Friday, April 16, 2004

It's Friday and I'm listening to the Ringwlads play "Hot For Teacher" downstairs. They are sounding better sonically these days, but their song selection is going further towards Journey and Van Halen and away from Men Without Hats and Devo, which is the stuff I like infinitely better as far as live goes. We're playing tonight as The El Orbits with this lienup; Steve Candelari on drums, Jim on guitar and me on bass. That should be fun as long as we don't run out of music. I'll practice a little more bass before getting dressed and work up at least four more El Orbits standards.
Tomorrow we're playing a noon wedding at ROCC. Chris J and the Kid will split the bass duties and the show should be eas. I'm off tomorrow night and might hang out with Claudia S and her art crowd. They party hard, but it's always interesting, to say the least.
I like that new Nelly video "Tip Drill" with all the booty shaking going on. I saw a screwed version that was much bettwer sounding screwed and the video was slowed down too. Shuffleboard table is progressing. Probably two more coats.
The Handsomes are playing after the Ringwalds downstairs. Sarah Sharp opens. Should be a big night for the club. The Kid is doinmg his forst solo set at the Big Top tonight. I'm sure that will be OK. Allen Hill is riding the MS 150 this weekend. e should do OK.
I painted stencils on mic stands last night and wrapped and marked new cords. Allen will get all the worn out stuff, including 5 SM 58s, at least three stands, and 5 cables. Pretty good deal for him, since it's free. I've ordered new windscreens from LD whcih I'll put on the mics. That usually improves the sound a bit and definitely makes them look a lot newer.
Chris Knudson called me today for Pete's number. He's a good dude, totally home team, but one of those guys who calls in favors as often as he can. I actually owe him zero, except for a bit of common respect, but feel slightly inclined to help him anyway. I hate that shit. I'll just give him Pete's nbumber again and tell him to catch Trey on a Thursday at the Big Top, which is where he should pla anyway.
I'll be eating some nachos downstairs in a few minutes. That will be dinner unless I catch a little James Coney before the Stag's Head. Its better to eat, since I know I'll have a few beers tonight.
Lastly, I pickes up a load of Creme Eggs from Randalls on closeout for Bingo prizes. Always a good bet after Easter. L8R- David

Thursday, April 15, 2004

It's Thursday and the Beatles are about to play downstairs. The JDRF folks are there and it's sure to be a busy night. I'm half hoping to take it easy tonight and work upstairs and half hoping to party a little downstairs. I guess I'll play it by ear.
We had our first rehearsal with Jay Dee today. He will be great and seems excited about the group. I really like his attitude and dedication to drums. My bass playing was really good on some songs and awful on others; I need to prctice more. I may be playing bass tomorrow night at the Stag's Head if Conrad can do the drums. Otherwise it's a crapshoot as to who else is playing the gig.
Chris Johnson called and Paul Minor's wedding time in Brenham has been changed to earlier so he's freaking out. It looks like the Kid will sub in for the 2nd half of the show (12-5) and Chris will play the first part. That will be OK with me, but I am constantly surprised by how many last minute bandmember booking issues I have to deal with. Maybe in six months with more players and flexibility (and a higher price, maybe fewer gigs) I'll have less to deal with. That would be nice.
The shuffleboard refinishing downstairs is going slowly. I think I have 2-3 more coast to go plus quite a bit of sanding. Hopefully it will be great when it's done and will last me 2-3 years with little to no maiintenance. The shuffleboard wax gum machine should be amajor improvemnet. We need new weights, as well. Maybe I'll order them online tonight or by phone tomorrow. Practicing bass will be part of tomorrow's routine, plus returning emails and phone calls. I'm actually really sick of emails. Maybe I'll change my address soon.
Oh, yes, my sewing machine is ready at the sewing machine repair shop. Nice.
Lastly, I think maybe excess Splenda sweetener in my coffee and the Diet Rites may be upsetting my stomach. I hope not.
So we played at Sambuca tonight. The gig went well despite the day before tax day eating up most of the regular crowd. I went to see Joh Egan at Dean's after the show and Little Joe Washington told me that there was a killer "Mexican band" at St Pete's Dancing Marlin, so I went there and the Cosmic Latte band blew me away. Ari from the Zenteno's band and Sanchoo kicked ass and the band was tight. A great show for zero $ every Wed night from 10:30-1 at Pete's on Maiin at Preston. I was inspired and drank a few beers.
Otherwise, Stphen Adams apparently no-showed for his Dreambreak TEch gig Tuesday at the club and now may lose the gig. All that guy really needs is a regular job. It kind of insults me that he's either too lazy for one or thinks he's above it to et a shit job. He's re-entering the matrix he swore in song he wouldn't go back to. Rough, but it's hard to have much sympathy when he needs to help himself a nd has at least 2 guys sacrificing for him for the ;ast year or so. Most jobless, homeless, broke and somewhat lazy and unhealthy guys can't claim that. I can't imagine what my next conversation withhim will be like.
L8R. folks- David

Wednesday, April 14, 2004

OK, I just checked out the post. This blog site seems pretty spartan, but maybe that's the best way to go. It also seems sort of fast, which is a plus.
For the rest of the day I have a few other things to take care of; namely, returning some phone calls regarding gigs, working on another shuffleboard coat, sending out a mass email to the El Orbits Houston list, and cleaingin myself up for this show. I will attempt to post again after the show is out. - David
OK, it's April 14th, 2004 and I'm beginning this blog. We'll see how it goes for a while before I make it public that it exists and link it to The El Orbits website.
Tonight I'll be playing at Sambuca Jazz Cafe with Pete, Jim and the Kid. 7-11PM and it's an easy show. Tomorrow we have our 1st rehearsal with Jay Dee, our new drummer. That should be good. It's also a possibility that I'll be playing bass this Friday at the Stag's Head.
I'm refinishing the shuffleboard table downstairs in the Continental. It's slow going, but nearly done. It should be ready to play by this weekend. Also, I'll be installing a gumball type vending machine on the shelf above the table to vend 25 cent packs of shuffleboard wax. That will keep it available and the cost to the bar will eventually be zero.
I picked up several more machines at the Gumball guy's shop on Wayside including a ten cent gum machine, another 25 center to replace the broken one, a peanut machine for the Big Top, and supplies for all. Plenty of machines now, maybe we'll sell some gum.
OK, that's it for now.