Dec. 25

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!!!

...And Tim.

Dec. 24

Oscar Peterson, probably the most astonishing pianist I've ever heard, passed away at the age of 82 yesterday. Bummer.

Dec. 23

Ready for Santa? This Thursday I'm doing a switcharoo- I'm playing Shuckalucks with Alida and Keith Dalrymple while Matt Beatty takes over at the King Eddy Pub.

Dec. 9

Thursday, I had Keith Floen come out to the Eddy jam and we had a ball! Doc brought the mando and Gene managed the two block commute from the store to play a set on drums. We managed to play enough Klezmerish stuff to irritate half the bar.

Redcliff with Tim was fun as always, I even ran into Bev & Trevor Rhodes at the Royal jam and they came out to the Hylton. I showed off the new National to everybody and won the pot at the Royal! Better spend it on Xmas shopping...

Dec. 4

Okay, the National is a 1950, and it's wicked!!! It seems more like ONE year old, instead of fifty seven! The strings are new, it was even in tune when I got it. Here's a pic of it alongside the Supro.

I went to Bill Dowey's jam at Kits on Sunday and ripped through a few tunes with Doc- big fun! Oh, I even started writing an instrumental on lap steel today, I should see if it's disappeared into the ether or not.

Actually, I really should get some more bass learning in- I'm playing bass for The Herman Bros. on New Year's Eve. Yikes!!

Nov. 28

Holy Cow! The blog machine is running kinda slow! Lessee, what's new? Mom came up last weekend to see Guy Davis in Strathmore again, she said it was a fabulous show. Carolyn, who is a salesperson at MCC Strathmore did the opening spot. Unfortunately I missed out, because I was doing the King Eddy. I took Mom and Rhonda to see Amos Garrett at the Elbow Casino Friday night. Doc was sitting in- they got tired of holding him hostage in Libya.

Yup, I bought another lap steel on Ebay. It's a National Chicagoan, don't know the year yet. Hope to see it in the mail by next week. So, let's see, that makes...hmm...fifteen guitars in my corner. Gotta keep ahead of Dev and Willie, ya know.

Oh, I got my Rhonda back- she went out to Kelowna for a few days to see her folks. Yippee!

Nov. 11

Just played Turner Valley and we had Dave Smith come in as the fourth piece- nice playing, Dave! I just met Dave recently when he started working at the store in Strathmore. We burned through a bunch of Allmans and Skynyrd and Hendrix and had a blast!

Next year's calendar is filling up fast- should be a good year for the ol' Snidewhiners.

Bruce's band Catsass finally got a website up so I posted a link.

Oct. 22

Fabulous weather, eh? Just put up a link to Soulchowdah's website, that's Mike Karastas' and Jim Jacobs' band. Go check 'em out!

Gigs have been going well, the Royal was a blast in Medicine Hat and High River treats us really good.

I helped Wayne finish off his two year stint in the King Eddy Pub yesterday, he and Joanna are moving to Ontario. Jerry Leduc came and played drums, it was great! Too much bourbon, though, had to leave the new van parked downtown overnight. Oh, yeah- I ended up buying a '99 Windstar to replace the old van after I got hit. It's good, but I still ended up with a stereo with speakers that cut in and out. Time to go shopping.

Oct. 14

Happy Birthday, Moe!

Oct. 4

HAPPY EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAY, WILLIE!!!

Sept. 28

Wow, what a week so far. Tuesday we went to court to find out that the jerk that hit Willie with his truck February 06 got a slap on the wrist. He has to pay a $1000 fine, but since he was a young offender at the time he can't go to jail if he doesn't pay it. He also got an impaired charge since running Willie over. I guess if he kills somebody the courts might hold him accountable for his lack of driving skills, since hitting a kid in a crosswalk in a school zone is no big deal.

Speaking of driving skills, a girl came out of an alley in downtown Strathmore and plowed into my van yesterday afternoon. Looks ugly, Brian says to get the strut assembly repaired and keep motoring. We'll see what Wawanesa says.

Managed to still get to the gig last night at the King Eddy Pub. Doc and Dish came out, we had a good jam. We dedicated the night to Eric Jensen who passed away from liver cancer yesterday. What a shame- he was a monster player and a great guy.

Bookers cancelled at the last minute for next weekend, seems the Thanksgiving weekend was a great surprise to them and they won't be needing entertainment. Oh, well, they gave me a January date instead.

Sept. 16

Just played the River Roadhouse in High River last night with Chris and Brian- we had a blast! They liked us- said we'd be in regular rotation next year. Brian gave me a copy of the CD he played on with Guy Chaput, it's really good. I'll put up a link on the links page to Guy's site.

Forgot to mention before- I went to the Scorpions last Monday- it was absolutely KILLER! Another one of those great bands from way back I always wanted to see, and it was sure worth the wait. Rudolph Schenker is pushing 60, and runs around all night like Angus Young at 20! What a show!

Sept. 12

More sad news- Tom just called me after the last blog and told me he had to put Philo, his dog down. He had cancer.

I'll miss ya, buddy. No more huffing and puffing for you.

Sept.12

Well, here's an announcement straight out of left field- I will be the new host of the King Eddy Pub acoustic open stage Thursdays in fabulous downtown Strathmore! I start tomorrow night, it runs from 8 PM 'til 11 PM. I still haven't heard anything further about the prospective jam I mentioned a month or so back- it's kind of doubtful at this point that anything will turn up at this point.

I got Mom to listen to Dev and Willie's Myspace song on Sunday- she was underwhelmed, to put it mildly. Not her cup of tea, I'm guessing.

Sad news- Joe Zawinul passed away yesterday. I know, who? He wrote "Byrdland" and "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy". One of the great influences in jazz in the last half of the 20th century.

Sept.1

Happy Labour Day weekend. No gig for me, ho-hum. Nothing to do but yard work and watch Moe chase squirrels. I'd like to see him catch one- it would probably get him in a headlock and take his lunch money.

Devin and Willie have started a rock band- well, screamer death metal, actually. They have a recording up on their Myspace page. Click here to go listen. I think it sounds pretty good! But then my listening tastes are so diverse- I just went from downloading the Scorpions to Horace Silver. That's Willie screaming his head off. Amazing what you can do with a Mac laptop, some microphones and a surplus of teenage testosterone.

Aug. 20

Last Thursday night with Gene and Alida was a gas! Great to play with them again, and for the first time ever we played the whole night together.

Thanks to Wayne for letting me maul his '59 Strat the Thursday previous. Cool guitar.

Speaking of cool guitars, I got the EMGs installed in my WSM Strat. Yippee!

Aug. 9

Last weekend in Rimbey went well despite a VERY last minute crisis- Tim Herman was driving up to my house with Chris Streifel when he got a call that there was a big grass fire on his ranch! Needless to say he went tearing off home and fought the fire for most of the weekend, losing a whole bunch of fence by the time it was out. I managed to grab Brian Sovereign and took him to Rimbey instead, where he did a great job as always.

The barbeque was a great time! Nice to see everyone who came, wish I had more time to visit with all. Poor Moe was flat out on the floor by the time everyone left. He's a party dog.

I did my very first job interview as the interviewER yesterday- I quizzed a young guy about starting as a guitar teacher at the store for Rob. I'm sure enjoying working there- Rob is a great guy and a real straight shooter. I'm even doing some sales- never thought that would happen!

Speaking of sales, my buddy Al Himor bought hisself a brand new Martin D-28 there on Tuesday-YIPPEE!

Hey, I'm doing a fill-in with Wayne Williamson tonight at the King Eddy Pub in Strathmore, pop in!

Aug. 2

Okay, I'm about to leave myself open to ridicule by joining the legions of losers out there sharing the most tedious details of their pathetic lives with the world...

...but my coffee maker died. I was hoping it would live for ever and ever, but it died. In its sleep, apparently. 'Cos it was dead when Rhonda went to fire it up Monday morning. But, for ten years or so, man, did it make good coffee! And just try and find that model of Braun coffee maker in a store now. For that matter, try and find ANY Braun that provides stalwart service for a decade, without borrowing gigantic sums of money from you...

Are you coming to our barbeque? You probably are, I've invited most everyone this side of Ulan Bataar. It's gonna be fun.

July 30

Coaldale went well this last weekend- Thanks to Chris Striefel for coming out from the Hat to drum! I had Brian Sovereign on bass- he's always a monster. Looks like we're going back there in November.

Stay tuned for news about a new jam- I've had a meeting and should know in a day or two if I'm going to get the green light to start up in September. Yippee! I'd tell you where, but that would ruin the suspense now, wouldn't it?

July 23

First, I'd like to thank Tom Burton for the last year or so- a bit less, actually- of playing with me. Tom has been accepted at Malaspina College in Nanaimo to pursue a degree in music. I'm very happy for him. So, he played his last gig with me in Blackfalds last weekend. Tom is one of the finest drummers I've ever worked with and I learned a lot from him. He can take a groove out past Saturn, or drop the dynamics into the basement and can always be trusted to come back to home plate. I know that one of my primary strengths as a musician, and as a human being for that matter, is listening, and Tom sure is worth listening to. Thank you, Tom, for the music and the friendship. I wish you all the success you deserve.

Next, I have to thank my cousin Gord Deans for entrusting me with the possession of our great-grandfather's guitar. He brought it out on Friday night, and I'm amazed! The guitar is over 100 years old by Gord's reckoning and is in great shape! I have taken some photos and plan to poke around to try to come up with a date and manufacturer. It needs little more than a set of strings and a repair job to one fret that has lifted. I hope to compile some information on it and pass it on to the proceeding generations in my family, as well as some info about guitars I've already acquired. I'll post a pic with this upload.

Matt Beatty is a dad again, number 3 or 5 he says, number 423 if you poll his throng of rabid fans. So since he and the missus are busy with the little papoose, he's asked me to play Shuckalucks on August 16. So far I've hired Alida on drums, and I'm sure Gene will call back when he's done fiddlin' around.

The Tragically Hip show on the 15th was AWESOME! What a smokin' band! What a great frontman! Even the sound was superb- I've never heard such tight bottom end reproduction in the Saddledome.

July 5

Happy Cowboy Halloween!

June 26

Rhonda and I went the Roger Waters concert Saturday night. It was absolutely AMAZING!! Best concert I've ever seen, hands down. We saw Derek Trucks last night, and it was great, too, but hard to follow a show like Saturday's.

Sunday, I stopped in at the benefit for Eric Jensen at the King's Head, saw lot's of folks I hadn't seen for a while. Ran into Tom Cleary, I hadn't seen him in twenty years. Then I did the Olive Grove Sunday night jam with Kelly Kavanagh and Mike Foster and Ray Duhaime. Hope to do that again soon.

June 17, later

Hey, I won the wrestling match! Go look at the new guitars page!

June 17

Wow, time flies! Anybody still there?

Had a good weekend in Dick's Pub in Airdrie- good staff and really appreciative audience! There was a revolving door for band members- Randy turned out to be too sick to play Friday night so at the last minute I got Blair Supple to come out to fill in on bass and he did a great job! Thanks, Blair! We had Keith Floen on piano Friday night and Marty Antonini Saturday. It was great to play with Keith again- I wanted to buy him a drink but he said he was on something called "Sabbaticol", I think his wife prescribed it. Both he and Marty provided some great playing and really fattened up the trio.

I got a surprise visit last night from Good Time Charley from the Musician's Lounge- nice to see a sense of community from a website- nice to meet you, GTC!

Got some new pictures of the band up a while back, still wrestling with the Guitars page to put up shots of all the new guitars.

Thanks to Frodo for the Father's Day card- it was the cat's ass!

May 29

A few things to report...I got my new lap steel last week! It's a '53 Oahu- not exactly new, I guess. Got the wild idear to tune it to C6- Tom says it sounds like Asleep At The Wheel showed up! I only wish.

We played Carstairs last week and I called up the Lewis sisters, hadn't seen them for years! Had a good visit in amongst the brawl- flying tables and all. Central Alberta will never change, it seems. I'll put up pics if they let me.

Happy Birthday, Shelbee. Oh, yeah, my niece Shannon had her baby on Monday. I wonder if Uncle Lon will pop out to have a look.

May 16

Boy, things have changed since the jam shut down. I don't seem to think of much to post.

The Shuckaluck's date went well- lots of good folks to play for and great staff! I'll have to bug Matt for more dates there. Bob Shepard showed up and stole half my picks- again. Small price to pay to hear him play.

The Captain's Cabin was kind of quiet this last weekend, as was the rest of Medicine Hat... the Tigers were out of town. I had good luck, I walked into the Royal at the tail end of the jam and won the $100 pot!

I have a new lap steel on the way, this one's an Oahu. Can't wait to get my hands on it!

May 1

Things are going great with Randy Fournier on bass! We're now toying with live recordings- stay tuned!

April 17

Oh, yeah, thanks to Matt Beatty for getting me a date in Shuckalucks in May. Never been there, but now that I have Thursdays off...

April 16

I put up the pictures from the last two jams. Sure had fun there for the last four years. Gotta find another spot to continue with the mayhem.

April 8

Happy Easter.

I'm heartbroken. The Station 52 jam has been cancelled. We did the last one on Thursday, and both Gene and Alida were working elsewhere. Lots of people showed up and gave me a grand send-off, including a hangover. The jam has been a huge part of my life for over four years. I've met tons of great players and new people, made many friends, tried out dozens of new songs and forged my longest association to date with a "band"- Gene and Alida. I always looked forward to every Thursday night and was never disappointed. I know I'll have to find some new venue to continue on, hopefully before other projects take precedence for them.

I want to thank everyone who came out over the years, and my apologies if you are overlooked here, but especially Blair Burrows for giving me a start; Gene Strandquist; Alida Schedel; the ever steadfast Bev & Ron Gotby; Dawn, the manager; Marge Bitz, my other mom; Elaine Andrews; Doc Rock; Bruce Boehler; Geoff Hogg; Ryan Herzog; Shelly Lynn; Tom & Tammy Hiilis; Mike Karastas; Lionel Desjarlais; Kenny Dalla Vicenza; Jerry Foster; Bob Shepard; Blair Supple; Rose Carling; Barry Hu; Bentley & Crystal Heintz; Lee Warren; Bob Gosse; Terry Gosse; Roger Williams; Kate Lewis; Lara Taillon; Doug Lamb; JC MacDonald; Denise & Randy Bachmeier; Pat Secord; Rick the drummer; Jim Jacobs; John Sinclair; Matt Beatty; Gary Beatty; Tom Ross; Bill Blayney; Darren Barton; Randy Bishop and Cherri; Tom Burton; Andrew and Danielle; Russell Brewer; Neil Christofersen; Keith Dalrymple; Ray Duhaime; Sam Taylor; Sandy, Trudy and the rest of the Lamberts; Trevor Kuntz; Shane Chisholm; Troy Clark; Doug Charters; Randy Fournier; Tim Herman; Gerd Krause; Ben Jackson; Brad Lindberg; Bill Lyons; Dean Malcolm; Frank Pollard; John Oulette; Ted Pire; Jerry Toland(Ted Jr. Jr.); Hank Peterson; Jim Reil; Brian Sovereign; Rob & Sandy Stewart; Dave Sauve; Neil Schoenthal; Jim Turner; the Moron Tabernacle Choir; Shawn, the best cook ever... oh, Ill shut up now. Oh, I'll have new pictures up soon.

Wait, I need to mention that I've put up an mp3 for my students to practice "House Of The Rising Sun" to.

AND we all got new guitars here at home, except for Jesse, poor buggar. We'll fix that. I have a brand new dobro! I guess it ain't all bad, eh?

March 29

Still muddling through. Kayanne's funeral was hard for all of us, but the boys are doing very well. Got a chance to play some songs with Barry, Kayanne's uncle. Hell of a guy- very strong and very talented.

Now we're trying to keep the Station 52 jam going. Things are very tough for the bars in Calgary where you can't smoke, since there are so many that slipped the noose and you can still smoke your brains out. So if you can, pop in, have some pasta and a pail of beer and support what we're doing. It's a great jam and it should be experienced by all. My heartfelt thanks to all those who have made it such a great time every week.

March 14

Went to the Heaven & Hell concert with Devin tonight and it was fabulous. Ronnie James Dio looks and sings like 25 years ago. He was absolutely spot on. Nobody grinds out that groove like Iommi and Butler, and Vinnie Appice's drums sounded wicked! Okay, I'll shut up before it turns into a fan page.

Would've been nice if the Saddledome cops would have had more than four guys patting down the eight thousand or so thugs coming in so we could see the whole Megadeth show. Boneheads.

I have the unenviable task of reporting that my ex-wife and mother of my boys, Kayanne passed away in the early hours of March 13 from cardiac arrest. She was 39. Arrangements are still being decided.

It is my firm belief that she has since compared notes with Chance, and perhaps my dad, and had a good laugh.

All is long since forgiven, and my deepest gratitude for the time we spent together, and the opportunity for growth that you gave me. I'm glad to see you unburdened.

And as you know, the boys are fine young men. Thank you.

March 8

Yes, I'm still alive! Just did a whirlwind trip thru the Hat on the weekend at Marty's and then T.J.s with Don. Things went well, hope I have my monitor horn fixed. Speaking of fixed, Moe needs a trip to the vet soon. Yoiks!

I forgot to make mention earlier that Rickles Pub in Cochrane went out of business. Too bad, Rick and Leslie are such great people.

Got some four piece dates in Turner Valley, I hope I can get Keith Floen in there with us!

Feb. 14

Happy Valentine's Day! Holy cow, I haven't updated this for almost a month! I want to thank Keith Floen for playing the Crossroads with us, and Shane Chisholm for Rimbey. Had a blast with both of them, catching up on things and throwing new tunes at the wall. The Royal jam last Saturday was great-lots of good players throwing it down. Thanks to Greg Herman for the use of his sub for the weekend.

Saturday night Rhonda and I are going to see Johnny Winter! I'm pumped!

Jan. 19

Last night we celebrated four years at Station 52! Yippee! Hopefully things pick up soon, the smoking ban has added to the usual lull in January. We still have a lot of fun every week though.

This weekend we're back in Len's Den- it's funny, Len never seems to be in evidence- and Bob Shepard says he's gonna come blazing in with his guitar in hand. Come listen to some blues!

Jan. 5, 2007

Happy New Year! Mine was nice and quiet, thanks to the boneheads at the Bowness Hotel. No problem, got to be with Rhonda and the kids.

Before I forget, I'd like to thank Tim Cambridge and Music Center Canada for giving me the chance to work on teaching guitar for the last five years. Much appreciated. I'll be starting at MCC in Strathmore on a Wednesday in the near future as well as teaching at home here.

I guess they liked us at Bookers- we're back there in May!

Doug & Lynn Riley walked into the jam last night at St. 52- what a great surprise! We had a good visit and a great jam- Doug Charters even showed up for some pickin'.

New pictures are up!

This weekend me & Tim join forceps with Geoff Hogg at the Old Mill in Strathmore. AND it's Rhonda's birthday! Pie in the face! Pie in the face! Yippee.

Dec. 28

How was your Xmas? Ours was great! Mom came up by surprise on Christmas day.

The Bookers gig went great. Luckily, I hired a guitar player who happened to have an amp with him because my Boogie blew a tube. Thanks, Bob!

So, I'm going to take over hosting the Old Mill Sunday jam from Bill Stark starting Jan. 8th. That's two nights a week with Gene and Alida. Lucky me! Also, Sidewinder is playing the Jan. 5-6 weekend at the Mill. Yippee!

Took lots of pictures at Xmas and took some more last night at the Legion jam. I'll post 'em soon!

Dec.23

Okay, I've been busy cleaning up after Moe. He's learned that walks are fun and so is terrorizing the cats. And EVERYTHING is for chewing on.

Had a fabulous jam Thursday with the likes of Bob Gosse, Tom Ross (You know!) et al, and Doc came by with his new pride and joy, a '65 Super Reverb! Lucky dog. Got to play a set with Ray Duhaime before he was relegated to hanging around all night while other people played his rig.

THIS JUST IN! Got a last minute call to play a Ho- ho party at Bookers Crab Shack downtown! Had to scramble to get a bass player, ended up with the legendary Bob Cormier. A big thanks to Matt Beatty for the phone call.

Merry Humbug!!!

Dec. 10

WE GOT A PUPPY! WE GOT A PUPPY! WE GOT A PUPPY! WE GOT A PUPPY!

Go see his picture on the pictures page!

Dec. 7

Got a date in T.J.s Pub in Medicine Hat in April, should be fun!

I added a link to Tim Ward and the Cruisers website- on the links page, of course.

Happy Birthday to my ancient friend Geoff Hogg.

Sadly, Jay McShann passed away today. He was just short of 91 and still playing. Think I'll play Kansas City for him tonight.

Dec. 6

Oh, yeah, the Bowness Hotel has dropped all entertainment for December at the drop of a hat. Anyone want a band for Xmas and New Years?

Dec 5

Yoiks! It gets drunk in the Hat this time of year! Had way too much fun with Tim & Darlene and Doug Riley at T.J.s Pub on Saturday night- apparently. So now Tim is punishing me by making me play with Don coming up in Redcliff. Oh, well, that's why we're called the Replacement Parts, I guess.

Then I get home and Frodo is mad at me for going away again so he goes around knocking my change off the dresser and such. Snobby cat.

Still no Moe.

Nov. 29

Hey, my studio is finished! It's got funky two tone walls and guitar posters and all the plants that Rhonda doesn't want upstairs. And I have my first in-home students showing up on Monday! Jesse's room is just about done, too. Sure is nice to get my guitars out of their cases and out of the living room.

Frank Szoka played bass with Tom and I last weekend in Donadeos- did a fine job, too. Just about froze to death in there on Friday night, though.

I sure am glad I got in and out of Ft. MacMurray before this cold hit. Whew! Well, it's already warmed up a bit. It's a good thing- I need to get out for some exercise.

Nov. 14

Hey, I changed the intro page- didja notice?

Nov. 13

We're painting! First we get my studio and Jesse's room painted, then we can remove an inch of drywall dust from everything in the house. Ick.

Happy birthday to Devin, and Mom and Karen on their respective days. And Albert and Shannon and whoever I missed.

We just played Len's Den again this weekend- good gig. Nice folks, good staff. We even pulled out Riders On The Storm and Take Five. Cool, eh?

Next year's schedule is shaping up nicely- going back into Len's, the Captain's Cabin, Redcliff, the Royal, the Roads- lots of fun!

Oh, yeah, I've got tickets to see Johnny Winter in February. Yippee!

Oops, better get some work done.

Nov. 7

Given up on me yet? I got busy doing nothing and it took longer than I thought. Actually, the computer is hiding under plastic sheets and a heavy layer of drywall dust half the time these days.

Still having a gas showing off the new horn to everyone within earshot. I can actually go stand in an open field and direct migratory geese traffic with it. Sorry, Mike.

The first gig with Don Schneider as "Replacement Parts" in the Captatin's Cabin in the Hat went great! Should be back in there alot in 2007. I still think we should be the Clammy Alien Brothers, though.

Just booked Quonset & Vine with Frank P so the rest of the year is all sewn up. Looks like we'll be in the Boho for New Years' Eve opposite Late Night Radio. Should be fun.

HONK!!!

Oct. 20

Well, Doc rendered me speechless last night. Yeah, yeah, I know, can't be done, blah blah blah. Do you want to hear the story or not? Anyhoo, he presented me with an addition to the horn section- a big ol' double belled honker that sounds like a Canada Grey looking for an aircraft carrier to perch on. Ya gotta hear this thing, it's priceless! I have to wonder about my musical output when people most readily associate me with sounds more evocative of Bozo the clown...

I put up some pics that Doc sent last week. How will I get by while he's off examining dirt in northern BeeCee?

Oct. 7

Hey, I won the $100 pot at the jam at the Royal last weekend! Yippee!

Well, we're all moved in and now we're framing in half the basement so I'll have a studio to teach guitar lessons in. And by "we" I of course mean Rhonda and her parents and brother Ken who are doing a fabulous job while I goof off on this idiot box.

Gotta get Jesse to work. Good thing I have a license or I'd be completely useless.

Sept. 25

Still busy finishing up the move. Got to open for Tom Wilson on Friday night in Rickles and it was awesome. He's one of the best singers I've ever had the pleasure of listening to live. His band is basically Junkhouse with a pinano player. They're all great guys. They unplugged and walked into the audience and sang "Ring Of Fire". Got to hang with Tom after the show a bit- he said he could tell we were there to play. He's really straight ahead and down to earth- told me to remember to just breathe. The things you forget to do...

Guess I'll put up a link to his site and some photos.

Me and Tim are on a tear again this weekend in Redcliff!

Sept. 15

The Crossroads went great, kind of a quiet weekend everywhere, but we went over good. Big thanks to Brian and Jimmy for helping out. I hope the Roads gets some new P.A. for the DJ soon- ear-splitting treble! Guess I'll find out in January when we go back in.

Well, we got the keys to the house today- YIPPEE!!! Everything looks good, lots of things to do. Like move in...

Sept. 7

Holy cow, been awhile already! Went and did the Black Horse in Fort Mac- nice little pub. Man, traffic is crazy up there. No speeding tickets though! Went to the Ian Gillan show at Cowboys the other night, it was great! Great band. Ran into lots of players and then, Waddaya know, there's Matt Beatty up there playing Smoke On The Water with the guy who wrote it!Lucky dog!

Getting ready for the weekend in the Crossroads, and then the big move! Gonna be weird being in a house with no landlord to answer to. Well, except Rhonda of course.

Aug.25

Well, last night we had a ball! Tim came to do the jam, Barry How came to hang out and took a whole bunch of pictures, and we had some new faces appear. Tye Johnson popped in, and I finally met Marija, who I have talked to online thru www.Axecity.com Oh, and SoulCHOWDAH showed up, too! I'll get some of Barry's pics up soon.

I kept calling Tim an Epi-phony- that's what his shirt said- so he responded in kind by calling me a HOMO(ner). But I corrected him- I'm a Strathmoron.

Jim Reil has hired me for the Grampas jam Saturday afternoon, and he also has Ray Duhaime on bass. Coincidentally, Ray is playing the weekend with me in the Old Mill.

Yippee!!!

Aug. 24

Holy cow, there are no teenagers in my house! None! And I didn't even have to hire an exterminator! Oh crap, I have to go to work. Oh well.

Aug 22

Looks like everything is falling into place with the house, we should take possession on the 15th of September. Anyone want to lend me a garage?

I'm gonna do a double whammy in Medicine Hat in November- I'm in Sidestreet on Friday the 3rd and Don Schneider has enlisted me to do the Captain's Cabin on Saturday night. Should be a blast!

Looks like we'll be rubbing elbows with Tom Wilson (Junkhouse, Blackie & the Rodeo Kings) in Rickles in September. Cool, eh?

This week, Tim Herman is gonna dazzle St. 52 with his sparkling persona, and then I get to play with Ray Duhaime and Ben Jackson on the weekend in the Old Mill here in Strathmore. How lucky can a guy get? Well... someone could let me buy the pancake fish and bring it home, or Jesse could buy me a Lotus with all of his newfound wealth...

Oh, someone tell Rhonda I've done my blog.

Aug. 7

Hey, we're buying a house! Yippee! And we're on vacation! Yippee! And I got a gig at the Old Mill in Strathmore to fill out my August bookings! Yippee! I need to hire a rhythm section! Yippee! Gotta go find some Darvon, I'm way too excited! Yippee!!!!!!

Aug. 1

Well, we saw Jerry off on Thursday night at Station 52. He's gone back to Missouri, although I heard there was a snag for his wife Brenda at the border. Guess she must look like a terrorist. I think we got him all choked up, he was presented with a Flames jersey, some cards and stuff, and a guitar. Sure gonna miss ol' Jer, he was a gas to have around. Oh, I'm sure he'll pop up online real quick. I'll put up a few pics from that night.

July 22

Just a quick note to check in. I'm playing with Tim at the Redcliff Hylton tonight- feels like I'm late because I subbed out last night so I could do the Edmonton Lundgren & Young breakfast. Some people there asked me about my son because last year there was the first time I saw either of my boys in six years. I was very happy to tell them I now have both of my boys living with me. So my point is I feel very blessed. I'm up to my eyeballs in teenagers here but my life is very rich.                                                 The orange cat has learned to pull the sliding screen door open with his teeth so he goes out when he pleases unless we lock it. So we do. So he lays around and whines. Why do I keep going to bring him back?

July 9

Busy busy busy! Just finished the weekend playing bass with Pat Secord and his bunch at Donadeos- had a blast! And last minute, Dean Malcolm handed me a Stampede gig in Balzac for Redcoat Oil & Gas or some such yesterday afternoon. I hired Gene and Ryan and it turned out that Gene did three gigs yesterday on no sleep- what a machine that guy is! I even helped make him do an encore at 1:45 AM at the Border Crossing. Good to hear Pistol Noon again. Doug should give me that Anderson guitar.

Apparently we're going to host a going away party for Paul Gosse on Thursday at St. 52- he's moving back to Newfieland. And Jerry's going to get a sending off at Donadeos on the 23rd, I believe. Speaking of such events, I have many more pictures from Ryan from the benefit jam on the 29th, I just have to find time to post them. Stay tuned!

June 30

Hey, the jam was a smashing success last night! We had a packed bar and WAY more people than I could get up. I think Ryan was kinda floored. He took lots of pictures as well as the few that I took, I should have a big gallery of them up oncw we compare notes. Here's a list of some of the folks I know that were there:

Soulchowdah: Jim Jacobs, Mike Karastas, Jerry Foster
The Cardboard Heroes: Barry, Jeff, Andy
Heather Brooks band
Darren Barton- bass
Tracy Berg- piano
Randy Bishop- everything
Bruce Boehler- drums, tonight
Mike Bromley- guitar, bass
Bruno Carvalho, harmonica
Kenny Dalla Vicenza- bass
Mike Foster- drums
Charlie Hays- steel
John Heals & Frank from L&M
Geoff Hogg- bass
Mike King- guitar
Tom & Tammy Hillis- bass & guitar/vocals respectively
Shelley Lynn- bass, vocals
Chuck Mckuen- icon
Andy & Danielle Alford- guitar & guitar widow
Randy Peckwin- drums
Mike Peters- guitar
Guy Plecash- keys
Alida Schedel- drums
Rose Sedgewick- vocals
Bob Shepard- guitar, vocals
John Sinclair- bass, vocals
John & Shirley Theil- guitar & vocals
Lee Warren- vocals
Dan the drummer from Strathmore
Danny the other drummer from Strathmore- load-in
Dennis- bass, ryan’s friend
Lloyd & Marilyn- bass & vocals
Nicole (Fluffy the pitbull)- guitar, vocals
Richard the drummer
Jaret & Jenna Hannon & Sean the drummer
Bev & Ron Gotby
Rick & Leslie Blaikie
Marge my other mom
Bill & sheila them dancin' fools
Rhonda Simard
The other Rose
the Jane Doe guy
My apologies to those who didn't get to play.
My warmest thanks to all who attended, tonight was about letting Ryan know how many friends he has, that's why the last few names aren't pickers, just folks who are always there for us.
At last count we raised over $1600 for charities.

June 26

Looks like loads of people are going to make it in on Thursday for the jam. I hope so, Ryan deserves to know how highly people regard him.                                     The Doucette gig last Tuesday went good, too bad more people didn't get wind of it and come out. Doucette sure is a fine guitar player.                                                   If you look on the pictures page there's a shot of the custom Strat I swapped my G&L to Tim Herman for. It says, "WSM" on the headstock which stands for Warren Steven Morrey, the man who built it. I can't remember ever being so crazy for playing a new guitar before- I love this thing! I put in the original pickguard loaded with Seymour Duncans and it sounds great with either them or the EMGs. Jerry played it the other night and it just dripped with tone! It plays great, stays in tune better than a standard Strat with the Tremset in it-I could go on and on about this thing. AND ya can't get one, he only made 27 before he retired! I got number 8! Colour me tickled pink! Thanks, Mr. Morrey.

June 19

Oops! I kept forgetting to mention on here that I'm opening for Jerry Doucette tomorrow night in Cochrane! I have Gene and Alida playing with me and it's at Rickles, of course. Come on out!

June 13

I'd like to announce that on Thursday June 29 the Station 52 jam will feature Ryan Herzog on drums, and there will be a pot to accept donations in memory of Ryan's son, Matthew. The donations will go to one of three organizations providing aid and counsel to street people who have substance abuse issues. I need to try to create some positive energy from Ryan's loss, and I would appreciate any and all help that I can get. So if you can, come by, throw in a dollar or a thousand, or none, but show your face to let Ryan know just what a great thing it is to have him in our lives. He deserves the best that we can give, he has been more than a good friend to many of us.

June 9

Wow, the jam was super busy last night! We had loads of players, two full bands and total mayhem! One of the more interesting and unique performers we've had is "Fluffy the Pit Bull". She...yes, she...has a website up for her new cd, "Gabardine Swine" Go listen to some of the song samples!

Hey, Blair just called, he and Vanessa had their baby! Well, actually I think SHE had the baby and he went cigar shopping. But, anyway, YIPPEE!

Let's see if these pictures of Geoff turned out okay...

June 2

It's my berfday! Rhonda brought in a cake to the jam last night that said, "Yippee!"  I want to thank everyone who came out last night and all the people who come to the jam regularly, you are all awesome. It's great to have a little corner of the world  with so many nice folks in it.

Brian Sovereign is playing bass with me tonight, and Randy Bishop is on drums at Quonset & Vine, we're gonna have a ball! And Geoff Hogg is gonna come play drums next Thursday and it'll be very adequate.

May 25

Fell off my bike Monday night and my left hand looks kinda like a bullfrog. We'll see what sorts of noises it makes this weekend. Just got a gig for the 2-3 of June in Quonset and Vine, thanks to the Flames leaving a lot of Calgarians with other things to do besides watch hockey. I wonder how much money was piddled away on window signs saying "Go Flames go" and the like. Well, I can't complain. I swapped guitars with Tim- his Warrenocaster for my G&L. Come to the jam and have a look-see!

May 16

Just put up a link to the Cold Shot band's website. Because they put a link in to my site. A long time ago. But I didn't know. Til now. Honest. Oh, and I'm supposed to say that Tim Herman's not gay. He just very sensitive. And Jimmy Mann is now the president of the "I Hate Lap Steels" club. I don't know who else belongs. I'll put up a link to THAT site too, if they scrape together the domain registration fee.

Whatever.

May 11

Just put up a picture of my new lid.

May 8

Hey, two big news items- first, Rhonda and I went to see the Black Crowes last night. Had good seats, got to listen to Audley Freed play, what a great player!

The other thing is EGADS, I CUT MY HAIR!!!! Yep, it's up above my collar for the first time since, hmmm, 1980? Or was it the year of the big snow? Well, anyway, be prepared for the next time you see me. I guess I'll have to get new promo shots. Should have a picture up on here soon from Jerry Foster, who was the guy with the scissors.

Apr. 30

Well, the weekend in the Redcliff Hylton was a great time. Tim played Friday night and then Don Schneider came in Saturday night and we hammed it up. Told everyone I fired Tim for being too gay. No one argued...hmmm. Put a bug in Don's ear about us playing Jim & Jer's in Red Deer- I need to get a gig up there so Tyler can not show up. Tyler is my nephew who is moving to Red Deer to work for the Advocate. Look out, women of central Alberta!

Apr. 21

Well, our trip to Kelowna was great! Had a good visit with Rhonda's folks and caught Poppa Dawg & Dogskin Suit on Saturday night at the Blue Gator out there. Good blues band! Maybe I'll throw on a link to them.

Sounds like Randy Bishop and his henchmen are going to have me join them on a week long gig playing on a houseboat floating around the Shuswap in September. Should be a gas!

Apr. 9

Wow, what a good week! I booked about ten weeks of work, including what I bragged about below AND I slaughtered Mom at Yahtzee all weekend! Don't know where I'll stay when I play Medicine Hat from now on...

Apr. 5

Just got the Lundgren & Young Stampede Breakfast gig booked- yippee! And coincidentally got the weekend right after it booked in Len's Den, where we get to be a blues band all night. "Kill you, Baby, kill you all night long..."

Apr. 4

Okay, this may mean the end of the world as we know it, because both Willie and Shelby CLEANED THEIR ROOMS!!!! YOU CAN EVEN SEE THE FLOOR!!!! Now Willie is complaining that he can't find any of his picks and he thinks his friends were careless with them- what a horrible circumstance to find oneself in! How will he ever live through this ordeal?

Ray Duhaime is coming to play bass on Thursday. Always good to get to work with him. His band, Special Ed has a website up now. I'll put up a link on the links page- go see!

So sad to hear of Buck Owens passing on the 25th. What a long shadow he cast over 20th century culture. I guess now he really is "Above and Beyond". Was that too corny?

There's noise going around about maybe starting a Sunday jam at Station 52. Stay tuned!

Mar. 25

Went to see Guy Davis last night and it was fabulous. It doesn't get any more blues than him. Took a bunch of pictures and video, but only a few turned out okay. Oh well. Lots of people came along, including Rhon & Mom & Willie & Blair & Vanessa. We all really enjoyed it, but Shelby thought it bit for the most part. Or she made a big show of how bored she was anyway. Force-fed culture.

Lots of other good news... I got the Supro lap steel pickup back from Geoff Brock and it works fine again. Just had one of the pieces reversed and screwed up the magnetic field, we figure. Deep sigh of relief!

And the really big news- drum roll, please- Rhonda got herself a new car! Ta-daa! She got an '02 Mazda Protege with only 34,000 klicks on it. It's really cool! There's room for my head and everything! Phone her up and ask for a ride!

Mar. 20

I ended up playing all weekend! Friday with Mike & Jim was a blast, then Saturday I did the Sam-buca's jam with Bill Blayney and that was loads of fun. Then Sunday I get a call to fill in for Bill Stark at the Old Mill jam in Strathmore because he was really sick with the flu! So it was me and Gene and Alida for Alida's birthday. There's pictures, go look!

This Friday we're going to see Guy Davis right here in Strathmore. That's right, Ozzie and Harriet's kid!

Happy Vernal Equnox! Get yer snowshovels out!

Mar. 15

So we went to Rimbey last weekend and I expected the same little old hotel as the last time I was there several years ago. But we walk in and Holy Cow, there's a gigantic house P.A. there! The place has a new owner and he's been hiring some big acts and so there's all them speakers and even better, more people coming out on the weekends. Cool!

Friday night I'm gonna go play bass for my buddy Mike's band, called "Soulchowdah". Never got paid to play bass all night before. I wonder why that is...

I decided to enter the Ship and Anchor/ Calgary Folk Festival songwriting contest. Just finished mastering an acoustic version of Comin' Home for it. Actually, I think I'll put it up as another mp3 on the downloads page. Give it a listen and tell me what you think, and wish me luck with the contest!

Mar. 6

Time flies! We just finished the Royal in Medicine Hat and we had a ball! Had all my friends show up for the jam Saturday afternoon and it was rip-roarin!

Al Himor is a great guy! Why? Just 'cause he is! And also he has bequeathed me his Supro lap steel which not only sounds great but doesn't buzz in a room with bad 60 cycle hum such as the Royal or Stavros or a host of others. Yippee! Oh yeah, I stole that phrase from him, too. A real renaissance man that Al is.

Took Willie to the bone doctor and he took away the brace, so he's on his way back to kicking ass!

I'll have pics of the Royal jam up in a bit, stay tuned!

Feb. 24 some more...

Oh, yeah, speaking of head trauma, Rickles in Cochrane is going to put up with me AGAIN! This time Colleen Brooks and I will be steering the legendary Tom Burton on drums. It'll be fun!!

Feb. 24

Yoiks! I haven't yapped on here for awhile! Busy, busy, busy. I've upped the size of the website so I can load more pictures and videos and hmmm... more mp3s if I get my act together.

Randy Bishop came in with his girlfriend, Sherry last night and it was her birthday, so guess what? She went home drunk and blamed ME! ME!!! I never cause any trouble!

As for an update on Hopalong, he wants to go tobogganing. Apparently there was no head trauma as a result of the accident. Wonder just when it happened then...

Rhon and I are going to see Colin James on Sunday night.Yippee!

Feb.15, 12:08 AM

Tried to blog just before Midnight but my stupid router couldn'r find the site.

Rhonda says Happy Friggin' Valentine's Day to everyone. Belatedly.

Feb. 12

Well, that was a week. Started with a bang, you might say. My son Willie was struck by a pickup truck Monday afternoon. His knee was broken in two places, but other than that he was miraculously unharmed. So he was in the Foothills hospital from that night until yesterday afternoon. He feels good and wants to go to school tomorrow. The driver of the truck drove away and was caught and charged by the RCMP. Still mentally digesting the whole incident. Stay tuned for further developments.

I did my single in Rickles in Cochrane this weekend. Last night a whole bunch of Bolivian exchange students came in. It was pretty cool. Leslie stuck these weird antennae with Valentine hearts things on my head and took a picture. No, you can't see it. Shut up. Had a breakdown with the van Friday night- I think a wheel bearing went. I smell a gigantic repair bill on the way. Ick.

The good news is that Doug Riley put in a word for me at the Royal in Medicine Hat and we have a gig there the first week in March. Cool!

Feb. 3

Time flies when Rhonda isn't bugging me about getting my blog done.

Took the camera to the jam last night and shot some video clips- I love that thing! I'll have some up on the downloads page as soon as I get some clips converted and uploaded- they're too big of a file size for the site. Work, work, work.

Sad to hear that Miss Ellie passed away on Wednesday, there's going to be a tribute of some sort at Sam-Bucas on Sunday, so that's where I'll be.

Jan. 25

Hey! We started the jam back up last week! Where were you?

I've used the new camera to take new pictures of all my guitars, and changed the format on the "Guitars" page- go look! I realized I need to put back up the pictures of Bruce's stolen guitars, they got lost in the shuffle because for a few days the site kept eating some photos so I had to keep re-doing it. So I'll get them back up, I'm just kinda leery of messing with it.

Gotta sleep!

Jan. 21

Happy birthday Ken! And Leslie! Yesterday, of course. Oops.

We're back in the saddle at Station 52, just need to coax Gene back from doing stuff with some OTHER guys. Got a good pic of Alida Thursday. Go look!

Jan. 16

Stupid cats are trying to kill each other. I bought the Les Paul & Friends CD the other day- it's awesome! Loads of over the top guitar playing, and some cool new takes on old tunes, especially Billy Gibbons doing a Reverend Willie shuffle all over "Bad Case Of Loving You"!

The folks at the Forest Lawn Legion turned their noses up at "Harlem Nocturne" this weekend- no surprise there. Don't want anything that would change the viscosity of their embalming fluids. Oh, well, it's a gig, and they are very appreciative of anything reminiscent of Ray Price or Webb Pierce. I'm surprised they haven't boxed me in with their walkers and shaved my head yet.

The jam fires back up this week! ...apparently on Saturday, if you go by the sign Blair put up saying it starts on the 21st...

Unfortunately, I already have myself and the band committed to playing in Rickles out in Cochrane. Leslie said they want to stage a New Year's Resolution Busting party- sounds like fun. Think I'll buy Bruce a pack of smokes! (Insert sinister laugh here)

Jan. 9

Well, a few of those pics are up, if you can open the pictures page. There's been an issue with that page opening on and off since the site started. Any ideas?

Tim and I had a blast in the Hylton- no surprise there. Got a great pic of Jake Yake doing the beard trick- I'll post that today. Tim and I will have more dates in Redcliff- I just booked April 28-29, but Tim can only do Friday night. Maybe I'll do a "Rockstar" competition to see who can fill the bill on the Saturday night. Ick.

My brother Don gave me a Kenwood receiver this weekend when he picked up a new Yamaha one, so I now have a stereo that reproduces frequencies below 250 Hz audibly. "Something bottomy? Let's try Black Sabbath!"

Speaking of frequencies, I went to my acupuncturist today and she used "acutonics" on me, which involves using big tuning forks to balance my energy. It's pretty cool, I got a big endorphin glow from it. Think I'll go stare at Willie's lava lamp...

Jan. 2, 2006

Merry New Year! Sidestreet was a blast as always. Tim dragged in some drums and stuff and we only had Darcy & Theresa from Copper Penny show up but we got a little jam in on Friday night. Then all Hell broke loose on New Years Eve and we had a ball. I'll have some pics up of the finer moments of some of the loonies once I get a moment.

It came in the mail yesterday- yes, it was folded up to fit in the box, Smartypants- and I fired it up on stage last night. It's great! And my horn showed up after being mauled by teenagers for a day or so. There's a picture of it one the "guitar" page. Maybe I'll get some more pics of it soon if Santy Claus brings me a digital camera...

2005 blogs

2004 blogs