Hecklers suck

One thing that any performer is likely to deal with at some point is hecklers.

Muppets notwithstanding, hecklers suck. Let's just sit with that for a moment. Hecklers suck.

We've had our share. We've been heckled about our car, our set list, just general heckling while we're performing - I've even had people come up to me on a break or after we're done to say something biting. In his solo days, Johnny had a guy put his heckle in a note that he put on stage so Johnny would think it was a request. Good job - you did it. You said something shitty.

Aw, Bill - not you, too!

The view is everything

Last week, we had the pleasure of playing our first gig in West Texas' own The Shack in the Back in Odessa. There's plenty we could say about the gig - namely that much to our surprise, about 500 well-dressed people came out to a random, but lavishly landscaped, club situated behind a Pepsi distribution center on a Wednesday night and paid $10 a head to party like it was 1999.

But that's not what this post is about.

This post is about the view - the view from behind the mic. Because this blog isn't about all those young, good-looking people with a lot of money and the ability to drink until midnight and still go to work the next morning. This blog is about US - the BAND. So, let's talk about our perspective. Literally.

Here's what we saw looking forward from the stage:

Tips to beat the heat

Summer has come to Texas.

Yes, that's right. It's hot.

Seeing as it's June, we can't really complain about the highs now consistently being in the 90s. It was a pretty mild spring here in Texas, so if it's only just now getting H-O-T hot, then we've gotten a reprieve this year - especially since April and May were two of the busiest months in our band's history.

If the connection isn't hitting you, let me explain. We play outside a lot. In fact, we play outside way more than we play inside. And sometimes we play outside in the middle of the day.

I'm not gonna lie - sometimes it's brutal.

But as time goes by, we figure out ways to work around the challenges of playing in such hot weather: