What the Hell???!!!

My day job took me to New York on Monday through Wednesday of this week. I got to hear about Govenor Spitzer's flame-out while in the Big Apple! It was pretty interesting. How can high IQ guys be so incredibly stupid? And immoral? And embarrassing? Hey, I have been married for almost 20 years and my wonderful wife and I are now quite middle-aged. Guess What? We love each other too much to act like idiots, even though it might give us a short-term thrill. And we definitely have lower IQ's than Eliot. Conclusion - high IQ's do not indicate that a person is of high quality.

For some reason, this whole story makes me feel shitty. It seems like another indictment of immature/horny male baby boomers. Man, I know a few middle-class Eliot Spitzers. Guys who cheat on their wives to amp up the excitement in their lives. Guys who bring mistresses into their marital homes when their wives are out of town. Guys who go to strip clubs and get their rocks off during a $500 lap dance performed by a 19-year old college freshman. Bleah. Its better to stay home with Rosie Palm and her five duaghters. That is safe sex, man.

Live Band on the Radio

So it was snowing and wicked cold last Thursday, but the Mystery Band had a commitment. We schlepped out to Glen Ellyn IL to play live on "Hambone's Blues Party," a two-hour long show on radio station WDCB (90.9 FM), the public radio station at the College of DuPage. Hambone is an extremely fine person, working hard to present blues, R&B and soul music to the public - he is an advocate of the blues. Not surprisingly, he is an advocate in his "day job," too - he is an attorney in a law firm in downtown Chicago. Here is a shot of Hambone in "attorney mode."

I have never claimed to be a professional musician and this was my first time playing music live on a radio show. We squeezed two guitarists (Tony Palmer and OSee Anderson), a bass player (EG McDaniel) and a drummer (James Carter) into the tiny studio. Hambone had me play harp direct into the broadcast mike - no amplification - so I was hanging out there with no Fender to hide behind.

Yeah, I was nervous.

The show turned out OK, though. I thought it sucked until Hambone played the tape for me. Once again, I appreciated the great talent of my Mystery Bandsmen - they covered for me and carried me through the show. I don't have many recordings of the band (this was the first semi-professional recording we have done) so it is interesting to hear how it sounds - the good parts and the rough spots. It was both humbling and inspiring, if that makes any sense.

I highly recommend Hambone's show - every Thursday evening, from 10 PM until Midnite on WDCB, 90.9 FM. He has many of Chicago's excellent blues artists playing live in the studio - folks like Tom Holland, Chainsaw DuPont, Joanna Connor, Mat Skollar and many, many others. Hambone is doing a very good thing for Chicago's blues community and he deserves our support and gratitude.