7/6/19

Hickoids played a party the other night out in Walnut Creek. A tiny little town about two and a half hours northwest of Austin. Two thirds of the drive was on two lane state roads through other small towns. I really like this kind of drive even if you can only drive slow at times. 

We were at the Rattlesnake Ballroom, a nice joint that has the bands play above the bar on an elevated stage... my paranoid ass was scared of a slip and fall every time I went up or down those stairs. Fortunately I didn’t pull any bonehead moves and stayed on both feet. 

Mikey Mumbles (or Mumbles Mike) was the guest of honor. They had a nice spread of bbq a couple of doors down for the carnivores in attendance. It was potato salad sandwiches and pasta salads for the veg”s in the house. Not the best but better than a candy bar from the connivence store.  

We played two decent sets. With the stage up like this you are so far from everyone and it’s really hard to make a connection with the crowd. We did our best but it still felt weird. They had a wireless mic so Smitty got to get out and mingle a bit, so there was a little bit of a connector there. 

After it was the lonely two and a half hour drive home being paranoid about deer jumping out at me. I saw a dozen on the side of the road but they all stayed where they were, thank god. 

7/3/19

I got a message the other day that I needed to speak with Bigfoot Chester HR so I went in a little early. Turns out everyone wants Angele back in after her stellar performance at the anniversary show. Perfectly understandable, she fucking kills it. 

So there I was sad and dejected, thinking I was out of a job...  until they slid an envelope across the desk that gave me my new job description. I’m in on guitar!!

We were back at the Sahara for our last, first Wednesday. It was pretty packed but we weren’t fooled... it’s just the day before a holiday and folks wanted to party!!

Angele isn’t 100% on everything yet so I split the set between guitar and bass. Still a load of fun. And we kinda killed it. I’m really looking forward to where we are going with this band. The five piece Bigfoot is awesome! 

6/29/19

Back at the Bang Bang Bar in SA the other night. Such a good place and when we showed up it was more crowded than I’ve ever seen!!!

Genzeles had a couple of tunes left. They seemed more on it than the last time I’d seen them. I think they might have a new drummer(?) but I don’t really pay that much attention so...

Tex and Pony Island were in the middle. Also with a different drummer (this I KNOW!) their set was solid. Apparently it was the new gals fourth time, including rehearsals with them. Pretty great work. 

Our set was good. I felt like we were a little all over the place, we haven’t rehearsed in a bit but the crowd was really into it. Kinda all that matters. 

Two folks were drunk enough to hit the floor. This one gal who was trying to grab Smitty’s junk (she fell right after, pretty funny). Later on this dude who was hugging the monitor right in front of me went down. Both were trashed but neither one of them were hurt. I’m doubting they even noticed!

6/22/18

And the second two shows were at Kick-Butt Coffee. I’ve been there for a couple of shows but I’ve never played there. And on this night I did twice!

Beautiful Delilah’s were first. Great as ever. I love playing with Trey but it’s really fun watching him rock out with someone else. And rock it they did!

Bigfoot went next. Our 25th anniversary show. It was pretty cool and a little redemptive after that last set at Sahara... we put out a cassette with a bunch of leftover stuff from the past and a couple of new ones that we did with Cris last month. It actually sounds pretty good, the new ones in particular. Couple of the old ones sound awful. My bass is mixed OUT of one of them...  bad bad production. Even for a cassette.

So we got Ted Roddy to sing a couple and Angele got up and played bass on five. In the past I’d get down and watch but this time I played some guitar and it felt really good. I played guitar on one recording back when I started and that was it.  After 20 years of waiting, finally I get to strike!!

Hickoids were last. Our set was somewhat subdued by Hickoid standards. But there was lots of time for bullshitting with the crowd and I even got to gear a story about Davy I’ve never heard before. THERE IS STILL GOLD IN THAT HILL!!

6/22/19

First of three (?!) shows today! This one was at the Lost Well with the Swishbucklers.  We were playing a roast for our buddy Chad Holt. He found out he has some really bad odds with cancer and the end is near... some very serious, sad stuff. But that isn’t how Chad is gonna play it. He’s getting roasted. 

I hope when my end is near I can face it with half the humor as he is. Pretty great attitude to have. 

We were a man down. Tommy didn’t turn on his phone? Or some shit like that so we were a four piece. We did ok considering, Would have been nice to rehearse that way instead of feeling like we were missing a leg or something the whole set.  

It may not have mattered. People were really in to it and it was packed in there.I guess that’s all that matters. 

On to Kick Butt. 

6/8/19

Played a little solo set the other day. Mid afternoon on a Saturday at the Knomad?! I’m in!

Cris Burns set me up with it. I did 45 minutes and took off after a couple of tunes from Zeno who played after. He did a keyboard and prerecorded set. Pretty cool stuff and very different from me. I like that. 

My set was solid as it could be, especially when you factor in that I haven’t had a solo set in well over a year. Played two new tunes I’ve never done before. There is a third I couldn’t quite get down in time. 

It was a ton of fun and I’ve got a bunch of new ideas for songs fermenting away in the back of my mind. Feels pretty good!

6/5/19

Rough set last night at the Sahara... Bigfoot was back in the monthly slot. Usually Danny B would be there but he didn’t make it this time. No idea why....  I pay very little attention to anything other than the music. 

I missed Pinkus (of course...) but got there to see Henri playing a really good solo set. He sat in with us as well... probably not the best time for him to do it but you can’t really plan when the shitty set comes.  

And it came hard and heavy. What a mess.  Kinda epic in its awfulness. That’s how it goes, the only thing to do is move on and do what you can to make it not happen again.  

Wish us luck.