7/1/2008 From The Mud... To The Sky CD is out!, posted by tom on Thu Jul 10 15:49:46 2008

7/10/08: Check out our new CD - 'From The Mud... To The Sky' - you can get a shiny silver plastic disc thru www.cdbaby.com/coerver4 and you can also hear the first 2 minutes of each of the 15 songs there or you can check out www.myspace.com/tomcoerverandgoinsouth for the whole song clips of track 1 ("Both Feet On The Ground"), track 2 ("I'm Goin' South), track 7 (our crazy cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Saturday Night Special"), and track 15 (the instrumental featuring crazy slide and Hammond C3 Organ from yours truly entitled "Fat 'Lanta Strut"). This MySpace page for Goin' South also features track by track song comments about what was going thru my twisted little brain while conceiving these tunes (on my blog) and a link to Gritz Magazine's review of the CD (on another of my blogs). I promise also to keep this NEWS page here a bit more current! Enjoy... 7/3/08: Hello fellow travelers – Here’s a series of pleasant little diversions from the daily grind for your viewing and listening pleasure from Tom Coerver & Goin’ South… we finally got the video from the February 29th gig selected, mixed, mastered, edited and streamed in tidy little packets to transport to you across the great electron ocean we call the ‘web’ in convenient two minute bytes (pun intended…), just click on the links below for your faves: Superstition – Stevie Ray Vaughan / Stevie Wonder cover (featuring burnin’ SRV/Jimi-ish wah’d on my new Stratocaster): http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=37619013 One Way Out – Allman Brothers cover (featuring Little Feat / Johnny Winter type slide mania in open A): http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=37537027 Something To Talk About – Bonnie Raitt cover (featuring Patty’s bluesy vocal thang and my open G Tele slide-o-rama): http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=37491990 100 Pounds Of Trouble – a TC & Goin’ South tune – the official Scottsdale Arizona Jitterbug tune (from our ‘Thirds’ CD - featuring Tom’s ‘bayou slide open D Les Paul’ take on Duane Allman): http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=37521677 Landslide – Fleetwood Mac / Dixie Chicks cover (featuring Patty’s “mystical chiffon” vocal tribute to Stevie Nicks and my carefully picked Strat with 3rd fret capo thru space chorus echo): http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=37619983 Dust In The River - a TC & Goin’ South tune – our ‘Rolling Creedence Feat’ thing… (from our ‘Thirds’ CD – featuring more open G Tele slide-o-rama (this time in the key of D for max swamp thang)): http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=37531613 Maggie May – Rod Stewart cover tune (featuring a ‘Tom & Patty harmony vocal treatment’ and the jangle of my Rickenbacker 330 electric 12-string guitar like the one George Harrison played in ‘A Hard Day’s Night’… big thanks to Holger for the neck adjustment and setup!): http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=37618386 Tell your friends and neighbors and their pets about it – anyone who might enjoy these clips or wish to engage our services for their function or establishment. Hope it brings you many smiles and global peace (well, at least a little ‘warm fuzzy’…), Tom Coerver cell: (225) 278-0894 home: (225) 278-0894 e: tomcc0@cox.net or tom@gecinc.com or tom@tomcoerver.com web: www.myspace.com/tomcoerverandgoinsouth or www.tomcoerver.com 9/25/07: My pal Michael Buffalo Smith did an interview with me for 'Gritz' magazine that turned out to be a lot of fun - check it out at: http://www.swampland.com/articles/view/gritz/431 'Guaranteed to raise a smile' as they usedta say!!! 4/16/07: Ch...Ch...Ch...Ch...Ch...Changes Hello fellow space/time continuum travellers - It seems every time I think I know how people 'perceive' music, I find out there's a new 'genre' or 'category' of music and it seems stranger than ever. I long ago decided to just do what I do and not try and nail myself down to one 'style' so much as just try and find a thread that links the music I like so the songs can co-exist on the album (recording, CD, whatever you wanna call it!). I swore to myself that 'Waterfront View' would be the last CD I would record because it takes so much time and energy (and cash...) to make one happen, but I've emerged from the cocoon with another CDs' worth of tunes after being inspired by the response to last year's effort 'Thirds... & More' by me and the new band with Bill & Keith that we call 'Goin' South'. This batch is shaping up to be a bit of a departure with a wide range of 'categories' or 'styles', and I'm not sure if there's a thread connecting the tunes, other than it's me doing my thing. There's a balance of heavy tunes, fun tunes, spacey tunes, spooky tunes, reverent tunes, future-shock tunes, and retro-throwback tunes (thanks to the writer/reviewer Robert Fontenot for helping me realize who I am and in the process giving me a few nifty quotes... "a lower-case 'r' rebel and an UPPER CASE 'R' Rebel" who likes to "reward his inner redneck" while being a "fairly dangerous one-man band" "stuck in 1973" or thereabouts... LOL). Also thanks to the jazz guitarist Steve Khan for the morale boost from his stories and encouragement and basically helping to renew my perspective. I really loved his CD "The Green Field" and posted my thoughts in his guest book and we got to be pen pals as we have a few common experiences, acquaintances and tastes. He also gave props to Keith for his "Purdie Shuffle" on the tune "Get A Life Of Your Own" from the Thirds CD. That's coming from a guy who's recorded with all the greats... Steely, Miles, Sanborn,... the list is a mile long - suffice it to say he knows his way around a groove! I'm not sure how long it will take to get this new project recorded, but I'm jazzed about the tunes and I'm gonna take my time and put a high polish on this thang (no title yet...). The ch...ch...ch...changes from song to song will probably hit you in the face if I wind up using the songs I'm thinking of in the sequence I'm considering. Thanks again to Michael Buffalo Smith and Gritz for their help in getting the word out - my song 'Badlands' from the "Backwater Tales" CD (2003) was picked for their 'new southern rock sampler CD' called "Home Grown & Hand Picked" that led to airplay on "The Outlaw" radio and sales increases. Here's to more fun in '07! 'sleepy tom' a.k.a. Tom Coerver of Goin' South 1/17/06: New Years News: Happy New Year to everyone - I'm glad to be back to the normal routine after a few months of doing FEMA trailer site assessments in New Orleans and vicinity after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. I'm gettin' too old to deal with all that traffic and the situation was depressing, although it was nice to be able to help some folks get their life re-started. The task is so huge, with so many people flooded and their homes soaked either from flood or roof damage, that it seemed impossible to make headway but I guess you just do what you can with what you have and take it from there. Anyway, we (me, Bill, & Keith) are just about finished working on the next CD which is tentatively titled "Thirds & More..." and features nine original tunes and six covers. Mixing is going slow because I keep getting obsessed with one instrument and then everything gets lopsided, so I'm gonna get some outside ears involved and put this puppy to bed! I hope to get all the legal and production stuff done in time to get it released by April. See y'all around... 8/18/05: Gettin' Goin': In case you haven't noticed, Bill, Keith and I finally settled on a name for the band: "Tom Coerver & Goin' South". Big thanks to Charlie Howze from Rhythm City Magazine for hooking us up with our fun new Saturdays gig at The Cathouse Cafe & Oyster Bar and also thanks to Tommy Comeaux (also from Rhythm City Magazine) for the photo and writeup in the noteworthy section. Paul Dykes is the Cathouse owner and a heck of a good dude and has been talkin' us up on the radio and also has put together a fine menu with really great results from the kitchen - you can tell from the photos that I've been sampling the food! Also - a shout out to our new pals (see photo gallery) Eric, Matt, Amy, Allison, etc. etc. - keep on with the boogie. We'll be back on most Saturdays for the near future (see Calendar) and we're looking forward to the LSU football parties Paul is brewing up... more later. Chow for now... 5/2/05: Workin' It: Bill & Keith & I just finished working up 7 demos for the 3-piece group: 1.Dreams I'll Never See (Hatchet Groove, Allman parts, and "found music" added -- Riff West of Gator Country Band and Molly Hatchet (82-90) said it was his favorite version!) 2. Dust In The River (a fave from Backwater Tales) 3. Ramblin' Man (Allmans - lotsa stuff to cover with one guitar, but we like it...) 4. Hear That Train (slide-fest from Waterfront View) 5. Sweet Home Alabama (Skynyrd, but done with slide in "Open D" on Les Paul - thick 'n' swampy...) 6. Spanish Town (everybody's fave from Waterfront View done electric 3-piece here - nice latin feel on drums) 7. 100 Pounds Of Trouble (by Burton Gaar, from Waterfront View - yet another excuse to channel Duane slide and Jimi Voodoo 7th chords, Grateful Dead-type harmony vocals, etc.). Also, some more good news - Mike Varney chose me for the Guitar Player magazine "Spotlight" column and it will run later this summer! An ad that size in Guitar Player would cost thousands, so that's a major buzz for me 'cause it will help raise awareness and hopefully sales, too. Thanks also to Robert Lamm of the band Chicago for checking out my medley of his songs "Sing A Mean Tune, Kid" and "A Hit By Varese" and then going to CD Baby and buying a copy! His reply: Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2005 11:03 pm Post subject: Nice Work, Mr. C -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You surely do play...do you not? I'll have to have CDBaby send me one! I thank you for your kind words...and nice work. All the best to you. What a cool guy, to take the time to listen to an unknown like me cover his tunes - it made my month! I hope y'all can make it out to our kickoff gig at The Vineyard on Friday, June 3rd. 'Til then... 2/10/05: Gettin' Betta: Bill Doran hooked us up with an excellent drummer in Keith Simoneaux for our new project and it's sounding great already after just a couple rehearsals. We haven't come up with a name for this thing yet but it shouldn't be much longer 'til we hit the street and do some gigs (I know, you've heard this before... but this time there's less competition for time since the CD is finished and I'm due to receive it today!). See the photo gallery for a preview. Thanks to Tim Lamonica for the quick action on getting this web site updated for the Waterfront View CD audio samples, lyrics, and song comments - if you need a web site, he's the man. Stay tuned for more... 1/26/05: The Wheels are starting to turn: I finished the second CD and it's titled "Waterfront View" and Diskmakers says I should get shipment in about three weeks! I'm jazzed - this one didn't take as long to make as "Backwater Tales" but it seemed to be in suspended animation for weeks at a time until I finally got a new hard drive from Bob Sanchez at Live Music for my digital recorder and then I didn't have to fight the dreaded "drive busy" message that slows progress to a crawl and kills any spontaneity or inspiration. Most instruments and vocals by Tom Coerver (me), with special thanks for guest performances by Tom Barrow (drums), Esther Coerver (unison vocals), Bruce, Mike, and Phil Collar (harmony vocals), Matt Doran (Hammond organ), Floyd Saizon (drums, shaker), and John Smart (Hammond organ). They got me fired up when the missing colors were added to the picture and helped inspire me to finish during October thru January. I'm in the process of updating this web site for the new info on Waterfront View and there's some funny stuff for your downtime enjoyment. There should be more frequent news updates here since I've finally finished this puppy - man it feels good to be done and now I can tack it up on the wall and proclaim it to be ART because it exists in public! 10/7/04: The Ice Is Slowly Melting: I'm making good progress on the second CD - Bill Doran just recorded some great, greasy upright (acoustic) bass for my version of "Sittin' On Top Of The World" and we're kind of doing a laid-back "Howling Cream in the Delta" version with acoustic guitar, dobro, and bass all "unplugged". Check out the Photo Gallery for Bill's cool natural maple upright bass - it's the first one I've seen like that. People seem to like the variety on this set of tunes and I'm all over the musical map on this one with some Southern boogie rock, delta blues, a couple "haunting" ballads, a couple heavy rockers, some funky rock, and etc.etc.etc. Patty and I are knocking the dust off our acoustic duo, so come out and hang with us at the Half Shell, etc. I don't know about y'all, but I'm ready for Hurricane season and the election to be gone 'cause all this noise and worry has put a hurt on my head. Maybe we'll dodge all the bullets this year. I even wrote a slow blues about the mind-numbing drone of the political season called "Can't Feel a Thing" that's got a big load off my chest (and head). Y'all come out and show some love for T & P - there's a lot more of T to love these days! Esther and I got some weights and gym stuff, so I'll probably be all pumped up like Ahnuld soon... NOT! I hope all's well out there... I'm emerging from the bat cave for the first time in months, so I'll see ya there. 8/17/04: Numbing Perserverance: Condolences seem to be the theme for the last few months - Prayers go out to Esther for the loss of her father Charles Lowell Jones, Bill and Matt Doran for the loss of their brother Pete and father William, Bobby Ingram for the loss of his wife Stephanie, Andy Passman for the loss of his mother... it seems like we're going to a funeral every two weeks lately. Esther and I got a puppy (Lucy the doberman - see photo gallery!) and that's putting back some smiles. Bill is busy with his new job in Homeland Security so it may be a while longer before the band is back out playing... meanwhile, I've been working on the next CD (tentatively titled "Waterfront View" and thanks go out to John Smart of Righteous Buddha for an inspired organ solo on the track "What Do You Think". I'm getting tired of being a one-man band so you'll probably see a few more guests on this next CD which is looking good - I've got about 20 songs written and there will probably be about 15 songs on the CD. 7/8/04: Up and Down: This last month seems like it's been a year long... Esther's dad (Charles Lowell Jones) has been in and out of the hospital and we've been back and forth from Mississippi many times and he passed away last Friday (please pray for Esther and her family). We had a great time in California with Burton Gaar for the Monterey Blues Fest (especially the night before!) and got to see some awesome earthscapes - even the air out there is so dry and different from Lou'sana - that it made the gruelling redeye flights worthwhile. Bill Doran (the new bass player for BBQ) and I are changing up the songlist and working up some really cool old covers and putting the meat on the bone for BBQ v2.0 and I hope to start booking gigs soon so maybe we'll be back in action for September. Over and out 'till then. 6/15/04: Road Rally and Testing Tunes: I've started playing with Burton Gaar again on keyboards and we're having a blast! Check out the photo gallery for 3 collages of our trip to Quincy, Illinois for a gig on 6/11/04 at the Washington Park for "Blues in the District". Burton, Darren Dille (guitar), Floyd Saizon (drums) and I had a ton of fun but paid for it on our 20 hour journey back to Baton Rouge. Bill Doran is now about halfway worked in on bass for BBQ and I'm hoping to jump-start BBQ soon to get out and play some gigs again. We've been having trouble finding time to practice since Esther's dad has been in the hospital in Mississippi and I've been going back and forth and Bill has been selling his house in New Orleans and moving back to Baton Rouge into another house here and so forth and so on so we're moving kinda slow but it's sounding great so I'm sure the time is at hand. Thanks to Michael Buffalo Smith for the design and insight on the banner ad for Backwater Tales on the Gritz web site - I think it's way cool and simple but effective and there's nothing to scare the women and children too badly. Auf wiedersehn until next posting... 4/1/04: Reeling and Regrouping: My head is spinning 'cause everything is upside down - Denise is getting married and quit the band (best wishes to her & Jimmy) to spend more time chillin' and then Johnny broke his arm and is laid up in pain. Then our big "last original BBQ lineup" gig gets double booked and we get cancelled ... it could be the rumored "curse of the cover story" ... I've been warned it is real but now I'm seeing it firsthand. Tom and I are regrouping and we've got a plan for the next phase of the group with my acoustic duo partner Patty Houk added on vocals and percussion and my old classmate Bill Doran has joined us on bass and vocals. We've started learning tunes and we're working on a new demo with Patty's songs and some old classics as well as some newer things. Thanks again to Buddy King for hooking me up with some Americana radio stations in Texas who like the music and have been playing the CD - too bad the cities (Victoria, Corpus Christi, etc.) are so damn far from BR (I keep forgetting we barely have a band at this point! - everything takes time, I guess). This new version of the band is gonna really move your shoes with a swingin' groove - so stay tuned for more developments. 2/20/04: Running and Running: Thanks to so many folks for their help: Buddy King (Radio), Michael Buffalo Smith (Gritz Magazine), Jeremie Ertle (Offbeat Magazine), Tommy Comeaux (Rhythm City Magazine - for the Cover Story and EXCELLENT article about Backwoods BBQ), and Charles Fisher (Fish) for the Spanish Town Mardi Gras gig - Y'all come out to join the party on the corner of 6th St. and North St. behind the Judges' reviewing stand and you'll see us on the stage. I've been busy busy busy lately with the 2004 LADOTD Transportation Engineering Conference and some training classes for 3M DMS control software and getting together equipment and things for the gigs. Hope to see y'all there. 1/8/04: On the Air: Tune in to WBRH 90.3 FM for the Blues Buffet this Saturday (1/10/04) at 2pm for my turn at the mic for an hour of Delta, Louisiana, Texas, Chicago, Southern Rock, Funk, and English flavored blues chosen by yours truly and with insightful, confusing and incomplete scatterbrain comments by yours truly. It was my first attempt at doing the DJ thing and thanks to Rob Payer for the invite and the help that made it fun. Of course, my "digital voodoo" curse followed me to their studio and the Minidisc recorder ate the last quarter of the show so we did it again! It was a flashback to recording "Backwater Rising" when some of the slide solo disappeared to later emerge in unexpected places. You just keep trying until it gets right even if you don't understand why it happened... digital voodoo. Thanks to Matt Doran (my GEC pal and fellow Hammond fanatic) for the deal on my purchase of his 1965 era Hammond A100 organ (same tonewheel etc. guts as a B3 - almost 400 lbs.!). I had a B3 in the 80's and it sounded good, but this ol' pup sounds fantastic. Don't be surprised if you hear a lot more organ in my next CD! 12/22/03: Slidin' into the Holidays: Thanks to Sundance, Ed White, and Floyd Saizon for substituting in BBQ in November and December (see photo gallery), Tim and John at the paper for the BBQ photo in the Fun section, Tommy Comeaux and Charles Howze of Rhythm City for the Noteworthy Info and the Ad deal, and to Roxanne from Roxanne's Bar & Grill for the CD Release party. Esther and I are heading to Mississippi for the holiday thing and we'll see y'all at the Vineyard and Thirsty Tiger in January (see Calendar). 10/28/03: Keepin On': I survived my very first "solo" gig after playing in public for over 28 years! I had a senior moment and forgot that Patty was going to be out of town on the 24th for our gig at "On the Half Shell", and I couldn't get a substitute so I just bit down hard and did it. Thanks to Liz and Jenny for being cool and the crowd for responding. It still feels so weird without a band or someone else up there... kind of like those tense dreams where you're out playing baseball naked and you're hoping nobody will notice. I want to send a shout out to David Hyde, the bass player from Coffee and Delbert McClinton (and so many others...) for helping spread the word about my CD and his general enthusiasm for my music. I went to the Phil Brady's Thursday Blues Jam the last couple weeks (for the first time in about six years) and had a blast playing with David, Elvin Killerbee, James Johnson (from Slim Harpo's band), David Robinson and so many others. I get up pretty early for work so it was a real effort to get out of bed on those Fridays. Y'all come check out a special edition of Backwoods BBQ at the Thirsty Tiger this Saturday (Nov. 1st) - I've got my old Delta Rockets pals Floyd Saizon (drums) and Ed White (bass) doing this gig along with Sundance (vox and guitar) while the usuals are on holiday. Come check it out after the LSU game while you're in the neighborhood. Thanks again to Joachim Domrath and Fred Schmidtlein from "Home of Rock" in Germany for helping to sell my CD "across the pond". They just reordered and I also sent "Blue Buffalo Records" (auf Deutschland) a stock of "Backwater Tales" after Bernhard Rosa contacted me about selling it through their catalog. I wonder if my name grabs them over there because it is well known from a famous soccer coach "Wiel Coerver" and the Coerver Coaching method... I have almost zero soccer skills but in high school we used to have giant co-ed demolition derby soccer marathons every now and then. 10/6/03: Onward and Climbing...: The Vineyard was real fun and thanks to the folks who stayed late. Check out the next edition of "Gritz" magazine for a review of Backwater Tales and a quarter page ad - much thanks to my old bandmate Rik Blanz from the Bobby Ingram project who hooked me up with Michael Buffalo Smith, the editor at Gritz. He did a nice review and is helping with some contacts and is an all-around Good Dude. My CDs are selling in Europe (thanks to CD Baby and Joachim Domrath and Fred Schmidtlein at Home of Rock) but hardly any bites here in BR or in the rest of the USA and I'm hoping to reach some southern music fans with the Gritz ad and review. Jeff Brumfield from KLSU's "Saturated Neighborhood" was kind enough to invite me to his show and did a little interview and played "Badlands" from the CD - very cool and a lot of fun (I even saw a couple folks I knew from music!). Jeff has an amazing ability to multitask between interviews, phone calls, traffic management, and talk to a studio full of musicians eager to promote gigs and product and I think I'd have to gulp down a bunch of chill pills to deal with all that sensory input and processing. Thanks also to Scott Gaskin from Green Frog Productions for the gigs and support. Esther got a new job and things are looking up for us, I hope y'all are also blessed. 9/22/03: Hyperspeed: My PC guru Chase set me up with a new faster faster faster computer and now my head spins every time I master a file with limiting and an undo buffer - even a six minute song finishes in less than 15 seconds (it would have taken about 150 seconds before!). The Thirsty Tiger and Phil Brady's gigs were fun but football and weather have been putting a major hurt on our attendance. We'll be taking roll next time. Maybe door prizes - old computer parts, anyone? One bright spot is Germany - they seem to love Southern Rock over there and I've got some new outlets brewing. Check out Holger Notzels translation of the Backwater Tales review Joachim Domrath did for "Home of Rock" magazine out of Munchen. Thanks to Holger for the explanations and translation or it would have been confusing since I only studied a little German in 1973 from an Italian teacher in Texas. Thanks to y'all Germans for keeping my morale up as I work on recording the followup to BT tentatively titled "Waterfront View" (get it? - when you see the cover, you cough up your toenails laughing...). Y'all come out and take a load off with us at the Vineyard on Saturday, Oct. 4th and we'll see ya there. 8/19/03: Crash '03: My ever-thrashed SCSI hard drive on the nerve center to my studio and web emails finally gave up the ghost after six hard years of service and I'm now back online with help from my computer guru Chase Voisin. We've got a few new tunes for the Phil Brady's gig (8/30/03) and y'all can do some more "down south jukin'" so come on out and shake yo' hips. 8/11/03: Photos Online & "World" News: Tim Lamonica (our webmaster) set up the Photo Gallery with the button on the home page and you can check out photos from the Thirsty Tiger, the Vineyard, and various slices of life. CD Baby rocks - I've sold CDs in Germany, Japan, Switzerland and Belgium since I got hooked up with their service about 3 weeks ago and I just signed up for their digital distribution service.Friends had told me that southern music was very popular overseas and I've seen that Skynryd, Hatchet, and other vets have signed with German labels and apparently are very popular over there but I'm still in my little cocoon here in swampville and it was really cool to see the worldwide reach of music. 8/7/03: Photos & Vineyard: Thanks to Cynthia & Jeff Burris for the photos from the Thirsty Tiger. The Vineyard gig was a real hoot and thanks to those who stayed so long, it really was inspiring to us. 7/24/03: CD overseas & CD Baby: Ray Pieters from Radioshow "Somewhere Between", radio Golden Flash in Westerlo, Belgium asked to play the Backwater Tales CD on his show and I sent him a copy - small world, isn't it? Thanks to Elvin Killerbee (aka "Tiny E") for turning me on to CD Baby - now you can link to them from this web site and buy the CD online with secure credit card transactions and shipping - very cool. Hope to see y'all at the Vineyard next Saturday (Aug. 2nd). 7/7/03: CD "unveiled": The CD release party at Phil Brady's on the 4th of July was a real hoot and as a bonus feature, we started the "nickname Tom the drummer contest". Thanks to the folks who still had enough steam to make it out after the holiday happenings, we all appreciate it. 6/30/03: Heatin' Up: Skeeter's and the Thirsty Tiger gigs went very well and we survived the heat (both LA summer and our expectations). Thanks to the old friends (Hollis, Jeff, Cynthia, Ros, Amanda, etc.) who came out. 6/11/03: Tune Ups: Check out the June issue of Rhythm City magazine for a nice review of the CD by Hoodoo Jimmy Simpson (thanks again Jimmy) that I also copied to my Reviews page. Thanks also to our webmaster Tim Lamonica for his responsiveness on maintaining our web site. 6/2/03: Floating on a Cloud: I just found out I passed the P.E. (professional engineer) exam so I can get my engineering license and get rid of that pressure cloud that's been hanging over me for a while (this was my third attempt and the national average is 3.6 attempts). Anyway, now I can focus a little more on the sauce for Backwoods BBQ and our first gigs (see Calendar). 5/7/03: Perservering, Part II - FestForAll was a gas and I want to thank Chris Alexander (of Swamp Mama's fame, etc.) for letting me use his fantastic 1962 Hammond B3 organ with the "Floyd Saizon Blues Explosion Experience & Guests". Thanks also to Johnny Palazotta of Pal Productions for putting together the music, PA, etc. to re-launch FestForAll.