the tonedef blog

Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I thought I would post a little Happy Thanksgiving message.

Wow that was much shorter than I planned.

Thanksgiving is an odd holiday. Its always on a Thursday for one thing. That seams like an odd day of the week to have a holiday. Why did they (and you know who they are) pick Thursday. Why not the everpopular Monday for the 3 day weekend thing. Lukily most companies also include Friday into the holiday so we really get a 4 day weekend, but I can’t see that as part of the original plan.

What are we really celebrating anyway. Okay some friendly Europeans came to the “New World” and made friends with some of the locals. Then when it starting getting cold out they all got together and shared a big-ass meal. Then the Europeans told their friends and family about how cool their new digs were so a bunch more moved in. And then the locals started getting a little worried. Then the Europeans decided that they really liked this new place and decided the locals didn’t really fit in so made sure they were all moved or killed or whatever. Then to get back at the Europeans the locals built casinos to get their money back. I didn’t really pay attention in history class but that was always the jist that I got anyway. There is probably a lot more to the story, but I don’t have time to go into all of that.

Anywho…Thing 1 was learning about Thanksgiving in school this week. She learned how to draw hand turkeys (don’t even say you don’t know what a hand turkey is…). She got to make a paper Indian head dress with paper feathers. I forgot to ask her if she is being told they are Indians or Native Americans. No big deal to me either way; just curious if her teacher is a traditionalist or a PCer. She’s looking forward to a big dinner at Grandma’s house with turkey and cranberry and corn and desert and desert and did I mention desert. Unfortunatly, since Thing 1′s school had that teachers strike, there is school Friday. We haven’t decided if we are sending her or not yet. On the one hand Band Mom and I had the parent’s that you went to school unless blood was oozing from your eyes and event then get some cotton balls and clean up and you should be fine. On the other hand who wants to go to school the day after a holiday. (She’s supposed to go to school the day after Christmas this year and since Christmas is on a Sunday there is no days off at all.) I dunno.

Anyway, have a good Thanksgiving. If you go out tonight (Wednesday before thanksgiving: the biggest party night of the year, bigger than New Year’s Eve) be safe and have fun. If you are traveling be careful on the roads. Its the biggest travel weekend of the year as well. I know we travel in it every year and this year will be no different. After Thanksgiving Day with my parents, and Black Friday shopping, we are heading down to see Band Mom’s folks inside The Beltway.

So have fun, be safe and don’t eat yourself sick.

…is being able to check out other bands. Rock and I decided to take advantage of the Shot:30 break on the first day of said break. We headed out to Rinky Dinks Road House in Amity, PA to see Ruff Creek. Neither of us has seen Ruff Creek since Don and Jay joined and that’s been a couple of years now probably. And since Don and Mark both came to our Halloween show it was our way of saying thanks. Now I am not what you would call an enthusiastic country music fan, but Ruff Creek was worth the price of admission. I had a good time watching these guys. Ruff Creek has some excellent musicians and vocalists. The only member of the six piece that didn’t sing anything was Mark, but what do you expect from a drummer. If you like country music or just want to see some awesome musicians check out the Ruff Creek web site for a schedule.

And if you know Rinky Dinks and haven’t been there in a while you should go see the renovations they have done. The place is almost down right respectable. There is real bathrooms with concrete floors. A huge renovated stage. New seating areas. Oh and how could I forget the mechanical bull. Rinky Dinks was always a great place, but the renovations are great. And DD was bartending, so that was cool ’cause I haven’t taked to Dave in a while.

Last Friday night was the final Shot:30 show of 2005. Thanks to all those that came out to Nikolozakes in Fairpoint, OH to catch the show. (And thanks to those that were going to show up, but thought the show was Saturday…you know who you are.) Nikolozakes is always a good time and we couldn’t have asked for a better last show of the year. The guys from Evolution came and hung out for a while and we definitly appreciate their support since we got into Nikolozakes by opening for these guys. (If you’re from that area or want to take the trip, don’t miss Evolution at Nikolozake’s the Friday after Thanksgiving!)

We pulled out some new material at Nikolozakes this weekend. We added four new covers to our sets and tried a new original. The covers were We’re Not Gonna Take It by Twisted Sister, Mudshovel from Staind, Ball And Chain by Social Distortion and Used To Love Her by Guns N’ Roses. The original comes from the mind of Rocky and is entitled Love Hunter.

Like I said the band is taking the holiday season off to spend some time with family and for Rock to go shoot Bambi. We will also practice a few times over the break so look forward to more new covers and originals in 2006. We already have started booking for January so keep an eye out for us. Our first show back is going to be a private party, and we are going to be back to Nikolozakes the 3rd Friday of January (that’s the 20th for those that care). If there is any cover material that you would like to hear at a Shot:30 show drop us a line and let us know.

See ya next year…

The band practiced on Friday night and there was no show this weekend. This meant Saturday was spent at home with the fam. Unfortunately, Band Mom was sick so that took some of the fun out of a night at home with the crew. But one positive about being home on Saturday night for a change was I could watch Saturday Night Live. And bonus this week’s host was Jason Lee. I’m a big fan of Lee. He was great in all of the Kevin Smith stuff that he did (Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, and Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back). My Name is Earl just kills me. And you gotta love the guy who voices the super villan in an animated flick (The Incredibles). And the musical guest was not some sucky pop act it was Foo Fighters. Also NBC ran a 2 hour My Name is Earl marathon from 9 to 11….snoogins.

Maybe Band Mom’s illness spread to me and affected my sense of humor or maybe I got my hopes up too high or maybe this was just one of the worst episodes of SNL ever. There were only 3 segments that even got a laugh out of me…The shows an hour and a half and I laughed for about a total of 2 minutes. The first laugh came with an HGTV spoof with Lee talking about winterizing your home by putting caulk in the cracks. And many caulk comments. And talking about black caulk for the bathroom and the female host not really liking caulk, and the male host never finding caulk when he needs it, but quite enjoying caulk. I think you can see why that’s pretty funny…I hope…

Anyway

The second laugh was during Weekend Update when Finesse and Kenan did a great Donovan McNabb/Mom McNabb bit talking about the whole T.O. thing. (Sorry I’ve always liked Kenan, since Destiny watched him on All That.) And the final laugh came during a skit called ‘Stachin’. The skit itself wasn’t all that good, but Jason Lee being a ’70s porn star was quite funny and the fact that Horatio Sanzwas laughing through his part made it that much funnier. I was waiting all night for Lee to play a porn star with that stache he’s got goin for Earl. Other than that the Foo Fighters were cool. That’s it. An hour and a half and 3 sketches that drew laughter.

Speaking of Jason Lee and earlier Kevin Smith. I can’t wait for Clerks 2: The Passion of the Clerks. I’ve been following the video journal and Lee was in it performing The Tounge Song with Mewes (you know Jay of Jay and Silent Bob). This better not be as big a let down as this weeks SNL. Somehow I don’t think it can be. Ever since I saw Clerks at some small screening in Philly when I was still in school, I’ve been a huge fan of Smith’s stuff. And Jason Lee has been in a bunch of that stuff (see the links above). Oh well just some links for anyone who cares to check out the Clerks 2 stuff.

I’ll be home next Saturday as well, because the band is playing on Friday. This is a biggie. Its our last show of the year and its at Nicolozakes in Fairpointe, OH. Some of Keyser’s friends from Evolution will hopefully be out to see us. Also we know some folks from this side of the WV panhandle are going to make the trip. So it should be a good night. Hopefully we’ll see you all there.