Road Back Home

Jar of pickles? You tell me. We found them in the back alley behind Preservation Pub. It was our first stop this week-end. In between the stops? Well let me see, mp3's, DVD's, cell phones, laptops, blackberries, XM radio, splitters for the headphones and McD's to go. It was good to get there and do what we do, MUSIC! Live and loud! We got reacquainted with old friends and made some new ones along the way. Mr Mac in Cookville calls everyone George. He's gotta mean well. Dan in Black Mountain has got his hands full with the Town Pump. Val, thanks for the good food. The whole Delbert thing was an experience. Those guys are all good. Rocky on sound, you too. Vaughn, you gotta send me some of those AFKAS pics. And to Chris, WH!
Ok, I've got most of the pics posted. Check 'em out. AFKAS has got a couple added to his "my space" and his Flickr album. It was good to get out again, but better to get back home.
Congrats on the release Billy Gibson.

Where's AFKAS?

I know it's somewhere on the trip to Gulf Shores, but where?
Yeah that's Stephen, thinks he can outplay AFKAS.

AFKAS went on to PR for the Shrimpfest. Unofficially becoming the event's spokesman. He's a man of many hats. What a ham!

Here he is hanging back stage with the Wes Loper Band.
Not a ham, just a downright groupie.
Thursday you'll find him and Dani at the Shanti. Friday night we'll be downtown at Isaac Hayes. If you bought an entertainment coupon book this year (05-06), there's a 2 for 1 dinner coupon.
Just wanted to share some more photos. See ya this week-end.
So really, Where's AFKAS?

Shrimp Fest

Oh man, what a week-end! Had such a blast, I almost forgot the back pain. That's us pictured with Ron Kutter in the VIP tent after playing Saturday. On Friday, we ate some great gumbo brought in from Lulu's and on Saturday it was BBQ and boiled shrimp. What a treat!
We drove in on Friday and played an hour later, whew. Bushed, we didn't stay to hear alot of music, but met the band backing Kim Carson, The Casualties.
Checking into our condo for the week-end was a nice surprise. Found out we were on the 10th floor over looking the gulf. Needless to say, we all checked-out early for the night since we'd been on the road since 4am. The place was packed Saturday. We met the guys from Foxy Iguanas and AFKAS snuck in some pictures with the Wes Loper Band. Did you check out the web cam I mentioned earlier? Or even the pictures Dave posted along the way? Those are some candid shots. The one below with Dani was shot with his camera phone.
Gotta send some thanks out. Ginger Parnell, your crew really treated us great. Rick, thanks for getting us there and back in one piece and the daily devotions. And thanks to our roadie, Justin, who was a big help to the band. Zack you're the king of "6 degrees of separation".
Don't forget to visit the photo album. AFKAS was there too, and he has his own pics.

National Shrimp Festival

Here we go again, another road trip. We're headed to Gulf Shores, ALA this week-end for the 34th Annual National Shrimp Festival. When you go to the Festival website, there's a web-cam you can control. You gotta check that out! Along the way, Dave should be posting photos on his moblog site. Oh yeah, I've replaced my old camera so I'll have some pics on our return.
Wet Willie is playing Saturday night and you know AFKAS is looking forward to getting his picture taken with Jimmy and Jack.

The guitar and mandolin have new strings(D'Addario's that is), got extra 9 volts, ibuprofen's packed, phone's charged up and I'm ready to go. See ya on the flip-flop.

Week-end Update

Another 3 gig week-end in the bag. Thursday's at Shanti Steakhouse is starting to gather a crowd. You need to make one of these. Friday at Isaac's was another good show for Dani. And Saturday's Jimmy Buffet tribute at City Cafe was a blast. Sandals, hawaiian shirts and leis while singing Buffet tunes, "reminds me of the places I've been"(some I won't revisit).
I've posted some more pics in the Photo Album under Bay Days 05.
AFKAS updates:
AFKAS now has his own 1) my space site and 2) photo album.
Who would've thunk this could happen. "Too much time on my hands" w/ my disk problem. Speaking of which, I've got a visit at the Neuro Doc today, hopefully to get some relief soon! I tried loading my gear in the other night, not a good idea.
If you've got a "my space" sign in, send an invite, AFKAS loves the company.
Thanks for the visit and go hug your momma.

I Know Bo!

Check this out! Yep, that's me and Bo Diddley. We got to hang out w/ Bo and his band after Saturday's show. We had great seats, side stage just a few feet from him.
Oh yeah, we played a couple of times too. Friday night we played our acoustic set on the country stage. Then Saturday afternoon we went early, checked out Don Butcher's Band, met some pirates, followed AFKAS around, hungout in the back stage trailer and invited Sue Ann to sing back-up on a couple of tunes. On stage sound was mixed great so it gave us all a boost, Dani did a great job & Zack was on fire. The Bay Days people treated us like royalty, from the stage crew, security, catering and even the crowd was responsive. It's just odd to me to be signing autographs.
Meanwhile, back on Earth...
Our trip home lead us back through Black Mountain, NC again. While there, one of our trailer springs snapped. That extended our drive home another day. Unload the trailer, load another, get up early, get springs fixed, unload rented trailer and load ours back up. Finally back on the road Monday noon and home after dark.
News to come...
AFKAS is working on his blogging adventures(site up soon).
Photos should be in sometime Wednesday.
Don't forget The Shanti Thursday and Isaac Hayes Friday night.
Vaughn, thanks for the camera batteries!!!

Artist Formerly Known As Stickboy

The "Artist Formerly Known As Stickboy" auditioned for a spot in the band. He quickly realized that he's merely a groupie. Still wanting to be a part of it all, AFKAS has vowed to follow us and be our most dedicated fan.
So the adventure begins. Seen here, during our Redbirds gig, AFKAS is deciding what to eat.
Question is, "where is he?" No clues for this one.

Pay careful attention, AFKAS does tricks, morphs and is an all-around thrill seeker.
He shows up in all shapes, colors and sizes.
You can leave your answers in "comments" or "gmail".
I will be keeping score, which implies there will be a winner?
So, "Where's AFKAS?"

Dani & the hot heads

100 degrees+!!!!!!!
I thought last July 4th's gig was hot(95). Autozone park at 4:30 in the afternoon was killer.
Click on pic and you'll see the towels & the effects of it all. The mandolin wouldn't stay in tune so we skipped those tunes til after the game. Makes you want to invest in large umbrellas.
Still a cool gig though. No pun intended.
I've posted a couple of pics from Saturday's gig. It's listed in the photo album under "Memphis Redbirds".

We've got a new fan. Pay attention, the "Artist Formerly Known As Stick Boy" showed up.
AFKASB is on an adventure and will be posting pics soon.
Too much heat, huh. See ya soon.