On Saturday night, a person tried to steal guitar equipment out of my car while I was packing up after a gig. I was in a very nice suburb at a fancy restaurant north of Grand Rapids. The robber was unsuccessful for reasons that will be described below; and the event reminds me to ALWAYS close the doors and lock the car no matter how quickly I think I’ll be back out.
You see, packing the car after gigs is a pain. Even solo gigs take me six to eight trips, back and forth. It involves constant balancing of awkward things in my hands while opening bar doors, unlocking car doors, opening car doors, lifting things up, putting them down again, etc. Plus, the equipment needs to happen in a certain order for things to go in the car correctly, like a Tetris game.
Remember when Homer loads in his family into the car like a Tetris game? This is how my guitars feel three nights a week.
During Saturday night’s packing session, I was inattentively taking stuff to my car out-of-order. (First mistake!) The boxes and speakers must go first, guitars last. For some reason, I did this in the opposite order.
So flash forward to my story: My car was parked right next to the bar’s front door. I was in a big hurry and only had two items left to carry to the car, my mic box and my large box of miscellaneous stuff (speaker cables, music stand, etc.). I tried to stack these two boxes on top each other and take them to my car in one trip, but by the time I got to the bar’s front door, my arms were like, “Are you serious?”
I gave up and decided to take each box one at a time. I left the larger box by the bar’s front door, and I carried my mic box to the car. I then left my car’s hatchback open, and I turned around to make the 30 second walk back to the door to get the last box.
Next thing I know, a scraggly dude in his late teens or early 20s is running up to the back my car! This guy must have been watching me carrying stuff out the whole time, and he thought I was going back into the bar. But when he saw me returning seconds later, he freaked out and he lost sight of where he was running. He hilariously nailed his head on my car’s half-opened hatchback door.
Basically, my car’s door clotheslined the thief. I would have laughed if I wasn’t so freaked out. The guy ran away without any of my gear and drove away before I could get a read of his license plate. He was driving a white pick-up truck.
Anyways, this event has reminded me to be more cautious and attentive to my loading in routine.
Loading gear is a pain, even more for band gigs than solo gigs!
Friday, March 9, 2012 – Uptown Coffeehouse
with Stephen Schlaack
102 E. Grand River, Howell, MI
(517) 546-1124
No cover, all ages
4-6 PM
Uptown will be donating a portion of their sales from this day to the Howell Opera House’s Restore the Glory campaign! Stephen and I will be playing from 4 to 6 PM to encourage and entertain everyone who stops into the coffeehouse!
A portion of my CD sales will be donated to the Restore the Glory campaign. Don’t forget, all sales of the digital song “Damn Fine Day” are being donated as well!
On March 31st, two generous donors will be tripling the value of all donations raised by the public.
Nat and I are one of the featured stories in the Detroit Free Press’s Valentine’s Day Michigan love stories article today. (Click on the link to read.)
Thank you to Detroit Free Press writer Alexandra Bahou for being interested in our Michigan-made wedding and story of meeting in Owosso! It was fun meeting her at the Novi Middle School to video tape a few clips of Nat and I talking about how Owosso’s Train Festival brought us together. Answering that “what is true love?” question was difficult! I had a longer rant quoting Sherman Alexie that didn’t make the edit. Natalie has been poking fun at me for weeks now because I quoted literature to answer a love question. (Still an English teacher at heart!)
You can participate too by adding where you met your Valentine on the Detroit Free Press’s interactive map at this website!
Also, the final video, featuring our story and four other views on Michigan love, is below.
The Lois Growth Chart
Our puppy Lois has been growing at an alarming rate! Lois is now five months old and her amiable personality is starting to show. We adopted her in November 2011 when she was a sleepy, six weeks old, eight pounds bubble of fur. Now she is probably 50 lbs and an energetic burst of playfulness!
Gunshy shows Lois where cookies appear, in the kitchen.
Lois and Gunshy are officially best friends. Gunshy has been a great, big brother to Lois, teaching her “sit” and “go to blanket” within weeks. (However, Lois hasn’t quite learned “High-Five!” yet.)
Lois tends to be a little needy with the cuddles, but the three of us are managing her constant climbing over our faces while we sleep pretty well as a team.
"Seriously, baby. I'm trying to sleep!"
Lois has not really got to experience a true, Michigan winter; however, she has had some romps in the few snowy sceneries we’ve had. The Free Press tweeted a photo of Lois’s first snowy experience a few months ago.
Lois's photo shoot for the Detroit Free Press
Here’s a snowy run Gunshy and Lois enjoyed in January:
Newborn Lois and her kissing siblings!
While Lois really enjoys napping, don’t let these pictures fool you. She’s usually running circles around Gunshy in the loft, crewing on gloves and shoes, or jumping into guests’ laps while they are sitting on the couch.
My favorite, beautiful girls!
Lois insists on sharing all couch naps.
Lois made some new friends when Becca was doggy sitting. Becca has two beagles!
Lois enjoyed Christmas, especially the wrapping paper.
Usually these two are cuddle buddies, unless Lois is biting Gunshy's nub tail.
We love taking the dogs to the park by the Howell Soccer Field.
Lois adoption day!
This was Lois's first night home, and she determined Gunshy was her pillow.
Can you find baby Lois in the litter of her brothers and sisters?
Chasing sticks and chasing Mom!
Monday, Feb 13 – WHMI 93.5
Radio Performance & Interview
8:45 AM on Mike & Jon’s Morning Show
Howell, MI
Special thanks to Mike and Jon for inviting me on their show. I’ll be performing “Damn Fine Day” and talking about the charity campaign to help the Howell Opera House. You can download the song and make a minimum donation of $2 by clicking on the music player below this paragraph. All donations will be tripled on March 31 by two generous donors!
