Early in the day, looking outside at the lovely blue sky contrasting with the white snow on the ground...and realizing it's damn cold outside, and soon I'll be out in it. Well, there's worse fates. I've got work, a good place to live, wonderful wife, and cats all around. I'm not so sure about the cats, but everything else is cool. Oh, OK, I guess they're cool too. When they're not making me crazy.
Had my first Skype rehearsal with Mike Katon last night. That was interesting...I remember years ago thinking stuff like this would be possible and being very excited about it. Jamming with friends in Turkey and Senegal!! Streaming performances from multiple countries simultaneously to the world!! Well, I haven't done that yet, but it was very handy to be able to work on Mike's tunes without having to drive to Hell, where he lives. Not that it's that far from my house, but it does save me in time, gas and the hassle of shlepping my equipment in the snow. And we got a lot accomplished...I think with a regular few of those a week, and with a few times all together in the real world, we'll be ready to kick butt out on the road in Europe and the UK!! I'm looking forward to it.
I still haven't played with the drummer for the tour, Johnny Bee, but I've heard so many good things about him that I'm inclined to feel real good about it. Hopefully we'll have some time to work out grooves together in the next month...there was some uncertainty about whether we'd have a drummer for a while there!! Mike's original guy from the Netherlands had to bail, and there was a period where we thought we'd have to have two drummers, one playing the early part of the tour and one the later. NOT the ideal situation!! So I was very happy to hear that Bee is on for the duration. It doesn't take much time for me to lock into a drummer's groove, but shifting gears mid-tour sounded like a real problem at the time. Problem solved now though.
My next series of problems is just learning all Mike's new material!! He's just released two new albums, and of course wants to promote them at the shows, so many new songs to play with. Now that he's got an initial list, I can concentrate on those songs...and as I've said before, learn them inside out. They're fun songs, too! Really, this should be a great tour. Katon is in fine form and in great shape mentally and physically, and I'm feeling really good about doing it. I still have my reservations about leaving my Dad here, but he's got an awesome support group now and Cyn and my brothers will be around, so I think he'll be OK. Mike is in much the same boat with his Dad too, I think it's interesting that our lives have that parallel. But perhaps it's just that we are rockers of a certain age!
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