Whew Whee I am now a webmaster of my own domain, proving old dogs can learn new tricks. Hope you like the picture of one of my Georgia Kin up there on top, he may not look smart but he was head accountant at Enron poor little feller. Since the response has been so great I have decided to add a Soap Box section to these updates that will appear towards the end every time. We'll have some fun with that for sure.OK on to the HF (our new slick moniker) update and slices of the crazy world of a rock and roll band. After the great gig in St. Louis, we stagggered (not a typo just emphasis) on down the road back to Chi-Town to start rehearsing and changing a few things around. You know it would seem after playing for 30 odd years that people wouldn't have to rehearse a lot, so we don't. Musicians are kinda like lawyers in a way we both seem to practice and never quite get it done or exactly right. You know a lawyer has to practice law, a doc has to practice medicine and a musician has to practice music, I wonder how many other professions allow you to practice that long.
Anyway I digress on with the update.
The trio headed up to Gods country just outside of Lacrosse Wisconsin to a great town called COON VALLEY !! Snuggled sweetly in the large hills and valleys of some wondrous landscape, curving winding roads, streams and rivers and some of the nicest folks you'll ever meet. We played the Rustic Valley Concert Series and enjoyed some hospitality that warmed our hearts. A young gal Ruthie and her husband put us up in their guest suite located directly above a maple syrup factory. Now sleeping with that fragrance just a wafting all over you is something special. Even got to go out on the run the next day to check on the tapped maple trees to see how the sap was running. At one stop I was asked if I wanted to taste the pure sap right from the tree out of the spout. Now I was sure this was just a city slicker comes to the country set up by the locals and I would probably be stuck on the john for many an hour but it turned out it was just my skepticism.
But probably the highlight was "Leona's Tavern" in the middle of nowhere and a true treasure to behold. A small country bar that is run by a lady in her 80's Leona of course, who allows NO CURSIN' and when she informs you of this, you listen. Every inch of that place is covered with 50 some years of collectable things like signed pictures of football greats, promotional items of the tavern trade, every item ever sold in a dime store or the wall of a gas station, instruments, hats, funny posters, basically a piece of every era's Americana. It would take you months to see it all and after that you would still discover hidden treasures, not to mention a storage room in the back the size of 5 garages filled to the brim with much of the same. I played her a couple of songs and she became my pal and I will never forget her. One tough cookie with a heart of gold. If you are ever in that area asked to find Leona's hell it's like the Smithsonian with BEER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!