Here is the latest in the band situation: the More than Song band played a really good show last Sunday to what seemed to be a fairly interested crowd of about 50. no major flaws. things went pretty well. the Liquid Reason band pulled it's opening oppritunity with Blammo because the club that we were playing at is shutting down (again). From what i am told, and stay with me here, the White House has been bought again by a friend of the dad of a guy in Blammo so they are doing like 5 shows in February out there, so i think that we might try out there. When Blank Slate was alive and KICKING ASS we played 3 nights up there (and they even called us for 2 of them!) so it was under major renovations then so i guess it is leaps and bounds ahead of were it was at then now so we'll just have to wait and see. as you can tell the picture above is finally the Green Gretsch that Doug has on a loaner program for me. i took so pics of that car amp that want to sell to try and buy it. it has a great sound to it so i really want to get it and at $500 it is really a good investment. Tonight i have the Notre Dame game to go to with Jeff. they are playing Alabama who is ranked 4th / 5th. Should be a blow out but i think that ND has played well latley so you never know. I tend to make the Irish lose so i mould still put my bet on the Fighting Elephants of Bama. ROLL TIDE! It has snowed like crazy today and it is a 9:00 start time so that kind of sucks but it should dtill be a good outing. Sometime this weekend i will probably get over to Mom and Dad's to get there treadmill. i ran Tuesday after work and went a full 2.25 miles with no stops but on ice and snow, you have to really take your time and watch your step. looking forward to going before work again. i feel so much more tuned in. well....i suppose Yoder is probably looking for someone to yell at. i guess i should go volunteer. later!

Well....what's new.........

Nothing wild and crazy. I have band practice tonight with the new band, now known as "Liquid Reason". My second band practices Saturday and plays Sunday. It seems like i have had very little going on and now all of a sudden i am in all three bands (Granger is the third) doing something now till early January and then leave for Vegas mid January. Not much to report, just thought that i would get the blog out there. later...

well, i am becoming a vintage guy. i shouldn't be but man it is so cool. the kit that i am playing on of Doug's, i amde the mistake of asking what he wants for it.....he said if he were to sell it, it would go for $1100. HOLY #$*% He said that for me he would do $500. So then i get thinking that everything that i have is crapola, so i remember that i was given a special edition car amp that is about the size of a surfboard that i cleaned up and will probably never use. i have seen these things go for huge money so i might put it up on eBay and buy myself a little piece of Americana. Just getting into this vintage thing, the only other old drum that i have is a 1960-1963 Ludwig 14x10 snare. i bought it too from Doug. It is nicknamed "Stinky" because when i opened it up, well, it stunk (good story, huh). When i got it i tore it apart cleaned it and reassembled it. i played it out one time, and it was okay but i never really dialed it in quite right, wrong heads, blah blah blah. So now getting all hot and heavy into vintage so i again have torn it apart. I brought in the strainer which is an original P-85 and i have straightened it, which worked quite well I might add, and torn apart the lugs last night so i can clean them out and pull all the junk out of the backing springs. i will do a little interior patch work and sanding. the bearing edges are pretty rounded but i thikn that i will leave them anyways. it is really faded so it isn't like there is a lot of value her. more just an entertainment of a goofy snare. well, thats life. B.

Practice number 1 with new band.........

it went well. this band i think has a great future. it is a 5 piece. me, drumming, Brian is the bass player, Shawn is the guitar player, Eric the vocals and the newest addition is Roy the keyboard. Roy right now is the weakest link and he really didn't seem to have a great idea of what we were playing and how they go but Shawn is a good teacher and Roy seemed to understand him so we will keep our fingers crossed. we got through the first 8 of the ten we had hoped for and i think that we will push into the next 10 next week. Last night we worked on....

Sweet Home Alabama

Are You Gonna be my Girl

Hard to Handle

7 Army Nation

Brown Eyed Girl

Play the Funky Music

Harder to Breathe

And what we didn't get too....

I want you to Want me

Beverly Hills

Rebel Yell

We have started working on Band names, but the only thing that i have heard was "Paper Taxi" and i heard crickets after that. i doubt that will be the final name. Hell, the bass player said it, who listens to the bass player. The kit picture is not a kit that i am using but a very nice Gretsch kit i found on eBay. I am using a great loaner from Doug that is a lot like this but emerald green lacquer. more later.

just to post a post

Well, i don't have a lot to say. Went for my morning run. that is going well. weighed myself this morning. that was spooky. i will not take the time to tell you but it is a personal high. much higher than i would have ever thought buy 15 lbs. so we will work on that. i voted yesterday. man is that hard to do. which liar and crook do you think will be the lesser of the liars and crooks. i voted straight ticket Republican which i have never done before. i have been doing a lot of drum research lately. i will be putting up a post soon for my feelings as to what i think would be dreamy. if this band takes off and i start seeing $$$$ then i might try to buy 2 kits. one for a cheap traveling kit and one just to stare at. i will post that maybe later today. i would love to sell everything and start all over.just about every purchase i ever made was done with research but not knowledge. i looked and sometimes tryed things but didn't always know why i was buying stuff other than to run myself into debt for a week. i love a lot of my stuff but i would be happier if i would have done stuff with a system. don't buy a crash just to have a crash. what size...where do you want it to fill....blah blah blah type stuff. sorry this hasn't been real meaningful but i will hit you (Jeff) with some fine details later.

THIS FREAKING THING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I JUST TYPED THIS WHOLE STINKING THING AND HIT THE SPELLCHECK AND POOF! GONE! BYE BYE! AHHHHHHH! (someone get me some coffee!) okay. now....for what i have heard myself say once already.........Last night was Halloween and we went over to E.'s dad's as tradition because it is his B-day also. No great stories, just beautiful memories. Layla was a pricess (naturally) and Evan was Batman. Reagan was a Ladybug but didn't go trick or treating. On my way over to E.'s dad's my cell went off and it was Eric from the band that i was in for the month that it existed. He was calling to appologize and let me know that it is back on with a complete staff. 4 other guy's that are already in a dn they offered me the drum spot again if i wanted it. Brian is in it again, he's the one that i talked to after we never heard from Eric again. I talked to him today and he feels good about it. I told Eric that i wasn't real happy with him last time and i wanted things to change. I still havn't decided what i will do. I told him that i wouldn't drop the other band that i am in because i did that before and they stuck with me after these guy's fell apart. I don't think that E wants me to do it with another baby coming but extra money at baby time will come in handy. Before it really wasn't a money thing, it was just to get playing again. Now, i think it would be for money more than anything, not that i don't want to keep playing, but i think you understand where i am going with this. still undecided. we'll see how it goes. Later for now. i'll keep you updated.

Well, yesterday started the 4th week of running. it has stepped upto running 7 minutes and walking 3 and repeating 3 times. It is nice running in my block because i know when i get to a certain point that i am at a certain time. Helps me keep a pace too. I am still enjoying it. Saturday (what would have been the last day of the 3rd week) was the first time that i skipped a day. i was headed to the Notre Dame game and was not able to get it in the days schedule. It was nice to have the day off but i could feel it in my legs that i hadn't gotten out. It has been a nice wake up in the morning and come into work and have a real runner to talk to about it. My goals are for in the summer to do eith a 5K or 10K. that is 3.2 or 6.4 miles. Right now i feel like the 10K is a great possiblity but i will wait til I get closer to determine that. Roger here has given me a great step forward and told me what 10K that he thought would be good for me. It ends on the field at Notre Dame Stadium. Good stuff. Rob and I went to the UCLA game. we had great tickets. 50 yard line, 10 rows up. It was a long game to watch bad football, but the last series made it all worth while. It may be the first time that I was AT a ND game and they won! This was the second game this year that the home team came from behind and won in under a minute. 47 seconds and Georgia and now 27 seconds and ND. Good year. good times.

Sanford and Son

This is a great shot of Sanford Stadium by the way. nice place for 92,000 friends. we were 55 rows up on the 15 yard line. we were in the closest corner of the picture. Good times

My life the past few weeks....for documentation

I really don't know why i am doing this but i suppose that i feel the need. a handful of weeks back Elizabeth got tickets to see the Colts play the Houston Texans. we went, saw, good times.

The week right after that, my buddy Trevor and i left Kropf at 2:30 and drove to beautiful Athens, GA which is a full 12.5 hour drive. that i s a long time after being up at 5:50 that morning and then getting there at 3 the next morning. we got to Athens, drove around, found a Walmart and spent slept in his truck. not comfy. it was 77 degrees at 3 am and this truck isn't diesle so we were obviously not going to let it just run all night. also we are in a nice but strange place so we arn't going to leave the windows down, so with a 1/4 " crack at the top, we kick the seats back and take a crappy snooze. it was so hot, so stuffy and worst of all, we got slap happy. giggling like school girls for NO reason at all. mind you we had also brushed our face and contacts and stuff like that in walmart. only adding to the white-trashiness of it all. We both barley slept if that is what you would call it. In the morning we went into the Walmart (again) and did the whole brush teeth, contacts and that even changed in the stalls. they were fairly clean by the way yet still a message for a number to call butit had 8 digits (southerners!) we left there and stopped at the only restarant around. WAFFLE HOUSE. not to say that there was only 1 but 700 of these places, still, all WAFFLE HOUSES. Perhaps the finest sausage patty i have ever had. everyone was super nice. we left there and got on campus. as soon as we pulled in we saw free parking so we instantly pulled in, only later to find out that the whole campus is a free parking mecca. We later discovered that the spot we got as literally the farthest place away. no biggie! we walked to the stadium quite early, did a little shopping, got lost, headed in the exact opposite direction we were supposed to go, kept going, got turned around by locals, and got back to the truck. the guy we asked after figuring out we had no idea said, "Oh, it'll take about 3 hours by foot (1.5 hours before kick off) but when it took me 3 hours, i was very drunk. we had it back in about 20 minutes. we got talking to the people we were parked next to who were really nice, they offered us food and drink, which we had brought our own. then people a few cars down offered us cheese burgers cause they were leaving to go to the game so we took those (fine cheese burgers)

the game we wonderful. it was Colorado (0-3) against THE GEORGIA BULLDOGS (3-0). it was to be a blow out. at Sanford Stadium you can walk all over the place. go right up to the hedges that outline the field. i t was so cool. we watched 3 of the ugliest quarters of football that UGA had played in a long time. we were down 10-0 after the 3rd quarter. bad plays, worse coaching plan. finally in the 4th they went to the 3rd string QB since the 1st string was injured, second string was the starter as a true freshman and looked like it. Joe Cox went in there like he had done it a thousand times. Bulldogs win 14-13. great game! the place was jumping! we hauled ass back to the car, and got headed out of town because now we are headed to Trevors sisters in Broadripple. 9 hours later and tired as hell, we arrive.

after a lovely nights sleep in Brandy's roommates bed (without the roommate) Big Don Kropf joined us and the 4 of us went to the Colts and Jacksonville game in Indy. again a great game and the Colts win big (SEE JEFF, I CAN MAKE THE HOME TEAM WIN!!!!)

okay, i may have more to say but my hands hurt from typing and i don't remember much more. later

trying to be a runner....again

i am currently weighing in as much as i ever have before. this numbers is not something that i am thrilled about. i am still getting people at work asking me how much i have lost but it is just on the days that i tuck my shirt in. i hate to tuck my shirt in, however to fool these idiots, i must continue to tuck my shirt in. this will only work for a while. As many of you know, Roger, the guy i took over for in purchasing is back. things here are great with him back. at first i wasn't thirilled but because it is Roger, it has been a blessing in disguise. any whoooo, he is an avid runner. marathons 10k, 5k blah blah blah... it got me interested. it has been a long time since i have gone out to run. i always liked it but at that point was skinny and active and never had a reason. shin splints also stopped me quick only to find that is mostly a shoe issue. i have no problem buying a new pair of shoes. hell, i did that this weekend. so with talking to Roger and the help of Runners world online, i figured out a routine that takes 5 days a week for 10 weeks to get you to the point of stepping out the door and go run. Sunday i strapped on my adidas and did a little strechy strechy and went on my walk. yes yes, it seems dumb but week 1 is 4 minutes of walking and 2 minutes of running doing that 5 times. it seemed so dumb. who can't run for 2 minutes?!?!?!? HOLY CRAP, THAT IS A LONG TIME!!!!!! i did good. started my first run at to fast a pace and that kind of screwed me for the first time out but i got it under control. today came the real kicker.....i woke up at 5 a.m. and went for my little one man journey. slight drizzle cannot stop this man, however the big loose dog did make me tweak my route but i have no set path so it's fine. i had a good time. switched to my nike's this morning which was more comfortable also. got back to the house at 5:50 and tried to stop sweating before i hopped in the shower but that didn't work. i will take tuesdays and fridays off and keep pushing myself beyond that. i will now open the floor to accept questions.........

My latest thoughts on the state of my drumming

DRUMS! my lord i love these creations of wood and metal with plastics and other random materials. I rebuilt my 6x14 Hand Hammered Steel this week. think that i tuned it in pretty well. After the show at Jeff's old church, i had some thoughts about reworking mine. I will be taking it to my friend Doug Lim's for a consultaion to get some ideas as to what i can do to it. Thinking that recutting the bearing edges will be a little dangerous since the wood is so crappy. Reheaded my kick drum with a clear Evans EMAD that i had on it for about a year before swithing to smooth white Powerstroke 3. the Evans has sharper attack. Will switch the heads on the toms back to Remo Coated Pinstripes. Put a Aquarian coated Sudio X with rings and power dot on the snare and set up my Pork Pie 6x10 aux. snare. Cymbals remain the same. I watched the Led Zeppelin DVD this weekend and was inspired to set up a little different and new locations. I get nervous remove memory locks because i love my rack so things are a little goofy but if i ever settle on a setup (NEVER!!!) then i will pull the memory locks. Recently been thinking about selling a bunch of equipment and stereo equipment and buyinbg a second kit to keep at Jeff's so i have a practice kit and tour kit and just transfer cymbals and what ever i feel like. This is all initial thoughts so bear with me. the kit i am thinking of is a Gretsch Catalina Mod in the silver and black sparkle finish. 20x22 kick, 9x12 tom and 14x16 floor. i have never seen the finish but i think "How can you screw up a sparkle?" Gotta run, thanks for reading

Just puttin' it out there.....

Do not tell smart toddler's the gifts that you buy people for special occations. Saturday Elizabeth had to work so Layla and I went to go get E.'s mom's day gift. We walked into Bath and Body Work's. One of the questions that we hear all the time now is, "Where are we?" we may be at home, however, we still would get the question. We walked into B&BW's and she asked "Where are we" and i tell her that we are in a store that makes you smell good. I asked her if she could smell the pretty smells and she starts smelling anything that is in a 40 ft radius of us. Cabinet doors, travel bags, raffia flowers, EVERYTHING. An absolute riot. So we pick our stuff and get home and she takes a nap. After E. got home she asked Layla what we had done to day. Layla responded, shopping for lotion. I just walked in the room and E. told me that she had said what she had. I asked Layla the same question and she said something about mommy soap. Oh well, she's cute.

So i know that one person is reading this. Wonderful. Great. Super. The masses will soon follow. Here is today's wisdom. It goes like this... on day's that you are busy, it is amazing how much useless stuff you can get done. FOR INSTANCE: Research up and coming bands, check out the latest happenings in the auto industry and for the most part, heavy duty drum investigations for some of the most amazing drums that i can only imagine playing, on stage, with a band, in front of people, who want to be there, because they love my music, and, of course, find me sexy. Any who, on busy days, i do not get to do these fine activities. This, is one of those days. Please check again tomorrow

And so here we are in the beginning

This is all new to me. Not normally a big writer. I see this is thee thing to be doing and since the out come is not as wicked as jumping off a bridge after someone, i figure hey... why not. At this point i really don't have much more to say so i suppose that i will call it a day and try and figure out what else i can fiddle with on this here bloggy thing. In the word's of Jack Black in "The School of Rock".....LET'S GET ROCKIN'!