Staring at a Microphone and Empty Chair

Hello everyone and welcome to HAIR IN THE AIR, The Official Blog of The Midnight Devils and 3D In Your Face.  It's happening, it's happening.   Just sitting here typing away at 1:45 AM on show day.  Kids take note, if you are going to be playing a big rock n roll show make sure to try and get all eight hours of sleep.  It's not sex, drugs, and rock n roll more like protein bars, a good nights rest, and then rock n roll.  The hardest of the hardcore here.  There is so much going on that I feel like this could come of the tracks at any moment but I say that in a very exciting way.  Tonight The Midnight Devils will be playing our biggest show to date opening for Jackyl at The Bourbon Theatre in Lincoln, NE with our good buddies, Lincoln's greatest rock n roll band Laughing Falcon.  Big room, big sound, and big chainsaw.  Then Saturday we head south to Johnson, NE to celebrate Sniper's birthday with a huge rock n roll bash at Huckleberry's Bar and Grill.  This is going to be one of those weekends you don't forget.  Just wait until you see what I got him for his birthday.  Out of this world.  For those that can't make it to the show there is still plenty of Rock n Roll radio happening.  I am actually on right now, on 101.9 The Keg until 3am.  Also tune in Saturday morning 12am-3am and Saturday night 11pm-12am.

What a day, what a day.  I woke up a little cranky but that's what 8:45 does to me.  My day was full of rock n roll adventures starting at 101.9 The Keg Studios.  As I was doing my shows my boss walked in and said, "Move over I have a very important interview to take care of.  Grab your head phones you are riding copilot on this one."  This always gets interesting.  I grabbed the head phones and it was none other than Mark Slaughter on the other line.  Hello Vinnie Vincent Invasion, Up All Night, Fly to the Angels.  Not so cranky anymore.  The rest of the day was filled with teaching guitar lessons to my amazing students, answering phone calls about tour flyers and t-shirts, and eventually making it to rehearsal.  We ran our set list and made sure everything was tight then we had the chance to take Sniper out for his birthday.  The idea was to take him somewhere he would never go.  Dave and Busters it was.  If you could've seen all three of The Midnight Devils playing arcade games in full leather jackets surrounded by kids you would've died.  It was a blast and a great way to blow off some steam.  I ended the night by heading to what I thought was going to be a performance by Michael Graves of The Misfits.  I got to the show and the first guy I ran into was Billy Peck and he told me Michael wasn't even there yet.  It was just an empty chair on the stage with a microphone.  I proceeded to run into a few local musicians and had a great conversation with the old drummer of The Filter Kings.  I left when it started to rain pretty disappointed.

Now the reason I tell you all of this isn't because I think you need to know what I do on a typical Thursday.  It's for the pure and simple fact that I still get excited everyday by the music.  We all go through personal stuff in our lives that make it hard at times to be every place we need to be.  For Michael Graves to not show up to the show, to not call ahead of time, to leave 100 people standing outside starring at an empty chair blew my mind.  What was he doing?  Why didn't he make it?  If it were me I would have been there three hours early selling t-shirts.  It was a careless move on his part and one that left a bad taste in everyone's mouth.  He's still one of my favorite singers and the work he did with The Misfits is still amazing to this day.  Lesson learned today.  Don't take this for granted.  Let the fire burn and let it burn bright as hell.  I spent my day doing exactly what I love to do and that in itself is fantastic.  Sure I was busy but I was busy pushing The Midnight Devils, busy playing guitar, busy sharpening my radio skills.  The Passion is there and I'm not about to let it fade away.  Some days you think to yourself "Is it worth it?".  My answer is going to be "Fuck yes" every time. No matter what it is guitar, t-shirts, starting your own business, a college degree.  If that's what you want don't let anything stand in your way.  Go out and get it but you better be willing to bust your ass for every inch.  Never leave us standing in the rain wanting to sing your songs.  Rise above.

ALWAYS LOUD
FOREVER PROUD

Sam Spade