Dead of winter
Well, it is certainly winter here. It's not as bad as many have it back East but it has been pretty cold. Temps have been down in the 20's at night, fish pond has frozen over (the fish are in a kind of suspended animation under the ice),everything is crunchy underneath your feet and we are going through fire wood at a rapid pace. So glad to have Richard and his firewood stash close by up the road. Because of the severe cold, the band has had to stop playing at some venues for a while. We really appreciate all that people have done to make things comfortable but heating has been a problem lately. We had a great show last week in spite of the cold but conditions were brutal. When it's so cold it is difficult to play the frozen keyboard keys and the guitar strings slice into your fingers like razors. I really want to play more trumpet but since I also need to play the guitar the horn has to sit for a while. In a matter of minutes the temperature of the instrument drops so low that if i try to play without warming the inside with air for a few minutes the pitch is so flat that it is unplayable, bummer. I've tried various means of heating the horn but to no avail. About the only thing that might work would be to have someone sit next to me blowing air through the horn constantly and then passing it to me at the appropriate time (!?) Oh well.
Even though the band is on a reduced gig schedule right now we still have a bunch going on. We are continuing to work on our new album and have about 7 tunes in rough form recorded. We will continue over the winter to record and hope to have the final work ready in March/April. So far all the tunes are Thugz originals and I feel they are our best yet. We may do a cover tune or two but who knows. Any suggestions? I don't care where the songs come from as long as we enjoy playing them.
When things are rough, like in the cold, I sometimes wonder why we are doing this music thing at all. The picture at the top of this rant is of my first guitar which I still have . It is a Silvertone from Sears that my folks got me in junior high. I actually started on ukulele but I think my constant noodling on the riffs from "Satisfaction" and "You Really Got Me" (which don't sound pleasant at all on a uke) drove them nuts enough to replace it with a guitar. Wavy Gravy has a room at his place filled with little trinkets, dolls, figurines, statues, posters, etc. that he calls "reminders of Heaven". My small music studio serves a similar function in that I have a few relics from my musical past like the Silvertone guitar, uke, etc. When I see them it reminds me of what I am doing and why. They really do help and I am glad to keep the good memories of the past around to help with difficult times.
Anyway, if any thugz fans read this I want to express my gratitude to you for supporting this band. Everyone of us has been in countless other groups but none have had the good community feeling of this particular band. Times are tough for everyone and I think every little thing like our music scene is valuable in that it can bring some relief and comfort during the harsh times. keep on truckin' y'all.
-Mike