Monday, May 16

We now resume our previous posting.
   We got up early enough on Sunday to meet our obligations at the radio station,  or so we thought.  We decided to go out for breakfast before we headed out for WFIT in Melbourne at one of the local breakfast spots.  I guess we forgot it was Mother's Day, we couldn't get a seat for some time and the clock was ticking.  So we decided to head home and I whipped up some eggs and bagels before hitting the road for the radio interview.  We got to the station right on time and our host Fred Migliore was ready for action.  Fred's Program FM Odyssey is syndicated and he has had the pleasure of interviewing tons of great musicians.  Him and Kat hit it off pretty quickly and before I knew it they were telling some tall tails about me being a great guy considering the years I had spent in the Big House.  Lies I tell you, all lies!
    We headed home after the interview and before we knew it it was time once again to hit the road for the Shamrock Room to set up the sound system and get some grub before show time.  Everything went well and we managed to get a good crowd for the show.  The Shamrock Room is a little piece of musical paradise for the performing singer/songwriter.  I'm looking forward to the next event to be held there, whatever it might be.
We made it home around 10:00, and were pretty well exhausted form the days activities.  We shot the breeze for a while and hit the sack.  A great weekend indeed, now back to the real world!
    Until next time, here's your daily dose of wisdom:

 Tell me what you need and I'll tell you how to get along without it. 
                                                                                                   Author Unknown

Monday May 9

Another weekend slowly fades into the distance.  We had the pleasure of hosting a concert for our Seattle compadre Kat Eggleston on Sunday night at a little place called The Shamrock Room in Cocoa Village, Fl.  We have kind of made this a traditional stop over for Kat when she comes to Florida, she's a lot of fun to hang out with and a great performer.  Kat and her accomplice Robby, arrived Saturday afternoon and the first thing we did was scrub the love bugs off the front of the car.  If you don't know what a love bug is, then you've never spent the summer in Florida.  I'm pretty sure this is why many folks leave the state before the summer fun begins and don't return until October.
   So I prepared my extra special double secret formula lasagna for dinner, and it went over like Hershey Kisses at a weight watchers meeting.  That means they liked it.  We then gathered our energy and went down to the river for a stroll and to take in some local flavor.  We stopped at Suzy's Tiki Bar, the flavor doesn't get any more local than that, and had a beer to celebrate Mother's Day Eve.  The DJ was playing all sorts of horrible music and we suspected from his smooth mannerisms, he was most likely an unemployed construction worker trying to make some money in this awesome economy.  By the time we had finished our beers and were headed out he was starting to slur a little bit.  Fortunately, most of the folks there were to wrapped up in their corn hole games to notice.  Yes, Suzy's has corn hole.
   We arrived home after a short drive and Kat and I traded a few tunes before we called it a day.  A good time was had by all.
   To be continued..........
 

Monday 4/18/2011

This past weekend the Ashley Gang played at the Barberville Spring Frolic, we had a great time.  We  arrived Friday evening around 4:00, the advance team had already selected our site, and seeing as I don't like controversy, I went along with the plan.  We got parked and set up our home base pretty quickly.  Hung the chinese lanterns on our awning and broke out the forty seven chairs we had packed.  Cindy had prepared a gigantic batch of macaroni salad as our contribution to the pot luck dinner, it was excellent.  After dinner we played a little music and socialized.
  The weather was warm Saturday, but at least there was no rain.  We only played once on Saturday, but the set went really well.  there's nothing quite like seeing a barn full of folkies singing along with Yo Ho (The Pirate Song).
   Saturday evening some cooler weather blew in and Sunday morning was just glorious.  We had two sets to play on Sunday and we had good crowds at both of them.  They were probably hoping we'd do the Pirate Song again.  It was a great weekend with the best folks in the world.  We can't wait to do it again!
  Until next time, here's your daily dose of wisdom:
      
    "I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.' "

— Bob Newhart

Monday 4/11/2011

We had a rare opportunity to see one of our favorite singing songwriters Sunday evening.  Slaid Cleaves was playing in cocoa village at the Shamrock Room.  It's a small venue that seats maybe fifty, a great place to see performers up close and personal.  Slaid was accompanied by  Michael O'connor on guitar, man he had the golden touch.  Very subtle and right on the money, he added a lot without playing to much.  Slaid was just great, his writing is really top notch.  And he did a great job of playing all the songs we wanted to hear.  At one point someone requested a song he hadn't done in some time, when he flubbed the second verse the person that had requested it gave him the first line to the verse, that got him back on track.  He took it all in stride, I think he enjoyed the evening as much as we did.  He had some friends from Maine in the audience, even his grandmother was there.   It was a great evening in a great room.  I can't wait to see who will be playing there in the future.
  Until next time, here are your words of wisdom for today:

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.  ~Confucius

Monday 4/4/2011

Happy Monday!
   I was invited to play at the Wellington Songwriters Showcase this past Sunday down south in the beautiful Village of Wellington.  The event took place in the sparkling new Wellington Amphitheater, a truly glorious venue.  My good friend Jordan Cherkinsky, Dentist by day, musical dynamo by night, was in charge of this event.  At least we let him believe that.  Another long time compadre, Pete Rimmel was running the sound, and it sounded awesome on the stage as well as out in the cheap seats.  There were seven songwriters playing seperate sets from 12:00 until 4:00, but I think it may have run a bit later than that.  I'll do my best to squeeze everyones name in here.  Mary Beth and Chris Campbell, Rick Seguso, Bobby G, Shauna Sweeney with her sister Nicolet and brother Austin, Yakkov Thompson, and me.  If I forgot a name or screwed anyones up I apologise, my brain can only handle five names at a time.  It was a great time and I enjoyed getting to meet and listen to everyone.  The Songwriter’s Showcase is a free concert series presented by WEI Network, Peter’s Livingroom, the Village of Wellington, and sponsors.  And it's free to the public.
It just doesn't get any better than that!
  Until next time, here are your daily words of wisdom:

"Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow." --Swedish proverb