Thoughts Of The Townedger April Edition 2013

Greetings one and all.  I haven't forgot about y'all.  I've been busy mailing off copies of NO EXIT and hopefully we'll get good reviews along the way.  I don't spend much time in the TE My Space Site but I did managed to check up from time to time what the questions are.

Some viewpoints to questions.

The more I think about it, the more I'm not sold on remaking Town's Edge Rock 30 years later.  I don't think I can improve on the original arrangements and music.  Besides only the hardcore and myself will ever revisit it anyway.

I missed the jam session at my former lead singer Mike Swearingen's Tribute at the Eagle's Club, which sits on top of a hill and couldn't find it to save my soul.  Never been there in my lifetime.  Mike still remains in good spirits although I have to decline his invite of karaoke singing.  I don't do that shit anyway.  Mike still remains himself and back to his pack a day habit of smokes.  His daughter is just like him, down to the pack a day and constant joking.  Didn't see Russ there so whatever attempt of a Paraphernalia reunion fell short. Maybe next time I'll write down the fucking address before leaving the house.

Don Timmons is considered the best known Cedar Rapids drummer although there's plenty of them that could be considered great drummers as well. Cody Kollings can run circles around me. The female Kollings (is their last name a C? I forgot) is damn good as well but for me Lon Washburn remains the best drummer that I've known in town.  The most reckless drummer in town?  That would be me.  Nobody was as wild as I was back in the 80s.  Timmons could probably read music and play it better but I assure you that nobody bashed the cymbals and crashed them as hard as I did.

I'm still debating to retire the Townedgers name since it's my way of getting the music out although I could put the next effort out on my own name Rodney Smith.  But it doesn't stand out as well as The Townedgers.

I don't do the single dating scene anymore, too old and set in my ways.  I still talk to a handful of folks at Mingles but I canceled my membership in 2009.

Pawnshops For Olivia still hits hard at times.  Most of the songs is just me playing the guitars, it was too personal for Geoff Redding to get involved with.  No Exit, he's on all the songs this time out.

I write the lyrics and give credit to whoever gets into the music.  Pawnshops though I had some help from Diggy Kat who contributed the middle eight version to Downer's Grove, Liz Chaffe got co write credit on Can't Be What You Want Me To Be (the title came from her Can't Be Who You Want Me To Be) and Nicole Passmore helped out on Place And Time.  She helped shaped some of the words to Goodbye Doesn't Mean Forever, I think she wrote some ideas down when we first met in 2009 in St Louis and I found them while rummaging through a batch of song ideas.  Stone City, the chorus line came from a Billy Lee Janey contribution to a album about Iowa, but the rest of the song came from two unfinished TE songs. Didn't intend to include it on the album but Diggy Kat told me to keep it on there.

The End was spur of the moment but thought it fit in nicely with the album. Don't look for me to perform it live though, it's not something the bar patrons would want to hear.

I have done The End back in 1976 for Beautiful Randictions  but you don't want to hear that version. I was 15 and going through puberty at the wrong time.  I like to think we got better since then.

Jack Orbit has approached me about producing the next album but Geoff and Ken don't really want him back in the band.  It would be a cash in attempt to do a TE 30 album but I want to see No Exit get some traction before attempting to do another album that nobody here or wants except for myself and the three fans that do want to hear it.

Nobody has heard from Isabella (we broke up in 2001) after what we call the Disaster in Seattle get together. She may have Overdosed on Methadone in 2004 around that time everybody in Mingles was asking me about her whereabouts then.  Even when we were going together she was a drug addict much to my dismay.  My last memory of her is her freaking about losing her Methadone in a pizza joint when I had to use the bathroom and she was tearing up the place trying to look for it. 

Last time I was up in Spokane, 2001 (See above)

I loved Seattle in the summertime, the five days I was there it didn't rain, and the skies so picture postcard blue and they had plenty of Wherehouse Music stores to keep me occupied. But that was 12 years ago, haven't been back since.  Plane tickets are too high and it's 3 and half hours in a cramped airplane.

The Zickos set was the loudest drums I ever had. They sounded like thunder everytime I played them.

The old Zildjians that I had were the best sounding cymbals but I wasn't that impressed with the K hybrid or Z Power Crash that was great for accenting at the end of the song but not as a crash ride.  I probably was the last to continue to use the Impulse cymbals even it was Zildjian's attempt to cash in on the Paiste Rudes. But I actually liked the Impulse cymbals a lot, more so than y'all.

Paiste 2002s are worth getting.  The bigger the cymbal the better, I love the 20 inch 2002 Thin Crash.  And the Paiste 20 18 inch China cymbal is a beast upon itself it really comes through the recordings very well.  The Novo China is LOUD, probably too loud, too attention grabbing, I used it more for the Rude lineup that was favored back in 2007. 

Haven't talked or seen Greg Nutter in over 10 years. Guess he's now down in Austin?

The Routers were a one time thing when Greg drafted me into that band and we played in 1991 and 1992 the latter which I got Mike Swearingen to do the vocals.  The first time we played it was 30 degrees and the next year it was like 80 degrees and the mosquitoes were thick.  Think I was keeping a better beat swatting them fucking things then playing the drums.

If your going to learn to play drums or guitar, learn at a early age, take lessons, and listen to records and then get a decent drum set to boot.  I fucked off most of my grade and high school years and didn't learn to play them although I had a guitar at hand.  Learn to practice and learn to write lyrics as early as you can.  I would have benefited had I heeded that advice.

That's all for this month. I'll be back next month with more thoughts to your questions.