Well, 2009 was another great year for us. We play less
club dates, but played more corporate events, which is
always a good thing! I expect more of the same for
2010. We experienced some really cool "first time"
events for band in 2009. The coolest was that we got to
play at Lucas Oil Stadium on the
Horseshoe stage for a private
event. It was fantastic! We were able to turn
around and see the stadium (granted, it was
empty), but we were able to imagine what it would
be like if it was full of screaming fans! The
weirdest thing about the event, was that it was
the first time we had ever done a gig without our
beloved Jimmie Bruhn at the helm!!! He thru a diva
fit because he couldn't have "stuntmen performing
stunts backstage" written into his contract, so he
backed out at the last minute. So we called former
Punch Judy sex kitten Phil Pierle (
The Woomblies) to fill in.
Being the season veteran that his is, he did a
great job considering it had been about 8 years
since he'd been in the band. It was strange
playing without Jimmie though. I made us feel all
dirty and unclean... like we were cheating on him
or something! It was kinda cool in that Phil's
style is so much different from Jimmie's, it gave
the band a different feel. Not better or worse,
just different. So that is always nice.
We also were asked by our long time friends if we would
play their wedding in St Louis. Normally, we would have
absolutely said "No" given the distance. But Robin had
always said that he would play their wedding if they
ever got married and would give them a good deal. Since
we were going to St Louis on a Saturday to play a
wedding reception, our friends helped score us a gig at
Sybergs on Dorsett. It wasn't
without drama however, as apparently Sybergs
bumped a band to bring us in... but forgot to
notify the band they bumped! We showed up to find
that this other band had already started their
load in. After clearing it up with management, we
loaded in and they loaded out. The "leader" I
presume, of the band, was super cool about it. Our
name was on the flyers, so it only made sense that
we should play the gig. We would have done the
same thing had the tables been reversed. But this
other guy in the band was in an absolute, white
hot, blind RAGE once he saw us walk in the door.
One would have to assume that he was aware that
another band might be showing up, but we were
proceeding as planned. Once he saw us walk in, he
completely lost it. Started jerking cables out of
their jacks, quickly wrapping them up, etc.
EXPLODED thru the door nearly ripping them from
their hinges and shattering glass, huffing and
puffing, etc. We felt bad and all, but it wasn't
anything that we could control! So we waiting
around outside ( which was awkward to say the
least) for them to finish loading their gear out.
The super pissed dude made some flippant comment
to Robin, muttering something and calling him
"Sparky," and Robin was like "dude what is your
problem?". The guy then got in Robin's face. And
so it begins....! They bounced each other around
for 30 seconds or so, with that other dude
practically begging Robin to do something. Robin
was like, "Just calm down man, what is your
problem!?" The dude was like, "Make a move man, do
it." and Robin was like, "Dude.. I just drove 4
hours from Indy to play this gig, and I'm NOT
going to jail". The guy kept at it though, and
Robin said, "You don't want to do this man", and
the guy responded all cocky, "Oh, I don't?" as if
to say, "What are you gonna do about it?".
Meanwhile, Jimmie, Kevin, and I are just standing
there watching. None of us were concerned FOR
Robin, but we were concerned what may happen as a
result of fisticuffs. I was closest to the action,
because
I was secretly DYING for that dude to
make a move. Like maybe even getting Robin on
the ground.... because I was salivating at the
opportunity to dust this guy. But let me just say,
that Robin would have destroyed this guy in
seconds. The guy wasn't very big. Real skinny, and
about Robin's height. Robin is a contractor by
trade. He is WICKED strong, and has been involved
in numerous fights in his lifetime. He's from the
WESSYDE!!!! So what do you expect??? Robin wasn't
going to need our help our help AT ALL. Yet I was
ready and willing to throw down if needed. Robin
wasn't scared one bit, but I could see surprise,
shock, and fear of the possibility of having to
beat this guy's ass, then maybe going to jail for
it. This guy was begging for it, and Robin knew
that if he threw a punch, this guy was gonna get
his revenge by calling the cops. But when he said
to Robin, "Oh, I don't?", I said, "No, you REALLY
don't want this". And all of the sudden, the guy
goes, "You know what? Your right" and stepped
away! "I was wrong and I apologize man". And that
was it! It was over! I think we were all sorta
waiting for either A. this guy to explode into
some kind of rage, taking us off guard. Or B.
coming back with a .45 opening up a can! But, he
was sincere and just quietly went about his
business, and we went about ours, and that was it!
It was the strangest thing I had ever witnessed in
a "fight". Because the guy did the right thing.
Not only was it not fair to Robin to have to get
drawn into this guy's hissy fit, but really...
Robin would have literally beat the ever-loving
shit out of this guy. And if something went down
otherwise, he had three 225lb + guys standing not
but 15ft away. He had NO ONE in his corner. None
of us would have even dreamed of "ganging up" on
this guy... because we're all peaceful dudes. But
we wouldn't have stood by and let this guy get
lucky with a few punches, maybe getting the best
of Robin. No way was that going to happen! But I
think we all were sorta shocked that he just said,
"Wow, I think I've changed my mind! Yer right! I
am being an ass! My bad!" I really commend that
guy for doing that quite honestly. Not only did it
take guts to get in Robin's face, but it took even
more guts to say "Sorry, I'm an ass". Luckily,
that was good enough for Robin and it was over. I
have some friends that wouldn't have taken it as
lightly he did. Just based off of principle, this
guy would've had to of taken an ass beating
because of it. But Robin doesn't roll that way. He
just wants to play his bass, drink some Bud, and
have a good time. It's just that simple!
I won't say the name of the band that got bumped,
because it wasn't their fault. But I will say that I
bet they are really good, and I know that *I* would
enjoy seeing them play sometime.
So we played the club and we had a great time. Had a
lot of old friends and fans there to see us. It was a
great crowd too. The band had played there quite a few
times back in the day, but the current staff and
management was different and wasn't aware of that. They
thought we were a "new band". They were very interested
in having us back, and seemed disappointed when we told
them we really don't play STL any more. This was a
special occasion type of thing. That's not to say we
won't play in STL ever again though. It's just the
situation has to be right. If we were to go back, we
would have to make it worth our while by doing a double
shot Friday/Saturday type thing. Who knows?
After the Syberg's show, we raced back to the hotel to
eat the 2lbs of
Syberg's Chicken Wings that we
had ordered. And let me tell you something
people... those were hands down the best wings we
have ever had!!! I'm a wing snob too, and I ate
them like I was a starved kitten... howling and
growling with each bite. Wow. Get the Syberg's Hot
Mustard sauce. It's for reals! I may call them to
see if they will mail me like 10lbs of them. HA!!
Or at least the sauce!
Anyway, after we were done gorging ourselves on wings,
it was time to take showers (not together) and do some
serious TV watching. We were pretty tired though, and
our poor little Kevin had a wicked cold and didn't feel
good at all. So, he fell asleep pretty quickly. I was
to share a bed with Jimmie, but the drag of it was that
they were FULL sized beds, not Queen or Kings. So,
there really wasn't much room for two moose's like us.
I tried to stay in my spot, but apparently couldn't.
HA! As luck would have it, I also got a nasty case of
PLMD, which I have major
problems with. I also sleep with a CPAP machine.
So, I'm kicking like a bronco and breathing like
Darth Vader, all the while inching closer and
closer to a deep spoon with Jimmie! Let's not
forget that "Our Little Krupa" was snoring WILDLY.
I'm talking buzz saw. It was almost like he was
trying to communicate with wild boars somewhere in
South China. It was like a language all in it's
own! And the volume of it was quite impressive. At
one time, I thought I was going to have to perform
CPR!
By now, Jimmie had quite literally lost his mind. I'm
totally oblivious to what is going on, because all I
can dream about is me in Darth Vader suit trying to
kick off the wild boars that keep clawing at my legs! I
finally had to get up and take a whizz. When I got up,
I noticed that Jimmie wasn't in bed. I figured that
maybe he couldn't take it and went over to Robin's room
and slept in their extra bed. Certainly the exploratory
probing was over with by now, so that's where I thought
he went. I go into the bathroom, flip the light, and
almost had a heart attack on the spot!! There, wrapped
lovingly in floral print blanket, little barefoot toes
sticking out of the end, lay Jimmie... with the most
angelic look I have ever seen on his face, sound
asleep, IN THE BATHTUB!!!!!!! I swear that it looked
like a freaking Mexican grave!!! I panicked and turned
the light off really quickly, trying to process what
was going on. I literally thought, "Is he dead? Why is
he in the bathtub? Should I pee in the sink as to not
disturb him? What if he wakes up as I'm peeing and gets
a full gander at my "half staff"? Maybe I should just
pee in the dark?" So, I go back in without the light
off, took a whizz, flushed, then turned the light on
one more time just to make sure that he in fact wasn't
dead. I just could not get over those feet! I swear
that I couldn't see any bend in his knees either. He
looked like freaking Muppet! I couldn't get over how he
could fit in there. And the degree of loving care in
which he made his little burrow of a bed was so
precious. But the feet and the look on his face were
what threw me. Traumatized me actually. He LOOKED like
he was dead to be honest. But his face... HA! It was
unreal. So still, so quiet, so angelic, SO BIZARRE!!
Several hours later I woke up again to the sound of
what could have been whales communicating, and got out
of bed to check on my "Lil' Choncho". This time he
wasn't in the tub, but on the FLOOR next to the bed.
Well, at least he wasn't dead. I kinda went back to
sleep and was later woken up by Kevin who had already
showered, gotten something to eat, made some phone
calls, etc. He was all yippee skippy! Slept great! Felt
a bit better! Meanwhile I felt shell shocked and Jimmie
was near suicide. Worst night's sleep of his entire
life. I asked him why he decided to sleep in the
bathtub (which at that point Kale almost coughed up a
lung from laughing because he had NO idea Jimmie had
done that!), and Jimmie said, "I thought that if I
slept in the bathtub it would make the floor actually
seem comfortable, so I started there and then went to
the floor." I said, "Why didn't you stay in bed with
me?" and he said, "Because your machine was blowing air
all over me, your legs were kicking, and you were
starting to go in for the spoon!" I said, "You shoulda
just went with it man. All I would have done was hold
you like I baby like I do my sons", and he was like,
"Yeah... uh... no thanks". HA!!!!
So, we gathered our wits and headed to the location of
the wedding reception to set our stuff up. We had fully
intended on going to the actual wedding, but discovered
that our trailer lights were not working right when
being towed with my vehicle. So we decided to go by
Home Depot to get a new harness to try and fix it. Two
hours later, we had nearly re-wired the trailer to no
avail! They still weren't working right. We knew that
after the reception, we'd be driving back to Indy. And
it wasn't safe to be pulling the trailer at night with
no brake lights or turn signals. But we couldn't fix it
despite our best efforts, and concluded that it had to
be something in MY hitch, rather than the trailers. So
by now, we had missed the wedding (though Robin and
Cindy made it), so we raced back to the hotel to change
our clothes and get cleaned up again. Of course, we
were running short on time, AND managed to get lost
going back to the hotel!
Robin is already at the reception hall, and is calling
us every 5 min to keep us updated. We're like 20min
away from the reception hall too. Just before we left
the hotel, he calls and said that they were now eating,
so we've got like 50min. PLENTY of time. We felt much
better now. Then 5min later he calls back and says,
"They want someone to announce the wedding party and
all of that stuff, so you've got to get down here right
away. They are ready to do this NOW." I was like,
"What?? They never said anything about me having to do
any of that!? And they want us to play music on a CD
Player too? They didn't say anything about that
either!" He said, "I don't know, but they are waiting.
You'd better hurry." HA! So, now we are panicked. We
finally arrived and I immediately had to announce the
wedding party. Then they wanted us to play some "dinner
music" thru the PA. But I wasn't told that we would
have to any of that stuff, and had to scramble to find
a way to hook up my iPod to the PA and play something.
I wasn't prepared, and I didn't really have anything on
my iPod that was suitable for dinner music. Had I
known, I would have come more prepared, and had my
cables with me. But I finally got that sorted out and
started playing some music.
Now it was time for the band to eat. I noticed that
everyone was eating steak, so I got excited. I was
dying of thirst and starving. I had been so busy
rushing around that I didn't have time to get anything
to drink. So I go up to the bar to order a beer, and
they told me that the bar was closed while the guest
were eating dinner! WHAT!??? I couldn't believe it. So
we got escorted back into this little room where the
photographer and her assistant were eating, as well as
Robin and Cindy. The waitress saw Jimmie, Kevin, and I
walk in and sorta got snippy with us. She said needed
to go check to see if there were any meals left. She
comes back and said, "We were told six meals, and there
are seven of you, so one of you won't be able to get a
plate". I said, "Fine, I'll volunteer not to eat". I
then realized that there were six of us. All four band
members, and the photographer and her assistant. Six.
Oh wait... and Robin's girlfriend... .seven.... who was
eating my dinner! I really didn't care because I had
noticed a different hotel bar where they were serving
drinks and food. Of course, I was going to have to pay
for all of it, but I didn't care. So I went out there
and ordered a couple beers, one to chug, and one to
kinda chug, and asked for a menu. Just as I was about
to order some food, they called me back into the room
and said they had found an extra meal. So I went back
in to eat....my... chicken. "I thought they were eating
steaks out there?" I said. "They are" said Jimmie, "But
remember, we're the band. We're below illegal
immigrants on the priority list". Oh yeah, I forgot.
That's always how it is! Oh well. I ate the chicken,
then polished off all the chicken that Cindy didn't eat
to boot.
After dinner we went out and played, and played, and
played. At one point, I had to leave the stage to use
the bathroom. I think at one point Robin too left the
stage to use the bathroom. We kept playing and playing.
My mouth felt like sand and I was dying of thirst. We
had no water, no nothing. I kept waiting for a hostess
or someone to come up and offer us something, but it
never happened. Finally after playing for 2 1/2 hours
straight, we decided that was long enough and decided
to wrap it up. After the last song the groom said,
"Hey, why are you stopping? We've got your for three
hours, you've still got 20min left!" I thought, "What
are we, equipment rental? Are you kidding me? That's
three hours with two breaks. We've had NO breaks,
NOTHING to drink, etc", but he was adamant about us
playing the "full three hours", so well all looked at
each other and I said, "I guess we've got to play
guys", so we did. We didn't want to make a big deal out
of it. After all, we're the band! We don't matter in
the circle of life! Our job is to give our all, then
take what is given back to us, which is usually a slap
on the back. So we played our 20 more minutes, said our
thank you's and goodbyes, hit the road for a four hour
drive in which we LOSE an hour, arrived in Indy at like
5:30am, hit the sack at 6:30, and at 7:30 got woken up
by the kids who had missed daddy! And thus, another
chapter in Punch Judy history was complete!
Let's see... what else? We played at Oktoberfest for
the first time ever this year. They decided to have it
at the Fairgrounds this year rather than Germantown, as
they felt there wasn't enough room in Germantown. Not
to mention, when you think of a German Oktoberfest,
what better location comes to mind OTHER than
Germantown? Yep! The State Fairgrounds! We were
scheduled for a "double shot". We played Friday and it
went well. But come Saturday, Jimmie came down with
Swine Flu (his son got it too) and ended up being sick
for like two weeks!! We had no choice but to cancel the
Saturday performance. As a result, we may have
inadvertently caused the local economy to crash, and
maybe even caused gas prices to increase by as much as
10 cents per gallon! We were sorry to disappoint
the thousands of people who
were there
at Oktoberfest, who thought
they were going to get a heavy dose of classic
rock hits, but instead had to settle for a
German Polka band. DAMN YOU
JIMMIE BRUHN!!!!!!!!!!!!! (who happens to be
1/64th German... but the good kind of German).
Robin got a new bass. It's a
Fodera NYC Series bass. Very
nice. Has a much warmer and punchier sound than
his
Modulus Flea bass. A different
animal, but not better or worse. Just a different
"sound". He also bought an
Eden 2x10 floor wedge slant cab
that is cool. He used it by itself at our last gig
and it wasn't powerful enough to be the only
cabinet. I think it's designed to be an "added" to
an existing rig, or ran with much less power. If
he runs his
Eden 4x10 behind him, with that
2x10 down in front, he will be standing in a
pocket of total bass devastation that could
possibly shift time and space! He's looking
forward to trying that next time.
Jimmie added some new guitars to his arsenal as well. I
believe 2009 was the debut of the "Ski-tar" that he
built. It's so cool that I can't even discuss it
without a lawyer present. If you've seen us lately,
you'll likely know what I'm talking about! He also
relic'd a few guitars (one of which was for me!), and
made some really bitchin custom models that are way
cool too. He also picked up a
Fender Jagmaster in Silver
Sparkle that matches his Supersonic. It's a very
sweet playing guitar. Another major feat for St.
Bruhn is all of the hard work he has done with the
Modtone pedal line. He has a
lot to proud of with that. I could go on and on,
but I'm sure he doesn't want me to!
Kevin added some new accessories to his kit, but
nothing really outside the "Kale Standard". Let it be
known that I managed to break one of his cymbal stands
by laying my full body weight evenly across the cymbal
as I leaned over to talk to him. It sent me flying
forward directly into his lap, where he held me like a
baby in his arms and sang the Thin Lizzy classic
"Whiskey In The Jar". It was nice. He was also finally
able to get the tattoo mural that's spread across his
entire back colorized. It's quite elaborate, as it
details the entire career of veteran actor
Wilford Brimley. It was so
pitiful watching him turn his head to the side and
bite that pillow. We all felt just horrible for
him. But it's all water under the bridge now.
Jason (me) scored a KILLER handmade
McCullough guitar at a music
store for $200. The guy thought it was cheap
Chinese made guitar (despite saying HANDMADE on
the headstock), but I could tell it wasn't a cheap
guitar and snatched it up! Turns out that it is
made by a guitar builder right here in Indiana. He
builds all kinds of different style guitars,
basses, and acoustics. In looking at the photos on
his site, I don't see one that looks like mine.
I'm going to have to email him a picture of me
playing mine so I can get added to the site! I
emailed him and sent some cell phone pictures when
I first got the guitar, and he said it was one of
the first ones he built about 10 years ago. Beyond
that, he was surprisingly brief and offered very
little info. What a guy! It's got hand laid
abalone binding all around the body and pick
guard, abalone crescent moon inlays, a real
Bigsby, and Gibson PAF Chrome covered pickups in
it! It's a ROCK MONSTER!!!! I can't believe how
great it sounds. I had my buddy Abe at
AMR Guitars put a new nut on it
and do a re-fret. That made a HUGE difference.
He's a very skilled luthier that graduated from
luthier school a few years ago. He lives up in
Kokomo and specializes in Acoustic Guitars. He has
built several AMR models, and they are SWEET! That
being said, his work on Electric guitars and
basses is every bit as good as his acoustics. He
can do fretwork and carve up bone nuts in his
sleep. What I like about him, is the care he puts
into his work. If your frets need dressed, he
doesn't just plane the fretboard like most guys
would do. He will actually recrown the frets as
well, which is VERY important. He put a new nut on
my beloved Les Paul and it plays like butter. It
will eventually need refretted too. He also took a
Les Paul Copy that I have and put a bone nut on
it, and dressed the frets... and it went from a
cheap feeling guitar, to super slinky and awesome!
I'm tellin' ya, a new nut and a good fret job can
do wonders for a guitar, no matter how cheap it
is. The next guitar I'm going to have him do for
me is my 69 SG Special. It also needs a fret job
and new nut. The case smells like "old basement"
too! Love it!
Abe is one of the nicest guys
around, honest, trustworthy, and very genuine. So,
if yer looking for someone to do guitar work for
you, he's worth the drive to Kokomo!
I have been using a
Line 6 Spider Valve this past
year, and I've had no problems with it at all.
Sounds great. Jimmie uses a Line 6
Flextone II XL which also sound
fabulous. I love the way his sounds because it has
stereo FX. That makes a huge difference. Of
course, yer tone is in yer hands... but I have
always been on the lookout for a good deal on a
Flexy just to have. Jimmie checks Craigslist like
every day for good deals and found one up in
Kokomo! The guy only wanted $200 for it and to top
it off, it was a NAMM Show only issue with tan
tolex and brown grill cloth. Looks like a
Fender 57 Deluxe! It's only a
Flextone XL, which means it doesn't have as many
bells and whistles as the Flextone II or III, but
it's a 2x12, and has the same stereo FX. I picked
up a Floorboard for it on Ebay, and I've been
playing that alot lately. I gonna sell my Spider
Valve, even though I won't want to. But I could
use the money. I can't say one is better than the
other really. The SV definitely has that hot
Bogner sound to it, where is the Flexy is bit more
full sounding. Which is odd because it's totally
solid state!! But I can't have a $500+ amp just
sitting around the house not getting used, so I
think I'm going to sell it. I also have a cheap
Marshall MG100 head I can use as a backup, as well
as an Avatar 2x12 cab, and a Marshall 1960A slant.
So with all that, it can be said that 2009 was a nice
year for the band. 2010 will be the band's 17th year in
existence! How much longer can it last? Well that's up
to you I guess. It gets tougher and tougher with each
passing year because we each get a bit older, our kids
get a bit older, trends come and go, clubs come and go,
the economy is up and down, and life just seems to get
busier and busier. But I think we've proven that we can
outlast the best of them. Are we insane? Too dumb to
quit? Too old to be cool, but too cool to be old? Who
knows! But as hard as it may be sometimes to raise a
family, run a business, or whatever else... there is
still a lot to be said for playing music with yer buds,
having fun, and making a few bucks on the side? Is this
our "profession" like it is for bands like Zanna-Doo,
Flying Toasters, or Living Proof? Nope. I'm not sure I
would want it to be quite frankly. Our band's "business
model" is quite a bit different from those bands,
because we all have families, careers, hockey games,
soccer games, etc. But the great thing about it, is
that we are every bit as talented and three times as
affordable! We just wanna play, have a good time, and
more importantly, we want YOU to have good time. So as
long as that continues to happen, we'll probably be
playing somewhere! You can't last 17 years of constant
gigging if people don't like you right? So off we go to
collect our pat on the back!
Stay tuned people! Is the clock ticking for Punch Judy?
Will we benefit from the short break we are on? Will we
emerge refreshed and renewed, with new songs and a new
attitude? Or will we squander all of that as we stare
at the calendar and wait for someone to step up, take
charge, and motivate us? Will we have learned to
appreciate what we have for what it is, or will we
shoot ourselves in the foot and squash our motivation
and desire like a bug? No need to panic folks. This is
how it is year after year. The older we get, the harder
it gets. Only time will tell....
