to sit in with the opener Jon Drake and had a ton of fun playing that night. Dream accomplished.

The next couple of nights were just amazing. Rocking the heck out of the Up and Under, and the hope is to be back soon... what a great club. We put a ton of people into Lucky's... Jordan and friends... Not to mention Miranda who brought a huge crew and worked her ash off bringing people in.... We are playing better than ever and the crowd seemed to just feed off of us. Add to that I didn't have to defeat the cobra KAI and it was a great night.

To wrap it all up... we put more people than Stella's have ever seen into the bar. My Aunt Jeanie and her friend Tina drove up from Chicago to see us, the crowd was INSANE, Shera and her friend showed up (who I haven't seen in like 3 years), Magdawg and Nick were on the scene... and those are just the tip of the ice-berg. We played out of our minds and it was only rightous to finish the tour as we did.

Sadly, I'm off to a funeral tomorrow afternoon, and a internment on Wed. I promise to work on the photos, and add some to this post... as well as my thoughts on the tour as a whole. It's been a sur-real experience with some of the best guys I have ever had the honor to step on stage with.. C-Boogie, C-Stash, That Homeless Guy included....

Til the next post..... I'm off to work on the pics....

Mouse out.

Southern Tour Wrap-Up

As promised...the tour wrap-up is here. The tour was quite an experience...something not a lot of people in this world get to experience...even it if was on a smaller scale than most tours you and I are familiar with. I must say that it went really really fast...I tried my best to soak in each city, venue, and person we came across...and to keep each experience independent from the rest...but that was hard to do. I remember some stand out moments...but there is so much going on...it kind of meshes all together.

The thing I will remember most about this tour is the people down south. Almost every single person we met down here was nice to us...with the exception of the folks at the P & H Cafe. It was actually quite amazing to me how well we were treated and received...it made me feel comfortable...and I'm sure the other guys felt the same. The pace of life is so much slower down south than it is here in the Madison area. I feel like we are moving at 100 mph all the time, while the people down south are moving at 50 mph. They talk a lot slower, move a lot slower, and don't take things nearly as serious as we all do up here. Perhaps we could learn a thing or two from that.

Southern hospitaltiy is alive and well. The stay with Georgia and Shirley assured that. Two of the nicest women I've met in my life...made us all feel at home when we were far from it.

All in all, the tour was awesome...and I can't wait to do it again. I think it's safe to say that we all became better musicians and performers as a result. Good times.

Favorite Show: Wild Wing Cafe in Savannah, GA

Favorite People: All the people at Leo's Cafe (especially John and Leo)

Favorite Food: The Waffle House in Greenville, AL at 4 am with JB

Favorite Beach: Tybee Island, GA (had to mention it one more time)

Last but not least...thanks to all of you who read the blog along the way. Although quite random at times...hope it was a fun read. If you have any questions for me about the tour...ask. Also, I plan to continue blogging for all who are interested...so keep checking back. The SHIBs need you!

Hippies like our music

Well here we are at the end of the Southern tour...driving back from Indy as we speak.  We will be arriving to Madison around 4:30 in the morning...get some rest...and then play the High Noon Saloon tomorrow night.

Tonights show went much better than last nights show...that goes without saying.  We played a short set which means we got to play our best tunes...and the hippie crowd was happy with what The SHIBs did.  People were dancing...and we got paid!!!!  JB gave in a 7 out of 10.  Good rebound from last night.  Pretty sure we were all anxious to play another show after last night.

Tour Update...I still haven't shaved my beard...I look good.  Colin has a rad mustache going, JB even has some stubble too...nice.  We look like a legit band now.  Also, JB is going to blog tomorrow...will tell you some stories about things such as the Waffle House in Greenville, a security guard named Leonard, and some things about Fat Todd.

My tour wrap up is still to come...and hopefully some pics will follow...stay tuned.

From somewhere in Indiana or Illinois...I'm out.

WTF?!?!? Summary of last couple gigs...

Ok... ADD time... and time to blog.  Fat Todd is Hungie.. and munching the left over PeeZaa.  Dammit Fat Todd.

So, growing up in the ghetz-o, I have seen my fair share of some wild joints.  The last couple of nights.  WOW.  I'm makin it a point not to repeat things you read in other blogs.  I've felt really bad over the last two gigs, as the bars were far too small to even have me play congas.  Over the tour I think I've made some huge strides on them... and when I can't add to songs I feel like I'm useless to the guys.  IE not contributing to the band.  Ehh  I'm just very very tired right now, and the upcoming gigs, I should be able to rock them out ;)

So Greenville, umm summary?  Security checking for knives at the door and if you had one, they swapped with a gun.  We walked in and immediaely were pointed out as "you must be the band?" But I must say, one of the best gigs of the tour.  Another location that I would term as turned into fans of The Shibs.  People were like who the hell are you... and rocked it at the end.  Colin signed drumsticks, we sold a ton of stuff, made some money for a change, sold cd's, and had people wanting to sign us up for repeat gigs.  No worries it's only 700 miles back :)  Thanks guys for making some out of towners feel welcome.  Add to it, thanks to Art Riejunio www.riejunio.com for some sweet amazing tee's that you will see us rocking back in mad-town, we sent several people to the site.  Shirley and Georgia, if you are keepin track of this.. let him know we have hooked him some sales.  Least we could do for the awesome ass tees.

Tonight.. well.. umm... to not repeat what Fat T-zodd said... it suked.  HARD.  Worst gig of my career playing harp.  People wanted to kill us... Literally.  Fastest Tear down of the entire tour. and I will just leave it as a lesson learned.  Maybe if we were a punk band, we would have had a chance.  Truth be told, well, at least the stash is rockin on C- Boogie.  We will kick ash tomorrow...  7 hours to the next gig....

Wiser Time by the Black Crows makes sense to me now.  Looking forward to rockin with you all back in town...

Mouse out

HEY Y'ALL

Ok y'all...blogging again...I tried to blog last night but the Internet was in and out...so here it goes for two shows.   Last night we played at Front Street Pub in Greenville, AL.  Rolled up to the gig and was throughly scared...not gonna lie...the place reminded me of Klinic in Madison.  Found out that Front Street was the only bar in the entire city of Greenville...and Greenville isn't a very small town...found that quite odd considering Stoughton has like 15 bars and is actually smaller than Greenville.  Much to my surprise...the show turned out to be a great success.  All the people dug us...we played tight...and we sold a bunch of shirts and CD's...hell yeah Greenville, AL.  JB gave it a 7 out of 10...a much higher rating than expected.

As for tonight's show...at the P & H Cafe in Memphis, TN...what a disaster...plus it's really cold here.  Not gonna spend much time on this one...I was actually slightly angered.  JB gave it a 1 out of 10...worst rating so far on tour...and may be the worst show we've ever played as a band...definitely the worst show so far as The SHIBs.  

Tour note...Mike tucks his shirts in his shorts...he's old...jk...not too old...but he does tuck his shirts in his shorts.  Moral of the story is the dude plays the harmonica unlike anybody I've ever heard/seen play harmonica...and that's cool with me.  We are in Indianapolis tomorrow...last stop before we are back in Madison.  It went really fast to tell you the truth...I will blog about my thoughts on the entire tour experience in a few days.  Side note on the tour note...Colin and I are all good for all who are curious...he apoligized for his childish actions and things are back to normal.  

COME TO OUR CD RELEASE PARTY ON MONDAY NOV. 17TH AT THE HIGH NOON SALOON IN MADISON, WI...WE START AT 9PM...DO IT.

The Ocean, its been a while since I've seen

Back on the road after an awesome stint at "Mama's" house (Shirley).  Rolling the windows down near Savannah, Georgia was pretty cool in itself; the warmth, humidity, and ocean air I expect down in Florida.

Before promoting the show and stopping at the hotel I sent us straight to Typee Island so we could walk the beach before the sun went down.  You can never really get tired of the Ocean.  An added bonus, I saw JB's legs when he rolled up the pants...he never wears shorts, so the legs are rare.  

Our hotel, maybe a 1 star...haha, The Thunderbird Inn was a classy joint settled in the ghetto.  But hey, we gotta go cheap.  Wild Wing Cafe is a cool place with good food and a music venue upstairs.  The Jets/Patriots game was on and most were cheering for Favre, making me wish I had my Jets Favre jersey.

The SHOW:

-ranked highest so far by JB, 9/10

-the crowd was awesome and perfectly rowdy

-Pete, our new Savannah friend, went around and collected tips for us...THANKS PETE