As I type this update, it’s not yet quite July, but since we’re scheduled to kick off an otherwise slow month with a private engagement on the 1st, I figured I’d get ahead of things and assemble our monthly news brief a few days early. I hope no one finds their life shockingly upended by this sudden change in routine, as I know I would be, were I to wake and discover no coffee in the pot or oatmeal in the pantry. Please know that I sincerely apologize for the disruption, and will endeavor to keep this brief.
For those of you wondering what the hell happened with our planned appearance at the annual Manchester MusicTree Fest, please allow me to offer this visual aid….
….followed by the reply: “How about a full P.A.?”
We made the trek, trailer loaded with a full bass/drums/guitars backline, ready to toss around a few rock n’ roll tunes, only to arrive and discover little more in the way of a sound system than a pair of microphones, and just enough reinforcement to adequately project an acoustic performer. Heck, there weren’t even any monitors to be seen, and we were informed that the company providing the gear had come along and reclaimed most of it the previous evening. Had we packed acoustic guitars, we might’ve been able to adapt and overcome this handicap, but we weren’t booked to deliver an acoustic set, and thus ill-equipped for stripping things down to accommodate the venue’s limited audio firepower. With no choice but to turn back, we did just that.
For the record, the event organizer we’d been dealing with was not on hand to coordinate any of this, nor did he bother replying to our emails regarding the situation. From the look of several videos posted from the weekend shows, there seemed to have been a pretty impressive stage and production assembled on the town square, so at least SOME of the fest was handled professionally. I know weather scuttled a few acts, but I’m not sure how it went so far south by the time we rolled through. Whatever the case, somebody owes us a round or two if you ask me.
Luckily, and likely due to the fact that we KNEW they expected us to, we next showed up WITH our acoustics in Madisonville, KY. Similarly, we came prepared to plug-in and be loud in Clarksville and East Nashville, and for some strange reason these shows came off without a hitch.
In Clarksville, we rolled out a slightly expanded version of our Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers tribute set, alongside a trio doing all things Jack White-related, and a bunch of high school kids who whipped the snot out of the Weezer debut, front to back. This was a total blast, so hopefully we’ll get the opportunity to do it again sometime, maybe resurrecting our All Stanley KISS review.
Finally at home in Nashville for the first proper “local” show we’ve done in a long while, we rolled out one of the new tunes we tracked a few months back. You can scroll through our FACEBOOK page to check out a live clip of “Tripping’ Over Me”. We should be back to work on wrapping those tracks up throughout the Summer, since our calendar is relatively unobstructed for a change.
On the subject of studio work, click on this LINK to check out a tune Kenny produced and played drums on for his daughter Paris recently called “All The Other Boys”.
On tap for July, lots of travel that has nothing to do with the band, other than one quick run up to Central Illinois to play a benefit for our friends at the Fulton County Rehabilitation Center. PekinPalooza will be held on Saturday, July 15th at The Twisted Spoke in (you guessed it) Pekin, IL. All day, tons of bands, raffles, etc….all for a great cause, and probably our last show in that area for the foreseeable future, so please come out, say hey, and help us raise a little coin for these good folks.
Other than that, just the studio business I mentioned earlier, the usual writing, continued work for me on the long-gestating Larimores project with Lee Coram and Joshua Ketchmark, AND whittling away at the song list for a second solo record that has me pulling my remaining hair out trying to decide what should be included vs. what might be better-suited for The Great Affairs. I know the world at large waits with bated breath, ready to push the sales of the ultimate fruit of these labors into the double-digits, so believe me, we’re all working as hard as we possibly can to get this stuff into “the marketplace”ASAP.
But seriously though, some of the sh#t is really good. We’re just trying to weed out anything that’s NOT up to par. It’ll be worth the wait.
OK then, please enjoy the rest of your June, consider this July’s “skinny”, and we’ll reconvene in August, unless something monumental happens that necessitates me interrupting your regularly scheduled programming.
Cheers,
Denny
The Great Affairs