Man, I'm draggin' today. A sure fire sign that you are getting older is when you can't rebound from sleep deprivation like when you were younger. Why am I draggin' today, you might ask?
Last night was spent in the company of some very talented musicians: Jackie Greene and the boys. When I say "boys," I do so with an endearing tone. They are all my "boys." Nate, Jeremy, Uncle Bruce...you know, the boys! I love it when they come to town and I love to hang out and talk and laugh with them. Just good people all around with fantastic senses of humor and big hearts.
They played the Aladdin (again) and sounded good. Not great, but good. This was the second show back from a short hiatus, so the chops were a bit rusty. I even told Nate that. He agreed with me. That's how good of a relationship I have with him...I can be completely honest and it won't hurt his feelings. I'd rather have someone be honest with me than lie to try and make me feel good. That would be doing me a disservice. Anyhow, I digress.
I spent the first couple hours (and the opening act, Truth & Salvage Co.) upstairs, backstage, whatever you want to call it, hanging out with my friends, drinking their beer and laughing at YouTube clips of Scott West's video for Standing on the Moon. We laughed our asses off! These guys know him and some of the musicians that play with him. Just pure folly. Evan, their tour manager dude even got into the act.
Speaking of laughing our asses off, Nate told me the real reason behind our friend Hans canceling his show in Eugene a couple months back. It was a great story but too long to write out, but it is totally Hans. Long story short: he was hungover from drinking himself into a stupor the night before in Chico. If you know Hans, this story won't surprise you. Not that he's a drunk, but just because it reeks of, well, Hans.
Bruce showed me pictures of his boy. The kid's getting bigger every time I see him. He's a proud papa. Jeremy and I discussed the detriment of shirts with sleeves that don't roll up properly. I told him that next time he's in Vegas he needs to stop by that western shirt shop. He knows about it. I told him either do that or have someone custom design them for him...ones that don't have 5 sleeve buttons! You can't roll those up, man!
I questioned Jackie's consumption of a banana, right before going on stage, not to mention the large pizza pie he had sitting on his lap while sitting outside when I first got there. I said, "doesn't that mess with your singing?" He says that he can eat whatever he wants because he "doesn't really sing...he growls." Nate and I discussed the finer sides of Apple vs PC. That discussion continued after the show too. I told him about my trade show display Web site and the pitfalls I was running into working on the GoDaddy platform. He gave me some good advice. He's a total techhead! This time though I could actually talk shop and have an indepth conversation about stuff. We also talked about his girlfriend. They are still together and will eventually get married he says. They just aren't really "ceremonial people" according to him. I'm glad that he's found someone that makes him happy. We all deserve one of those....well some of us don't, but I won't say who! HA HA!
They had to split and head to Eugene, so we didn't get to hang out all night like in the past. It was a night among rockstars that are the complete dichotomy of that stereotype. I guess I should do some sort of work today. I've got to add the prices to those custom modular exhibits on the site before someone stumbles across them and thinks that they are free!
Oh yeah, one more thing...while standing by the side of the stage watching the show, I feel an arm around me and I turn and it's Randy Patten! We chatted a little. I gave him my card to contact me. I forgot he was a Jackie fan. What a treat seeing him there! Hopefully we can touch base and he can give me some design advice for the site.
Speaking of which.....back to work. Can't wait to hit the airport tonight to pick up wifey.
