Well, that was Stampede. Thanks to all the staff at Bookers for treating us great, and a huge thanks to Clovis for all his hard work. Also thanks to Farrah and everyone at Mr. Schnapps for their hospitality!

July 8

Jimb is playing a Stampede breakfast with Matt Beatty 7 AM- 9 AM Friday July 9th 
Sidewinder plays Bookers Crab Shack, 316 3 Street SE the following times:
Friday July 9th 12 noon-2 PM, 4 PM- 7 PM
Saturday July 10th 12 noon-2 PM, 4 PM- 7 PM
Monday July 12th 12 noon- 2 PM, 4 PM- 6 PM, 7 PM- 11 PM
Tuesday July 13th 12 noon- 2 PM, 4 PM- 6 PM
Wednesday July 14th 12 noon- 2 PM, 4 PM- 6 PM
Thursday July 15th 12 noon- 2 PM, 4 PM- 6 PM
Friday July 16th 12 noon- 2 PM, 4 PM- 7 PM, 8 PM- 12 AM

Saturday July 17th Mr. Schnapps,1498 52 St NE, 9 PM- 1 AM
Sunday July 18th Mr. Schnapps 5 PM- 9 PM

June 25

Last night was the final jam at the Wildfire in Langdon. Thanks to JC, John, Devin and Rhonda for being there. And of course, thanks to the great staff for the last five months.

Sidewinder is in the Olive Grove this weekend.

June 14

Sidewinder played at Blu's Bistro in Nanton for the final time last Friday night. Sean and Nancy have decided to not renew their lease and are closing the doors June 26th. A big thanks to both of them and the staff for all the hospitality they've shown us over the last few years. Good luck in your new endeavors!

The band will be at Sunset and Vine in Northeast Calgary this coming weekend for the first time in quite a while. Come on out and play stump the band, I dare ya!

June 10

Devin and Janika are proud parents of baby boy Milo, June 9, 2010! I brought them home from the Peter Lougheed hospital today- everyone is healthy and happy!

No jam at the Wildfire Grill tonight due to an equipment malfunction with the house P.A., and the jam will end as of June 24th. Just not the support for it there that we were hoping for.

On a brighter note, Sidewinder has lots of Stampede slots at Bookers Crab Shack in downtown Calgary this year. Yippee!

May 17

Wow. Ronnie James Dio passed away. Bummer.

We had a whole lot of fun in the Riverstone this last weekend. Always a pleasure to play there, the staff and patrons are just fabulous!

Just booked the Octane for Canada Day weekend with the Hernia Brothers, I wonder who's gonna play drums?

Doc is going to abuse fretted things for money with me on Thursday at the Wildfire. Just tryin' to mess up his amateur status.

May 12

Yup, I was right. Matt and I had way too much fun! This week, Sidewinder is back at the Riverstone. Yippee!!

May 1

Same deal- someone apparently got their calendar mixed up so I got a call at 7:30 last night to go play at the Chestermere Landing pub, all by my lonesome. I'm kinda digging this acoustic stuff lately, think I'll find some more tunes to do.

I'm playing a casino in Red Deer with Matt Beatty this coming weekend, should be a whole lot of fun!

Oh, and Sidewinder has its first booking for 2011- Bill Gil hired us to play his daughter's wedding next May- cool, eh?

April 15

Sidewinder is back at the Border Crossing for weekend number two due to some other band cancelling. Come see us, we're doing more Stone Temple Pilots!

March 28

I think I finally have a new email address in place, thanks to Lonny again. So I've updated the links page, and I'm hoping the spambots don't find a way to put in ampersands when they're spelled out.

Sidewinder had a great time back at the Riverstone this last weekend, always enjoy playing there! Oh, Craig Chandler showed up, and bought us a beer! Thanks, Craig!

March 3

Oops! There goes a month! Things are looking good with all the snow melting out there. I've had my share of gremlins in the gear lately with various parts of the PA needing repairs, but hopefully, I'm just about through that patch. Thanks to Tim for the sub surgery last weekend and of course for performing on his most favourite instrument, the bass!

The jam in Langdon at the Wildfire Grill has been under way for a month now, and it's been fun so far! This weekend I'm in there for two nights, Thursday for the jam and then Friday with the band. See you there?

Jan. 29

Hey, Sidewinder is back at the Pig'n'Whistle this weekend! Come say hello!

Looks like I'm going to be hosting a Thursday acoustic jam at the Wildfire Grill in Langdon starting next week. Stay tuned for details.

Jan. 6

I think the spambots killed my email account. I haven't been able to download any mail from this site since Dec. 31. If you need to contact me, track me down on Facebook, or phone me- the number is on the links page.

I got two weeks booked for February in the last two days, then Dicks cancelled the Feb. date. The classic two steps forward, one step back situation.

Jan. 4, 2010

New Years' Eve was a great time at the Riverstone Pub! Thanks to Gino and the rest of the bunch there for their awesome hospitality! We're back in there February 5-6, come on out!

Dec. 28

I don't know when it was, but I got the date wrong for the last post. Anyway, I've been smokeless for a month as of yesterday.

Rhonda and I went to Medicine Hat yesterday to attend the year end pickers jam at My Office Pub hosted by Tanglewood, which is Sheila, Tim and Mike. I had a great time, too bad we had to leave when we did. Things were just getting warmed up, but Moe gets lonesome if he's left alone too long.

I hope you're all having a good Christmas, we are here. New Years' Eve Sidewinder plays the Riverstone Pub in Calgary. See you in the New Year!

Dec. 21

Hey, I quit smoking! Yay!

Nov. 8

Well, after a lengthy and slightly bizarre chain of events, I'm playing next weekend with Doug Riley at the Redcliff Hylton. We're calling it "Herman's Henchmen". Should be great fun playing with Doug. AND I'll get to see Mom for her 80th birthday!

Rhon and I are going to see "Men Who Stare At Goats" tonight. I'll let you know how it is.

Oct. 27

And just like that, the gig is gone. So Sidewinder is OPEN Nov. 13-14.

Oct. 26

I heard last week that the River Roadhouse in High River had a fire, so I guess they're closed for a few months. So our November date is out the window, BUT Simon hired me today to play the Big Eye in Swift Current that weekend, so I guess I'm covered. I tried to get Alida in but we ran in to scheduling issues, so I guess she and Al will get a little vacay from me.

I'm talking to another club about hosting a jam tomorrow night, hopefully I'll have good news soon!

Oct. 18

The management at the Eddy informed me this morning that they had someone else coming in to host this afternoon. So, add the last minute cancellation to the rest of the red flags and bingo! I'm out of there. Time to start looking for something new.

Happy birthday, Donald!

Oct. 17

The band is back in Langdon this weekend for the first time since April! Nice to see that nobody erased Al's instructions off of the darts blackboard. Doc came out last night and brought Brit- good to see both of you!

Al and I are hosting the Eddy jam tomorrow at 3 PM- come on out!

Sept. 27

I'm hosting the jam at the King Eddy Pub in Strathmore today from 3 to 8 PM with Dwane Stephens on bass. Come on out and pick some tunes!

Sept. 21

Well, I was bang-on there. The Pig & Whistle was a whole bunch of fun. Thanks to Matt for putting us in there. Then yesterday I did the new Sunday afternoon jam at the King Eddie in Strathmore. I had Al play guitar and bass, and we had a good time with that, too.

Tonight's the Tragically Hip show at the Jube- WOOHOO!!!

Sept. 15

Thanks to everyone who came out for Mom's party on Sunday. We all had a great time.

Sidewinder plays the Pig 'n' Whistle in Beddington for the first time this weekend. Come out and say hello, we're gonna have a lot of fun!

Sept. 5

Happy eighteenth birthday to my son Jesse.

Aug. 13

My most heartfelt thanks to Les Paul for all he did to create the world I live in over the last 94 years. He passed away today.

July 25

I rode along with Tim Herman up to Edmonton on Thursday- he was presenting his syllabus to Grant Macewan instructors and students. We picked the right day to show up in Edmonton- there was a street festival downtown and we caught some great entertainment. Mo Lefever was in the wine tasting tent- what a fabulous guitarist she is! Then later we caught Jack Semple on the main stage, and that was wicked, too. We finished off at the Commercial with Big Dave McClean with Jimmy and the Sleepers backing him up. All great music, none of which I had seen before. What a great trip- thanks, Tim!

July 14

Willie took me for a spin in his new car yesterday- the rite of passage was kind of obscured by the vertiginous experience of sitting in the driver's seat with no steering wheel in front of me! The kid bought a right hand drive car!

The Border Crossing jams were a lot of fun! I'm looking around for a venue for a Sunday jam, I miss hosting jams in Calgary.

This weekend Sidewinder is looking forward to being back in Nanton. Also, we now have upcoming dates in the Border Crossing and as of five minutes ago, the Octane in Medicine Hat!

July 3

Doug Charters has asked me to host the Border Crossing jams on Sunday the 5th and Wednesday the 8th. Come on out!

June 22

The band had fun playing Dianna's wedding, first one any of us have played in ages. Doc's horn suffered an injury, think I'll mount it on a wall somewhere...

Jesse helped out by shooting some video, the links will be up to the Youtube clips tonight. Nice to have Jesse, Willie and Shelby come see me play.

Rhon and I are getting more yard work done, knocked down some fence and put up some new chainlink. Wish I could get as much done with band bookings...

May 24

This weekend at the Olive Grove was really fun! Nice to play a bar full of really appreciative people! Tom Burton popped out of nowhere and got up to play a few tunes. AND Bentley and Christel showed up so I got Chrystal to work my new digital camera, so I've got some new pics and video. Finally getting with the rest of the world, put the vids up on Youtube. So if you're on here wondering about the band, go hit the links on the Music and Video page and check us out!

Thanks, Christel!

Congratulations to my son Jesse on his high school grad. I'm very proud of you, Son.

May 21

Medicine Hat was a great time as always, but super busy, as always. Both the Thursday and Saturday jams were awesome, with lots of great players. Jake showed up for both! Great playing with ya, Jake!

The band got some more tracks done in Chris' studio, things are shaping up. I gotta get caught up with guitar and vocals now.

I got to hang with my old friend Laurie Seitz on Saturday afternoon, we've known each other for four decades. It's nice to find fiends like him on Facebook.

Sidewinder is back in the Olive Grove this weekend, come see us!

May 7

We have a last minute gig at Muldoons Irish Pub in Calgary thanks to Lindsay at PM Gigs. Hope Alida can find the place!

May 3

We just got back from playing the Valley Hotel in Red Deer, apparently for the last time. We heard that the hotel has been sold and as of the end of May the tavern will be closed permanently as some sort of church organization will own it. Same thing happened at the Buffalo in Red Deer about a year ago. And here I thought the recession would cause us some problems with gigs.

Oh, I ran into Lael Johnson two weeks ago at a jam. Got to do a few tunes with him. Good fun.

Al and I went to the Vat in Red Deer on Friday night after the gig, saw a guy named Matt Anderson with a band there. Holy smokes, you should hear this guy sing. Actually, you probably will, sooner or later. Voices like that are very few and far between. Keep an eye out, he kinda looks like Meatloaf.

Apr. 10

Happy Good Friday. Tonight Sidewinder does its annual Country Roads gig. I'm really hoping our frequency of appearances there improves with this weekend's show.

Rhonda got her Acura. Nice car. I took it in to the Chelsea's jam last night, it's great to drive. Even Doc got new wheels. His almost new Dakota would lead one to think he has regular employment.

Next week the band is in Langdon, with the usual UFC broadcast. Come out and scream for gore!

Mar.31

Well, I would have wrote something here probably last week, but I got hit with the flu. That's as sick as I've been since I don't remember when. Lots of things going on- Alida is driving a new car since hers was totalled, and Rhon's car was also written off, so we're car shopping. Both Alida and Al's fathers have passed on in the last few weeks. My condolences to both of them. The band survived driving home in a gawdawful blizzard coming home from Rimbey Saturday night. I think we're all feeling more than done with this winter weather. The band is back in Okotoks at Foxy's this weekend, that should be fun!

March 3

Holy cow, it's wet out there. Me and Dawg just about drowned on our walk.

Rhon and I went to the Deerfoot Casino jam last night. Got to make a big racket with Shane and Mike and everybody. Even ran into Tim Jeffries, haven't seen him in decades.

The weekend went really well at the Olive Grove, with the glaring exception that Alida got rear ended while on her way home Friday night. She's okay, but her car was totalled. The guy who hit her was apparently charged with dangerous driving. Hope they kick him in the junk.

Feb. 24

Well, no fistfights, squawbles, scuffles, donnybrooks or any other visible mayhem! Last Friday was REALLY quiet in the Roadhouse- the quietest I've ever seen there by far. I'm thinking the recession has either arrived or the jitters have set in. At least Saturday night was normal- jam packed.

This weekend is our first time in the Olive Grove in Midnapore, come on out and support us!

Feb. 18

Last weekend was a blast in the Royal as always. Thanks to Doug Riley for the big spaghetti feed on Friday night. Good jamming with everybody over the weekend. Thanks to Tim for the guitar rig, and the new syllabus.

This weekend we're in High River again- I wonder if there'll be any fistfights? There's a reason the place is called a roadhouse.

Jan. 31

Wow, ain't been saying much on here lately! The band has lots of work, and we're getting better all the time. And Al sometimes brings his own footwear! Speaking of Al, his preamp died a painful and loud death last night in between sets at the Wildfire in Langdon. I was happy it wasn't my gear making such horrific sounds.

Sidewinder is back in Absynth studio in a few weeks to record more tunes. It's a slow process recording stuff because of the location- Absynth is in Medicine Hat- but we'll get there eventually. And it'll be worth the wait, I promise!

Speaking of recording, I'm trying to burn a CD of tunes recorded on cassette tape from 1983 of Kevin and I with the Maxx, but there's some format issue. It's probably some karmic thing where the universe is trying to tell me to let that stuff stay un-listened to...Yikes!

Jan. 2, 2009

Happy New Year! New Year's Eve marked the "sort of" anniversary of Alida joining the band. So, holy cow, I've played a whole year with somebody! That hasn't happened since I was with MacKenzie in the mid-nineties, except for the St. 52 jam, which was a looser kind of affiliation. Anyway, Alida and I discussed briefly on Wednesday night and confirmed that neither of us have sufficiently driven the other one crazy to part ways, so on we go! Actually, if you aren't aware of it, I'm really happy to have Alida and Al in the band. We have a blast, make great music, and it's keeping us busy. What more would you want?

Oh, yeah, Gene came and sat in as the fourth piece in Airdrie before Xmas and did a great job- thanks, Gene!

I hope you had a good Christmas, we did here. I brought Mom up, and Al and Doc came over to feast. Then I took Mom back and played Saturday night with Don Schneider, and got the Gibson back from Chris Jaster, with new frets. I sure love that guitar. By the way, I've been using Chris Jaster about a year now for guitar teching, and I really like his work. He likes to build guitars, and they're pretty awesome. I'm talking about getting him to build me a baritone in the future.

No gig this weekend and that's okay.

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