the tonedef blog

Friday, Band Mom was attending a conference, so I took the day off to stay home with Things 1 & 2. During the day they played and I got some work done. At 6 Band Mom had a meeting. I then took Things 1 & 2 to my folks to spend the night. Then I headed to Rock’s (after a quick stop at the beer distributor and Subway. I was there a little early so I got to eat my dinner before we practiced. We ran through the 5 new songs we ran through last week and 5 more new ones. They are coming together pretty good.

After practice we were meeting Band Mom and her friends at Bradford’s like we did two weeks ago. When I called Band Mom to let her know we were on our way she told me to skip Bradford’s (because the music was killing them so they were already bouncing to the next stop) and head to Peppino’s. So Trav and Rock followed me home so I could drop my car off and we headed to Peppino’s. Scott was heading home to pick up the his girlfriend and other roommates. When Scott got there it turned out his girlfriend and her sister backed out, but his other roommate Kieth was in. So now there are 9 of us hanging out back of Peppino’s chatting with the owner for a while.

After a few drinks it was time for the next stop. Mayor Ken dropped out after Peppino’s so the rest of us headed to Hungry Jose’s for the next stop. A quick round there and then off to May’rz Inn for some karaoke. We got there and on of the sons of the owners was there with his wife and she was singing. Then I signed Trav up to sing A-Ha’s Take On Me which was kinda funny. He then signed up Scott to do a Busta Rhymes song. Very Funny! Then Councilman Matt and I did a duet of The Divinyls I Touch Myself. There’s an inside joke there, but it was funny without knowing it. Then the karaoke guy closed down shop (a 1/2 hour early according to the signs) so we headed to The Moose to finish up the night.

Friday night after work, the fam ordered some pizza for dinner. After I finished eating, I got ready and headed to Bill’s to jam with him, Sal and Jimmy again. Sal and I both got there about the same time around 8. Jimmy was late again, but not as late as last time. He got there about 8:30. We jammed for a few hours and finally I got out of there around 1:30.

On the way home I had to stop at Wal Mart to pick up some stuff for Thing 1 for Girl Scouts. Tomorrow she is selling cookies at Giant Eagle. She had been using a sash that was my sisters from way back and it was quite faded. So we decided to get her a new vest. I also got her the patches that it needed. After, I got those things and headed home. Band Mom then applied the iron-on patches and we headed to bed.

Sunday was Chinese New Year and rang in the Year Of The Pig (or Boar). Yesterday’s trip allowed Band Mom to pick up all of the supplies needed to make dinner with the traditional elements. She was making fish ball soup (mmmm), dumplings and a rice desert that I can’t spell.

I got together to practice with Rocky, Trav, and Scott today as well. We got together around 1 (well 1:30 for Scott!) and went over some songs. We got 3 that are good, and 4 more that with a little work will be okay. We’re having fun and playing some cool stuff. All covers right now, but they are fun covers. This thing is going to be a fun project.

We finished up a little before 5 and I headed home (after a stop at Wal Mart) and ate my Chinese New Year dinner. Band Mom did an excellent job on the soup and even the desert (which I usually don’t enjoy) was pretty good.

So Happy Chinese New Year and hopefully you will all have a good Year Of The Pig!

This past Friday, I met Band Mom and the gang at the mall on my way home from work. Band Mom was dropping Pooh and her boyfriend at the movies and decided to get an oil change at Sears since she was at the mall. I met Band Mom and Things 1 & 2 at the mall and Band Mom dropped her car off for service. We wandered through the mall for a bit and picked up some new clothes for Things 1 & 2. Then we shopped for Band Mom. After a little shopping, we hit the food court for some dinner. The kids had Sbarro, while Band Mom and I had chinese food. After we ate we were going to go get Band Mom’s car and head home. Band Mom said I could hit Hot Topic or the music store and pick something up for me. Can’t pass that up, so I ended up picking up a Lamb Of God T-shirt. Then headed home.

On the way home from the mall Bill called me and let me know they were still getting together, though earlier in the day I said I wasn’t going to come and jam tonight. I got home around 8:30 and called to see if they were still there. Jimmy hadn’t even shown up yet and Sal and Bill were there so I decided I’d head down and jam a little. Jimmy finally showed up at 10:30 and we jammed till about quarter to 1.

All week it was close to 70 degrees outside. Of course this Saturday it was below freezing. Why of course? Well Band Mom was involved in Canonsburg’s Old Fashioned Christmas celebration. At least it wasn’t quite as cold as last year. But it was still cold.

We got up early and headed to the Chamber office to pick up tents and other supplies that Band Mom needed for the festival. When we got there Band Mom got a call from Bim that she wouldn’t be coming because of car trouble. (Likely story it was fuckin’ cold if I could have gotten out of it I would have too) Then we unloaded the supplies and I got my first excuse to get a little warmth. I had to run to the Iceoplex to pick up tables and chairs. I got back and we set them up. Then I got another excuse, I had to run back to the Iceoplex to get table cloths.

It was pretty slow during the morning hours of the festival and we just kinda stood around the two little heaters we had trying to stay warm. Finally at about 11:30 I came up with another excuse to get warm. Pooh and I went across the street and had some breakfast/lunch at a pizza joint.

Then around 1 I got to really be warm for a while. I walked the block down to Bill‘s house and jammed with him, Sal and Jimmy R. for a few hours.

Then unfortunately at 4:30 I had to head back to the festival. Everything was kinda wrapping up so we tore things down and hung out untill 5:30 for the fireworks. Then we took the stuff back to the Chamber and the Iceoplex and headed to my folks’ for dinner. After dinner we took Things 1 & 2 and went home for the evening.