party review

 

This year’s TA birthday party at The Pour House on Christmas night was all it was hyped to be and then some. We had no real plan even the week of the gig. If we had to play 65 songs and take up the whole night, then we were prepared to do so. At the last minute though, Nick Kirkland (son of our friend Robert Kirkland from the band, Arrogance) and his band, No Eyes filled the opening spot for us. It was one of their first real gigs and everyone, including me thought they did a great job. Meanwhile, back on the highway, Greg “Bronco II” Rice was braving torrential rains to make it home from his folk’s place on the coast in time for the show. No Eyes was just finishing up their last song before I ever got a “visual” on him. We had rehearsals on the past 2 Mondays, but nothing can prepare you like a real gig and we hadn’t seen one of them since early October. It felt great hitting the stage again though, and especially a good sized one with a great soundman, Jac Cain. My son was DJ-ing right up to showtime and had a plenty o’ his favorite Michael Jackson songs loaded to share with the crowd. It was amazing to see what a good mood it put everyone in. Without fanfare, we went right in to “Goin’ or Comin’” and then of course, “Willie Mays”…the race was on. I remember thinking to myself, “Oh yeah, I remember this feeling! This is EASY!” We scattered songs from every record throughout, with a few surprises thrown in. Included were a new song “Nervous Around Pretty Girls” and all three Christmas songs from the past few years, “Santa had a Wreck” (OH my God! It was SLOW!! My bad! I guess it wasn’t THAT easy!), “Eggnogorant” (we started over as 2 of us thought we were playing a different song…sometimes Dave and I are the only ones who know what the next song is, sorry guys!) and the new one,“Christmas on the Faces” (seems like we started that one over too…but that was it! I think…). After we “played tribute” to our friend, David Enloe with 2 of his songs “Worse for the Wear” and “Sand”, we pulled out another tribute number…to Michael Jackson. After seeing that movie “This is It”, my son and I both have become or “re-become” fans. It was his suggestion that we do “Black or White” and it fit us to a tee as it is nothing more than a rock and roll chord progression, a good ‘ol 1-4-5. With only two verses and a repeating chorus, it was also easy to learn. Will came up and started the song with me on cowbell. He has perfect timing and plays a lot like me…only better. Doing that song was one of the most fun things we’ve played in a while. As the hour got later, the sizable crowd dwindled to about 50 or so, but the party never suffered. The clock has a way of separating “the men from the boys” as they say, in this case referring to the ladies too. Before I knew it though I was hearing the opening notes of “Punished”, a little rap I do at the end of the gig setting up the song “Thunderbird”. I’m usually describing the trials and tribulations of my life and how I need to self-medicate, but this one was a year-in-review version. I talked about some of our shows over the past 12 months, including our trip to Austin and staying at the “Pot Lady’s” house. “Thunderbird” usually takes us right into “Check Please” (which looks like may be included in an upcoming major movie release), a stupid fun song to play when fast enough and this time it was dead on! It was “the power and the glory” as Chip Robinson says. “Goodnight and thank you so much for coming!!” usually follows and again did. The encore was a free-for-all version of “Battleship Chains” complete with drunks on stage who didn’t know the words (and one drummer who wasn’t drunk that forgot the words anyway!). Dave called out to play it in “C”, so we knew what that meant…they was fiddin’ to get “Rick Rolled”!! When we got to that part there were puzzled looks on their faces but the Rick Astley cover-goof always puts big smiles on ours! Not sure if we played 53 songs or not, but it sure felt like it. Who could count? What a blast! This may have been the bestest birthday gig ever! Let’s do it again next year, shall we?

PS-Soo many ignorant things happened this year that I can’t begin to name them all including someone I know pouring hot wax on someone else I know’s testicular area (don’t ask me why!), our “Flomax” break and my new hands-clutched-over-the-head thingy…Oh Wait!… I DID begin to name them all! OK, I’ll stop now, you’ll just have to trust me in knowing what a great time we had!