After the show, it's the afterparty...

"Gather 'round children, gotta story to tell.
Once upon a time Rhythm and Blues had a baby and they named it Rock & Roll.
Well, tonight the prodigal child has come home and he sounds like this..."
-Me, Dec. 1, 2004

Hey Soul Mates,
last night's show was a hit! There were over 125 people at the Gig and most were there to see Rush Hour Soul. The night began with a screening of our video for Excommunication, which continues to get raves from our fans. Then we launched into Fall Out as the curtain rose. The set was Fall Out/The Isolation/Everyone's Ingenue/Done Lost My Mind/Excommunication/Hold On, I'm A Comin'/Sucka/Love Someone. The audience was great. I love it when they crowd toward the stage and start dancing. That gets us fired up.

For once, my bass went horribly out of tune (during Ingenue), but after that it was smooth playing. The mix was good enough to bring out our a cappella vamps on Ingenue, Love Someone and Done Lost My Mind. I had a lot of fun singing the newer material, esp. Sam & Dave, whom I adore. Hope I did right by you, gentlemen. But it's true. We are Comin', so Hold On!!! Help is on the way in the form of Rush Hour Soul.

Thanks to the Gig for having a cool venue and for letting us do our thing.
Thanks to Pat Kershaw who videotaped the proceedings and to Jo Trostle for taking pictures. We'll have video and photos up on the website in the next week.

The response from our fans was very positive. We are still our harshest critics. It was a night to overcome lots of obstacles including our two flu-ed out members and me running red lights (and smiling for the cameras) to get to sound check on time. Sadly, the merch didn't work out again. We hope to have some gear for you all soon.

Have a great Thursday. I am already.
Love, Power, Peace!

Showtime

Hey Soul Mates,
well here we are: 3 hours 'til showtime. Things are getting exciting. Here's the latest. 2 of the band have the flu. Doug & Dennis are zombies. At least Dennis is on the upswing. Doug however is going to battle through tonight!
The merchandise will be hot off the press. In about half an hour I will go to pick up the new shirts. It was touch and go, knock on wood, but we should have Tees galore.
Gotta print up the set lists and then shower, shave, dress and primp. Gotta be clean.
Love, Power, Peace!

Back from Staples

Hey Soul Mates,
many of you know of my love for Cleveland's sports teams. Actually traveling to see the Browns and the Cavs and wearing all sorts of uniforms, caps and junk. Tonight, we went to Staples Center to watch the Cavs lose to the Clippers. Normally, the Clips are pathetic, but tonight they shot very well from the floor. Not the Cavaliers. Ugh. Too many jump (or rather standing) shots from 12 feet out by DeSagana Diop and Robert Traylor did the team in. LeBron never got going, neither did Drew Gooden, so the game was a wash from the opening tip. Only after the half did the Cavs light up the scoreboard. They tied it at the top of the 4th, then let it slide away. The highlight was a series of steals by LeBron that got them close.

Maybe you saw me on TV. I, of course, was in my #7 Cavs jersey and cap. Didn't get harassed, though. The Clipper fans or what passed for fans don't really care. More people were sporting LeBron jerseys than all Clipper apparel combined. The Cavs missed a chance to tie the Pacers for the division lead. Well, it's a long season.
Go Wine and Gold.

Love, Power, Peace.

A Day In The Life

Hey Soul Mates,
it's been a busy Sunday for me. How about you? Get some time to relax? I hope so.
What have I been up to? Pushing. You know. Today, I signed the group up with IFanz.com and Sonicbids. What are they? Marketing tools at best, a few bucks gone at worst. IFanz will take over our fan club information gathering. Hopefully it will allow us to better communicate with our fans. Too many people have their spam filters set so high that our e-vites and e-flyers wind up in the trash. Even Dennis has this problem with inter-band e-mails. We want you to know what we are up to and when we are playing.
Sonicbids is an online service that will allow us to send EPKs (electronic press kits to festivals, showcases and the like). You can check out our EPK by clicking the link on our news page or on our link page. It will let you check out a short bio, pictures and songs.

Then today when I was out walking, I bought a new journal for lyric writing. I'm used to tons of scraps of paper with a verse here, a chorus there. Cleaning out my closet this weekend, I found some 5 year old lyric snippets that I hadn't thought about since writing them. I'm quite good at journaling on vacations, someday I might publish my memoirs. So, maybe this will help my organization. This is my official plug for Moleskine journals. They rock. Most of them slip right into your pocket, so you can write and run. OK, Moleskine send me my free journals.

Finally, we have a full-on electric rehearsal tonight at AMP. Right up the road here in No Ho. All of the guys are meeting at 7 pm. I should get ready. I might walk up there. It's that close. Time to get the funk on.

Love, Power, Peace.