Siskel & Ebert... well, not quite!

What up Brothers and Sisters!!

(Sorry, I just watched "Undercover Brother" on USA... got a little soul in me now...) If you haven't seen UB, you need to rent it. It's got a great cast... Dave Chapelle (I'm Rick James... bitch!), Neil Patrick Harris ('member Doogie Howser?), Chris Kattan and the soul brother himself, James Brown! Good God.. jump back... kiss myself!! It's a HILARIOUS comedy about the melding of the black and white cultures. Great flick... two thumbs up!

I also watched "Save The Last Dance" last night. I had forgotten how great this movie was, but I was quick to remember. Even if you left out the fact that Julia Stiles is in it, she's my "movie-star crush," it would still be a great movie. I won't give away the story in case you haven't seen it, but it is a "white girl ends up in Chicago and struggles but thrives in the end" kind of movie.

The main reason I like this movie is because it deals with the arts, of which I'm very supportive (as if you didn't know...). The main message is not to give up on your dreams, which is the mantra that I've lived by all my life. It also has a secondary storyline dealing with breaking the racial barrier for a common goal. I only wish I could dance like that!

Thanks to everyone for the kind posts. It means a lot to know that I have friends and family out there that care so much. I try not to make this blog a self-pity soapbox, but sometimes everyone has bad days.

And I feel I should introduce the girl who made the last comment on the site... Maggie Gardner is a wonderful young woman whom I met while performing in Elko, Nevada. She is beautiful and brilliant, studying to be a nurse , but also getting her Bachelor of Nursing-Science degree at the same time. She has an incredible workload and I admire her greatly for attacking it with such vigor. Perhaps someday (after she graduates) we may be able to have a relationship, but for now I will settle for having one of the best friends I could ever ask for. Thanks for everything, Maggie!

To all the other family and friends who read this: I couldn't have done any of this without all of you. You all mean the world to me and I promise to remember you when I get famous.... :-) Hope you're all enjoying the frigid weather back home in Iowa... I'm wearing shorts and a t-shirt!! HA!

TTFN!

Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon....

"Bicycling on every Wednesday evening/Thursday I go waltzing through the zoo/ I come from London town, I'm just an ordinary guy/Friday I go painting in the Louvre/I'm bound to be proposing on a Saturday night/and I'll be lazing on a Sunday afternoon" -- Freddie Mercury (Queen)

Bon jour ladies and gentlemen...

Sunday afternoon means one thing... football!! I actually missed the Raiders game, so I'm searching for the score... hopefully they won.

This weekend was kinda cool. Friday night we played in Baton Rouge at a club called The Station. Nice little bar, pretty good turnout. It was our last show with Kevin Hare on bass guitar. I'm going to miss playing with him. For the difficulties that we had in the beginning, we ended up as a pretty tight unit. Hopefully Mike and I will gell just as well.

Saturday night was David and Elizabeth's engagement party. I felt a little underdressed because I didn't bring any really nice clothes on the road with me, but I looked my best. Luckily for me, both families were very outgoing, so I wasn't a wallflower all night. I had some good discussions about the election with quite a few people, and I was pleased to learn that only three people that were at the party were Democrats!!! The food was amazing, and the wine was even better. They had the whole Yellow Tail menu there, so I was able to gorge myself on barbecued brisket and Shiraz!! I had meat pies for the first time too. They're pretty good. Kinda like a poor man's Beef Wellington.

And now it's Sunday and I'm chilling out at a local hotel. It's nice having time to myself, but after awhile I'm longing for some companionship. This weekend should be fun. We're playing two clubs in Baton Rouge that are on the LSU campus. That means one thing... college honeys!!! But then again, no one looks at the drummer.... ;-) Not much else going on, so I'll sign off for now. Thanks to all who are reading and posting, it's nice to feel loved!

Keith

PS: Let's all pray that O'Reilly beats the rap...

Cabin Fever

Hey all...

Not much new news (say THAT five times fast!), but I wanted to post to let everyone know that I'm still alive. Nothing new going on here in LA. Pretty boring actually. Now I know why I really love being on the road. There's always something new to do or somewhere new to go. I can't stand being in one place for too long.

We played the Treasure Chest casino in New Orleans Tuesday night and that was pretty fun. It was Country Night, so we focused our sets on predominantly country music. Of course, anyone who knows me knows that I had a GREAT time that night. I love playing and singing country over any other kind of music. The only bad part about the gig was that I couldn't use my in-ear monitors, which are like a combination of earplugs and headphones. I couldn't use those and I didn't have any earplugs with me, so my ears suffered for the whole night. It sucked!! You can bet I'll always have my earplugs with me from now on. Lesson learned!

I watched a little bit of the debate last night, but CMT had a Keith Urban special on, so I watched that instead... priorities!

We're playing tomorrow night at The Station here in LA, and then Saturday night is David and Elizabeth's engagement party. Then I have another whole week to hang here (and try to find a place to stay without getting in anybody's hair), we play the weekend, and then leave for tour on Wednesday.

I'm thinking I'll come home after our last gig, December 5, but I'm not sure yet. I may possibly be playing on December 18th at the House of Blues in Cleveland, OH with Tequila Sunrise, but I have to send them some demo material first. I've been talking with a few members of the group and they sound pretty interested. The only issue is that I don't want to leave David without a drummer, and I also don't want to turn down guaranteed work for a band that doesn't have a set schedule yet. Decisions, decisions...

That's about all for now. Please keep posting, I love to hear from all of you!

Hanging in Baton Rouge

Hey everybody.

Just dropping a little note to let you know that I'm okay and that Baton Rouge didn't get much rain to speak of. Well, okay, that's not true... it rained like cats and dogs all weekend! And to make matters worse, the ceiling in the rear of the RV is all rotted out because of 3 years worth of water damage! It's always something! So I'm living in the front of the RV for now while David works to repair the ceiling before we go back out on the road again.

We're playing at the Treasure Chest casino in New Orleans tomorrow night and they have a house drum kit, so I don't have to bring anything! Ha! Maybe someday, ALL my gigs will be like that!

This weekend went fairly well. Friday night we played at O.B.'s in Lake Charles, LA. It's a nice little sports bar with a pretty decent size stage. The crowd was jumpin' by about 11, and it was SRO (standing room only) by 12. Saturday night we played at Bailey's in Marksville, LA. That was a VERY interesting gig. Bailey's is a nice old theater that was converted into a bar. Big stage, wood floors and paneling all over... only one problem -- they have a leaky roof and it rained ALL weekend!!! I've never played on a stage with buckets before... until now! We're lucky someone didn't get shocked!

Our new bassist, Mike Toller, came out Saturday and played two sets with us. We're going to start rehearsing with him next week... things should be pretty tight by the time we head out. I'll try to post again tomorrow... adios until then!

No Rest For The Wicked!

Hi all...

Just wanted to post before the weekend to let you all know that I won't be able to update until Sunday. We're headed to Lake Charles, LA for a show tonight and then over to Marksville, LA for a show Saturday night. We did FINALLY find a bass player (whew!), so the Fall tour will go on as planned. Got an email from an Eagles tribute band out of Nashville today called Tequila Sunrise... they're looking for a drummer. Me as Don Henley?? Could work... I'll keep you posted. Check out their website and let me know if they are any good. (just click on the name). Catch you all on Sunday! Wish Dubya some luck in the debate tonight. After last debate's showing, he needs it!! Kerry is so very.... LAME!! :-)

Less than three,
Keith

In (blank) We Trust?

"God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?" -- Thomas Jefferson

I know this is kind of an old topic, but after reading Bill O'Reilly's new book, Who's Looking Out For You?, I have the urge to opine.

Bill writes about many topics including the removal of the Ten Commandments from an Alabama courtroom, and the banning of a student-supported pre-game prayer.

The Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution with the idea that God had a major role in the furthering of the country. They didn't want any particular religion to be chosen over another, and neither do I, I just wish the nutbags at the ACLU and other crackpot organizations would realize that they are going directly against what our country was built upon.

If we don't trust in God, then in whom can we trust? Ourselves? Certainly not. Are humans perfect enough to create the Earth and all that is in it? Heck no. Then why do some think that humans are perfect enough to reign over the world without the need for belief in another deity? You got me on that one.

I, for one, think it does no harm if students want to pray before a sporting event. They're not holding a gun to your head and making you say the words, are they? Even if you were a non-believer and spoke the words, without belief they are just empty words. So what's the harm in that? If you don't want to believe, just close your ears!

If they want to separate church and state, then why do they make you swear on a BIBLE when you sit in the witness stand in court? You swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you WHO? Yep, that's right. So help you God!

Why do you have to get a marriage license and pay marriage taxes (which are all related to the government) when marriage is a RELIGIOUS event??

I just don't get it.

Perhaps we'd all be in a better place if everyone would've listened to Ben Franklin in 1787 when he said at the Constitutional Convention:

" I therefore beg leave to move -- that henceforth, prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven and it's blessing on our deliberations, be held in the Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this ciry be requested to officiate in that service."

Another head-scratcher for me is this: If the urge to separate church and state is so strong, then why does the President need a spiritual advisor? Couldn't he just call Miss Cleo??

Ok, sorry for the rant... I feel much better now. ::cleansing breath::

For all interested parties, I am currently hanging out in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. We are scheduled for two gigs this weekend and three next week. We then leave for our six-week tour, which isn't long enough if you ask me! We will be headed to the wonderful states of Nevada and New Mexico. I will attempt to update daily to give you the lowdown on road life. Till then...

Keith

And so it begins...

My "virgin" post on my very own blog, can you feel the excitement?? I'm as giddy as a little schoolgirl (well, okay.. not THAT giddy, but you get the point).

I'm not sure what to write about so I suppose I'll just rant about how frustrating it is to try and make changes to this page when I don't know JACK about HTML code.

I wish that Blogger would have a wysiwyg (what you see is what you get), type of editor for the whole page instead of just the post section. I'd love to change things like my background and everything and be able to see the changes right away. Not having to know all those crazy combinations of letters and numbers would help too. I'm getting flashbacks of Algebra class... wait, I only made it to Pre-Algebra... umm.. well, okay.. whatever, you get the point!

If ANYONE is good at this junk or knows of a shortcut for me, PLEASE help!

I suppose that's it for this post. I'll try to make the next few a little more interesting.

Hasta la pasta...

Keith

At last, my time has come to enter cyberspace!

Hey everybody!

After dragging my feet for awhile, I finally decided to start my own blog. Now all of my family and friends (and maybe even some enemies) can keep up with all of the comings and goings of my life on the road. You'll be able to see my current playing schedule, as well as some pictures from the road, and maybe even listen to some sound bytes.

For those who don't know, I am currently performing as drummer/vocalist for David St. Romain. He is based out of Louisiana and seems to have a pretty good shot at "making it".

I'm going to post this now, and then begin my rhythmic ramblings in another post, so as not to confuse our new readers (aren't I nice??). Catch you on the flip side!

Less Than Three*,
Keith

*For info on this, click here