Holidaze but no Malaise

Phew. All of that planning and preparation - and now the New Year is upon us. I'm borrowing my brother Chris' phrase - "Pressing the big reset button for the upcoming year."

Thanksgiving. Birthday for Wesley and Taylor. Christmas. Whoa - was that a blur or what.

Add to that regular Sick Stooges shows and Weekly Surge and my day job at Tinder Box and it's a wonder everything went off as well as it did.

Oh yeah - and managed to squeeze in my fair share of reveling too. (Had to pencil THAT in, right?) The house needs some front loaders because the wrecking ball has been and gone, leaving a wake of disorganization and debris.

Halloween Follies

My kids had a blast on Halloween. I had a blast on Halloween with Sick Stooges. Girlfriend Brenda had a blast on Halloween. We all had bloody blasts!

Here are some pix:







More to come!

X-Con World and Weekly Surge

I regret that I wasn't able to attend either day of X-Con World 2008 because of Sick Stooges gigs on the same days, but I certainly hope all went well for organizers and attendees.

The corresponding Weekly Surge piece was a bit daunting to produce at first because of the wealth of information provided to me, and the fact that I have been out of the comic scene (because I stupidly sold off my considerable collection in 1990 for financial reasons) made it hard to get a grip on what has been going on lately.

I need to thank organizers Robin Roberts (Palmetto Group), Steven Haines (Corsair Comics) and Chad Hudson (Apocalypse Comics) for participating and giving me a good deal to work with. Also I could not have completed this without some much needed perspective from friends Dave Slusher (that Eisner stuff was priceless) and Andre Pope (Nye's Pharmacy needed to stay in the piece).

Thanks Matt "Six" Bahr for participating in this issue's Working 4 A Living profile. That was fun.

And every time I am called on for a cover story, it is the guidance of Kent Kimes that never fails to steer me in the right direction.

Jeez - this sounds like I'm accepting a statue or something. (All of this is old news now.)

Anyhow - the whole process was fun and I'd like to find out how the inaugural X-Con World went.

L.A. Sunset Strip and Big Hair

My brother Chris and I had fun with our band Rogue Alley in Los Angeles in the early '90's.

Here's a look back to the glory days of arena rock before Nirvana came along and screwed it all up:

Sick Stooges Press Onward

As a second season winds down for Sick Stooges, it's heartening to know that we have expanded our fan base, played in new and different locations and for various events along the Grand Strand, and will continue to work throughout what's known as the off-season here.

Looking back at the Season, we have been fortunate, but in retrospect, we should be seriously thinking about a booking agent, or simply push harder to gain access into places like The Boathouse, which always seems to have a thriving concert series during the summer.

But in addition to various bars like Pat & Mikes Irish Pub, Wild Wing Cafe, Nesbitt's Jackass Saloon and Still Smokin' in Surfside, we have played Celebrity Square at Broadway at the Beach thanks to Craig Smith at Celebrations Nightlife, opened for Zoso at House of Blues - and although things weren't at all what we expected or wanted, the Carolina Entertainment Complex in Marion.


So is it easy selling the idea of juggernaut six-piece band to local clubs at a price we can all live with? Sometimes, but you get what you pay for.

We had a blast all summer, and look forward to new gigs and new faces in the immediate future.

In the Blink Of An Eye

This post is inspired by Andre and Heidi Pope. I wish them much health and happiness and the best life can offer for little Memphis.

It's hard to believe, but the time flies by like nobody's business, and when you're not looking, this will happen.

From this - Wesley and Taylor circa 1994:


And with a little luck, many diapers and formula, food, school, clothes and lots of love - to this:



I am still totally in love with these two - now beginning their careers at Myrtle Beach High School....

... which is why I look like this:
Right on, and good luck to Andre and Heidi!

Welcome Memphis

Congratulations to Andre and Heidi Pope on the arrival of their little one, Memphis. Much love, health and happiness to this particular family unit.

PRODUCT DELIVERED

After speaking with many players in the local radio market and one national expert - and then applying the seat of my pants to the chair, another cover story was delivered to Weekly Surge,
this one an attempt to sort out the changing radio landscape here - i.e. format changes, dial position moves and an impending frequency swap. We also gave a position-by-position rundown of what's on the dial in the Myrtle Beach market and looked at a new streaming multi-channel undertaking called radio.sc, which recently launched here.

I want to shout out to Scott Mann at WAVE 104.1 who was instrumental in helping me to understand the beehive of activity that is local radio and for taking the time to show me around.

Thanks also to Barry Brown and Mark McKinney at NextMedia, Ron Roberts at Mix 97.7, Matt Sedota of WEZV and Sean Ross of Edison Media Research for helping me to tie the whole thing together like the Dude's rug in "The Big Lebowski."

Kent Kimes is making me a better writer every time I work with him, and that is very much appreciated.

Click here to view the piece. I've got to remember to change the link next week when it goes into the archives.

Getting the hang of this blogging thing. Am I using too many hyper links?

Deadlines & Grace Under Pressure

My editor Kent Kimes at Weekly Surge has put me on to another upcoming cover story, and I am grateful for the opportunity. This kind of work puts me in touch with a wide cross section of people - and provides the opportunity to "plug in" to the community and to the Grand Strand. This is what I want.

The snag - I have five days to put all of this in order. Once I have my interview subjects in order and other checklist items squared away, I can begin the writing process.

Organization is key, and I find that pieces seem to steamroll and take shape very quickly after that. The idea is to apply the seat of one's pants to the chair, and that's half the battle.

Delivering a great product by deadline is the other half.

Venting, venting.

Bike Week Part Two & More

Whew!

Without the roar of V-Twins here in Dirty Myrtle, the silence is deafening.

Played two gigs at Wimpy's last week. Big misunderstanding about what to do with our gear the first night. We left it onstage but pushed it back in case another band needed to play. Also left our trailer emblazoned with logos, etc, which didn't go over well with the band who was supposed to play outside the second day. Just for the record: Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Saturday, fairly good turnout at Still Smokin' in Surfside Beach - although bikers seem a bit leery to try a new spot, opting rather to hit up the same spots like Suck Bang Blow or HB Spokes. All in all, though, Sick Stooges had a great time.

Tomorrow night it's back to one of our favorite spots, Nesbitt's Jackass Saloon in Calabash, where we have been playing regular shows with outstanding attendance. This place is low key, with free pool, great food and drink specials. We like playing there for many reasons - one being that the crowd is one that we don't necessarily see in Myrtle Beach. There is never a cover, and folks seem to have a great time.



Onward and upward.

Must mention that my daughter, Taylor, did an outstanding job with the Myrtle Beach Middle School Orchestra last night for their final show of the year. Happy to report that she's going to Music Camp on a scholarship this summer. Good-o! My niece, Katie Yale, performed her last concert with the High School orchestra, and will be a USC Trojan next year!

My son, Wesley, is gearing up for Seahawk Football - JV. Rigorous training going on as he makes the transition from middle to High School. Can anyone say two-a-days? They're coming up.

Bike Week - Part One

We're happy to report that the first round of Bike Week shows have definitely lived up to our expectations and then some.

First off, Still Smokin' in Surfside Beach got us started Friday night. We played four sets which served to tighten us up. Thanks to Carlton for having us, and we look forward to playing there again this week.

Celebrity Square at Broadway at the Beach was great. A little more volume would have worked for us, but the three sets were awesome. Yes - there is a definite chemistry here - all six of us are brothers from other mothers. Thanks Craig Smith for booking us in.

And, what can we say - that half-hour set at House of Blues was an eye opener. Felt like ten minutes, but the staff made us feel right at home and the entire affair smacked of professionalism. The VOLUME was there, indeed, and the crowd was great. ZOSO wasn't bad either!

And, most of all - thanks to all of our friends and families for their support. Without them, everything would be a cluster f*&k!

Looking forward to this week's shows at Wimpy's and Still Smokin!

The above pic is from a benefit we played at Choppers for the Vietnam Vets and POW's. Photo courtesy of Myrtle Beach TV. No pics in yet from the BW shows.

Sick Stooges and Bike Week

This is the time we've been looking forward to. Roll 'em in and Sick Stooges will be there to rock you. Looking forward to three back-to-back shows this weekend: Still Smokin' in Surfside Beach, Celebrity Square at Broadway at the Beach - and House of Blues, opening for ZOSO.

Most Myrtle Beach bands strike while the iron's hot - and Bike Week (Cruisin' the Coast) is the time to get seen. I feel proud to be a part of this outfit, and more later about how we got together, etc.

Here's a shot of our kickass trailer.

My Kid's Got the Right Idea

Proud to mention that one of my twins, Taylor Yale, has set up a blog with absolutely no help from me - which goes to show how savvy young people are.

I, of course, was lucky enough to have Paul Reynolds' help with my blog. I'm still grateful because if we hadn't done it then, I'd still be waffling on the subject.

But not this kid:

Drunken Blog Post Removed

In the light of day I got the chance to think about the ridiculous nattering going on in last night's post - which attacked popular Christian music in comparison to rock and roll. The poor guy I was ranting about is probably a great musician and a very nice man.

And religion doesn't suck. I think the point was that organized religion can sometimes miss the boat.

It was like drinking and dialing - totally baseless and ridiculous - but the upside is that I was able to play around with photos and hyper links, so time was not totally wasted.

It's also a good lesson to save such posts as drafts and look at them the following day.

But I am learning, and that's a great thing.

New Frontiers - But Wait

I'm sure it will take a little while to get used to the idea of blogging. When all is said and done, this will serve as a repository of thoughts, dreams, drunken ramblings - obviously.

At the moment I'm just touring around Blogger to see what's out there and available to me as far as tools. For a while these posts may seem trivial and obvious and random, but it's like driver's ed without the possibility of crashing.

WooHoo!

CreateSouth Got Me Going

My friend Paul "Screw the Man" Reynolds  has just set me up with my first ever blog - something that should have happened a long time ago.

The CreateSouth inaugural conference seemed to turn out very well indeed for those interested in creativity and the technological ingredient.

Kudos to Dave Slusher and Andre Pope.  Proud to be a part of this watershed event!

Now the creativity flows on the Web for me.