Jeff’s Blog

Okay, it’s Monday night and I’m trying to recall the entire weekend. I hope it was a good Thanksgiving for everybody. The Wednesday story was SNOW! We had an okay night but I’m sure the weather kept some people inside. But thanks to those who came out. The gremlins were out in force on Friday. It all started with Tim being sick. Thanks to Trevor for taking care of things. Later on our monitor speakers (the ones in front that allow us to hear ourselves) went completely out and we were singing in silence on stage. Jason made an emergency call to his friend Nick, who loaded up a rack of power amps and drove up from Tremors. Thanks to their efforts we were up and running fairly soon. All was well by Saturday, which was our best night. Tim was back, but not feeling quite up to par, although he stayed most of the night. We saw quite a few of the regulars this weekend: Stacy, Laurie, Earl, Nina, Arden, Laura, Kami, John, and Wendall to name just a few. I’m not always the best with names but I know a lot of faces. Sometimes I have to re-ask people their names and it’s uncomfortable but I do want to know. There are still relatives I’m not sure about…Of course, I’m old enough to blame CRS syndrome. Anyway, back to the Countryside this weekend and a benefit for two-year old Dora Crookshanks, who has a rare liver cancer, on Sunday at the VFW from 3 – 5. Speaking of benefits, I went down to Wedges on Sunday for the Can Jam (the ECHO project) and played for a while. Cyndi stopped out too, but didn’t wind up playing – no piano. It was a good time. Again I’d like to say thanks to all those who read this section as the counter has now topped the 10,000 mark. We’ll see you at the Countryside and stop out Sunday for a good cause. The VFW is just up the road (north) of Tremors on 51. Yes, it’s the one with the airplane in front. See you this weekend!

One more thing – beat Dallas, beat Dallas…

Whew! Two good nights again at Tremors. The band had a good time and we hope everyone who stopped out did too. Saturday night was Kimmy’s (one of the bartenders) birthday and quite a few people were out to celebrate with her. Actually, there were a few other Bdays as well and we thank you for partying with us. As mentioned on the home page and in the guest book – a big thanks to our light man, Trevor, for putting together the YouTube video of Halloween at the Owl’s Club – nice job Trevor. If you’re a regular, you may have noticed we changed up the song order especially for this weekend. Playing in the same area runs the risk of being predictable so you do what you can to keep things fresh. One incident Friday night – some guy approached the band while we were playing boasting how good he was and almost demanded we let him play. This really struck a nerve with me as 1. You really shouldn’t try to talk to bands while they’re playing – that’s what breaks are for. 2. You should politely ask, not demand. 3. Take “no” for an answer as that’s what jam sessions are for. He was getting quite out of line which had me more than upset. I give a lot of credit to Matt who stepped in and diffused the situation. Nothing came of it and the night was fun overall. I’m happy to say that the people who follow us are nice people and we’ve made a lot of friends over the years. Seeing familiar faces and meeting new friends makes playing a real joy for us. Also, a big part of our night is “mingling” on breaks and saying hello to as many people as possible. I enjoy it when people say hi and introduce themselves. I’ve had people tell me that they’ve been following us for years, or that we played a wedding years ago. Again, it means a lot to know who’s listening. Anyway, just like the 9 and 1 Packers, it’s a short week for us with a return to the Owl’s Club Wednesday night. We’ll be back again for the weekend after Thanksgiving. Stop out and say hello. Happy turkey day!

Two good nights at the Countryside and thanks to all the regulars who stopped out – too many to list but we really appreciate everybody who came. Arden (Nina’s guy) was the birthday boy this week so a good one to him. And we probably did “Monster Mash” for the last time this season. Although, no one does it quite like Matthew – maybe we should keep it on the list! We’ll be breaking out the Christmas songs before too long. This is Cyndi and Bryan’s anniversary week and one we’ve taken off for quite a few years now. They left for Arizona on Sunday morning after the Countryside – the rest of us went back to work. Speaking of work – the band got a kick out of this story so I’ll tell it. I work as a guitar editor for Hal Leonard Publishing in Milwaukee and will spare you the details of what that entails. Anyway, last week I was going through a book by an outside author that had a Beatle song in it. After playing through it, I found a few wrong notes. Now, being that this was a book credited to this person, I had to be professional about pointing this out. I e-mailed him and explained, how being an old Beatle fan, and doing some research, felt that these were wrong notes and what the correct ones should be – and asked to make the changes. He e-mailed me back saying that he had recorded it that way, but to go ahead and make the changes. His email had a web address so I thought I’d check it out and find out more about this guy. His name is Laurence Juber and he was Paul McCartney’s lead guitarist in Wings. And here a bar-band guitar player in southern Wisconsin is telling Paul’s guitarist about knowing Beatle songs….I felt a little funny but – bottom line – the notes were still wrong and I did change them. Other news – the trailer was sold this weekend and thanks to Tim for helping me deliver it. So, it’s a weekend off – time to do some things around the house, hit the blues jam, and start working on some new tunes. We’ll see you at Tremors for deer widows weekend – should be a fun time. See you there!

P.S. Check out the Halloween 2007 pics in the photo gallery!