6/19/20

 It was just me and Harvey last Saturday at the Lonesome Rose. We did a little duo set opening for Jessie Dayton. We’d never attempted one of theses before but we were able to sneak one little run through earlier in the week.  We even leaned two new ones as went over the rest, my dog was really happy it wasn’t just me playing in the living room for a change.  

It was a pretty decent crowd for an 8pm start time.  We only played one of the two new ones and we’d been a little worried that we had enough stuff to fill the time, but we had five still on the list when we got the “one more”. Solid. 

We wrapped up and I jumped back in the car and drove back to Austin. I would have loved to see Jessie but getting home and being lazy as hell was a high priority at that point. 

5/30/21

 Another Gringopalooza? Yes. The pandemic killed it last year, this year it was back with a vengeance. 

At the Three Links with the Gringos (duh), George Jonestown Massacre, a band from California full of young dudes that I didn’t see or meet, and the Hickoids!

The place was pretty packed. I drove up myself and got a room down the street so I could stumble back and not worry about driving home until way later. The club was full when I got there. As in one in and one out with no covid capacity limits. Packed. 

The pandemic isn’t over but folks sure are acting like it. I’m desperate to play and travel and see shows and live a somewhat normal life again. But I’m pretty worried that we as a species are handling this in the worst way possible.  

I 100% blame our former national leadership and our CURRENT Texas “leadership”. Total assholes that are fucking up the world for personal gain and have zero compassion. There is a fair amount of willful ignorance and stupidity in there as well. It’s all gross and avoidable. 

Anyway. The show was a lot of fun. It was great being out and seeing a ton of folks I haven’t seen in what feels like a decade. We really tore it up and Frontier Dan even made the gig! It’s always great getting to hang and play with him. 

At the end of the night it was a series of drunken hugs with half the crowd and most of the band folks. Feels good to be missed

5/1/21

 And there was another one!

Things are not back to normal but it sure feels like it’s creeping back there slowly. 

Hickoids had a show in San Antonio with the Beaumont’s and We Are The Asteroid. It was gonna be at Lonesome Rose out back but the 90% chance of rain moved it over to Paper Tiger and it was “presented” by Lonesome Rose. 

Some things don’t change. Just like the screwball nature of how, where and why this gig happened. A semi standard down here in the low rungs of rock and roll, all three of theses bands were primed and ready to kill it. We’ve been in “ready, set” mode for a while. NOW GO!!

Paper Tiger can hold a thousand and we had 200-250ish there. It was mostly safe as far as covid goes but once folks got drunk it was probably a different story. 

I’m not gonna go in to to much detail. I’ve written about theses bands a bunch and I still love them and I’m thrilled we got to have a bill like this again. But it was the same old story. “The ______ did _____ and it kicked ass”. It still applies. 

4/17/21

 Holy shit! I played a show!!! 

We’ve done a few livestreams and some recording here and there but it’s been pretty slow since the pandemic hit. But, BUT! We had a show a St Paul’s Square right by the Amtrak station in San Antonio and it felt really good. 

This was the Harvey band with our current badass lineup. I am so I love with being in this band. I was made for it. It feels so good playing and hanging with everyone in it. 

This place is pretty cool. It’s a courtyard with a bunch of restaurants and bars that have patios. The whole place is “entertained” by the band in the middle. We did two long sets at a very safe social distance and even though this was a straight money gig it felt amazing. Who cares if barely anyone is paying attention. I get to do good stuff with folks I love!

1/14/2021

 Hmmmm... this seems to have floundered a bit. Wonder why I’m not playing any shows?

2/8/20

Last night it was a double up with Bigfoot and Harvey at the Black Sparrow out in Taylor. Made the drive and set up both bass and guitar rigs. Might as well lend them out since I’ll be there and using both. 

Right after he got there Harvey’s piano took a dive and the action got all screwed up.  As in a lot of keys didn’t work at all.  Fuck. We covered as well as we could but it was kinda hurting. Next time....

Bigfoot went up and we had a decent one. Couple of newish things here and there and plenty of the same old... not a bad set.  We might be in an upswing!!

Beautiful Delilah’s closed it out, but because I had to work at 8am in the morning I drove my ass home!!!

1/24/20

This was a Bigfoot show at Kick Butt. We were last out of four or five bands. I didn’t pay that much attention to the names of them... but they were all pretty dam rocking. I love that. Knowing no one and having a blast watching REALLY good stuff. 

We even had a decent set. We are starting to sound like a real group again as we all learn how to play in the new lineup. 

Nothing magical happened we just kinda held it down and rocked it. Loads of fuckups and plenty of room for improvement, but a solid step forward.