This last weekend just about did me in. Between the late nights and filming all day on Saturday I think it might be time to admit I'm getting old. Don't get me wrong, I can still party with the best of them. It's just a lot harder to raise my head off the pillow the next day. Oh to be twenty-five again.
New stuff to report now. Facebook gave us all the opportunity to customize our domain names and mine is now www.facebook.com/alansmith13 so you can find me there. I'm sure most of you reading this are already stalking me on facebook so this may be a mute point. I have also changed the domain name for this blog as well, now it is just alansmith13.com. This page will now be my official homepage. That really doesn't mean much as I am very sporadic with my posts.
One last note for this time, if you're ever in Paduka, KY it is highly recommended that you skip on going to Ernie's Sports Bar. Unless you're into ghetto sports bars and ugly women. Jussayin'.
June 16, 2009
June 3, 2009
It's Better To Just Fade Away, Maybe
Back in 1994 I was playing in a band with my friend Colin and a couple other guys. That was my first real band and by real band I mean we actually played gigs. I had practiced with a couple other groups before but we just never made it out of the garage. As our first gig approached the anticipation of being on stage, in front of all those people was a bit overpowering. I just couldn't wait to step onto that stage.
The night of our first gig was a little frustrating. We had just gotten our drummer about a week before and things were a bit shaky. But being young and so full of energy and passion I didn't care if we sucked. I just wanted to step up to the microphone and shout out our songs for the world to hear. That first gig went okay. The true highlight of that band was the second gig we did about a month later. We had had time to practice and polish the songs a little (I'm not even going to say we were "good" because we probably weren't). Plus we were playing with some friends in another band and we really wanted to show them up. We still argue about who had the biggest crowd and best performance. I think we did.
Something that stands out about that night is that it was our drummer's prom night. So he came to show and then left to got o prom. He later said it was one of the best nights of his life. Another thing that stands out is how many of my friends came out to see us. And I mean friends from everywhere. Guys I went to high school with, friends from college, church friends, they all came out. It made it a great night. I was so excited after that show and I remember driving home about 80 mph all the way from downtown. I was unstoppable!
Little did I know that within a couple months we would play the worst gig ever and my musical tastes would take a wild mood swing away from our sound. It all fell apart in a perfect storm of ego (mine), depression (mine again) and general ineptitude (I was shooting three for three). I did form another band a few months later with Derek (he was our drummer) and even managed to get on the radio for about twenty seconds. But that all fell apart late in the Fall as I was kicked out of the band because they wanted to go in another direction. Bitter irony, I know.
From then until now I have played exactly one gig. I played with several people over the years but we never got out of the garage (or my living room). I spent massive amounts of money on equipment and learned that living like a rock star has NOTHING to do with being a musician. I played that lone gig in December of 2003, roughly nine years after I played my last gig. It was just me and Colin with our acoustic guitars in front of our friends. It was a nice bookend to the way we started. No noise. No ego. No youthful energy. Just two friends doing what they love to do. I miss it sometimes.
The night of our first gig was a little frustrating. We had just gotten our drummer about a week before and things were a bit shaky. But being young and so full of energy and passion I didn't care if we sucked. I just wanted to step up to the microphone and shout out our songs for the world to hear. That first gig went okay. The true highlight of that band was the second gig we did about a month later. We had had time to practice and polish the songs a little (I'm not even going to say we were "good" because we probably weren't). Plus we were playing with some friends in another band and we really wanted to show them up. We still argue about who had the biggest crowd and best performance. I think we did.
Something that stands out about that night is that it was our drummer's prom night. So he came to show and then left to got o prom. He later said it was one of the best nights of his life. Another thing that stands out is how many of my friends came out to see us. And I mean friends from everywhere. Guys I went to high school with, friends from college, church friends, they all came out. It made it a great night. I was so excited after that show and I remember driving home about 80 mph all the way from downtown. I was unstoppable!
Little did I know that within a couple months we would play the worst gig ever and my musical tastes would take a wild mood swing away from our sound. It all fell apart in a perfect storm of ego (mine), depression (mine again) and general ineptitude (I was shooting three for three). I did form another band a few months later with Derek (he was our drummer) and even managed to get on the radio for about twenty seconds. But that all fell apart late in the Fall as I was kicked out of the band because they wanted to go in another direction. Bitter irony, I know.
From then until now I have played exactly one gig. I played with several people over the years but we never got out of the garage (or my living room). I spent massive amounts of money on equipment and learned that living like a rock star has NOTHING to do with being a musician. I played that lone gig in December of 2003, roughly nine years after I played my last gig. It was just me and Colin with our acoustic guitars in front of our friends. It was a nice bookend to the way we started. No noise. No ego. No youthful energy. Just two friends doing what they love to do. I miss it sometimes.
June 1, 2009
Road Trip
Summer is almost here and it reminds me of some great times in my life. But some of the most fun I've had during the summer months has been taking road trips. Back in July of 1999 the Counting Crows started a small Summer tour and the closest place they were playing to Nashville was Toledo, Ohio. The tickets went on sale just a few days before the show so I had to scramble to make arrangements for someone to cover me at work as well as a hotel room and transportation. Somehow I managed to secure all these things in about a day and a half. My friend Andy took the other ticket I purchased and we were set to go.
I borrowed my parents conversion van and on July 15th at around 11:30 pm we gassed up the van and hit the open highway. I'm here to tell you that the best way to drive through Kentucky is at night. There's hardly anyone on the road and you're not forced to look at the boring scenery. Just outside of Louisville we stopped to get something to eat. Of course we stopped at Waffle House. the locals took interest at the two of us simply because we were different. That was a long, uncomfortable meal. Once we were done we hit the road to Cincinnati. Since Cincy is only ninety miles from Louisville we figured it wouldn't take long to cross over into Ohio. That was the longest ninety miles I have ever driven. We finally crossed the river into Cincinnati just in time to see the sun rise. It was a beautiful site but damn were we tired.
A few hours later we were in central Ohio and starring at endless fields of corn. Ohio may be second on the list of boring scenery behind Kentucky. As we neared Toledo we expected to see the city soon. The signs kept counting down to Toledo but we weren't seeing any signs of an actual city. Finally at about three miles out we started to see something. Then we realized it was an industrial park, not a city. As we rounded said industrial park Toledo finally burst into view. Apparently Ohio has a different definition of what a city is.
For those of you who have never been to Toledo let me give you a visual. Their tallest building was about ten stories tall and the entire downtown area was little more than the size of East Nashville. That's right, Toledo is the size of a neighborhood.
We were actually staying outside of "the city" but we rolled through this sprawling metropolis to find the Toledo Zoo. They have a small amphitheater inside the zoo that seats about 1500 people. So after we found the Zoo and made a note of how to get there we headed to the hotel. Once we were checked in we discovered that we were in deed in Hell because the telephone prefix was 666. We slept for a few hours and then went to the concert.
I'll save you the details of the concert and our return trip, but there are a few things that really stand out about that trip. That was when I was first introduced to Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. That was also a few weeks before The Blair Witch Project came out and Andy had a a copy of the new Rolling Stone that featured an ad with a time line for the movie. I remember him reading the history points while we were in the middle of Kentucky and both of us getting a little freaked out by some of the stories. Probably the coolest thing we did that trip was to bootleg the show with a hand held tape recorder. I traded that tape with some other people around the country and copies of that recording that we made are still in circulation on message boards and on ebay. But most of all it was a good time with one of my best friends. Ten years later we still talk about that trip. It's great to think back on a time in my life when the biggest worry was if I was gonna get back home in time to get a couple hours sleep before I had to be back at work. That was a great trip and a great show. I think I'll listen to that show tonight.
I borrowed my parents conversion van and on July 15th at around 11:30 pm we gassed up the van and hit the open highway. I'm here to tell you that the best way to drive through Kentucky is at night. There's hardly anyone on the road and you're not forced to look at the boring scenery. Just outside of Louisville we stopped to get something to eat. Of course we stopped at Waffle House. the locals took interest at the two of us simply because we were different. That was a long, uncomfortable meal. Once we were done we hit the road to Cincinnati. Since Cincy is only ninety miles from Louisville we figured it wouldn't take long to cross over into Ohio. That was the longest ninety miles I have ever driven. We finally crossed the river into Cincinnati just in time to see the sun rise. It was a beautiful site but damn were we tired.
A few hours later we were in central Ohio and starring at endless fields of corn. Ohio may be second on the list of boring scenery behind Kentucky. As we neared Toledo we expected to see the city soon. The signs kept counting down to Toledo but we weren't seeing any signs of an actual city. Finally at about three miles out we started to see something. Then we realized it was an industrial park, not a city. As we rounded said industrial park Toledo finally burst into view. Apparently Ohio has a different definition of what a city is.
For those of you who have never been to Toledo let me give you a visual. Their tallest building was about ten stories tall and the entire downtown area was little more than the size of East Nashville. That's right, Toledo is the size of a neighborhood.
We were actually staying outside of "the city" but we rolled through this sprawling metropolis to find the Toledo Zoo. They have a small amphitheater inside the zoo that seats about 1500 people. So after we found the Zoo and made a note of how to get there we headed to the hotel. Once we were checked in we discovered that we were in deed in Hell because the telephone prefix was 666. We slept for a few hours and then went to the concert.
I'll save you the details of the concert and our return trip, but there are a few things that really stand out about that trip. That was when I was first introduced to Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. That was also a few weeks before The Blair Witch Project came out and Andy had a a copy of the new Rolling Stone that featured an ad with a time line for the movie. I remember him reading the history points while we were in the middle of Kentucky and both of us getting a little freaked out by some of the stories. Probably the coolest thing we did that trip was to bootleg the show with a hand held tape recorder. I traded that tape with some other people around the country and copies of that recording that we made are still in circulation on message boards and on ebay. But most of all it was a good time with one of my best friends. Ten years later we still talk about that trip. It's great to think back on a time in my life when the biggest worry was if I was gonna get back home in time to get a couple hours sleep before I had to be back at work. That was a great trip and a great show. I think I'll listen to that show tonight.
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