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!