Ok, I've neglected this thing long enough. I think I started to become paranoid about writing my thoughts out in a publicish type forum. I think I started becoming paranoid in general. I mean, how many folks that you know carry around mace and brass knuckles just in case of an emergency? I don't know what my problem is. I do know that I definitely have issues going on upstairs, so that is a plus. So.
What I've Been Up To Lately
1. Drumming. A lot. Working at the drum shop, which is thee best job I have ever held in my life. I've taken apart, cleaned, and reskined a few drums from the 30's and 40's, which is pretty exciting for a vintage drum nerd such as myself. Briefly spoke with Bun E. Carlos from Cheap Trick who called the shop. That was really cool. I made a cymbal. There's a picture of me hammering it, but it's at the shop. I'll try to post it sometime next week. That sounds kind of weird.
2. Drumming. A lot. My new band had our first show lined up a few weeks ago and the guitar player quit the night before the show. Ugh. Better now than later on, I guess. No worries, we have a new guy lined up for this Saturday. I hope he works out. He seems pretty amped, ha ha. oh no...
3. My car was totaled by a drunk driver. Three of us in my car were stopped at a red light and Wham!, my little Ford Escort Wagon was slammed through the intersection by a Dodge Ram 1500 and was transformed into a sedan. I couldn't open my driver side door or find my glasses that had been knocked off. The girl I was with found them thankfully. Somehow we we're all ok. Although, if the Escort had not been a wagon, Jason might not be here. It was that bad. He was in the back seat. We got out and Jason started going off on these two rednecky farmboy jock-o's and apparently they didn't want to hear it, so they got back in the truck and took off.
We called the cops. When they arrived we gave them all our info and a description of the guys and truck when suddenly the truck pulls in to the lot. The cops proceeded to get the people, now a guy and a girl, out of the vehicle and administered field sobriety tests which the driver failed miserably. They even had open beers still in the truck when they came back to the scene. What a horrible night.
4. During the past few weeks I contemplated what type of vehicle I really wanted to get with the isurance money. I thought and thought. Then it came to me. The perfect, easy to fix, maintain, and restore type vehicle would be... a fucking Volkswagen Westfalia Camper Van! If I got one of those, I could haul band gear, camp, drive anywhere anytime because it's fairly small still. So I looked and looked. So I bought one...on eBay. I know. Sounds fishy, right? Well, I did. Thing was, It was out in San Francisco. So, last Friday I took a bus to Chicago and a plane to San Francisco, picked up said vehicle, briefly learned to drive it, (old Volkswagens are kind of funky to shift) overcame my paranoia of driving over the bay bridge, and proceeded to drive the 2000 miles back home. It was pretty tough. I camped most of the way back, but sleeping in the camper in the mountains in November can get really cold. For real. So yeah. VW Camper. Sitting in my driveway right now. It's got the pop top, sink, stove, fridge, bunk beds, crap loads of storage, a closet... fucking cool as hell. Once again, photos when I can.
5. Watching Emmett Otter's Jug Band Christmas. Over and over again.
6. Growing a rather large beard.
7. Trying to figure out a way to woo the drummer of Triple Whip. It's very Marsha Brady of me to say it, but she doesn't even know that I'm alive. Cute, nice, plus a real love of drums/percussion = as Billy Squier put it, my kind of lover.