Thoughts From The Townedger-August

The end of the month and what have we learned?

Not a damn thing.

Congratulations to Dave Hogendorn for being inducted into the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame for his contributions to radio.  For being a legend, I can't believe he's working part time at our place of employment and he's been battling cancer and I pray that he continues to beat the big C and live a few more years. https://www.iowarocknroll.com/dave-hogendorn

It's been a busy month for playing jams and helping out Dreams Of Arcadia, to which Kevin Simnacher took plenty of videos and pictures of the special guest percussionist who helped out Julie and Ryan.  I'm not an official member, they will be playing on nights that I won't be able to play for them and if they need somebody new, they're free to do so.  D J Hovenstat comes to mind.  I'm still proud that I managed to go out with the best vocalist in town for a time  and help support her band efforts. Still will in the future.

(Bird)

This month, my drum playing might have been the best that it's ever been, with what I heard from the recordings that Randy Burghdoff gave me from the jam that featured Billy Bourbon and Jeff Overly, with Bird playing guitar and Mike Clair playing bass.  They are affectionately known as the 3 B's when they jam at Rumors on Sundays.  Is Randy playing for Rare Earth anymore?  I don't know but Randy is playing in Billy Bourbon's Band along with Herm Sarduay.  I think Randy mentioned about starting a band up, (if I didn't work nights) but I think I know their songs enough to help them out should Herm become a handful.

As for Greg and Brenda Mein aka Meinfield, I always look forward playing their music whenever they get together.   It's a shame that I didn't have this chance to play on a regular basis once Tyrus/Paraphernalia broke up in 1984.  I might be fairly better known had I stayed with it and not go into playing my garage rock originals and albums that nobody bought.

I know Ryan gets a bit of negativity  on the local circuit but I know he's very good playing guitar and keyboard and isn't that bad of a drummer either.  I've been vocal that he and Julie has a connection on stage together.   Julie does well with Dave Bonham but something about Ryan that brings her vocals out more often than not.

Since Best Buy quit selling CDs, I have no idea what's out there for new music unless I go to Moondog Music or Co Op Records in Moline.  Still no shortage of great used CDs out there, I still find more than my share of them.  I'll never run out of things to listen to.   I'm great at finding records and CDs.  Not so great at love though.

I did buy a 14 inch K dark crash, and might consider getting the K Sweet Crashes since they're a tad bit brighter than the dark crash. 10 years ago, I went 2002 and then in 2014 saw the error of my ways and return back to the Zildjian K's.  The 19 inch Hybrid crash really sounded great in a live setting. I do think I'm done with power crashes.

Having a Cajole or floor drums does help on acoustic gigs and shows,  So does having congas.  I tend to do quite well with a cajole although they do tend to tire my wrists out.  I still prefer having real drums but I don't think the folks at Ramsey's would like that much, nor Checkers'  I do remember some folks raised a big stink when I took my snare drum there one night and played that.  The Tama Swingstar actually sounded very good for the Cabin Jam last month on the Wapsi.  Which seems to be a distant memory now.

(does this look like a rock star?  hardly)

I enjoy the beauty as I walked among the flowers at the Buchanan Winery last Sunday.  Kevin took many many pictures, probably a bit too many pictures of me. since he was videotaping Dreams Of Arcadia as a promotion for that band.  It's good that there has been some good pictures of me in my three years of being back in the music scene but I do admit there's twice more pictures that make me gag.  Every picture of me is always different.  I like to work behind the scenes and have as little fanfare as possible.  I do know there's a few cute pictures of me and Julie playing but I can't post them.  None have been sent to me.  Only ones of me and Julie came from friends.  Hell the above photo of me...I don't look like a rock star.  Just some old crotchety  dude wondering about looking for butterflies.

While I was putting this blog together, Don Timmons passed away from his bout with cancer.  He had been in poor health the past year or so, I haven't seen him at any jams since I came out of retirement in 2015 but I have seen him play in band in the 80s.  He played in three band with Mike Swearingen, our former lead vocalist, most notably in Cruise but Don played in Madness/Akasha and Redwing with the late infamous Barry Binger.  Don made playing drums and singing at the same time so freaking easy you had to see him to believe it.  There have been some great drummers out there past and present and I have my faves, but overall Don Timmons remained the best of them all.  He will be missed.

P.S.   Greg Nutter was part of the Routers, a offshoot band that played at Hal Staley's cookout in the 1990s, Greg asked me to take part of the band and I did.  We recorded the 1991 gig to which the tapes didn't seem fit for release, some okay moments but pretty much run of the mill classic rock. At that time, Greg had two young boys, Matthew and Bradley, Brad was a baby when we did the 1991 gig.  On Wednesday, Bradley ended his life, he was 27.  I heard that Brad was a pretty good drummer although I never seen him play in person.  It's a shame that a parent has to bury their son in the prime of his life.  Sad to say Brad didn't see any way out of his depression and chose to end his life. I hope Brad finds peace finally and my condolences to Greg and Lorie.