Bluffycakes and Thirsty Beavers.

Hey again.  Yeah, it's been a while... but I told you I'd come back, didn't I?

So, Thursday is going to be "blog day".  I've put in on my calendar, marked it in ink, highlighted it, and made it a date for myself.  Hopefully this time it will stick.

WHEW!

Crazy.  Where to start?  I've given myself 30 minutes, and the clock's ticking.

I'm also doing this at the same time "SoundCloud" is loading and attempting to find my musical friends.  Well, it's crashing.  Apparently, I have the amount of musical friends on my Facebook account that would cause a website to crash.  :)  That's a wonderful thing!  I'm lucky to have so many musically inclined buddies.

You can do it, little website!

My mom keeps bugging me to do Hallway Waltz stuff (as does my brain, since I tend to lose my favorite punk songs all over the house.  GRRR!  Don't worry, they're coming.  Eventually.  I promise.

So, where am I?

In Winston-Salem, sitting at Krankies Coffee downtown (I work for the other Krankies, the one in the silver airstream - Yeehaw!) and allowing my brain time to wind down from teaching, repairing, and driving all over creation.  

Earlier today, I'm driving down Franklin Street (because all the secret back ways through Chapel Hill are currently being "worked on" in some form or another) which allows me time to almost crash into the car in front of me several times due to my attention deficit people watching.  A guy passes by the car in a punk rock vest with an awesome Misfits back patch.  Before I could snap a picture and send it to John, the car behind be decides to honk at me for not moving fast enough down a pedestrian laden street.  I wave. 

Chapel Hill would not be complete without someone honking at me in frustration daily.  I've learned to embrace it and laugh about it.  I'm also getting a water gun soon to squirt at them.

That's not assault, is it?  I mean, it's just water... and it's just a car window... right?

ANYWAYS.

Proof that Franklin Street's proud punks are coming out of the wood works and starting/restarting/joining/rejoining the scene revolution.  I love it!  Take that, naysayers!!!!!

And there was that girl with the awesome cowgirl boots.  Party on, my dear.

Enough about Franklin Street!

Shows. 

Friday found me at the Cave playing bass with STAG (Micheal Rank's band, formerly of Snatches of Pink - John showed me the MTV episode of him and Sara Romweber.  I wanted to steal Micheal's boots and Sara's hair!) with Mr. Howie Jr. on drums.  It's the first time John and I have gotten to be a rhythm section together, and we had a BLAST.  Normally, it's him telling me what to do (kinda) or me telling him what to do (I try, doesn't work so well :) ) but it was a fantastic change of pace to have us both in the backline.  It gave us a chance to make funny faces at each other, or have me smile at his cues/drum faces.  The show went well, and we had a good crowd.  What a fun night!

Saturday was a long day - we woke up from a late night ("What time do we have to be in Winston again, Billie?"  "Oh, we have to leave in an hour."  Grumblegrumblegrumbleshowergetdressedloadthecar) only to be shuffed to Winston-Salem to play PhuzzPhest.  We were the first act on a 1:00 on Saturday.  One of my students turned up and it made my day!  The P-90's played really well (go team!) and I was impressed by everyone's ability to be awake and ready to play the show.  I'm blessed to be in such great bands.  John's drum gear took some rigging (meh, it's punk rock!) but ultimately it went off without a problem, even with poor Dillon recovering from having an organ removed only days before.  It was the first time we've played PhuzzPhest, and I hope we'll get to do it again next year!  I hung out for a little bit to catch some of the bands (it's amazing... I've been playing live music in this town for almost 10 years, and I STILL don't know all the musicians!) and was really excited by all the different bands this town produces.  WS pride, beeotches.

I did feel a little out of place in my ripped jeans, studded belt, and Ramones shirt... but I just can't embrace the skinny jeans movement.  It's a cool look, but sadly I wasn't built for skinny jeans - they bring back memories of having to wear stirrup tights in elementary school.  Same with big 80's glasses... they look cool on some people, but after having to be forced to wear them as a child I just have to pass.  :)

But!  Even if I felt a little out of place at first, it was clearly all in my head.  I ran into friends Ryan Synder and Richard Emmett as well as some old school Werehouse crew, and felt welcome. 

I head on back to my studio (John decided to crash there after the show... he had the much harder lead singer job later), pack up another round of gear for the Rosewood Bluff, and truck on down to Charlotte to play The Thirsty Beaver.

I love The Thirsty Beaver.  If you haven't checked it out, please do.  It's only one of the coolest bars ever - covered in old honky-tonk awesomeness. 

The crowd felt a little wilder this time - ladies dancing on the bar (Why never men?!  Huh?!  I mean, I'm all for the ladies having a good time, but throw a girl a bone!  Howie, it's you next time), a bachelorette party, etc. - but the Beaver never fails to please.  It was good to see old friends and make some new ones, and had a blast with my favorite country band - The Rosewood Bluff. 

I us Junior and his Bluffycakes.  I know, it makes no sense.  But it's fun to say. 

Try it! 

.....

See?!  Told ya.  BLUFFYCAKES!!!! 

Anyways.

We'll see you soon, Charlotte!  We're coming back to the Snug Harbor next time, and I'm pretty excited since we're playing with The Overmountain Men - and Bob from the Avett Bros.   Yay!   Upright bass players unite!

I got to spend Easter Sunday at The Haw River Ballroom (I'm a guest barista!  It's so fun, and pretty out there - stop on by and say "Hi!" some Sunday) doing the opening shift, then back home to wake a sleepy Howie with an Easter basket (you'll have to ask him about the lipbalm he got :) ), take a short break, and then on to Salisbury to see my mom, dad, and brother.  It'd been a while, so it was good to catch up.  I miss them often - even if my brother is only 30 mins away in Raleigh.  Life's just too busy sometimes.

Okay, thirty minutes up.  Gotta hit the road again. 

I've got nothing but Loretta Lynn songs stuck in my head.  The P-90's are at The Cave on April 20th with Slawterhaus 5 (Winston-Salem, represent!) and hopefully we'll have Fist City up to snuff by then.  I can't wait to do that cover.  I'll even wear my Fist City shirt.  Promise. 

The Bluff is back in Chapel Hill this week at The Nightlight on... GASP!... SUNDAY!  April 22nd with Joe Fletcher and the Wrong Reasons.  Catch us there or the day before at SchoolKids Records in Raleigh for our Rosewood Bluff instore for Record Store Day!!!!  I've always dreamed of playing an in-store! 

Play an in-store.. CHECK!

PS - that means you have to show up, little brother of mine.  MUAHAHAHA.

For real this time... gotta go.  I got boys to get home to who are probibly wondering where the h-e-double-hockey-sticks I am.  Catch y'all in Chapel Hill, Winston-Salem, or Saxapahaw real soon.

Or, you can just listen for the person getting honked at for pissing other drivers off in Chapel Hill.  There's a 80 % chance it's a pollen-covered black Volvo with band stickers.  Make sure to wave!

Hugs, and.... Bluffycakes.  (Bet you said it, didn't you?!  BLUFFFFFYCAKES!!!!) 

~Billie.