The Night Shift

[WildcatOne]

It was at 7 o'clock this morning, in the library at John Foster Dulles High School in Sugar Land, and it was an unforgettable show. Their first live performance, in front of 300 classmates, and they nailed it. This has been an incredible day...Blastula RULES, man...they rock. I gotta eat some Fancy Feast and I'll be back to rave in a little while...Cheers, WC1

[jim sanders]

cool deal !! 7 am ??? jeeez... i am on an old guy clock... looking foward to the report

[WildcatOne]

They have been practicing with intensity and dedication for 6 months, they do an all-original repertoire of hardcore metal, complete with crunching guitars, booming bass, gut-slamming drums and vocals that sound like Satan with a sore throat. Their lyrics are awesome, dealing with current issues, and they do one called "In Search of Vikings" that stands out. The Dulles Vikings cheered today when TJ announced the song. Micah and Roland Zech are the guitar players, they play an Epiphone Explorer (Micah) and Roland plays an Epipone SG. They both play Marshall JCM 1000 MG stacks...They are both straight-A students and track stars at Dulles. Alex the bass player plays an Ibanez 5-string tuned down (they all tune down). Nick plays a brand-new set of Gretsch drums with an Axxis double-bass pedal kit, a Pearl rack, and Paiste cymbals. TJ roars into my PA system. He quit the football team to do this. it's a Peavey with SP2-Gs up front, not huge but perfect for what Blastula puts out...simple but effective Peavey monitors (it's all-Peavey, no problems with compatibility), a CS-800 stereo power amp turned up half-way, and an early 90s 12-channel mixer that I figured out how to run and it still works great (no effects, just volume and tone) so what the heck. They absolutely kick butt. This music is not my favorite, of course, but I appreciate any style that is done well and worked on to reach its fullest potential, and these guys have put their hearts and souls into it. The whole band's parents were there this morning. My day started at 4AM. I had Ludwig loaded by 5:55, got to the school at 6:10, and we were loaded in and doing a sound check at 6:40. They opened the doors at 7 and 300 or so kids came in while Blastula opened with their skull-shattering salvos of acid-folk music and TJ greeted them with a 30-second roar...it was a special moment...Debby was there and she digitally videoed the whole deal. Also Roland and Micah's dad was there with his fully-loaded state-of-the-art movie camera and he got up on a ladder and videoed it from up there. Debby went all over the whole place and videoed the whole scene while they played...but I gotta say, those guys played a GREAT 25-minute set this morning. I loaded 'em back in afterwards and took all the stuff back here and went to work and worked straight up until 5PM. I'm tired and I'm gonna crash early. It's been a long 2 weeks, man. But this day was worth it, every bit of it. I gave TJ the "game ball". He was the man. He did an excellent job up front. They all did their parts and their songs play over and over in my head, especially today, but I've gotten used to hearing them every day, ya know. This was the first time I'd heard 'em done in a concert setting, and it was amazingly well-balanced and delivered with extreme passion and conviction by each guy. They're 15 and 16 years old, you gotta hand it to 'em, they're doing good. TJ is the wild child, but he's still a good kid and I like him. He's got talent as an entertainer as well as being a great musician for his age...but he just does vocals with Blastula. Great show, BRAVO. What an awesome debut! Me and Debby are thrilled for Nick, who we haven't seen since this morning. He's probably over at Roland and Micah's place watching their dad's video. I can't wait to see ours! Life is good. WC1

[jim sanders]

too cool John.. can't wait to see/hear it !!

[pro70z28]

Cool Deal WC

[draglist]

What a great event. I know you had a lump in your throat when you saw your son playing and getting his the students into it. I loved your Lover Boy song, too. Gotta spin that one up and hear it today. bp

[WildcatOne]

Thanks, guys...it was just too cool for words. I found out after I went to bed last night, that Blastula showed up and watched the video that Debby shot of the show. They'd been where I thought they were, watching the one that was shot from up on the ladder. Debby's was a little more into the crowd and the people as well as the band. I'd forgotten about this, but she told me it got to the part where she zoomed in on me while I was standing behind a chest-high shelf, watching the band...I noticed the camera pointing at me and I smiled, shot the finger at it, pointed at the lens and winked, and did it again for good measure. What I didn't realize was that the librarian was standing there next to me and she is looking at me, aghast...the band collectivelly roared when they saw that...they played it over and over again...I think I might have gained a ton of cred with them by doing that. I didn't mean to freak out the librarian, though. She was a nice lady. It just seemed like the right thing to do under the circumstances. All in all, it was a wonderful, thrilling day in the life of our amazing son and his band, and we were and still are glowing with pride. Life is good! WC1
PS: Thanks for the "Lover Boy" props, BP...that song never got finished as far as instrumental tracks...it just has 2 keyboard tracks, a bass track, and a drum track. I wrote a guitar part for it that I plan to do some day but I might just do the whole song over again once I get ProTools up and running...Cat

[WildcatOne]

I got bit by another spider, dammit. This time he got me on my back at the belt line. I got a big whelp back there with 2 little fang marks on it and it hurts. Gonna safety-pin my pants up this weekend and forgo the belt...maybe get me some suspenders. WC1

[WildcatOne]

One of the craziest gigs I ever played last night. We got booked to play a 40th anniversary party in Cypress, Tx at the Lakeside Estates country club. It's a brand-new place, but it was small...not much bigger than a convenience store...and they had 200 people, dinner tables all set up and a dance floor in front of us. The sound was HORRIBLE in there. It was like playing inside a trash can. All reflective surfaces: walls, ceiling and floor. Just talking...yelling, actually...to each other was impossible. There was a constant echoing cacophony going on that was so loud and incoherent that it was just not possible, man. It was complete noise. So we played. They immediately went Whoa, hoss. Y'all're blowing us outta here! Pee Wee stood up to them and said what the heck were you thinking, having it HERE and hiring a 7-piece band with horns? This is as low as we can play. Want us to leave? The owner and the guy whose anniversary it was said hell no, let 'er rip. Do your nightclub set. So we did. The families left at 10 and that left the partiers and their open bar deal, and we were treated to the greatest dance floor wrestling match we'd ever seen. These big 6-foot-5 cowboys got out there with their dance partners and threw 'em up in the air, twirled 'em like batons, grabbed 'em by the hips and carried 'em around on their rodeo-champ belt buckles, lined 'em up and leap-frogged over 'em with suggestive connotations, and the women loved it. They LOVED the band...I pulled Clem aside, he's the sax player...he does Junior Walker, Boots Randolph, King Curtis and any style that is required, to perfection...I leaned over to him and got close to his ear and said "Swing yer partner by the neck. Swing 'er till she's DEAD, by heck!" He laughed and he said "I've seen some crazy stuff in my time but these guys are downright ABUSIVE, and look at how the women love it! Plus, we sound like a bad radio connection..." I asked him if he was going to partake in the dinner, of which we were offered a full course. He said, no, it's fish. Can you imagine if I ate that food and then blew into this sax for 3 hours, what my case would smell like tomorrow morning? I said good point. I am totally deaf in my left ear today, and I am still hearing that noise. It won't go away. That was one of those gigs that stay with you. They paid us handsomely and they squeezed every note out of us right up until midnight, so we delivered our stuff full-on with no holds barred once the money guys told us to hit 'em with our top-of-the-line show. It looks like our trombone player, Herby, is in pretty bad shape right about now. He just got sent home from the hospital yesterday. They're bringing him back in Tuesday for a bone marrow sample. They didn't find any tumors, but his pneumonia hasn't gotten better, his diabetes is not doing good, and they are going to check him for leukemia this week. He can't play, and he's too sick to get around by himself. We're very concerned. It looks like we might not just lose our trombone player, we might lose Herby. Prayers are requested at your convenience.

I have to get another van. I'm going to get a Chevy Uplander, pre-owned, low-mileage, for around 19 grand this week. Ludwig's tongue is hanging out. He has 224,000 miles, bad everything, and the cost of repairs is offset by what a "new" ride would cost. On the way to the gig, the power steering went out. I was driving up the road and I said well, I'll keep going till I find a convenience store or a gas station and get some power steering fluid. 12 miles later on Muesschke Road, by this time way past Cypress, Texas, the road was flooded over and I hadn't seen anything nearly resembling a convenience store or a gas station...just a farm supply and transportation rental place...so I had to turn around and drive all the way back to Cypress, where I did not see one gas station or auto supply store. I went to a Kroger and got power steering fluid there. My power steering reservoir was empty and I poured one bottle in, then started on the second one and it overflowed. I stuffed the cap on and split to the gig. There was a puddle of power steering fluid under Ludwig when I left the gig, and this morning there's a puddle under him in my driveway...the gearbox seals and gaskets are worn out. New one required. Also the AC is out, I've been driving around in a microwave oven all summer. The front-end bushings are worn out, the shocks are worn out, the transmission is acting up, the engine is starting to run warmer than it has, and it's looking like Ludwig's final curtain call is imminent. Life is still good. I found Uplanders nearby for OK money and we need a dependable vehicle that'll do double-duty (family trips and gigs) with no problems. I'll be working on this for the next few days until I get the deal done. Man, it's hard to do something like this. I'm just so used to having the same van for 14 years. Cheers, WC1