Energy!

Woke with a vengeance this morning! Well, not a vengeance....I don't feel like I have a vendetta against anything.....except maybe the flu. So, really, I woke with energy! Coming out of these two illnesses is starting to feel really, really good. There's a lot coming up, and much to be happy about.

Undeniably, what's been first on my mind has been the impending Honky reunion (to me, it's a reunion, while for Jeff and Bobby, it may only be a show). I've been running through the songs at home when possible (mostly impossible last week), and they're an intriguing bunch. For the Saturday, March 14th show, the concentration will be on the first two albums, although I suspect other nuggets will be thrown in. Drumbeats and lyrics are coming back to me, but it's a bit of a slow process. When I played with them off and on during 2011-2013, it seemed like the stuff came to me quicker. And maybe since we did some of their newer tunes, there was less of the old material to play. There are a few parts that were probably second nature to me back in the late 90s that are now kind of "huh?"

One striking case in point, and this was a problem in 2011 as well, is "Nice and Tastee." A really simple song through and through (one of the first ideas Carson put forth), but it has a repeated accent part of snare drum-crash/kick, snare drum-crash/kick that is almost foreign to me now and feels completely unnatural. Weird. So, oddly, that song is receiving the most practice from me at home; just to get those accents feeling more natural. Other songs, it's just a matter of getting the grooves down and the number of times for this and that...and of course, the words, if I'm singing. I've only been singing backups in the Hickoids and Pocket FishRmen for a number of years now, although in the Hickoids I do have some solo vocal lines....so that helps a bit. I have to relearn how to carry a song again, assuming I knew how years ago! Hard to believe I used to do most of our stage announcing in the old days; I might've talked more about that in my history of Honky post from way back.

So, that's been on my mind a lot. Jeff and I got together Jan. 29th and ran through some songs, and that's been it so far. Bobby and I are getting together Thursday; maybe Jeff will join us, as I think he'll be back. Fingers crossed for this whole endeavor. I'm treating it as the last time I'll be doing it.

The other bands are doing fine, although illness (mainly mine) have kept us apart. The last Hickoids show was fairly sloppy, so I think we have work to do. Certainly, the future Alaska version does. I suppose we'll get on that next Tuesday; some version, anyway.

I bought tickets today for both Wishbone Ash in San Antonio on Saturday and Dweezil Zappa at the Paramount in Austin on Wednesday, the 26th. Looking forward to both of those. I seldom go to anything but local shows nowadays....not that that's not a good thing!

Tonight, Michelle and I are going to early vote in the primary election. Need to read up on our local contestants. That's about it for now!! Energy!!