I started this blog with the intention of making it about music. It seems to be taking a different form than I expected though. I kinda feel as though lately its more a place for a regular Joe type of musician to just share my thoughts and musical experiences and even personal struggles with life in general. I'd like to somehow make the world a better place but I think a lot of us share that desire. We just don't quite know how to do it yet. Well, I kinda do but it takes everyone's participation and I haven't figured that part out yet lol.
A lot of us out here know this system we live in sucks, but we don't know how to change it. We are currently being "ruled over" by some "not so nice" people who have taken it upon themselves that "they are a superior beings or bloodlines and know what's best for everyone". And yet we (sometimes literally) worship the various stooges they provide us with for "entertainment". Most of those people are greedy psychopaths unfortunately. They have no conscience about what bad things they might do to other people by their own actions. I honestly don't think there's a single person that could be specifically pointed out that's running things in the way most people think of in conspiracy mode. I'm guilty myself. I was once positive that pope blah blah blah was DEFINITELY the Anti-Christ himself, here to rule the world as Satan. Whatever ...... I kinda don't give a fuck about it anymore in a way. I'm not too hopeful about "the system" ever being anything good for people in the long run. I definitely believe there ARE some pretty bad conspiracies happening all the time. Some very famous one's, Like the Kennedy brothers being murdered (even on film) back in the 60's when everything seemed to "change" back then too .... only different. I could get very deep into a lot of those things. The world works in ways that sometimes you think you have about figured out how it all works and then BAM! something else hits you. You're in too deep at this point of the game too. You know too much to ever forget it all. Nothing has or will ever be the way it was 20 or so years ago. Not for me personally.
I've found out the hard way about how some of our great social security program works ... or doesn't work worth a damn for the people that deal with them. The Whole Damn Thing Is A Sham!
They love the people to "go out into the world and prosper" but " you need to pay these taxes while your making that paycheck. We'll only take a little." And its "for retirement or if you become disabled" its Social Security and everyone has to pay in. That's how the system works after all. You know. The rules and all ...
I went out "to prosper" like every other slave in the country and made a living for myself. I started in the construction field, mostly building houses but also done some concrete work and brick/block laying etc, along the way. I eventually ended up in a machine shop. Not exactly any ordinary machine shop in the sense a person might think. We did a lot of contract type work but did occasionally take in off the street customers. There was not very many who came around but we had a few that came semi regular. Anyway, back to the shop and what we did. We specialized in rebuilding machinery for the fastener industry. Mostly machines that made bolts and nuts and rivets etc. We even made a machine one time from blue prints that poked little tiny holes into an aluminum hub that fits the end of a syringe. I think it ran around 400-600 per minute too! I learned a zillion things from my experiences. We even worked on the road sometimes repairing things for customers "in house". I've made crankshafts and camshafts, specialty bolts and nuts, Welded several types of tool steel including some stainless and aluminum. I've done hard facing on parts and have used a few gouging rods in my day too. I can weld cast iron pretty well most of the time too. There are tricks to certain things. Tricks you sometimes even develop yourself. I done all of that for over twenty years straight of my life. Same building/property under three or four different names. My father owned it himself for most of those years. Although we all shared duties running it. Eventually, after the usual 5 years of tax write off is over with it comes time to do away with, or move the company and start in a new name. That's how the millionaires do it anyway. Sure enough the time came to end the shop I had honed my teeth on all that different machinery.
I managed to acquire a lot of things of my own over the years. A lot of tools and things like welders at home etc. Its nice to be able to repair something if you can at home when you can and where we live (out of town). I am able to do a few things. Its very hard on me sometimes though and sometimes it takes a day or two before I want to get back in my shop again. While the company was moving and selling and scrapping things I took advantage and bought myself a milling machine and a lathe and a band saw and a press a few various things I'm sure I'm forgetting. Lately, with nothing else to do I decided (I guess) that I'd do the night shift and clean up my shop. I've got a lot of stuff in there that's either junk or needs to find a new place to be. Even its its not here and ends up somewhere else. I have been known to sell things I doubted I'd even need again. I may even sell my chainsaw in a yard sale soon. I can't use it anymore. But anyway, I'm slowly getting my shop back in order and its starting to look good in there for a change. And I'm probably only halfway done with what I intend to do with it. Its looking like I'm going to have to try and find some work for myself and that machinery I have. They recently turned down my federal appeal for disability. I just don't understand how they can say, with a straight face at that, that I am not disabled.
They know they got me right where they want me to be. Just like every slave out there busting their ass for a measly living. It doesn't really even matter how much money you make in the broad scheme of things. Just as long ass your ass is making a paycheck and they're getting a cut of it. Good luck getting any of that shit back though. They've pretty well got it figured out that by the time you get to the age it takes to actually draw social security, if you live long enough, you probably aren't going to live very much longer. So where did all that leftover money go? Imagine how many people that have died before collecting benefits at all. Where did that money go? Why are they giving all these social services benefits to illegal aliens? Why are so many perfectly capable of working a job getting disability benefits? I don't get it.
Its late again and I need to sign off. I'll pick this subject up again when I come back. I'm not near done with any of this yet. I might even get fancy and throw in a few hyper links in the next post.
As always .... Peace, Love, and Music
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
And Still I Linger On
Sounds like something that might be usable as a few song lyrics. "And still I linger on" ...... Already out there I bet anyway ...
Well, I am still somehow lingering on somehow. The internet connection is still working, although the bill hasn't been paid yet. It really sucks to wake up most days and not seem to have any purpose in this life. I feel I've learned enough about this life to know that it sucks by status-quo standards. Most of us, "the 99%" are really a bunch of duped slaves to a phoney monetary system dreamed up by the devil himself. I did manage to have a good time last weekend even if it was just a few hours. I wish I could do it every day somehow. Playing music is about all I seem to even bother living for anymore. Its an escape from reality for a little while. Its like magic or something when people are into what you're playing and maybe singing along or even dancing or just moving around a little with a smile on their faces. Most of them, probably 99% worked all week at a job that doesn't pay near enough. Enough to pay the bills (hopefully) and just a little left over to go out to eat and have a nice time. Seems like there is always some people at every gig that have a special song they want you to play. Sometimes you feel like "what am I a jukebox?" lol. BUT we always try to do it if even one or two of us kinda know it. That is one unique thing I think we have about our band. We all range from 14 to 50 years old and that covers a lot of years and genres of music when you add it all up. Although, having a 14 year old drummer in the band limits us as to where we can play. We are kicking around the idea of getting a stunt drummer to stand in for the gigs that you have to be 18-21. The smoking laws kill us worse than the actual being a place that serves alcohol law does for us. Any indoor smoking going on = No persons under the age of 18 - no exceptions. As long as we play outdoors we have no worries though.
We done a stripped down quasi acoustic show. Really all we were missing were drums but since our drummer had a baseball tournament and his dad is our lead guitar player they had to miss the gig. We got a stunt lead player to stand in with us and he was really great to get to play with. We hit it off really good about playing together. A chemistry thing so to speak I guess. That was our second gig in a row like that. And at the same venue too. Its a pizza and beer type of place with a nice atmosphere about it. Its pretty much right there at a pretty popular lake and people from all over north east Texas invade the place every summer. Its been know to have some famous residents in the area. NBA star Dennis Rodman had a houseboat there for a while at least. And Bill Dance or Jimmy Houston from the pro fishing television shows lives or lived around there too. Its a beautiful clean, clear, and deep lake too. Broken Bow Lake is the name of it. Its about 12 miles or so north of Broken Bow Oklahoma in southeast Oklahoma. Its about 50 to 60 miles north of the Texas state line. And about 30 miles west of the Arkansas Oklahoma line.
For southeast Oklahoma of all places The Grateful Head Pizza and Tap Room has some of the best damn pizza ever. I have eaten pizza all over the country and even lived around what I consider the pizza capitol of the world, Chicago Illinois and it rates right up there with the best of them. I usually get to eat mine cold on the way home from the gig and its still kick ass pizza!
We were playing to a standing room only crowd just like the last gig, just playing away minding our own business. And these people walk past us, literally between our monitors and the stage (its really cramped around the tiny stage area) and I see this face I recognized. I thought to myself "no way" but I looked some more and decided it really was him. Not that he's a huge star or anything but he plays on one of those reality shows about cars. Its called "Fast and Loud" or aka "Gas Monkey Garage". The guy's name is Dennis Collins and he's the star Richard Rawlings rich friend who buys cars and advises on foreign cars etc,. While we were taking a quick break I walked out to the parking lot to the truck to get something and I saw a real nice jacked up Jeep. On the spare tire cover it read "Collins Brothers Jeep" so I figure he's partners with his brother in a Jeep Dealership along with being partners with The Gas Monkey himself. Richard Rawlings. I didn't really get a chance to talk to him or shake his hand or anything but him and his friends really seemed to enjoy our music. They actually sat on a concrete slab that holds a picnic table while waiting on a table to open up and it was right next to the stage where they usually reserve for the bands family. I know that place sure sold a lot of pizza and beer last Saturday night. I think we made a ten dollar tip this time. We made about 40 in tips the time before and we don't even set out a tip jar. I kinda got a screwing on the tip situation I think. There was something mentioned about putting it back for equipment but I don't know if that will ever happen or just be forgotten.
The load in and load out is a real pain in the ass. Not to mention hooking everything up right the first time and getting the PA really close to right without a sound check. We literally sound check off of our first song or two. But I have gotten pretty good at getting things all hooked up right and fairly quick if nobody is in my way. That's usually not the case unfortunately and you find yourself doing a sort of awkward dance of some kind getting the cords routed etc,
Well for now I'll just close out by saying I'm still hanging in there. But just barely. I'm an emotional wreck to be honest. I'm on anti-depressants and I'm still depressed beyond description. Apparently that good ole social security system that loves to rob our paychecks don't have any intentions of ever giving it back to you if there's even a sliver of a chance that they can get out of it. The lady who worked as a guard at the Federal Courthouse once told me she had actually seen people missing 2 limbs get turned down for disability. They act in my case like "you just broke your back you can still do something". There are admittedly things I can do, but for the life of me I don't know how I could do an 8 hour shift somewhere and make a living. I have hardware in my spine and my spine is fused to boot. I'm missing two vertebrates. My back doesn't bend well at all. And because of the way it is, it shouldn't bend. For some strange reason also, I have noticed that since my accident and surgery I don't have very good balance. I was told by doctors to stay off of ladders by all means. I'm not supposed to be exposed to vibrations either for fear it could loosen my screws? And its just painful 24/7 in general.
I don't know what I'm going to do. Maybe I'll figure something out to do despite my disabilities and make it somehow, but right now it looks really bleak. It would take 5 nights a week of gigging to make a living and even then after expenses it would be barely squeaking by. And quite frankly I couldn't do it physically. Playing a gig usually takes me 1-3 days just to fully get over. Depends on how much I have to do physically during load in and load out. We have some members who don't like to pull their weight at times and that just makes it worse on me. They don't have to do this for the money though.
Anyway .... Peace, Love, and Music as always
And if I don't make it here I'll see some of you on the other side.
Well, I am still somehow lingering on somehow. The internet connection is still working, although the bill hasn't been paid yet. It really sucks to wake up most days and not seem to have any purpose in this life. I feel I've learned enough about this life to know that it sucks by status-quo standards. Most of us, "the 99%" are really a bunch of duped slaves to a phoney monetary system dreamed up by the devil himself. I did manage to have a good time last weekend even if it was just a few hours. I wish I could do it every day somehow. Playing music is about all I seem to even bother living for anymore. Its an escape from reality for a little while. Its like magic or something when people are into what you're playing and maybe singing along or even dancing or just moving around a little with a smile on their faces. Most of them, probably 99% worked all week at a job that doesn't pay near enough. Enough to pay the bills (hopefully) and just a little left over to go out to eat and have a nice time. Seems like there is always some people at every gig that have a special song they want you to play. Sometimes you feel like "what am I a jukebox?" lol. BUT we always try to do it if even one or two of us kinda know it. That is one unique thing I think we have about our band. We all range from 14 to 50 years old and that covers a lot of years and genres of music when you add it all up. Although, having a 14 year old drummer in the band limits us as to where we can play. We are kicking around the idea of getting a stunt drummer to stand in for the gigs that you have to be 18-21. The smoking laws kill us worse than the actual being a place that serves alcohol law does for us. Any indoor smoking going on = No persons under the age of 18 - no exceptions. As long as we play outdoors we have no worries though.
We done a stripped down quasi acoustic show. Really all we were missing were drums but since our drummer had a baseball tournament and his dad is our lead guitar player they had to miss the gig. We got a stunt lead player to stand in with us and he was really great to get to play with. We hit it off really good about playing together. A chemistry thing so to speak I guess. That was our second gig in a row like that. And at the same venue too. Its a pizza and beer type of place with a nice atmosphere about it. Its pretty much right there at a pretty popular lake and people from all over north east Texas invade the place every summer. Its been know to have some famous residents in the area. NBA star Dennis Rodman had a houseboat there for a while at least. And Bill Dance or Jimmy Houston from the pro fishing television shows lives or lived around there too. Its a beautiful clean, clear, and deep lake too. Broken Bow Lake is the name of it. Its about 12 miles or so north of Broken Bow Oklahoma in southeast Oklahoma. Its about 50 to 60 miles north of the Texas state line. And about 30 miles west of the Arkansas Oklahoma line.
For southeast Oklahoma of all places The Grateful Head Pizza and Tap Room has some of the best damn pizza ever. I have eaten pizza all over the country and even lived around what I consider the pizza capitol of the world, Chicago Illinois and it rates right up there with the best of them. I usually get to eat mine cold on the way home from the gig and its still kick ass pizza!
We were playing to a standing room only crowd just like the last gig, just playing away minding our own business. And these people walk past us, literally between our monitors and the stage (its really cramped around the tiny stage area) and I see this face I recognized. I thought to myself "no way" but I looked some more and decided it really was him. Not that he's a huge star or anything but he plays on one of those reality shows about cars. Its called "Fast and Loud" or aka "Gas Monkey Garage". The guy's name is Dennis Collins and he's the star Richard Rawlings rich friend who buys cars and advises on foreign cars etc,. While we were taking a quick break I walked out to the parking lot to the truck to get something and I saw a real nice jacked up Jeep. On the spare tire cover it read "Collins Brothers Jeep" so I figure he's partners with his brother in a Jeep Dealership along with being partners with The Gas Monkey himself. Richard Rawlings. I didn't really get a chance to talk to him or shake his hand or anything but him and his friends really seemed to enjoy our music. They actually sat on a concrete slab that holds a picnic table while waiting on a table to open up and it was right next to the stage where they usually reserve for the bands family. I know that place sure sold a lot of pizza and beer last Saturday night. I think we made a ten dollar tip this time. We made about 40 in tips the time before and we don't even set out a tip jar. I kinda got a screwing on the tip situation I think. There was something mentioned about putting it back for equipment but I don't know if that will ever happen or just be forgotten.
The load in and load out is a real pain in the ass. Not to mention hooking everything up right the first time and getting the PA really close to right without a sound check. We literally sound check off of our first song or two. But I have gotten pretty good at getting things all hooked up right and fairly quick if nobody is in my way. That's usually not the case unfortunately and you find yourself doing a sort of awkward dance of some kind getting the cords routed etc,
Well for now I'll just close out by saying I'm still hanging in there. But just barely. I'm an emotional wreck to be honest. I'm on anti-depressants and I'm still depressed beyond description. Apparently that good ole social security system that loves to rob our paychecks don't have any intentions of ever giving it back to you if there's even a sliver of a chance that they can get out of it. The lady who worked as a guard at the Federal Courthouse once told me she had actually seen people missing 2 limbs get turned down for disability. They act in my case like "you just broke your back you can still do something". There are admittedly things I can do, but for the life of me I don't know how I could do an 8 hour shift somewhere and make a living. I have hardware in my spine and my spine is fused to boot. I'm missing two vertebrates. My back doesn't bend well at all. And because of the way it is, it shouldn't bend. For some strange reason also, I have noticed that since my accident and surgery I don't have very good balance. I was told by doctors to stay off of ladders by all means. I'm not supposed to be exposed to vibrations either for fear it could loosen my screws? And its just painful 24/7 in general.
I don't know what I'm going to do. Maybe I'll figure something out to do despite my disabilities and make it somehow, but right now it looks really bleak. It would take 5 nights a week of gigging to make a living and even then after expenses it would be barely squeaking by. And quite frankly I couldn't do it physically. Playing a gig usually takes me 1-3 days just to fully get over. Depends on how much I have to do physically during load in and load out. We have some members who don't like to pull their weight at times and that just makes it worse on me. They don't have to do this for the money though.
Anyway .... Peace, Love, and Music as always
And if I don't make it here I'll see some of you on the other side.
Friday, July 11, 2014
After Another Long Absence
Well folks, I'm back for right now but I don't know how long so I thought I'd get some things off my chest that's been weighing heavy on me for a while now. You always hear sayings like the "life of a struggling musician" and other nifty slogans and sayings that generally describe what its really like to be a struggling musician. This blog post doesn't really focus a lot on music this time around. Instead its more about my personal struggles with life right now.
I'm struggling in lots of other ways. Life's a bitch and then you die. I'm sure you've heard that one before as well. I'll let you in on something I wouldn't normally dream of telling a lot of people, much less the blog world. Warning, what I'm about to say is kind of depressing so if you don't want to hear a sad story maybe you should stop reading now and find something more pleasant to read today.
With that said .... I'm a former alcoholic. I know I'm not supposed to say "former", because according to AA once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic. Well for me that's just not the truth. I've got a firm handle on my drinking problem and I have for over 3 years now. Maybe 4 years but I quit counting because its no longer important for me to keep track of. I just know I have that ass kicked and I'm not ever going "back there" again. And besides, I can't afford to drink anymore much less even feed myself sometimes. The month of July marks the anniversary of a huge life change for me. This is the fifth year since it all went down. I had a motorcycle accident that left me pretty messed up to say the least and I'm now pretty well disabled. Although the social security administration and I have been debating that for nearly five years to no avail. The worst injury (among many) that happened in the accident was a broken back. Not just broke either. I did a real number on it. It crushed two vertebrates that had to be picked out in little pieces and my spine is now held together by some steel rods and screws. The official term for those are Harrington Rods. Mine are connected from The T-4 to the T-11 vertebrates. The screws are 3 inches long if the x-rays are to scale size. I also broke a few pieces in my neck and broke all of my ribs. One of them punctured a lung and I spent nearly a month on a vent and in a coma. I had lots of other injuries but those are the major ones.
I worked at a machine shop for most of my adult life but I also did some construction work for a few years off and on before the machinist gig came along. I'm really one of those "Jack of all trades" type of people who works well with their hands. I can take about anything apart and put it back together. I did a lot of that when I was a kid. I've done it for as long as I can remember so I was a natural fit when it came to the machine shop thing. At our shop we specialized in rebuilding machinery for the fastener industry. Machines that make bolts, screws, nuts and rivets, etc .. We were really good at it and one of just a handful of companies that even offered those kind of services. Now days the machinery is throw away junk made in China and a few other Asian countries. They make them to last five to ten years and then you throw them away since they no longer serve as a tax write off. The saying, "they just don't make them like they used to" is definitely true.
After my accident and back surgery the neurologist said I'd never work again and that I was lucky I could even walk. I'm not supposed to lift over ten pounds now either even though I break that rule a lot. Its out of necessity though but I do try to take it as easy as I possibly can. I just can't hold up to physical labor for very long and it takes lots of pain pills just to function in a semi normal fashion. And since I have no college education I don't make a very good desk jockey either. I really can't take sitting in a chair all day either. I have to move around to keep from getting stiff. I take the maximum amount of pain pills a person is allowed already also. I won't even mention all the down sides to that. A dope head would love to get into my medicine drawer. They'd be in hog heaven for a while. I hate the drugs personally and can't see why anyone would take them to get high.
As a result of all of this I am a very depressed person most of the time. Playing my guitar is kinda like therapy for me although its also kinda painful too so its a double edged sword. Music has always been my life, my escape so to speak. I always wanted to play in a band and got to do it several time over the years. I just never had a proper band where I played in front of an audience and actually got paid to do it. After my accident I started trying to think of some way to make it happen if I could just get myself back into good enough shape to do it for a few hours at a time. I really have no aspirations of being a rock star or anything like that. I'm too old for that now and becoming a star is pretty much a young persons world. I'll be fifty years old next month if I make it that long so I'm a little too late for all that. I just wanted to find a way to do this to make some much needed money. I finally have that band I always dreamed about but the gigs are few and far between and its turned out to not be much of a help with paying the bills although it does a little bit sometimes and for that I'm thankful. We get hit up to do benefits about as much or more as paying gigs. And as much as I love doing things to help people I really can't afford to do this for free all the time. So far we've managed to pull it off when asked but its a lot of work and it takes gasoline to get to the gigs. I figured it out a few times on paper and when you figure in how many hours go into set up and tear down we are lucky to make minimum wage or sometimes just cover the expense of doing it.
Meanwhile the bills keep piling up and my wife (really ex-wife) has not been in good health for a while now either. She had a good paying job at a pharmacy as a pharmacy tech but he boss was not only a crook but a real dick too. One day a state auditor person came in and things didn't go very well. To make a long story shorter she found out her boss was committing Medicare fraud and the auditor lady advised her to get the hell out of there because she was legally responsible for some of that stuff and could actually go to prison because they weren't licensed to do what they were doing. She did the right thing and quit that job when she found out things weren't on the up and up and all legal. We're pretty honest people and try to live right and live by the laws our society has. Even when some of those laws don't seem very just. Who wants trouble anyway? So she quit and went to the unemployment office and basically spilled the beans on her former boss. He fought like hell to keep her from getting her unemployment but because of his illegal activities she was able to get her unemployment. It was during that time that she fell ill with respiratory problems. We still don't know what's wrong with her but the doctors are trying to figure it out.
When the unemployment ran its course things really started getting really bad. We just can't seem to keep up with the bills that come with basic survival anymore. She has a few houses she cleans but that's it mostly. After several times of getting the electricity shut off and internet shut off its looking more and more hopeless. The internet has been shut off for a long time now and since it was tied in with the phone and satellite television its been pretty boring around here to say the least. Last night I was doing a little cleaning in my music room and noticed that all the lights were working on the modem. I tried to pull up my home page and damned if it didn't work for whatever reason. Someone either messed up or felt sorry for us and turned it back on because we sure haven't paid the bill. We've barely held on to the house as it is and we're still very close to foreclosure.
We decided to give the congressman's aid a call and see if there was any news yet on my disability case. I have a brief filed in federal court basically suing them already and I'm on my second go, filing a brand new claim at trying to get my disability started. After talking to Tracy we found out my case wasn't even coming up for a hearing until sometime after December. And the bank is on our ass right now. They have already bent over backwards trying to help and the last time they refinanced they said we couldn't be late even once on the payment. Thankfully, Tracy, the congressman's disability aid has taken a personal interest in my family's plight. Our youngest son is a type 2 diabetic and he's not doing well with it. Long story but he was basically forced out of high school eventually and put in to the home bound program. They didn't want him at school because they didn't want to possible liability issues if something happened to him at school. He needs an insulin pump because it constantly monitors his insulin levels and administers it as needed. Unfortunately his kids medicare doesn't pay for insulin pumps and they're very expensive. During the many times spent communicating with Tracy (the congressman's aid) about my own disability case, she got to hear my sons story as well. I turned over pretty much all of the communication aspects of my case to my wife since I seem to have a short fuse and a bad memory anymore. Anyway, you know how women like to talk lol. Tracy asked why we didn't have our son on disability already. Children's Hospital had told us it was no longer considered a disability when he was first diagnosed so we never thought about it. Tracy talked her into giving it a try since she said that what we were told by Children's wasn't exactly accurate. In severe cases (such as his) it is still considered a disability as it should be. I won't even get into the details of seeing first hand on a daily basis what a person with type two diabetes goes through. Especially when the blood sugar levels are barely controllable even when you're doing everything by the book. So anyway, we got him signed up for disability and it took about year but he finally got approved. A year is a long time for most things. Babies are conceived and birthed in less time than that. But for dealing with, and especially, GETTING ANYWHERE with the social security disability administration within a years times is like a MIRACLE.
People, I kid you not. I would not wish what I'm going through on my worst enemy. Calling it the most horribly imaginable fucking nightmare from hell is only because there are no worse words to describe it in the English language that I can come up with. This is a long post I know. And I'm having to actually take breaks because I just can't sit in a regular desk chair very long. Recliners are the only way to go for long term sitting (and sleeping) for me. Absolutely no standing in one place (like washing dishes) for over a few minutes either. I have to move around a little bit which is why I'm always moving when I'm playing music with my band even if it is just a little movement mostly. I'm literally crooked. You can actually see it with my shirt off where you can see from my neck to my belly button. And not only am I crooked that way, I'm also crooked so that my spine goes inward pushing my guts forward. I don't blame anyone for that but myself. The neurosurgeon that fixed me done a great job according to other doctors that have looked at my x-rays. The orthopedic surgeon that social security sent me to was impressed with his work but also agreed that I was pretty screwed up. Or as they usually all say, "you're really lucky" or "someones looking out for you" or my favorite one, "your time isn't done here and you have something pretty important left to do". I don't feel like I'll ever figure that one out. Its surely not to write this blog that I hardly ever post in. And surely my "purpose" is not be in some rinky dink cover band.
Whatever my higher purpose might be I sometimes wish it would hurry up and happen because this life isn't very good to me anymore quality wise. I do still get a little enjoyment out of it. Especially when I'm playing music and everybody is hitting on all cylinders and we just couldn't screw it up if we wanted to. But that usually doesn't happen very often. When you put five people together to play music someone is bound to have an off night sometimes.
Had to take a break there for a little bit. My neighbor just came by and told me some bad news. That's all I EVER seem to hear anymore so I'm not in shock but its still very sad to me. A very good mutual friend of ours was found dead this morning in his camper when he didn't show up for work. He was a pipe fitter and worked all over the place at refineries so he had a camper rather than pay motel bills. We called him Wally but his real name was Wylie. He was 48 years old. I remember that because he said it several times the last time I saw him, which was last Friday night, the fourth of July. Wally was a hell of a mechanic and even built race cars for the dirt track and built racing engines for others. He was a wiz with transmissions too. Wally liked to drink beer and fight in bars, gamble his money away at casinos, pretty much anything wild and crazy. He was also the type of guy who would give you the shirt off his back if you needed help. I'm gonna miss that dude. I'm glad I got to see him last Friday night. I even broke down and drank a couple of beers with him because he was one of those guys that always wanted to give everyone a beer whether they drank or not lol. Damn this really sucks to hear he died.
And on top of that, my favorite uncle is dying of cancer right now. Uncle Bob has always been kinda my hero. I always looked up to him because he played guitar really well and I always wanted to play like uncle Bob. I wanted to play before my hands were even big enough. I couldn't wait until I grew enough to play guitar. Bob always encouraged me too. Even though he lived in Arkansas and I lived in Illinois I couldn't wait until vacation time and we got to go to Arkansas so I could show uncle Bob what I'd learned since the last time we'd saw each other. At one point he loaned me his old Gibson because my parents couldn't afford to buy me a good guitar. I kept that guitar for 4 or 5 years and then sent it back to him when I went into the Army. I bought myself a nice acoustic guitar after I got in there and then later on in life I was able to finally get myself a decent guitar or two or three eventually.
I need to think about wrapping this long winded blog up before they shut the internet back off. I still don't know how the hell its working. I'm kinda feeling bummed out now after hearing about Wally. And my neighbor also told me his dog Scruffy was missing. She's really old and she's around that age when dogs usually die. She's always kinda felt like a part of the family around here. She's always came over and played with and just hung around my dogs. She even came over and hung around me sometimes when I was outside messing around and my neighbor was gone somewhere. I'm hoping for the best but I kinda got my doubts she's coming home. She probably got out in the woods chasing a rabbit or squirrel and had heat stroke or heart attack.
I have to admit something though and get it off my chest and out here in the cyber world so maybe one day someone will read it and hopefully understand. I've been struggling a lot lately. Even though I'm on anti depressants they only help so much. When things start getting really hopeless looking its hard to deal with. I've been having suicidal thoughts for a long time now. Since after my accident and the resulting physical pain on a daily basis is a lot to deal with I can't help but think about putting myself out of my misery. I've heard all the arguments against it, and I understand the implications about doing something like that. But would your family, friends and loved ones really want you to live your life through tremendous pain and suffering all the time? In a perfect and just world I'd be on disability and we could at least make it financially. Although even that would no doubt be somewhat of a struggle since the pay is low and the pain is still there physically, at least the hopelessness would be gone and I wouldn't have to wonder how long its going to be before I'm sleeping under a bridge somewhere. Its a very humiliating feeling to be a man that can't provide the basic necessities in life for his family. At least a woman with a sick kid can get some financial help in this screwed up world. But not with me in the picture.
If only the administrative law judge had done his job and actually reviewed my case, none of this would be happening. When I got his decision letter I knew by the first paragraph he hadn't even reviewed my case. He claimed that I opted to represent myself at my hearing. I didn't represent myself, I had a lawyer. It even says so all over my paperwork. This judge saw and interacted with my lawyer and even commended him for doing my case Pro Bono at the hearing. The two doctors on social securities side at my hearing testified strongly in my favor. Even more strongly than the doctors that social security sent me to and had reports from basically saying "this guy is disabled". So what happened here? Why me? Or do they do everyone that way? For the most part the only people I see drawing disability are people who have never worked or hardly had a work history and haven't paid into the system like the rest of us poor working bastards doing a 9 to 5 gig every day for decades. It always sucked seeing how much they took out of my check for social security every week for all those years. But like everyone else I sucked it up and kept going, thinking I'd at least have some income when I got too old to work or became disabled by some slim chance. I say slim chance because we're all ten feet tall and bullet proof for a time. I found out the hard way that we're a little bit more fragile than that.
I don't know what's gonna happen. This may even be the last post I ever make on here. I hope not, because I enjoy the internet and its one of my very few enjoyments even left in this life. It kinda feels good getting it off your chest sometimes to whoever might stumble across my little blog. Somethings gotta give soon though or I think I'm going to pull the plunger soon. I just don't know how much more I can take.
Maybe things will turn around for me soon and get better. Maybe not. But I'm gonna go ahead and say goodbye and hit the publish button before my ISP figures out they messed up and the modem lights go back out. I'm gonna try my best to hang in there but I can't promise anything since nothings really promised to us except death and taxes. If they take the house and I end up homeless all bets are off.
I love everyone pretty much and I've always loved life itself. There's so much beauty out there that a lot of us never take the time or get the time to enjoy. Always remember to love one another and treat each other with respect. You never know what someone might be going through when you meet them on the street or in the store or wherever you might be.
Peace, Love, and Music ........... Jimiray
I'm struggling in lots of other ways. Life's a bitch and then you die. I'm sure you've heard that one before as well. I'll let you in on something I wouldn't normally dream of telling a lot of people, much less the blog world. Warning, what I'm about to say is kind of depressing so if you don't want to hear a sad story maybe you should stop reading now and find something more pleasant to read today.
With that said .... I'm a former alcoholic. I know I'm not supposed to say "former", because according to AA once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic. Well for me that's just not the truth. I've got a firm handle on my drinking problem and I have for over 3 years now. Maybe 4 years but I quit counting because its no longer important for me to keep track of. I just know I have that ass kicked and I'm not ever going "back there" again. And besides, I can't afford to drink anymore much less even feed myself sometimes. The month of July marks the anniversary of a huge life change for me. This is the fifth year since it all went down. I had a motorcycle accident that left me pretty messed up to say the least and I'm now pretty well disabled. Although the social security administration and I have been debating that for nearly five years to no avail. The worst injury (among many) that happened in the accident was a broken back. Not just broke either. I did a real number on it. It crushed two vertebrates that had to be picked out in little pieces and my spine is now held together by some steel rods and screws. The official term for those are Harrington Rods. Mine are connected from The T-4 to the T-11 vertebrates. The screws are 3 inches long if the x-rays are to scale size. I also broke a few pieces in my neck and broke all of my ribs. One of them punctured a lung and I spent nearly a month on a vent and in a coma. I had lots of other injuries but those are the major ones.
I worked at a machine shop for most of my adult life but I also did some construction work for a few years off and on before the machinist gig came along. I'm really one of those "Jack of all trades" type of people who works well with their hands. I can take about anything apart and put it back together. I did a lot of that when I was a kid. I've done it for as long as I can remember so I was a natural fit when it came to the machine shop thing. At our shop we specialized in rebuilding machinery for the fastener industry. Machines that make bolts, screws, nuts and rivets, etc .. We were really good at it and one of just a handful of companies that even offered those kind of services. Now days the machinery is throw away junk made in China and a few other Asian countries. They make them to last five to ten years and then you throw them away since they no longer serve as a tax write off. The saying, "they just don't make them like they used to" is definitely true.
After my accident and back surgery the neurologist said I'd never work again and that I was lucky I could even walk. I'm not supposed to lift over ten pounds now either even though I break that rule a lot. Its out of necessity though but I do try to take it as easy as I possibly can. I just can't hold up to physical labor for very long and it takes lots of pain pills just to function in a semi normal fashion. And since I have no college education I don't make a very good desk jockey either. I really can't take sitting in a chair all day either. I have to move around to keep from getting stiff. I take the maximum amount of pain pills a person is allowed already also. I won't even mention all the down sides to that. A dope head would love to get into my medicine drawer. They'd be in hog heaven for a while. I hate the drugs personally and can't see why anyone would take them to get high.
As a result of all of this I am a very depressed person most of the time. Playing my guitar is kinda like therapy for me although its also kinda painful too so its a double edged sword. Music has always been my life, my escape so to speak. I always wanted to play in a band and got to do it several time over the years. I just never had a proper band where I played in front of an audience and actually got paid to do it. After my accident I started trying to think of some way to make it happen if I could just get myself back into good enough shape to do it for a few hours at a time. I really have no aspirations of being a rock star or anything like that. I'm too old for that now and becoming a star is pretty much a young persons world. I'll be fifty years old next month if I make it that long so I'm a little too late for all that. I just wanted to find a way to do this to make some much needed money. I finally have that band I always dreamed about but the gigs are few and far between and its turned out to not be much of a help with paying the bills although it does a little bit sometimes and for that I'm thankful. We get hit up to do benefits about as much or more as paying gigs. And as much as I love doing things to help people I really can't afford to do this for free all the time. So far we've managed to pull it off when asked but its a lot of work and it takes gasoline to get to the gigs. I figured it out a few times on paper and when you figure in how many hours go into set up and tear down we are lucky to make minimum wage or sometimes just cover the expense of doing it.
Meanwhile the bills keep piling up and my wife (really ex-wife) has not been in good health for a while now either. She had a good paying job at a pharmacy as a pharmacy tech but he boss was not only a crook but a real dick too. One day a state auditor person came in and things didn't go very well. To make a long story shorter she found out her boss was committing Medicare fraud and the auditor lady advised her to get the hell out of there because she was legally responsible for some of that stuff and could actually go to prison because they weren't licensed to do what they were doing. She did the right thing and quit that job when she found out things weren't on the up and up and all legal. We're pretty honest people and try to live right and live by the laws our society has. Even when some of those laws don't seem very just. Who wants trouble anyway? So she quit and went to the unemployment office and basically spilled the beans on her former boss. He fought like hell to keep her from getting her unemployment but because of his illegal activities she was able to get her unemployment. It was during that time that she fell ill with respiratory problems. We still don't know what's wrong with her but the doctors are trying to figure it out.
When the unemployment ran its course things really started getting really bad. We just can't seem to keep up with the bills that come with basic survival anymore. She has a few houses she cleans but that's it mostly. After several times of getting the electricity shut off and internet shut off its looking more and more hopeless. The internet has been shut off for a long time now and since it was tied in with the phone and satellite television its been pretty boring around here to say the least. Last night I was doing a little cleaning in my music room and noticed that all the lights were working on the modem. I tried to pull up my home page and damned if it didn't work for whatever reason. Someone either messed up or felt sorry for us and turned it back on because we sure haven't paid the bill. We've barely held on to the house as it is and we're still very close to foreclosure.
We decided to give the congressman's aid a call and see if there was any news yet on my disability case. I have a brief filed in federal court basically suing them already and I'm on my second go, filing a brand new claim at trying to get my disability started. After talking to Tracy we found out my case wasn't even coming up for a hearing until sometime after December. And the bank is on our ass right now. They have already bent over backwards trying to help and the last time they refinanced they said we couldn't be late even once on the payment. Thankfully, Tracy, the congressman's disability aid has taken a personal interest in my family's plight. Our youngest son is a type 2 diabetic and he's not doing well with it. Long story but he was basically forced out of high school eventually and put in to the home bound program. They didn't want him at school because they didn't want to possible liability issues if something happened to him at school. He needs an insulin pump because it constantly monitors his insulin levels and administers it as needed. Unfortunately his kids medicare doesn't pay for insulin pumps and they're very expensive. During the many times spent communicating with Tracy (the congressman's aid) about my own disability case, she got to hear my sons story as well. I turned over pretty much all of the communication aspects of my case to my wife since I seem to have a short fuse and a bad memory anymore. Anyway, you know how women like to talk lol. Tracy asked why we didn't have our son on disability already. Children's Hospital had told us it was no longer considered a disability when he was first diagnosed so we never thought about it. Tracy talked her into giving it a try since she said that what we were told by Children's wasn't exactly accurate. In severe cases (such as his) it is still considered a disability as it should be. I won't even get into the details of seeing first hand on a daily basis what a person with type two diabetes goes through. Especially when the blood sugar levels are barely controllable even when you're doing everything by the book. So anyway, we got him signed up for disability and it took about year but he finally got approved. A year is a long time for most things. Babies are conceived and birthed in less time than that. But for dealing with, and especially, GETTING ANYWHERE with the social security disability administration within a years times is like a MIRACLE.
People, I kid you not. I would not wish what I'm going through on my worst enemy. Calling it the most horribly imaginable fucking nightmare from hell is only because there are no worse words to describe it in the English language that I can come up with. This is a long post I know. And I'm having to actually take breaks because I just can't sit in a regular desk chair very long. Recliners are the only way to go for long term sitting (and sleeping) for me. Absolutely no standing in one place (like washing dishes) for over a few minutes either. I have to move around a little bit which is why I'm always moving when I'm playing music with my band even if it is just a little movement mostly. I'm literally crooked. You can actually see it with my shirt off where you can see from my neck to my belly button. And not only am I crooked that way, I'm also crooked so that my spine goes inward pushing my guts forward. I don't blame anyone for that but myself. The neurosurgeon that fixed me done a great job according to other doctors that have looked at my x-rays. The orthopedic surgeon that social security sent me to was impressed with his work but also agreed that I was pretty screwed up. Or as they usually all say, "you're really lucky" or "someones looking out for you" or my favorite one, "your time isn't done here and you have something pretty important left to do". I don't feel like I'll ever figure that one out. Its surely not to write this blog that I hardly ever post in. And surely my "purpose" is not be in some rinky dink cover band.
Whatever my higher purpose might be I sometimes wish it would hurry up and happen because this life isn't very good to me anymore quality wise. I do still get a little enjoyment out of it. Especially when I'm playing music and everybody is hitting on all cylinders and we just couldn't screw it up if we wanted to. But that usually doesn't happen very often. When you put five people together to play music someone is bound to have an off night sometimes.
Had to take a break there for a little bit. My neighbor just came by and told me some bad news. That's all I EVER seem to hear anymore so I'm not in shock but its still very sad to me. A very good mutual friend of ours was found dead this morning in his camper when he didn't show up for work. He was a pipe fitter and worked all over the place at refineries so he had a camper rather than pay motel bills. We called him Wally but his real name was Wylie. He was 48 years old. I remember that because he said it several times the last time I saw him, which was last Friday night, the fourth of July. Wally was a hell of a mechanic and even built race cars for the dirt track and built racing engines for others. He was a wiz with transmissions too. Wally liked to drink beer and fight in bars, gamble his money away at casinos, pretty much anything wild and crazy. He was also the type of guy who would give you the shirt off his back if you needed help. I'm gonna miss that dude. I'm glad I got to see him last Friday night. I even broke down and drank a couple of beers with him because he was one of those guys that always wanted to give everyone a beer whether they drank or not lol. Damn this really sucks to hear he died.
And on top of that, my favorite uncle is dying of cancer right now. Uncle Bob has always been kinda my hero. I always looked up to him because he played guitar really well and I always wanted to play like uncle Bob. I wanted to play before my hands were even big enough. I couldn't wait until I grew enough to play guitar. Bob always encouraged me too. Even though he lived in Arkansas and I lived in Illinois I couldn't wait until vacation time and we got to go to Arkansas so I could show uncle Bob what I'd learned since the last time we'd saw each other. At one point he loaned me his old Gibson because my parents couldn't afford to buy me a good guitar. I kept that guitar for 4 or 5 years and then sent it back to him when I went into the Army. I bought myself a nice acoustic guitar after I got in there and then later on in life I was able to finally get myself a decent guitar or two or three eventually.
I need to think about wrapping this long winded blog up before they shut the internet back off. I still don't know how the hell its working. I'm kinda feeling bummed out now after hearing about Wally. And my neighbor also told me his dog Scruffy was missing. She's really old and she's around that age when dogs usually die. She's always kinda felt like a part of the family around here. She's always came over and played with and just hung around my dogs. She even came over and hung around me sometimes when I was outside messing around and my neighbor was gone somewhere. I'm hoping for the best but I kinda got my doubts she's coming home. She probably got out in the woods chasing a rabbit or squirrel and had heat stroke or heart attack.
I have to admit something though and get it off my chest and out here in the cyber world so maybe one day someone will read it and hopefully understand. I've been struggling a lot lately. Even though I'm on anti depressants they only help so much. When things start getting really hopeless looking its hard to deal with. I've been having suicidal thoughts for a long time now. Since after my accident and the resulting physical pain on a daily basis is a lot to deal with I can't help but think about putting myself out of my misery. I've heard all the arguments against it, and I understand the implications about doing something like that. But would your family, friends and loved ones really want you to live your life through tremendous pain and suffering all the time? In a perfect and just world I'd be on disability and we could at least make it financially. Although even that would no doubt be somewhat of a struggle since the pay is low and the pain is still there physically, at least the hopelessness would be gone and I wouldn't have to wonder how long its going to be before I'm sleeping under a bridge somewhere. Its a very humiliating feeling to be a man that can't provide the basic necessities in life for his family. At least a woman with a sick kid can get some financial help in this screwed up world. But not with me in the picture.
If only the administrative law judge had done his job and actually reviewed my case, none of this would be happening. When I got his decision letter I knew by the first paragraph he hadn't even reviewed my case. He claimed that I opted to represent myself at my hearing. I didn't represent myself, I had a lawyer. It even says so all over my paperwork. This judge saw and interacted with my lawyer and even commended him for doing my case Pro Bono at the hearing. The two doctors on social securities side at my hearing testified strongly in my favor. Even more strongly than the doctors that social security sent me to and had reports from basically saying "this guy is disabled". So what happened here? Why me? Or do they do everyone that way? For the most part the only people I see drawing disability are people who have never worked or hardly had a work history and haven't paid into the system like the rest of us poor working bastards doing a 9 to 5 gig every day for decades. It always sucked seeing how much they took out of my check for social security every week for all those years. But like everyone else I sucked it up and kept going, thinking I'd at least have some income when I got too old to work or became disabled by some slim chance. I say slim chance because we're all ten feet tall and bullet proof for a time. I found out the hard way that we're a little bit more fragile than that.
I don't know what's gonna happen. This may even be the last post I ever make on here. I hope not, because I enjoy the internet and its one of my very few enjoyments even left in this life. It kinda feels good getting it off your chest sometimes to whoever might stumble across my little blog. Somethings gotta give soon though or I think I'm going to pull the plunger soon. I just don't know how much more I can take.
Maybe things will turn around for me soon and get better. Maybe not. But I'm gonna go ahead and say goodbye and hit the publish button before my ISP figures out they messed up and the modem lights go back out. I'm gonna try my best to hang in there but I can't promise anything since nothings really promised to us except death and taxes. If they take the house and I end up homeless all bets are off.
I love everyone pretty much and I've always loved life itself. There's so much beauty out there that a lot of us never take the time or get the time to enjoy. Always remember to love one another and treat each other with respect. You never know what someone might be going through when you meet them on the street or in the store or wherever you might be.
Peace, Love, and Music ........... Jimiray
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Different Approaches
Hi folks, its me again. I don't have a new Whisky Hill video today but I just thought I would check in with the blog world briefly and say a few things about the music and the band. We had a "regular" practice on Friday night and it was our second in a row when it wasn't actually a real regular practice. By that I mean we didn't go over our material list like we normally do. It turned out to be a sort of jam session. We went over a few songs that we have tried before and put on the back burner, and then it happened again. We were standing around talking mechanics of a song ( I forget which one) and usually at least one of us kinda plucks around a little while we're talking. I started to play the opening notes to Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash and our bass player (who knows ALL those old country songs) just jumped aboard, followed by the drummer and then the rest of the guys. We ended up going through it a couple of times, experimenting along the way like probably all bands do. When you have 2 (or more) guitars you really need them playing something different that still fits. That's kinda how it works in the studio too. You layer your guitars, and or all instruments on different tracks. But that's all for another blog post one day maybe.
So anyway, after going through it, experimenting and getting our parts down to our own satisfaction we played it a couple more times just for the hell of it and practice sake and it sounds BAD ASS the way we do it. We put the Whiskey Hill mojo on that song baby! Our bass player is designated lead singer for this tune and our lead singer is going to sing harmonies on it. I've saw a lot of rock bands cover this tune over the years and I've saw my share of country bands do it too. I can honestly say that to this date I have never heard it done quite like we did it. I'm not going to give it away right now either. Sorry about that but I'd rather just get a video of us doing it and let the music do the talking. As soon as I get a video I will post it here on my blog before posting it anywhere but youtube of course. I'm super excited about it. I know its a genuine oldie that every band and their brother has covered but I think our version is going to have a small unique aspect to it. At least I hope so. Until then I'll leave you good folks a video from one of the great musicians that I am subscribed to on youtue. He goes by "tonedr" there and works hard and regularly at being a great guitar player and teacher. He is in a band called Big River Band, and another by the name Lexington Lab Band, and also does shows with the beautiful and talented Lauren Mink, who was also a contestant on American Idol. If you click on that little youtube button at the bottom right hand side of the video player you can watch it on youtube directly. From there you can check out his channel and find 525 videos and counting. I promise you there's a lot of good music to be found on (tonedr) Dales channel.
Until next time, much love and peace to everyone.
So anyway, after going through it, experimenting and getting our parts down to our own satisfaction we played it a couple more times just for the hell of it and practice sake and it sounds BAD ASS the way we do it. We put the Whiskey Hill mojo on that song baby! Our bass player is designated lead singer for this tune and our lead singer is going to sing harmonies on it. I've saw a lot of rock bands cover this tune over the years and I've saw my share of country bands do it too. I can honestly say that to this date I have never heard it done quite like we did it. I'm not going to give it away right now either. Sorry about that but I'd rather just get a video of us doing it and let the music do the talking. As soon as I get a video I will post it here on my blog before posting it anywhere but youtube of course. I'm super excited about it. I know its a genuine oldie that every band and their brother has covered but I think our version is going to have a small unique aspect to it. At least I hope so. Until then I'll leave you good folks a video from one of the great musicians that I am subscribed to on youtue. He goes by "tonedr" there and works hard and regularly at being a great guitar player and teacher. He is in a band called Big River Band, and another by the name Lexington Lab Band, and also does shows with the beautiful and talented Lauren Mink, who was also a contestant on American Idol. If you click on that little youtube button at the bottom right hand side of the video player you can watch it on youtube directly. From there you can check out his channel and find 525 videos and counting. I promise you there's a lot of good music to be found on (tonedr) Dales channel.
Until next time, much love and peace to everyone.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Pride and Joy
Hello good people, I'm back for another blog post. I know its been a long time but nobody reads my blog anyway haha!! No, seriously, I do have one very dear friend that reads my blog. Today started out kinda bad for me and I've been thinking about that dear friend of mine and wishing I had a way to call him and shoot the breeze. Emails just aren't the same, and lately my internet access has been very limited due mostly to financial reasons. The life of a starving musician isn't what its all cracked up to be.
Recently, like last weekend, we played 2 gigs in one day. I'm getting ahead of myself though because you don't know about the departure of our original singer, Tyler. Back several months ago he decided to go to Colorado for 6 months to a year. He does construction/welding type work and has to go where the work is. Unfortunately he didn't tell the band about his decision and we had to find out kinda second hand by way of a comment on facebook by his wife. Well, that was a little devastating to say the least. For some of us, well me anyway, this band is all I have. Fortunately there was a guy in the neighborhood that can sing and wanted a shot at it. He had actually came to a practice session before and was going to sing a few songs with us. None of the rest of the band knew that at the time though. Good ole Tyler never told any of us about that. In hindsight now it makes perfect sense. We since found out all kinds of things about him that, lets just say, the boy has a hard time telling the truth and leave it at that. He's talented at singing but he'll never step foot near this band again. In fact he still hasn't bothered to call any of the band members since he left us high and dry with a gig booked. Enough of him though. Its pissing me off just thinking about it.
We have a new singer now and we're as happy as can we be with him. He actually shows up for practice. When he's not going to be able to make it, and that's rare, he lets us all know well ahead of time. That's how it should be too. He's a talented singer and pretty darn good guitar player too. Rich helped us make up the gig Tyler left us stuck with. We played another gig the very next day too. It was a benefit for one of our local paramedics who got stung by a wasp and it darn near killed him from the reaction he had from it. He's on the mend now and getting some much needed rehab. This past weekend made four gigs we've played since Rich joined the band.
We played at a benefit concert this past weekend called the Bob O'Palooza. Bob recently found out he has stage 4 lung cancer. Being the small tight knit community this is, a lot of people sprung into action and put on a show. That's just how we roll around here. A local band, The Midnight Hurricanes put all this together and despite the rain, raised over 12K to help Bob out with the medical bills that are racking up for him.
These benefit shows don't pay in dollars, but that's not important to us. Just knowing you helped someone out is worth more than any dollars and cents. And it pays off down the road eventually. Usually in Karma. And hey, we get to play music for people. That's worth everything right there. How can you put a price on applause ? How much is it worth to see people get up and dance to the music you're playing ? That's one of the greatest feelings in the world to me. Its why I do it. I don't have any false illusions of fame and fortune. I'm fully aware that we are just another band among thousands just like us all over this country out there living the dream. If I have any regrets it would be that I didn't do this sooner. Its been a dream of mine for as long as I've been playing music.
We're still working on getting better at this. Its a lot of work too, but we're starting to come around and sound like a real band now. I'm going to leave you with a video from last weekend. Its from a private party we played after the benefit show. There was no way I could get a video from the benefit. Long story there, but in short, the rain had the audience sharing the stage with the bands and it was hard enough just to carve out a big enough spot for yourself and your equipment. We never thought about a video. Maybe someone else got some footage and something will surface later. If so, I'll share it here.
Recently, like last weekend, we played 2 gigs in one day. I'm getting ahead of myself though because you don't know about the departure of our original singer, Tyler. Back several months ago he decided to go to Colorado for 6 months to a year. He does construction/welding type work and has to go where the work is. Unfortunately he didn't tell the band about his decision and we had to find out kinda second hand by way of a comment on facebook by his wife. Well, that was a little devastating to say the least. For some of us, well me anyway, this band is all I have. Fortunately there was a guy in the neighborhood that can sing and wanted a shot at it. He had actually came to a practice session before and was going to sing a few songs with us. None of the rest of the band knew that at the time though. Good ole Tyler never told any of us about that. In hindsight now it makes perfect sense. We since found out all kinds of things about him that, lets just say, the boy has a hard time telling the truth and leave it at that. He's talented at singing but he'll never step foot near this band again. In fact he still hasn't bothered to call any of the band members since he left us high and dry with a gig booked. Enough of him though. Its pissing me off just thinking about it.
We have a new singer now and we're as happy as can we be with him. He actually shows up for practice. When he's not going to be able to make it, and that's rare, he lets us all know well ahead of time. That's how it should be too. He's a talented singer and pretty darn good guitar player too. Rich helped us make up the gig Tyler left us stuck with. We played another gig the very next day too. It was a benefit for one of our local paramedics who got stung by a wasp and it darn near killed him from the reaction he had from it. He's on the mend now and getting some much needed rehab. This past weekend made four gigs we've played since Rich joined the band.
We played at a benefit concert this past weekend called the Bob O'Palooza. Bob recently found out he has stage 4 lung cancer. Being the small tight knit community this is, a lot of people sprung into action and put on a show. That's just how we roll around here. A local band, The Midnight Hurricanes put all this together and despite the rain, raised over 12K to help Bob out with the medical bills that are racking up for him.
These benefit shows don't pay in dollars, but that's not important to us. Just knowing you helped someone out is worth more than any dollars and cents. And it pays off down the road eventually. Usually in Karma. And hey, we get to play music for people. That's worth everything right there. How can you put a price on applause ? How much is it worth to see people get up and dance to the music you're playing ? That's one of the greatest feelings in the world to me. Its why I do it. I don't have any false illusions of fame and fortune. I'm fully aware that we are just another band among thousands just like us all over this country out there living the dream. If I have any regrets it would be that I didn't do this sooner. Its been a dream of mine for as long as I've been playing music.
We're still working on getting better at this. Its a lot of work too, but we're starting to come around and sound like a real band now. I'm going to leave you with a video from last weekend. Its from a private party we played after the benefit show. There was no way I could get a video from the benefit. Long story there, but in short, the rain had the audience sharing the stage with the bands and it was hard enough just to carve out a big enough spot for yourself and your equipment. We never thought about a video. Maybe someone else got some footage and something will surface later. If so, I'll share it here.
Friday, May 31, 2013
Jammin' with JB and The Moonshine Band
Hello good people, its been a long time since I've posted anything in this blog. I have been pretty busy lately with my band, Whiskey Hill. Back on May 4th I had the opportunity of a lifetime. The way it all went down still baffles me but it really happened and I have the video to prove it haha!
It started out one day when I logged on to my youtube account and discovered a fresh new video from a band called JB and The Moonshine Band who's channel I am subscribed to. The video had just been posted about 30 minutes prior to me seeing it. Get In Where You Fit In was the name of the video and it was basically a contest for a chance to perform with them on stage. It just so happened I had a video of my band doing a cover of one of their songs, Hell To Pay. I'll be the first to admit it wasn't a very good cover, and it was from our first gig, using a cheap 4 channel no name PA head coupled with my old Kustom speakers. One of which was turned toward us for a monitor because it was all we had at the time.
I entered the video into the contest never thinking we would ever win it. It was done in jest really because I'm always pranking my band mates anyway. Within about 20 - 30 minutes I get a "restricted" call coming in on my cell phone. I ignored it because I was in the middle of a text message at the time telling one of my band mates what I had done. Luckily they left a voice mail. When I checked the voice mail it was shocked to find that it was JB Patterson himself asking if I could be in McKinney Texas that Friday to sing Hell To Pay with them on stage. He left his email address and told me to get in touch with him and let him know if I could make it. I emailed him and explained to him that I was not the singer and I was actually one of the guitar players. He answered back and asked if both myself and our singer would be willing to do it. Of course I said yes, and then called my singer to ask him if he could do it. Being the joker that I am, he didn't believe me at first. So he came to my place to listen to the voice mail. He even wanted me to play it again so he could record it on his cell phone. Of course he was shaking when he recorded it because he was a bag of nerves and in need of a pinch or something lol. I could barely believe it myself.
We arrived in McKinney the following Friday afternoon and was greeted by the manager, "Hamburger Dan". Dan asked if we were planning on driving back home after the show and I told him we were. He told us we should stay the night as he had an extra room anyway. Well it didn't take any arm twisting on our part and we agreed to stay. We had a gig the following night in Texarkana opening for Brian Jones and the OzzyCash band. Needless to say we ended up partying with the drummer, Gabe, from JB and The Moonshine Band. We didn't get to sleep until around 5am and had to get up at 8am to head back home and load up for the gig in Texarkana. Playing on stage with JB and The Moonshine Band was the highlight of my musical life so far. I will never forget that night and I hope its a sign of more good times to come. JB and the band are a great group of people. They were all very friendly, kind, and generous, and just good ole down to earth regular guys who happen to play music for a living.
Friday, October 12, 2012
Back In The Saddle Again
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'
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'
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