After All That Talk I've been talking about doing original music again for years.
It's been years since I jammed with Richard Baker doing his originals, and it was 15 years before that that I was in an original band called Popskull (formerly Scatterbrains, but our name was swiped!).
That long and I had never gotten into an original band, only cover bands, which is what I play in now and have for the past three years.

Texas TNT is the best band I've ever been in for many reasons. First and foremost, we work every weekend. With few exceptions we play every friday and saturday night. Most of the clubs are small and we make the minimum (for us!) $400. Some of the clubs pay us better, but after the expenses, we usually get about 100 to 150 each (counting tips, and thanks to all who contribute!). Our sound is another reason to love this band. We bring a professional system into the club, and Ron Pace mixes it as he plays guitar. The equipment is literally top of the line,(it remembers which room we play in and brings the mix from the last session!). Assuming everything is the same as last time, finding the sweet mix is quick, though it is a fine art to mix live music and Ron does great!
But we play only cover tunes!  Another cover band... but wait, let me continue on the good points, because it is she, Ramona Gerene who strongly anchors this band. She is an excellent performer, and a multi-instrumentalist not to mention a knockout vocalist. She channels "Janice Joplin" and it brings chills.  We've been talking about writing and recording for some time, though most of the emphasis has been on perfecting our set and sound. It's time after three years to write some music! So I've been instigating it again and we are going to make a regular weekly rehearsal just for this. It's been a long time coming...

And speaking of which, this has been a long time coming too! My friend from "Strange Brew" days has gotten in touch with me and invited me to play with him again. Jeff Norem is a great musician in Houston who plays the "Stick". It's called a Chapman Stick or, just a stick. The music is fantastic, though, very jazzy and Jeff's music has such a sweet disposition. We met at an open mic in North Houston, hosted by my buddy and bandleader of Strange Brew, Jeff Schrieber. I sat in on the drums, and it was a giddy experience. I was lightheaded. I seemed to be able to play this free form sort of jazz, and it was so FUN!

The best part of Jeff and the stick is he wants to play a little more to my strength, rock, and write songs that are more upbeat than his acoustic stuff. He liked what I did sitting in, and we've been friends since and talking about forming a band the whole time...

Well here it is! It seems the day is here, I'm going to make a go of it again with Jeff Norem. I don't know what the holdup was previously, because we did practice at his house once or twice, along with Jodie Goez on vocals. It was awesome, but never got off the ground. I have an extremely good feeling about it this time, and maybe Jodie can come into it again at some point.

So here's to original music again, sorry I was away so long.

-Ian Carroll or...katykarter
  ¶ 12:27 PM