For those of you following along, I know it’s been a minute since we turned in a proper update, but I didn’t wanna fire up the headline-maker until I had all the facts checked.

With that now out of the way, here we go…

For the last year or more, I’ve been navigating an issue with my hands. On any given day, said navigation might have me maneuvering like a champ one minute, with the digit dexterity of a brain surgeon, or losing my grip on a half-full coffee mug the next, and unintentionally flinging it across the room.

My hands would go numb while driving, and some nights I’d wake up from a restless sleep with what felt like flames running through the muscles of my left arm.

Eventually this started to impact my guitar-playing, as I’d lose sensation in the middle & index fingers of my fretting hand, or worse, have shooting pains, like jolts of electrical current running through them. I figured out, over time, that I had maybe 30 minutes of relatively unimpeded noodling at my disposal, before the trouble would start in earnest.

We rarely play for 30 minutes or less, so this presented a real problem, and necessitated a serious adjustment to our gigging schedule.

Some would argue that I’ve ALWAYS played like I was managing an impediment, but I swear that’s by choice, and I’m actually a pretty decent guitarist. I just like really laying into it live, and besides, that’s why we have Rizzo, to cover all the delicate bits, while I keep the greasy stuff properly slopped-up and gnarly.

Before long though, even my best efforts to fumble through weren’t gonna cut it, because I started having almost as much trouble with my right hand as I’d been having with the left. I’d been to the doctor, ran through a few refills of an anti-inflammatory that shot my liver enzymes through the roof, sending me to a rheumatologist who then referred me to an orthopedic surgeon. He set me up with a specialist, who ran ACTUAL current into my nerves via electrodes and needles (or at least that’s what I think he was doing…many big words were used throughout this process), while using a tape measure and a Sharpie to sort out whether or not everything was firing as it should be.

It wasn’t.

The diagnosis: Severe Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

The fix? I go in at the end of the month for surgery on both wrists…at the same time. I know it’s gonna suck for a few days/weeks, but I  just wanna get it over with, and get back to picking up a guitar without trepidation. The truth is, outside of shows, and rehearsals, I’ve barely touched a musical instrument all year (other than piano, which doesn’t seem to aggravate the condition quite as much). As a result, I’ve done almost no writing, completing just a single track in all of 2024, where I’d normally have dozens of tunes demoed, fully worked up and ready for consideration, whether we were looking at doing another record or not. It’s just what I do…what I’ve always done.

I really hope this procedure does the trick. I know it’s a common problem, and I’ve talked to plenty of people who’ve had the work done, with no regrets, so I’m confident I’ll be good as new in relatively short order.

We do have shows on the books for 2025 already, but they don’t happen until Spring/Summer, so we’re not cleared to announce any of them yet. They’re cool bills though, and we’re really looking forward to being back on the road in the new year, for some short runs.

We’ve been changing up the live show, and even adopting a tune from the ‘Nothing’s Broken’ record Kenny & I did as The Die Youngs in 2014, to keep things interesting, so we truly have been doing what we can to stay busy while I get myself sorted. I really appreciate the guys understanding, and putting up with even more bellyaching from me than the usual ration of piss n’ moan.

OK then, I guess Merry Christmas & Happy New Year wishes are getting served up right here, right now, while I have your attention, and full use of my phalanges.

Please be good to each other, as always, and we’ll see you in ’25.

  -Denny

p.s. Check out a few interviews we’ve done recently…chats on everything from the debut W.A.S.P. album, Soft Rock, Candlebox, & more. 

OK, so you can watch Rizzo’s very succinct video recap and/or read my heavily edited, yet still terribly long-winded print recap….

 

 

 

Our 3-day run with Mike Tramp’s White Lion started with an 8-hour haul north, to Paw Paw, MI, where we were scheduled to play the Warner Vineyards.

Jean Claude Damme Van was still resting comfortably under my back deck, so we saddled Matt’s SUV with our trusty 5’ X 8’ trailer, laden with all of our gear, and as much merch as we could carry, before hitting the road at the entirely un-Rock N’ Roll hour of 5:30AM.

The day’s drive was relatively uneventful, with Mr. Andersen at the helm. Under his expert guidance, we rolled into Paw Paw with enough time to spare that we could get checked-in to our rooms, at a hotel less than a mile from the venue. As it turns out, Tramp & co. were staying there too, though it wasn’t their extended-cab pickup we encountered in the parking lot covered in what I think were giant magnetic White Lion decals. Nope, that whip belonged to a couple following them on tour, for several shows. You can’t beat that kinda fandom. Awesome.

We loaded in at the venue, not long after the headliner had wrapped up their soundcheck, and found both the band, and the entire staff at Warner Vineyards to be about as accommodating as any support act that almost no one in this particular town had ever heard of could hope for. We’d played with Mike before, so we knew he was a down-to-earth cat, but as it turns out, his whole band were every bit as cool, and we felt welcome right from the jump.

Come to find out, we weren’t actually COMPLETELY unknown in Paw Paw after all. My buddy Jason Lee, a radio personality from that neck of the “Michiana” woods, and the first guy to ever play my old band Best Of Seven on the radio in Central Illinois, some 25 years ago, was on hand, along with his wife Jen, and some friends he’d turned on to us. Scott Benting, one half of the Narcissistic Music Disorder podcast was there too, bearing gifts no less. It was great to see you guys.

We threw down what I’d consider a pretty solid performance, despite being a bit fatigued from the miles, and our early start. We had 45 minutes to do our job, and make it count, and I’d like to think we did just that. If not, we had 2 more shows to prove our mettle.

The White Lion guys came on just after sunset, and delivered a hit-heavy set(with a couple of curve-balls thrown in for good measure), punctuated by some storytelling from Mr. Tramp - wistful, self-deprecating, and hilarious recollections of a life spent in the trenches. The crowd ate it up.

A few beers and a load-out later, we were back at the hotel, ready to catch up on the sleep we’d missed the night before. Thankfully, Kenny had packed some Jameson, otherwise my mind might never have shut down for the evening.

One “continental breakfast” later, we were off to our digs in Valparaiso, en route to the next engagement at the Hobart Art Theater, in downtown Hobart, IN.This place was badass too, a proper old school theater with a sound system designed to rattle your skull. I made sure to add some stickers to the green room’s graffiti, and Kenny even plastered one of The Die Youngs’ decals on the backstage mirror.

We were a bit more bright-eyed for Night 2, and did what we do in as spectacular a fashion as we were able, for a crowd who were clearly hungry for some straight-up Rock N’ Roll. Damn, I miss people & places like this - we need more of them.

Back to our shady Super 8, with what appeared to be a cast of homeless night (and day) watchmen. I’m not sure what that was all about, but I’m fairly certain the guy on patrol when we arrived was not on the establishment’s payroll, just wandering in circles around the building’s perimeter, while the morning shift change saw his replacement spending more time fishing cigarette butts from the trash out front than actually on a beat. True crime-stoppers.

Rizzo & I took advantage of the breakfast offerings, which was pretty much either yogurt or a honeybun(I love both, so I had both.), and as long as there’s coffee, the day can begin, right? There was coffee.

We had a 4-hr. trek to New Berlin, IL, punctuated by a sit-down lunch at Monical’s Pizza along the way. Monical’s! IYKYK.

We arrived at Danenberger Family Vineyards in time for Matt to back our trailer into a telephone pole before soundcheck, which took place under the bluest of skies. 

Alas, the minute we took the stage, some 4 hours later, just after said sun had punched the clock, those skies decided to open up and do their best to drown  us, the audience, and all of our gear & merch.

Should we wait it out? Screw it! Play on, players. We just plowed through it, soaked, but thumbing our noses at the likelihood of electrocution. I’ll say this much though - It ain’t easy doin’ this job when you’re drenched, and your instrument feels like it’s covered in adhesive from the precipitation and ensuing humidity. Still, we rolled on, and made it through to the other side.

We hung out after, kissed babies, shook hands, and got a group shot with the White Lion gang before making our overnight drive back to Nashville, so we could all try to enjoy a day off before returning to the “real world” on Monday.

I’ve gotta admit, I didn’t want these shows to end. Our band is at its best when we can get up there and do 45 minutes to an hour of our “hit list”, and leave it all on the stage. As much fun as it can be sometimes, to do the odd cover here & there, and take over a place for the night, I know we’re most effective in that concentrated burst of songs, in n’ out, hit n’ run, “leave ‘em wanting more” scenario. THAT is where we shine, and live to fight another day, without requiring a protracted recovery period.

If I have my druthers, this is what we’ll be doing for the foreseeable future, not simply because it’s fun, but because it makes more sense (from all but the financial standpoint, of course) for us, and where we are in this stage of our lives, and “careers”.

If it doesn’t put a dollar in my pocket, it better put a big smile on my face. We didn’t get rich on this run, but I laughed my ass off for 72 hours. That’s the sh#t I care about these days, and hopefully we have a few more of them ahead of us.

So, thanks to Mike, Marcus, Jerry, Brentt, Joey the Merch Master, and the guys at NTL Productions for letting us tag along for a minute. It was truly an honor. You guys are the best!

Cheers as well to all the folks we bumped into along the way, friends new & old. We hope to see you all again soon.

Be good to each other,
        D.

Ran into this cat, who showed up rocking TGA swag, in Hobart. Great to see you, Terry! Oh yeah, and thanks for the sweet CT shirt, Mr. Benting.
 

 In July we headed north again for some shows, and lived to tell. Jean Claude Damme Van may have limped home, but he got us back safely, and is resting comfortably, until we can determine how to handle his latest injuries, which are actually rather minor, but costly to repair, and if you’ve seen our schedule lately…well, we’re not exactly flush with cash at the moment.

Still, we’re gonna saddle up again, and this time next week we’ll be en route to Paw Paw, MI, for the first of 3 shows supporting Mike Tramp’s White Lion. We’ve locked in a pretty solid set, one that we hope will appeal to the former Dial MTV crowd, and since we too are part of that demographic, I’m confident we’ll stick the landing.

I, for one, have been a  fan of Mr. Tramp’s various projects throughout the years, so these shows are a pretty big deal to me. Hell, I’m even skipping my high school reunion, which falls on the same day as show #3 of the run, and we’ll be just over an hour away. Sorry, guys…this is the stuff I was dreaming about while you were paying attention in Geometry.

 So, it’s Thursday, September 12th in            Paw Paw, MI (Warner Vineyards)
              Friday, September  13th in               Hobart, IN (Hobart Art Theater)
           & Saturday, September 14th in          New Berlin, IL (Danenberger                                                                                                                           Family Vineyards)

Once we’ve wrapped these up, I honestly don’t know what comes next. For the first time in a very long while, we have absolutely zero commitments to honor, no studio sessions booked, and nary an obligation to speak of whatsoever, as pertains to the band….other than, of course, seeing to the recovery of our beloved JCDV.
 
 We may take a break, unless somebody throws more shows at us. It’s tough to say, and since my Magic 8-Ball has gone missing, I’m hesitant to forecast, or even speculate, but you may not see (or hear from) us for a while. Truth be told, I could use a break. I haven’t been writing much, and that’s unusual for me, so maybe a little time off will help me get my mojo back. Hell, I don’t know.

 Right now, I just wanna jump into our substitute ride, and hit the road for a few days, and see if we can’t make a few new friends along the way. Besides, one good show can go a long way towards reminding you why you’re still at it after so long. Sometimes, that little bit of extra gas in the tank is all you need.

 ’Til we see you again, be good to each other, please and thank you.

             -Denny
              The Great Affairs

p.s. On a totally unrelated not, I talked 80s soundtracks with my buddy Andy for his podcast A-Sides, and you can check that out HERE.

This time next week, we’ll be soundchecking in Michigan City, IN, for our support set ahead of Big Love. The next day, we’re headed to Jackson, MI, to join a slew of other acts including Alien Ant Farm, The Ataris, Dishwalla, Sponge, Nine Days, and more at the annual Rockin’ The Tee Box Festival.

Since you last heard from us, we shook a little rust off at Nashville’s Basement East, opening for Zebra. You can check out some highlights from that show right here.

 

Oh yeah, and I did a quick interview with Bold Journey, talking the band, my shop, and the the various injuries and ailments common among musicians “of a certain age”. You can learn more about said maladies HERE.

For this who were unable to score a copy of the first pressing, we have ’Sleepwalker’ back in stock on CD, finally. You can find it our merch table the next time you see us, or head over to our STORE to grab a copy. (Vinyl is still available as well, along with other assorted TGA items, so feel free to poke around a bit.)

In the interest of keeping this brief; something I frequently promise but seldom actually deliver, I’m signing off now, but I’ll be back with another update in a month or so, with more details on the upcoming White Lion dates, and a couple of other “developing stories”.

Be good to each other,
  Denny
  The Great Affairs

 Into The Wayback Machine we go, to 1984, when a young Denny Smith (that’s me) convinced his mom to buy a K-Tel compilation called “Masters Of Metal” from a Central Illinois department store, for no better reason than it had “Lick It Up” by KISS on it. Not only was the remaining track-list my first introduction to the likes of Iron Maiden, Krokus, DIO, Twisted Sister, and Y&T, but it also featured “Who’s Behind The Door?”, from Zebra.

Flash forward to 2024, and on Friday, June 14th, some 40 years after this little whippersnapper got his wish to take that cassette home (wearing it out daily, much to the consternation of everyone else in the household), my band The Great Affairs will be supporting Zebra at The Basement East in Nashville, TN.

I still pinch myself every time we get a chance to do one of these shows, with an artist or group that had a hand in shaping the way we do what we do, all the way back to simply making us WANT to do it in the first place, and I’m really looking forward to this one. We’ve put together a set that’s heavy on stuff from our latest, ’Sleepwalker’, along with a few tunes the diehards won’t let us get away with leaving out, plus we’re tinkering with some new “technology” for the first time too, so wish us luck, say a prayer, light a candle, or whatever it may be that you do when there’s a chance things might go sideways.

Doors open at 7PM, with In Theory on first, followed by us, and then the headliner.

Next month, we’re off to Indiana & Michigan, for some festival dates, and we’ll keep you posted as more shows come together throughout the Summer. Hell, we might even finish up a video (or two) that we’ve been meaning to work on.

 Cheers,
    Denny
    The Great Affairs

Yeah, I guess I didn’t realize I’d been so remiss in my tending of these here updates, but the calendar tells me I have indeed dropped the ball on our semi-regularly scheduled programming.

Please allow me an attempt to right the ship.

OK then, here we go….

We did a pair of shows in Illinois (Peoria & Marion, specifically..Central & Southern), that made me wish we could just stay in the van a while longer, and do a few more. Alas, we headed home, and have been hard at work on putting together a support set, for the handful of shows we have coming up this Summer & Fall, where we’ll be doing that hit & run thing, sandwiched on festival bill, or opening up, where we won’t likely be playing any longer than 40 minutes or so. It’s a chance for us to get out and properly promote ‘Sleepwalker’, in some bigger rooms, for some built-in crowds, most of whom will have no idea who we even are.

My kinda party.

As of this writing, we’ve got a show with Zebra (Tell Me What You Want, Who’s Behind The Door?) at The Basement East here in town, on Friday, June 14th, followed by an appearance at Michigan City, Indiana’s Live On The Lakefront concert series, with Big Love on Friday, July 26th, and The Rockin’ The Tee Box Fest in Jackson, MI on the 27th, with Alien Ant Farm, Sponge, The Ataris, Nine Days, Dishwalla, and more.

In September, we’re doing a 3-day run with Mike Tramp’s new Songs Of White Lion project, that’ll have us back in Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois, in some great venues. We played with Mike a few years back, on one of his solo acoustic tours, and we’re stoked to get out with him, as he does the full-band thing this time around.

We’ve got few other cool dates brewing as well, but nothing we can make public just yet.

Rizzo taped an appearance on the Narcissistic Music Disorder Podcast that you can check out in AUDIO or VIDEO(just click your preferred mode of Rozzoni consumption), and the nice folks over at Canvas Rebel did another nice feature on me that you can check out HERE.

For those of you who use Spotify exclusively, and have long wondered when our 2014 ‘Dream In Stereo’ album might appear on the service, your wait is officially over. Just click HERE, if you don’t believe me.

I think that about brings us up to speed, so I’ll leave you with a clip of us doing “I’M ALRIGHT”, from Peoria, IL recently, and remind you once more to always be good to one another.

 -D.

There’s really not an abundance of newsworthy content this month, so I’ll keep this brief, for once.

Next weekend, on Saturday, March 16th, we’ll be rolling into Peoria, IL, and occupying the support slot for the Southern Accents show at Revival Music Hall. Doors at 6PM, show at 8. If you’re not familiar with these guys, they’re a smokin’ Tom Petty tribute act, and our own Kenny Wright has subbed for them on occasion. It’ll be nice to get back home for a show, particularly at this venue, which played host to countless now-legendary national acts back in the day. Hell, I actually caught Trixter there as a wee lad, but never had the privilege of playing it myself, until now. If you’re in or around Central Illinois, you should swing by. It’s hard to say when we’ll make it back up that way again.

The next night is a Saint Patrick’s Day fest in Marion, IL, where we’ll be doing what seems like a “matinee” of sorts, taking the stage from 6-8PM on a Sunday(March 17th), at the one & only John Brown’s On The Square. We’re gonna blast straight through 2 hours of our finest, stopping just long enough to toast the first person to puke up something green.

What else have we been up to? Well, Kenny’s still mixing his next solo record, Rizzo & I have teamed up with Billy Baker & Henry Go, to dust off what we’re tentatively calling fORMER(since we’re playing material from those records to get our heads back into the game), until one of us coughs up a more suitable moniker, and Matt has been pursuing his lifelong dream of becoming the World’s greatest voice impersonator.

Rizzo bested my long-standing record as the A-Sides podcast’s top recurring guest, with a discussion of the sounds of 1994. You can check that out HERE, while I made my FIRST guest appearance on The Narcissistic Music Disorder, to geek out over Favorite British Albums, and that can be heard HERE.

What’s next? No clue…but maybe a show or two in April, with details yet to be hashed out as I type this. Please keep an eye on our Shows page for updates on those.

See? Brevity? I CAN do it.

Be good to each other,
     Denny

Never fear, we are alive & well. Despite the relatively low profile we’ve kept lately(something pretty standard for us during the Winter months), we have in fact been at least somewhat busy.

Like a time machine of sorts, you can hear 2023 us chatting with Samantha Knight of Z95 in Clarksville, TN, for her Rock Around The Region program. The interview was conducted in early November, en route to a show in Southern Illinois, and is now available to stream, in 4 segments.

PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
PART 4

Not long after, we hit Florence, AL and Bowling Green, KY back-to-back, somehow managing to land ourselves in the middle of that massive storm that passed through the Mid-South in December. It was a white-knuckle ride to, and a pitch-black ride from, as we drove both under some ominous clouds heading North, and into a power outage aftermath on the way home, when tornadoes had done their worst along our usual route. We were very lucky to avoid all but some crazy high winds and a serious deluge to make our gig, and; after a handful of detours, to find our respective dwellings intact upon return. It was pretty bonkers out there for a minute.

We’d originally thought that Kentucky date would be our last for the year, but as it turns out, we got the opportunity to bid a fond farewell to my favorite neighborhood watering hole/songwriter bar The Twelve Keys, with a last-minute, semi-unplugged throw-down just before Christmas, making THAT our 2023 finale. Click HERE to see a clip from that night.

We took a few weeks off for the holidays, but we’ve since resumed rehearsals, working up a set for our second annual St. Patrick’s Day engagement at John Brown’s On The Square in Marion, IL. Another early show this time, with a straight 2 hours of whatever & then-some we come up with, from 6-8PM, on Sunday, March 17th.

Beyond that, we have Summer dates beginning to materialize, and a few things cooking in the Spring as well, that we should have posted soon. Otherwise, you can catch Kenny in April(Date TBD), with his CCR tribute, while Rizzo & I are working with a couple of “old friends” on a little something that might be of interest to those of you who go back a ways. Kenny’s also been knocking out a few remaining mixes for his eternally-forthcoming sophomore solo release, so there may be light at the end of that tunnel to speak of shortly.

I almost forgot, we’ve got a few new pieces of merch available over at our Printify shop. Just click HERE to see the whole inventory. We recently added the “Dobler” Tee & Mug, as well as “Kenny’s Coffee Cup”. They’re cool. Check ‘em out.

Until we meet again, be good to each other.
-Denny