Hello! Feeling especially good today.....yesterday's gig was rather special. I'll have to elaborate.
Recently, Rice and I began backing up Patrick Pena, otherwise known as Harvey McLaughlin, in a trio designed for him to open shows on the upcoming Hickoids European tour. What I at first thought might be a bit of a chore has turned into anything but. I'm having a blast with this, and I suspect Rice is, too. The songs are simple enough to not be too difficult to remember, and since Patrick is playing piano (and singing), the space opened up without a guitar is being duly filled by Rice and myself. What this means is any fill or nuance I throw into a song isn't drowned out by constant barrage of guitar. I've never played in a piano trio before, and this is an incredible revelation.
I suppose a big part of being in any sort of artistry is knowing that what you're creating is actually reaching someone, whether they like it or not. And maybe, just maybe, I hadn't thought much about this before. The Hickoids, as much as I like it, has two (or even occasionally three) guitars blaring away, making any sort of subtlety impossible. You might laugh that I'm using the word "subtlety" in the same sentence as the word "Hickoids." But this stuff is important. It's what separates the great bands from the merely good ones. It does make me wish the Hickoids would rehearse and play with some of this in mind. Many times, I've thought "if I were a guitar player, I wouldn't play constantly." Larger professional bands that I've seen play (or at least video of) take this into account. One of my faves when I was younger was The Tubes, and at their peak, they had two guitars, two keyboards, and two drummers. If you watch video of them from this period (roughly '77-'80), the guitars and keyboards are not all playing all the time. And the drummers (Mingo Lewis playing percussion mostly) worked in a complementary way as well. The Hickoids probably will never work on this, largely due to its current membership.
But back to this trio. We played three shows during our Memorial Day run recently, but those were all shaky affairs, largely due to Rice and myself not knowing the material through and through yet. And, even after yesterday, I can say we're not 100% there yet, but we're oh so close. And yesterday's gig was one of the most fun I've played in my life. It just felt like complete connectivity between the three of us, which inspired me to push some things even further....percussion, off-time accents, etc....and we hadn't even rehearsed since before I had my eye procedure (oh yeah, gotta write about that). I ran through the set several times during the week at home, so I was reasonably fresh for the show; I think Rice did the same. We're playing later today at an Austin Music Rooms party, a show I don't expect much from except to stretch our muscles a bit, but I'm still looking forward to it. I feel refreshed as a drummer.
So, yes, the eye procedure. The Corneal Collagen Crosslinking, Epi-on variety. The procedure itself was rather easy to get through, although there was indeed pain that night. The tech's suggestion that I sleep as much as possible that day was heeded, and that helped tremendously. By the next morning, most of the pain was gone, and a lot of healing had already taken place. I had the bandage contact lenses taken off five days later, and now we play the waiting game. So far, I don't notice a huge change in my vision. It might be slightly sharper, but time will be the final arbiter of this. According to others, I'll know more in a few months. At least, with the promise of future cataract removal, I know this won't have been for naught.
And so we leave for NYC in a couple of weeks (a bit less, really). Two Hickoids are leaving earlier for Baltimore, in order to grab our friends' Western Star's van and equipment. Cody is going up earlier, too, leaving Rice, Tom, and I to fly up together. We'll then be picked up by the folks with the van. My old friend Jonathan has set up a couple of shows in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and we're playing Baltimore and DC as well. The I-95 tour. After a few days, we fly to Madrid to begin that adventure. Michelle is flying to Madrid as well and should reach Madrid an hour before we do. We'll have to figure out transpo from there. Which will occupy much of my time the next week or so. I'm glad Michelle's coming over. She has September and October trips planned for Turkey and Egypt (third time!), so my time with her will be little over the next few months. Waaaah!! I'm very happy she's getting to travel to places she's wanted to visit, though. And who knows what the political future will hold? Gotta travel while you can.
And, lastly for today, Apollo 11. As you're no doubt aware, the 50th anniversary of the initial moon landing and walk is upon us. A couple of weeks ago, I saw the documentary "Apollo 11," and was surprised by how moving I found it. I watched it again on the anniversary last night. The space program of the late sixties has a special place in my heart and always will. When I was a kid, these guys were my rock stars. My pre-teen walls were covered with astronauts' pictures, large photos of Earth to Moon trajectory patterns, and depictions of all the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions (up to that time, I suppose). When the moon landing and walk happened on July 20, 1969, we were visiting my mom's friend Joan and her husband Willis (who later introduced me to golf, ha!). I still remember his words to me when Armstrong took the first step onto the moon's surface. "I just want you to remember this, Lance, when down the road, and I'm not around anymore, who you watched this first step on the moon with." Willis was a good man. He passed away in 1980. My reaction to watching the sheer brilliance of "Apollo 11" surprised me. And made me happy. What a different time.
Until later!
