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Dialog Thirty Four

Monday December 24, 2007

Ho Ho Ho! Here it is Christmas eve once again! I swear the months just seem to go by faster and faster every year. Merry Christmas to you all!!

In the spirit of Christmas I decided to not harp on the band happenings. No hype, no news, no wait till next week, no Grammy yet~LOL! I thought I would talk about Christmas. I love and hate it.

So what is Christmas? The answer is simple; it’s what you make it. Right? Remember I didn’t say what is “Christmas supposed to be, but what it is”. We all know what it is or has been drilled in our heads to be; first shopping, then the religious aspect and then the family tradition aspect and then the whole do a good deed thing ending up with more shopping! For me tonight on Christmas eve, it’s a cold full moon so beautiful from my backyard I just cant describe it. Yes I am sitting at home alone having a few drinks listening to Christmas music from my favorites, Burl Ives, Bing Crosby, Frank and of course, the Destiny’s Child Christmas cd from the early 2000’s, it has some good stuff on it, but among others..

I will spend this eve with an open mind, clearing my head and thinking about the things I truly love moist. MMMM Moist? Hmmm…..I meant MOST. LOL!! I really am a traditional kind of guy but tradition doesn’t exist much in my family, or at least not as a priority. I came from a large family where Mom & Dad both had to work to get us by and tradition simply was forgotten or perhaps clouded by harsh reality. Nevertheless I am there in spirit and my heart is with the family tonight. ( Now I feel like I’m writing the narration for “My name is Earl”) LOL!!

But that brings me to this; On a completely different note;

Did you know that December is the biggest suicide month of the year?

Why is that?

I will tell you why or at least what I think; Christmas. There are so many people that cherish this day as a time to spend with and to honor all loved ones. A lot of us can’t do that. So we start the month off cheery and glee. As the twenty fifth gets closer and we gloat in the things we would want to do and get for everybody, and yet as it comes closer the reality sets in and you simply cannot do for everybody. A VERY large percentage of people can’t do anything at all. (hang on I have to go reload the disc player…..)

Yes we ALL get more or less depressed at this time of year. At the moment I am. Why? Well I couldn’t do what I wanted to do for everybody that I thought I needed to do for. (read above)

See depression hits us all. Admit it and you’ll feel better. Its how we deal with it that makes the difference. The remedy is not in a pill, I can tell you that! It’s in your heart, your will and your determination. And ‘so this is Christmas, and what have you done?’ See what I mean!! Pressure abounds but reality is the truth.

All that being rambled, I remain very truly,

Gig

In a Final Note:

From a heart full of love cometh a jest

A jest of sincerity, cometh now or see you then

Amen

Dialog Thirty Three

Wednesday December 9, 2007

Hey I just want to let you all know that I am alive and I’m so full of blog I’m about to pop!! I have just been neck deep in the business side of things as well as the creative side as well as the touring etc… I just haven’t found the mood, when I was off, to write anything down, sorry.

OK so the good news!! I am in the studio tonight finishing up some lyrics to a couple of the new songs. I took a break for a couple of calls and was checking our Myspace site. By the way thank you Myspace friends!! You guys are truly good people!

Anyway there is lot’s to tell but I have to get back at it for now so I will hit a highlight or 2 nevertheless. I will be posting new blogs by the coming weekend that will encompass the time I missed as well as the new happenings~~

We have a new release coming forth with the first single hitting the airwaves sometime in February with a video to boot. Look for free downloads and such!!!

Tour announcement is also coming in February that will rock the world!!!!!!

So until later, I remain very truly,

Gig

In a Final Note:

Life is but an unconscious story you write daily. Written before the hindsight of reality; Have no regrets~~

SO why do you read my blogs? If you find it interesting let me know, even suggest some topics if you like.

Dialog Thirty Two

Wednesday November 19, 2007

Hey Everybody,

I am finally recovering from Hell Week~ in the studio! LOL ! We had a very productive week. We recorded 5 new Songs and filmed a high def in studio shoot live with 4 camera’s. Mark Lucas was the Director and Joe Boyland the Producer. A team of bad-asses if you will. Between them both they have worked with such artists as The Stones, U2, Black Crowes, Skynyrd, Keith Urban, Charlie Daniels and Bad Company to name a mere few!! So yes it was stressful to say the least. After a 10 hr a day week tracking, on the last day we shot film for 12 hrs in one day.. man that was tough! But the end result will be great! It goes to edit in a couple of weeks for a January release. The new songs may pop up on our site ( the official site only) any time in the next 2 or 3 weeks. God it’s been 2 weeks since my last blog~~ WOW~~ Sorry but the time gets away from you, ya know?

You can hear the new songs only at shows for the moment! So if you’d like to get a glimpse come on out when we’re in your area! So far all is good. The number of fans continues to rise in the cities we visit as well as over seas. What a trip this is. I’m sitting here on a Monday night contemplating the band among world situations and listening to “Money” by Pink Floyd, thinking about our next show and the big picture of a five year plan. As much fun as this is, it is still business and yes a FUN business, but it’s still a business and has to managed as such with hours and hours of mind bending strategy planning and campaigning, on and on~~~ Now I focus back in on Pink Floyd and smile while I let those thoughts flow through. Then begin again~

We played the Lincoln Theatre Saturday night. It’s in Raleigh, NC. Well I just so happen to have been raised around there and grew up playing in several bands around the circuit and made a lot of friends. Well word got around. I had my closest friends of all time from my youth staring me in the face at the show! It was like a family reunion. I had my Son there. My Mom was there with my big Sister Denise and I have to mention my best friends reunited by their names, Mike & Angie Holloman, Mike Jones, Eric Bohn, Ricky & Teresa Webb, Johnny Bailey, Jan Fields, Jamie Massey. To all of you guys, (and I know you read my blogs!) Thank you so very much for your years of relentless support for my dream. We all shared the same vision at some point. You have all been an instrumental part of my being able to do this, not to mention an everlasting inspiration. I am what we were, it’s in my songs! Cheers to you all!

We also had a few special guests at the show; Our manager Joe Boyland as well as our marketing director, Kent Anderson. Also in attendance were Darell Belk of Big Penny & Dave Rose & Andy Martin of Deep South Entertainment. We are creating something special here!

OK so Pink Floyd is over and I’m listening to Dixie Chicks (it is in the home player!) so my mood is changing as is the nearing of this blog~ We will be playing this Thursday at the long Branch Saloon in Rock Hill, SC this Friday, it’s our 3rd annual “Day After Thanksgiving Party” should be a blast!! Come out if you can. Anyway folks we are slowing down for the Holidays which means I will probably blog more! LOL!! Really though let’s all try and enjoy the Holidays, I am going to try this year. And just so you know… I’m ending the evening with the John Mayer Trio and a dirty Martini….

Happy Thanksgiving!! To you all that I won’t see over the Holidays. You are in my thoughts always!

Gig

In a Final Note:

To give up in haste is to be content. To give in to content is to settle. Neither is it.

SO why do you read my blogs? If you find it interesting let me know, even suggest some topics if you like.

Dialog Thirty One

Sunday November 4, 2007

Hey All!!

Sunday Night here at the Ponderosa, late! We had a great show in Cartersville, Ga last night!! Those guys rocked!! Thanks to Chopper Mike and Steve for having us in the room. We had a blast and look forward to getting back to Ga soon!! Brent our best fan in Ga was there and we met another myspace friend in person, Timmy Aldridge! It is very cool to meet myspace for real people!

Anyway…. Off to Hell week in the studio!!! 10 hrs a day audio and film… It is going to be awesome, but painstaking! I will try and blog semi daily this week for all to see… this is the shit my friends!

In a Final Note:

Never take for granted the simple things… The simple things always turn out to be the very staples of life….

Dialog Thirty

Friday November 2, 2007

Hey people! Friday at last huh!! Yes indeed. Yes I know I have been slacking with the blog postings, man we have been busy!! I want to thank our newest fan Jason Perry from way up in Sandpoint Idaho! Jason was the winner of the BB~Q tailgate party contest that was run on KPND radio out there. Jason and 10 of his friends are going to experience a southern traditional chow fest!! We’re shipped in grub overnight and he and his buddies are slopping away on it as I am writing this blog! In fact I am about to give him a surprise phone call to check in and see how they like it!! Congratulations Jason!!

Big news to tell today; first on a sad note we are retiring our “Rock Star Starter kit Tour Bus” ! Yes the 32 ft RV that has carried us all over the land has been assigned as the local Party bus for friends and family to take advantage of. This will be nice for tailgaiting @ football games etc..

Now tomorrow morning @ 11:00 am our new 45 ft raised roof entertainers coach rolls up in here!! We board to go to Cartersville Georgia for a one night only at the Alley.

I have to tell you, it is every musicians dream to actually have a tour bus. After years of riding around in a van or RV it is kind of a status thing. Something that says hey, we have arrived!! Now as we all know it’s not the package that sells the music, it’s the music that sells the music, but hey, we all have our needs, ours being ever so small (tell that to our accountant) Lol!!

So here we go. Back into the studio only 9 months after our first album was released. We have 12 new songs that are pretty much ready and another 20 on the back burner. We are only tracking 6 new ones for this session because it’s mainly for live tracks on film for promo but we are also filming for the documentary that is forthcoming. We are all stoked and let me just say THANK YOU MYSPACE FANS!!! We get so much great interaction on myspace, I guess I need to thank Tom as well!! LOL!!

The music industry has changed so much in the last 7 years it is simply mind boggling. The major labels are dying and the independent labels are growing. I am going to insert a section of a report * I get from our marketing guru, Kent Anderson with C-Sharp in Chicago. Kent has been on our team of record exec’s from day one and has become as family. Thank you Kent from the whole band!!

Read this excerpt;

I got the entire text from Don Passman, but being an attorney and noting the caveat at the bottom, I was reluctant to forward it to all my peeps. So I contacted the author, Richard Greenfield, who said I could quote excerpts and that I should refer my readers to http://paliresearch.com/, where they could register for free and read his entire report.

And what does Mr. Greenfield’s research say?

“No matter how many people the RIAA sues, no matter how many times music executives’ point to the growth of digital music, we believe an increasing majority of worldwide consumers simply view recorded music as ‘free’. A new model for music consumption must emerge and that model most likely involves DRM-free downloadable music at no cost to consumers, fully-supported by advertising (within some form of social networking environment that enables consumers to discover/explore music). The music industry is not ready to endorse such a move at this point and even if it was, the economic model transition will be incredibly painful.”

We can debate the future of recorded music, but the point I want to make is that Mr. Greenfield is a Wall Street analyst, whose job it is is to inform investors as to where to place their money. And what he is saying re Warner Music is GET OUT!

It’s not 2000 anymore. When the innocent songwriters were being held up as the victims as the major labels fought Napster. It’s no longer an issue of protecting rights, it’s a matter of LICENSING EVERYBODY WHO WANTS TO SELL MUSIC! It’s not about no, but YES! You’ve got a new business model, I’M WITH YOU! Because by holding on to my ways, I’M PUTTING MYSELF OUT OF BUSINESS!

You can read Greenfield’s complete report for comprehensive details, but let’s note from his missive that U.S. recorded music sales were $14.3 billion in 2000 and are projected to be $10.3 billion this year. That’s close to a fifty percent drop. What happened, did people suddenly stop caring about music? Are radio stations saber-rattling, saying they’ve got nothing to play? NO WAY! There’s more music in the hands of more people than ever before in history. The only difference is, the major labels are not collecting money for most of its acquisition. And how are the acts dealing with this? BY LEAVING! BY GOING INDEPENDENT! BY GOING ON THE ROAD!

“Artists make the vast majority of their money on touring and merchandise, not CDs. In turn, it is increasingly logical to believe that artists want to have their music reach the widest possible audience at the lowest possible price…meaning FREE. Yet that puts the music labels in a very difficult position as their recorded music divisions make virtually all their money off of the sale of music. Music labels need to get significantly smaller as the industry shrinks and they need to shift their business into new areas such as artist representation, touring, merchandising, etc. However, this is not easy to do and requires the music companies to make significant acquisitions - essentially spending their current free cash flow to buy into a more sustainable revenue stream than their current business.”

It’s the first two sentences that are truly key. You can’t make any money on the road, whether it be in tickets or attendant merch, IF NO ONE KNOWS YOUR MUSIC! You’ve got to get it out there. Playing by the old rules, NO ONE HEARS IT! You’re signed to the major label which is working MTV, which airs almost no videos, and terrestrial radio, which plays almost nothing and fewer and fewer people are listening to. If you can crack the market, you still may not be able to make any real money on the road - i.e. Rihanna playing clubs. You’ve got to penetrate the marketplace. The way you hook fans is not by your look, but by LETTING THEM HEAR YOUR MUSIC! You’ve GOT to let them hear your music. You’ve got to stream it on your site, have a MySpace page…if you’re intelligent, give away MP3s so those who are hooked can get others addicted. You’ve got to empower your audience, you can’t hold back, you’ve got to give and give and give… And then collect your money further down the food chain, when you’ve established a fanbase. Which you must treat with respect and continue to nurture.

This is REALITY! THIS is not the business the major labels are in. And that’s why their fortunes are declining. *

*(If you want to know the Arthur of this report simply email us)

So how about that! That is a mere portion of info that I receive every day and have to digest.. All is great though because we pay attention to change. Change is what it’s all about. If nothing changed how could it possibly survive?

In a Final Note:

See the forest, not the trees. They are a mere interference.

Dialog Twenty Nine

Sunday October 21, 2007

Well Well, It seems like it’s been awhile since my last blog. The weeks seem like months now. First let me get you up to speed on the last week; after having a few days off to write and record, our producer Joe Boyland flew in to work with us as we prepare to go back into the studio to not only record the new tunes but shoot video as well for a full 90 minute documentary. We will release it a portion at a time digitally and the physical DVD will be available hopefully by January. Anyway, it was a hell week pounding thru 6 -10 hour writing sessions for 3 days in a row and then back on the bus heading out for Georgia. We rolled into the Soho club on Friday Oct 19 for our second appearance there. We send out a HUGE YOU ROCK to Chris Chaos with ROCK 103 Columbus for all of his cool wishes and support! People like Chris keep the music alive for us all!!! Make sure you tune in to his show weekdays when in or around Columbus, Ga.

SO the show went great we all had a lot of fun we shot some video with the Swamp Cam to add to our collection that will appear in the film in pieces, it’s going to be very cool! After the show we hung out with David & Vickie, the owners of Club Soho, super cool people. We toasted a many Crown Royals and shot the shit for awhile before we had to bolt. So off we go @ 6 am heading back to the hotel and then have to hit the showers at 9 am because the bus rolls out at 10 am heading to Dalton Georgia to the North Georgia State Fair, 4.5 hours away for a 4 pm appearance! What can I say about playing the fair? Hmmm….interesting. I have never felt so close to livestock before! We bonded with Big Red, an 11 ft long, 6 ft tall steer!!!LOL!! I will never be the same! Anyway the gig was cool enough. We had fun as always and got to spring a brand new song on the audience to try it out. The song went over fantastic!

So anyway, I know this all sounds boring, the juicy stuff will be coming out on our new website to be announced soon!! A real life sort of thing.

Well moving on, we are in heavy rehearsals now for the filming & recording in about a week! Please bear with us on slow replies, we will be in touch!!!

You know it’s wild how things happen. I’ve spent my life working on my music career and along the way broke a few hearts & had my heart broken a bunch. I’ve kept the promises I could and like most of us had to let a few slip away. But somehow I always found strength in my friends and family to move forward, as all of us do. I have been out of touch with the friends I grew up with from my teens & Twenties for over 15 yrs. Well because the band is getting so popular they are finding me thru word of mouth… People that supported me when I was in a garage band hammering away!! How friggen cool!! It is like coming full circle in life! LOL! I love my friends from my youth, all who have recently contacted me; I can’t wait to see you all!!! The party is on people!!!!! Yes indeed!!!!

OK that’s it for now, keep checking in for updates. Our live un plugged show on XM Radio will be announced to air this coming week!! Lots more I will hold back till next blog!!!!

I thank all of you for being a part of SwampdaWamp!

In a Final Note:

Don’t get gobbled up by greed when it’s merely a thought at best to begin with.

Dialog Twenty Eight

Thursday October 11, 2007

Back for more extravabloganza eh! Well that past week was huge. We started out in Georgia at a club in Atlanta called the North River Tavern. This was a cool and intimate bar. The stage was small and the so was the production. We scaled the show literally in half to make it work for us. I have to tell you though, the whole band had a frikken blast!! It is so cool to play in places like that with the people right in front of you interacting and jamming along. We made a lot of new friends that night! It reminded me of when I saw The Black Crowes in a small venue like that just before they broke out. Very cool!

Then on Saturday we took off to yet another venue in Atlanta called Club 29. This was a nice club with great atmosphere and a great production. We rocked the house and again made a bunch of new friends and fans! Whew Hew!! Shows over, back on the bus and off for a large time at the hotel. We damn near had the entire second floor and were wreaking havoc from room to room like a bunch high school seniors on a field trip. Pulling pranks interrupting disturbing everyone we could. There is never a dull moment on the road! Which reminds me, check out Alan’s myspace page for his hotel adventure blogs, he has just began posting them. They should prove to be interesting! His page is located at www.myspace.com/b3player.

Sunday morning. Back on the bus for a 5 hour jaunt to Nashville, Tn. We checked into the Hotel Preston (our favorite choice of hotels) and chilled for about an hour before going down to the bar. The bar was closed but our good friends there opened it up for us to rehearse in as well as wet the whistle! We were rehearsing for an “unplugged” appearance on XM Radios’ Hang Time with Marty Fitzpatrick. We’ll let you know when that episode will air. Anyway while at the bar rehearsing several people wondered in and hung out while we went through the new arrangements of the songs applauding and what not as it turned into a small event. Well needless to say we tied one on again! The band & crew had Monday off so they weren’t too worried about partying. As for my dumb ass~ I had to sing again for a few hours on Monday! I was hurting let me tell you. 3 nights of hard partying and singing, and then having to sing again for hours on day four, the day before the XM radio show, not too bright. I am surprised my voice held up, but then again I am a trooper from way back!! So why was I singing on Monday. I will tell you. Joe Boyland, our fearless leader and mentor manager set up a writing session for me for Monday with the famous Robert White Johnson. Robert produced and wrote on a few 38 Special records, Van Zandt records among many other famous artists. This was my first actual writing session with a Nashville pro. Well needless to say it went FANTASTIC! Robert is a bad ass dude and one hell of a singer. I threw out some ideas and vice versa. We now have what we feel is a hit track in the oven!! We will probably release it as a bonus track on the DVD we are shooting next month. So Monday night we had a big dinner with the band, crew and the Management team. Well after the dinner we ended up once again, you guessed it, the bar. The bar was open tonight and was jumping. We all had a great time meeting new people and hanging until about 2 am…ARGH~~ Once again I am pushing it to the limit.

Tuesday morning; up early packing to leave right after our appearance on the XM show, now to the XM studios down on Music Row. I’m not sure they were expecting an entourage like we had to roll up in there!! There were 16 people in tow! It took a bit to get set up but once we were we did one track to get the levels tweaked and then it was on! We played Little Pill first then Birthday and then lastly Miss Becky. All were one take performances!! Marty Fitzpatrick was a great host on the show and we talked about the songs a bit among other things. It should be some good listening when it airs. All wrapped up and back on the bus for a grueling 8 hr ride to Charlotte NC non stop. The antics were as high as the spirits on the bus having pulled off a big deal like the XM radio show amongst other highlights of this trip, wait till we release some behind the scenes footage coming soon!!! Check Alan’s blog for antics on the bus. So anyway we made it back for 6 long days off!! YEA A BREAK FINALLY!!! What am I going to do on my days off? I will be here in my studio writing. Next weeks blog will be good. Our producer is coming in on Monday to work us for 4 days, like 6 hrs a day. It’s a tough life but somebody’s got to do it!!

Many Many Thanks to Marty Fitzpatrick, John Zellner and Jessie Scott at XM Radio for their support as we rise to yet another level on the playing field!

In a Final Note:

Life is full of cracks, be careful what you allow to fall thru them, they only get bigger.

Dialog Twenty Seven

Friday October 5, 2007

Hey hey! It’s 9 am on Friday and the troops are rolling in for yet another fantastic week of adventure touring!! We’re heading out to Georgia for a couple shows then back up through Nashville to tape an interview and performance unplugged for XM Radio. I will let everybody know when it is going to air. While in Nashville I have a writing session lined up with Robert White Johnson, who, to his credit, has produced and or wrote with 38 Special & Van Zandt among tons of others. That is going to be interesting! Well the crud is spreading throughout the band. Scooby had it, Lanny has it and I am fighting it off~~ God I cant get sick. So on to our Rock Star starter kit tour bus to get on the road. I will be writing more from the road this weekend so stay tuned!!

In a Final Note:

Live like you are in a world of wonders

Dialog Twenty Six

Saturday September 29, 2007

Hey Everybody! It’s Saturday Night and we just got back from the Raleigh shows. I’m having a nice white wine while listening to “The Mountains Win Again” by Blues Traveler. Man I love that song, it’s like it was created for a beer commercial or something. (Insert laugh here). The song writing in Blues Traveler is simply bad ass. They deserve every commercial they can get!

Anyway, here’s what happened over the weekend; Friday night was ok, the band jammed but I struggled with a terrible monitor mix. I walked all over the stage trying to find the sweet spot. I kept pleading for more volume and they just couldn’t get it to me without it feeding back like crazy. We were working with a strange production company. I finally just dealt with it and sang louder which strains my voice. So that meant I had to be a good boy and go to bed early, gargle with salt, eat misc herbs etc..which I did!! Damn I wanted to party with the rest of em! SO I go to my room about 11 pm and suddenly get inspired to write. So I get my guitar from the bus and now settle in to write. Well I still couldn’t keep my mouth shut and ended up writing and singing till 3 am. Not smart, I should’ve partied! But the good news is I think I have a new song! TBA later. Ok its 3 am Friday night and I’m off to bed. I can’t shut off the song though. I toss and turn all night, sometimes waking myself up singing out in my sleep. Not the whole song… but a line… and I react in my sleep as if I’m actually performing! So now it’s 9:30 am, and I get the wake up call to be on the bus in 30 minutes for the band breakfast. No Sleep, 9:30 am (which is unusual), hoarse throat, my giant doggie slippers, and we’re off to the breakfast buffet. Poor Scooby, our B-3 player. He was peaking with flu like cold symptoms, he really is a trooper!! More about Scooby later. See we’re rushing around on an early schedule because we go on at 4:25 pm in the middle of downtown at this festival, the Capital City Bike Rally.

OK… We go on and our crew had total control of the production today without being constricted. We rocked out!! The monitors were great so I could be relaxed and sing without straining, too bad I had already blown it! But I did fine and had a blast!! I am hoarse now but I won’t talk for a day and sleep for about 18 hrs tomorrow, couple gargles and good as new! I just thought I would share that with you.

Now as for Scooby… Michael Alan Huffman is Scooby. He is one of the greatest B-3 players I have ever seen. To be at such a young age it is incredible! He has been sick on the last 3 shows over 3 nights in a row. Last night he sang great and played like never before while peaking out on illness!! The band is so proud of Scooby. He has been thru a lot in the last month and has kept it real throughout! You rock Baby!! That being said, we are hereby officially honoring Scooby (Michael Alan Huffman) with the swamp-dog of the month award!! I will tell you more about that in the next blog……..

Gig

In a Final Note:

I want to thank Amy Cox and Dave Rose @ Deep South Entertainment for including us in the Capitol City Bike Rally. We truly appreciate it. Kudos to Ray Price Harley Davidson, 96 Rock, and Bud Light as well. Thank you!

Dialog Twenty Five

Sunday September 23, 2007

Ok. We had the privilege of playing the State HOG (Harley Owners Group) Rally in Greenville, SC Thursday. It was an interesting event, we met some cool bikers! Many thanks to Craig Debolt, Andy White and all at The Buzzard 96.7 for welcoming the band to the event and especially for playing our music. You guys are great and we appreciate your support!!

Off to Burlington, NC for a show at Burlington After Dark. Thanks to Neil, Peanut, and Blair!! You guys made this an awesome show! The sound system was great and Blair was a great host! It was great to see my old band mates from J-Train at the show!! Mike Kiley, Jess, his wife, and Dylan Setzer. Man what a trip~ I hadn’t seen those guys in over 13 yrs!! It’s the old full circle effect.

Well it’s Sunday evening and I’m going to BBQ something and check into some football baby!

Cheers to you all and thanks for being our friends!!

Gig

In a Final Note:

If you can’t love the one you want, can you really love the one you’re with??

Dialog Twenty Four

Sunday September 23, 2007

Well well well, seems I have slipped a little in the blogging this past week. Things have been really crazy the more we tour. So let me tell you about the PA trip!! WOW!! It was simply fantastic to say the least. We rolled in Friday evening with only an hour to prep for a meet and greet set up by agent there Dana Steele. Dana and his brother Brett also host a pod cast radio channel called Shop Rock on the internet (you can find them on our home page on my space). Shop Rock is very cool themed show!! Anyway we finally get to the meet and greet and they had a super spread for us; food and drink and a lot of their friends hanging and partying. We took a lot of pictures which I will post soon. We met Renee, yet another sibling of Dana’s. What a beautiful person!! She flew in from California to go the shows Sat & Sun. Thanks Renee!! So; off to Cefalo’s on Saturday. What a classy venue. If you ever go thru Pittsburg it is a must visit! We had a great show with good attendance. The sound system was great combined with Rob Farris our Production Manager / FOH engineer at the helm, we sounded great! We met some very cool people and made a lot of new fans. Lenny Cefalo is a musician as well so you know the club rocks! Lenny and his wife were simply terrific hosts, we thank you.

Back aboard the Rock Star starter kit Tour Bus heading out to Hermitage Pa for Sunday’s show at The Clark House. We rolled up in the club around 4 pm for sound check to be welcomed by Jerry (owner) Dana, Brett, Renee and a slew of other good people. It was like a family outing! The weather was unbelievable, 50’s, 40’s a true sense of autumn! Hats off to Brett Addy! Brett is our Road Manager / Monitor engineer. Brett was running our in ear monitor system from the back of the equipment truck about 25’ off stage left out the back door! He was freezing out there!! What a job though, Brett is the man! After sound check we chilled out had some of Jerry’s most awesome chicken and pork bbq fresh off the grill and then started to prepare for the show.

The Clark House is a 31 yr old establishment family owned. A great hometown place to meet up with friends, again a family feeling! Another must visit when in Pa!

Show time! We took the stage about 8 pm or so to a jam packed house of hell raisers!! By the end of the night there was standing room only!! Another great show meeting tons of super people! The sound again was great and we are now thrilled to have so many fans in Pa!! We will definitely be back there soon! Thanks again from the entire band to Dana Brett and Renee for making this an unforgettable and rewarding experience… A few more memories for the shoebox!!

In a Final Note:

Good People / Good Music / Good Food = Good times

Make memories, they last forever……..

Gig

Dialog Twenty Three

Friday, September 14, 2007

Hey there folks. It’s Friday about 5:30 pm. I’m still on the bus, en route to PA with the gang. After having read a couple of magazines, played guitar for a while, and slept for a bit, I thought this would be a good time to blog. Going through the mountains of West Virginia was cool. It’s been raining most of the way and the fog was really intense looming over the gorge and all in the trees in the sides of the mountains. Other than Scooby tying Marty’s shoe laces together while he slept it’s been pretty uneventful so far. Another hour or so to go….. Tonight should be a blast. We are attending a meet and greet put on for us by Dana Steele. Dana is a great guy and helps the band out in this region. So big party tonight baby!! Full spread booze and food and a lot of cool people, ah what a life eh~ It does have its moments but it’s also a ton of hard work and persistence. Manny Yanes is in our line up on bass guitar now as we move on to yet another level in this whacked out world of the music business. The band is tighter than ever!! David Lee still nursing his broken foot, but he did find out today that it is actually torn ligaments and tendons. The MRI didn’t reveal any broken or cracked bones as we had thought. So that’s great news. He’ll have a few days to rest it after this weekend. We could all use a couple days off honestly. Hey how about that performance by Brittney Spears on the VMA awards last week!! I just saw the video on you tube. My God. This girl needs to get help. Surely to god the people around her and in her management realize what the hell is happening here. Maybe they’re just clinging to hope that it will slide by the people one more go round~~NOT. This girl needs to re invent herself if she is to have even the slightest chance of the public accepting her again, and she better do it for real for a change. The sloppy lip sync and atrocious dance routine was an embarrassment to her and anyone who saw it!! It is a breath of fresh air to know that kids aren’t having that crap anymore though. Better music is coming out more and more, that’s cool. I am happy to tell you that our free download @ emusic.com is doing extremely well and it will continue to be available thru October. We are going to release a different track for free soon. Also the update on the live track of Birthday is nearing completion along with the video! A couple more weeks yet, which in the music industry could mean months or never!! No, really, it’s coming along nicely.

We are really stoked about the shows in PA. WHEW HEW!!! I haven’t been up North in a long time. The people are different, in a good way. I like meeting different people as well as exploring different cultures in life. But I guess that’s part of why I do what I do. Well we’re closing in on the hotel, the sun is finally out amongst a distant batch of cloud cover… pretty cool sight here. We’re running about an hour behind, so once again its going to be rush rush rush to get to where we need to be, but that has become the norm. By the way our Swamp store is open please check out some shirts and stuff. We’d be happy for you to buy something! Just click on store in the menu bar and Walla!

Anyway thanks for sharing my blogs and keep sending me comments, I dig it.

In a Final Note:

Go Steelers!!!!!

Dialog Twenty Two

Thursday September 13, 2007

Yea yea I know, yesterday’s blog was kind of lame, but hey..such is life. Its 12:50 am and I am inspired to write something. I have been myspacing for a bit and working on a couple pictures from the new shoot.

Tonight I would like to thank Uncle Shag from the Long town podcast. We met on myspace. Unc has been supporting the record since March when it came out and all we can say is thank you. Please check out his pod cast shows @ http://www.myspace.com/longtownpodcast . He has great taste and great theme oriented shows!!

Moving on; I just heard an old Genesis tune off “Trick of the Tail” on ROCK 103 streaming out of Columbus, Ga. And now Peter Gabriel right behind it… Dude they rock too!! Chris Chaos is the man @ 103, hats off to him!!

OK I’m still jamming but focused again… OK not focused now. Sheryl Crow doing Zeppelins’’ ‘Don’t Go’…Geese, it is so good. I just love music. Anyone who can pull off a Zeppelin track is bold, but she does it justice.

And there ya go, just add this blog to yesterday’s blog and Voila! You’ve got an OK blog….! I will write you from the road while we travel to Pittsburgh Friday.

In a final note:

Stretching for the stars is better than dodging bullets. Choose One.

Dialog Twenty One.

Wednesday September 12, 2007

Hey Hey People!! Another anniversary passes at Ground Zero. What a tragedy. Our hearts remain with the lost souls of that day and always will. I’m not even going to get started on ranting about the Government this morning, I will save it for another time, but I can assure you its coming!

We finally have our new bassist working in, Manny Yanes. Manny comes with a background like no other. Having played with Patti Labelle, Robert Palmer and many more over the years, he brings down the pocket in the rhythm section like a fine machined tool. Wait till you see the band live now!!!!

We have a couple days left to prepare for the trip to Pa for a couple of shows there. Our good friend Dana Steele (shop rock on myspace) is hosting both events for us. Thanks Big D!!! We load in to Cefalos in Pittsburgh Saturday, then on to the Clark Room in Hermitage on Sunday. God I hope its cooler up there, I am SICK of this heat wave! Our new video promo is almost complete; the audio is off to Nashville for mixing next week, yeah! All live performance tracking, it is going to be cool!! If you haven’t noticed yet our swamp store is up and running, check out our T-shirts and stuff, pretty cool.

Send some best wishes and light a candle for our drummer David Lee. He has a hairline fracture in his left foot. Not a good thing for a drummer, but he keeps on going like the Energizer Bunny!! Maybe he can rest a bit after this weekend.

In a final note:

There is only one definition for terrorist. Quite simply, Chicken Shit.

Dialog Twenty.

Thursday September 6, 2007

So here I am. 11:20 pm. We Just got in from the CMA awards in Charlotte, NC. I am happy to announce that we did receive (win) the award for the Best CD Cover category tonight at the CMA awards in Charlotte. Honestly, as a songwriter, that is a strange award to win and have to accept! But as the famous Arthur Smith quoted at the event, “any award anywhere any time is an award.” So we are excited about winning an award and even had the designers we worked with on the cover come up on stage with us. I think I was more excited for them than for us, I mean we just critiqued what they would present. I also have to thank Joe Boyland for this category as well. Joe was heavily involved in that cover art. It went through weeks, I mean WEEKS of deliberation before it was agreed upon. Anyway, we presented the Lifetime Achievement award to The Marshall Tucker Band which to me is a friggen honor and a half. So get this; all week I was waiting for the script right? Well about 42 some odd hours ago I was told to just go ahead and write the speech myself! Now I didn’t have a problem with that because MTB is very near and dear to my heart, but CMON!!! I have included my speech for you to read. I do have to tell you that Doug Gray (the remaining original member) was taken ill and is in the hospital therefore could not make the event. Please light a candle, say a prayer for him. Their music is lifting. Well I’m off to bed as we’re heading out to plow thru GA in the morning, early~~ I will try and blog from the bus while we’re out this week.

Marshall Tucker Lifetime Achievement Award Speech

© 2007 gigmonstermusic

Good Evening,

It is such an honor to be here to present this year’s lifetime achievement award. Never, in my wildest dreams, and they do get wild, did I think we would be standing before an audience honoring one of my all time favorite and inspirational southern rock bands. Since I was a kid I have always wanted to meet both Marshall and Tucker to thank them.

I know we all remember the first time we heard The Marshall Tucker Band. For me, I will never forget that day. It was the winter of 1977, I was riding with my father and he popped in an 8 track and out of the speakers came “Take the Highway”. I remember singing along sharing that moment with my father as if it were yesterday, just as I remember only a couple of months ago, I shared a similar moment with my son as we sang along together with “Can’t you see”. Passing from fathers to sons from fathers to sons as if tradition. That my friend is special.

It was 1973 when the first album by the Marshall Tucker Band was introduced to the world. 6 talented individuals, Toy Caldwell, Tommy Caldwell, Doug Gray, Paul Riddle, George McCorkle and Jerry Eubanks together ignited the hearts of millions around the globe. Little did they know they had just created timeless hits with “Can’t You See” and “Take the Highway”. Their very first album.

The Marshall Tucker Band went on to not only firm up the term Southern rock n roll but has gone on to keep it alive and well for over thirty years inspiring young musicians and songwriters for generations. We, SwampdaWamp, stand humbly before you as living proof.

The brilliant songwriting of Marshall Tucker shall live forever. With timeless hits like “Heard it in a love song”, “Fire on the mountain” & “Ramblin” to mention only a few, they continue to soothe the minds and hearts of a whole new generation of fans, young and old alike. We should now commend the new members as well for their role in continuing to deliver the goods as they do on their latest release “The Next Adventure”. Buy the record!

Doug Gray, David Muse, Pat Elwood, Chris Hicks, Stuart Swanlund & BB Borden, we thank you for keeping the music alive and the spirit in which Marshall Tucker was born.

Ladies and Gentlemen, 34 years and 30 albums later it is with no further ado we present the 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award to our mentors memory and our peers of the new… The Marshall Tucker Band.

In a final note:

When I was a kid they didn’t have CD Covers, they had seat covers. Mine gave me a rash on my ass…….Cheers

Dialog Nineteen.

Friday August 31, 2007

It’s 2:00 AM. What a long day!!! Today was our Photo Shoot for the new Promotional campaign that is about to launch. It was 10 hrs long. We did have a blast though; we always have fun at whatever it is we are doing. The video producer, Jim Stablein, was there filming portions of the shoot to use later in the real music video. Jim, from 3 Dreams Media, did a great job directing with Michael Church (the Photographer) who is fantastic & Hair and Makeup girl, Heather Hawkins, is simply the best in the business. Heather is on top of everything and always helping with wardrobe ideas, we love her!!

Hats off to our road crew; Rob (nickname coming) Farris, Brett (poppy) Addy, Craig (foonte) Hatley & Cody (the roadie) Bennett. These guys stood around and moved stuff all day. This is how family operates. All for one, one for all indeed. You know the road crew is what enables the band to function, without them we’d be lost, contributing to noise pollution!! I will tell more about the guys in a future blog… I am buzzed up and listening to some funky stuff from a band out of NW NC, some really good tunes from a band that maybe a few hundred people have heard. They have no deal, no tour, no records for sale, just making great music for the sake of music! I enjoy listening to new music from unsigned artists, there’s tons of it. Lots of great stuff that will never get heard because the band either can’t keep it together. or they simply don’t have the finances. We have all been there trust me. We, SwampdaWamp, are just fortunate souls to have the means to share our music with a massive audience. Let our music touch you, it’s simply real life!

In a final note:

A good friend of mine turned me on to this quote. I firmly believe it and subscribe to that way of thinking, as we all should:

“The one who says it can’t be done, is generally passed by the one doing it.”

Cheers!

Dialog Eighteen

Sunday August 26, 2007

Hey Everybody! It’s Sunday afternoon and I’m just waking up with my 3rd cup o java. I’m listening to Blues Traveler, (“The Mountains Win Again” specifically at this moment) I love that song!! So anyway I have just gone thru my emails, did my myspace check in, talked to some folks and posted a couple bulletins. I am about to go into my writing studio and lose myself for the rest of the day working on some new material. I am feeling inspired this morning. I’m really in a Zepplin mood; I just putt in Disc 2 from the Zepplin box set…mmmmm nice on a Sunday with no one around to bother me! Just getting into the music. Over the hills and far away, I love it baby!!

So I read an article in last weeks Rolling Stone entitled “Rock radio resurgence”. A very cool article on how the Rock format is climbing up the charts again. It is apparent to me that good rock music is finally coming back into the limelight. Melody, lyrics that tell stories… stories that touch the heart and souls of people, that is what music is about. If you’ve noticed lately there are more “Tribute” bands out there than ever before. And guess who they are paying tribute to, (while filling up venues)… That’s right! Bands like AC/DC, Aerosmith, Led Zepplin, Rolling Stones, Motley Crue, Kiss, GNR, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, etc… need I say more? Today’s youth is discovering real music, imagine that. All of these bands I mentioned are considered “Classic Rock”. Classic Rock is a format that bands like ours cant get any play on. Why? Well, we’re not classic. We have all the elements of classic feel, but we’re new. So where do we fit? With Rock radio format coming back, that’s where we fit! It’s exciting as hell to see 15 to 25 yr olds listening to stuff like Zepplin, Yes, and even SwampdaWamp now. All these Classic bands come from an era when music was NOT angry as hell at the world, not smackin bitches ‘n Ho’s, Just good music… with melody, meaning and great musicianship. I have seen sooo many new bands of today that cant perform live, it’s saddening. Big Record companies throw together a hit song in a studio and put a band out that cant play it live, wear out the songs on radio as they market it to the point of destruction which ultimately results in million seller status in a short period of time and guess what…10 months later the band is over… Then its back to work at the local music store. Sad. But that being said, there are still good new bands out there. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not being pompous. I think that is one reason people are looking for more in the music these days, to connect and relate at a live show is awesome!!

Well ok now it’s time for the big news of the blog!! SwampdaWamp has been nominated by the CMA awards in Charlotte NC, for Best Cover Art, and get this; We are presenting the Lifetime Achievement Award to The Marshall Tucker Band!! This is a thrill for me. I was raised on MTB, what an honor to be able to pay homage to them!! I will take the nomination too, it is pretty cool!! Until next Blog, check out our store now on this site!! Buy something and support good music!!!

In a final note:

Tuesday is gone with the wind… until next Tuesday, when we will look back to the Tuesday before, and wonder what this Wednesday will bring. Lose yourself in music!

Dialog Seventeen.

Wednesday August 22, 2007

It’s 1:10 am on Wednesday morning. I’m sitting here after logging out of myspace and talking to as many people as I could before simply passing out… What kills me is this; I put a lot of thought into my comments and or messages on myspace and then I hit send and Voila!!! Now I have to fill in the little hazy number vowel game challenge. A sure thing to piss off the best of us! Caps, no caps, some caps, do caps even matter??? See what I’m saying? What a pain in the ASS!! Example;

(Myspace Friend) “Hi Dick, How have you been, love what you’ve done with your site” This comes as a message to you while your on-line.

You (Dick) reply; Hi Jane Thanks for your compliment! {Now hit send}` Here comes the message box instructing Dick to input the numbers & letters as he see’s them. So Dick enters the numbers & letters as he see’s them and low and behold… {Message Sent}…OOPS not sent!

Please try again……ARGH~~~~

Anyway, thanks to all of myspace friends for your support! I will keep communicating with you all no matter what!!

SwampdaWamp is # 4 again on the XM radio Charts!!!!! Whew Hew!! Thanks XM!

Cheers!

In a final note:

XHj7HMl Cy4pO9~~~~~~~

Dialog Sixteen

Sunday August 19, 2007

I’m getting over a late night after our show at the Shake the Lake event in Lake Norman, NC. We had a really great turn out. Thanks all of our supporters for showing up and welcome to the new friends of the Swamp!! We shot film for a new television show called Sonic Lounge which airs regionally on the UPN network and can be seen world wide via satellite or dish network. The show is like a Concert series where the band gets interviewed and performs 3-4 songs.
We now have to review it to see what we got~~ I am to announce that the Live Track of Birthday will be available beginning Tuesday August 21, 2007 as a free download from emusic.com, the worlds leader in digital downloads!!!!! We are excited about it! I think it’s very cool to be able to offer up a recent live performance like that for you all to be a part of. I just took a phone call which totally blew my train of thought here…I hate when that happens~~ so anyway our tour schedule is mounting up and we and we are getting less and less time off. That is a good thing, believe me.
A good friend of mine reminded me today of the woes of being a slave to corporate
America. I had to admit, that as much as I hate it, it seems I too possess some of the same mechanical ethics as corporate in trying to deal in the operations of the band and go between with the record label. They made me realize that maybe I needed to redirect that approach. You know, I fight with the realization of running a business and being a friend in the business while having to make unbiased decisions as well as deliver the news, good or bad and some cases even terrible albeit from the band to an individual or the just the opposite, or even record company to the band. Thank God things are good for the moment! However I do tend to lose sight once in awhile and get consumed with the corporate tainted ways of running a business and ultimately, piss someone off. Well I am not too big of a man to admit when I have done that wrongly (of course it has to be pointed out to me) but I can take a breath and view life as what it is and remember what is important. That’s where these songs come from.

Cheers!

In a final note:

New track: “Ten Minutes of Shame” coming soon…

Dialog Fifteen

Thursday August 16, 2007

Hey Everybody. I got in about 30 minutes ago from an extremely long day & night of music business… We had a fun rehearsal tonight though! That makes it OK. I now have in my hand a Crown on the rocks and have planted myself at the computer and I am listening to our album. I have to do that from time to time. I am in a weird mood. I am having a writer’s moment. I have been jotting down new idea’s all day and came up with some pretty cool stuff. Marty and Michael have given me some new guitar styling’s to work with tonight too. I am sort of bubbling over! These are the moments when I stay up all night working in my studio. We currently have about 12 new songs towards the next album but you can’t stifle creativity when it comes out, so I keep writing. I am excited to tell you that we will be releasing a free download next week!! It’s a live track of “All By Myself on My Birthday” to be announced next week as to where you can get it!!!! We recorded our performance @ Amos’ in Charlotte, NC on August 3^rd. It is really a great depiction of us live!! You HAVE to hear it!! I must tell you that we are about to launch all new promo stuff as we are now. Everything you see on our sites is old news~~ especially the video! We shot the YMCTV stuff in September of last year, 2006! The Rutledge video was shot in March, 2007. So anyway we have a couple new members in the band since then and a whole new appearance as well as being tight on a whole new level live. So damn its time for us to be unveiled as we are now. OK enough plugging already!

Whatever….. Almost lost my creative mood there, Whew! I’m listening to “The River” now, it makes me sad. So I am getting sucked into the studio now to write some shit for you and me….Thanks for reading my blog of blur~Now I’m switching to wine….Rancho Zabaco, a 2005 Zifandel to be exact~~

Cheers!

In a final note:
A man once accused another man of being untrustworthy. The man, accused, simply replied, one can never trust, if one can not be trusted them self.

Dialog Fourteen

Monday August 13, 2007

I just got out of bed, around 11:30. I couldn’t sleep so I watched movies pretty much all night. The last flick I watched was Hostel. If you like scary and gory this movie is for you. If you are prone to have nightmares, trust me it is not! I tossed and turned with visions of being drilled in the eye and having my limbs sawed off among other things. I am just about to have my first cup of coffee… now. Damn I made it weak. Oh well. So after 4 consecutive shows in 4 nights along with the after show drinking and socializing every night, my throat feels like I just had second helpings at the steel wool buffet. Now throw in the fact that my AC was on 65 all night giving me a slight head cold and on top of that I have a dentist appointment today in a couple hours. Ladies and gentlemen, I give to you, another Monday morning.

I decided to go ahead and write my blog this morning before I begin facing my daily realities. Typically, I begin each day by checking emails and making sure I haven’t missed anything, responding as needed and then on to our myspace accounts to see what’s up in that world and respond to friends and or surf around looking for opportunity or simply talking to friends. Then it’s off to the gym for an hour and back for more emailing. (Now that I’ve written that statement, I am wondering if I need to go ahead and check my mail!! Nah) People will start calling in a minute with questions and concerns as usual. We have a ton of events coming in and it takes a lot to prepare for a successful show, logistically. Anyway another Monday morning I sit here and wonder what this week will bring as we keep pumping the machine towards our goal. The entertainment industry is so F’d up you never know when the phone will ring with the one very piece of information that could either make you or just as easily break you. People wonder why most Artists’ have drinking and drugging problems. Well here we go with phone call # 1 for the day….WOW this call was a good one… I have just been informed that we are being submitted for “Best new Artist” to the Grammy’s. Now news like that all of sudden makes my day seem a lot brighter……
Cheers!

In a final note:
So go the days of our lives, Destiny and fate struggling with each other as they lead us to our outcome. We simply sit and wonder.

Gig

Dialog Thirteen

Saturday August 11, 2007

I’m Feelin Saturday!!!! It’s around noon and I am about to finish my 1^st cup of coffee as I sit here all groggy from being up all night again. We leave in about an hour for a show in Johnson City TN tonight. This will make 4 nights in a row~~ My throat is holding up nicely, that’s always a concern for me. After singing all night I have to mingle with our fans and talk over music in the venue. By the time I finally get to chill it’s like 3 am and I’m very fatigued, like now! Anyway today is our drummer David Lee’s Birthday!! Yea!! That means serious party time tonight!! He won’t see this blog until later so I can go ahead and tell you that I had a cake made for him that is an exact replica per specs of his snare drum, very cool looking and can eat it to!! We played the Long Branch in Rock Hill last night and had a blast; it was a very good turn out. We are now playing the Long Branch every other Thursday & Friday as well as a couple nights when they aren’t open for rehearsals. Jerry Murphy the owner is helping us out letting us run full show productions getting the band tighter than ever all the way around, road crew and all.

Big News of the week is that we hit # 4 on XM Radio charts this week!!! Pretty damn cool I tell ya. Man I have to go pack now for the road trip, thank god it’s not 1,000 degrees today like it has been all week……
Cheers!

In a final note:
To all you douche bags out there that give terrorist attack ideas and hide behind our civil rights, and yes you the principal that encourages the sporting of terrorist phrases on T shirts in school, why don’t you all get together and take turns shoving grenades up your ass. IF YOU DON’T LIKE OUR COUNTRY AND THE FREEDOM WE HAVE, PLEASE GET THE HELL OUT.
Gig

Dialog Twelve

Monday August 6, 2007

Damn, I can’t believe it’s already Monday again! It seems like I just wrote my last Blog a couple days ago and it’s been a whole week!! Sorry, I will have to tighten up here I suppose!! It was an extremely busy week last week. We had a couple of radio interviews, rehearsals and then traveled to Raleigh, NC for a show there, wrapping up with another show on Friday in Charlotte. We had a great time at The Pour House Music Hall in Raleigh. We played with the Code Talkers who I certainly recommend you check out. My Mom and one of Brothers and one of my sisters were at the show, it was the first time either had been to one of my performances. They had a ball and I was honored that they came out. We met some great people and made some new fans!! We will be posting new pictures from that show this week some time. We blew back to Charlotte later that night on the majic bus! So Friday came early, it was like from the bed to the stage! WOW what a great show!! Many thanks to all of friends that came out, it was a great crowd!! The video shoot was great, I can’t wait to get the finished product after 2 more shoots. I think I must have had about 10 shots of Tequila on stage and then a few Jack Daniels and more Tequila after the show!! Yes I was in rare form!! But people kept sending the shots up, so I felt compelled to drink them.

The band with friends in tow went to the Hotel around 3 am, where David Lee was being towed around on a mobile cooler up and down the halls of the 3^rd floor. He finally hit the wall tumbling with the cooler into turn 2. With much sadness to have spilled the beer we quickly incorporated the beer-a-medics to the scene for immediate consumption of damaged goods. David survived with a mere hangover. We had like 5 rooms with standing room only, parties of every kind with fun people in every one of them. Surprisingly our security guy only had to escort 1 person away at about 5 am. By that time, I had faded away to my private room to relax and try to get some sleep. However it was only a matter of minutes before I was discovered with frantic knocks at the door. Of course being experienced, I simply ignored them. They soon went away!! Checking out the next morning was interesting; we found beer, clothes & shoes among all sorts of other things all over the 3^rd floor with the Maids running around trying to figure out what had happened and trying to communicate to us in Spanish. My response was “Ci” with a smile.

Now it’s Saturday and it feels like it’s about 120 degrees outside. Back on the bus for the ride home, this wasn’t that far from the hotel thank God! Movies in bed for me all day Saturday dosing off frequently. I ended up waking and working late in my studio on some new songs. I finally got up Sunday around noon and then it was time to review what I had recorded last night. I dicked around a little more on some new stuff and then it was time for some Sunday Southern Tradition on the back porch at the Ponderosa (our country spread). After waking up with a shower I had some of the guys come over put on the race, fired up the grill and began to celebrate the successful weekend of shows as we prepare for yet more adventurous road trips this coming week!! Don’t forget to check out our Store which opens this week here on the site! We have some cool gear for you to check out!

OK so now it’s Monday again, I’m going to track some more for a while then off to meet with our video producer this evening to discuss the next shoot.

Cheers!

In a final note:
A bird on the grill is worth 2 in the bush, unless the bush is burning and it’s marinated with swamp sauce……………

Gig

Dialog Eleven

Monday July 30, 2007

Monday Oh Blue Monday. Yes another week begins and another yet left behind. Let’s reflect shall we; We had a great week last week, grinding through Georgia in our Rock Star starter kit tour bus (RV) kicking ass at all stops! We had the most fun in Columbus where we met Chris Chaos at ROCK 103 for an interview and a couple spins off our disc. The interview was a blast and Chris is just crazy..Chaos indeed!! We can’t wait to get back down there and party with those guys again soon. We had a ton of fun at SoHo club; the people just jammed with us from start to finish, the bar must have run out of booze! So anyway I caught a bit of a cold from swimming naked in the hotel pool from like 3:30 to 5:00 am on Weds night~~Argh~ But nothing a little Jack Daniels couldn’t cure! Thank god there were no cameras around, or was there? Something will probably surface when it’s financially prudent. The big news is this; Some ass wipe phished our myspace site and we haven’t been able to log in since Thursday last week, however our magnificent Chip Schutzman is getting it back up for us as we speak! Thanks Chipzilla!!! We are filming live footage for our first real music video this Friday night at Amos’ in Charlotte, NC!! This is a simple one camera (High Definition) shoot from the stage and perhaps some behind the scenes shots. This is the shoot where we capture the audience to be edited into the real video later. There will be a casting call for the real “staged” video shoot forthcoming. So if you’re expecting some kind of big movie set spectacular, this isn’t it. All the same, you can still get in the video!! Should be very cool. We hope you all can come! Hey, free downloads of a live track coming your way real soon, stay tuned!!

Thanks for following my blogs, I have gotten some great response from a lot of you, I humbly appreciate it.

In a final note:
If it ain’t yours, don’t touch it. If you have nothing good to say, don’t say anything. If you wear your heart on your sleeve, try the chip on your shoulder instead, you’ll seem less vulnerable!

Dialog Ten

Hitting the Charts!!

Hey Everybody and welcome to my tenth official blog!

It’s around noon on Tuesday and we’re heading south down I-85 to Atlanta to play The Smiths Olde Bar tonight. Smiths is a nostalgic and well respected music venue. I’m in the back lounge of the bus with Alan Huffman (B3) and Bill Abercrombie (bass) who are cutting up as usual. Bill (who we refer to as Winthrope) is laying down on the couch behind me repeating babble that keeps you laughing as Alan (who we affectionately refer to as Scooby) is in the lounge chair to my right shaking his head as Bill rambles on. Bill and Scooby are the newest guys in the band and have solidified the swamp as it will be for many moons & records to come. As Bill & Scooby continue to talk about their Victoria Secret experiences, I will now tune them out. You get good at that when on the road with a bus load of people. In the front lounge of the bus we have David Lee our drummer and “Wave Lab” guy (We record every single rehearsal and show then Dave dumps it into wave lab for quick edits etc..and passes them to the band the next day). Yesterday’s performance is jamming in the player up there with Michael Hough & Marty Hill (our guitar guru’s) listening in throwing critique around. We also welcome Rob Ferris aboard on his first live show with us. Rob is our new Production Manager and FOH Engineer as well as being a long time friend of mine; he has his shit together! Then last but not least we have our fearless Tour Manager Darell Belk at the bus wheel and Cody the Roadie riding shotgun on this trip to shoot some behind the scenes footage while we’re rolling down the highway!! You can actually see me writing this blog on YouTube in a few days!! How cool is that. Gotta love technology. Oh and I can’t forget to mention the rest of our entourage; Craig Hatley (who has been with us from day 1 & we all love as Foontilicious) our well rounded monitor engineer and fearless road warrior Equipment truck driver and then we have Chris Linker(Guitar tech) and Travis Love (lighting) tagging along in the runner vehicle.

OK can you tell I’m bored yet!! 3 hrs to go. Anyway top news of the day just came in from our Record guy & family member Madd Patty out in LA:

WE BROKE INTO THE TOP TEN CHARTS ON XM RADIO FROM 19 LAST WEEK TO #8 THIS WEEK!!!!

This is a pretty big deal to us. Hell breaking into the top ten on any chart is great, it shows positive movement forward as the band progresses and more & more radio stations continue to follow suit.

I can’t wait to take the stage tonight, we have a few new tunes we are playing now seeing how people react to them and tonight we debut the brand new track (can’t tell yet, gotta see us live for that), so I’m excited about that.
(OK I’m back from the most recent interruption from Cody the Roadie with his handy cam prying mindless moments from all he encounters!!)

Tomorrow we have some radio interview stuff happening and later we head onto Columbus, GA for some more radio stuff with Kick Ass Chris Chaos @ ROCK103 then it’s off for another headline show at the Soho Room on Friday night.

Well I just got a call from our publicist and I have to do some work now sooooo until next blog my friends,
CHEERS!

A Final Note;
Anyone caught taking a dump on the bus shall be pounded with bars of soap in a sock by every other band member until they cry profusely as they empty the holding tank!

Dialog Nine.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Dear People of Blogsville,

I sit here on a Thursday night simply waiting for tomorrow and trying to squeeze every ounce of opportunity out of tonight. I believe opportunity is everywhere. It comes disguised, only the creative open mind can catch it when it comes passing thru. And you would be amazed at what something as insignificant as a bulk mailer can bring to your table. But only if you see thru the content to the possibilities. It doesn’t matter what you do, musician,

Carpi, dry Waller, mechanic, Pipe fitter, welder, painter, oh hell those are musicians! Anyway for enterprising people like me who have always had to seek out opportunity to advance their career, you know what I’m talking about. I am not the guy who inherited a fortune, hit the lottery, had rich parents or married into money. I am like every other striving American that is trying to make a living. My living happens to be at the moment, Music. The political arena better be happy that I am finding success in music right now or I would be smack dab in the middle of it all. Running for President. Stirring the pots under no influence of anything but the truth and only the truth. I wouldn’t stand on the back of anything or anybody. I would stand for all Americans, the REAL Americans…thank you. Music and song shall be my voice for the interim until I am too old to do it. Then I shall solicit your vote.

For now SwampdaWamp is # 17 on XM radio Americana charts. We are off to Georgia to play Atlanta with Video & radio interviews, then on to Columbus, GA to play the Soho Club with the support of our new friend Chris Chaos @ Rock 103!!!

We have the video shoot coming, the photo shoot coming, and now I’m rambling…You know what that means blogvillians!! Yep, it’s time to turn the ribs on the grill !

In a final note:
Life is what you make it, not why you didn’t.

Dialog Eight.

Tuesday?….

Hello blog followers! I hope this week finds all of you doing great! I am feeling pretty good today… with everything going on in the camp, it’s all surreal. We have even more radio stations picking us up, and I found out this morning we are charting @ # 17 on XM Radio’s Americana charts!! That is pretty cool indeed! I met with our new seamstress yesterday and got my new wardrobe underway, some very cool retro styling stuff is coming my way. I can’t wait to see how it looks and fits! Most of the clothing I have is just store bought so it never really fit right, you know? Too tight or baggy… never a perfect fit. SO, anyway, who cares about that? I’m getting ready to go guitar shopping this afternoon! I have been playing a Taylor T-5 acoustic - electric and it just isn’t cutting it for me. I also have an Ibanez acoustic I like to write with, but it only sounds good unplugged. I have found the biggest challenge in getting a great live acoustic sound is the mic system in the guitar. I have yet to find the right one apparently~~ any guitar enthusiasts out there want to share some advice? I am going to look at a different Taylor in hopes that it is “the one”~~

Other than that, life moves on at normal warp speed for me here.

In a final note:
As I flushed the toilet this morning I could have swore I saw Rosie O’Donnell spiraling down the chute……… Should’ve taken a picture.

Dialog Seven.

Friday the 13th Morning….

Well it’s past 1:00 am on the 13th and I haven’t exploded yet, the house isn’t on fire and I’m guessing the dude with the mask, Jason is most likely not going to recover from the last movie anyway. So I’m thinking things just might be ok, but then I’m an optimist anyway!Ya know this music business is tough as hell. It consumes your life, eating away at you like a Steven King Langolier. I guess the glory of it is that it’s simply nothing more than who I am. When I realize or remember that, it aint so tough after all! In fact it’s pretty damn cool! But it does get frustrating, any musician will tell you that. We had a great week though; We had the largest reorder in the history of the band, we are on the front feature page of www.audiolunchbox.com, we have been added to several more commercial radio stations, AND we got the word from management just about 3 hours ago that we have the green light to shoot a High Definition music video for our new song. Want to know what song it is??? Stay tuned!!!! Oh C’MON!! My damn speakers just crapped out!! What the Hell! F*^kn sounds like a damn Kazoo….God!! No it wasn’t even turned up…Son of a Bitch! Man, I got the Bose system on my PC and the 2 table top speakers just went to shit…I’m serious! What a F*^kn buzz kill………This blog has been interrupted…

In a final note:

Must be the black cat I ran over last week….. GOT BOSE??????

Dialog Six.

7/12/2007 Thursday Morning….

Hey Hey! I finally got some sleep last night!! I slept like 12 hours!! I haven’t slept like that in quite some time….Anyway it’s about 9:30 am & I’m on my third cup of coffee, sitting here paying bills getting pissed (they go hand in hand). Property tax, vehicle tax, pet tax!! Hey Gov why don’t you tax the friggen illegals…oh wait, then you would have to admit you know where they are…couldn’t do that could ya…bastards… but I am not one to stay angry, I’ll just write a song about it and get it out of my system.
So big news in the Swamp camp for radio! We are getting picked up all over the country with more adds this week, (check out our listings). The record company team is doing an outstanding job with everything, cheers to all of them!! Well I’m about to head to the gym and sweat it out for a spell then it’s off to rehearsal for the day. Yes life is pretty good for the moment, as long as I block out all the stress from trying to maintain a living~~
In a final note:
Dear Visa or Bank of whoever had the cash to buy off Visa,
Thank you for pre approving me, however at this time I have already been F*^*#d three times this week. Please try again next week.

Dialog Five.

7/9/2007 They tell me it’s Monday….

It’s Monday Night, about… well exactly 11:32 pm. Had a couple (few) drinks, talked business with the management, looked into the future for a bit, chilled on myspace a bit and now here I am……posting my now ritualistic blog. I must say that I have gotten some cool feedback from this blogging thing, and yes I was encouraged to do this for marketing for the record company! But hey, I mean maybe they are right, maybe people will dig hearing the bullshit I wade thru daily! Who knew? Haha! I’m not going into a rant here but let me just say, I really am getting into this! I love what I do and love people. ALL people, as long as they’re lovable! So hear me now and hear me loud, I give to you my all and swear it true, for giving up I’ve never known, but giving all is supposed, supposed is all ~

Stay with me folks….This is gonna get good!……

In a final note:

Dear George W,
Guess what… Strategy ain’t workin’……Let my people go……

Dialog Four.

7/8/2007 I’m Feelin’ Saturday!! Um…Kinda~~

Yes it’s Saturday morning however the days have run together like never before, what day it is seems irrelevant. We have been banging it out in intensive rehearsals daily with Joe our producer preparing for our Fall Tour. Our partying has been reduced to an all time low! That’s cool though because we are refining our live presentation of the music and I must say that live this band is as tight as a rusted bolt in a sunken ship! The party will resume shortly! Anyway I hope that all you blog readers are getting a kick out of my blogs, if you have anything in particular you would like to hear about just let me know. You can email me directly here gig@swampdawamp.com I would love to hear from you. I plan on getting into the details of our record deal on such things as how we landed it, how it’s working etc…

Oh I almost forgot to mention this: In USA Today Friday 7/6/07 the headline read “Katrina fraud Swamps system”! OK so if you’ve heard our record you have heard the track Tastes like Chicken to me. Which is all about the government, Katrina, Iraq, the looters, the needy etc.. How ironic is that, and I didn’t even plan it!

In a final note:
This just in ….Swamp-O-‘s breakfast cereal. Real beer battered oat rounds with marshmallow rock star heads! A great way to start a hangover day!!

Dialog Three.

7/7/2007 Hey Hey Hey it’s Friday…Already~~!

Man it seems like the days just keep going by faster and faster. We are so wrapped up in the music with so many exciting things happening daily it’s like living in a bubble that’s moving at light speed. I am happy about the radio finally happening for us, we have been added now on about 10 stations across America! This is exciting because theses stations are commercial reporting stations. That means we have the potential to actually hit the charts!! WOW! We are on over eighty some odd college radio stations which is very cool but to get on commercial radio is what the band needs to continue to climb.

So I am feeling pretty good about now and am heading off to the gym!

In a final note:
The One key on my phone isn’t working and I do NOT speak Spanish — could someone from my bank please call me in English right away……

Great Wall of China in Texas….Imagine That!

Dialog Two.

7/4/2007 HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY PEOPLE!

Here is a day built just for back yard BBQ’s cold beer & bikinis! Whew Hew!! Do you think our ancestors thought that? I think not. To them it is the day that marks our freedom from tyranny. Trust me they are rolling over in their graves with the state of the union as it is. When our front runners for the presidency are more concerned with getting the immigrant vote than the fact the yet another big corporation like Bank of America is outsourcing jobs overseas, Houston we have a problem.

But anyway I’m not going to rain on anybodies’ parade for celebrating the 4th! We true Americans know the reality of the situation and have to deal with the cards we are dealt! So invite the family and friends over, fire up the grill, put a couple cases of beer on ice, flip a few burgers, roll a few dogs and live free for the moment!!
Back yard bikini clad babes sold separately!

Dialog One.

7/1/2007 My First Official Reality Blog!

Hey Everybody!
I guess since this is the first blog thing I should kinda lay out the premise for ya… Um…Yea! See…. this is what’s cool about it, as the lead singer for a rock band breaking into international markets, it’s My thought’s, Experiences, The Sex, The drama, My views, How Politics suck, Today’s news, whatever I want to talk about! No holds barred ~ No hype, just plain reality….

So here goes…

So we are relatively a new act as far as the free world is concerned. Our style of music doesn’t really fit into any one specific format which means that commercial radio doesn’t really know what to do with us! Imagine that. However we remain true to ourselves musically. I write about real life stuff, my personal experiences and about my struggles with life in general hoping that translates into some form of escape for whoever is listening to the song. You see, escape is what it is for me. Being able to spill on paper and into song my life is a release valve for me, that’s why I haven’t shot myself in the head yet! Growing up I was touched by music in the same way. Music was essentially my best friend. Always there for me no matter what I was going through, I could find escape in song that I could relate to my own situation at the time.

Anyway, if you think life is glamorous being in a rock band, think again. Sure it is Tons O Fun but the blood sweat & tears behind the scenes are tremendous! That’s why most all rock stars are either drug addicts or drunks or both! It is one slam after another on your ego, your relationship (if you can manage to have one) your family (if you can manage to keep one) and your Social life (when you have time for one).

OK, all that being said come on back in a couple days for my next blog!