Definition of the Term MUCK as in Mucky Duck

muck

Pronunciation: (muk), [key]
—n.
1. moist farmyard dung, decaying vegetable matter, etc.; manure.
2. a highly organic, dark or black soil, less than 50 percent combustible, often used as a manure.
3. mire; mud.
4. filth, dirt, or slime.
5. defamatory or sullying remarks.
6. a state of chaos or confusion: to make a muck of things.
7. Chiefly Brit. Informal.something of no value; trash.
8. (esp. in mining) earth, rock, or other useless matter to be removed in order to get out the mineral or other substances sought.

Everybody come see us play in the Muck and mire at the MUCKY DUCK this Tueday at 5:00 hell you won't even need a baby sitter.

Never say Never

Well, 38 days ago I was almost ready to put all of my equipment on EBAY and say to hell with it all. I played a miserable show and found myself doing something I NEVER ever did before. Watched the clock. Not as in "how long the set was" but "When the hell can I go home"?

Rehearsals were miserable. Music just wasn't fun. The first thing I did was parted ways with our former Bassist. I won't speak poorly about him, he has some of the greatest Bass chops I've ever seen and heard. But..........

So Jack and I got back in the pocket and looked for a new Bassist. Chris Daniel emailed me and said that he had heard of me through Jack. Both Jack and I were pretty much at the end of our rope, patience,whatever and even Chris was hesitant to give us an audition. But I said to Chris, "Hey let's just jam and have fun, if it's not fun, then screw it". As it turned out, we all had fun laughing and joking and the music sounded really really good.

So we had ONE (1) uno, ein, rehearsal when Jack gets a call from the manager of the Mucky Duck. Jack's other band is unable to do the show so Jack asks me if I wanna do it. OK, so this is rock bottom I'm thinking. I've always said, Hell no I won't play the Mucky Duck or the other rowdy halls on Alvarado street. But it turned into a great memorable evening. And mostly because, the three of us just went in and had fun. We didn't give a damn if we sucked, hell, it was the Mucky Duck? Right? We didn't go in there with our "Rock Star" BS Attitudes. It was more like a boyscout campout. No pretention. Nothing to prove. And like I said before; I did it just for my pride. I didn't want to play it, but for some reason, this was God's way of humbling my "haughty" ass.

So if you read the blog after the show, we took no prisoners. It was Rock like it use to be back in 1973. It was the kind of music that you use to play loud as hell while you were washing your 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner. It was the kind of rock that you use to stand in line at 5 in the morning at "Tower Records" to get tickets for.

Chris, Jack and I (me?) just tried to give the people their money's worth. We knew it wasn't the Civic Auditorium. Hell, it didn't even have a stage. (another one of my nevers) But people heard genuine rock from miles around and flocked to the Mucky Duck like it was Woodstock. No advertising. No gimmicks. Not even a wet T-shirt contest. It was just the music.



And with that, I just wanted to say that we'll be having more fun at the Duck:
December 4th
December 11th and
December 26th "Boxing Day" (in Canada eh?)

Me and the boys are just gonna show up, crank it up, light it up, and rip it up. And to quote the Reverend Richard Pennimen "And ball tonight".

Our Next President

Happy Thanksgiving

We have so much to be Thankful for here in this wonderful country. ONe of them is this very talented former Senator from Tennesee. Fred Thompson. AKA Arthur Branch, D.A on NBC's Law and Order. He's running for president.

The Ace Andres Band ROCKS LIKE A........

The unveiling of the new Ace Andres band was an event to remember. Seriously folks; have you ever had one of moments of no expectation to downright abuse anticipation? In Monterey,CA there's a club called "The Mucky Duck".

Let me frame this story if I may. About 9 Months ago (or less) Corrine and I were walking back to the car from having a fabulous 5 star Greek meal. OPAH. But we're walking down this sidewalk and we hear the most aweful dreadful "put it out of our misery" female singing "Born to be wild". It made me ashamed of being a musician. So needless to say, my impression of the Mucky Duck was one that "anyone" could get booked at.

Last week, Jack calls me up and says, He's got this gig at the Mucky Duck. Jack plays drums for blind melton chitlan or some blind guy like that. And I basically answered, WTF. Kids don't ask your parents.

So with memories of the worst garage band ever coming from this place, I had low to bad expectations. And especially after the previous gig with this band (sort of, minus the bassist) which was as fun as having an eye block. I didn't tell anyone I was playing there. I did it for the money and only the money. Actually, I told Corrine and Bill my best friend, I was doing it for my pride. Unusually, this gig started at 5pm and lasted until 8:30. I was slightly concerned because the new bassist Chris Daniel didn't know a lot of the songs. He learned them all since he met me. I told Chris and it's worth repeating, "Chris, I applaud you" He hung in there and put up with my creative whims all night. One time I really thought he was going to walk off the stage was when we went to do our last song, Rocking in the Free world. And I told Jack and Chris, OK, I'll start it off. Then I started playing "Old Man" by Neil Young. I did almost the whole song and at bridge it goes into an E minor, which is what Free world starts in. Chris had no Idea what the hell I was doing and the place went ballistic.

I did an encore of "Helpless" (another song Chris had never heard)lol....

But anyway, the whole night was just incredible. It was an outdoor gig too. So it just so happened that Clint Black was in town. 2 of his roadies were taking a dinner break and heard the rocking. They came in and said that they tour all over the country and haven't been rocked like that ever, anywhere. Well they'll have good memories of Monterey.

Jack was firing on all pistons as well. It's safe to say that word will spread of this show. It was packed. It was one of those gigs when you didn't have time to talk to all the people that wanted to talk to you.

Again, thank you to Chris and Jack for the hard work that paid off, and thank you Monterey for making this Bay Area Transplant feel at home.


Ace Out.......

Definition of the term OMEN

No it's not Ted Nugent. It's Jackie Mason.

I thought Jackie was a just a great comedian. But he understands it.

Incredible Video Find of the Day

Santos and Johnny from 1959. It doesn't get any better than this:

HOW LONG VIDEO

The Eagles Album

Rocks. I was slow out of bed Wednesday morning and I turned on the TV just to focus on something and I saw the new Video by (of all bands) "The friggin Eagles" . And the new video or single that they're pushing from this album is a song written by John David (J.D.) Souther back in 1973. Ya know, it sounds good like 1973. And the marketing is crazy. You can only get this sucka at "WALMART". It's a 2 Disc set with 20 songs for 11.98. Now some of the songs are just plain ol' environmental politics. (no more walks in the woods) , but most of the album friggin Rocks. Sorry all you Eagles haters in the south, this band nailed it on this album.

Good to have them back

Special Congrats to the Los Angeles Dodgers

Joe Torre should make that team a real contender before they even step on the field. My only hope is that they sigh AROD and the Dodgers go to the party and the Yankees don't even make it to a wild card spot.

Congrats Blue.



Ace