Thanks

To everyone who came out to see our first gig with the new MLS line-up, a big Thank You!

Thanks to Cha for talking me into saying yes to this. I didn't think I had the chops for it, but like that old song says, she believed in me and made me give it a try.

Seamus United was out in full force and it was a sight to behold. Thanks gang.

A posse of drunken inner-city school teachers helped me deal with stage jitters by yelling my name and the words "you rock" even when I fucked up badly.

My family--you guys are the best! I love you.

And thanks to Silenus, K'wali and Klezma, Chuckles, Yo! Adrienne, Leni, Scott, and Perry, The Bus, Flea and J3553, Gypsy Girl for the shot of bourbon when I needed it most, and of course Yahtzee who's my main man. And King Raj--he brought the new bandmembers gifts. What a sweetheart. If there's anyone I'm forgetting I apologize. Thanks everyone for your support.

Thanks to the band who are all infinitely better at this sort of thing than I, and thanks in particular to Earthdragon for giving me the chance to live a teenage dream of playing live music and having people dance and shout and cheer. What fun.

And to Shaun the sound dude--You are The Man. That was a lot of work, and we appreciate your help and it would have been a much more daunting task without you.

There were some great moments last night. The return of cello was a huge hit, and everyone I spoke to said Kristen was awesome. She IS awesome. And Mark? I thought Mick O'Shea's shifted on its foundation when he layed down the heavy artillery. Nick nailed the songs he sang and the crowd ate it up, and his guitar soloing made me wonder why I have any solos at all. And Earthdragon? Lead vocals, backing vocals, rhythm guitar, and fiddle--the guy does it all and does it all well.

All the positives aside, I made many mistakes. I choked on some solos, and at one point stepped on my overdrive pedal and launched into a solo I really worked on a lot only to have no signal at all (after the second set began I forgot to turn up the level on my pedal. Idiot). I started singing at the wrong time in "Let's Go," but realized it quickly. I hadn't counted on the fact that standing in front of a crowd would cause me to forget all the songs I'd memorized, and that in the dark of a pub with only red and green stage lamps it's virtually impossible to see your music charts. Occasional sloppy fumbling resulted. Ooops!

But we played through. I know I learned a lot about how to watch as well as listen when you can't hear everyone else through the monitors. I know what to expect now and what I need to work on.