The Real Memphis Mike (don't settle for imitations)

THANKSGIVUS!!!!!!!!!! BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!!!!!! 8th YEAR!!!!!! I post this every year. Why? Because some folks ask for it....also because I like it. I hope you will too. We probably shouldn't need a holiday to remind us to be thankful for whatever we have...but I'm glad we do. So with out further adieu.... Thanksgivus Thanksgivus: that's what she called it. The 'she' in question would be a very short, loud, middle aged black woman with retardation who I supervised for years. Her name is Omega...fitting because she truly is THE END! Omega didn't exactly have a speech problem but I think her hearing wasn't 100% on the mark, as certain words would get slurred together such as "Thanksgivus". Another fave was her version of Social Security, which often sounded more like "sociable secretary" (of which I've known a few). Thanksgivus (which is what I now prefer to call the US holiday Thanksgiving) is the last Thursda...

I finished a song today. That might not sound like much, but this song has haunted me for 15 damned years. Sure, most songwriters have tons of unfinished songs. Hell, I have hundreds, maybe thousands of them...but this song has always been gnawing at the back of my brain. I've asked at least a half dozen songwriter friends to help me with it over the years, but nothing ever came of it. I guess it just wasn't the song's time...until now. I guess I can thank the music industry, in part, for it. This song is bound to be ignored by most. It's a waltz for Pete's sake...and really, who writes waltzes anymore? That said, the industry, and the possibly irreversible mess it's found itself in, has freed me to write whatever the hell I damned well like. It no longer really matters. For years I've heard the words "it'll never get airplay" in the back of my head when I write. Not that many of my songs have ever or will ever get much airplay, but those...

As you may already know, I've just been on tour with Danny Kay & The Nightlifers, a honky tonk band based out of Baltimore, MD. We were having a great time and a good tour until we hit some unexpected rough patches. The last straw was our bass player, Johnny Lawless, falling ill. We had to pull the plug then. Big apologies to those who had been planning to come out and see us. We will try to reschedule for the spring.  L-R Johnny Lawless, Danny Kay, Memphis Mike @ The Parlour, Providence, RI Some of you may be wondering " So, how was the rest of the tour ?"  In short, GREAT! We kinda got a late start though. Johnny drove up from Virginia to pick me up in Pittsburgh and then out to the middle of nowhere in the mountains where Danny Kay is now residing. We're talking Bigfoot Country. Once we were all aboard and packed up and strapped in, it was straight to Harrisburg, PA for our first show of the tour. Susquehanna Ale House 22  Harrisburg, PA In ...

So, I'm spending the day doing laundry...nothing particularly new or exciting but... I'm getting ready for my first real tour in 7 years. Needless to say, I'm excited...yet at the same time, a tad nervous. For those who haven't been keeping score, I'm going on tour playing guitar with Danny Kay & The Nightlifers, an old school country band - 2 guitars, upright bass, no drums. I'm quite looking forward to it...provided I don't have a heart attack or stroke on the road. I'm going to miss my girlfriend and my cat. With the exception of the odd weekend here and there, this is the first time my girlfriend and I have spent any kind of time away from each other in our nearly 6 years together. It's going to be weird NOT waking up next to her. I'm going to miss her knee in my spine and her stealing all the covers. I'm going to miss our routines. We get up together in the morning. She usually drinks most of the coffee but always makes more fo...

The headline read "Russell Brand May Have Started A Revolution". Hogmuffins. The piece regarded Brand being interviewed by BBC's Jeremy Paxman (known for his "forthright and abrasive interviewing style") about being the guest editor for The New Statesman's recent revolution-themed issue. Paxman asked, and rightly so, what qualifies Brand for this. The interview just goes awry from there. It ends with Brand being dramatically passionate about the state of the world. OK...so he's lucid enough to understand, like most of the rest of the world, that things need to change. He's vocal about what ...but not about how . He rants about social injustice, wealth disparity, etc...but makes no statements regarding how to go about solving the problems. A friend sent me the article this morning and this was my reply (for the most part): "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." ...

Q: How do you ask a musician/entertainer/artist to do shit for FREE for your favorite charity, fundraising entity, non-profit organization? A: You don't. Asking us to do for you, what many of us do for a living, for FREE, is an insult to us. Many will appear to take the high road** on this...I, however, will not. Don't get me wrong. I'm all for benefits and charities. Over the years, I've given my money, time, and talents to many. I did so because I chose to...not because I was asked to. I do so because the charities that I contribute my time/money/talent to mean something to me...just like your favorite charitable organization means to you. It doesn't make one better than another. In fact, many are really pretty crooked...but that's a story for another time. So, a guy calls me today, under the pretense of buying some gear that I have for sale. I can tell he's trying to make small talk...to get on my good side. If you've ever engaged in a busines...

   THIS IS STAR TREK , DAMMIT!!!!!!!!  (l-r Scotty, Chekov, Bones, Nurse Whats-her-face-that-no-one-really-cared-about, THE KIRK, Uhura, Spock, and Mr. "Oh My" his own bad self, Sulu. THIS is Star Trek!) I've actually had this same discussion a few times in the past week. THIS is Star Trek. The REAL Star Trek, if you will. "Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise . Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before." That was Captain James Tiberius Kirk's monologue at the beginning of every episode, bar two. Jim Kirk is in command of the Enterprise. Learn that. Live it. Love it. When someone asks me if I like Star Trek (which I do), THIS is what I think of. I am usually horrified when asked the follow up question: "Which one?" By this, I can only hope that they mean to inquire as to which episode I liked the ...