Fred gets a gold star...

Hello boys and girls! The bad blogger here! Not bad blogging necessarily, more like bad at keeping consistent at it. So let me hop back up on the horse and give you some personal insights, anecdotes, and updates on the musical endeavor that is my life.

First, an insight: Magic Hat is good!

Next, an anecdote: Saturday I woke up in the morning, after a lovely 4 hours of sleep, to a beautiful day. I took the dog for a walk, had some coffee, and got myself on my way. The goal before 12 noon was to get a money order made and in the mail. I head to the post office. I need to get a money order for an amount that my debit card wouldn't authorize, meaning I had to go get cash. So I go back out to my car, roll up the windows, leave the envelope that's already stamped and addressed in the car, and walk over to the bank. As I'm walking over, I notice that I forgot something... my keys in the locked car.

After I finished my business at the bank, I start looking around for something to break into my car with... not something I really want to do. I find a stick and pry open a window, which completely falls off. Yup. I managed to take a window completely out because that's what I like to do (insert sarcasm).

After finishing my business at the post office, I head over to the car parts store so I could get something to fix my window with. On the way there, I get a voicemail from Ron informing me that he's not going to be able to make the show later on. Shit. I call him back, and reassure him that it's all good, we'll take care of it. Family comes first, especially when it comes to his little guy.

So at this point, I'm kinda feeling like maybe I should've stayed in bed.

I give Fred a call, because he rules, he's talented, and any girl that's with him should consider herself a very lucky girl. Recently he's been playing with a band called The Spins (do check them out), and instead of a bass player, he's got this little Fender-Rhodes piano bass. I ask him, "How fast can you learn the bass parts?"

A little after 2pm, Fred and I rehearsed through 2 sets worth of tunes in about 40 minutes time. We packed up our gear and headed out to the show.

Since I've been doing a lot of acoustic shows this summer, I was looking forward to playing some electric at this one. However, upon unloading the van, we realized that Gerry's amp was missing. So I forgo the electric, Gerry uses my amp, and I plug away on the acoustic.

We begin the first set and Fred, pulling double duty on both keys and bass, pulls it off without any problems. The kid's fucking great. That's all. We take a break, get some wine and hit the second set. Again, Fred does it again. And so, this is why FRED GETS A GOLD STAR!

I think this show will go down as one of the most memorable for me. I think everyone was on top of their game. We could've complained, we could've been intimated and frustrated because of some of the adversities of the situation, but we pulled it together and honestly, Fred saved the day. And it sounded fucking great. Not to proverbially "toot my own horn," but damn I was proud and I am a tough critic.

Interesting day, for sure.

And now, for some updates: There are some new shows added to the schedule... I added some background/band information to the band page on the website... Gerry and I are still working on a bunch of new tunes, and now Fred and I have embarked on some writing too... We've been getting some additions to all those radio stations, so please keep up those request calls...

That's all for now... I'll put some past show reviews up next time. Looking forward to Two Boots in Bridgeport on Thursday. In the meantime y'all stay well. I hope life is treating you kind.

Peace, love, rock & roll...

-SA