Long time ..... no posting from me. I know, I know .. but I've been super busy making music with my band. I love to say that. My band. It's got a great ring to it don't you think ? It's about time this "old geezer" got off his ass and started getting serious again. It's been a lifetime coming and it's finally here. About a year ago I was, and still am, "recovering" from a serious spinal injury as a result of wrecking my Harley Davidson. It's been a little over 3 years now since my accident and I think I'm about as good as I'm going to get.
I was in the hospital a little over a month altogether being pieced back together little by little. I had to have my jaw fixed too as a result of trying to eat my speedometer and tachometer. I also have some titanium hardware in my back attached to my spine. I don't recommend this path to anyone either. It can really put a hamper on your guitar playing abilities. Especially when you are in pain 24/7/365 ...
It can be downright depressing when you can't do things that used to be simple to you. Things you always took for granted before. To be honest about it, I really thought my music days were all over with, and any aspirations I might have had about being a performing musician flew right out the window at first. I was, and still am to some degree, and old crippled ass fart. But I can still sit in a chair and play a guitar. I can even stand up and play now with my new 4 inch wide soft leather strap. My collar bone is pretty messed up and the doctors didn't bother to try fixing it unfortunately..
An old friend of mine came to see me one day not long after I had gotten out of the hospital following my big crash in 2009. Everyone, myself included was and is amazed that I lived through that crash. It was pretty bad, and to this day I still have almost zero recollection of it happening. I just woke up one day and realized I was in a hospital between 3 and 4 weeks after I ran my Harley Davidson off the road. I ended up having "Harrington Rods" placed between T-4 and T-11 in my spine because I had blown to bits and pieces 2 of my vertebrates. Needless to say it was a long road to recovery after that.
I was, and still, am in a great deal of pain from my injuries. I broke my jaw too and had to have a plate put in to hold the bones together so it could grow back. There's a lot of depression that come with all of this and I was looking for a way to help kick it's ass. I thought maybe if I got back into my guitar playing it would possibly help me beat the funk.. That's when I decided to give my old friend a call and have a good long talk with him about guitar playing. We had both played music together somewhere in the 25 years ago neighborhood and we even took it so far as to get a drummer (we both play guitar) and try building a band. The band thing quickly fizzled and we all kinda drifted apart doing the "raising a family" thing when the kids started coming along.
After this good long talk, we agreed to get together and have us a little jam session. Just myself and my guitar playing friend. It only took a couple of times of us getting back together before we started talking about giving a band another try just for the hell of it. We started getting together 3 or 4 times a week at first. Right away we started making leaps and bounds. We decided we needed a drummer right off, so my buddy went out and bought 2 drum kits (one Ludwig, one Tama) from a local "swap shop" type of group on facebook. Neither set was complete but a few pieces from musicians friend changed that real quick. It just so happened that my buddy has a son who was interested in playing drums so we put him behind the killer Ludwig kit and the rest is history with him. Our drummer started mentioning a guy he knew of that could sing. The more we heard, (my friend and I) the less we thought he would fit. One thing was his age, 22, and another was that he was a "cowboy" type of guy.. And here we were 2 old hippy type older farts. I'm 48 and my buddy is 45. It didn't even sound good on paper. Especially considering the age of our drummer (12 years old). But we were determined this time to go for it. Both of us are "All In" on this project so we decided to contact this guy. The next weekend rolled around and this singer came over and sang a few songs for us. Then he did a couple of his own songs and we were sold on him.
Two weeks later our singer brought a bass player to practice with him. A 19 year old guy that works with him building trailers for 18 wheelers. OMG this guy can sing ... and the bass player is a natural at playing music. He's also pretty good with a 6 string and backing vocals too. So here we are now 3 practice sessions deep as a full 5 piece band. Session number 4 is today, October 13th and I can hardly wait to get set up and start playing.
It's getting a little late for me (almost 2am) so I'm going to sign off for now. I will come back soon and let everyone know how tonight's jam session goes. I'm anxious about using my new toy. It's a tc electronics brand "polytune" tuner of the "stomp box" variety. It is GREAT so far and I still haven't used all of it's features. More on that in my next blog post. Take care people, and don't forget to put a little music in your ears. It's a beautiful thing. Until next time .... Namaste'
