As I finish up my Parlor City Jam tonight. I guess I can play quiet and keep a beat. Jon Wilson complimented on how tight and quiet that I did on my half hour set. At that point, I have come to expect to play quiet around Tommy Giblin, who stands no loudness. In fact he shouted down this guitar player who got a bit rowdy during his song but I admire anybody that plays Peter Gunn.
Pain is part of the gig, from what Dan Johnson told me upon break, though he seemed surprised that I did play guitar. He gave a few suggestions next time I decide on playing guitar and he talked about some good Cannabis oils that can stop back pain but it's only available in Colorado. I pretty much rely on pain killers from the doctors and don't like taking them. They kinda mess me up with dizziness today and while I felt no pain playing drums, the pain only kicked in when I got off the drum throne. And walked like Quasimodo back to the car after I finished up. I usually stay all night but I wasn't feeling all that great, threw a few dollars in the tip jar and headed to Wally World to get breakfast rolls and complete a few blogs tonight. First time I got to jam with Ryan Phelan on guitar. Probably one of the more jazzier guitar players I have met. Outside of Peter Gunn, most of what we did were improvised jams along the way. I put out a beat and Ryan followed right behind. Dan took that part of the set off, we had some younger hippie dude play bass and he was quite good. Even though the place was packed, Dan didn't seem to be in a very good mood. The crowd wasn't music listeners. Mike Williams, came later on, and he did bring his female friend with him and I suspect she would play drums for a bit. I didn't know anybody outside of Dan and Tom and there wasn't many empty seats. So I called it a night.
While 2016 didn't promise anything on the local circuit for me, I still had a good year jamming on songs with fellow musicians and got to jam with just about everybody. Dan Johnson, Tommy Bruner, The Acousta Kitties, Julie And The Mad Dogs, the guys from Hostage, even Bob Dorr and Jeff Petersen from The Blue Band last week, even DeWayne Schminkey jammed with me twice. Who is missing from it all, Russ Swearingen. We didn't share the stage at all this year. I'm disappointed with that but 2017 I think will have us back together again. He sez he's not ready for the stage, so I don't pressure him with that. When the time is right it will happen.
(Photo: Photollbrarian via Flickir)
With Jubilee finally out and released to the world The Townedgers have fulfilled their music obligations for this year. But I do want to complete the Wapsipinicon Dreamers album, simply of the fact that all these cover versions would be the ones that I would be playing at some jam. I wanted to project to be simple, to be fun and that the songs don't go over 3 minutes. Keep it simple so to speak. And the first sessions were fun but 10 days later, it was beginning to be a chore and I really didn't think the world needed to hear Games People Play, but we did do Let Your Love Flow. Most of these songs came from records that I grew up with or attempting to do something different. It still sounds like a Townedgers album, after all I'm doing the vocals. Here in the wintertime, it's really hard to sing in a dry room with a voice that cracks after time. My voice held up during Jubilee, but doing the Wapsi Dreamers sessions it gave out on the first day, after we did do 6 songs. Instead of hitting the higher notes on such stuff like Let Your Love Flow or Solitary Man I did the vocals midrange and was okay with the results.
(photo: Joslyn Art Museum-Omaha Grant Wood's Painting of Stone City)
When Wapsipinicon Dreamers get done, that should also set me free of any album commitments for 2017, with my label it counts as a legitimate album. I do have an outtakes album coming out, which means there will be 3 albums from myself, and we're getting too close to Neil Young Territory. People get tired of new stuff I guess. I'm needing to get back to Rod Albaugh to do the sessions we did earlier this year. I may do some newer songs and then ask Rod to fill in on the drums and stuff. He's very good at doing such things. I want to focus more on guitars rather than drums next year. It may be a futile effort but Rod is a damn good drummer too. I might run that by him, take my drums off the recordings and have him add his own sound to it.
(my favorite photo on playing the drums, Thank you Kevin Sinmacher)
As for Tim Wiley and the Wiley Kats, that's history. While Tim gets a bad rap, most people are leery around him. He's been cool with me and I can dig that. But he shouldn't have trouble remembering how Voodoo Chile goes or Little Wing, he's done these songs time and time again. He should have an idea on how to do them. As I told him before, I'm not quitting my job for the tip jar. If the established legends around here can't seem to get bookings, then it's going to be doubly hard for us. And these isn't much out there for 50 somethings. And if you're going to jam with the best, you have to follow their rules. Which is why Tom Giblin is adamant about playing it quiet, and Parlor City has rules of keeping it quiet. Follow or else. Besides, I enjoy jamming with Tom, it's not too often that I jam with keyboard players. I want to establish and keep that vibe when we do play together.
It's now been four months since Bruce Stanley passed away and he continues to be in my thoughts. I dedicated Jubilee to his memory. There is a void in this life from his passing that can never be fulfilled. We talked music and we talked of life. He was a great guitar player and even better drummer from what I heard. There are reservations of course, he never told me where he lived at. I'm sure that place is a shrine with all the guitars and music he had inside.
(Photo: Dennis Lancaster)
There's not a lot of old pictures of me and the band. Most of what I have I have posted from time to time but Dennis uncovered a picture of myself and DeWayne. I thought it was during the Open Highway years, but my clodhoppers say it was 1988 and Dennis was in town on vacation. He got tired of the winters and moved to Arizona in 1985. His son Joseph has been accepted at Berklee in 2017. His kids are growing up, DeWayne is now a Grandfather. And me, I never started. And doubt that will ever happen.
I think from here on out, I'll stick to Zildjian Cymbals. For some reason they have helped the albums sound great from Forthcoming Trains onward. Paiste are great cymbals too, but when I hear the Townedger/Rodney Smith sound it's usually Zildjians. The Paiste Cymbals are gathering dust. Perhaps it's time for a cymbal sale.
Any album can be my last. As long as I'm still alive there's always a chance for a new album. With each passing year I find myself writing less and less and revisiting songs that I think would sound better nowadays. That's how Forthcoming Trains turned out to be the best album I've done. I straddled the line of new songs and covers of my own stuff and not rely on others. To be honest, I don't think there's much left to write about. I'm good about writing songs about heartbreak, love lost and trains. It was so much simpler back in 1983 or 1986 to write about what I was feeling inside. Let's face it, I can't write about a high school sweetheart anymore, I can still revisit certain women that inspired me to write songs but if you go to the well too many times, it ends sounding less inspired. The revenge songs I can do without, Barfly, that song's time is gone. And I do have a civil relationship with the woman at hand. And the Uptown Chevy Girl too. I will always love the Uptown Chevy Girl, and Olivia to which Pawnshops For Olivia is the stuff that make legends. The door is closed between us now. And as the song says if you love somebody set them free. And I did that.
So we made it through another year. We're still alive. Let's see if we can make it through another trip around the sun.
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