Okay, and hey there! Let's get back to movie reviews, shall we? (I started a short story a while ago but am not fully feeling its structure right now, so....) Yesterday was a day of nothing pressing, which is good every now and then. I felt fairly sickish all day and even slept three hours in the afternoon, this after getting a full eight hours of sleep during the night. But this happens to me every November....call it November in Travis County. Michelle had wanted to take a drive to Wimberly, but I just was not up to it. So, it was a day and night on the couch, watching some flicks. And so, here we are.....
I've been listening to a lot of horror movie-related podcasts lately, and one repeat special guest on a few of them has been a director named Karyn Kusama. And I'd never seen one of her movies. So, as I was browsing Netflix (I almost never watch anything on it anymore; currently between seasons of "Ozark," "Narcos: Mexico," " and "The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina"), I came upon a movie called "The Invitation," directed by Ms. Kusama. I thought I'd give it a go. And I ended up liking it quite a bit.
The setup has a rather disheveled-looking man, driving with his wife to a party-of-sorts, hosted by his ex-wife and new man, and presented as a reunion of old friends. You find out over the course of the first 30 minutes or so that the man and his ex had a son who died, and a flashback reveals the pain they went through, particularly the ex. Of course, the place they're traveling to is pretty out of the way, and yet still near L.A., yet far enough to where there is "very little cell phone service." Ah, the hurdles modern screenwriters have to leap. After an unfortunate incident involving a coyote in getting there, the house party quickly seems odd, to say the least. And it goes from there; I don't want to say more if you haven't seen it. Other than....some remembrance of the Heaven's Gate cult from the late 90s will doubtlessly invade your senses. And that's probably saying too much. Shut up, Lance.
Upon browsing HBO, I saw that "Us" had finally made its cable debut. I'd been wanting to see this for awhile, so the timing was right for sick boy. And......well, I was....hmm., how to put this.......it was okay. Well made, of course, and obviously Jordan Peele is getting much of what he wants in a film production now, after "Get Out." But there's just something not right about the overall conceit of the story, and that's something that may be intentional...I just didn't care for it much. There's also a twist at the end that I didn't even think worked. I mean, it almost invalidated the rest of the story, I thought, although it did remind Michelle of a certain Simpsons episode involving "Hugo." That made me laugh. Still, performances are great, and being Jordan Peele, he couldn't resist throwing humor into it. One Alexa-inspired moment is so funny it takes you right out of the story for awhile, and again, I'm not sure that's a good thing....even though I typically like humor lightening the mood in horror movies. This one just felt thrown in at random, though.
I guess what I'm saying is that "Us" just feels kind of clumsy in a way that "Get Out" never does. And yes, you can't help but compare this to "Get Out;" you want to see how Peele's sophomore outing fares. And I say "not bad, but not really good, either." I can't imagine wanting to see this one again, but maybe I'll change my mind down the road.
Now, Michelle discovered Joe Bob Briggs a couple of months ago, and she and I have both been enjoying his latest shows on Shudder. So last night, we finished up by taking in one more, a viewing of the 1989 nutty movie "Society." And it's truly nutty as a fruitcake, as your grandma would say. There's a lot in it that doesn't even really make sense, and it's sloppily directed by Brian Yuzna, Stuart Gordon's longtime producing partner. I described it to Michelle pre-viewing as an 80s home-based "Eyes Wide Shut." Rich people into crazy alien sex games. The plot is completely ham-handed and yet fun. The gooey effects in the last third of the movie are pretty insane, and again, it's not even clear if the alien rich people are having sex with the poor schlub they've kidnapped or eating him, or both, or what. It's a fun one, though, and one I've seen a few times. Joe Bob's comments in breaks are hilarious as always. Still smarting over missing his Austin appearance 11 days ago.
So, last night was fun, despite my feeling like crap. I feel a bit better today, but I suspect the next few days might be more of the same. Hopefully, by Thanksgiving, I'll be peachy. Or eat peach pie. Maybe both. And maybe I'll dig more into the growing pile of unwatched movies on disc. Yep, a pile.
One more thing before I go. I'm making a distinct effort to eat less. I've been somewhat overweight (at least 20 pounds) for awhile now, and I'd like to shed that....but I am not a diet person. I'm just not. I don't think I have the discipline for it. My doctor has never said a thing to me about losing weight, probably because I stay active playing drums and such. So, I haven't worried about it much. But appearance-wise, maybe so. Running into an old friend much earlier this year, he had lost a substantial amount of weight, and when I asked him how he did it, and expecting the answer, "Keto, man!" or something like that, he just said "I eat less now." He's the first person who has lost weight I've heard say that. So, I think I'll try that and see what transpires. Just a footnote at this point, but let's see what happens. Make one restaurant meal into two, etc. Going to try to stick with that.
Bye now.
Sunday, November 24, 2019
Sunday, November 17, 2019
"Boyhood"
A quick post regarding the Richard Linklater-directed movie, "Boyhood." I watched this for a second time yesterday, and I have to say this is up in my top 20, maybe of all time. And that's a personal list, not one that I'm basing on technical merit or grandiosity. I just connect to it. The tale of a young boy growing up with a mother who makes bad man choices is something that resonates with me, although the character in the movie is pretty different from me and has different surroundings. I didn't have a sister (only a stepsister I've never been close to), for instance. But jeez, does this movie speak to me. I suspect I'll watch it several times more over the years. Another movie that does this to me, for similar reasons is "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore." Maybe, if I have a spare five hours or so one day, I'll double-bill those.
That's it for today....
That's it for today....
"I Got Them Right Leg Blues, Yes I Do..."
So, I mentioned in the last post what happened at the end of the tour, concerning my right leg.
After I got back home, the pain didn't go away for awhile, and I found it hard to pick up my leg to walk. My walking anywhere resembled a teenage boy trying to hide a boner from people. At least, what I remember that being like when I was a teenager. And had boners. My knee would "click" about every seventh or eighth time I bent it, if that seems understandable. After a week or so of being back, the pain subsided, but the clicking continued. I finally went to the doctor about it; I waited for awhile, thinking that this was all due my exuberance at a Fishbone show and would subside. My doctor, who can often be one of those "look at Google" guys when trying to figure out an issue I might have, seemed pretty knowledgeable on the subject of knees. He ordered a full round of x-rays and told me later that the diagnosis was "arthritis." So, I have that in my right knee. And that's not much they can do. He did say that,at some point in my life, I'll probably need a knee replacement....not any time soon, luckily. People I know who've had those did not heal quickly.
Over time, the knee issue has gotten much, much better. I can pretty much walk normally, although if I stand somewhere for large amounts of time, I can feel it and limping starts again. So, I avoid that for the most part. Drumming hasn't really been affected much, although sometimes I beg out of "The Medley" at Hickoids shows, if the knee's stiff. When we play the "Petticoat Junction" theme, my novice train beat has the kick on 1 and 3, and it's fast. That wears my leg out quickly, especially if it's early in the set. I really need to practice that more at home, but I just don't. One day, maybe.
That's the leg report. It's much better now.
After I got back home, the pain didn't go away for awhile, and I found it hard to pick up my leg to walk. My walking anywhere resembled a teenage boy trying to hide a boner from people. At least, what I remember that being like when I was a teenager. And had boners. My knee would "click" about every seventh or eighth time I bent it, if that seems understandable. After a week or so of being back, the pain subsided, but the clicking continued. I finally went to the doctor about it; I waited for awhile, thinking that this was all due my exuberance at a Fishbone show and would subside. My doctor, who can often be one of those "look at Google" guys when trying to figure out an issue I might have, seemed pretty knowledgeable on the subject of knees. He ordered a full round of x-rays and told me later that the diagnosis was "arthritis." So, I have that in my right knee. And that's not much they can do. He did say that,at some point in my life, I'll probably need a knee replacement....not any time soon, luckily. People I know who've had those did not heal quickly.
Over time, the knee issue has gotten much, much better. I can pretty much walk normally, although if I stand somewhere for large amounts of time, I can feel it and limping starts again. So, I avoid that for the most part. Drumming hasn't really been affected much, although sometimes I beg out of "The Medley" at Hickoids shows, if the knee's stiff. When we play the "Petticoat Junction" theme, my novice train beat has the kick on 1 and 3, and it's fast. That wears my leg out quickly, especially if it's early in the set. I really need to practice that more at home, but I just don't. One day, maybe.
That's the leg report. It's much better now.
"The 'Murican Continuation" - Hickoids/HMT Tour
After getting home from Spain, and about one day's rest (maybe), we had to hop in the van and head to the final shows of this tour. We were playing the Muddy Roots festival in eastern Tennessee and had several shows en route, as well as one during the return. Jeff had funeral arrangements for his brother to attend to, which left us with the conclusion we'd have to play Houston without Jeff. He would fly into New Orleans for the following night's show.
So Patrick had responsibility for driving the van up from San Antonio, picking us all up, and heading to Houston. It was an odd experience not having Jeff around; everyone was, dare I say, not as well-behaved. There was plenty of grumbling from a certain member for not having picked him up last and taking 290 to Houston (we still had to pick up Cody in far southeast Austin before heading to Houston). It was sort of a six-of-one situation....I think Patrick chose the better method. Taking 290 to Houston can be rough, going through all the small towns, etc. But I digress....
The Houston show was at a bar/restaurant called Under the Volcano, and being a Wednesday night and a rainy one at that, there wasn't much of an audience. Some friends, and that was about it. We were playing with Dinola, and since they'd been promoting the show, Jeff hadn't wanted to cancel, even with his absence. What this meant was a sort-of karaoke show, with folks filling in vocals the best they could. David Ganz, being the unafraid sort he is, jumped in first and performed a hilarious take on "Hee Haw" and "Corntaminated." Eventually, the mic went to Sue Ford from Dinola, and she knocked it out of the park with "Bennie and the Jets." We finished with Patrick (Harvey) doing "Burnin' Luv." It was a lot of fun, despite the small crowd and of course, the nagging reason why Jeff couldn't be here.
That night, we stayed in eastern Houston to prepare for the journey to New Orleans. Once we got into New Orleans, we split into our factions for the night. I ended up in my own room at Hotel St. Marie, which is a place Michelle and I have stayed numerous times in NOLA. I walked over to d.b.a., where we were playing, and met up with the rest of the band unloading gear, etc. I decided to use the house kit with a couple of add-ons. All went fine; again, a smallish crowd, although the weather was better than Houston's. I should have mentioned the Harvey McLaughlin Trio was opening all these shows, and it was good to play consistently again.
On to Memphis, all of us, finally. I forget where we stayed there, but we were playing at a cool restaurant/bar, called the Rock n Roll Cafe, a place we'd eaten at during our last visit. Unfortunately, there was not really a crowd at all....but some people towards the back seemed to be enjoying the whole thing and even bought merch. So, in a weird way, I felt like we were 0 for 3 this trip so far. (Others did not feel that way and thought NOLA was good. Maybe it was.)
Next up, heading to Cookeville and the nearby Muddy Roots Festival. We were staying Saturday night but were going to have to leave really early to make Denton on Labor Day. So we went to the festival to catch Black Eyed Vermillion on Saturday and made it just in time. Gotta say, the festival was run really well, and I had a really enjoyable time. We bailed a little early Saturday (it was stiflingly hot), so we didn't see any of the marquee acts that night. But it was nice to get some rest and be ready for Sunday.
Sunday's set went great. I was fairly pumped after seeing Black Irish Texas get through "Blue Rondo a la Turk," a truly spirited performance. And fitting, as Michelle had just gotten to Turkey before they played that. Our set went fine and was fairly well received for us not being a regular at this festival. This is one festival I wouldn't mind returning to. Now, for the bad part....
Immediately after we finished, Fishbone began playing directly behind us. As I was using a backline kit, I hurried my cymbals, etc. to the van and positioned myself to enjoy those guys. I guess I must have bounced for an hour during their set (which was fraught with problems; they soldiered through). I felt great afterwards, and after some milling around, we headed back to the hotel room to get a little sleep before heading out to Denton (about 4 am!).
After my alarm went off, I got out of bed and was immediately in screaming leg pain. Yes, that leg. I guess the bouncing at Fishbone had really done a number on my right knee. I could barely walk. It was bad. I took some ibuprofen in the hopes that the swelling would subside, and it did nothing. The first few stops toward Denton were struggles to even get to the rest room, and frankly, most of the guys in the band who weren't named Jeff were avoiding me as well. Little help, please? Before we got to Denton, Jeff announced in the van that everyone was going to have to get my gear to the stage there....and they did. They listen to him. The leg was a little stiff for the show that night, but I was able to soldier through everything. Again, everybody helped me pack and move the gear to the van. Tom especially. The Denton crowd was pretty nonexistent, but I expected that. Rice had even suggested earlier that we drop the gig and head home, due to my leg, but I'm glad we played it. I'm kind of proud of being able to do it.
That's enough about this tour. We made it the rest of the way home fine. I want to write about other things, but this has been nagging at me to finish, and I should have done it earlier. More next time. And I bet I edit the previous post a few times over the next year!
So Patrick had responsibility for driving the van up from San Antonio, picking us all up, and heading to Houston. It was an odd experience not having Jeff around; everyone was, dare I say, not as well-behaved. There was plenty of grumbling from a certain member for not having picked him up last and taking 290 to Houston (we still had to pick up Cody in far southeast Austin before heading to Houston). It was sort of a six-of-one situation....I think Patrick chose the better method. Taking 290 to Houston can be rough, going through all the small towns, etc. But I digress....
The Houston show was at a bar/restaurant called Under the Volcano, and being a Wednesday night and a rainy one at that, there wasn't much of an audience. Some friends, and that was about it. We were playing with Dinola, and since they'd been promoting the show, Jeff hadn't wanted to cancel, even with his absence. What this meant was a sort-of karaoke show, with folks filling in vocals the best they could. David Ganz, being the unafraid sort he is, jumped in first and performed a hilarious take on "Hee Haw" and "Corntaminated." Eventually, the mic went to Sue Ford from Dinola, and she knocked it out of the park with "Bennie and the Jets." We finished with Patrick (Harvey) doing "Burnin' Luv." It was a lot of fun, despite the small crowd and of course, the nagging reason why Jeff couldn't be here.
That night, we stayed in eastern Houston to prepare for the journey to New Orleans. Once we got into New Orleans, we split into our factions for the night. I ended up in my own room at Hotel St. Marie, which is a place Michelle and I have stayed numerous times in NOLA. I walked over to d.b.a., where we were playing, and met up with the rest of the band unloading gear, etc. I decided to use the house kit with a couple of add-ons. All went fine; again, a smallish crowd, although the weather was better than Houston's. I should have mentioned the Harvey McLaughlin Trio was opening all these shows, and it was good to play consistently again.
On to Memphis, all of us, finally. I forget where we stayed there, but we were playing at a cool restaurant/bar, called the Rock n Roll Cafe, a place we'd eaten at during our last visit. Unfortunately, there was not really a crowd at all....but some people towards the back seemed to be enjoying the whole thing and even bought merch. So, in a weird way, I felt like we were 0 for 3 this trip so far. (Others did not feel that way and thought NOLA was good. Maybe it was.)
Next up, heading to Cookeville and the nearby Muddy Roots Festival. We were staying Saturday night but were going to have to leave really early to make Denton on Labor Day. So we went to the festival to catch Black Eyed Vermillion on Saturday and made it just in time. Gotta say, the festival was run really well, and I had a really enjoyable time. We bailed a little early Saturday (it was stiflingly hot), so we didn't see any of the marquee acts that night. But it was nice to get some rest and be ready for Sunday.
Sunday's set went great. I was fairly pumped after seeing Black Irish Texas get through "Blue Rondo a la Turk," a truly spirited performance. And fitting, as Michelle had just gotten to Turkey before they played that. Our set went fine and was fairly well received for us not being a regular at this festival. This is one festival I wouldn't mind returning to. Now, for the bad part....
Immediately after we finished, Fishbone began playing directly behind us. As I was using a backline kit, I hurried my cymbals, etc. to the van and positioned myself to enjoy those guys. I guess I must have bounced for an hour during their set (which was fraught with problems; they soldiered through). I felt great afterwards, and after some milling around, we headed back to the hotel room to get a little sleep before heading out to Denton (about 4 am!).
After my alarm went off, I got out of bed and was immediately in screaming leg pain. Yes, that leg. I guess the bouncing at Fishbone had really done a number on my right knee. I could barely walk. It was bad. I took some ibuprofen in the hopes that the swelling would subside, and it did nothing. The first few stops toward Denton were struggles to even get to the rest room, and frankly, most of the guys in the band who weren't named Jeff were avoiding me as well. Little help, please? Before we got to Denton, Jeff announced in the van that everyone was going to have to get my gear to the stage there....and they did. They listen to him. The leg was a little stiff for the show that night, but I was able to soldier through everything. Again, everybody helped me pack and move the gear to the van. Tom especially. The Denton crowd was pretty nonexistent, but I expected that. Rice had even suggested earlier that we drop the gig and head home, due to my leg, but I'm glad we played it. I'm kind of proud of being able to do it.
That's enough about this tour. We made it the rest of the way home fine. I want to write about other things, but this has been nagging at me to finish, and I should have done it earlier. More next time. And I bet I edit the previous post a few times over the next year!
Monday, November 11, 2019
Rest of the Hickoids/HMT Tour? Um, Okay.
Well, it's time, right? Not that I've really had writer's block or anything, but I'm finding I've had less inspiration to sit in front of the keyboard and write. Not sure why, but I need to finish up a recap of this recent (but becoming more blurry) Hickoids tour. I left off with us going from Toulouse to Grasse.....so let's start there.
In Grasse, we stayed in an area we stayed in in 2014, in a house we stayed in then. In 2014, the house was a former biker clubhouse (I forget the troop's name), and we stayed there a couple of nights while driving to shows in Toulon and Marseilles. This time, we were staying there a couple of nights while we played our one French show proper, in Marseilles. Most of the guys were going to rehearse songs to be recorded in Barcelona, but I, playing the lowly drums, was not invited to that. But hey, that just meant Phil Amar and his girlfriend took Flo and me to a lake near Grasse, and we had a great time. But I'm getting ahead of myself....
The Friday night show in Marseilles was, without a doubt, the hottest show I've ever played, temperature-wise. The previous record for me was held by some Honky shows with L7 in the upper Midwest in August....particularly Iowa City. This was unbelievably hot/humid, in the basement of a club called La Salle Gueule. Yes, it was one of those where you had to schlep equipment down some treacherous steps, but I've dealt with worse. There were two other bands on the bill, the first one being a Russian band whose name escapes me, and the second being a long-term punk band, somewhat famous in the area, whose name also escapes me (it's been awhile). I don't know how I held onto my drumsticks throughout the gig, but I did. And I didn't pass out, but I thought Rice was going to at the end. He looked dazed, took his bass off during my often-used "New Day Rising" beat outro and just left. I was worried about him! Turns out he was fine. Most people, including our intrepid host Phil, could not make it through the entire show, but our friends Ray and Sandrine did!
So, that was the Marseilles show. Not the nicest folks at the club, either, for whatever reason. I was told to put my shirt on not long after playing, so I was a sopping mess for the rest of the night. We stayed in a hotel within walking distance of the club, so I headed over there before too long. I was rooming with Rice and Patrick, and we dubbed it the "prison hotel." Everything was functional, but I've never been in a starker, barer hotel room. Two beds, a hanging TV, and one small table, and that was it. No complaints from me, though; as I said, everything worked.
The next day was the lake trip, after some grocery shopping (that might have been Friday), and we had a wonderful dinner at Phil's place....where I tried escargot for the first time, and liked it! The day had started out crappy, as we got the news that Chad Holt had passed on. I don't remember much about Sunday......we had another dinner at Phil's, though. More escargot! And then, it was off to Barcelona......back to Spain.
In Barcelona, we were recording in Mike Mariconda's studio, but we were staying outside Barcelona, close to Badalona. So, we had about a half-hour drive everyday to and from the studio. Not bad, though, and I did like our rooms. The studio experience was okay; I had never recorded with Mike before, and had only met him briefly back in the REF days of 1999. It was an enjoyable experience, though, although I suspect not much can be done with a lot of what we recorded. Getting the Canadian Medley down was a definite highlight, and we finally laid down two songs we've worked on since 2015. The other new stuff needs time to gestate and sounds really flat to me in these performances. Time will improve that, if we ever get to it. Hell, a lot of those dynamics are up to me to drive, I know. We just didn't prep to record, simple as that.
After those three nights, we headed to Madrid on Thursday the 22nd. During the trip to Madrid, Jeff received the awful news that his brother Barry was probably not going to make the night. After that, the band didn't all know what was going on at the same time. I was under the impression Barry was still hanging in there (and thinking Jeff might have to bail and fly home), when I was informed that Barry did indeed pass earlier in the day. Jeff made the painful decision to finish the tour, as really, there wasn't much he could do. So, we played Madrid that night and continued on.
In Madrid, we stayed in a nice apartment that housed all of us easily and had two bathrooms! On Friday, we headed to Aracena, a small town to the west, almost to Portugal, and that was the shot in the arm everyone needed. What a fun show....wow. There was a huge festival going on in the town, but that didn't stop what seemed like half the town being crammed into this small club to watch us rock. It was something. If you're on Facebook, you can watch the link below....
Hickoids in Aracena
Great hostesses in Aracena, too. We had a wonderful breakfast the next day, and then it was off to Jimera de Libar for our final show in Spain. And this turned out to be a weird one. The HMTrio played first, and we had our usual fun set. Afterward, as the other guys were getting set up, I pulled my mic stand and mic to me and saw another mic stand in front of me. I assumed that was Rice's. We played our first couple of songs, and then I realized Rice didn't have a mic. I offered him my mic, but he declined. So, it was going to be a two singer performance, and Smitty had already told me he thought his voice was about to go out. I thought I'd better participate more. So, I sang more backup than usual, sometimes covering Rice's parts (something I have experience with, as he's missed three tours). After the gig, I noticed something weird with Rice; he wouldn't talk to me, wouldn't look at me....I had obviously upset him somehow. And this went on for a few days. Rice didn't look or talk to me until we were back in the States. To this day, I don't know what he was mad at.
We headed back to Madrid the next day, having the night off but prepping to fly back the next day. We stayed in the exact same apartment we'd stayed in on Thursday night. Rice moved out of my room and into Patrick's room, so I had "a night with Cody." With ear plugs, that's not really a bad thing.
And we flew home the next day, after a heartfelt goodbye to our rental van and fantastic tour MVP, Flover!
I'll write about the "'Murican Continuation" in the next post.....
In Grasse, we stayed in an area we stayed in in 2014, in a house we stayed in then. In 2014, the house was a former biker clubhouse (I forget the troop's name), and we stayed there a couple of nights while driving to shows in Toulon and Marseilles. This time, we were staying there a couple of nights while we played our one French show proper, in Marseilles. Most of the guys were going to rehearse songs to be recorded in Barcelona, but I, playing the lowly drums, was not invited to that. But hey, that just meant Phil Amar and his girlfriend took Flo and me to a lake near Grasse, and we had a great time. But I'm getting ahead of myself....
The Friday night show in Marseilles was, without a doubt, the hottest show I've ever played, temperature-wise. The previous record for me was held by some Honky shows with L7 in the upper Midwest in August....particularly Iowa City. This was unbelievably hot/humid, in the basement of a club called La Salle Gueule. Yes, it was one of those where you had to schlep equipment down some treacherous steps, but I've dealt with worse. There were two other bands on the bill, the first one being a Russian band whose name escapes me, and the second being a long-term punk band, somewhat famous in the area, whose name also escapes me (it's been awhile). I don't know how I held onto my drumsticks throughout the gig, but I did. And I didn't pass out, but I thought Rice was going to at the end. He looked dazed, took his bass off during my often-used "New Day Rising" beat outro and just left. I was worried about him! Turns out he was fine. Most people, including our intrepid host Phil, could not make it through the entire show, but our friends Ray and Sandrine did!
So, that was the Marseilles show. Not the nicest folks at the club, either, for whatever reason. I was told to put my shirt on not long after playing, so I was a sopping mess for the rest of the night. We stayed in a hotel within walking distance of the club, so I headed over there before too long. I was rooming with Rice and Patrick, and we dubbed it the "prison hotel." Everything was functional, but I've never been in a starker, barer hotel room. Two beds, a hanging TV, and one small table, and that was it. No complaints from me, though; as I said, everything worked.
The next day was the lake trip, after some grocery shopping (that might have been Friday), and we had a wonderful dinner at Phil's place....where I tried escargot for the first time, and liked it! The day had started out crappy, as we got the news that Chad Holt had passed on. I don't remember much about Sunday......we had another dinner at Phil's, though. More escargot! And then, it was off to Barcelona......back to Spain.
In Barcelona, we were recording in Mike Mariconda's studio, but we were staying outside Barcelona, close to Badalona. So, we had about a half-hour drive everyday to and from the studio. Not bad, though, and I did like our rooms. The studio experience was okay; I had never recorded with Mike before, and had only met him briefly back in the REF days of 1999. It was an enjoyable experience, though, although I suspect not much can be done with a lot of what we recorded. Getting the Canadian Medley down was a definite highlight, and we finally laid down two songs we've worked on since 2015. The other new stuff needs time to gestate and sounds really flat to me in these performances. Time will improve that, if we ever get to it. Hell, a lot of those dynamics are up to me to drive, I know. We just didn't prep to record, simple as that.
After those three nights, we headed to Madrid on Thursday the 22nd. During the trip to Madrid, Jeff received the awful news that his brother Barry was probably not going to make the night. After that, the band didn't all know what was going on at the same time. I was under the impression Barry was still hanging in there (and thinking Jeff might have to bail and fly home), when I was informed that Barry did indeed pass earlier in the day. Jeff made the painful decision to finish the tour, as really, there wasn't much he could do. So, we played Madrid that night and continued on.
In Madrid, we stayed in a nice apartment that housed all of us easily and had two bathrooms! On Friday, we headed to Aracena, a small town to the west, almost to Portugal, and that was the shot in the arm everyone needed. What a fun show....wow. There was a huge festival going on in the town, but that didn't stop what seemed like half the town being crammed into this small club to watch us rock. It was something. If you're on Facebook, you can watch the link below....
Hickoids in Aracena
Great hostesses in Aracena, too. We had a wonderful breakfast the next day, and then it was off to Jimera de Libar for our final show in Spain. And this turned out to be a weird one. The HMTrio played first, and we had our usual fun set. Afterward, as the other guys were getting set up, I pulled my mic stand and mic to me and saw another mic stand in front of me. I assumed that was Rice's. We played our first couple of songs, and then I realized Rice didn't have a mic. I offered him my mic, but he declined. So, it was going to be a two singer performance, and Smitty had already told me he thought his voice was about to go out. I thought I'd better participate more. So, I sang more backup than usual, sometimes covering Rice's parts (something I have experience with, as he's missed three tours). After the gig, I noticed something weird with Rice; he wouldn't talk to me, wouldn't look at me....I had obviously upset him somehow. And this went on for a few days. Rice didn't look or talk to me until we were back in the States. To this day, I don't know what he was mad at.
We headed back to Madrid the next day, having the night off but prepping to fly back the next day. We stayed in the exact same apartment we'd stayed in on Thursday night. Rice moved out of my room and into Patrick's room, so I had "a night with Cody." With ear plugs, that's not really a bad thing.
And we flew home the next day, after a heartfelt goodbye to our rental van and fantastic tour MVP, Flover!
I'll write about the "'Murican Continuation" in the next post.....
Sunday, November 3, 2019
And Now For Something Completely Different
For today's sermon, something different.....not that I'm getting tired about writing of tour goings-on, but I'm doing that based on memory. It's been, what....almost three months now? Should have finished writing about the tour a while back, but...I just didn't. Not that I've had writer's block or anything, I just didn't get to it. Waaah.
Life has been much the same since getting back from the tour....working, playing, etc. Michelle was in Turkey when I got back from the tour, and she went to Egypt for a third time, returning last Monday night. So, I've had a fair amount of time to myself, which has been nice, and somewhat reflective. I always miss her, but it's good for me to have time to....ponder, cogitate, etc. Not that I had any major epiphanies, but I do feel somewhat recharged in the old mental world. Which is good, as the physical body feels worse by the week. At least, my right leg does. Some days I wonder if I'm going to make it through this lifetime upright. Probably a silly thought, but some days, my right leg kills me. So far, it really hasn't affected any drumming, so I have no major complaints. Maybe I need to get into yoga. I find dreading any shows where loading equipment is going to be difficult, or I won't have any help for. Independent music making is not for the middle aged and up. For certain. I often joke to people that I made a mistake in not becoming famous. That would have fixed everything; I'd have roadies and sycophants-a-plenty to do my bidding. Ah, that would be nice.
But I'll keep going. I have no idea what else I'd do with my life at this point. I do enjoy writing, but I find it hard to keep any sort of discipline going....writing every morning, for instance. Maybe if I had more of a set schedule outside of work, I might be able to motivate myself to get in front of the writing tool daily. If I were to become immobile in some way, I suppose that would do it, too. But I want to stay mobile.
I knew this would be a rambling post.
One of the main focuses of my life is my now 90-year-old mother. She lives in San Angelo and has always been chronically self-sufficient and kept her distance from me in adulthood. Twice in recent years, she has moved closer to where I live (early 2000 to San Marcos, and late 2014 to Kyle), only to return to San Angelo within six months of arrival. She's always been the controlling sort, and as she can't control my adult life, becomes frustrated quickly and returns to San Angelo. She has been living in the Baptist Memorial senior center since mid-2015, and really, from what I've seen in my research, has a pretty good deal going.....it's just a pity she isn't closer to where I live. She's been making noise lately about wanting to be closer to me, and I'm beginning to research possibilities again, but I'm understandably wary of it all again. But she is 90. She's in good health for 90, but I have noticed more mental lapses lately. And really, I have to confess, she's not easy to deal with, and I'm tired of the several times a year trip to San Angelo. So, there's that. Maybe I'll find someplace closer to the Austin area that would be both affordable and something she might actually like, but I think the likelihood of that is slim. On top of everything else, she has decided she doesn't care for Michelle, which does not help matters at all. Her reasons for this are not even rational, but I think it's another way she uses to manipulate the situation, as it were. As rough as it may sound to write it, someday it'll all be over. But in the meantime, it's on my mind almost constantly.
So, let's turn to a fun subject, work. Before leaving for the August tour, I accepted a promotion at my day gig, and the new responsibilities began after I returned. It's been a strange ride so far, but right now, I think it's okay. It's not really okay, as we have so much turnover in our department right now that everything is in disarray and large parts of course material aren't even going to be updated, but so be it. I was very frustrated the first two weeks I was back on the job, but now? I just got to a point of....well, what can I do? Only what I can do, that's it. And that brought a certain zen-like peace that hasn't wavered. And that's kind of nice. 'sall I have to report on that front.
In funner (sic) news, I'm thinking about picking up a new snare drum from a drumming buddy who works for a company called Hendrix Drums. He's offered me a sponsorship, which means a heavy discount on equipment in exchange for using my name to advertise their drum line. Not bad, really. Now I'm certainly not famous (see above), but some regional folks know of me, so I might just sign up. Why not? Ain't getting any younger (also see above). As a matter of fact, I might put those wheels in motion this week. I was brought a snare drum to try out for a Pocket FishRmen gig a couple of weeks ago, and I did like the feel and sound of the drum a lot....and I didn't even tune it up much. Tightened it a little and went to whackin'. Yep, I liked the sound.
And the Astros lost the World Series. To be frank, that was a shock. Things looked bleak in the beginning when they lost the first two games at home, but after winning the next three in Washington, I thought they had the momentum back and could win at least one of the next two. I was wrong, and how. Most of Houston is probably still in shock. Already looking forward to next year.
What else? I don't know, not much, probably. Just had some things I wanted to write about to get off the ol' chest and such. That's it.
Life has been much the same since getting back from the tour....working, playing, etc. Michelle was in Turkey when I got back from the tour, and she went to Egypt for a third time, returning last Monday night. So, I've had a fair amount of time to myself, which has been nice, and somewhat reflective. I always miss her, but it's good for me to have time to....ponder, cogitate, etc. Not that I had any major epiphanies, but I do feel somewhat recharged in the old mental world. Which is good, as the physical body feels worse by the week. At least, my right leg does. Some days I wonder if I'm going to make it through this lifetime upright. Probably a silly thought, but some days, my right leg kills me. So far, it really hasn't affected any drumming, so I have no major complaints. Maybe I need to get into yoga. I find dreading any shows where loading equipment is going to be difficult, or I won't have any help for. Independent music making is not for the middle aged and up. For certain. I often joke to people that I made a mistake in not becoming famous. That would have fixed everything; I'd have roadies and sycophants-a-plenty to do my bidding. Ah, that would be nice.
But I'll keep going. I have no idea what else I'd do with my life at this point. I do enjoy writing, but I find it hard to keep any sort of discipline going....writing every morning, for instance. Maybe if I had more of a set schedule outside of work, I might be able to motivate myself to get in front of the writing tool daily. If I were to become immobile in some way, I suppose that would do it, too. But I want to stay mobile.
I knew this would be a rambling post.
One of the main focuses of my life is my now 90-year-old mother. She lives in San Angelo and has always been chronically self-sufficient and kept her distance from me in adulthood. Twice in recent years, she has moved closer to where I live (early 2000 to San Marcos, and late 2014 to Kyle), only to return to San Angelo within six months of arrival. She's always been the controlling sort, and as she can't control my adult life, becomes frustrated quickly and returns to San Angelo. She has been living in the Baptist Memorial senior center since mid-2015, and really, from what I've seen in my research, has a pretty good deal going.....it's just a pity she isn't closer to where I live. She's been making noise lately about wanting to be closer to me, and I'm beginning to research possibilities again, but I'm understandably wary of it all again. But she is 90. She's in good health for 90, but I have noticed more mental lapses lately. And really, I have to confess, she's not easy to deal with, and I'm tired of the several times a year trip to San Angelo. So, there's that. Maybe I'll find someplace closer to the Austin area that would be both affordable and something she might actually like, but I think the likelihood of that is slim. On top of everything else, she has decided she doesn't care for Michelle, which does not help matters at all. Her reasons for this are not even rational, but I think it's another way she uses to manipulate the situation, as it were. As rough as it may sound to write it, someday it'll all be over. But in the meantime, it's on my mind almost constantly.
So, let's turn to a fun subject, work. Before leaving for the August tour, I accepted a promotion at my day gig, and the new responsibilities began after I returned. It's been a strange ride so far, but right now, I think it's okay. It's not really okay, as we have so much turnover in our department right now that everything is in disarray and large parts of course material aren't even going to be updated, but so be it. I was very frustrated the first two weeks I was back on the job, but now? I just got to a point of....well, what can I do? Only what I can do, that's it. And that brought a certain zen-like peace that hasn't wavered. And that's kind of nice. 'sall I have to report on that front.
In funner (sic) news, I'm thinking about picking up a new snare drum from a drumming buddy who works for a company called Hendrix Drums. He's offered me a sponsorship, which means a heavy discount on equipment in exchange for using my name to advertise their drum line. Not bad, really. Now I'm certainly not famous (see above), but some regional folks know of me, so I might just sign up. Why not? Ain't getting any younger (also see above). As a matter of fact, I might put those wheels in motion this week. I was brought a snare drum to try out for a Pocket FishRmen gig a couple of weeks ago, and I did like the feel and sound of the drum a lot....and I didn't even tune it up much. Tightened it a little and went to whackin'. Yep, I liked the sound.
And the Astros lost the World Series. To be frank, that was a shock. Things looked bleak in the beginning when they lost the first two games at home, but after winning the next three in Washington, I thought they had the momentum back and could win at least one of the next two. I was wrong, and how. Most of Houston is probably still in shock. Already looking forward to next year.
What else? I don't know, not much, probably. Just had some things I wanted to write about to get off the ol' chest and such. That's it.
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