Coming Up For Air

Hi everybody. Yeah, I know, The blog has been MIA since June. The last thing I wrote about was seeing the Police in New Orleans. A lot has happened since then. Lot's of stuff. We'll get to that shortly. First let's talk about the main thing that has been keeping me from writing this blog.

For the past two years or so I have had a bit of a sleeping disorder. For longer than that I have snored. You can ask anyone that has had to share a room with me, it's pretty loud. But the last two years I have had a problem were I wake a lot. A first it seemed like it was a couple times a night. then it progressed to about 4 times. Then to about every hour to hour and a half.

For the first year or so, I dealt with it no problem. I just took a lot of naps. Sometime around last May I found myself getting snappy and defensive with people over nothing.

This summer I started feeling tired.......all of the time. There were few things I could do without getting that sleepy feeling. I found that the road trips to the gigs, were harder and harder to make without pulling over a couple of times for naps. I also started getting tired at work. My head would bob at my desk. as time went on I found that I can't stop at a red light without wanting to take a little nap. Till finally one day I fell asleep at my desk and my boss got on to me. (Oddly enough it was the day after I got the team player of the month at work for the 3rd time). She basically said I needed to get help and have it on file, because of the CEO caught me sleeping he would have her fire me, and she doesn't want to do that.

Well, I finally found a Sleep Doctor. An ENT named DR. Gadlage. His office set me up with a Sleep study and a CT Scan of my sinus. The Sleep study was misery. You get all hooked up to these wires and they ask you to sleep on your back. I was already having a hard time staying asleep, now all this was making it hard to get to sleep.

Anyhoo, it turns out that the scan showed I have a deviated septum from a broken nose I didn't I once had.

The Sleep study showed much more. Although I am sleeping about 82% of the time, I am only getting about 13 minutes of REM sleep. You need about 30 to feel rested. I am also only getting 62% of the oxygen I need. Basically it is like running a car on 64 octane gas. NICE.

The official diagnosis is Severe Sleep Apnea.

I am supposed to have Sleep Therapy again to fit me with a CPAP, forced air machine. Hopefully that will fix the problem.

Honestly, I can't remember what being rested feels like. I have no recollection of it.

ok, enough of that. In October I got a puppy. Her name is Roxanne. She is a flat-coat retriever mix. she is a little over 5months old. And she kicks ass. Tomorrow I am having a fence installed in my back yard for to have a little play/poop area. I will post pictures of her on my MYSPACE very soon.

Hopefully once we get this CPAP going I will be able to have more awake time to type out dome blogs.

thanks,

john

La Policia

OK, the band is playing in Columbia this weekend, but not with me.

I, along with my good buddy Jeff, will be in New Orleans tomorrow to see my favorite band of all time -- The Police. I saw them once during the Amnesty tour in the late 80's. When they played in Atlanta, Sting brought Andy and Stewart out for his portion of the show for a short reunion. Otherwise, I have Sting many times in concert, but just that once for the Police. And even though I think Sting is the driving force behind the Police, it's just not the same as seeing the three of them together.

Anyhoo, The purpose of today's blog is to get some interaction started amongst those reading this thing. I Hear quite often from folks in Greenville, Dacula, Suwanee and a handful of other places that this blog actually gets read.

So with that and The Police in mind, I want to see how many people actually read this by getting you to leave a comment with your favorite band and whether not you have every seen them in concert. If you want to elaborate, all the better. If you are like me and have a favorite band (Police) and a favorite musician/artist (Prince) or any other combination of favorites, please list both

Remember, leave a comment. Not an email to my email address or a comment or message on Myspace. Actually comment on this blog. That will also give me an idea of how many people actually read it.

Thanks,

John (OJJ)

Things I've learned in recent weeks.

Disclaimer: Before I state anything here, please understand that these are my opinions. Some of these were formed while under the influence of Rockstar & Vodka, some were formed with only 3 hours sleep, and some were even formed after sitting at work looking at .aspx code all afternoon.

1. No matter how hungry you are, when going to the continental breakfast at a hotel, never trust: a). anything that is a perfect solid yellow circle, that calls itself "eggs". It won't taste worth a shit! b). any sausage patty that you can't smell without putting it directly under your nose. No smell, no taste. A properly cooked quality sausage patty should smell and taste like Sunday morning.
2. When applying Ben Gay to your sore shoulder, don't accidentally wipe a tiny bit on the top part of your fairly new tattoo. (Luckily, my tat is already about 3 weeks old, so it's pretty much healed. But it still burned a bit).
3. Never ever go out for cocktails after work and have three Rockstar and vodkas, and then go home and pee in the dark. You will be startled when you pee neon.
4. When you get home from a gig at 3am on Thursday night and you have to be at work at 7am so you can drive to your next gig, checking what your Tivo may have record......not such a good idea.
5. When you played the night before, got in at 3am, watched The Office on Tivo, then at work at 7am, so you can leave for the gig at 4(once my vacation time re-cycles on July 10th, I ill be alright) you will probably have to nap on the way. Rest Area - Good Resting place. Truck Stops with a big car parking lot - Good Resting place. Burger King parking lot - Bad.

That's about it. Not much to it, just stuff on my mind.

j

Juicy, Simon, Adrian, & The Dr. @ Wild Bill's TONIGHT!!!!!

That's right, The Boogaloo will be making it's debut at Wild Bill's tonight for "Ladies 80s Night"

Check out our homepage for more details.

OJJ

OJJ's Update June 2007

It's been a long while. In fact, about 8 weeks. I know that because the last blog was written right after the first week of The Rock Mafia. And we just finished the first set of 8 weeks for that.

With that in mind, we are the beginning of a new set of 12 weeks. Every Thursday @ the Alpharetta Wild Wing Cafe. We usually start around 10, earlier if enough people sign up early. We actually would like to eventually be able to start around 9:30 just so we can get more people on stage, especially those that sign up on the "2nd singer" list.

So far the ROCK MAFIA shows have been great. Enough people have signed up that we barely have time for the ones that want to sing a second time. Each week we have added a few songs and now the list is up to about 120 or so songs. We will continue to add songs as we go, so that number will continue to grow as well. Be sure and check out our every growing songlist and our Rock Mafia myspace page. Another great thing about the Mafia is that we have a nice group of regulars that come out and sing every week. We appreciate all their support and look forward to them each week.

Last week, we had a couple of surprise guests sign up for songs. Joey from the Lixx band and Rhonda from Southern Crush. Joey came up and sang I'm Just A Girl and later I Hate Myself For Loving You and totally rock out. Rhonda came up and did Highway To Hell and sent the crowd into a frenzy. If you get a chance to see either of these bands, make sure you go. You won't be disappointed. Here are links to their websites ..... Lixx & Southern Crush.

On to other things.........

I'm not going to go over each and every weekend since the last blog, but I will touch on some random things, in no particular order. Here we go....

• My bass amp. Last time we talked, the combo I got stopped working in Suwanee. I finally replaced everything with a new rig. A GK 1001b head, and an SWR Goliath 4 x 10 Speaker cabinet. Still tweaking it here and there, but it is hot. I much nicer, cleaner sounded with out havin' to be overly loud. I have been stacking it on my cable box to get it up off the ground so I can use it more like a stage monitor and let the sandman and the PA do their job.
• The last outing to Savannah was great. The Dock Martins show once again was received with a bang and the introduction of Electric Boogaloo was also a great success. Even though it's a tough drive on Friday, especially since I don't have any vacation until July, it's a fun gig. While down there I went to my parents house each night, and on that Saturday, Richard and Sean came down to St. Simons and had lunch at my parents house. It was a good time for all.
• The weekend of Cinco De Mayo we played a Bluffton/Hilton Head Weekend. The Saturday night we were at The Hilton Head Wing and Lixx happened to be at the Bluffton Wing, about 13 miles down the road. Due to unavailability of a hotel room, Skelly and I ended up staying at the hotel in Bluffton the second night, so we stopped off at Bluffton Wing on our way back. Lixx was loading out. We finally got to meet Joey and Donnie, their latest additions. We all went to Ian, the soundman's house and hung out till about 6 or 7 in the morning. Talk about making the Sunday drive back a tough one.
• On a personal note, I got tickets to the Police concert in New Orleans on June 30th. That weekend the band is in Columbia, SC. Matt will be on that gig for me, so I will be able to go to the Big Easy for the first time ever. My friend Jeff and I are going. We will head out that morning, go have some cocktails in the French Quarter, then head to the show and drive back the next morning.
• Memorial Day Weekend - We start with Rock Mafia with Jackie filling in for Skelly since he was already on for the rest of the weekend. Friday night we had a great Stone Cold Fox crowd. Saturday afternoon, Jackie Diamond and I hung out at the Wing for a beer then a trip to Snellville to visit a place called Good Clean Fun (More on that in another blog). Then we came back to the Wing for an early dinner and a couple of beers. (Yummy, Blue Moon). The Electric Boogaloo show that night was off the hook. Several Suwanee friends were in attendance(Tim, Skip, Chris and their gang). A special thanks to Tyson for taking a lot of pictures with my camera all three nights. Sunday night, we did a Stone Cold Fox show at Tavern On The Bridge, which has remodeled since we were there last. A nicer PA, a bigger stage. The crowd was great. They danced all the way till the end. Some friends from Alpharetta and Suwanee were in the house (Mick & Tim). Hopefully will be returning to The Tavern in the near future.
• And finally, This past weekend. As mentioned at the beginning, The Rock Mafia went great and we had a visit from members of The Lixx band and members of Southern Crush. Also Jackie Diamond was behind the kit once again. Friday night marked the return of The Fox to "Home Base" (that's what I call The Suwanee Wing). Another great show. Special thanks to Marty for filling for Richard this weekend. It was good to see all of our Fieldhouse, Dos Copas friends as well as some new friends from Tavern On The Bridge. Saturday night Electric Boogaloo rocked the house. Along with all our Suwanee friends (Tim, Skip, Chris, Faith, Gail, Jersey and everyone else), there were also several Alpharetta friends in the house again. Probably one of the biggest crowds we have ever had in Suwanee. There was an incident however...... late in the 2nd half of the show, Sean was on top of the railing between the booths and the bar and his forehead had a run in with a ceiling fan. Once he realized he was bleeding pretty badly he handed the mic to Tim, one of our friends form Alpharetta that sings often with the Rock Mafia. Tim finished out the song we were doing then Luna came up to finish out the night. Luna started with Sweet Child then we went into Wanted Dead Or Alive. About half way through, Sean returned and finished the song then we finished the night with Pour Some Sugar. Sean's doing alright, but he did have a nasty bump on his head as well as being a little out of it.

Be sure and check out the gallery on the website, there will be pics from both weekends as well as new rock mafia pics in the rock mafia set. If you happened to be at the one of those shows, chances are you will be somewhere in the gallery.

So there it is. I will try not to wait to long before the next one.

Next up, the return of Skelly and a trip to Charlotte.

See ya.

OJJ

http://www.scfentertainment.com

The Mafioso and My New Amp

OK, a lot to talk about.

This past week was the debut of The Rock Mafia. We played our first gig on Saturday, but it really started for me on Wednesday.

That's right, Wednesday night I met up with Doc, one of the managers at the Alphy Wing, to hang the screen and projector for the lyrics. Doc did most of the hard work. He ain't afraid of a ladder, that's for sure. I was there for about 2 hours and we got it working pretty good. The picture was a little crooked, but we are going to mount it a little better in the coming weeks.

Also on Wednesday I got my new amp. A combo. For those that know, a combo means the Amp and Speaker cabinet are together in one unit, as opposed to having a head(the amp) and a speaker cabinet. The reason for this was so I can get in and out (especially out.....Friday is an early work day for me) after the show on Thursdays.

So the first show was great. IN the beginning, not a lot of sign ups, but once our good friend Tim (Sanjaya) got up on stage, the sign ups started pouring in. Overall a success. We played well, Sean did a great job hosting, and Luna Ashlee did a great job scrolling the lyrics. My amp sounded pretty good. I think The Rock Mafia is gonna be a great thing as we add more songs to the list.

Friday and Saturday we were in Suwanee. I decided on Friday afternoon that I was going to use my combo @ Suwanee just to see how it would hold up.

Friday night we had a packed crowd. At first it took me a little bit to find the sound I liked with the wireless on the combo, but I found it.

Saturday night, it was packed again. Everything was sounding great. 2 songs till the end of the night, my amp stopped working. Yep, overheated. Once I let it cool off it still didn't work correctly. Nice. On Easter Sunday, my first order of business was to call Musician's Friend and set up a return/exchange. I shipped it off and now I am scrapping the combo idea and I am getting a new cabinet. Well see about a new amp later.

Be sure and check out the gallery on the website. http://scfentertainment.com/gallery.htm

There are pictures from the Rock Mafia.

Also I've added the Rock Mafia songlist. This will change as we add new songs each week. http://scfentertainment.com/rmlist.htm

next up....... Savannah. I'll try to get lot's of pictures.

OJJ

Greenville Here WE COME!

This weekend we return to Greenville with a little twist.

Instead of Boogaloo on Friday, The Dock Martins will be in the house on Friday with Electric Boogaloo rounding out the weekend on Saturday night.

I hope to see all of the regulars there. Yes, Sean will be back. And it will be the last time to see us until we are back in June with a Stone Cold Fox/Boogaloo Weekend.

Dig it!

Orange Julius Jackson

Midnight Mass

Not a lot to report about this past weekend.

Thursday night was Boogaloo's last round on Big Entertainment Thursday's. This coming Thursday, the Dock Martins will be up. The following week, Slippery. Then finally the debut of the Rock Mafia Live Band Karaoke. More on that later.

Thursday night, we all got there a little earlier than normal so we could go over the initial Rock Mafia list with Jason. We hit the stage around 10:10 or so.

The crowd fairly pretty big. I think now that it's getting warmer and spring is finally here, the Thursday crowds will be out in force a little more than they have been.

The show was great. A friend of Sean's, I forget his name (sorry), came up in the last set and did Sex Type Thing as sort of a preview of Rock Mafia. It went over great! the crowd was totally into it and they wanted to come up and sing some more songs. Patience good folks! Luna came up too and did a couple of songs at the end.

No gig for me on Friday & Saturday, but the reports of Stone Cold Fox on St. Patty's in Augusta were pretty good. Thanks again to Freddie Boom Boom Washington for playing.

I just hung out on Friday. Saturday I had a friend's wedding to attend then afterwards headed to the Suwanee Wing with my friend Betsy to catch the America Flyers. They were good. Lot of medleys.

Sunday morning I headed to Atlanta Motor Speedway for a little time in the DLP suite and to watch part of the race. had to leave early though, had to get home to pick up my equipment and head to load in at Atlanta Live.

The gig at Atlanta live was good. It was rather late (midnight) and there were only about 10 people in the building, but we played well and it was fun. This comings Sunday's show at Atlanta Live has been postponed to a Friday in July. That is a good thing, cause Monday was a bit rough at the day job.

Oh well, enough of that. Next up Greenville.

Kissin' The Blarney Stone

It's St. Patty's weekend and I'm not playing this weekend. Well, That's not really true. I played last night and I am playing Sunday night. But I took Friday and Saturday off. No Augusta for OJJ. Boom Boom will be holding things down at the Wing this weekend.

Throughout my life, I have spent many a St. Patty's day either fairly drunk or playing a gig..... or both.

Before moving from the Brunswick/St.Simons Island area (my hometown) to go to Athens for college, I spent many a St. Patrick's in Savannah. I'm sure you all have heard what that place is like on that day.

During college, I either went down south to Savannah or spent it in downtown Athens.

After college, at gigs in bars usually............ If not a gig, I would usually be going out with folks from my day job and partying with them.

Well, this year, no gig. and with the fact that I just had my Kidney Stone thing back in January, they told me I shouldn't drink for about 3 months. I'm fine, no worries, just not supposed to drink.

This year I have a wedding to attend on the day, and afterwards I am going to meet my friend Betsy at the Suwanee Wing to hang out. No beer for me.

So with all that out of the way I thought it would be fun to go over some of the lessons I (or my friends) have learned on St. Patty's day...........

• No matter how far into the deep side of the pool you throw it, Cats really can swim.
• No matter how hot a female cop might look while directing traffic, don't go out of your way to tell her.
• Mopping up spaghetti with a donut for a dollar.....not worth it.
• Biting into a Vidalia onion like an apple for 10 dollars, not worth it.
• Telling your 6'4" body-building friend that you don't have ten dollars that you owe him for eating that onion like an apple.......bad idea.
• Peeing on a Police Motorcycle while the cop himself runs inside the Hooters on River Street to pee, is not so wise. (not me, not any of my friends......but we saw it happen)
• No matter how smart you are feeling, do not write the term paper for your Psychology of Sex and Sexual Deviations class after you get home from partying on St. Patty's day.

I think that's about all I can think of right now. That and I need to get back to work.

Later,

OJJ

The Gallery Is Open

Finally, I am happy to say that the picture gallery is up and running. Sort of.

Basically, I am hosting all of the pictures on my Flickr account. That way, it's one simple download and I don't have to format the pics for our pages.

If you go to the gallery page on scfentertainment.com, you will see thumbnails for different shows.

Sometimes, due to my being busy playing on stage, I don't get a chance to get very many pics. Many times, I will hand off my camera to someone else (Tim, Luna Ashlee, Katie, The Creeper, etc, etc). Or like recently, I will get pics from someone that took them with their own camera (thanks Brandi). So if you have pics from a particular show and you think they should be added to our gallery, please let me know (if you don't already know my email address, just send a message or link to my myspace page or one of the band pages.)

For any show in which we have 4 or less pics, instead of creating a set, I will be adding those to the Misc. set at the bottom. So check that set often cause it will have additions on a regular basis.

thanks,

OJJ

http://www.scfentertainment.com

Big News

This is how it was written in the weekly email blast..............

"Our Big Announcement........

A new chapter in the book of SCF Entertainment.

 Please  Welcome

THE ROCK MAFIA

Live Band Karaoke

Have you ever wanted to get up on stage with the stone cold fox guys , electric boogaloo or even the dock martins?

well now's your chance.

starting April 5th and every Thursday here on after the boys will be ripping it up at

WILD WING CAFE ALPHARETTA

playing rock to disco to pop to funk tunes all of which their frontman/frontwoman position will be filled by YOU !!!!!!

mark your calendars

April 5th

live band karaoke

featuring

the rock mafia

wild wing cafe

alpharetta"

The Lineup will be myself, Richard, & Skelly. Sean will host and maybe sing a little.

Hope to see you on the 5th.

OJJ

Butterbean & The River Bottom Nightmare Band

Thursday night I sat in with Foxxy Cleopatra (in Boogaloo character) at the Alpharetta Wing and this weekend we returned to Asheville. Here is how it all went down.......

Thursday 03/01/2007 - Foxxy Cleopatra - Wild Wing Cafe - Alpharetta, GA

Once again, I played with Foxxy on Big Entertainment Thursday. It was a good show. The weather was horrible al day and night. There were tornado warnings all over the place and I think a lot of people were staying home for the evening. None the less, the crowd that was there was rockin. They danced all night and I received several comments from people saying that Foxxy was their favorite SCF band on Thursdays.

As always, Luna Ashlee (Coco Bean) did a great job. And as always it's always fun to play with Marty (Chachi) and Rodney (Craven).

Friday 03/02/2007 - Electric Boogaloo - Wild Wing Cafe - Asheville, NC

Friday night we rolled into Asheville. The weather was great all day Friday, but it started getting a little colder as I was driving up the mountain. Once I arrived at the Wing, I was greeted by several of the Asheville staff saying "Welcome Back". I then realized it had been December since we last played there, and November since I personally played there.

The line up this weekend was myself, Sean, Chad and Jeffrey. Jeffrey if fairly new. He's been filling in for Richard a lot in Augusta and he's done a few Foxxy gigs.

Friday was a slow night. But the folks that were there seemed receptive.

Saturday was a different story.

Saturday 03/03/2007 - Stone Cold Fox - Wild Wing Cafe - Asheville, NC

Saturday we met up with DJ Mark and his gang at the Grove Park Inn. They were in town for a tattoo. After that four of us in the band went to Cheeseburger In Paradise for dinner. Next to Ted's Montana Grill, the 2nd best burger I have ever had.

After that it was back to the hotel for a little while then to the gig. When I got there DJ Mark gave me a copy of Emmitt Otter's Jug Band Christmas on DVD. How awesome is that? He saw that I had the Riverbottom Nightmare Band on my myspace page, so he found the video on the Internet and got a couple of copies. I can't wait to watch it. I especially can't wait to take it home at Xmas time and show it to my niece and nephew so they can enjoy what I got to watch at Xmas when I was a wee lad. Mark, if you're reading this..... Thanks again.

The crowd tonight was much bigger than last night and the Dawg pound was in the house. Most of the night, the dance floor was full and Rolo had the crowd singing with him all night.

The funniest part of the night was the stage name we came up for Jeffrey. Lester "Butterbean" Rockwell. Butterbean! hahaha.

After the gig, Sean and I hit the road for Greenville where we were both gonna stay at our friend Katie's house. On the way there, Sean called me on the phone and we both agreed that we were wide awake and could possibly make it home. So after calling Katie and thanking her for the offer of staying there, and a stop for a coke, some water and some combos, I cranked up the XM and found Art Bell. It was a fairly easy ride and we made good time. About 10 miles from home I started getting pretty drowsy, but I rolled down the window and let the cold air hit my face and I made it. I hit the sack pretty hard and finally woke up around 2 today. Of course now my schedule is totally off. Work should be a doosy tomorrow.

next week........ Alpharetta & Suwanee.

j

www.scfentertainment.com

2 Cups Eastbound on 316

This weekend we debuted at a new bar. Dos Copas in Dacula, GA. Dos Copas is a bar/Mexican place off Hamilton Mill Road(The exit after Mall Of Georgia). It's just down the street from The Fieldhouse, another bar that we play from time to time..

Friday 2/23/2007 - The Dock Martins - Doc Copas Dacula, GA

I got to the club about 8:45 on Friday night. Richard was already there. The sound system was already in place, but no soundman. (There was a note from him on the center mic, saying he would be back shortly.) Turns out the sound was being done by our good friend Mark Joseph. Mark, and his sound system, is brought in whenever we play there. He has also done several private parties with us as well as with Foxxy Cleopatra.

The stage was tight. My first thought was that a Stone Cold Fox show there might have to skip the dance steps. It was tight to the point that it was just inches from the front edge of Skelly's Kick Drum to Sean's legs.

Speaking of Sean, this was his return gig after being out and bed ridden the week before. No worries, he seemed to be back in form.

The staff at the Copas was excellent. Very nice folks. The bar manager, Shay, was very nice. The fed us, and the food was pretty darn good.

Once we started playing, the crowd seemed to be into the Dock Martins. We even had folks on the dance floor.

I had been concerned going into the gig, because I hadn't played that stuff since New Years Eve, and that was a short set at that. But no worries, I think I was actually more comfortable playing the 90's stuff than I had ever been previously. The only down side.....since my Lippotripsy, my kidney area has been sore. Well, now it appears that I have developed a cough, and a cold. While playing I coughed pretty hard and suddenly it felt like someone was stabbing me in the side. Once while playing I sneezed and I think I made a sound somewhat similar to a wild boar being shot. No worries though, I got through the night.

Saturday 2/24/2007 - Electric Boogaloo - Dos Copas - Dacula, GA

Saturday's gig started with Skelly coming over to my house to go over an original song of his that I am playing bass on. The recording would take place the next day in Athens. Great Song, but I will touch on that a little later.

We got to the Copas and met up with Richard, Sean & Luna Ashlee and had some din din. I had the beef and shrimp fajitas. They were fabulous. Of course, I will find just about anything with shrimp to be fabulous. haha.

Met some more Dos Copas staff. Mainly, John the General Manager. Again, the whole staff there was awesome.

Some friends were able to make it out on Saturday night. Most notably my good friend PC and his lovely wife. Also Our good friend from Suwanee, Tim (Jimmie Walker) was in the house. He even snapped a few photos for me. (Coming soon to the SCF website)

Once Boogaloo took the stage, the crowd was gettin it. The dance floor was packed all night. Both nights, on break, people were coming up left and right to complement the band.

Overall, a great gig and a nice new place to play.

Sunday 2/25/2007 - Me - Rick Fowler's Studio - Athens, GA

As I mentioned earlier, Skelly came over on Saturday to go over an original. He played me a couple of his songs that he had already recorded. They sounded great. Skelly has got some some good stuff.

So Sunday I headed to Athens to record the song. It was at Rick Fowler's house. Rick is a guitar player that I have played with a few times back in the wedding band days. Rick is a guitar player, and a damn good one at that. His studio was in the basement of his house. Pretty nice set up. The drums (Yamaha Stage Customs) sounded great. I went in direct and once again my Lakland did not disappoint.

Soon, I think we are gonna record some more of Skelly's stuff.

Next week........... Foxxy in Alphy & Asheville, NC.

J

www.scfentertainment.com

Peter Pan and Other Fun Facts

OK, this weekend didn't start at a gig. It started Tuesday when I got a call from my roommate Ashlee. Most of you know her as Luna Ashlee. She happens to be the lead singer for SCF's newest band, Foxxy Cleopatra. Anyhoo, Luna was calling me at work to inform that Sean, our lead singer, Had come down with the flu or something like that. Basically he was ordered to stay in bed through the week, if not longer.

What did that mean for us? It meant that there was a possibility that Sean would not be making it to Greenville this weekend. No worries, Ashlee to the rescue.

First off, Big Entertainment Thursday.

Stone Cold Fox - Thursday February 15th, Wild Wing Cafe - Alpharetta, GA

A good Thursday crowd. I think it was the first time with Ashlee doing Stone Cold Fox where we didn't have a fill in guitar player. So it was nice to be able to do all the dance steps and such. The crowd was rockin and they were diggin Luna on the lead vocals.

Electric Boogaloo & Stone Cold Fox - Friday February 16th & Saturday February 17th, Wild Wing Cafe - Greenville, SC

Finally the Fox has returned to Greenville! After a great New Years show in G'Vegas, we finally got to come back. Friday night before hand we got a surprised looks as Luna stepped up to the mic for sound check. Lot's of folks asking for Sean. Our standard answer was that he was very ill. Well, until show time, that is. Once the show started, the story was that Simon was out cause he got hold a bad batch of salmonella from the bad Peter Pan Peanut Butter.

The Greenville crowd took to Luna right away. She did her thing and sang her ass off.

After the show it was off to the room. A long day and Johnny was beat.

Saturday started with Chad and I meeting up with Freddy Boom Boom and his family for lunch. We ate at a diner type place called Pete's good stuff. After that it was back to the room. Luna and Katie came over and we watched Reno 911 all afternoon.

Late afternoon brought a trip to the big EarShot for some Motown CDs. Then it was off to the wing with Luna and Chadwick for dindin. As we were returning to the room, there were snow flurries.

Saturday night showtime, the house was full of regulars, and it was good to see them. DJMark and Jordan were in the house as were Leslie, Leann, Kat, Katie, Sarah, and a bunch of others.

Again, everyone was asking for Sean. Tonight the story was that Rolo was out with Gonorrhea. Ain't we a bunch o stinkers?

Once again, Luna did an excellent filling in for Sean. Her 70's disco skills are even mightier than her 80's skills.

All in all a good weekend. It is always tough when your singer is out, but Luna filled in as if it was her gig all the time. Watch out Sean. haha

next up - Dos Copas Dacula

OJJ

2007 thus far

I can't believe I haven't blogged since December 11th. I guess so much has been going on that I just never got the chance. Let's start at the top.

The end of the year was a doozy. The week before Christmas I had shows (mostly privates) Tuesday through Friday of that week, ranging from Birmingham to Greenville. Lot's of traveling in short amount of time. Not to mention, driving down south to my parents for Xmas.

Xmas was great, I was down there from Saturday night, before Xmas till the Wednesday after. One of my best friends, and one of the best drummers I have ever known, Brian Keany was in town Visiting his parents. Brian Lives in Japan, so it is pretty rare when he makes it home. The week after Christmas was another busy week. I filled in for Matt with Foxxy Cleopatra at their Alpharetta Big Entertainment Thursday debut. That Friday and Saturday, we were in Alpharetta as Electric Boogaloo and the Dock Martins. And of course, that Sunday was New Years Eve.

New Years Eve was off the hook. We did all three bands in Greenville. It had been September since we were there. It was good to return to G'Vegas. The only weird part is that due to a leak in the ceiling, water dripped on Richard's amp. It shut it down. This was after the Dr. Martin's set. Once it was dry, we decided that we wouldn't have time for the final costume change into the Boogaloo stuff, so we stayed on stage in the Stone Cold Fox, and played through both the Fox and Boogaloo sets. No worries though, the crowd loved it, and it was a great time had by all.

After that we played The Wing in Columbia at the Village @ Sandhill. Great place, great staff. The Shopping center is insane. Very cool. I look forward to more exploration next time we play there.

Now, we get to the craziness. Other than the next two Thursday, I had no weekend's scheduled. (One weekend we left open, the other I passed along to Boom Boom). I figured that we be a great time to get my kidney stone crushed. Now this kidney stone has been in my left kidney for about 3 years now. It hasn't caused any pain, but the fact that it was huge, it was suggested that I get lippotripsy done. That is were they use a laser to shatter it into tiny little pieces. Now the doctor told me it would only hurt for a couple of days. WRONG!!! It felt like someone was kicking me constantly and it hurt for the better part of a week. I ended up giving the next weeks gigs to Matt J as well. I hated to miss Alpharetta and Suwanee gigs, but better safe than sorry. The funny part is during the times that it would have taken to get to the gigs, play the gigs, and come back home, there was no pain. Murphy's Law.

All is well now. The pain seems to be mostly gone, and I have done a few gigs since. One full weekend in Augusta, with Luna Ashlee singing lead. And this past Thursday in Alpharetta as Boogaloo. Other than soreness and a little back pain, all was well.

This coming weekend should be a busy one. Thursday night Alpharetta as Stone Cold Fox. The Greenville for the weekend. Boogaloo on Friday, Fox on Saturday. Hope to see all of the regulars there.

Anywho, I'll try not to wait so long before the next blog.

Johnny