I'll Just Have A Beer, In The Morning??

For those of you that do not know, I am not much of a morning person. In fact, no one in my immediate family is. My older son is practically a vampire, and it's not uncommon for my two younger daughters (7 & 5) to sleep in till 9am or later, if they have the chance to. The one exception, might be my wife. But honestly, I think it's more a product, of her training her body to go to bed at a decent hour. As I said, I've never been a morning person. I like to stay up late, as that seems to be when I'm the sharpest. My motivation, and creativity really kicks in after 9pm.

It's funny, one of my favorite songwriters, Robert Earl Keen, told a similar tale on one of his live albums. He stated that he is a lazy person, by nature. He likes to stay up late, and sleep in. First of all, I don't consider myself a lazy person, my body is just more comfortable, with later nights and later mornings. I suspect that Robert Earl Keen is the same way. Anyway, he went on and said that this motivated him to pursue music, as a career. "This will perfect for me.", he said. Well, he cut his first single, and went to talk to a radio station about playing it, and maybe doing an interview. The guy at the radio station said, "Sure, we'll give it a spin. Be here at 6am on Saturday." Robert Earl said, "Man, it's already going bad for me." He went on to describe some other things, in the story, but I have always been able to relate to this tidbit.

Now, Roy on the other hand, is a major morning person. I've received emails from him, in the 4am range. And no, he was not up all night! He is pretty much the exact opposite of me. He is at his creative best, early in the morning. So, I guess that pretty much makes SDR, and almost 24 hour venture, huh? I've sent him plenty of emails, well after midnight, that I know he won't see, until the next day. Likewise, when he sends me something in the wee hours, he knows that he will most likely not hear back from me, until at least 9am. The only time I see 4am, is if I have been up all night!

Now, with all of that out of the way, we have a very different type of gig, that we are playing this weekend. Texas has a lot of craft brewers, i.e. craft beer. These establishments, have really taken off in recent years, and I am glad to see it. I will admit it here, I am a beer snob. There is nothing better then a full bodied, great tasting beer. I don't drink beer to get drunk, although, if it's a really great beer, I might overindulge every once in awhile. Sorry, but I am not much of a fan of light beer, i.e. Miller Lite, Coors Light, and Bud Light. If I wanted carbonated water, I would just buy that instead. No offense, to anyone who enjoys these, but they are just not my style. I love to go to the store, and find a new beer to try. Sometimes, it works great, and sometimes, not so great. That's part of the fun, for me. Almost every time I go though, I inevitably see some dude walking out with a 30 pack of Keystone Light, and I'm just thinking, "Man, what are you doing?" But, to each his own, I guess. A lot of my buddies can't believe that I will pay $9.00 or more, for a six pack of beer. They say, "Man, you could've gotten a 12 or 18 pack of  insert, "common domestic beer" here, I just tell them, that for me, "It's quality, not quantity."

Roy also enjoys good quality beer. He went to a craft beer festival a few weeks ago, and met with several of the brewers. A real popular thing that happens with these brewers is, that they give Saturday afternoon tours of their facility. Free beer samples, are usually included. It's also becoming a popular trend, to have a live band come in during these events. We have a couple of these events coming up, over the next couple of weeks. The first one will be this Saturday at the Firewheel Brewery. The Firewheel Brewery is located at 2806 Lewing Lane, Rowlett, Texas. When Roy was booking this show, I remember him saying, "Hey, would you like to play at a brewery?" "Sure, I said. He replied back, "Ok, we will be playing at Firewheel Brewery, in Rowlett, from 11am-3pm." The Robert Earl Keen thought, came into my head, "Oh man, it's already going bad for me, man!" This brewery is 69 miles from my house. I will probably need to be up by 7:00am, at the latest. Not very rock n roll, is it? I move slow in the morning! Luckily, Cisco has come to the rescue. He lives pretty close to me, and has volunteered to drive me. I think I am going to take him up on it. I can get an extra hour of sleep, on the way over! Just kidding! I wouldn't do that to him.

In all actuality, I'm really looking forward to this gig, but damn, that's early! I'm not a morning beer drinker, but I may have to make an exception here! So, if your in the Rowlett area, on Saturday morning/early afternoon, you should drop by the Firewheel Brewery, for a tour, some music, and of course, some beer! Roy told me, that some of our friends from McKinney, may be coming. I hope they do, as we have been desperately trying to get back up that way, for a show. It's been too long! They are some great folks, and I hope to see them on Saturday.

Ok, I'm done for now. If you have any questions, please wait until 10am to contact me, ok? Over and out!

Bassin' And Bowling

Well, this post is way overdue! Last week, I had a rough draft ready, for what was supposed to be last week's blog post. But, alas! Good ole' AT&T prevented that from happening, as our internet, went down at some point last Thursday. Not only that, but since we also have U-verse, that meant no TV either. In hindsight, it's really not that big of deal. A lot of people have a lot more worries, then this. I'm really blessed, and if this is the worst thing to happen to me, over the past week, then I've got it pretty good.

I usually like to post on Thursday's. I have made exceptions, in the past, but Thursdays usually work out the best. Monday's and Tuesday's, are normally when I work on a rough draft, and Wednesday's are when we feature our song of the week. Although, that will be winding down after next week, as we will feature the last song from the GPS To Nowhere album. So, with all of this out of the way, let's get to the latest.

We have been looking at expanding the live band, for some time now. Roy and I, have gone back and forth, over which piece to add next. We couldn't decide whether to go keyboards, or bass guitar. In the end though, we decided that bass guitar would be the best way to expand the live band, at this point. The main reason, is that Roy has a real unique way of running our keyboards, plus he plays some live keyboards during our show. We though for presentation, as well as live sound, that a bass player would have a more, immediate impact.

We ran ads on Craigslist and Facebook, for the last few weeks. We had a lot of responses. Some really strange things happened, on some of these exchanges. For example, we had one applicant email us, and say he was interested. We emailed back, said great, and tried to set up an audition time, He then emailed us back, later, and said he wouldn't be the right fit, but good luck with your project. What the heck? We had another one, that said he was going to start learning bass, and wanted to get involved with a band. He said he was a great Tuba player though, and thought he could add to our sound! Actually, none of this really surprised me. Musicians can be a flaky lot. In the past, these sort of things have happened to me, on numerous occasions. As I mentioned on here, in one of my initial blog posts, trying to recruit musicians can be a nightmare. When I was trying to put together an 80's New Wave band, I never could get anyone together, to even have an initial meeting/rehearsal. Exhausted from the process, I finally gave up on the idea.

I honestly don't remember how many people submitted for our bass player position, but I would like to thank them all, for expressing an interest. We set the audition date for June 8th. We were originally supposed to play a show on that date, but had to cancel it for personal reasons. We decided that this would be a great day to do the auditions. We had three applicants, that we were able to schedule. We scheduled them for 10:30am, 12:30pm, and 2:30pm. We wanted to allow plenty of time, for each applicant. We gave each of them the same four songs to learn. The songs we used for the audition were GPS To Nowhere, Rodeo Radio, Tailgate To The Beach, and Fried Okra. We thought that this would be a good mix, as each song has quite a different feel, from the other.

Each applicant showed up on time, and all three, were very good players. In addition, we got along really well with each applicant, too. This made the decision even more difficult. In the end, we offered the position to Carlos Shilinsky. Carlos is a very accomplished bass player. He also has a great personality and a funny sense of humor. He will fit in with us, very well. I'm super excited to have him on board. He should be joining us for live shows, in the very near future. I would also like to personally thank the other two applicants, for driving out and auditioning. Again, they were both great players, and made this decision, very difficult for us. I wish them both, the best.

Speaking of live shows, we will be back at it again this weekend. This will be a very different experience for us, as we are playing at the Cowtown Bowling Palace. Yes, you read that right. By the name, you can guess what it is, right? I thought so. Roy found this one, I don't remember how, and Marti booked it. Anyway, the theme is Bowling with the Bands. I honestly, have no idea what to expect at this show, but I am really looking forward to it. We will be there this Saturday, June 22. It's a late show, as we do not take the stage until 10pm. Cowtown Bowling Palace is located at 4333 River Oaks Blvd, Fort Worth, Texas. Admission is $10, and from what I understand, that includes bowling, for the night. Pretty good deal, if you ask me. Anyway, I hope you can make it out, if your in the area.

Well, that's all folks! Thanks for reading, and I'll talk to ya soon!