Updated band list

Stolen from a FB memory I guess:

For my own records.
1986 Pandemonium (Aaron Coe - Drums; Marc Sims - Guitar)
1987 The Roundabouts (Dave Hill - Drums; Jon ??? - Guitar)
1987-1990 lots of Follies bands

1988 cover band in Bellevue basement (never played out, Todd Clineschmidt - Drums; Andre Maguire - Guitar; Nicole Verbois - Vocals (??))

1987-88 (?) DTG (Andre, Todd, me, recorded songs with Jonathan Plum)
1990-1991? Jazz group that practiced in Magnuson Park area (past Children's)
1993? C&A House Hydro band
1995? Whiskey Dick (Jim Young - Drums; Daryl Johnson - Guitar/vox; Jason Lightfoot - Guitar)

1995-1997? Grasshopper - Her Majesty's Secret Service (Rob Jones - Drums; Emilio Banda - Guitar/vox; Jason Lightfoot - Guitar)
1998-2000 While Away (Michael Cotta - Drums; Jerry Banner - Guitar; Crie (forget her last name) - vox)
2001-2003 Ethyl (Johnny Low - guitar/vox; Rob Jones - Drums; Brett Richards - guitar)
2003-2004 StarChief (Johnny Low - guitar/vox; Brett Richards - guitar/vox; Nelson Estes - drums)
2005-2013 Lund Bros. (Chris Lund - guitar/vox; Sean Lund - drums/vox)
2007-2013 The Scheme (David Thompson - guitar/vox; Gregg Anderson - drums)
2013 Shake Some Action! (James Hall - guitar/vox; Dusty Hayes - drums; David Bos - guitar; Perry Morgan - Drums)
2014-2018 The Navins (i was in this band for 4 years??) (Corey Knafelz - drums; Caĩn Morehead - guitar/vox; Gary Thorstensen - guitar)
2017-2018 Service Animal (Gregg Anderson - drums; Emma Staake - keys/vox; Andrew Bailey - guitar/vox; Justin Joyce - guitar)
2018-2022 Stereo Embers (Cassady Laton - drums; Robb Benson - guitar/vox; Tim DiJulio - guitar/vox)
2019 Lund Bros. (reunion)
2020 Planets in the Ocean (virtual)
2022 The Sunset Grooves (Dusty Hayes - drums/vox; Eric Junge - keys; Jen Richardson - vox; Patrick Porter - guitar/vox)
2022 Planets in the Ocean (for real) (Cassady Laton - drums; Robb Benson - guitar/vox)
2022 Kathy Moore and the Super Subs (Kathy Moore - guitar/vox; Gregg Anderson - drums; Raoul Hardin - drums)

Other guest spots

2012, 2014 Sightseer
2011-2012 Yakup Trana
Static Radio
2022 Kathy Moore Super Power Trio

RIP Fred "Ted" Hicks

My father-in-law passed away yesterday after a long battle with heart failure. I don't have all the details but he passed in his home in Indio with Judy, Marci and Alison at his side.

Whirlwind time

Before our CO trip, Marci had been in Indio with her parents. Ted hasn't been doing so well lately and Marci and Alison had been trading off every few weeks to spend some time down there to help. Marci was just down there before our trip, and then on my birthday, we had to make plans for her to go back down as Ted took a turn for the worse.

Last week, I spent 4.5 days in San Francisco for work. Was sort of excited as I'd never been there before, but was reluctant to be away from home as Marci would be gone and Riley would be by himself. He was pretty well immersed in prep for his school musical, so his time at home would be minimal.

Anyway, SF was pretty cool. Got to make some deeper connections with other employees and teammates; had a come to Jesus convo with my manager (not unexpected or unwarranted); developed an understanding of what I need to do to get better at my job as well as what my job actually entails; took a run around SF and saw the baseball and basketball stadiums; kept in continual contact with Marci and her situation in Indio; wished Haley a happy birthday; ate out a lot and also watched BCS first 2 episodes.

All in all, picture is clearer for my future. I know what I need to do, now I have to execute.

Friday night was Riley's musical, Seussical. Long show, lots of fun. Rye did great; his cadence is better, but still a little fast. He has "isms" that he needs to get under control (jazz hands). But it's what he loves and I am proud of him for finding that and chasing it. He has committed to CMU and will pursue it further. I'm excited to see what happens next.

Yesterday, Ted finally passed on around 12pm or so. Marci mentioned yesterday morning that the previous night was not great and I think she felt it was likely going to happen. She called when Riley and I were coming back from lunch and she was upset. Mainly because of her dad's passing but also because Coachella is happening nearby and it taxes the local cell networks so she had a hard time reaching us.

But I digress. She was crying and it was difficult to hear her and know I couldn't be there to hold her and just listen. Riley and I did what we could via the phone, but ideally, we'd be there in person. I called Haley later and let her know and she was pretty good about it. She went into mom support mode and after getting permission, drove to Indio to be with them.

I spent the rest of the practicing some tunes on bass, messaging back and forth with Robb and Cass about music, and taking phone calls and texts about Ted and the developing situation. As the next week or so unfolds, these are the things I will have to manage:

• Haley is done with school on 5/6. The initial plan was to fly down and drive her back up over 2 days or so and that would be that. However, Ted's passing puts a pause on all that. They will likely have his memorial the following week so Chandler and Ella can participate as well, which means Marci will probably stay down there until then. That means Riley and I would fly down sometime that week, and then be there for Ted's memorial. After that, either we all drive back together, or I drive with Haley back home. I'm balancing working during this time so I get paid because if I take time off, I don't have vacation or sick time; I just don't get paid.
• Come week of 5/23, I will be in Washington DC for another Amazon event. Ted's memorial shouldn't affect that, but the time heading up to it will be a jumble of logistics and planning. Once I'm there, it will be fine, but hopefully Marci and the kids will be back home (don't know where else they'd be) and it won't be an issue.

After typing it out, I guess it's not that much to manage. It's just the travel and back and forth that will be time consuming.

Colorado trip, 4/13-4/15

Long story short, Riley wanted to visit Colorado Mesa University (CMU) in Grand Junction, Colorado. He found it on a web search looking for colleges with "good theater programs." What qualified CMU one is unknown, but it made it on his list of schools to visit.

We ended up booking the trip a few weeks ago, thinking that we didn't want to tell him no due to cost and didn't want him to make a decision without actually visiting. So we got up early on the 13th to get to the airport and make our way to Denver. I mentioned the drive on the previous entry, so I'll not mention it here.

After checking into our hotel, we decided to head downtown to take a look around, find something to eat. It turns out, the downtown portion of GJ was pretty small. The main drag of commerce and food was pretty much closed at 5pm or so. Not many restaurants that we could find. Was very artsy, though. The entire town was that way; lots of statues and art installations everywhere.

It was sunny and bright as we walked around, but quite windy and cool when the wind gusted up. Not much to be found in the way of food, so we drove around some more. As the car we had had no compass, I didn't know what direction we were going in, but I think to the west of downtown were some more modern areas with big box stores: Best Buy, Target, Walmart, Lowe's, etc. We saw a restaurant earlier called Freddy's Steakburgers (only to realize it's actually called Freddy's Frozen Custard and Steakburgers) and ate there. Wanted to honor Ted's name and think of him while we ate at this Ruby's/Five Guys/In N Out style (think red/white) restaurant. Salty, tasty and oh so bad for us, but it had to be done.

From there we ended up back at the hotel and while Riley went for a run, I settled in with some S04 of BCS, trying to get caught up for S06 dropping on Monday with two episodes.

Thursday morning we got up and I headed downstairs to get coffee and breakfast. Couldn't interest Riley in anything but I got a way too expensive latte and lemon loaf. Super lame. We then tried to find the actual downtown of GJ and realized the strip we found the night before was pretty much it. We found a Lego store that had some amazing displays and products (if a bit expensive) and walked around some more. We then drove to a local park and walked along the river. Apparently disc golf is popular in and around GJ and there were holes (buckets?) for disc golf all over that park.

Since our school tour was at 1, we decided to eat a little earlier and stopped by a Thai restaurant that did Chinese and Vietnamese as well. Naturally we both got pho and got stuffed before heading to the school.

At the school, we met Riley's tour guide, who took us and another mother/daughter around the school. We visited the theater and got to go on stage, backstage, see the shop and bowels of the space. We saw some buildings with classes in session, got to go through the athletic complex, and then later on, saw some dorm rooms. The campus itself is pretty small, definitely walkable. The grounds were pretty much flat, with no hills to be seen anywhere. Many students traveled on skateboards as well as bikes.

After the tour, a quick stop for an early dinner at Qdoba, then off on a 3.5 hr drive back to Denver. It went faster than the drive there (felt that way at least) and we got to the hotel at about 8:30 or so. Once again, Riley went for a run and a Cup O Noodles while I tried to unwind from the drive and travel. We went lights out around 10:30 with a 3:15 alarm for the next morning.

I slept OK, but 3:15 is still brutally early. We headed to the airport, 25 minutes away and dropped off the car. Once at the airport, we were stuck in the longest line I've ever been in. It seemed to wind through the entire airport. Luckily it moved pretty quickly and we got up to security before too long. We made our way through to our gate and got on our plane without much drama.

I don't want to go into too much detail just because the trip was so tedious. Nothing major happened, just a bunch of plane hopping when our original flight was a direct flight. Alaska really messing up with their staffing or stuff, but we made it home and here we are.

At the end of it all, Riley really liked CMU and what they had to offer. I liked it a lot as well. The buildings and amenities all seemed newer, the campus was nice and the area (GJ) was also cool. Weather and distance might be an issue, but when we checked, it's actually about 70 miles closer to home than Irvine! Riley woke up on Saturday thinking how much he liked it and by that afternoon, he had accepted CMU's offer to attend their school. Now we just have to figure out timing and pricing and everything. Will be interesting come late summer to see scheduling around moving both Hay and Riley to their schools. But I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Go Mavericks!

Crazy week

 After last week's show, I can't remember much what happened. I *think* I picked Marci up from the airport on Sunday. I turned 50 on Tuesday, which was a weird day because we found out Ted was doing worse than anyone thought and the doctors were saying that he's only got a few months left to live. Add in the lack of confidence I've been having at work and trying to balance everything, and it was just a weird day to have a birthday.

Marci ended up booking another trip to CA to see and be with her parents, going down Saturday and staying for at least two weeks. Add in the fact that I'd be taking Riley to Colorado on Wed through Friday, and the week just got more crazy.

All this and I forgot we went out to a Japanese BBQ place on Monday for my birthday. A grill-at-the-table place that was pretty good, but also hit and miss because we didn't really know what we were doing. We did gifts the next night and because it was a milestone birthday, I was expecting something a little snazzier, but I didn't get anything super special. Standard gifts, pretty much what I asked for on Amazon, but nothing that blew my hair back. Got some money and will put that towards a new radio for the car.

Come Wed, we all got up early and flew out to Denver, where Riley and I picked up a rental and then almost got in an accident not even 2 minutes out of the facility. I was turning left as a car was turning in, but there was a small car that was hidden behind the turning car. I looked right to make sure it was clear and started going, but Riley called out and I saw the other car just in time to stop. Luckily didn't cause an accident and we went on our way.

Denver's airport is weirdly way out of town. Though I guess if someone thought Seatac was *in* Seattle, they'd think the same heading from downtown to the actual airport. We headed west on I-70 for about 250 miles, 3.5 hours. It snowed on the way and there was some hilly driving, and some epic views, but mainly it was boring and long. We got a Nissan Murano with a radio that really cemented me wanting to upgrade my car's radio. Just need to get the cash from Robb to make it so.

We finally to got to Grand Junction, CO in the late afternoon, like 4:30 or so? We checked in the hotel and dropped off our stuff and then freshened up. Also, if Riley decided to go to this school (Colorado Mesa University), we said he'd have to pay extra for the flight from Denver to GJ. The drive is just too much. Like flying into Eugene and driving to Seattle instead.

Thursday we visited CMU, which we both liked quite a bit, then drove back up to Denver. We got into the hotel at around 8:30 and then had to be up at 3:15 for a 3 flight day, going from Denver to LAX; LAX to San Jose; San Jose to Seattle. All in all, quite lame.

Got to spend some time at home on Friday and Saturday morning before trucking Marci back to the airport to see her off to CA. And then I leave tomorrow for CA as well until Friday. So Riley will be at home by himself. He'll be plenty busy, with 12 hr days away from home (school and play practice/prep), so KODO will be alone a long time too. We're having Nancy K come over to support, so I'll have to meet up with her sometime to prep her.

I'm looking forward to/not looking forward to this trip tomorrow. I expect to learn a lot and I'm hoping the experience helps cement some of the things I'm doing. I'm in my own head a lot and struggling with the subtleties of the job and inferring a lot of what I don't know. My foundation is not strong right now and I"m trying to develop it more daily. Hoping this trip will illuminate some of the things I'm missing.

Stereo Embers/Wagon/Sunset Tavern 4/9/22

 Here's video from Saturday night. Look up Bob Mattson on YouTube for more.

Gig report! 4/9/2022 Stereo Embers at the Sunset

Welp, that's a wrap. Just after 4 years of joining my band, we called it a day last night at the Sunset.

There are some dynamics involved as to why the band is no more, but to me, it had run its course and the pandemic and lockdown certainly didn't help. But this is about the gig, not why we stopped.

We had this gig planned for March of '20, and then it got put on pause, and then the Sunset remodeled and then pushed us back from December until last night. I showed up at load in time (5:30) as we were backlining our gear and wanted a sound check as well. We were headlining and had a solo act (Caleb Thompson) and band (Kathy Moore Super Power Trio) playing before us.

Setup was pretty breezy. I brought my usual rig and my black P and L1K. I learned the night before that I'd be sharing my rig with a local bassist named Julie Slick. The regular bassist in KMSPT was out sick and Julie was called upon to play. I looked her up and, guys, she's what I call a "professional musician." She has gigs and plays with artists we've all heard of. I searched her here and she's been mentioned a few times on this site. I also checked her on YouTube and was floored by how she played. Pickstyle on a Lakland DD (I think) and just shredding that thing to bits. Super technical and fast and wow, just great.

After setup, it was to a burger joint down the street (Great State Burgers). Very good and greasy. I added the caramelized onions for .50, no pictures, though.

Back to the club and a nice turnout was happening as it was our last show. And maybe first show since the lockdown for many clubgoers. We had some old friends fly in from as far as Tennessee and Arizona to see us play, that was pretty cool. The opener was an old soul; it looked like he rode in on a horse-drawn carriage. Sadly, no pix of him, but if you saw The Power of the Dog, imagine someone from that era. Voice as clear as a bell, effortless fingerstyle on acoustic guitar. Really excellent.

Following Caleb came KMSPT. We have played with them several times and they never fail to excite. As mentioned earlier, their usual excellent bassist had to sit out and, well Julie just killed it. Seriously, look her up.

As my drummer, Cass, and I watched them, their drummer, Faith, kept looking over and shrugging and mouthing, "I'm sorry," about something. After all, she was playing Cass' kit. Once they were done, I helped her off the stage as her hands were full and she mentioned that she had hit her finger on a drum and cut it, which caused her to splatter blood all over the snare and floor tom. It was pretty epic, not gonna lie. No pictures of that, sadly.

I had a friend come out who records some shows, and has recorded some of ours as well. What bass is to us, videography appears to be to him. He brought something like 8 GoPros, stands, clamps, etc. He had a little rig to clip on the end of my P bass. Due to that, I ended up opening the show with the P and swapping to my L1K a few songs in. The camera really messed up the balance of the P, but it was manageable. I just had to make sure not to whack anyone or anything with it.

People were super excited to see/hear us. The new stage at the Sunset is bigger and sounds fantastic. We played SUPER LOUD and it was almost too much (even with earplugs), but we soldiered on. Literally the 3rd note I played was wrong and overall, it was a pretty sloppy night, despite practicing twice this week. I really amp up the physicality of playing when I'm on stage and that can cause some problems at times. Also, my hair gets in my face and makes it hard to see, but overall, I think the performance was pretty solid.

We played 16 songs, which is the most we've ever done. Even that amount makes me realize what a marathon it would be for bands doing sets that last a couple hours. Gotta pace yourself!

The videos I've seen from the crowd made me feel good about the bass sounds I got from my stuff. Signed a few posters after the show (always weird to me), talked to a lot of friends old and new, and made a few bucks too.

Onto the pictures!

Outside the Sunset.

Fresh new green room at the Sunset.


My stuff and setup.

Merch stand.

KMSPT

Julie Slick and her matching white Lakland.