Music, Music, More Music!

Roll Em On: Went to Clancy's Tuesday night again (as I will be most every Tuesday until I get into a band or something else kicks in to gear, I'm now sure of) and had the best night of my performing life. Played a little bit with "Doug", this guy who seems to be drunk the entire time and only knows five or six songs. Shame, he seems funny, but I dunno about all that. By the way, I said I had no pictures from last week --- I lied...





Thats Amanda singing "Mercedes Benz". Knockout. She's awesome.

Judging by my hands, I'm probably doing "Put Your Hands On Me"

Went extremely well this past Tuesday though, getting back to the point...This old guy who had been making comments the whole time about his bass guitar or whatever comes up and starts playing Doug's guitar, tells me to play these certain four notes. He then proceeds to play only five solo notes, but he KILLED IT! Proves that soul goes a heck of a long way when you feel it.

I played so well I could have never played again and I'd have been happy. But....

Hey, There, Rockstar: Went to Docksiders for the Acoustic Open Mic night as well on Wednesday. Had a pretty good evening; Amanda's mom and brother went with us and Rachel, one of my coworkers, showed up with her little posse. I got to play for only about twenty minutes but I did my acoustic thing (not as great as I wish it was) but apparently I was a lot more impressive than I thought I was. I was welcomed back to play any time there. Amanda shot a video of me doing "Wonderwall" that I will upload to the site here soon.


Psst:...I'll be at Clancy's again on Tuesday :)

Tired, or Maybe Bored

I Think I'm Burned Out: When I worked at Sears, I had a boss named Frank that always complained that he got this lump in his stomach when he drove toward work. He always seemed to never ever want to be there.   Lately, I feel that way here at the hotel. I don't know how to explain it, and I have ideas WHY, but I just don't want to be here. I don't want to be working at all. Luckily, starting Wednesday, I have five days off in a row. That'll be a nice little break, eh? Can't wait for that. I just feel like we're all fighting wars on different shores. A long time ago, one of my managers told me that the best way to screw things up is to fight wars on different fronts. Take one battle at a time. Get one thing fixed, and eventually the chips will all start in motion. I hope I can influence the powers that be to get that ball rolling.   The Strat-o-Caster: Went to Clancy's Pub again last Tuesday night, and although I don't have any pictures this time, it went really great! I was basically in the drivers seat for the whole three and a half hours; only flanked by a lead guitar player. He was a little overpowering at times, but I think it went rather well considering we don't know each other outside of musicians night. Amanda actually got up on stage and sang a version of Janis Joplin's "Mercedes Benz" which she promptly knocked right out of the park. We then sang the classic Johnny and June song "Jackson" and also a version of "Evangeline" by The Band. Why we don't always perform as a pair is beyond me...maybe in time.   HouseCleaning: Anyone want to clean our apartment? I'm getting tired of looking at it. No, seriously. I really don't like our place anymore. I see it as way too much work to make it "our own". I would like to have a house or an apartment out in Edinboro or Waterford or something. Can't stand to park on the street anymore, can't stand to deal with living upstairs to someone else. I just want to be able to turn up my guitar and really play and not be afraid of pissing someone off. I want to be able to go out the back door and throw a baseball as hard as I can and not worry about it bouncing off a fence five feet away. I'm seriously getting tired of the apartment life. I know Amanda feels the same way. I don't think we can afford to buy a house now, and we both know its out of our range anyway at this point, but still...I can't stand that apartment anymore. The 'place' is cool, its just that things keep breaking down. The oven doesn't work right, the locks don't work like we wish they did, the basement is a dirty hole in the wall with old appliances stacked everywhere, some of the outlets in the place don't work, and we're paying out the ass for the place. Even the furnace is a landlord admitted piece of crap that we have to have the handyman come out every six months to fix it. I know we're not paying them but still, its becoming a real pain. *breathe tony, breathe*   Anyone know of a place we can rent that ISNT in the city?

Nobody Knew Me When I Wasn't There!

I Surprised Myself! Well, I finally did it. I went back to playing live. Next time there might be a little better lighting or something, but here's picture evidence -- me playing "Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out". Its real folks, I've finally made my music leap. Yay for that.

Next Tuesday, I'll be going back to Clancy's Pub on the corner of East 10th and East Avenue in Erie for my next shot at getting famous.

Pipe dreams, yeah, but its a heck of a lot more fun that I've had in a while.

Cold As Wet Snow: This morning, Amanda, Townsend and I went to Edinboro to go sled riding on Culbertson Hill. Good times...wet and cold but good times. Here's a pic of the three of us:

Faith

No More Sitting In Park: I'm online this morning messing around, doing my normal email check in thing, and I find a photo gallery on Sports Illustrated featuring "Most Notable Retirees of 2008." Inside are pictures of guys like Warren Sapp, Mike Piazza, Mike Mussina, Dale Jarrett, Dominik Hasek...people that I remember how much of a big deal it was when they were DRAFTED. I don't know if I've ever noticed a set of retired athletes before that had their careers during my lifetimes that I knew front to back.   I realize that I'm getting a little older day by day and I can't be sitting in park anymore. If I am going to do something with my life, I have to do it NOW. I think I have some sort of feeling on people that have six months to live and know it. I'm scared of the possibility of looking back ten years from now and thinking "why the hell didn't I do that then?"   Quality, Assured: The hotel is having their inspection as we speak. Apparently we are not off to a good start; already been assured we can't finish higher than a 90%. The management are all really nervous. I don't know if they should be. After all its their first inspection as a team and the first one of a new term is always a learning experience. But its easier said than done. At least I'm assured we're all going to have a beer tonight. Haha!   Economical Conundrum: Isn't it wonderful that I can finally afford to go "driving" again for basically no reason? I really missed doing that...the open road, the missing knowledge of where you're going....wait, whats that? Oh, higher grocery prices? higher gas bill? electric bill?   Eh, it was a thought. It'll get better. Gotta have faith.

Snow Panda

Happy Winter!

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