I AM REALLY hard on my music stuff. I go through strings like water through a strainer. My guitars get played and get nicked up - we call the scratches and gouges character marks. My amps get dinged, cases scraped, and I'm using another amp stand - maybe this one will last a while.
My latest purchase is yet another wireless unit. This time I'm getting the Nady MGT-16. It has a bug unit so it's completely wireless, without a body pack. I was using a Line 6 body pack wireless, but I opened it to replace the batteries before our last Cheeseburger gig and a spring went sproing and now it doesn't work. You can play the YouTube clip above to hear exactly what it sounded like.
Why did it go sproing? Because it can. And did.
The Nady uses a 45 degree angle for the input jack. It sticks out a bit. "You will just have to learn to be careful with it," Sheryl said, rolling her eyes for the 10th time this morning.
Plugging in is fine if it's a small venue, an acoustic gig, etc. But with the Burgers, we have four others guys in the band and going wireless means one less cord to trip over and pull out of an input jack. Even the solo shows are easier with a wireless unit.
We'll give it a workout this Saturday - HartLyss is playing from noon to 4 p.m. at State Street Bar, 17th and State, and The Cheeseburgers have a huge gig at the Keokuk South Side Boat Club Saturday night.
THERE ARE MANY ways to get even. Here's one of the more unique ways we've seen in a while - write out your feelings on the car of the one you used to love.
The vehicle to the right is parked at 10th and Jersey. Sheryl passed it on her way to the chiropractor this morning and took the photo. We have no idea who is involved or what the circumstances are, but it ain't good, as they like to say in the hood.
Spray painted on the car are terms of endearment like "abuser" and "lier." There's a bunch of other stuff, too, though it's hard to read. All four tires are flat. The hood and the trunk are both wide open, so you wonder if the car even runs.
On the one hand it's kind of creative, but on the other there's probably a bunch of misdemeanors waiting to happen, like damage to property.
It's been there for a while and has a police tow sticker on the windshield, so somebody's idea of letting the word know what they think will soon end.
Kinda gives new meaning to the term "wear your emotions on your sleeve ... or on your ex's car."
HERE COMES HURRICANE Florence towards North and South Carolina. My father, sister and her family live in Raleigh, and they are getting ready for up to a foot of rain later this week.
It's kind of appropriate, Hurricane Florence, because my sister, Kathy, is a fitness fiend and her spin classes are often dubbed "Hurricane Kathy." She'll be ready, I'm sure. "As long as I have a place to keep my wine chilled, we will be fine," she says.
Sheryl graciously sent Kathy a message and said she and her family and pets are welcome to ride it out in Quincy if necessary. I think we are the closest immediate family, though it's still 1,000 miles and a 15-hour drive. Still, the Hart Calftown Manor is open and available for family members in need.
My lovely niece, Brooke, goes to North Carolina Wilmington and they've already evacuated and closed down the school for a week. So she gets a little break. She's welcome in the Q-Town too ... big Cheeseburger gig at the South Side Boat Club in Keokuk Saturday night, you know! Your mother has been up there, Brooke, and nearly tore it down a few years back during a Hart Sibling Summit.
Anyway, stay dry and safe and have a glass of wine when the rain starts falling.
SOMETIMES YOUR GIG gets canceled. There isn't much you can do about it. We really need to get a contract signed by the band and the venue before the show, but for the most part your word and a handshake is how we do business.
The Cheeseburgers were supposed to play Saturday, but the wet weather and other factors led to it being called off Friday afternoon. On the one hand, we were looking forward to a paid gig. On the other, I had a rare Saturday off and the weather was lousy. So it was fine.
The local band Vertigo was supposed to play Saturday night for a parish picnic, but it was too wet. It was rescheduled for the next day, and a couple of the band members couldn't make it, so Vertigo members Adam Yates and Tim Smith did their acoustic act together. I went by and there was a big crowd and the weather was perfect. So it all worked out.
Always get a signed contract?
You can't do much about the weather. We've had a few District shows canceled this year because of rain and cold, but we've dealt with it. A few years ago The Cheeseburgers were supposed to play at a local county fair. It poured for a week before the date, and the promoter finally called and canceled - it was just too wet. He did send us half our fee as a gesture of goodwill, and we played at the fair a few years later.
HartLyss had a gig canceled a few months ago. While we'd love to play at the local venue again, let's just say Cori and I have good memories and we'll be more careful when dealing with the venue in the future, if the opportunity arises. And not a week goes by that I don't hear about a performer or a band getting to a gig, only to find it's been double booked. They are SOL and there are a lot of hard feelings.
People always say, "Man, you play in a band, what fun!" They are right, it is fun, especially when the show is well-received and the band is clicking. But there's the endless hours of practice, the huge amounts of money invested in equipment, the physical effort of setting up and tearing down, and getting home at 2 a.m. after show.
It's a long way to the top if you wanna rock and roll.
I'M WATCHING FOOTBALL tonight. I have friends who think I'm a bad guy and unpatriotic.
Here's the thing - I don't like Colin Kaepernick and I think he picked the wrong place and time to protest social inequality. I get his point, and I can't begin to understand what he and other African Americans go through every day. It's about culture and environment, and our country has miles to go when it comes to racial issues. Sheryl disagrees with me and thinks he has every right to protest what and where he chooses. Exercising your rights will sometimes be controversial.
I've talked to veterans about this and some are upset because millions have died for our way of life and freedoms. They think he's disrespecting the flag and our military. I get it. But other veterans think those who died serving also were protecting our right to protest and our right to point out social injustices. Our constitution guarantees that right. You can't argue with it.
Go ahead and don't watch, and don't buy Nike stuff, and don't buy your formerly favorite team's jersey. It's your right.
But don't yell at me and call me names because I'm watching the NFL tonight. I like to watch football. That's all it is. And you sure as hell better not say I don't support veterans. Have you ever heard of Six String Heroes? Both Sheryl and I have supported this great group since inception more than seven years ago.
I'll fall asleep tonight by the third quarter anyway. Can't protest much about that, either.
IF I EVER get The Funions back together, I'm writing a bunch of songs and releasing a new album called "O'Hare Anguish." Actually, "O'Hare Anguish" might be the name of my new band.
I'm going to think long and hard about flying out of there again.
We have a new carrier from Quincy to O'Hare, so I gave it a shot and the trip to Phoenix last Friday was painless. They printed both boarding passes right at the Quincy gate and I had to check my bag for $25, but it arrived as promised, even with a tight connecting flight time in Chicago. Also, Quincy uses United and in Chicago it was American.
The way home wasn't good. American Airlines wouldn't print both boarding passes, so I had to leave my bag with my brother since I presumably wouldn't have time to get my bag in Chicago, then fight my way through security and back into the terminal.
A storm blew through Chicago mid-afternoon Monday, and it delayed flights and fouled everything up. None of us realized how bad it was until much later. The be fair, there is nothing you can do about weather and it's not the airport's fault, but we sat on the plane in Phoenix for almost three hours. Then when we finally landed in Chicago we taxied for 45 minutes because there wasn't an open gate. You could tell the chaos was getting to the captain too - I give him and the crew credit, because there were some ticked off passengers.
But what are you going to do?
When I landed in Chicago, I knew I'd miss my connecting flight, and then I found out my 8:30 p.m. flight to Quincy had been canceled anyway. The next flight out wasn't until 3:30 the next day. That's the danger of flying to and from Chicago - if you miss the last flight out, you are screwed. I wandered around in a daze, and finally got in line at the United counter to get my boarding pass for the next day. I thought about driving home, but the rental car places were closed and I was dead tired from three days of fun in the Phoenix sun.
So I waited for 90 minutes in line. There were only four harried United workers processing tickets and dealing with frustrated passengers. I finally got in, got my ticket, and they gave me a coupon for hotels at a discount. But when I called, the hotels using the coupon were full.
I managed to ask about 20 people how to catch the shuttle to the Quality Inn. It was $100, and not all that great. Didn't matter - I slept like the dead, then got up and spent another quality five hours in O'Hare yesterday. Airport People Bingo is fun, people!
Sheryl thankfully took care of cancelling and rescheduling all my lessons, and I must have walked 10 miles with too much time on my hands. I finally asked myself, "What would Aunt Scary (my awesome sister-in-law in Phoenix) do?" She'd get a massage and drink a beer or glass of wine, that's what she'd do.
So I did. It was glorious, horrendously expensive and worth every overpriced penny.
I finally got back and I even made it into the Whig last night, begging out of there about 11:15 with zombie-like symptoms. It's always nice to crash and burn in your own bed.
Chicago is great because the Quincy flight goes right there. But St. Louis is only two hours and change away. I can deal with the ride to and from Lambert.
Traveling is the great adventure, and I survived, and it's back to bidness as usual today.
