Kung Fu Fighting

Subject Guitarist: Rock Bottom

Friday, July 13th, 2007

Venue: Eddie's, Granite City, IL


Gigs are coming fast and furious this month. Two at Eddie’s a couple weeks ago, and then two at Rumors in Wood River, site of the former Club 501. Coming this weekend, we have two nights at Club 111 in Pontoon Beach. Then, I’m off to Minneapolis, Minnesota for softball Nationals, where I’ll celebrate my birthday. Upon my return, we have an open weekend, then it’s a healthy schedule of dates up until 2008, where we’ve yet to book anything. And, with places like Rumors and Club 111 popping, I’m sure whatever open weekends we have will be filled soon! Don’t forget Wilmouth’s Halloween Bash in Brighton!

Now, I’m not complaining. I love the work. In fact, I relish playing tons of shows, because it really gets my “chops” up, and I feel I play much better. I don’t ever practice, because honestly, there isn’t much to practice. Sure, I have to keep the songs fresh once in a while, remember chord changes, fingering patterns. But so much of my soloing is very improvisational. My phrase choices and melodic passages are dictated by how I’m feeling, what my tone sounds like, and where my fingers seem to go! I have some basic ideas when I solo on a particular song, and phrases I use to tie the melodies together, but often, it’s just a really freeform odyssey, letting my soul take over, and finding my way aurally through my head into the listener’s.

Now, to do this with some proficiency, I have to play, and playing to myself doesn’t cut it. I get very bored very quickly. So, in essence, I can only practice live, in front of people! The only way I can rehearse is to put myself on the line and make myself have to deliver. I guess that’s why I love sitting in and jamming? Just the way my musical brain operates, I suppose.

I can remember back years ago when we were lucky to get gig’s once a month, it seemed. My playing suffered. When Kid Curious hit the circuit, and we were playing 10 to 20 gigs a month, my playing was in top form! Then the bottom fell out as Steve and Scott Buschmann left to form Saturn Cats. I watched Steve Kyle go from rookie to solid, seasoned performer, and I knew why. Part of it was sheer hard work and dedication on Skyle’s part. But, the other part was Saturn Cats was playing shitloads of gigs. Everywhere! From Des Moines to Texas, from Cincinnati to Wyoming, they played their asses off! Man, I wished I’d had that chance!

Back to the shows, Eddie’s was our first gig in a few weeks, so the gears were a little rusty. We creaked and wheezed, but we got the “machine” going off the ground, and a good time was had by all.

We get such a great crowd at Eddie’s, it really feels like home there. Tons of Rock Bottom clad fans rocking out and having a terrific time really gets the mood going for us. Song choices were easy for me, and everything worked pretty well. Comfortably, let’s say.

Becca was with me all night, and that felt wonderful. Having her by my side gave me confidence and a calming feeling. Something that I’d been missing, to tell the truth! I guess I’ve tried to mask the loneliness because we’re all islands to ourselves to some degree. There’s a great deal of joy to be found being single, and couple that with playing in a band, a great deal of fun.

But, being there with her gave me some kind of feeling of, well, completeness, for lack of a better term. That surprised me. I didn’t know I was missing that. I didn’t know that it was important to me. When you lose something, it’s easy to say “no big deal, I’ll get over it, or get by without it.” You show strength. But, when it’s back in your life, it’s amazing how you find yourself saying “I can’t believe how much I missed this!” I honestly can’t imagine how much I’d missed having someone special to play for. I wasn’t fooling myself when I didn’t have it, but, I’m not fooling myself now, either. It feels great.

I don’t recall a whole lot of specifics about the show itself. The crowd was pretty big, and they rocked hard. The band could have been tighter, but we got the job done, and sometimes that’s good enough.

Winding down the night after the show, Becca and I snuggled up off to the side, as I waited to get my cut of the pay. We discussed what to do after the show. A whole mess of Jack In The Box tacos sure sounded good!

April raced in from the parking lot barking “cops are here! Let’s go! Everybody out!” I was puzzled, because basically the only ones left in the bar were band members, “spouses”, and bar staff. Curious, I wandered out to take a look at what was going on.

It looked more like a bank robbery was taking place! Four GCPD patrol cars, red and blue lights flashing, were parked haphazardly across the virtually empty lot. A GCFD paramedic unit arrived, and tended to a gentleman stretched out on the asphalt, unconscious.

I moved in for a closer look as I have several good friends and relatives on the GCPD force. And a number of friends who work as paramedics for the fire department. Perhaps one of them is on scene? It didn’t appear so. Becca stayed back. She wasn’t really interested in the carnage, coupled with her ex-husband works for the force. Understandable. I wanted to take a peek, see what the commotion was about.

Keeping my distance from the scene to let the paramedics do their work, I gleaned that the individual knocked out on the parking lot had the living shit beat out of him by one, perhaps two others. He was in bad, bad shape. There was a lot of confusion running around the scene, as most people didn’t really know what the hell happened. It happened quickly, and most of the patrons had already cleared out.

Police took some interviews, and later approached me, asking if I’d seen anything. I informed him I hadn’t; we all were with the band inside. Two of the witness approached Steve and I, explaining to us what they’d seen and what they’d told police.

“Yeah, the guy laying there. He kinda started it. It was his fault,” the witness told me. “But then they beat the shit out of him! He was laying there on the ground, and they kept kicking him in the head! We finally stepped in and told ‘em ‘hey, look! We know what he did! He may have deserved his ass beat. But no one deserves that!’ Then they hopped in their truck and took off. Crazy, man! We just didn’t want to see him kill the guy.”

From the look of it, that might have been exactly what they’ve done. This guy was in really bad shape.

“Wow!” Steve told me, as the witnesses walked away. “That’s sad!”

“Well, sounds like the guy kind of deserved it,” I said as they loaded his motionless body onto a board, then onto a gurney.

“No, man, I don’t think anyone deserves that!” Steve answered.

“Sometimes, when you’re looking for trouble, you run into the wrong person.” I explained.

“Yeah. But,” Steve said, “there was no reason for them to do that to him.” He shook his head. “They’ve almost killed this guy. They could go to jail if he dies.” Steve was visibly upset at the spectacle.

I kind of thought about it for a moment, and it frightened me. Because I know that kind of rage. I know that kind of anger. I can completely understand it. When I'm pushed, my blood boils, and I'm not really in too much control of myself. My focus becomes to eliminate my enemy. I don't like to lose. I will use any means necessary.

And if someone had started something with me, where I wasn’t the instigator, which will always be the case, I could have very easily pummeled my opponent into the ground, and left that person laying on the parking lot of Eddie’s to die.

And felt he deserved it. He brought my wrath onto him. I wouldn't miss a moment's sleep.

And, perhaps Steve was right. I’d be going to jail for it, even though I didn’t start it. In the eyes of the law, I would become responsible.

In the heat of battle, would I really know when to stop? Could I?

I need to make sure I control that temper.