"What a Long Strange Trip it's Been" Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia

Wadd'ya do when everything goes right? I mean, I've had success in my 58 years, some of it incredibly gratifying and meaningful. And I have had abysmal failures both unsolicited and of my own creation. And I certainly understand that success today may pale or shine in relation to what came years before, but that seems to be an incidental viewpoint with no teeth. Did I say no teeth?

Let's just run down a little of the current mode of operation so we can pick it apart, dissect the individual pieces and melt them down to their inevitable greasy little puddles for clean up on aisle 9:

• I now have a full set of teeth, thanks to a Dentist without an agenda or the need to own property in the Bahamas that was paid for exclusively from the work he did for me. This is thanks to a new set of upper and lower partial plates that hook and anchor to the good teeth he left in. I can smile, kiss, eat, sing and play the trumpet. OMG, I cannot stress the power of this upgrade.
• After spending several years not believing I could maintain a proper diet due to my Diabetes that was diagnosed 3 years ago because it was too hard to do on my schedule, and watching my blood sugar remain intolerably high without regard for the two types of insulin and three times a day pills I was taking I have found the secret to the Diabetes Magic Treasure Cave—I am now doing exactly what my doctor told me to do three years ago. I have trained myself to a 1.5 mile brisk walk with my dog, Dizzy (he is now also very happy, and his friggin' sugar is never an issue!) followed by a 2.5 mile bike ride that is pretty much all out the whole way. And, I eat the right stuff, all day every day. And yes, wait for it...I have lost 35 pounds over the last 6 months and my blood sugar is within very manageable levels for the first time since I was diagnosed and going down. Sumbitch, i just didn't believe I could do it. Next stop, 40 more pounds off.
• My band, The Joe Willy Band is having a Renaissance of sorts. After recording our own CD 4 years ago, which was a major task for us, consuming a year and a half and about $5K, our original bass man left us due to his declining health and his train wreck, trailer trash wife. Now, new CD in hand, and no bass player, we were dead in the water. We had struggled for several years with this original bass man as he became unable to play to our level, and stopped playing gigs almost completely while the recording was going on. Now, we could not play at all. What ensued was a miserable two years and a string of no less than 4 bass players (actually more like a dozen, when you count all the auditions) who ran the gamut from falling apart on stage the first time we played a live gig after 3 months of rehearsal to an inability to remember anything like a complete arrangement to a guy who had no drivers license but swore he would get to rehearsals and the gigs, except for the first, second or third one, and finally to a really tragic event when we really thought we had the right guy who fit in, was experienced and played killer bass and then died in his home of a massive coronary two weeks after we hired him. FUCK! What do we have to do. Then we tried a guy who actually turned out to be a better guitar player than bass player, and he switched off with our lead man who also plays the best bass for 100 miles in any direction, and that worked until the new guy just went off the deep end and would tune his guitar in the middle of a song. Enter one Alan Nickerson from Chicago, Illinois. the man can play the bass. He can sing. He has a personality that is so cool to the touch, and fits in with all of us. He is a consummate pro, who has played everything, everywhere. I am in love with Alan. He and I make a rhythm section like a block of granite. We rock. As a result, The Joe Willy Band has gone through a transformation. We can now play nearly any material we want. We have added back our old second guitar player who is a near perfect complement to our primary guitar man, and who can play his balls off. We have freshened our song list with over 20 new songs that have made us far more up temp, contemporary and bitching. No, really , we now have a solid concrete hold on some key classic and southern rock, R&B and Blues hits that have redefined who we are. And we play our own original material with all new fire and life that feeds our need for speed! And of course the result is, we have been playing gigs pretty much non-stop since last summer. We have a completely new PA system. All of us have upgraded our personal equipment inventory. Okay, we would have done that anyway, it is the working musicians mantra—I need more and cooler equipment. So now we are on the verge of our most visible gig yet. We are playing two sets on the main stage of a very large outdoor BBQ event called "Pigfest" (yeah, I know, a lot of pigs, chickens and cows will give their lives for this, but I am not a vegetarian so what am I supposed to do?) this weekend and there will be upwards of 500 to 1000 people milling around and drinking beer when we play. We are STOKED!
• And then there is Debbie. I have reported on this phenomenon in an earlier post so I will not repeat the gush, I will just say no change has been more dramatic or exciting than my redheaded wonder. Everything in my life has been affected, and I am embarking on a whole new outlook and vision of me and the future. Kowabunga.

So as I reflect on all this crazy good news, I know there are still areas of my life that need change or at least some modification. My job is becoming untenable and I will probably be forced into a corner from which I can only emerge by leaving where I work in the next few months, and my roommate just fucked me by moving out with no notice and leaving me a trashed bedroom and bathroom. But I have to report, that due to all of the above, nothing will faze me. I will find a roommate, and I will find the right work to pay the bills and give me some measure of fulfillment. And I will let nothing deter me from my girl, my health and my music. So lift a glass, and toast the days we spend in the sun, and see to it that you are working on your behalf at all times for it is unlikely anyone else will. And for god's sake, heed the words of Hunter S. Thompson when he said, "It still isn't weird enough for me," and Robert Hunter with Jerry Garcia when he said, "What a long strange trip it's been." Ciao, babies, now go make your world a better place, ya' knucklehead!