We're Bumpin' Booties, Having Us A Ball Y'all.

Oh, Blog! I've missed you. You know how your Mom tells you, "If you don't have anything nice to say..."? I've been up. I've been down. Tryin' to get the feelin' again. I don't wanna get a reputation of being a downer (too late). I can't hardly remember what happened last week (or today for that matter!). Well, here's what I remember... Thursday, I had dinner with my Dad for a belated Father's Day deal. It was very awkward. I feel like the man doesn't know me at all and Thursday only confirmed my feeling. He just ranted about things he knows i'm sensitive about (i'm not gonna tell you what he said so you won't dislike him before you know him). Food was consumed. I tried my best to reach out to him and make him feel loved but my attempts fell flat and I was left having dinner with a stranger who has some serious problems. I hope I learn from these events and not turn into him. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Friday, I took an hour off work and ran down to Ft. Rockerdale to play a Starlight Series concert with the Funkasmelly Voidoids. It was really hott!!! Luckily, I brought my trusty industrial blower which normally would do the trick but felt like it was blowing hot breath on me. Ick! Crowd was pretty good. We had to do a bunch of "How y'all doin' tonight?" to get them riled. Thinking aboot (Canada) it now, I would have killed one of us if I was really hot and sticky and the performers were not satisfied with my mere clapping. I must say right here and now that I was not responsible for any of the applause baiting. Thankfully, the sun went down for the second set and then the place packed out. It felt like Woodstock or something. You could see people as far as the I could see. I found out afterward that my volume knob on my amp was really loose and kept turning me off. I kept messing with it but the vibration of the sound kept turning it back to zero every few minutes. Hmmm. We played halfway decently and didn't offend too many people.

Saturday, The Dillengers played a benefit for a guy called John Wurm. I told Rick I would do an acoustic set long ago when he didn't have anyone to play but luckily, I didn't have to. I must work on my confidence. Anyway, Bill (our bass player) was out of town tending to sick family in Alabama so our old bassist Charlie Gonzales stepped up to the plate. The best thing to happen all night was a band called Thursday's Child. They were on before us and they had some great songs and a great sound similar to Sixpence None The Richer. They gave me a cd and it's great. I went on their MySpace and gushed about how great they are. If you're wondering, I am getting paid each time I use the word "great".

Yesterday, the family went to my Mom's house for my nephew RJ's birthday. My sister was there and we had a good talk about the state of my Dad. My Mom joined in and straightened me out on some things. We all reminisced about my late sister Nancy like we always do when we get together. I wish Kris and Jojo could have met her. Sunday was Elwood's and we had to start late 'cause Charlie had a gig across town that didn't end 'til 8. Rick proposed we kill some time with an acoustic set. Luckily, that didn't happen. I must work on my confidence. When I got there, some kids were sitting in the front seats and they had guitars with them. They were chatting with us about musician crap. "What kind of cymbals do you use?". "I have a @#$%^*! drum set at home". You get it. I set up and walked away and this kid sat down at my drums and started moving things around! I yelled at him not to move anything around and, by this time, the crowd that was there was interested in what this kid was going to do so I didn't want to look like a bad guy and kick him off my drums so I let it slide. I walked down to Starbucks to forget the whole thing. My problem with it is the etiquette(?) issue. I would never just jump on someone's instrument without asking (i wouldn't do it anyway unless i was asked) and I CERTAINLY wouldn't move anything. Little bastard.

Last night, I took melatonin (kris' suggestion) to help me sleep and it was great. I woke up a few times (like i always do) but this time I fell right back to sleep. Kris told me they can give you weird dreams and it didn't disappoint. All I really remember is Bruce Springsteen was in my dream. That would be weird enough but I remember seeing him on TV through a shop window yesterday and now it makes sense. I'll let you know what I dream of tonight. I hope it's happy.