THE START OF A GOOD SUMMER!

First show of my “tour” started last night in Red Bank, NJ with the cover band Evolution. And what better way to kick the summer off than by playing at a cool room with the doors and windows open!

And a kick-ass sunset behind us!!

I hadn’t been to Red Bank in a few years. Last time was to rehearse for the album MARBLEHEAD. Now I was here to play a gig for the first time ever in this town. (I need to get out more often!)

Evolution performed at a place called Five Dimes Brewery and, true to form, they served a lot of beer. I don’t drink…uh-oh. But they had Pepsi WHEW! I am truly the Donny Osmond of heavy metal and proud of it. Anyway, the weather was perfect, the vibes were flowing, set-up was a breeze. Played for almost four hours with two long breaks in between. Think I earned my stripes.

Three sets of music ranging from AC/DC to Weezer, Harry Styles (you read that right) to Metallica…a little something for everyone. The band would extend parts of songs so I could improvise leads and it was cool. Of course, the singer Eve asked me to play “Eruption” by Eddie Van Halen. I honestly feel weird playing that. My take is, Eddie did it, leave it alone. Other guitarists try to play it and just sounds…wrong? I don’t think I play it so great but what the hell, it made the people in the room pull out their phones to take videos 🙂

The drive down was riddled with shore traffic, as to be expected. The drive home was a snap! Smooth sailing, got home 1am (that’s early!) and now here it is, Father’s Day.

Time to do nothing and like it.