Kick That Stack Of Marshalls Up To 11.... We Got Bagpipes!

Your Sunday morning bagpipe rock interlude.

Wait...


Deep Purple, ACDC... on bagpipes? I promise you WILL love it. The Red Hot Chili Pipers.

Her Name Was Christina

We played a gig a couple of evenings ago that turned out to be... interesting... but in the midst of anything there's always something cool that comes of every situation, this one was Christina.

The folks that had hired us wanted the band set up before guests came and it wasn't possible for us to get there early enough on Thursday evening to get it done, it had to be done on Wednesday evening. Everyone else in the band was busy busy so after Marybeth dropped off the system I got it set up... but not by myself. I made a new friend that was just 'bout the sweetest child I've ever met in my life.

I was carrying stuff in the back door and she came from across the rented hall and kinda stood and watched me for awhile, edging in closer to me every trip I made in. Finally she spoke.


Christina: I'm Christina

Me: I'm Jace. How are you?

C: I'm fine. Are you the coach?

Me: Coach?

C: You know, the coach of the band.

Me: Ohhhhh. Nope, we don't have a coach, I'm just a musician. I play and sing in the band.

C: I thought bands had coaches.

Me: Beats me, but we don't have one.

C: Are you a boy band or a girl and boy band?

Me: We're a girl and boy band.

C: How many girls are in your band?

Me: 2.

C: Was that one of the girls that drove away while ago?

Me: Yup, that was Mary Beth. The other girl is Martina. Do you know Martina?

C: No, I'm not from here.

Me: Martina sings beautifully and is very pretty. You'll like her.

C: What are the boys names in your band?

Me: There's Louie, Ronnie and me.

C: What kind of music do you play?

Me: It's a very unusual kind, it's called Americana. We have LOTS of fun and everyone else does too.


Then she helped me unwind some cables and was fascinated with our stage lights and she said she was real excited to hear us play the next night and then she looked to the far end of the building and squealed "THERE'S MY GRANDPA!" and she disappeared.


We got to the hall the next evening and there was Christina already sitting at a table with a friend of ours, directly in front of the band. She never left that spot all night. Another friend of ours came along and asked her if she was with the band and she said "No." He asked if she knew anyone in the band and she said matter of factly....

"Yes, I know Jace."

She buddied up with Sal and was enthralled with Martina and her voice. We've got a song that usually ends up with several "backup singers" from the audience joining us on stage. Wagon Wheel and Sal got Christina up there and she did a great job tearing it up with us.

I never asked her her last name, all I got was just Christina. We told her we'd be playing another time in a couple of weeks and she ran and asked her Grandma if she'd be here then and she was big time excited to let Sally know that she WAS gonna be there. Sal told her she was gonna have to sing Wagon Wheel with us again. She just stood there and beamed.


There's always something good to come of everything.



Me and my little red headed buddy, Christina. What a joyful and perfect little human bean.












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Band On The Run

So to follow up on this post... this is what happened on Sunday.

The band decided to just load up, drive around, do a little sipping (with a non-drinking driver of course) and throw down some random acts of music. Fun? You betcha. Silly? Uh huh. Redneck? Absofreakinlutely. 3 days later I'm still smiling thinking of all the fun we had, total hillarity.... and lots of pics to document it.


We kinda devised a plan, which was a little difficult with everyone recovering from the 2 previous days...






We started out with MB's Jeep and my truck and hit a local party camp and played 'em a couple of songs, got tipped in homebrew liquor (the universal currency)... and moved on.





The Jeep had a wheezing fit and we crippled it back to the cabin and abandoned it and everyone loaded up in my truck... it was full. lol We stopped and played for some folks that wouldn't stop smilin'.






We went down in another neighborhood and drew a crowd of smiling people...









In the process of driving around we discussed the legal ramifications of a bunch of musicians riding around in the back of an open pickup with open containers of liquor and just how much trouble we'd be in... and hardly being low profile, 'cause you just notice people riding around in a bright red truck with an upright bass in the back.

And no sooner had that discussion got underway..... the cops came. We seem to be some kind of cop magnet. The decision was made to just play like crazy when he pulled up and there was no way he could give us a ticket for nothin'.

So we did... (pictures from the rear view mirror lol)






Yeah, we had him smiling too, and we got a round of applause and our picture taken with his evidence camera.







Then we crashed the birthday party of another local musician and we lit into a couple of songs for the folks there.











Starved to death we decided to head to Macon and eat, but we stopped at a volleyball game on the way and played for them too. After eating we loaded back up and gave a quick 1 song concert in the parking lot of the Mexican joint. More smiles.







Stoplights at intersections were a total blast, 'cause we never let up playing. Then because we seemed to be on the fast food tour, we pulled into the Hardees parking lot and played a song to a small group there.







We cruised around town for awhile...


Ronnie.







Sal with her "I'm a redneck and I can kick your ass and never let this Marlboro fall offa my lip" pose. This shot kills me... she doesn't smoke. lol








An old dog that looks like he's smiling too.








And so it went. What a great weekend, we still haven't recovered from the non-stop whirlwind and can't hardly wait until the next blast-O-rama.

That's No Way To Live Your Life, Son...

I really have no quick, succinct and concise description for the past few days, but if I had to narrow it down to 2 or 3 words it would be "Non-stop party". In a few spots it was nearly painful, but like the little troopers we are, we trudged on, dutifully having more fun than a Polka Band at a Swedish retirement home.

Actually to get the full weekend jabbed in here it's probably gonna take at the very least 2 posts, and a whole buttload of pictures. So let's just start off with Friday night and the band playing at a private party... which turned into a whole nuther deal with another band and singing, dancing, drinking until about 1 am. That's when I cried "uncle".

There were so many little "cowguy scenarios" that it soon became impossible to remember them all... it had nothing to do with whatever it was that I drank. Nothing at all. I'm sure it was just water and fruit juice. So without further ado...









THEN we rolled into day 2 and a gig at a local winery...



There were the back row partiers...






The perfectly dressed partiers...






The "riding by on horseback cowboy partiers". That bottle of water in Gus's hand looks foreign.







Timmy!






Our little red headed buddy... BENTLEY!







And of course the band. It's a damned shame that we get paid to do this and don't have any fun.









And Sal got this nice shot between sets...







There's still a day or two of festivities to report about... be patient. lol




Ow.






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What Is This Crap On My Desktop Screen?

I am one of THOSE people that accumulate pictures, mp3's, misc. files and other clutteria (<--- new word!) on my desktop to the point that it completely covers the whole screen. It's a mess but it's the way I like it. So today, I'm gonna bare my soul for alla y'all and you're gonna get a peek of the kind of wonderful clutteria that I've chosen to save.

Some are gleaned from the wide wide world of the internets, others are family, and yet others just appear there thru the miracle of the Sham-WOW! Without further explanation... here's the graphic heavy pile of poo.




































Well that's far from all of it... Gotta save something for desert.


Have a great great weekend everyone!!



J.





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