#gratitude – Page 2 – The Boring Old Man

A Life Well Heard…

I’ve been in a deeply introspective zone lately, searching for “something” lost within me over the last decade or so, and amongst other things that has had me reminiscing about better days gone by, and that lead me to old music, since when I was what I consider the “real” me, my life essentially revolved around music. If I wasn’t at band practice or playing a gig, I was out at shows watching other bands. If I wasn’t playing music or watching others play, I was out dancing. If not there, I was listening to the radio or my vast record collection. The first thing I did in the morning was turn on the radio (they used to play music in the mornings, can you imagine?!?). When I went to bed I always put a record on to fall asleep to. I was OBSESSED.

Any of you that have read my blog for any time will note that music still has a big place in my life even if severely reduced from what it used to be.

Anyhow, during this introspection I found myself looking back at my early days and the things I took for granted or simply didn’t appreciate at the time. Which kinda sprang forth in a comments section over at Dave’s place https://soundday.wordpress.com/2024/05/27/may-27-goths-leading-lady

I started flowing from within all the great opportunities I had to experience music as a Bay Area native and the more I wrote the more I realized I have seen so many great bands in my lifetime and I never thought to keep track of all the shows over the years. My home town seemed so dull back in the 80’s and we yearned for the action of places like San Francisco and Los Angeles… But had I grown up in say rural Iowa or the Louisiana swamps, my exposure would have been so much more limited and I likely would be a completely different and unrecognizable person. Of course, the dull South Bay 10 years later turned into Silicon Valley, which did bring “excitement” to town, just not anything I was excited about!

https://wp.me/p9xjdq-666%23comment-74588
Here is the comment that inspired this post…

Anyhow, I figured I should try to reach way, way back and put up a list of all the bands I’ve had the good luck to see. There is no possible way to put this in order, far too many years under the bridge, and I’m sure no matter how long this list gets, I’m going to forget someone. Likely multiple someones. But as I’m getting “long in the tooth” and my memory isn’t getting any better, I’ll put it down for posterity and if anything it will give me something fun to look back on as I continue down the golden path of age.

How I envision myself in my Golden Years!

A lot of these bands will be a little obscure since that’s where most of my love lies within musical realms, and a lot of them you will have NEVER heard of, since they were local bands that never made a big splash outside our local scene. Nonetheless, it’s all part of my heart and soul, ingrained in my DNA.

An old, dear friend recently said to me in a text “You just touched on what I think is one of the best things about music–at its best, it’s like a Time Machine that immediately transports you to a time and place. We had some great times driving around, shooting the shit, and listening to what I think has to be the golden age of college radio.” Amen!

So without further blathering, here is a somewhat complete, but random-ordered list of that bands I’ve been lucky enough to see with my own eyes, to hear live and in-person. A lot of the people that helped make me who I am. I’ll keep the commentary to a minimum, lest this become a novel…

The earliest concert I remember, I must have been 10-12 years old, was Paul Revere & the Raiders at Great America, an amusement park in Santa Clara. It was a July 4th celebration and as a kid, it was the greatest thing I had ever seen. Little did I know what the next 45 years would bring!

Around that era I also saw Papa Do Run Run, a local surf band, ala the Beach Boys, performing at a car show. I LOVED surf music as a kid (and all the Beach Blanket movies!) and I was officially hooked on live music!

In 6th grade I saw my first real Rock & Roll cover band play. (back then 6th graders weren’t allowed to attend dances, so the band played a concert the night before the dance for us youngsters.) To this day I can remember them playing “Hold the Line” by Toto, which was one of my favorite songs at the time, and I was absolutely blown away by the sheer power of the sound. I had already been playing the drums for a few years by this time, and after that night I didn’t want to do anything else! One of those literal life-changing events.

The next one I remember was a fairgrounds show with the Steve Miller band and Quarterflash (remember them?!?) I believe that was the summer between 8th and 9th grade.

After the initial toe-dipping of those early shows, things really took off and after that it’s all a blur…

During my high school years (’82-’86), I saw Adam Ant, the Police, Oingo Boingo, the Fixx, Thompson Twins, Madness, Red Rockers, U2, the Tubes, Pablo Cruise, Bonnie Hayes & the Wild Combo, INXS, Wire Train, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Belouis Some, and the Church. Probably a few others, it’s all a bit fuzzy…

In my Senior year, I was in a truly serious band and we played our first nightclub gig 5 days before my 18th birthday and that club – the Laundryworks in San Jose – became my home away from home. I was down there 2 or 3 nights a week seeing every local band I could, and there were some GREAT bands in San Jose back then… A usual night would have 3 bands – a 30 minute set from the opener, a 45 minute middle set and then a headliner that played until last call. It was glorious, and felt like a place just for us and all our fellow misfits.

Some of the bands I can still recall from back then, that stand out after all these years, were Grey Matter, Swing Party, Daddy in His Deep Sleep, Juliet Slip, Never Say Never, London Down, the Kingpins (the most entertaining Rockabilly band I’ve EVER witnessed!) and the absolute cream of the crop Epic Rumors. EVERYONE in the scene thought Epic Rumors were going to be “the next big thing” but alas, it never came to pass. It should have, they were fantastic! Along with all those great local bands, they had a number of “national” touring bands come through, such as Game Theory, Dinosaur Jr., Robert Seidler (of “Christian Boy” fame), Camper Van Beethoven, Firehose… I’m sure there are others, but those are the ones that stick out. The Laundryworks is also where I first met Brian “Brain” Mantilla, drummer extraordinaire. He was playing with a great band called Big City, and would later go on to help form Funk/Punk pioneers Limbomaniacs (who I saw COUNTLESS times!), he played with Ted Zeppelin, a Ted Nugent/Led Zeppelin “tribute” band (only nobody was calling them tribute bands back then) and later for both Primus and Guns & Roses with Buckethead. One of the most nerve racking shows I ever played was when we opened for Ted Zeppelin and I knew Brain was in the audience…He was sooo good, even back then, that all my self-confidence and baravdo went right out the door!

Around that general time I saw Wire Train a few more times and got to meet and hang out with the band backstage at a few gigs. Great guys, AWESOME band. A Top 10 list band for me, no question! A new club had opened up in Santa Clara called One Step Beyond and that place was like a dream come true. I played a bunch of gigs there, went dancing there a couple hundred times and saw so many great concerts there! Where to start… Wire Train, of course, CONCRETE BLONDE – 3 times(another Top 10 band for me and AMAZING live!) the Ramones, the Replacements, Screaming Trees, Flesh for Lulu, Aztec Camera, Erasure, Unforgiven, Cheap Trick, Nina Hagen, Book of Love, Fishbone, the afore-mentioned Limbomaniacs, House of Schock (drummer Gina Schock’s post- GoGo’s band), Mission U.K., Sisters of Mercy, the Bolshoi, Ministry… That club also holds the distinct honor (?) of having hosted the only two concerts I ever walked out of because the bands were So. Completely. Awful. First was Doctor and the Medics, just embarrassingly bad. The next one was Gene Loves Jezebel. I liked their records a lot, but live they were excruciating! So bad it hurt my ears AND my feelings!

In other places in generally that same era I got to see Squeeze with the Hooters and the Truth opening – awesome show at the Berkeley Greek Theater, a spectacular outdoor venue. I saw the Church again, Peter Murphy, Echo & the Bunnymen, Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Cult (Guns & Roses were the opener, but we got there late and only caught the last song! We had NO idea who they were at the time, nobody outside of LA did). R.E.M. with the Three O’clock opening, I saw U2 again, I saw Adam Ant again, the Pretenders twice, the Bodeans, Let’s Active, Kid Creole and the Coconuts(AWESOME!), Lone Justice, Primus a dozen times in assorted club venues, before the Seas of Cheese album dropped… Psychefunkipus (probably spelling that wrong), Wire Train again…

Then I went through a short phase of jazz shows – Fatburger stands out as the best of them. I was 5 feet from the stage in a place that held maybe 200 people, it was astounding. I saw the Yellowjackets, Michael Franks, Dave Weckyl, Steve Smith, Vinnie Colliuta… a few others I can’t name. What can I say, I tried. I fully admit that I admire the musicianship of top notch jazz players, but I just could never get too into the music. I like it OK, I’m just not well versed in it and just kinda prefer my jazz in the background.

Oh, I completely forgot about my “jam band” phase – I saw the Grateful Dead at least 6 times, maybe 7, we saw Dave Matthew’s Band I think 3 times. And to top it off, one show with Phish. Of all of ’em, DMB was the most fun and musically impressive of all of them in my opinion. His later music puts me to sleep though, haven’t been to one of his shows in close to 20 years.

Then there are the “classic rock” shows, oh my goodness… The Rolling Stones (at the time the most expensive tickets I’d ever purchased BY FAR, and one of the worst stadium shows I’ve ever seen. Never. Again. The Who twice. OUTSTANDING!!! Rush three times and every time was unbelievably great. Steve Winwood, Steve Miller again, the Doobie Brothers (twice), Peter Gabriel, Bon Jovi (technically, I was working on their tour with the opening band, I never actually bought tickets and went to a Bon Jovi show, but I saw a lot of them and they were a LOT better than I thought they’d be – VERY professional, I’m just not a fan of their songs. Except “Runaway”, that’s a killer), and also Pat Travers. That show holds the distincion of being the LOUDEST show I’ve ever attended. My ears were ringing for 2 days afterwards, no kidding. But he was great… And for a while in the late 80’s my band was a top pick opener for “oldies” bands coming through town and we opened for the Guess Who, Elvin Bishop, Tommy Tutone, the Tubes, the Bay City Rollers, amongst others so I saw at least bits and pieces of those band’s sets.

In the more recent past, we’ve seen Sting (amazing band, amazing talent!) with Squeeze opening, Better Than Ezra, Lenny Kravitz, 311 – three times now (the first time was on their “Grassroots” tour at a club in Palo Alto, mid 90’s… KORN was the opening band and they were horrible. If I weren’t so hyped to see 311 for the first time, KORN would’ve been the 3rd band I walked out on in my life. Ironically, a few years later I heard them on the radio and really liked them. I would have NEVER guessed they would have amounted to anything, much less world wide stardom!)

Most recently, and a lot of these are already written about in this here blog, in no particular order we have Jack White (MESMERIZING!!), Foreigner, Loverboy, HooDoo Gurus, Des Rocs, Grandson, Magic City Hippies (about seven times), Dogstar (about 5 times in the last year, and over a dozen times their first time around in the 90’s), Lettuce, Steve Vai, Steely Dan, Steve Winwood (a LEGENDARY performance!),Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beck, Weezer, Cage the Elephant (OUTSTANDING!!), Night Ranger, the Offspring, Polyphia, X, Bow Wow Wow, Royal Blood, Missing Persons (twice now, but I try to forget the second time!), Ashe, K.Flay, Lyrics Born, the Dip, Qveen Herby, Young the Giant (GREAT SHOW!), Chic with Nile Rogers, Duran Duran, Parliament Funkadelic… I know I’m forgetting a few just from the last couple years. Just check my previous posts!

A co-worker recently asked if there was anyone I hadn’t seen that I still want to, and I honestly couldn’t think of anything. Though there are certainly a few that I wish I’d seen before it was too late. The CLASH is my all-time favorite band and I never got to see them. I would have loved to see a Diamond Dave- era Van Halen show. Stevie Ray Vaughn. Jeff Beck. King Crimson’s 80’s lineup with Adrian Belew, Robert Fripp, Tony Levin and one of my favorite drummers of all time, Bill Bruford. I wish I’d seen the B-52s in their early 80’s prime… I’d love to see Sade, but I don’t believe she’s done a tour in close to 20 years, so I’m not holding my breath on that one. But honestly, if I could never see another concert, I believe I’ve been truly blessed to see as many as I have. Live music has been one of my greatest joys for over 4 decades and I think I’ve done a pretty good job of absorbing as much as I could!

Reading through all this, if I had to make a Top 5 list of shows I think it would be the following:

#1 Missing Persons reunion show in Los Angeles- late 90’s (?). Unbelievable. And I got to meet the band before the show. Terry Bozzio is my biggest inspiration as a drummer BY FAR, so that one holds the number #1 slot from here to eternity.

#2 Concrete Blonde, first tour ’86(?). Powerful, heartfelt, dangerous, all wrapped up into an amazing set.

#3 311 at the Keystone Palo Alto, Grassroots tour ’93ish. Unbelievable energy AND technical prowess.

#4 Jack White at Shoreline Amphitheater, 2022, +/- I STILL cannot describe what I witnessed that night. The closest thing to a religious experience I’ve had as an adult.

#5… I dunno, now it’s getting hard! Cage the Elephant was amazing, the first times we saw Des Rocs and Grandson were both mind-blowing.. Every Magic City Hippies show has been off the hook… Nikka Costa, whom I forgot to mention above – seen her twice and both times were awesome! Too many to choose from! Suffice it to say I’ve seen a LOT of spectacular shows!

When I talk to folks about shows I’ve been to, I know to most it sounds unbelievable, or exaggerated at the very least, but I swear if anything I’m leaving a bunch out! By contrast, I’ve been to exactly ONE NFL game in my entire life (and it was a work outing, not something I chose to do) and I went to ONE MLB game when I was about 10 years old. I went to a few San Jose Sharks hockey games, cuz free tickets. The ONLY sport I like and have invested any time in watching is soccer, and I only do that in person, I haven’t watched sports on TV, including the Super Bowl, since Michael Jordan was playing for the Chicago Bulls. And honestly, I don’t even remember exactly when that was…early 90’s? Late 80’s? I haven’t stepped foot in a movie theater in 5 years, and before that MAYBE once a year. Maybe. My point being, everybody’s got their something. Some people love sports. Some people love movies. I’m ALL about music, especially LIVE music!

Thanks for stopping by and taking a trip down memory lane with me!

Field Tripping: Portola Redwoods State Park.

Yesterday was a new kind of adventure for me, the Mrs. and I went on a “field trip” with our daughter and her 5th grade class to Portola Redwoods State Park in La Honda, CA.

The school the wife and daughter teach at is big on what they call “Outdoor Ed.” and they do lots of camping trips and such for all the classes but all that got derailed during the Plague Years (our daughter’s first year of teaching was the year /they/ shut everything down), so this was her first overnight camping trip with a classroom of kids.

We (the Mrs. and I) didn’t go for the overnight – both of us are working today – but more as logistics support. The Mrs. volunteered us to cook dinner for the troops, so we headed up the mountain with a ton of food, firewood and all the accouterments to throw down a nice dinner. And of course S’mores! What camping trip with kids would be complete without those?!?

As you might imagine, this wasn’t exactly a quiet, peaceful trip to the woods – not with roughly 20 5th grade kids running amok, some for the first time in the woods.

You can hear the wild 5th grade varmints in the background, swimming in the creek and having a blast!

Nonetheless, the park is beautiful, and the drive in was spectacular. The kids were happy and our kid managed to make the trip a success for her kids, so mission accomplished!

Some babies sprouting up…Our great-grandchildren’s great-grandchildren will still be watching these beasts grow!

I’ve spent more time in the woods in 2024 than in the past decade and it is doing me a WORLD of good. I highly recommend it, ESPECIALLY if, like me, you spend most of your time glued to a desk and/or computer screen!

Thankfully my new job gets me a ton of outside time now, and that’s been great. But making a conscious effort to embrace the outdoor world as well as making it part of our fitness routine, has been life changing.

Spring is in the air, summer is right around the corner, get out there and hug a tree! Watch some birds. Laugh at squirrels gettin’ squirrely! Your body and soul will thank you!!

Thanks for stopping by!

The creek is still running, a rarity for late Spring in California!!

What a Week!!

Started the new job on Monday and the week has just flown by!

I’ve been loving it so far and I expect that this is gonna be a good gig for me, at least for the foreseeable future. Yes, I did take a pay cut for this job but the lack of stress more than makes up for it. If nothing else it will force me back into my frugal ways, which is long overdue. Having more than enough pocket money changes a guy, and not necessarily for the better! Probably a few less shows and long weekend trips in the coming year, but that is a price I’m willing to pay to stay out of the meat grinder!! Can you put a price on mental health?!?

In an odd turn of events, I’m back working at a site where I spent 5 years as the facilities Director, and it was the worst job I’ve ever had. Well, maybe second worst as I spent a couple years as a roofer some 25+ years ago, but I digress…

This place was TERRIBLE to be an employee of, but working for a contractor here is all good. No stress, no BS, no dealing with the health care regulations and all that entails, it is a night and day difference. And the cherry on top, the reason I stuck it out here for 5 years, is this place is GORGEOUS! 44 acres of beautiful scenery, wildlife EVERYWHERE. It is truly a spectacular place to spend your day and I feel beyond fortunate to have a landed a gig that puts me back here!

Looking ahead at the schedule, it looks like I’ll be here through July at least, but according to the boss, they keep throwing new projects at him every time one finishes up, so I could be here for a long haul. Let’s hope!!

Aside from the distinct lack of stress, I’m getting a good “workout” at work, which is a nice fringe benefit. The first day I clocked over 7 miles of walking, and the “easiest” physical day put me at just over 4 miles walked. Not too shabby! Five to six miles appears to be the average. Plus some lifting here and there, pushing some material carts around and such, it’s been good for the body, no doubt! And I’ve been sleeping like a baby. Better sleep than I’ve had in well over a decade! I haven’t woken up at 3am in a panic all week, which is a welcome change of pace, as it was happening at least 3 times a week at the old job…

Life can be strange sometimes. Two weeks ago I was overwhelmed by a sense of certain doom, and now here I am happier than I’ve been in I don’t know how long.

I guess it’s true, sometimes a change will do ya good! Even when that change is thrust upon you…

Thanks for stopping by!

A New Day Dawns…

Hi folks, it’s been awhile…

So, I found myself out of a job this week… Unexpected, and yet I’ve felt under the microscope for the last several months. Regardless of how much I did, regardless of the extra hours put in, nothing was ever good enough for TPTB. “So, you only completed 99 things today? What about that 100th thing?!?”

Word to the wise, if you want to keep your job, don’t tell the boss he’s being ridiculous when he’s being ridiculous. The ONLY thing coming from that is a nice big target in your back…

So this week I’ve been through all kinds of emotional crap, from bitterness to hostility, fear, self doubt…depression. It’s been a rough week to say the least.

To make matters worse, the Mrs. and our daughter have been on a Girl’s Trip all week, hundreds of miles and a few time zones away, so I’ve been left to my own devices and the voices in my head all week. Considering I’m my own harshest critic and my own worst enemy, this hasn’t been a good place to be. To say the least. I haven’t slept much or eaten much, but I DID completely avoid “the bottle” 100%. Now, I’m not much of a drinker – generally less than once a month, but dang! My old friend Mr. Jack Daniels has been calling to me repeatedly, especially in the dark of night when I couldn’t sleep.

Truth be told, I mostly hated my job. I was already looking around and putting out feelers, nonetheless getting sacked was a major shocker. I took my first “real” job (schedules and paycheck job) at 15 years old and I’m now 55 and I’ve NEVER been “fired” before. Still, I wanted it to be MY choice to leave that pressure cooker, not have it thrust upon me. I’ve been in essentially the same job, just at 3 different facilities, for 17 years and I’m BURNED. OUT. It wasn’t a career choice, it was something I fell ass-backward into all those years ago. And while I’ve learned a TON over the years, I have gained no satisfaction from it and in a way wished I’d never gotten into this line of work in the first place. I never had any love for it. No paycheck is worth the constant, unending stress my job entailed, I was just too scared to try something new – even when it was strongly suggested by my Doctor due to stress induced health issues. Yeah, that’s right. Rather than find a new career, I just stopped going to the doctor for about 8 years!

But now the choice was made for me. And all the fear aside, I’m actually relieved in a weird way.

But then, something amazing happened. I landed a new job! I start on MONDAY! The beauty of it is that the new gig is essentially doing the ONLY part of my old job(s) that I DID like! And NONE of the crap that I loathed! No more dealing with HR issues, no more accounting reports, no more dealing with City, State and Federal regulations and all that entails, no more corporate bullcrap. I almost can’t believe it! It sounds too good to be true, but it’s a company I have a long relationship with, I know the owners and they do outstanding work that I know I’ll be proud to be part of. They basically created a new position for me because they desperately need help and they know what I’m capable of. I gotta say, that feels pretty good.

So wish me luck! Things will probably be a little quiet on the ol’ blog while I get my bearings, but never fear, I’ll be back! Hopefully, better than ever now that I won’t be on-call 24/7/365 while trying to stave off an ulcer!

And the cherry on top is that the Mrs. comes home tonight!! Oh, how I’ve missed her! Six days apart is a LONG time when you’ve been with someone for 35 years!

Have a great weekend y’all. Thanks for stopping by!

Road Trip: Big Sur, CA… Back Where I Belong

Most of the best times of my early years were spent in the woods. Camping and backpacking treks were where I found myself, where I felt most at ease and at “home”. Then in my late teens I traded that all in for band practices, night clubs and recording studios. A stark contrast, I assure you.

I managed to get back out there every now and again but nothing like when I was young and gung-ho about it. Then came marriage and a young’en, getting involved in her school stuff, coaching soccer, trying to establish a career… All the adult stuff that nobody warns you about. And my time in the woods became a distant memory.

I’d been grousing over the last few years to the Mrs., that we needed to go camping “one of these days” and I even started gearing up for it since right before “the Plague” hit, but still we never made it out.

Well, finally, FINALLY it happened! As a Christmas gift, the Mrs. made arrangements for a stay in Big Sur, one of my favorite places in California.

A lot of people talk crap about California and Californians (and rightfully so, in most regards), but we have some AWESOME wilderness out here folks.

A perfect little waterfall 10 feet from our tent!

Now, full disclosure, this was more “glamping” than camping. Our accommodations was an “outfitters” tent, about 10′ x 12′, on a wooden deck, with a 10′ x 10′ porch with an awning. We had some minimal power and running water, and most exciting for these old bones, an actual bed! Super swanky digs for out in the woods, let me tell ya!

Otherwise, it was like an actual “car camping” excursion. We brought in our food, cooked over wood fires, and just chilled out in the woods next to a quickly moving creek with a couple nice falls. It was HEAVEN!

Our time there was short, just Saturday afternoon through late Monday morning, but we ate like royalty, slept like babies and had the most relaxing 48ish hours we’ve had in a long, long time. It was absolutely glorious.

While I fully comprehend that this was not a “real” campout, it was an awesome way to dip our toes back into the outdoors without sending ourselves into shock. And it was a great shakeout run to prep us for an actual real camping trip we have scheduled with the kids at the end of April. We did pretty great staying comfortable and well fed, but we learned a few lessons too that will make the next trip even better!

Now that I’ve gotten a taste for it again, I hope this becomes a regular part of our adventures, as I haven’t felt this good in years!

Special thanks to the Mrs. for getting outside her comfort zone and planning a trip that made this Boring Old Man feel like a kid again!

Thanks for stopping by!

A Sunny Sunday!

I know it’s still only February, but we woke up to shining sun and nice, mild temps so we changed up our Sunday morning routine and went for a nice long walk OUTSIDE, rather than going to the gym. (We did hit the gym yesterday, but Sunday gym time is usually “written in stone” unless we’re traveling.)

Today we hit the Los Gatos Creek Trail, which was a little crowded, but it was glorious to be outdoors, hearing the birds chirppin’ away, the sounds of the rushing water, feeling the sun on our skin… 10,000X better than the best day at the gym!

Two of my goals for this year were to get outdoors more and to improve my overall health, so doing both at the same time was a real nice change of pace.

Sometimes a change will do you good!

Looking forward to Spring, it feels like it’s right around the corner. This Winter hasn’t been particularly cold, but we’ve had wet, dreary weather more often than not and I’m ready to move on to some sun and fresh air!

Have a great day y’all! Thanks for stopping by!

Road Trip: Monterey, CA

This trip marks a very special occasion, our “baby” is celebrating her 30th birthday this week! Hard to believe…

We’ve always been a “beach” family, as you might have gathered if you’ve read any of my earlier posts, but Monterey has ALWAYS been our daughter’s favorite. While my wife and I grew up haunting the Santa Cruz Soquel and Capitola areas, if we ever asked the kid where she wanted to go, it was always Monterey.

This time around we stayed at the Portola Hotel and Spa, and it was really nice. Beyond expectations even. We had booked weeks ago and much to our surprise and delight, they gave us an unexpected “upgrade” to one of the Presidential Suites. No kidding. The room was bonkers.

I haven’t stayed in a room this nice since the 90’s when I was lucky enough to be on the road crew with Dogstar in Australia and New Zealand. It was off the charts for a hotel room, certainly bigger than our apartment!!

The trip was pretty mild and rather uneventful, in a good way. Mostly, we ate really fancy foods in nice restaurants (Jack’s & Schooner’s amongst others) and just hung out. We also hit the touristy spots – Fisherman’s Wharf and the Monterey Bay Aquarium – too. They were nothing new as we’ve been to both more times than we can count, but it was a good time nonetheless. The Aquarium is truly spectacular. If you’ve never been and you enjoy wildlife, you should definitely check it out once in your life.

All in all, it was a really nice time. The forecast had called for rain, all day, every day for the time we were there, but luckily the weather people were waaay off and we had really mild weather. Very little rain and even a touch of sun. As a bonus, the weather kept the crowds down to a level that didn’t drive me out of my skin!

Still coming to grips with our daughter turning 30, but this nice, mellow weekend sure helped keep smiles on our faces! And we can’t help be feel grateful that our kid still likes to hang out with us! We must have done something right along the way…

Thanks for stopping by!

The End of an Era…

Today was a very sad day at the ol’ J.O.B. One of my favorite employees of all time, heck one of my favorite PEOPLE, has resigned and today was his last day.

It’s hitting me right in the feelz..

I’ve been managing buildings and running maintenance crews for over 20 years now. I’ve had maybe 3 dozen different employees working for me over the years. Out of that 3 dozen, I’d say 5 were outstanding. Guys I’d take with me to the ends of the earth. My guy leaving today is in the Top 3 of that 5. The kind of employee you wish you could clone, so you could have a dozen just like him. It’s a big, no, HUGE loss. In a way, and I could never say this, lest the HR Harpies make my life a living hell, he’s kind of like the son I never had and he’s ready to leave the nest.

I’m 100% behind his decision to leave, and I actually think he’s doing the right thing in doing so. It’s absolutely the best thing for his family and himself, so I hold no ill will or bitterness toward him. In fact, I wish him nothing but the best. It’s only for purely selfish reasons that I wish he weren’t leaving us. But life is funny that way… those you never want to be without go, and those you wish would go, stay forever…

I’m gonna miss you Mr. Z, but I wish you continued success and a happily ever after! These last 6 years working with you have been a real pleasure. You’re one in a million, don’t let your new employer forget that!

I may be a little quiet for a bit while I process all this… but I’ll be back soon.

Thanks for stopping by.

A door closes…

Today is the last day at my music studio, and I’m taking it a little harder than I thought I would.

It was always a dream of mine to have “my own” place to play, whenever I wanted, as loud as I wanted and for as long as I wanted, and finally I got to make that dream a reality a little over a year ago. Fourteen months, to be precise.

As a drummer, it’s a lot more difficult to practice, than say for a guitarist or pianist. When I lived in my childhood home, I got pushed out of my bedroom into the garage because it was just too loud for my mom to deal with. But even in the garage – and I’m talking old-school garage, no insulation, no drywall, nothing – I could only go about half an hour before Mom had had enough… Plus you’d freeze in the winter and have a heat stroke in the summer. Not a great situation. When I played in bands through my teens and 20’s, I was always at somebody else’s house or an hourly rental rehearsal space, where you spent half your (paid for) time setting up and tearing down your gear. Then we finally got a house, but also had a baby. Then we had to move into an upstairs apartment, the drums went into storage, and were unfortunately stolen shortly thereafter. So, it’s been a tough run as a drummer.

But as it turned out, the dream was better than the reality. Sort of. I mean, yes, I got to keep my gear in one place, completely set up so I could just walk in and be playing in less than 60 seconds. THAT was awesome! And if it was 6am or 10pm, it didn’t matter. Having no one to complain is a gift that you cannot understand if you’ve not had the cops pounding down your door cuz the neighbors complained.

Don’t get me wrong, I had some good times there, but there was a little aggravation too. There were 40-50 studio spots in the building, the insulation was poor at best, so when 3 or 4 bands would be crankin’ it out simultaneously, the cacaphony would drive me nuts. For a while there was a Tejano group across the hall, with non-stop AMPLIFIED accordian playing. I hated the accordian BEFORE then, now the sound of it completely puts me on edge. A bunch of times the heat or A/C wasn’t working, there would be NO parking for blocks around (and it’s not the kind of neighborhood you wanna walk half a dozen blocks in the middle of the night, if you catch my drift), then the roof started leaking…though thankfully none of my gear got soaked.

But honestly, the worst part of the whole thing is I simply couldn’t find other musicians to join in the fun. I had a writing partner when I first got the space, but his other project took off, he went on tour for 6 months or so, and I spent the last 8 months trying to recruit other players, to no avail. I don’t care what anyone says, finding like-minded musicians to play with in middle age is 110% harder than when you’re a teen or young adult just starting out. Everyone has “real” jobs, spouses, kids, responsibilities… and the middle-aged folks that don’t have that? They’re worse! You find out very quickly why they don’t have any adult stuff in their life…

Bought a sweet bass rig to make life easy…too bad I never found a bassist!

Now, I LOVE playing the drums – as part of an ensemble. Playing drums with no other musicians gets stale and boring after a while. (I’ve always HATED drum solos!) Boredom led to a lack of motivation. Lack of motivation got me making excuses to not go as my savings account burned to the ground paying for a space I was barely using.

And here we are…

On the bright side, I got my MOJO back as a drummer. I’m not at 100% of where I was when I was say, early 20’s, but I was playing about 20-30 hours a week back then, and had essentially no other real responsibilities so my skill level was off the charts. But I do feel like a real drummer again, and that has been good for the soul. I was also able to do a lot of experimenting with different set ups of my kit, which is something I’d never do when I’m paying by the hour for a rehearsal spot. And it’s not like I’m gonna stop playing altogether, I’ll just be going back to my alternate methods for a while. I got my first snare drum at 7 years old. Now I’m 55, and while there have certainly been ebbs and flows over the years, I’ve never stopped playing. I see no reason to stop now. It’s part of my DNA I suppose…

I still have “The Dream” of my own space. I just know now that this wasn’t the right place for me at this time. I’m grateful I took the leap, I’m grateful for the lessons learned and I’m grateful for this not becoming yet another “I wish I would have…” event in my life. Yes, it’s been a very expensive lesson, but I consider it worthwhile. You don’t know what you don’t know, right? Now I know.

So now I’ll be retreating to the spare bedroom, and setting up shop in there to see what, if any, new things I can learn with all the gear I’ve acquired over the last couple years. I’ve got electric drum stuff, samplers and keyboards, guitars and basses that have not been getting much love. Now the amps and the PA and the giant acoustic drum kit are stuffed back into a storage unit (NOT the same place that was burglarized all those years ago!) and it’s time to move on outside of my comfort zone to see what kind of magic I can pull outta my hat! Honestly, even after all these years, I’m intimidated by electronics – back in the 80’s when all that stuff was new and thrilling I tried my hand at programming sequencers and drum machines and…well, let’s just say there is a reason why drums, good old fashioned acoustic drums, are still my main instrument! Hopefully, like with computers, the machines are more intuitive and user friendly than when they were new, cutting edge technology. We shall see. Either I figure it all out and make some cool new music, or I’m gonna have one hell of a yard sale!!

A kit like this ain’t for everyone, but I do love having that many different voices to choose from!

One last walk…

Thanks for stopping by!

NYE in Napa, CA. Out & About/Concert Review/After Action Report…all rolled into one!

NYE was a busy day! Got up and hit the gym, came home and whipped up some healthy smoothies, then set about doing some chorin’ around the house, including taking down the Christmas tree. Then it was packing bags, feeding the critters, gassing up the ride and hitting the road 2 hours north to Napa.

Our first stop was the hotel. We stayed at the Westin Verasa this time around. Swanky place, let me tell ya! Check-in was super smooth and afterwards we met up with our daughter and her fiance, who’d arrived about an hour prior, to grab a bite. We stumbled into a place called Gott’s Roadside and had a great dinner – the gents dined on bacon cheeseburgers, while the ladies went for the poke tacos, and we split some sweet potato fries and onion rings. Healthy eating? Not today, my friends!

We then walked back to the hotel and split up to our different rooms so the ladies could get ready for the night’s festivities.

The main event took place at the Uptown Theater – a NYE celebration with Dogstar. Yes, I know, this is the 5th Dogstar show in 13 months, it may seem I’m a bit obsessed. But this was a chance to spend NYE with my lovely wife, and the kids and my best friend AND it’s the last show of the tour and who knows when/if they’ll ever play a live show in these parts again? Get while the gettin’s good as my Pops likes to say.

Archer Oh was the opening act- you may remember my raving about them in my review of the Menlo Park show this past summer. Well, once again, the band brought their A-game and left it all on stage! I’m still incredibly impressed with these guys, particularly their lead guitarist. He’s a stellar talent with a very unique style. Which is not to diminish the rest of the band, far from it! They are one of those bands that I believe is far greater than the sum of their parts. Their chemistry as a BAND just works and it’s delightful to experience them live!

Dogstar hit the stage to a nearly sold-out audience and played a longer then normal set, which included a couple older songs from previous records that I hadn’t heard them play on the tour, as well as a couple cover tunes – something they don’t usually do. When they charged into “Just like Heaven”, the mid 90’s gem by The Cure, the crowd was on their feet and going wild!

The band’s signature beer, with the Mrs’ “formal sneakers” in the background!

A little later in the set they tackled the Ramones classic “I Wanna be Sedated” which was a super fun flashback for many of us old geezers in the crowd!

Bret’s playing was on fire – even better than just a few weeks ago in SF. It just goes to show how much practice and playing shows can improve one’s craft. It was really a standout performance, no question. I cant help but to think back on the days in his mother’s living room when we were all of 14-15 years old, trying to figure all this rock band stuff out. To see how far he’s come as an artist is really special and inspiring.

Bret, delivering the performance of a lifetime!

The other thing that really grabbed my attention was that Keanu actually seemed to be HAVING FUN on stage! Generally he looks very serious and he’s “all business”, but that night, his sense of joy was palpable. It was an absolutely perfect way to end the tour and I’m grateful that I got to experience it with my family in tow.

After the show there was quite the gathering backstage, all friends and family of the band(s) and crew(s) and we had a really. nice time chatting with folks. We shared a New Year’s toast with Keanu, and I got to talk to 3 of the 4 members of Archer Oh, which was cool. Very nice young men. Humble and grateful for the opportunity to do this tour. I wish them nothing but continued success!

After the After Show party, it was back to the hotel around 2am… A couple light snacks and it was lights out for the Mrs. and I.

Before we knew it, the next morning was upon us. Time for showering, packing up, checking out and meeting up with the kids for brunch a few miles away at Olive & Hay.

Brunch was terrific. I ordered French Toast with berries which was delicious, and everyone else was equally pleased with their selections. This is most definitely a place to return to!

After brunch it was back on the road to home. Talk about a whirlwind trip! Less than 24 hours and we combined outstanding food, excellent entertainment, catching up with old friends AND celebrating the rolling in of the New Year!

As I look back on 2023, mostly I see a dark and grim year, but for all it’s doom and gloom, Dogstar stands out as a shining point of brightness. They had a great year in 2023, and I hope they can keep that train rolling throughout 2024 and into their European summer tour that is already in the works.

All in all, this was an exceptional New Year celebration for us and I’m thrilled that the new year is off to a great start.

Happy New Year, y’all! Thanks for stopping by!