Big Hand Dave

Last night we had a great practice. It had been a month since we had gotten together, and it will be another two weeks, as Wes couldn’t make it. We did have a guest guitarist sit in with us. It’s Jack Bower’s brother Dave, and he plays a mean guitar. Two Daves in one band is a little much. Two Hand Dave? Double Fisted Dave? Not to mention that Dave the first had poison Ivy all over his eye and it looked like he had taken a punch. Poison Ivy. That was his story and he was sticking to it. He also told the story of his wayward lumberjacking escapade which very nearly led to chaos, mayhem, destruction of property and loss of life and limb.

Rodney and Dave and I were there first so we warmed up with “Tainted Love” with only bass, drums and vocals. It sounded great! Who needs guitars? Then PJ showed up and we played our slowed down, newly keyed version of “Can’t find my way home.” PJ has done a really nice job of keying and orchestrating that one and it sounds really good.

Then the guest guitarist showed up and we had the obligatory Blues Jam with two lead guitarists showing off. I have to admit it was pretty sweet! We moved on to “These Boots Were Made For Walking” and it was explained to guitar Dave that we play this song because drummer Dave likes to dress up like Nancy Sinatra. We moved on to “Baker Street” and it had been a while since we played it, but it still sounds nice.

Next we played “Gloria” which may well be the best song we do. Dave was very excited at the end of that one and yelled out his enthusiasm. We really do rock on that song. After that we played “Dancing in the Moonlight” where Dave initiated a trick ending, which actually worked out really well. I think we will be incorporating it into our version of the song.

Next we played “What I Like About You,” a sassy little number that I really love, then “Layla.” The bridge worked out really nice and we did a very good ending.

Then it was time for the guitar and drum fest “Crazy On You” jam. It was fun to watch and listen to. It was a good warm up for an abbreviated version of “All Along The Watchtower” and I think that we were all amazed that we could keep that tune to under 20 minutes. But we made up for it by following it up with a funkalicious jam. After that we played “Tainted Love,” complete with guitars this time and it sounded great.

We played “Louie Louie” because it’s really all “Louie Louie” once you break it down, and we played it well. Then we played our newly keyed version of “Fire Woman” and really rocked it out. Kudos to PJ for keying it perfectly to my range. We wound up the evening with “Keep Your Hands To Yourself” and that’s a great one to end on. It was Lead Guitar Sologasm time. I’ve decided that song needs one more verse so I’ll have to come up with a little something.

We had a ball, and there were quotes flying all over the place. Sadly, I did not get them all, but here are some of the better ones I did get. And if there was a secret word this week, I didn’t catch it.

“You need a cover story for a shiner and a bass to the face is a good one.” ~JD

“Did I take that fucker out? ~ Rodney

“That sounds gay.” ~Dave

“What, were you crawling through the woods like this?” ~PJ

“He chopped down a tree with his face.” ~JD

“I never touched him. You know he’d be pissed if I punched him.” ~Rodney

“That’s a really high-dollar air freshener, dude!” ~Dave

“And it’s working great.” ~PJ

“Not if Jesus finds the eggs.” ~JD

“I need to tune this thang!” ~PJ

“I didn’t want to say nothin” ~Dave

“So you cut off all the limbs beneath you as you were climbing up? ~Rodney

“You won’t mind being my divorce attorney after that comes up in court”? ~Dave

“It’ll always be the party for me.” PJ

“Yeah, I thought I recognized that.” ~Guitar Dave

“That’s the part that was entertaining for me.” ~Rodney

“He’s not even gonna’ wait for your answer.” ~Dave

“You don’t have to tell every true story.” ~PJ

“Guitar love.” ~Dave

“That’s why it’s good!” ~Guitar Dave

“Thunder thief!” ~Dave

And the best quote of the night:
“But what if a hundred muskrats come at you all at once?” ~Rodney