2026-07-21 Sunset Grooves at South Whidbey Community Park

What's this? Sunset Grooves first show since November! Over the last few weeks, we have gotten together to rehearse for some summer shows, but also to get a new guitarist in the mix as Dennis is moving to Poland in the fall. We had no gigs, so there was no big rush, but with these gigs coming up, we started moving forward with a kid named Robby. Early 30s, came out with a blue Ibanez and a fun, youthful energy. Helps that he's a solid player and a cool dude.

Fast forward to yesterday, when we played our first gig this year, on Whidbey Island, of all places. We got drafted to play on a Tuesday night, outdoors at the South Whidbey Community Park. Logistically, it was sort of a pain. We had to be there around 3:30 to setup the PA and stuff. But we also had to catch a ferry. I could have worked half a day, and then left for Mukilteo, but instead, I took a few days off to hang out with Marci at home instead.

Headed out the door about 12:30 to catch the 2:05 ferry. Got to Mukilteo around 1:30 and got on the ferry about 1:50, which I guess was the 1:30 ferry, which was running late. Whatever. I ended up on Whidbey Island around 2:15 or so, it's a short ride.

A ferry from the ferry

Did I mention that this would be the hottest day of the year? I got to the park and there was 0 shade. Trees all around the place, but none where we would be setting up and playing. I parked under one tree in a corner and waited for the other guys to show up.

After 45 minutes or so, Dennis and Eric showed up, followed by Robby, his girl Terry, and then Jen and Dusty. We parked and proceeded to set up in the blazing sun. I brought my bucket hat just in case and boy am I glad I did that.

My view from the stage

Before the gig, during soundcheck

Had a tent during setup to take shelter and hide the guitars

Before setup, we were on top of that retaining wall

We finally got dialed in, then did a quick soundcheck. Jen's daughter Erika ran sound. Too bad Riley isn't in town, he might be able to do the same thing for us, make a few bucks. Helen, Jen's other daughter, was there as well and she sang a few songs with us. Her and her pal also ran around on the lawn getting the crowd hyped, it was pretty funny.

I went in with my new wireless rig again and this time, I put the pack on my strap at a thicker part. Happy to say it lasted the whole gig and had no drops. I was able to move around and it was really cool to not worry about the cord. In-ears sounded pretty good and I had a nice show. But for real, it was so dang hot. By about song three or four, I had so much sweat pooling up in my eyes. Luckily, I brought a bandana to wipe sweat, but instead, I tied it on my head during the intro to "Hooked on a Feeling." That thing saved my eyes, for sure.

So hot out

I also brought a fan and had that blowing behind me for the whole show. Poor Dusty had nothing. He got a blister on his hand as well, wrapping it up with gaff tape during one song, then getting it stuck on his hand during one of his acoustic numbers. It was pretty funny.

Robby did great; he and Dennis have great chemistry when they play and it is really cool having a second guitar to fill things out. But, Dennis' last show with us is in a few weeks, when we hit the Aurora Borealis for his goodbye party. He'll be missed, but Robby is a more than adequate replacement. Like I said earlier, he is energetic, eager, and loves to play. He kept saying how much fun he had yesterday simply setting up gear.

With him in the band, he may bring in a new network of fans and friends to check us out. As it was, he had a friend and his wife from work come to check us out. This guy may or may not be affiliated with the Seahawks and he really liked us, so we'll see if that pans out to be anything interesting.

As it stands now, if we can get some gigs and if Robby can inject some new life into the band, I will stick it out. I was thinking of bailing, but then these gigs showed up, so that's cool. I will have to miss a gig for the first time; I have an Embers reunion scheduled at the same time, but I found a sub for them, a guy who played in the other yacht rock band in town. Hope he works out (I don't think he sings, though).

We finished up and packed out in the sunset, which was way nicer than doing it in the dark. And then I bailed. The guy that booked us said to catch the 9:30 ferry, otherwise we'd have to wait an hour for the next one. I jumped and got there in time to get on. And then it was 45 minutes to home from there.

Anyway, it was fun to play the show, it was a hot long day, and I hope we get a decent payout soon.

2026-07-18 Planets in the Ocean at Hidden Hall

There's an old something or other out there that says that you never mention your mistakes or poor performance on stage. In yesterday's case, there was no need to mention it because it was so obvious, it couldn't have been missed.

We were asked to play a power pop fest, at the Hidden Hall, for an afternoon show. A five-band bill with our bros from Square Peg, Full Life Crisis, Royal Blunder and the Rallies. Seemed a little weird since it was a daytime gig and we aren't really a power pop band, but it was with friends and at a new place we'd never played.

On the way there I realized that parking would likely be weird since the show started at 3:30 and went until about 9. Long story short, both Cass and I paid $14/each to park for 10 hours or so. This is not relevant, but it's all part of the experience, I suppose. It's interesting to keep a tally of time spent, money spent, money made (or not made) and see how it all shakes out. Since we're keeping track, I left the house at 2:04, the venue is about 15 miles away, and by my arrival, I was already down $14.

Cass and I showed up at the same time and loaded our gear in. The headliner, Royal Blunder, was providing backline and had already set up at the early, early time of 1pm or so. Crazy timing for a daytime gig, but we had a 9pm curfew as the venue had a DJ coming in for the late shift.

For this show, I brought the LB-100 and my IEMs. I recently also bought a wireless guitar kit as I had extra gig bucks and it was on sale. I've been using it, the NUX B-8, at rehearsals recently and though it works, it would drop signal a couple times over a couple hours for 1-2 seconds at a time. Not a huge deal, but last week, it dropped twice in a song and that got annoying. Turns out, it may be related to a hot input signal from the bass. I think both times I was playing one of my L1Ks and as always, had the volume dimed. I was all set to return it but read that if you lower the input volume of the bass, that should mitigate the signal drops. I did so and after practicing and playing at home, maybe that is the case?

Anyway, Square Peg kicked things off with a nice set. They had Rick Friel do "Hello There" by Cheap Trick to kick things off, then did their own songs for the rest of the set. During one of their songs, someone came up to me and said the song reminded her of "C'mon Feel the Noize" and it was Julie from Guest Directors. I didn't recognize her in the moment but caught up with her throughout the rest of the bands. Was nice to see her and chat a bit.

No picture of Square Peg without me in it

After a quick changeover, Full Life Crisis took the stage. Another band of bros, they are great. I really love how Brian plays guitar. He has mastered his tones and his playing is outstanding. Really nice band with cool tunes and great harmonies.

Full Life Crisis

We were on next so we took the stage and were already at a deficit as Robb forgot to print setlists. No big deal, as he usually just calls out the songs anyway. I went with my IEMs and the sound guy, Rainen, who ran sound for us at the Blue Moon a few years ago (he was wearing our shirt), got me dialed and it was fine. I had the wireless set up and we were good to go.

Robb started with "Unraveled," which is a fine opener. However, at the hold of the note going into the intro, I whipped my guitar down and the transmitter came off my strap. It was dangling next to my leg, but luckily, the signal was still there... that is until about 3/4ths of the way through the song. All of a sudden, no bass.

I checked the plug and everything was plugged in. I noticed the receiver on my pedal board still was showing a signal, so evidently the bass was still getting into the board. I decided to ditch the wireless just in case that was it (it wasn't) so Steve brought me an instrument cable. After a few more moments between songs, I noticed the amp had no power to it. It seems something had knocked the power out to the amp; once we reset that, we were off and running. Until we got to "Nomenclature," the third song in the set.

It started normally and we got through the first chorus just fine. Cass and I continue with a basic drum beat and my droning bass line. Robb does the riff four times and then starts singing... but he didn't. Cass thought Robb had forgotten the second verse and was jumping to the second chorus, but he wasn't. Robb was lost and I got lost and I just stopped playing, so we all stopped. Then I shouted in the mic, "second verse, same as the first," and we got rolling again. It was all so stupid, but I think the song ended up OK despite that.

Robb also had an equipment glitch, one of his pedals seemed to be low on battery or signal. He started "Sit & Spin" and it sounded so quiet and down. He futzed around with the pedals for a sec and it came back. Not sure what the issue was, but he had it at rehearsal the other night as well.

The rest of the songs were likely fine, but I was feeling a little off. It was fun, sure, but all I could do was laugh at what a trainwreck it all felt like. It didn't help that the sound of my bass in my IEMs seemed clicky, as well as what I heard from Bruce's GK rig behind me. It was just all a little uncomfortable. But we plowed through it and eventually finished a little grumpy at ourselves.

pic by Mike Mitchell

Interesting guitar necks

At this point in our playing careers, nevermind time in Planets, we should be nailing every gig. But instead, we are nearly guaranteed some sort of error that goes beyond missing a note here and there. Missed sections, disjointed notes, simply madness. We are better than what we showed last night and it stinks that that happened. Luckily there were not many people who saw it, but those that did did seem entertained.

The Rallies followed us and played a competent and professional set, as always. If any of these bands will make it to the bigger stages, it's them. Solid, ear-friendly songs, hooky choruses, good looks. Don't know if there are many bands as consistent as these guys.

The Rallies

Rounding out the afternoon was Royal Blunder. We played with them early in 2025 and they were a four-piece, heavily Beatles-influenced. I saw them late last year and I thought they had gotten a touch more heavy, as well as being a trio. Fast forward to Saturday and they were the same trio, and quite good. Admittedly, I did spend a lot of time in the green room choppin it up with Lee and Steve from the Rallies, but what I did see out front was good. Still a lot of Beatles sounds, even playing "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" as well as "I Am the Walrus," but still good.

Royal Blunder

The aforementioned green room

After the bands were done, Cass and I chatted for a bit about the performance. Of course, we are our worst critics, but man, we should be past this type of stuff. Equipment is gonna fail, sure, but we should not be missing entire sections of songs. Saturday's stoppage in "Nomenclature" was pretty egregious and was my doing, but I thought it beat having an entire breakdown mid-song. Let's stop and cut our losses. The problem is, nearly every show we play, there's a part of any song where it's a really obvious error. Watching other local bands, or actual pro bands, that simply doesn't happen. I don't think that will hold us back from anything, but my ego and pride gets bummed out when it happens.

Overall, a pretty forgettable afternoon for me. I loved seeing friends and chatting and hearing the other bands. But playing was challenging even without the extraneous issues. I did get to see a couple vids and we sounded good from up front and for "Panic Attack" and "Sit & Spin," they were decent performances. I saw another clip of "Loud Silence" and that sounded pretty good, so I think we may have been fine, but man, so many weird moments for the actual full gig.

After the show, talked with Bruce via text and he indicated that all 5 bands, after the club and soundguy took their cuts, split $10.36. Pretty incredible, if you ask me. I was out $14 for parking and 7 hours for my time, plus mileage (30m round trip). Good thing we aren't in it for the $$.

Onto the next! A big-time gig at the Tractor playing with early teens powerhouse, The Divorce, with our buds Chimestone opening. Looking forward to that one.

Thoughts about Rush and the new tour!

Posted to Reddit today:

Hey, this is a great post. I am 54, and a Rush fan since 1987, sophomore year in high school. I recall an older kid in the hood, probably in the Moving Pictures time frame, calling radio stations and requesting Tom Sawyer and Queen's Another One Bites the Dust, so that's my first Rush memory. But I had started playing bass guitar in 1985 or so and in high school, I started listening to Rush.

My first Rush tape was Hold Your Fire, and after that, I just deep dove on whatever I could get. Back then, no internet, so finding any non-official recordings was wild. Any concert footage was whatever I could find on VHS, and, at that time, it was Exit Stage Left. I had that on cassette tape as well and I'd spend hours in my room with my Steinberger knock-off Hohner bass hitting Play, Stop, Rewind and then Play again, trying to figure out riffs to YYZ, or The Spirit of Radio, or the Trees, or La Villa Strangiato.

I could never do what Geddy does, I learned so much. I learned how a bassist and drummer need to sync. I learned that bass is not just all root notes. I learned what it felt like to be quirky without knowing it. Rush was all those things to me.

When I picked up some bootleg CDs in Victoria, Canada, while on a high-school band field trip, I was like, "wait, they make mistakes in concert? NEIL makes mistakes?" I was floored. I thought "professional" bands didn't make mistakes. Ah, youth!

My first concert was Presto, in Seattle. A few years later, it was Roll the Bones, when me and a friend, all of 16 or 17 at the time, drove from Seattle to Vancouver, BC, as Seattle wasn't announced yet... and then, of course, it was. Over the years, I saw them at the Gorge for Test for Echo, and then twice at the White River Amphitheater, once for R30 and then for Snakes and Arrows.

Over the years, my tastes changed. I discovered other music and artists, bands like Fountains of Wayne, Muse, the Hold Steady, while still doing deep dives on stuff Rush would release. I didn't see them live anymore and come 2020, though I had moved on from obsessing about Rush, I was still shocked and so saddened by Neil's passing.

A few years after that, maybe still during COVID lockdown, I had turned on one of the official concert videos and found myself getting totally choked up. I was super surprised and didn't know what to make of it.

Fast forward to the past few Rush performances without Neil over the years. The one with Dave Grohl playing 2112. The one at Taylor Hawkins' memorial. Decent, but simply Rush without Neil and a reasonable substitute.

Then last year they announced Anika. And a tour? I didn't know what to think, but my buddy bought a ticket for Seattle and so did I. It went on the backburner for a few months until somewhere I heard they were playing for the first time at the Juno awards in Canada. All of a sudden it was like I was in high school again. No announcement, no leaked videos, simply hearing somewhere that it would be on YouTube soon.

And then that night, I watched them play Finding My Way and I was amazed. Not only was I choked up all over again, but it was Rush. It wasn't Rush with a special guest or anything like that. It was Rush with their new drummer and my god, she was great.

That stoked a huge interest in me, but after watching it a couple dozen more times, I was done for the moment. Until last week. I knew Rush was kicking off at the Forum. Didn't see any sound check videos or anything and like some sort of dork, I said, "no spoilers for me, let's hold off," but that lasted all of until the first videos started to show up on YouTube.

Like the rest of you, I watched TapeHeadToo's viral post of the Anika Cam video. I caught the Xanadu stick drop and was like, "did I see what i just saw?" Had to rewind and yup, it was, and she handled it like the pro she is.

More and more songs went and each time, I was grinning ear to ear. Did I miss Neil's signature ride pattern in Subdivisions or Sprit of Radio? Absolutely. Did she play some fills differently? Was it purposeful or did she do it wrong? I'd say all purposeful; she's too good to do it "wrong."

Throughout some other videos, I'd get caught in my nitpicking of Alex missing notes and/or whole parts (end of Anthem one night, he forgot the hits at the end, leaving only drum hits), and Geddy's overplaying nearly on every song (end of Red Barchetta anyone?). And don't get me started on the flamenco strumming he does (hate it).

But then the camera would come back to Anika and I AM HERE FOR IT. I love Neil, but as good as he was, I am now realizing that to him, Rush was so demanding, that it seemed to suck any joy he got out of it. Maybe it was the rigors of touring, his health, being away from family, etc, but he looked to be on autopilot.

Seeing Anika smile after hitting the Tom Sawyer fills, or her incredibly cool charisma when blasting through the 2112 finale, or the Bytor battle fills before the breakdown? Worth the price of admission. And as the OP says, the "older brother" energy from the boys to her during the songs is so damn endearing!

I have noticed that Geddy is all about checking in on her, watching her/ giving her cues, while Alex is almost always with his back to her, really clocking his guitar neck. Watch as they hit the first unison run in YYZ. It's never tight and almost always a minor train wreck (IMO), but Geddy and Anika are at least close; Alex, well, see for yourself. I don't think he's ignoring her, he's just hyperfocused on his own parts.

But despite all the nitpicking, they are enjoying themselves so much and I am loving seeing their reactions, interplay and hearing the songs I grew up on. I am grateful for all the attendees recording their videos and posting for us to see.

My nerdier side wants to see only Anika drum vids. The power and precision she gives is intoxicating. I've seen Alex and Geddy do their thing long enough. I want to consume all of the drum videos I can, and I'm not even a drummer! I'm watching other YT creators dissecting her playing and it is so cool to see.

I did enjoy the renaissance Rush had in the 2010s with their pop culture relevancy and was always a bit bummed it was during what I found to be their most meh recordings. However, one side of me also loved that they never found super mainstream popularity, that they were our little secret.

These days, with Anika uniting our country (/s), let their popularity grow. Let them bring organic, instrument-driven rock back to the masses. Let them show that a couple senior citizens can still play circles around most bands around. Let them get their flowers and everything that's coming. I am here for it all and I am so proud to be a life-long Rush fan.

Sorry for hijacking, but I loved the OP's post and I've been thinking about this all week.

Anika Nilles and RUSH

Totally surprised when Rush announced Anika Niles as their drummer and that they'd be touring. Cass and I bought tickets in October last year for October this year and their tour started last night in Los Angeles. I was going to avoid spoilers, but fuck that.

I watched a lot of videos. I'm so proud of Rush for picking Anika, despite knowing nothing about her. She's done her time in jazz improv bands, she toured with Jeff Beck's band and now she's the drummer in my favorite band.

I saw her perform with the boys a few months ago at the Junos and I got all choked up. I couldn't talk to Marci without getting wobbly in the voice. It was pretty cool!

Then last night happened and I watched more and more videos. The band itself is good enough. It's the first show in forever and there were nerves, etc. Geddy sounds good enough, Alex is messing up some solos and parts here and there, but for a couple of 70+ year olds, can't complain too much.

And then there's Anika. She is powerful, solid, aggressive and god damn if she isn't an incredible drummer. She is hitting all the songs, but she's not doing everything Neil did. Biggest thing isn't doing Neil's ride cymbal part in the songs that have it. Like in Subdivisions, or Red Barchetta, it wasn't there. Some fills are different for sure, and it seems the boys have told her to make the songs her own.

Some dude at the show recorded the whole show focused on Anika and it's pretty incredible. Long blonde ponytail, just great. Her face is hidden behind cymbals, but when you can see it, she's smiling a lot and it's just a beautiful thing to see all the way around.

Looking forward to this for sure, all the musicians are coming out and praising her and October's show is gonna be off the hook.

Someone said something like, "All Hail the King, Long Live the Queen." Pretty appropriate.

2026-06-06 Planets in the Ocean at Conor Byrne

Last night was way too fun. I wish I had a reality TV crew following me around to capture all the people that were there, the music made and the good vibes overall. I made a strong effort to pump the socials and text and reach out to folks. It worked out well, let's see who came for me (or at least confirmed they were coming with me): Michael P, Taylor H, Elizabeth D (+2), Jose C (+3), Evan C (+1), Marci!, Christian S (+3), Dusty H, Eric J, Brian H (+1). Maybe there were more? But overall, there were so many people for us. Hell, with Stag and the Rallies in the building, we couldn't help but have a good draw.

Marci came out and I was stoked for that, but it was gonna be a long night. I-5 north was closed from I-90 all the way to 45th, so we left about 4pm for a 5pm expected arrival time. It was lame. She shopped for a printer the whole time. Cheaper to replace the stupid thing rather than buy new ink, I hate that.

Stuck in traffic with my favorite person!

Anyway, an hour later we arrived at my new favorite club, Conor Byrne. As mentioned in last month's recap, the room sounded so good. Would it be the same for this show? Unsure. Last time, I played through Charlie's Ampeg 610 and it was thunderous. This time, I provided backline with my new Orange 112 powered by the old Ashdown, for its first show. Despite Mark the repair guy saying to not trust it at a gig, over the past 10+ hours of rehearsals and home practice, it's been fine, so I figured why not? I did tell Pete Nordstrom to bring his Orange Bass Terror just in case...

I pulled up and Ben London was unloading his car. Lee Brown pulled up after us. Ben Heege was already inside. Cass showed up a few minutes later, as did Tim. It was like reunion day at the old folks home. All the homies were there. Not only that, we had all the Embers heads show up: Charles and Cyndy, Lisa G and her husband, Lisette, Stephanie P, maybe some others. Tim had Kim and Chris show up, Rebecca Young, Kay, probably more than that. I got to talk to Cathy Pants (I don't know her real last name!), Jonathan Plum, Bob and Tina Lang, Steve Reeves, Alan W and Dan, Jan Fox from Model Shop (who was just walking by), Elizabeth, Jose and his family. It was all so great.

I got the little baby rig on stage and of course I forgot to take any pictures. It powered up and Ben got his bass plugged in, a hollow body Washburn and it sounded round and full. Pretend this picture is from sound check instead of the show:

Check out the cool Ashdown VU meter!

After I set up, Marci and I went to grab a quick bite. We went to a place called Situ Tacos. I had a taco salad bowl of some sort and it was tasty. And not a comment on the food, but I noticed afterward that a tooth that had been intermittently painful for months had broken. Don't know where the rest of it went, but luckily it doesn't hurt and a call has been made to the dentist. I'm guessing a crown is in my near future.

Dinner before my tooth broke.

We walked back to Conor Byrne, but not before stopping in a doorway to have Marci look into my mouth. Surely we didn't look any weirder than the other people walking around in Ballard, right?

Back at the club, it was just a nice party. I socialized with as many people as I could, like I mentioned. I helped set up our merch table. I spent some time this week creating a QR code and price sheet for stuff. I guess it helped, we generated about $200 in Venmo purchases, so that was quite cool.

Gotta take some lessons from the Rallies on how to do merch

A sweet woman named Dineen (don't know the spelling), who is a friend of Stag's, ran merch for us all and she was fantastic. It was nice to not have to worry about running merch. My only regret is not getting a Rallies record and some more Stag stuff. And after seeing all their stuff, we should look into more swag. Or maybe after recording again.

Enough small talk. Rallies took the stage and show us all how a real tight, professional, harmonic band plays. They are just fine gentlemen and musicians and they played to a very appreciative audience. Check out the crowd!

The Rallies!

I regret to say I didn't see much of their set due to getting my social on. But what I heard did sound excellent. Bradford, the sound tech at Conor Byrne, is so good and the room just sounds great.

Stag took the stage next and of course, they just destroyed. And they are fine folks, each one of them. I've said things about them before and it's still true. Nice dudes and wonderful performers!

STAG. And the club was packed, just not from this picture.

Once Stag got off the stage, we got the ball rolling. We decided to play all the songs from the record, including Darla's Song, which meant Robb had to get his keys setup. Which was fine, but there were problems. He had no sound, so that meant I got to get on the mic and be stupid. Did a bunch of talking because he couldn't figure out what was going on. I thanked people, the bands, a bunch of nonsense. Sad thing is, I sort of love the attention. Doh! We finally played and then he had to switch to his guitar rig. And of course, something went weird. His guitar didn't sound right, so I jumped back on the mic. A few minutes of that and he finally got things up and running.

Cass did up the setlist and had us starting with The Loud Silence, which is a nice, chill way to get into things. I tried warming up a little, mainly by stretching my hands and arms, and not starting with something like Nomenclature helped.

Audio on stage sounded great! The Ashdown/Orange baby amp was fantastic. I could hear my bass and it was lovely. Robb's amp was to his left and leaned back 45°, pointed right at his ear, which also meant it pointed right at me. It was ok, loud, but not too terrible.

We worked our way through the set, there was a full house, and it was fucking awesome. I wish I took some pics from the stage, but I didn't. We had Derrick Miller and Devin Creisler in the house and they always shoot full vids, so those should be upcoming. But Mike Mitchell was there taking pics, as were a bunch of others, so here's some of those. All the PITO pix are a bit too red so imma fix those before posting.

Full house!

Mike Mitchell with me and Tim

The set was fine. I could've been tighter on stuff I did. I felt sloppy. Monitors were better last month but still good; I could hear myself pretty good. I think we all had some awkward moments, but overall went well. People loved it, they really did and it felt so good.

They especially went nuts when Timmy jumped up there. We started with All Amounts to Something and it hit when he started the riff. Really fun to play that with him and get the Embers train back on the track. The cheers were loud and a pretty good preview of what to expect when we play at the Sunset in September. Should be great and well attended.

Next up is Planets with our pals Square Peg, Royal Blunder, The Rallies and Full Life Crisis at Hidden Hall on a Saturday afternoon. Will be a great time!

2026-05-02, Planets in the Ocean at Conor Byrne

 

Last year we had a show booked with Guest Directors at the Sunset. One of the GDs got sick and had to cancel, so we played with two bands, it was fine. Julie reached out a few months ago and asked us to play this show. I'm really glad we did!

Took about 45 minutes to get to Ballard last night, GPS took me some stupid way that got me stuck at the Fremont bridge, then every light after. No big deal, found some parking, got there and had a quick soundcheck. I got to play through Charlie from GD's Ampeg, no big deal.

I mean, look at that thing!

Weather was beautiful on Saturday. Sunny, warm, between 70-80°. Perfect, really. It brought out some people. At the club it was the bands at first, but then our pal Ted Laabs showed up. I got to talk to him about life and that was entertaining. Steve, Salena and Bob showed up, so I talked to them. Paul from Pop Cycle and his wife Serena showed up. Michael Markley brought a bud. Ben Heege showed up all the way from Kenmore! Chris Elko and his camera and his girl. Ron from Love Battery and his friend were there. Mike and Amy of course! Besides my friends, there were a good number of people in the club, I feel it was pretty well attended.

After all the chit chat, we jumped on stage and got to work. No warmup or anything, so I was a little nervous, but it was all good. We started with "Nomenclature," which is always a bit of a workout. I was quite pleased during soundcheck and actually playing that the monitors were delightfully audible. I could hear what I was singing and I didn't even have to ask!

When we soundchecked, I did play bass on the floor and the rig sounded sweet by itself. On stage, it was very boomy, but it was so visceral, I didn't care. As long as I could hear what I needed, it was just fine.

Throughout the set, I jumped on the mic a bunch, simply because I love the attention and also to keep the awkward silences less awkward. Luckily, people seemed to like it (that's what I keep telling myself). I enjoy having a captive audience to do my bits for and they seemed to enjoy it as well. That's what happens when the sound guy dials in the background mic loud and clear.

Speaking of Mike earlier, he shot pix as usual and caught a great one of me. I've had the jumps captured before, but he got this one in focus and high-pointed, check this out:

Like a bunny.

We had a decent set. No major crash outs, I didn't record, sort of wish I did based on how the room sounded, but gah, maybe next time. After the I got to catch up with people and got a bunch of great comments. People were extra complimentary and super nice about my backing vocals. Steve said it was the best he'd ever seen us. Cass' friend Matt said our first few songs reminded him of XTC, where I was playing the chords without playing the roots, or something like that. Later in the night, Julie from the GDs said I was her favorite lead bassist.

Anyway, enough about me. Model Shop took the stage next and I was quite surprised. I was expecting the singer to be Jen, the bassist. Turns out all three sing leads and the drummer, Kevin, stands and plays up front. Sort of weird, but they were poppy and great and had great 3-part harmonies.

Jen plays a Ric!

They finished up and Guest Directors jumped up. As they started, we heard birds. I guess they play a background track of nature sounds so there's something between songs. Sort of neat!

A professional band

When we played with GDs at Tim's a few summers ago, they were good. But I forgot how good they actually were. With Julie and Gary on guitars and vocals, there's nothing they can't do. Julie has that sort of voice that I just love: clear, honest, pure and beautiful. She sounded so good on stage. AND she's a wicked guitarist as well. With Gary playing lead (and Julie could too, she's that good), her creative rhythm layers are so complimentary to what Gary's doing and it just works.

Rian on drums is a monster. He plays with so much authority, but he is also so tasteful and deft. And Charlie is solid. He doesn't get to do too much, but what he does is very appropriate and just works with his band.

We all finished up and I had a few bucks from getting a referral bonus for Daniel at work. I bought records from both Model Shop and Guest Directors, and also a Model Shop t-shirt, only because it wasn't black (baby blue).

Support local music!

This was probably the most fun gig we've played in a long time. At least for me it was. I was really impressed with how the club sounded and was also quite happy with the number of people that came out for us. We definitely had the biggest draw and I can't wait to do it again in a month from now. Tim will be on the bill and it's pretty much an open secret at this point. We may as well put it on blast and get as many people out as we can.

In the meantime, I just made this, so whatever, here it is.

March 2026 updates

March came and went. Haley moved out with Blake. She left on the 14th and made her way to California, then across the country to Florida. It's weird not having her here, and I think she'll be back in the future, but for now, time for her to see what life has to offer.

We're adjusting to the empty nest thing. Plenty to keep us occupied and busy, the house is just a little quieter. Kody is same old, same old. I'm sure he misses her, but nothing phases this guy.

Riley just found out Hannah got accepted to grad school in Cincinnati and his plan is to follow her out there, I think. He's gonna graduate in May, so we have to figure out going to GJ to see him and celebrate the accomplishment.

Marci is still plugging away at school. Things are going there, I suppose, but it may be time to switch it up in the future. Will leave it at that for now. Hopefully having a master's degree helps.

About a month ago, as I was heading to rehearse with Greg Hoy at Dave Hill's house, Michael Paolantonio reached out to me, asking if I was interested in playing in his wife's new Cake cover band. I knew nothing about it or what she was planning, so I wanted to hear more about it. I do like the Cake hits, but beyond those, I didn't know much about the band.

I talked to Michael and found out that his wife, Cyana, via her theater contacts, had lined up some players I knew. On guitar was Justin Davis. I know him via socials and know he plays with Strong Suit, among others. My main memory of him was once Kathy Moore told me that as Stereo Embers was breaking up, that someone was gonna get a monster of a bass player.

She also had Ric Pentilla on trumpet and keys, who I have hung with at shows, as well as playing with him in Greg's band last month. He's cool and we like each other. On drums was a guy I don't know, and she recruited Jeremy Lightfoot to play bass. But she said he was super busy and she grabbed another guy named Mark. After she set lineup, she said she originally wanted me but thought I was in three bands, so didn't pursue too much.

Anyway, Brett and I went to check her band, Cupcake, out last week at their inaugural show at the Skylark. I figured with all these dudes, they'd be pretty good. I was not wrong. During soundcheck, it was clear that they were gonna be good. They played a great set and everyone was solid. Cy, however, was outstanding. Her stage chops definitely showed and she had great energy and stage presence. She could sing as well and it all just worked.

I had talked to her earlier in the week and we decided I should be on the roster, whether as a full-time member, or a rotating bass, since all the players have other bands as well. She's got some gigs booked in early June, one at Pono Ranch and one at the Blue Moon. I'll have back-to-back, as I'm booked for the Blue Moon, and then the next night at Conor Byrne.

Overall, been working on the Cake tunes and they are quirky. The parts are easy, it's the song arrangements that are what I need to remember. I've been working on them and they'll be fine. Looking forward to getting in a room with those guys and see how it goes.

*edit to add

forgot to mention that Planets had a record release scheduled at the Sleight of Hand with our friends Braly Sangster. We were all set to go for 3/13, with a surprise addition of Tim on a few Embers songs to round things out. We had a bunch of people committed to go, with about 20-25 people that I directly influenced. And then the week of the gig, Robb started feeling gross and come Thursday, he made the decision to call it, so we had to do a bunch of texting and messaging, telling people the bad news. It was a big bummer, to say the least.

As of now, April 4th, we still have not rescheduled and I don't think we're going to. It seems Trey either has better things to do or he's just super busy. I don't know at this point. It's all sort of annoying. Our next gig isn't until May 2nd at Conor Byrne, so at least there's that, but any record release is still up in the air at the moment.

2026-03-07 Greg Hoy & the Boys at the New Frontier Lounge

Night 2 of our SEATAC tour is in the books. Another long evening/night at a club, but so much fun, that I didn't care. Once again, the night started with me jumping in the car. The NFL is about 30 miles away from home and I was a little nervous as it was going to be my longest roundtrip in the new car when it wasn't properly charged up. I've been trying to save some money on electrical by not charging every night. Monday and Tuesday nights I didn't charge, and on Wednesday, I had my normal commute to work, then to Dave's house for rehearsal and back, which added another 25 or so miles total. I charged that night, then had Planets practice, which adds about 35 miles to the daily. Same with Friday night, playing in West Seattle. After charging Friday night and driving Marci's car around Saturday, I left for Tacoma with just about 100 miles on the battery. Lucky for me, the route for the gig was about 60-65, so we made it home just fine. But, I digress.

Traffic wasn't bad getting down there, I made it in good time, but I did have a terrible time finding parking. I heard there was high school basketball championships at the Tacoma Dome across the street, so where normally there are hundreds of streets spots on any given night, last night, there was next to nothing. I tried squeezing the car into a fenced in tiny lot behind the building, but after a few tries, it was just too tight, so I moved on. I drove around the area for about 10 minutes before I found a spot about a block away, so I lucked out. I only brought my bass and a cord, since Tom's amp sounded so good the night before. Dave ended up parking about half a mile away, so no complaints from me!

After the brief load-in, I said hi to some of the fellas and ordered some food. Hot dog for me, no picture. I took to the stage and got set up, quick and easy. I decided to bring the Hog. I didn't even bring the pedal board as I didn't use it the night before at all. I brought my stupid clip-on tuner and a cord and it was pretty cool to travel so light, not gonna lie.

This beautiful beast

As we line-checked, I played a few notes and Brian from FLC was in front of me and marveled at this bass. Planets had recorded a video at his house in October and I played Goldie. He sort of did a double-take and was all like, "you have to bring that bass over and we are going to record it." All from a few notes, I thought that was funny.

I brought another phone to record the festivities, set it up on a table near me and hit record. I figured, "how often do I play with horns?" and wanted to let it rip. Max and Ric had nearly matching blue shirts and I got to stand next to Max this time. They are a great combo and they have tons of gigs. It was really cool to connect and play with them for these two nights. I'll see them again down the line.

I really enjoyed playing with Dave too. When we were kids in high school, he was decent enough and he really grew into a solid and quirky drummer. His jazz-type roots over the years really defines his style. His fills and feel are so different to me but they work and I loved how he added to what the band did.

Both nights, it was tough to hear Greg. We sort of blasted through sound check and I neglected to tell the sound guy to put guitar in my monitor. I could hear his vocals for the most part and everything turned out fine. I had a trainwreck in one song, forgot to go to a B-section, but figured it out quickly enough. I also forgot to warm up, so for the first song, a pretty quick bouncy number, I made it out alive, but it was tricky.

Oh yeah, before all that, Sean Lundblad and Val showed up. Was great to see them, even if Val didn't want to be in our picture! They are great and really enjoyed catching up with Sean. He said they'll try to make it out to Seattle for the Planets show on Friday.

Lund Bros. rhythm section, 2026.

Following us was Square Peg and I thought they sounded better on this show. Maybe it was the room, who knows? Steve said he didn't play that well, but I thought they did just fine. I guess I forgot to take a picture of them, but just scroll down to yesterday's post.

The night before, Brian said they were going to do their grunge set. They kicked it off with a blaster that I didn't remember hearing the first night. It was a cool tune and set the tone for their set. Steve R. said Brian had crafted a different set, their heavier one. And it was! Tom sang a bunch of the songs and inspired me to want to sing more. He was great and Brian was great and they were all great. Nice tight band and cool songs. I personally like the heavier FLC better and they'd pair good with PITO, but Brian is trying to move in a less heavy direction, more dynamics, etc. All good, they were great and such good dudes.

Wanted the sign in the shot

After the show, I talked to a bunch of the dudes for a bit. Love talking to FLC, Dan from SP is a cool dude, a very friendly hugger. Met a cool guy named Dave who plays drums for a Latino rock cover band. Hope he can make it out next Friday. Stereo Embers/PITO fan Nick Kennedy was there also; I guess he lives in Tacoma and was happy to see me/us in his town.

All in all, a fun two shows, fun four days of music for me. Wish more weeks were like this! Now I have two more next week and then some chill time until what, May? Who knows. Let's get after it!

Next up, Planets at the Sleight of Hand SODO to release our record! I'm feeling like the turnout is gonna be good!

2026-03-06 Greg Hoy & the Boys at the Skylark

Last night was night one of what I'm calling our SEATAC tour. It was the Seattle portion, of course. I left plenty early, at 5:30, expecting horrible traffic. Instead, it wasn't too bad, so I showed up close to 6. I figured I'd get there early since we were sound checking at 7 and I wanted to eat before I lost track of time.

I pulled into the lot and the Full Life Crisis boys, Lee, Tom and Brian, were there loading in. I headed in and it was my first time back to the Skylark in I don't know how many years, maybe 2016 with the Scheme?

Part of GHTB included Max and Ric on sax and trumpet, respectively. It all came together quite nicely, with me doing most of the coordinating. Greg had a booking agent get some clubs on the tour, but he asked if I knew any horns. Of course I thought of Max and Ric and luckily they could do it. Then he asked if I knew any bands, so I asked FLC and Square Peg, both of which could also do it. So that was that, easy peasy.

I caught up with Dave, Ric, Steve and Steve from Square Peg. Greg's wife and his daughter were there as well, since it was all ages until 10pm. Greg's wife worked at Open AI and she brought a bunch of people. FLC is from West Seattle and they always bring a small crew. Overall, it was a pretty good draw.

I grabbed a smoked chicken sandwich and tore that up before hitting the stage for soundcheck. I hemmed and hawed on what bass to bring and ended up bringing the butter bass to play through Tom's Ampeg combo.

tasty chicken sandwich

The gear

Half of Max and Ric

Dave and Greg and I practiced a few nights ago and it went fine. We didn't practice with Max and Ric and it was fine. They had charts and we did a quick soundcheck with "Highway 101," which starts with horns, and it was great. The amp sounded great and overall, I was happy with what I heard.

Greg was hurting a bit; the night before, he fell on a sidewalk in Seattle and twisted up his ankle. He had a brace on his foot and was hobbling around a bit and hurting, but he soldiered on. It didn't affect his voice or guitar playing, so we were good on that front.

Before long, we hit the ground running and it was great. Despite the injury, Greg has fun stage presence. Max and Ric were center stage and I was in the corner. I could hear everything pretty well, except Greg's guitar, which was OK. We banged through some songs and they were all pretty good. No real trainwrecks or screw ups. The horns sounded great and were a lot of fun to play with. Overall, happy with the performance and people ate it up.

Greg and the Boys

Full Life Crisis followed us. They put on a solid set, with all 3 dudes singing a song during the set. Lee said it was his first time singing lead on a song; the guys had written a song and told him he had to sing it. Tom played a Ric and it sounded great. I don't know if I'd want that Ric clank and growl to be my sound, but it worked for him and he played it really well. Brian is a great player and a suprisingly good singer as well. He's cool and I've really enjoyed getting to know him the past year or so. They put on a great set with a wide variety of musical influences.

FLC

Square Peg closed out the night with an energetic and loose set. Dan on drums is fun to watch and listen to. He seems to be close to losing at all times, but it always works out. Steve N. surprised me with his vocals. There was a few times when he had to hit a big note and he did. Bob and Steve R. were solid, as expected. Those guys have been around a bit and know what's up and how to best compliment their songs.

Square Peg

When it was all said and done, I loaded out and headed home only to find I-90 east was blocked off. Had to go around and pay the toll on 520, so I wasn't thrilled about that. Next time I should check the GPS before making the drive. Don't know what the band made, expect I'll get paid by Greg tonight when we do it again at the New Frontier.

New Year's Resolution: failed

In my defense, Feb was a short month, only 28 days... and maybe I broke my foot in late Jan... but those are excuses and I didn't make it to a show.

Thought about it... but didn't.

Oh well.

I'll make up for it by playing in 3 shows this month. As mentioned in a previous post, playing with Greg Hoy this week. We are rehearsing tomorrow, and then doing it for real on Friday and Saturday, with local horn legends, Max and Ric on trumpet and sax. Thursday we're having Planets practice with a special guest. It's gonna be a fun couple music days.

Next week, we'll do one more practice with special guest, then our long-awaited vinyl release at Sleight of Hand. I've been going nutz making IG posts and the like. I am no pro, but they're cool, mainly because of Mike Mitchell's pictures.

Got a couple more shows in May and June, but that's it. Everything quiet on the SG front for now. Dennis is leaving the country this year, we haven't talked about replacing him, but supposedly we have a gig lined up in August? We'll see what happens...

2026-01-09 Thrashed Behind the Eyes, Once For Kicks, Mopsey at Slim's Last Chance

For some dumb reason, I made a new year's resolution to see at least one show a month that I don't play in. When I went to the Sunset at the end of 2025 to see Pop Cycle, Rallies and Royal Blunder, it really was cool and a lot of fun. Plus, making connections will just get people to come to my shows, so, like everything else, it really is all about me.

After talking to some friends about this show, it seemed like there'd be more people at Slim's than at for my own shows. I showed up a little after 8, after having not picked up Mike and Amy since they got hung up on the light rail. The place was fairly packed, what with Slim's recently announcing they'd stop shows in mid-Feb this year. Though rumors are swirling that Mason from Tim's is purchasing the place; I've heard it from multiple people, including in the club that night, but I am a nobody and maybe I'm being trolled.

Anyway, these three bands, Thrashed Behind the Eyes, Once For Kicks and Mopsey, all have their own little legacies and people I recognized. As a result, there were plenty of scenesters in the room. Other bands were there as well, and I may have had a hand in that, bringing out Brian, Tom and Lee from Full Life Crisis. The aforementioned Mike and Amy were there, as was Jeff, doodling his pictures up front. I saw Fred Speakman, who helped me get my amp back.

Brian Hughes plays bass in TBTE and OFK, and he backlined his rig, two Aguilar SL12s and a Mesa Boogie head of some sort. He's seen a bunch of Planets shows and is always super nice. I had never seen him play, so I wanted to check him out.

Thrashed Behind the Eyes

TBTE started things off. Brian played a nice sunburst P and his band was a little garagey, a little grungy and pretty cool. I couldn't hear his bass much, but that changed for OFK.

Once For Kicks

OFK featured Kurt Bloch on guitar and Bill Coury on vocals. I have seen Kurt a bunch, but I only know Bill from when he fronted Thee Sgt. Major back in the day. They were great when I saw/played with them with the Lunds. And OFK was really really cool. Poppy catchy tunes and Brian's bass playing really shined. He played a Stingray and it cut through the mix a lot better. His lines were complex and that band would be a ton of fun to play in.

During one of the sets, a woman asked if I played in "Planets Run The Ocean." At least that's what I thought she said. I straightened her out and she introduced herself as Hennessy and that she has a Planets sticker on her coffee mug. Apparently she loved one of our songs, called it "haunting," but she didn't know the title and when she asked us about it at a show, we didn't either.

Mopsey

Mopsey finished the night with their tight ass guitars and pounding rhythm section. Jason on drums is so fantastic. Their songs are so high energy. Sadly, Brian's amp acted weird for the first song, so I couldn't hear Richard's Jazz bass at all. Then he got it dialed up for the second song but it was too quiet. That is, until someone in the crowd walked up front and asked Richard to turn up. Note to self: if it's too quiet for me, it is too quiet; say something!

Overall, a cool night at Slim's. I have great hope for when we play there in a few weeks that it will be well-attended, with Stag headlining.

Not sure who's playing where next month, but it'll be fun to go to another show!