Blue Tattoo had our first official gig Saturday night at The Chapel. As far as first gigs go, I think it was a good one.
The Chapel is a venue for the arts that not only hosts concerts by local bands on the weekends, but also theater and art galleries. Very cool venue. It's connected to an old Presbyterian church, and really is a chapel (or at least it used to be.) As a result it's a very unique place to see a show, intimate, yet with a massive ceiling and official church architecture. The management go out of their way to treat the bands well, something all too often missing from local venues. Now, there are a few negatives. First of all, it's hard to find, and many people got lost trying to find the place. Also, they don't have a liquor licence so they give the patrons two free drinks, but since they can't sell any liquor it's a two drink maximum which came as a surprise. Due to the size of the room there are some sound issues, but almost every club has issues of its own, so not a big concern. Still, with all that in mind it's a great little place, kind of a private oasis for the local arts community. I enjoyed being there a lot.
As for our set, I believe it was a success. as with any gig, there were some small glitches here and there. Someone broke a string, somebody hit a bad note, couldn't hear as well as we'd like, etc., etc. Most of that stuff is nit picky musician shit that the majority of the audience won't notice at all. And after seeing the video of the gig (thanks Valerie!) almost all of those little moments are barely noticeable. My personal worst flub was that during "Bitterman" my fingers got ahead of me and I actually had to stop playing for a few seconds to straighten things out. Fortunately, we missed that on the video (thanks again, honey!). The only real noticeable error was during our cover song, "Suffragette City", there was a miscommunication somewhere and we blew the timing on the break in the song. As I said at the time, that's the live show. Anything can happen. Besides, Chris, Derek and I were all sick so I think we pulled it off quite well.
I had fun on stage, and as far as I can tell the rest of the guys did too. More importantly, the audience had fun. That's what it's all about for me. I mean, yeah, I want people to pay attention to the music and the message of the songs, but it's gotta be fun first and foremost. Let's face it, if you're in a band or at a show and you're not enjoying yourself, what's the point?
The band we opened for, The Fishpaws, were good too. Kinda laid back, kinda twangy rock, which I like, and nice guys too boot. Always good to play with another band who aren't ego-whores. I liked their sound, and any band that does a Ramones cover and a Neil Young cover in the same set is okay by me. Go on to myspace and check 'em out.
Okay, that's enough ramblin'. Big thanks to everybody who showed up, and those who wanted to as well. See you next time.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
1/12/09
Today I am sick.
I started feeling bad yesterday, mostly my head. When I got up this morning I felt a little better once I showered and all. Then on my way to work I started feeling dizzy, and my stomach was doing flips. So I pulled off of the highway, called in sick and went home.
After sleeping on and off all day, drinking orange juice and watching a Marx Bros. documentary during lunch I feel better this evening. I plan on going in to work and having a normal day tomorrow, but dude, this morning sucked.
So on my last blog I mentioned printing up my New Year's resolutions list. I don't treat them as actual resolutions, and I'm not dumb enough to think that I'll really keep all of them. However, I think it;s nice to occasionally look at your life and find some things to work on, and this is as good a time as any. I also like to throw in a few easy/fun ones to keep it simple and feel better about myself. So here we go, in no particular order
My Resolnewyearlations 2009:
(That's a Spike Jones &The City Slickers reference in case you were wondering).
1. Get some damn exercise. I don't really do any and it shows. My weight has always been an issue, but it's getting ridiculous. Now, I'm a short guy with a big frame so being skinny is not very realistic, but I've got almost an entire wardrobe that doesn't fit anymore and that's unacceptable.
2. Read The Bible. I don't spend nearly enough time reading it. I've been getting by on just a little here and there, but I want to make it a priority this year. Plus, I promised God I would last year and i totally left him hanging. I can't promise much with all the begats, but I can certainly do better than I am.
3. Continue to expand my musical horizons by exploring different genres and delving further into the history of music I enjoy. See, that's a fun one.
4. Put more time into practising playing the bass.
5. Do more work helping people. We'll just leave it at that, since I don't know exactly what form that will take yet.
6. Be more patient with people, especially strangers.
7. Watch more DVDs. That's an easy one.
8. Put more focus on Blue Tattoo to help us get as far as we can.
9. Finish reading a bunch of books that I've started.
10. Continue being the best daddy and husband I can. Scratch that, be better.
Okay, that's enough of this stuff. I'm going to bed early tonight. Sorry if this sucked, but my head hurts, and Tessa just puked so I have to go deal with that. Hey, cool, I'm already working on #10. Awesome.
I started feeling bad yesterday, mostly my head. When I got up this morning I felt a little better once I showered and all. Then on my way to work I started feeling dizzy, and my stomach was doing flips. So I pulled off of the highway, called in sick and went home.
After sleeping on and off all day, drinking orange juice and watching a Marx Bros. documentary during lunch I feel better this evening. I plan on going in to work and having a normal day tomorrow, but dude, this morning sucked.
So on my last blog I mentioned printing up my New Year's resolutions list. I don't treat them as actual resolutions, and I'm not dumb enough to think that I'll really keep all of them. However, I think it;s nice to occasionally look at your life and find some things to work on, and this is as good a time as any. I also like to throw in a few easy/fun ones to keep it simple and feel better about myself. So here we go, in no particular order
My Resolnewyearlations 2009:
(That's a Spike Jones &The City Slickers reference in case you were wondering).
1. Get some damn exercise. I don't really do any and it shows. My weight has always been an issue, but it's getting ridiculous. Now, I'm a short guy with a big frame so being skinny is not very realistic, but I've got almost an entire wardrobe that doesn't fit anymore and that's unacceptable.
2. Read The Bible. I don't spend nearly enough time reading it. I've been getting by on just a little here and there, but I want to make it a priority this year. Plus, I promised God I would last year and i totally left him hanging. I can't promise much with all the begats, but I can certainly do better than I am.
3. Continue to expand my musical horizons by exploring different genres and delving further into the history of music I enjoy. See, that's a fun one.
4. Put more time into practising playing the bass.
5. Do more work helping people. We'll just leave it at that, since I don't know exactly what form that will take yet.
6. Be more patient with people, especially strangers.
7. Watch more DVDs. That's an easy one.
8. Put more focus on Blue Tattoo to help us get as far as we can.
9. Finish reading a bunch of books that I've started.
10. Continue being the best daddy and husband I can. Scratch that, be better.
Okay, that's enough of this stuff. I'm going to bed early tonight. Sorry if this sucked, but my head hurts, and Tessa just puked so I have to go deal with that. Hey, cool, I'm already working on #10. Awesome.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
2008 In Review Part Two
Wow, what a wacky year.
On the national/world scene, 2008 was a mix of good and bad (more bad unfortunately), but my year was pretty darn good. Here are the things I'll remember about 2008:
1.The war (okay,occupation) in Iraq continued. Why is it that the victims of war are never considered? I don't mean the soldiers, both sides mourn their loss. I'm not even referring to the innocent bystanders, although I feel sadness for them as well. The real victims are the children. Half of them are losing parents, the other half are going to live with the repercussions and have to figure out a way to clean up the mess of their fathers. Acceptable loss my ass.
Anyway, the fact remains that we are in a non-winnable situation that we never should have been in to begin with (anybody remember Afghanistan?). Instead of pulling our troops out, we sent in a surge. Yeah, okay, it did decrease violence in the short term, but attacks continue.
Which brings me to...
2. The election of President Elect Barack Obama. One of the primary reasons I voted for him was his promise to begin the withdraw of troops. He has promised us this along with many other things, when he promised "hope" and "change". It has been documented elsewhere on my blog that I am unsure of how much of his agenda can actually be accomplished, but the fact that he's made the commitment to try and change the direction of this country is enough for me.
3. The economy is officially in recession. Well, duh, anybody paying attention started calling that one a few years ago. The problem is that nobody really took it seriously until now, when we're nearing Depression levels. Depending on who you ask, we're either going to suffer for the next several years, or the whole situation will turn around by fall of 2009. With the housing market in the dumper, banks closing right and left, and the friggin' auto industry needing government bailouts, the situation seems bleak. However, I remain cautiously optimistic.
4. Gas prices have been higher than ever...and then came down a bit at the end of the year. I mean, when $1.48 is considered a good price for gasoline, something's messed up. Don't get me wrong, I'll take it. I'm just not sure the downward trend will continue. I don't think gas will go back up to the $3.00 mark anytime soon, but who knows? Hopefully I'm wrong.
With all the negative that went on, we all needed a good diversion, which was supplied on 8/8/08 by...
5. The Olympics. The U.S. Women's Gymnastics team, Michael Phelps, and Women's Beach Volleyball all held our interests and our athletes made us proud. Even those of us who don't normally watch much Olympic coverage found ourselves tuning in. Some years that just happens, and this was one of them.
On a personal level I will remember the following:
I spent more time in hospitals this year than the rest of my life combined. The main reason of course being...
1. The birth of my daughter, Tessa Sharron Brink. Without getting all sappy and cheese-laden, she has changed my life. For the better. She's awesome, and I look forward to raising her, and all that it brings. There will be happiness, frustration, laughter and little heartaches, but also there will be love. Always, there will be love.
2. My wife Valerie had gall-bladder surgery, also documented on the blog. I will never live down the fact that i thought she just had some stomach trouble and made her go back to bed. The lesson here being never trust me on health issues.
3. My band, Blue Tattoo, made a demo. It's really good. This is my favorite project that I've been involved in. We don't all see eye to eye on the music, but then most bands don't. That's what makes it good. It has taken quite a while longer for everything to get going than any of us had hoped, but we are on the right track.
Lots of other things happened this year. Friends got married/engaged, I saw lots of good shows (finally getting my Dad to a DBT show, and my brother to a full Motorhead show), stayed employed, and I didn't lose anyone close to me this year (well, George Carlin, but that doesn't really count).
So, 2008 is in the books and 2009 is here. Let's hope it's a good one too. I know I promised some resolutions but this is getting too long now, so I'll post those next time. Not that anybody really cares what they are or anything, but if I post them maybe I'll actually keep one this year. Novel idea.
Blog ya later.
On the national/world scene, 2008 was a mix of good and bad (more bad unfortunately), but my year was pretty darn good. Here are the things I'll remember about 2008:
1.The war (okay,occupation) in Iraq continued. Why is it that the victims of war are never considered? I don't mean the soldiers, both sides mourn their loss. I'm not even referring to the innocent bystanders, although I feel sadness for them as well. The real victims are the children. Half of them are losing parents, the other half are going to live with the repercussions and have to figure out a way to clean up the mess of their fathers. Acceptable loss my ass.
Anyway, the fact remains that we are in a non-winnable situation that we never should have been in to begin with (anybody remember Afghanistan?). Instead of pulling our troops out, we sent in a surge. Yeah, okay, it did decrease violence in the short term, but attacks continue.
Which brings me to...
2. The election of President Elect Barack Obama. One of the primary reasons I voted for him was his promise to begin the withdraw of troops. He has promised us this along with many other things, when he promised "hope" and "change". It has been documented elsewhere on my blog that I am unsure of how much of his agenda can actually be accomplished, but the fact that he's made the commitment to try and change the direction of this country is enough for me.
3. The economy is officially in recession. Well, duh, anybody paying attention started calling that one a few years ago. The problem is that nobody really took it seriously until now, when we're nearing Depression levels. Depending on who you ask, we're either going to suffer for the next several years, or the whole situation will turn around by fall of 2009. With the housing market in the dumper, banks closing right and left, and the friggin' auto industry needing government bailouts, the situation seems bleak. However, I remain cautiously optimistic.
4. Gas prices have been higher than ever...and then came down a bit at the end of the year. I mean, when $1.48 is considered a good price for gasoline, something's messed up. Don't get me wrong, I'll take it. I'm just not sure the downward trend will continue. I don't think gas will go back up to the $3.00 mark anytime soon, but who knows? Hopefully I'm wrong.
With all the negative that went on, we all needed a good diversion, which was supplied on 8/8/08 by...
5. The Olympics. The U.S. Women's Gymnastics team, Michael Phelps, and Women's Beach Volleyball all held our interests and our athletes made us proud. Even those of us who don't normally watch much Olympic coverage found ourselves tuning in. Some years that just happens, and this was one of them.
On a personal level I will remember the following:
I spent more time in hospitals this year than the rest of my life combined. The main reason of course being...
1. The birth of my daughter, Tessa Sharron Brink. Without getting all sappy and cheese-laden, she has changed my life. For the better. She's awesome, and I look forward to raising her, and all that it brings. There will be happiness, frustration, laughter and little heartaches, but also there will be love. Always, there will be love.
2. My wife Valerie had gall-bladder surgery, also documented on the blog. I will never live down the fact that i thought she just had some stomach trouble and made her go back to bed. The lesson here being never trust me on health issues.
3. My band, Blue Tattoo, made a demo. It's really good. This is my favorite project that I've been involved in. We don't all see eye to eye on the music, but then most bands don't. That's what makes it good. It has taken quite a while longer for everything to get going than any of us had hoped, but we are on the right track.
Lots of other things happened this year. Friends got married/engaged, I saw lots of good shows (finally getting my Dad to a DBT show, and my brother to a full Motorhead show), stayed employed, and I didn't lose anyone close to me this year (well, George Carlin, but that doesn't really count).
So, 2008 is in the books and 2009 is here. Let's hope it's a good one too. I know I promised some resolutions but this is getting too long now, so I'll post those next time. Not that anybody really cares what they are or anything, but if I post them maybe I'll actually keep one this year. Novel idea.
Blog ya later.
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