I’m sitting here at soundman Chris Deines’s apartment in Topeka. I’m getting ready for another long day of the Kansas Auctioneer’s Convention in Kansas City at the Mariott. I had high hopes of making it to Tonganoxie to Trevor’s show tonight, but after getting out of KC at 10:00pm, I just didn’t have it in me. I was pretty tired as well from working the auction. All the best auctioneers in the state of Kansas at a benefit concert and who gets to work the damn thing? Me. Talk about intimidation…but not really, though. I’m pretty sure that when it comes to procedure and ringing, we’re about as good as they come. I was proud and honored to represent my company and myself at the convention.
It’s 12:30 now and I have to get up at 6:30 to make tomorrow’s starting lectures. I do, however, look forward to Sunday. I have high hopes concerning my meeting with Doc Nelson. We’re planning on him playing with us at our Junction City show on the 7th. In true Pearl Grey style, he’ll be coming on board without a practice. We had so much luck christening Johnny that way that we feel it works pretty well with seasoned musicians, which Doc seems to be. I think that’s about enough for tonight.
So we go from not having clue no. 1 on where to find a lead guitarist to having 3 solid, promising leads. I spoke with Doc Nelson from Topeka on the phone about an hour ago. Turns out he’s played for 27 years and has some pretty cool Nashville stories. Seemed like the nicest guy in the world to me on the phone.
Jim just got a call from a Michael from the Hays area who played to Jim over the phone. Jim said he was good. Jim told him what we play and he said Michael started downloading it while he was talking to Jim. He called Jim back 30 minutes later and said “Dude, Chris Knight is awesome. Is there a way you could get me a list that I could start working on for tomorrow?”
I told Jim, “when it rains, it pours.” Jim said, “Let us build an ark.”
I hit the Hays area for a practice last night. I thought it was productive. We auditioned a lead player. John, I think, was his name. He was good but unexperienced. We’ll see what he can do and what the others we have lined up can do.
I’ve been listening to Wade Bowen and West 84’s live CD. It’s so good. This ain’t no dancehall band.
I’ve also been working on some new songs and the website. We’ve finally got the color scheme a little less pastel. The merchandise section is now integrated into our site. We finally have bios for Jim and John. Let me know what you think.
I guess the cat’s out of the bag. If you play guitar or drums, or know someone who does, please get in touch with us. Johnny’s a great drummer and we are saddened that he has requested to play fewer shows. We’ll keep rolling, though, so any help to find someone would be appreciated. Also, while we are happy with our solid sound, we wouldn’t mind having someone who could play lead guitar involved. Spread the word.
I feel like Trevor Burgess two months ago…no log for a week…kidding. I figure I’d better update it as my people are growing restless. OK, so it’s just Tyler giving me a hard time, but I need to be more regular.
A lot has been happening. Let’s start from the beginning.
Wednesday was a great show in Salina. Breaking out the bass was a flashback from high school. It’s nice to know it didn’t take me long to remember. Hopefully by next week I’ll have figured out how to compensate for the lack of volume in the low string. I think a compressor may be in order. Anyway, we loaded out at about 2:30 and headed for the truck stop for some breakfast. I haven’t left food on my plate for 2 years. In fact, I always clean everyone else’s plates with a “you gonna eat that?” as soon as they seem to be possibly finished. This time I left 3/4 of a plate of eggs, hash browns and bacon. Those of you who know me well know that I don’t leave that kind of food behind. I hadn’t been drinking that much, but I had some kind of flu coming on and I knew it. We left and headed east. Before we hit Abilene it hit me. I executed the stupidest maneuver of which I have ever dreamt. I thought I could get it all out of the window. I thought I could overcome the vivacious wind currents generated by having one window down on a Mazda Hot Wheels edition B2200 mini-pickup traveling at 70mph. I didn’t stop driving. I regret not stopping.
After spending all of Thursday and Friday either bed ridden from the flu or trying to clean out my truck, it was time for the wedding. My boss’s sister got married on Saturday and guess whose job it was to provide the PA. Things were going great all through rehearsal. Then came the complimentary breakfast of, you guessed it, eggs, hash browns and bacon…
I was getting ready to put money on a bet that my girlfriend would dump me Sunday night, merely because she usually does after a few weeks. I was wrong. I like being wrong.
Last night saw a great poker game at my house. I won $45 which went straight to my gas tank and quarts of oil and an air freshener. I was getting ready to crawl into bed when I remembered that the poker game had taken my mind off of the Iowa primaries. I turned on the TV and…HOLY DAMN!!!! Edwards took 2nd place! More importantly, Dean took a disappointing 3rd. Halleluiah! Too bad Kerry did so well, but it’s better than Dean. It’s time for all of you reading this in New Hampshire to get out and vote for Edwards on the 27th. I’m going to win this for John one log entry at a time…
I think that’s about enough for this morning. I hope to see some of you in Salina on Wednesday at Martini’s. Wish Greg a happy 7th annual 21st birthday today if you see him.
