The Waiting...

".. is the hardest part" - Tom Petty

Hey gang...

I know, I know... I haven't posted in forever, and for that I should be drawn and quartered. (Well, okay, maybe not THAT extreme...)

Anyway, I had some down time today and thought I'd throw a little update out there. Right now I'm hanging out in Cleveland, Ohio (Cleveland rocks, Cleveland rocks...) with Paul Sidoti from Tequila Sunrise. He flew me up from Nashville yesterday so that we could rehearse with Refugee.

Refugee is a new venture that Paul put together as a tribute to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. It's featuring Paul as Tom Petty, with Billy Sullivan (Raspberries, Gary Lewis and the Playboys) on lead guitar and vocals, Jeff Beam (former member of Tequila Sunrise, now plays for Clay McClinton. Also traveled to England with me when I went with Bily Yates) on bass and vocals, and me on drums, harmonica and vocals. I finally get to play harp onstage!!! We are playing our first show tomorrow night at the House of Blues in lovely Cleveland, Ohio. Should be a great show as it's rumoured that Jim Bonfanti and Eric Carmen of the Raspberries will be joining us for a song or two! Our old friend Derek Brunschwieger will be joining us on percussion as well. It's always great to hang out and "talk shop" with Derek. He's a Berklee student and a great player so I always try to pick up some tips from him.

Speaking of old friends... I will be playing a show this Saturday night at Mickey Roo's in Franklin, Tennessee with Tim McDonald. We will be backing up Brooks Tucker. I've never played with Brooks before, so it should be interesting.

Then it'll be off to Vegas with Tequila Sunrise the following Saturday. We'll be playing Terrible's Casino in Pahrumph, NV. It was a great time last year, so this year should be totally off the chain. This time I'm going to party no matter how tired I am! After all.. it's VEGAS baby!

That's the current 4-1-1 on my career.. but here's a recap of the last couple weeks.

I ended up re-connecting with an old friend, Jason Van Wie, from the band Buck Wild. I knew Buck Wild from back in my days with Lonesome Road. I saw an ad on Musician's Contact that Buck Wild was looking for a drummer, so I gave Jason a call and was able to travel with them for the last three weeks. It was a blast playing in the bars again, but it made me remember why I like Tequila Sunrise so much!!

Well, tonight Paul and I are going out to the Blind Pig in downtown Cleveland to watch Gotham City. They are a GREAT cover band and Franklin Lanza from Tequila Sunrise is playing with them so it should be a blast.

Take it easy!!