Wednesday 3/30/11

Last weekend we played the Sarasota Folk Festival, what a blast!  The weather was superb and the music was everywhere.  We closed the stage Saturday afternoon for the dinner break and had more fun than is usually allowed in the retirement state.  Our Bass Player is still dealing with some health issues, so we drafted our friend and latest accomplice Carolyn Dunn to fill in.  This woman has nerves of steel, to get on stage with us after only an hour of practice and familiarizing herself with our tunes, just amazing!  She did so well we brought her back to play with us on our Sunday set.  We  owe her big time. 
    Our good friend Mindy Simmons was in charge of the festival, it's good to have friends in high places.  With her army of volunteers they put together something really wonderful.  We hope to be invited back next year to further pillage the lovely community of Sarasota. 
  Until Next time, here's your daily dose of wisdom:

Make somebody happy today. Mind your own business. ~Ann Landers

3/22/11

Back to the music.  After my ramblings on the sate of the world yesterdayI thought I had better get back to
a topic I actually know something about.  Then I realized, there is no such subject.  So I'll tell you of my weekend adventures instead.
     Cindy and I went into the big city of Vero Beach Friday evening to catch a south Florida musician who happened to be passing through.  Joel Zoss was playing at  a place called Bodega Blue,  a funky little place with good food, 400 different beer varieties, and lots of noisy folks.  Joel did a fine job of entertaining the few folks who were actually listening to him.  He's a great player and has some really fine tunes up his sleeve.  To bad some of the people there weren't considerate enough to tone it down and listen.  Oh well, the life of a traveling musician aint for sissies.
   Saturday evening we headed for the Sebastian Inlet where they were holding there Night Sound concert series.  We had the pleasure of being entertained by Rod MacDonald and Tracy Sands, in honor of the St Patrick Day festivities.  Rod is one of my all time favorite song writers and I had never heard him with Tracy before.  They are really great together, they did a lot of Irish material and Rod managed to squeeze in some of his tunes as well.  The gigantic full moon rose up out of the mangroves around 8:00 directly behind the stage, it was a magical evening indeed.
  Until we meet again, here are your daily words of wisdom:
      
The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.
Hunter S. Thompson:

3/21/11

Hello out there!  It's been a while since I enlightened the universe with any of my observation, so I thought it was about time.
    Since we last talked the world as we know it has continued to slide further into the abyss.  We had an earthquake off the coast of Japan that has seriously compromised a nuclear power facility, good thing that stuff is so safe.  I've heard that Al Gore sprinkles nuclear waste on his morning granola, and you've seen how great he looks lately.  I guess there's a lot of calories in that stuff.
    We had a revolution of sorts in Egypt, which now seems to have spread all over the middle east.  It's no wonder there revolting, you'd be pissed too if you had to live in that sand trap.
    Since we can't resist a good fight,  our illustrious leader has decided to shoot some missiles at our old nemesis Gaddafi in Libya.  Granted that Gaddafi character is a real nut case that should have been taken out a long time ago, but let the rebels take care of him like in the good old days.  We shouldn't be getting involved in every skirmish in the world when we can't even take care of ourselves.  I heard Ron Paul on the radio today, that man has got his shit together. He tells it like it is, not that BS the politco's would have us believe.  If they ever hold real elections in this country he's my man.
    Well that's enough off my plate for today.  To be continued.
Oh yea, the daily words of wisdom:

The enemy isn’t conservatism. The enemy isn’t liberalism. The enemy is bullshit."        Lars-Erik Nelson, political columnist