I Need My Comfy Sweats

I guess I’ll start with a few things from last weeks’ blog before I get to stuff for this week.  First a correction: apparently it is called ‘whippin’ shitties’, not ‘spinnin’ shitties’.  Several people corrected me on this.  My mistake; guess I heard it wrong.  Secondly, I was complaining about the word ‘blog’, and asking for a better term.  Someone said it is really just a journal anyway, so I should just call it a journal entry.  Which makes sense to me.  It is not the most flashy word, but it really does describe what I’m doing here; just journaling from the road.  Sounds better to me than ‘blogging’.  Wow, that word really does annoy me for some reason.  So I guess I will start calling these ‘journal entries’.  Okay, now that those things have been cleared up, on to new stuff. 

I thought it would be interesting to talk about what it is like to be sick out on the road.  I woke up with flu symptoms Monday morning: achy body, fever, scratchy throat, tons of congestion, and could barely talk.  I’m sure it was partly from such an intense weekend with not enough sleep – my immune system just shutting down on me.  It was a crazy weekend; traveling on Friday to the show, playing in Milwaukee on Friday night (which is always wild), tearing down Saturday morning and going to Madison, WI to set up and play the show (which was a blast), then tearing down Sunday morning, traveling to Savanna, IL and playing an afternoon show.  Even before our Sunday afternoon show started I was dragging from lack of sleep, but after that show I was just dead tired and ready to drop.  The Madison show was especially insane, and then getting up the next day for another show was apparently just too much.  Anyway, getting sick on the road is tough to deal with.  Lucky for me we had 3 days off for me to somewhat recover.  But sometimes we get sick and have a show that night, or even the next day.  What then?  Sometimes it is just feeling achy and having some congestion; but then adding the scratchy throat in the mix is the worst (well at least for me it is – it is ridiculously difficult to sing with a sore and raw throat).  But we’re expected to go on anyway.  We don’t really get to call in sick, especially if it’s a weekend show.  If the show must go on we just have to suck it up and go play.  There are a few tricks I’ve used to help get me through on those nights where I just have to sing with a sore throat.  I carry ‘meds’ with me in case: always have Claritin, Mucinex, a huge bag of cough drops, and a few other things.  The spray stuff that numbs your throat works occasionally.  And I always have salt with me so I can gargle with warm salt water.  It is nasty, but really helps.  And when all else fails: Blackberry Brandy!  Just kidding… kind of.  While it is awful trying to sing and perform while sick, I think the worst part is actually just not being home.  Think about when you’re sick, you just want to be in your bed, in comfortable sweats and having someone pamper and take care of you.  Unfortunately out here on the road that just isn’t an option: we’re a thousand miles from our own bed, no comfy sweats, and no significant other out here to take care of us.  So for me that is the worst part; just dealing with it all by myself.  But hey, that’s part of the deal I guess.  And at least this time I had a few recovery days before a show. 

I’m reading that part back to myself right now trying to determine if it made any sense, but in my still groggy state from this flu I have no idea if it is coherent or not.  Oh well, I’ll just move on to other things and forget it.  I think you get the idea anyway.  Maybe the rest of this ‘journal’ won’t make much sense either.  Guess I better proof read this one twice before sending it out. 

So, this weekend we had two extremely different types of shows.  In Madison we played the grand opening weekend for Red Rock Saloon.  It holds somewhere around 500 people, is close to the University of Wisconsin campus, and was just packed with younger people partying.  It felt a lot like a concert: lots of people jammed right up to the stage, screaming after every song, beer being slung everywhere.  For us those shows are amazing.  I love the atmosphere.  I love that we can get a crowd like that hyped up and basically control how their night is going to go.  And I am thankful that I have a band that is good enough to entertain a crowd like that; because I don’t think it is all that easy.  But it seems like in environments like that (lots of people crammed into a small place expecting to be entertained by the band) we do really well.  I don’t really worry about holding that crowd.  I know we are able to do it.  I hope that comes off as confident about the abilities of the guys in this band, not as me being conceited about it; because I really do think it is more about ‘us’ excelling than just me. 

But then we go to a place like Savanna, IL.  It is a small town.  The show is on a Sunday afternoon.  It is the exact opposite of the crowd we played to the night before: there is far less people, they are not jammed right up to the stage, they are not all partying hard.  It is different from our stand point too: it is in the afternoon instead of at night, we are in a small bar, there is not the excitement that comes from a weekend night show, etc.  But I must say I honestly enjoy playing there as much as I did in Madison the night before, just for completely different reasons.  And I think this is what makes the crowd in Savanna so cool for us.  They are just there to hear us play.  They come to a bar on a Sunday afternoon for the band.  They want to hear our music.  From the first time we played there, they have been appreciative of what we are doing.  They listen during the songs.  They clap after each song.  They know the music off of our albums.  They have our albums.  They have our shirts.  Hell, there was someone at our show this past Sunday that had on a shirt that we don’t even carry anymore.  That person has had that shirt for several years, and chose to wear it after all this time to show support for us.  And at the end of every show we’ve played there, they chant and stomp and request an encore.  It is a really genuine group of people there.  I am blown away sometimes.  So, from me, thank you to the people in Savanna that have been coming out on Sundays for the past few years to support our music.  We have noticed, and it is extremely appreciated.  And I guess what I’m saying here is that there’s not just one type of show that is my favorite.  Yes, I love huge party crowds that think we’re a bunch of rock stars.  But in a different way I also love those shows when people are just actually listening to my music and appreciating it for what it is. 

Well, I know this isn’t the longest ‘journal’ entry, but I’m still trying to get over this illness, and honestly just can’t think clearly enough to write too much more tonight.  I’ll do my best to make it up next week.  But I could really use some ideas; so what would you like to read about next week?  EMAIL me and let me know; maybe something really abstract.  Oh, and I almost forgot: I really enjoyed the comment that was posted on last week’s entry about ‘Stairway to Heaven’ being the greatest song of all time.  I’d really be interested in seeing the science that backs that up.  Tim, hopefully someday you and I can sit down and debate that when I get back to Nebraska.  I mean, it is a pretty damn good song; maybe not my favorite of all time, but still right up there among the legendary songs.  No one can deny that.  And I do love Led Zeppelin.

Well, as always, make sure you check out our FACEBOOK page, and be sure to ‘follow’ us on TWITTER.  Check out our website www.themichaeldband.com to see our schedule and find out when we’re going to be near you.  We hope you make it out to the show when we are close.  And don’t forget about our new album “Back In Town” on I-TUNES.  Lastly, as promised from a few weeks ago, below are more lyrics from another song off our new album. 

Hope everyone has a great week. 

“What They Say”

Some say I’m a rebel, I’m a gypsy, they don’t get me

Others say I’m a sinner, I don’t act right, I’m out all night

But girl if you get me beneath the full moon I can show you

Just how much fun I can be, if you want to take a ride with me

Climb on up in the front seat we’ll head down a back road

Slide over next to me and turn on the radio

Go ahead and crank it up you can let your hair down

Do what you wanna do there ain’t no one around

Come on baby, go crazy, then maybe

Honey you can see if it’s true, what they say about me

I bet you heard I was a smooth talkin’ whiskey drinkin’ don’t give a dang

I would run with the devil if I thought he could hang

That your mama is gonna hate me, so don’t date me

Yeah that’s right I’ve got an attitude, I like to kick back on the two track

So if you want to find out what I’m all about

Climb on up in the front seat we’ll head down a back road

Slide over next to me and turn on the radio

Go ahead and crank it up you can let your hair down

Do what you wanna do there ain’t no one around

Come on baby, go crazy, then maybe

Honey you can see if it’s true

What they say about me

So if you think you are ready come and ride with me yeah

Climb on up in the front seat we’ll head down a back road

Slide over next to me and turn on the radio

Go ahead and crank it up you can let your hair down

Do what you wanna do there ain’t no one around

Come on baby, go crazy, then maybe

Honey you can see if it’s true, what they say about me

What they say about me yeah