Some pretty cool things happened in January with our performances as well as behind the scenes.
We got to play at Crush & Brew in Old Town Temecula with our acoustic project, and it was a ton of fun! In addition to having a lot of high visibility and foot traffic in the middle of Old Town on a Saturday night, it's a beautiful bar with some of the funnest staff members I've ever seen! We were invited back to play at Wild West Social. I was really looking forward to playing on their big stage outside, but this time we played indoors at the bar. I thought the big stage was fun, but Whoa Nellie! The bar was packed with a party crowd, and we had a GREAT time! Behind the scenes, we got a pair of subwoofers to add to our onstage sound. They bring a lot more punch to the low end of our sound -- you can feel the bass & drums more, and they just round out our sound more fully. Come see us and you'll hear what I mean! We're excited about what the rest of 2025 is going to bring, and we hope you'll be right there with us!
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Well, that was quick -- move over 2024; make room for 2025!
Looking back, 2024 was EPIC! Not everything went our way along the journey, but the places we went and the people we met were unforgettable! In January, we started building some great relationships with Jorge Sanchez and Robert Rankin Walker. These guys are not only great musicians; they're awesome human beings as well! We got to know the American Patriot Band and Sons of SoCal. We started doing open-mic nights every once in a while, and continued to meet other great people! We met Mike 'Magoo' Davis in February -- such an awesome guy, and a genuine pleasure to be around! We also got more involved with the American Patriot Music Project, learning to build guitars. We also met Pat and Christina Dooley, who are those forever-friend kind of people! We were supposed to play at Baily's, but it got rescheduled (the first time). In March, we met Rex at O'Hara's, who gave the band our first 'real' paying gig. April: we played at O'Hara's, and it was a great gig! People dug what we were doing, and we seemed to go over really well. We did our first guitar build with the American Patriots and met some really great people with the most beautiful hearts you could imagine -- Didi, Fernanda, Tee, Charlotte, I'm talking about you! We reconnected with Marie, which was a high point for us. We also played at Bastards, where a lot of other bands would have loved to play but never got the chance. In May, we played at Teakwoods for the first time. This is one of our favorite, most cozy places to play. We also played at Baily's in Old Town Temecula as our acoustic project, Unplug Betsey. We reconnected with Mike in May -- we hadn't played with Mike since the previous November or December, and we thought he'd fit in well with our acoustic project. In June, we got fired from O'Hara's. C'est la vie, right? We said goodbye to James and brought in Mike as our full-time drummer. We rounded out the month doing another 3-day Patriot guitar build in Big Bear, spending time with great friends! We rehearsed in July. Not much more than that. Now that Mike was in the band, we wanted to re-tool our repertoire -- keeping some songs; losing other songs; adding new songs that fit our new dynamic. The maiden voyage of our new lineup was in August. We played at Teakwoods and had an awesome time! We had our first test-drive with a lot of new equipment -- new mixer; new speakers; new wireless systems. Thankfully, Jorge was there with us so everything went nice and smooth! We also played a private party for a friend's birthday and rehearsed some more. In September, we finally got to play at Taylor's! We had to cancel our July gig there, and we were ecstatic that Mike invited us again; Taylor's is a really fun bar with some great people, and we can't wait to get back there next February! To make September even better, we met some truly beautiful people -- Jeanine from Rockaholix hosted an all-day music fest at Wild West Social, where local bands played and showed some great support for each other within our small musical community. We also got to know Gary, Sean, Derek and Mark from My Dad's Band. October was absolutely phenomenal! We played on Wild West Social's huge raised stage, Baily's amazing courtyard, and on Halloween weekend we got to party at Pepe's! We returned to Teakwoods and Pepe's in November, and had a great time playing for fun party crowds! December capped off the year with a really fun private party with some great Marine friends at Camp Pendleton, and an unbelievably incredible Christmas-weekend show at Vail Lake KOA -- what a way to end the year! 2024 was a really fun, busy year for Patch of Gravity; I wouldn't trade it for the world. But you know what? 2025 says, 'hold my beer.' Wow -- this weekend was one of those don't-blink-or-you'll-miss-it weekends!
We had just loaded our gear into the vehicle to leave for a gig on Friday when I got the phone call -- another band had a last-minute cancellation, and we suddenly got a golden opportunity to play Saturday night at a venue we'd been trying to get into for months! Was this really happening? Could this be our very own Christmas miracle? Friday's gig was a private Christmas party with some great Marine buddies. We got to catch up with old friends, make new friends, and just have a good time playing music and hanging out. It was going to be our last show before we'd finally be able to catch our breath and get ready for Christmas -- this was the last weekend before Christmas. Hold that thought -- the last weekend before Christmas. Christmas weekend, you might say. Saturday's gig (which quite literally fell into our laps) was at the KOA Campground. A family-friendly, always-fun place where there's always a great crowd of party people and their kids. On Christmas weekend. One of the, if not THE absolute best, most awesome family party times and places you could imagine! I still can't believe we were given such an awesome unexpected opportunity! Christmas weekend. Outside. Party people. Kids being kids. We gave away so much merch that I completely lost track -- beanies, coozies, ball caps, shirts, mugs, tumblers, and especially stickers! I can honestly tell you that this show was one of the most memorable ones I've ever played. I don't know if it was the Christmas spirit, or the fact that most of the kids thought I was Santa Claus, or what -- but I saw some real magic this weekend! But there's a back story here. At first, I had doubts about taking Saturday's gig because of all the personal stuff I had going on -- another Christmas party with friends; last-minute shopping to do; getting the house cleaned up for family Christmas. Sure, I missed out on some fun with friends. But I almost allowed excuses and changing plans to talk me out of a great experience that showed up out of the blue. The lesson for me in all of this is pretty clear. When a great opportunity shows up on your doorstep, do whatever you have to do to make it work out. Your future self will thank you. I'm not sure if anyone's ever completely ready for the holidays. Even if you think you're ready, you're not. This world has plenty of surprises up its sleeve, and they usually come at the worst possible moment. Job loss. Government shutdown (get ready for it). Death.
I think it's critical, especially during the holidays, to get our priorities in order. All the shopping, spending, wrapping, partying, and A Christmas Story marathons can be huge distractions to take your eyes off of what's really important. And two of the most important things I can think of are love and time. When I say love, I don't just mean romantic love or family love. I mean compassion and care for our friends, neighbors and strangers. This time of year should bring out our personal best; our kindest consideration. Our friendliest patience. Our most selfless personal sacrifice. Sure, not everyone gets it -- but that shouldn't stop us. And if our love and holiday spirit extend into January or February or next December, that's the goal! That's the prize! Time should be our other big priority. There's no guarantee that any of us will make it to tomorrow, so it's important to take full advantage of the time we've got! Your legacy shouldn't be uncertainty about whether or not you loved people. While you're at it, watch Scrooged and try not to cry. The nights are definitely getting colder! We played an outdoor show last weekend and got a pretty brutal reminder about just how cold it can get with winter fast approaching! The low temperature that night was 45°, but it felt colder than that. Regardless of the cold, it was a really fun night!
We had the opportunity to give away some of our new merch; Patch of Gravity beanies! As you can probably imagine, they were a huge success (thanks to Mike for the idea)! Warm ears are usually happy ears, and we certainly warmed up more than a few sets of ears... We typically give out a lot of merch at our shows; ball caps, drink coozies, t-shirts, coffee mugs, hot/cold tumblers, totes, stickers, magnets, and now beanies! But you have to come to one of our shows if you want to get your hands on any of this stuff. Stay toasty. Support local live music. Mankind has struggled for decades for victory over technology. From "where's the 'any' key?" to "what's the IP address of my router?" to changing your 30-character password every 120 days, I've come to realize that technology is rarely, if ever, 'user-friendly.'
I've been fighting for months over music technology. The wireless systems we use for our guitars are constantly either the cause of, or the victims of, signal interference. Our digital mixer's built-in wifi consistently loses signal. The separate router we use for redundancy doesn't always provide that redundancy. I have to admit that a lot of times, I've wanted to throw it all out the window and start from scratch. But after a while, my inner nerd decides to give it another try. We've made a few changes to our equipment, and hopefully that'll push us across the goal line in our current tech battle. Right now, I'm cautiously optimistic. The real test will be next week when we play at Teakwoods. But technology is an enemy that never sleeps. There will certainly be more fighting, and more chasing after solutions. Sometimes I feel like that coyote trying to catch the roadrunner, never knowing whether a safe is gonna fall on me... For now though, I'll just enjoy this win. Whew! We're coming down from a fantastic weekend, and getting ready for a fun Halloween weekend show! Our dance card was pretty much filled up this month, and we feel really blessed to have gotten so many opportunities to play over the past several weeks.
We've had a few 'firsts' recently, and we're really thankful to the people who made them happen. We played at Taylor's in Redlands a few weeks ago, thanks to Mike Magoo and Linda! We played at Wild West Social this weekend -- thank you, Jeanine! We had a great time at Baily's, thanks to Nick for getting us in there! This weekend, we'll be at Pepe's for the first time, thanks to Erin! Along the way, we've met a lot of great people and made some very cool connections! We met Gary, Sean, Derek and Mark from My Dad's Band; we met Jeanine from Wild West & Rockaholix; we met Mike from the Pub & Grub and Lester from Crush & Brew. These awesome people have helped us as musicians, and we're more than happy to help them out whenever we can. Because that's what it's all about -- helping each other succeed! When you're on stage, be a rockstar. When you step off stage, be humble and thankful. Can you believe it? It's already International Talk Like a Pirate Day! My, how the time flies...!
Personally, I'm not very good at talking like a pirate -- I prefer to leave that to the professionals. And I'm even worse at living the pirate lifestyle. I'm not really into drinking warm beer, eating gruel (whatever gruel is...), or going months without bathing. Nothing against that stuff, it's just not for me. But if big-screen movie pirates have taught me anything, it's this: they knew how to party! They threw huge feasts! They had barrels of booze! They enjoyed each other's company like one big happy family! And they had live music, even if it was just fiddles, fifes and concertinas! That's such a winning combination! Food + friends + spirits + music = fun! Think about it -- if you removed any part of that equation, it wouldn't be the same. You might have a little bit of fun, but it wouldn't be guaranteed. Without music, it'd just be a dinner. Subtract the booze, and it would just be a picnic. Without food, it would be a very short evening. And if not for friends, nobody would show up. But when all the pieces come together in the right amounts, it's pure magic! Every time. Maybe we landlubbers could learn a thing or two from pirates. The Wild West Social hosted a really cool event yesterday -- the Summer Music Jam!
There were about ten great local bands playing for about a half-hour each; everything from originals to classic rock to blues. It was awesome to see local bands and local music lovers come out and support each other in such a cool way! Surfing Everest played some fun classic rock; Two-Bit Pistols played a great raw-sounding original set; Bare Knuckles laid down some nice blues originals; Sons of SoCal killed it with some dynamite rock medleys; Rockaholix were just awesome, and Rain finished the gig with a great high-energy set. The sound was great! Every band's rhythm section sounded nice and fat; and all the vocals and instruments were really clear and distinct. Again, this was a great event showcasing some great local talent! We need to see more events like this! It's kind of funny (in a funny = sad kind of way) how we somehow manage to accumulate so much stuff in our lives. Stuff, in itself, isn't necessarily bad -- in fact, it's comforting for us to hold on to the first guitar we ever owned even though we haven't played it in 25 years. That kind of stuff is good stuff. But if you're holding on to the first guitar cable you ever owned even though it's totally destroyed and you'd never think of using it, that's bad stuff. If it's not bad stuff, then it's meaningless stuff (unless you've got an emotional attachment to it).
We need to go through our stuff every once in a while and get rid of the bad and meaningless stuff. Keep the stuff we want. Definitely keep the stuff we still need. But let go of the other stuff. Meaningless stuff can suffocate you. It can slow you down. It can also get in your way and block your vision from seeing the good stuff. Eventually you reach a point where it's detrimental to hold on to so much stuff. Sadly, we never realize we've got enough stuff until we've already got too much of it. But then again, maybe that's what makes it easier to start letting go of some of it. Maybe it's when we finally get rid of that 112 Crate amp we've been holding on to, that we rediscover the old Fuzz Face that completely changed our life back in 1979! Letting go of stuff doesn't have to be a complete loss. There's certainly a market for old stuff (aka Used Gear), even if it's not particularly great stuff. You don't need to cover all the mirrors and go into mourning over selling your old Fender Twin Reverb. With an almost zen-like calm, you can give your old gear a new start in a new home, while making some quick cash to buy some new stuff. At the end of the day, you need to remember that all your stuff is just that -- stuff. Inanimate stuff. If you lost it all tomorrow, you could either replace it or live without it. Don't let your stuff blind your eyes from the things that are really important. |
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January 2025
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