Summer vacation was GOOD!

We are back from vacation and I need a new liver. I told myself that I was going to give myself free reign this weekend on the drinking and smoking and DRINK AND SMOKE I did. I have been feeling pretty stretched thin with all that was going on in my life, this was my chance to revive. And it worked a little. I really needed about 2 weeks on the beach to really sort things out. You know that feeling when you have been on vacation and you are actually ready to come back and get to working on things with a new passion. I definitely didn’t have that.

I did pick up a new game while I was there called Bocce Ball. It is a game of skill much like Horse Shoes but played with big balls. Ask Keith about how BAD he got spanked on Sunday. My partner and I Bobo (a good friend) went undefeated that day. I am even thinking about starting an annual Bocce Ball tournament in Padre.
It is good to be home. I will take it easy this week resting my liver for this Friday night in Denton. We don’t have too many shows this month, which gives us time to write new material for our next CD. Yes another CD coming soon…well soon enough…

Have a Great Memorial Day Weekend

Everyone have a great relaxing Memorial Day weekend this weekend. Remember about all the men and women abroad that have helped preserve our liberties. I know that I will be making many toasts to our men and women of the armed services (I will be on the beach). Please no drinking and driving and buckle up, no need to get in trouble over a fine break. Monkeyshyne will be back next weekend in Tyler, Tx. That's right Audra we ARE coming SOON, so get everyone ready. Over and out!

A picture is worth 1000 words

Enough said...

The Bet (that we DIDN’T make)

Colin and I proposed to make a bet on the Mavericks game this past Saturday. I was betting they would loose and he was betting they would win. I wanted to bet money and he wanted to bet for pride. Well I never AGREED to his bet. He suggested it and I told him I would think about it. It was proposed if he won then I was supposed to blog about how great he is and if I won he was to do the same for me. It just wasn’t a good bet for me.

The problem is I really do think Colin is one of the best drummers around. Hell, I have seen him go from heavy metal double bass drumming to a smooth acoustic style. And when that boy has a metronome in his ear he is solid as a rock when it comes to timing. If you pay enough attention his stick twirls are even in time. Even though we didn’t make the bet I don’t mind writing these things about him. He has also been a really good friend over the years and put up with a lot of my $hit, I consider him a brother.

And if I won I didn’t want him to have to make up a bunch of lies about me. I can’t even come up with a list of my good qualities other than my head shines really bright under a bright light (I am the shyne in monkeyshyne).

Betting for me is really only fun when there is money involved. Sure I talk about how I don’t care about money and don’t care about money, but there is a deep dark side of me that cares about money. Yes the truth hurts.



Here is a pic of my buddy Colin, best drummer in Texas


Here is a pic of me TRYING to be as kewl as my buddy, you know imitation is the highest form of flattery…

Behind the music

This past Saturday in practice something happened that I don’t think has ever happened in the history of monkeyshyne. I was the only one not to get into a fight. Usually it is me and any one of the other 3 guys that get into it somehow. Sometimes it is me against all 3 of them (I’m not scared). This Saturday the tide finally turned.

First it was Colin and Keith getting a little heated. We were working on a new song and Colin was asking me to play the guitar lines so we could come up with a beat. During that time Keith was also trying to play along. Colin asked him several times to stop and Keith got upset because he was also trying to work out parts to the song too. When Keith gets really mad at you he won’t look at you, and he wasn’t looking at Colin. And nowhere during the whole time did I get involved, AMAZING. Colin also suggested Keith play a different bass line which I think kind of started Keith’s ill feelings towards Colin. Once again, I was nowhere to be found in the conversion, GOOD CHRIS.

Then Oz had a suggestion for a drum beat. He tried to explain it to Colin, but a guitarist trying to explain drums to a drummer is like a cow trying to explain why they are gods in the Indian culture to a monkey, it just doesn’t make sense. They didn’t get mad at each other, but I saw Colin getting a little frustrated because the translation between him and Oz wasn’t happening. Once again where was Chris? He was in the corner minding his own business.

I finally got to see what it was like working with me and boy I didn’t like it. Usually I am the one instigating all the fights, not because I like too, just because I am hard headed. Don’t worry everyone made up by the end of the day and we drove out to Temple, Tx. later that night to rock. I think I am going to turn over a new leaf and stop being so damned stubborn and mean. And after this weekend all I can say is Colin and Keith better have worked out there parts in that new song or some heads are gonna roll…

Writing is Therapeutic?

I have been told that writing is therapeutic and helps people to think more clearly and release a lot of tension in their lives. So this blogging session I decided to write for 5 minutes about anything and everything. I am not going to worry about spelling or grammar, yah like I ever do...Here I go, please understand this will probably be very random...

Life can pick you up and life can bring you down. I once wrote a song about it and now we don't play that song anymore, because it wasn't that good of a song to begin with. I still love the song because it describes so much of my life. See one minute I think I am happy and the next minute I am mad or sad. At what I don't really know. And what about my knee, and job and band and music. Why does everything have to be so complicated, you talk you smile you walk you dance like you are a partying nekked rock n roll drama queen. But that doesn't seem to always work, especially once you have ruined your new pumps. Yes that is right pink will never be the new black, because black is just kewl. What ever happened to the 80's and why did I buy my first real six string at the five and dime. I played it till my fingers bled, it was the summer of 69. Jonny got married and we had a band and tried real hard. I saw the next Karate Kidd the other night and was very disappointed it came no were close to the original with Danielsun. Hillary Swank was a horrible actress in that one. Thank God for Pat Morita he could make any movie worth watching. I always wondered what it would have been like to be the Karate Kid. Maybe I am the Karate Kid and just don't realize that I can wax on and wax off with the best of them. Now I am starting to run out of things to write, and I still have 2 minutes to go. Thank the lord I can't type that fast and I am constantly hitting the backspace key to correct my mistakes. I think I am going to write a book or 2 this summer as well as put out a couple of songs I wrote that don't fit monkeyshyne. Like Drive By Shooting, Get High and several others in the works. One is called I don't like you because you smell. It is true I don't like smelly people, but then again I don't know too many people that do like smelly people. Blue. Pink. Purple. Yellow. Red. Grey. Gray. Graey. Why is it that the human language is so damned complicated, think I am going to learn Chinese and help ease some pain. Stop times up....

Nope...I really don't feel any different. Therapeutic my ass...

Just Tired

Lately I have been in a funk this past week and last week. I just don't have much energy or drive to do anything. I don't know if I am just ready for a break or I am just tired of everything around me. Do you ever get like that where you just can't stand anything going on in your life? Or you want certain things to work out that just don't seem to work out. The biggest example in my life is the band. I have been playing music for such a long time. I write, I sing and I perform. Don't get me wrong, the other guys in the band and I get along. I just wish we were HUGE and touring around the world. And that we had at least one hit song on the radio and we could be actually playing music for a living. I know it seems like a kids dream and I guess that is just what I am. If growing up and becoming an adult means working 40 hours a week and doing something you don't particularly care for during those 40 hours, than damn it let me be a kid. You don't know how many times in my life I have heard someone say "you guys are going to make it" or "hang in there man, you are almost there". It has been over 16 years in the making and 6 or 7 of it have been with Colin and Oz.

What about my radio career I have started. Well it is fun, but F$$k I keep thinking about the money. And that line of business is no better than music. There are so many people just in it for themselves. I love being on the radio, but despise going in to the station in the morning and sitting behind a computer desk. I got started late in radio, what can I say.

I just am probably burnt out and need a break. Lord help me...

This Past Weekend

Once again we had a great weekend. One of the things that makes a show great is having people show up at the show to see you. I know you hear musicians say things like "We put on the same show in front of 5 or 500 people." BULLSHIT, or at least not us. We want 500 or even 5,000 or even 50,000,000,000,000,000 people at our show. There is an energy you share with a crowd when they are into your music. They feed you and you in turn feed them. Friday night in Wichita Falls, Tx. we got called back for an encore and we were the opening band. That usually doesn't happen to opening bands. Luckily the Killdares were very cool and very good, so they didn't mind.

On Saturday night we played to a solid crowd in Dallas at a place that isn't located in the greatest of areas. Don't get me wrong, Rock N Roll is dirty, but more like a I didn't wash my hands after going to the bathroom dirty. Or at least our style of rock is more like that.

Thanks to everyone who came out and enjoyed the shows. To protect the identities of the fans that came out I am just going to thank you by your first initial. Thanks to S, G, L, A, D, B, E, Q, P, J, D, A, V, M, N, K, L, O, Y, W, H, O, Z, R, T, X, K, W, C, X, Z, M, S, K, and 3.

This band has issues

I must address 2 blogs of my fellow band mates, Colin and Oz. First let me address Oz's blog. Oz, yes you "convienently" got hurt right after I discovered that my knee was F%$ed. But that is not what gave away your lie. You said your hip flexor was screwed and that you can't move your hips very well. Well this photo should some it all up:





















Yes I was there watching you tear it up on the floor last night in the Disco.

Now for Colin and his complaint about whining. Funny I don't recall ever "whining" about anything. I remember mentioning the fact that I had to carry a small family of immigrants across the border on my back (I roll like that). And I remember talking about how not only was my knee about to fall off, but I still managed to score 3 goals in the game where I messed up my knee. I also remember talking about single handedly taking Oz’s volleyball team to the finals. I guess the confusion is you hear acts of kindness, good deeds and heroism and assume it is whining. I guess that is what I get for being me. Lord it is hard to be me when you are super in so many ways...

Songwriting Theory

Now I know some of you will think this is a little absurd, but I believe all songs are written before a songwriter writes them. Kind of like our destiny is already chosen even though we get to live a life of choice. EXACTLY. I feel there is this big river of songs flowing all around us. We cannot see this river, but on a different wavelength we can hear this river. And what a songwriter has the ability to do is pull songs from this river. The problem, sometimes he only gets a part of a song, or he gets mixed up and the song isn’t as strong as the natural song. That explains why some listeners connect to some songs more than others. When a songwriter can scoop up the song in its pure form it is awesome. For instance “Sweet Home Alabama” is one of those songs. Sure we all hate the song, but it is the most played song EVER in rock n roll. No matter how old or young you are you have heard this song. As a songwriter I truly have had experiences where the song just comes out and I have no idea where it came from. Or I am asleep and write a song in my dream. I just hear these things. I scoop from the river.

You are probably thinking “man this dude is more whacked than I thought” and that is correct I am whacked (remember 2 days ago I wrote about being an idiot). But think about radio waves or satellite signals. You have those flying around everywhere moving in and out of you. You have no idea they are there until you have a receiver of some sort to play that signal, right? RIGHT. Right now as you read this KISS “Love Gun” has or is about to pass through your body through some sort of radio or satellite signal along with a million other songs. No wonder I can’t get Whams “Wake me up before you go go” out of my head…

Basically I am saying that a songwriter is a receiver, just like your radio. Some of us are AM radios and some of us are high def radios. I would like to think I am more like a cassette tape/CD Player with a 3-band equalizer with a possible mp3 player upgrade. Just please be careful with my knobs…

"People are such idiots"

"People are such idiots", I hear this a lot lately coming out of mouths of the majority of people I know. This statement just cracks me up. Do the people who say it not realize that someone else is making that same blanket statement and it includes them? I am a true believer that we are ALL idiots at some point or time in our lives. For me I am an idiot 2 or 3 times a day. For instance, my knee is messed up. Have I gone to the Doctor? Nope. Have I run on it? Yep. Have I played soccer on it or V-Ball on it? Yep. And if a Doctor was reading this right now, he would say, "Damn that dude is an idiot." Yes I am.

Don't get me wrong there was a time in my life when I didn't fall into the idiot category. I thought I am just too damn smart to do stupid things. I used to own a technology company. My partner and I made money hand over fist. And there were many times when I would say "damn those people are just idiots" and we would snow them for a lot of money. Well this thing called Karma finally caught up to me. Neither my partner or I were accountants, and when you start making good money a good accountant is an important person to have.

We didn't think we needed an accountant till after about 2 years of doing the taxes ourselves. I can remember our first visit to his office. He looked through our paperwork for 30 minutes, snickering and laughing. He asked questions like "Did you file a 412bd form on this? Did you file a 34AE form on this?" My partner and I just sat there with dumb looks on our faces and shrugged our shoulders. We were IDIOTS. He didn't exactly come right out and say it, but he hinted around to it in many different ways.

That was one of the first of many instances where I realized that I was an idiot. Trust me the truth hurts, but once you accept it, it really does free you. I don't correct people when I hear them say it, I just think karma will teach them sooner or later.

Say it with me right now, "God, we are all a bunch of idiots!!!" Amen...

Yesterday at TCU

We played in the parking lot yesterday for TCU and a student living apartment complex. It was to raise awareness for this new place. It was a little hot, luckily we had a tent over our heads and the wind was blowing strong yesterday. It is so different playing an afternoon gig. Yah there were people there, they just weren't drunk and the sun was out. I know it shouldn't make a big difference but it does. I really do think the drunker you are the more you will REALLY appreciate what we do. And not because we suck, just because the induced drug state helps to make a deeper connection. Ya right, we suck and the more f$#ed up you are the easier it is to tolerate us. Also in a bar we can put on more of a rated R show. It isn't like we get naked on stage all the time, but being in a bar allows Oz and I to talk about things that are a little dirty. For instance at The Garage show Friday night we were talking about the use of marijuana and the HUGE government conspiracey covering it up and yesterday we talked about the snow cone machine. To me, that is an EXTREME difference. We adjusted and made it fun, cause that is the way we roll.

Not really band related stuff

This past weekend we played Friday night out in Denton. The weather was BAD. Tornados, hard rain and even wind! They kept a lot of people at home that night, but I totally understand. If the band isn't playing and I am supposed to go out, if I even smell rain I cancel my plans and use that time as Chris time (sleep).

And for some strange reason I accepted playing Volleyball with Oz, his wife and a friend Doug on Saturday. It was fun even though we got stomped every game. We lost evey game except for our first playoff game, don't ask me how we made the playoffs, but we did. I woke up this morning and not only is every muscle in my upper body sore, my knee has swollen to the size of a pineapple. Whenever this happens, I refer to it as my "happy knee". See because if I called it anything negative my wife would make me go to the doctor and get it looked at. But if I call it happy, then there is no reason to go to the doctor. Trust me it makes sense to me and that is truely all that matters...