Short Change Band - Last week of November, 2010

Greetings people, I hope your Turkey Day was a great one. If you think about all that we have, not to mention all who help every day, to make your day the success it is, you would be amazed at just what you have achieved over the past year yourself.

On that note I have a few events that took place in 2010 that I would like to reflect on in place of the PPOTW. This will be just a bit more positive as we just came off one of my favorite holidays of the year. This is what I have to be thankful for in 2010:

My first positive event for 2010 is the Short Change Band and the 80+ shows we pulled off this year is nothing short of incredible. The music we make and the time we spend together is nothing short of priceless. (My brothers of creation) We make the music we play /we don't play it (only in between sets… hahah)

Second, our band’s 4th CD release – “Full Circle” This baby took over a year to produce and fifteen musicians to get it done. What a great piece of music. Thank you for the experience Dean!

Third, The Myrtle Beach annual Short Change Band Field trip to the south. The tour wouldn't be complete without some Black Crown Royal and a trip to “Crabby Mike's” Wow!

Fourth, we had the Last “DeBetto Fest” (aka weddings) three weddings from one family in two weeks – priceless! And an experience in walking down the aisle that no one there will ever forget. Thank you my Andrea for letting me be “That Guy".

Fifth, the trip to “Sturgis Bike Week” and 3,500 miles of pure fun in the sun. And, if you weren't there I could never explain it to ya. Thanks to my Fire Fighter/EMT brother Chucky and his charming wife Teresa for such a memory maker. And thanks to all of our new friends across the U.S.

Sixth, the annual road trip to Atlantic City with Cadillac Chris, Pat and Markie Mark. Four guys on their way to the House of Blues to take in a Billy Idol show – priceless!
Then I could go on with the “Winters Fest weekend”, the Tom Petty/Crosby, Stills & Nash Concert, The Watkins Glen Yacht Club Show, The Afton Sportsmen Club party... we could talk for an hour! All I can say is WE ARE ALL BLESSED, so be sure to realize just how well you have it my friends, and respect it. Enough, and on to the shows as we have tons to talk about..

• 
  Friday Night 12/3 at the Hitchin' Post - 8:30pm start. It’s the last show up to the Post for 2010.
• Saturday Night 12/4 we’re at the Susquehanna Moose Club in PA. (Open to the public) 9:00pm start.
• Sunday afternoon 12/5 we’re at Annie's with a memorial show for Beenie.

Three days, three great shows! We hope to see you at some or all.

Reviews: Wednesday night at the Hitchin' Post on Fat Wednesday: The crowd was great, the show was as close to a “10” as I think we could rate it. We were firing on all eight cylinders that night. If you missed this show - this was the one! Good people, Great music, Good guests (Thanks Phil) and some great Coyote Ugly - yeah they were dancin' on the bar having a better time than probably should have been allowed, but it was fun just the same. It was a true “Bikers” evening as clothes were hanging off the ceiling fans that night. I thought for a minute I was at the Boot Hill Saloon in Daytona Beach. The things we do on Fat Wednesday! (Film at 11 - Thanks DJ)

Friday Night we were up to Davy's for another hot show. The only problem was the crowd forgot to show up. So we did our thing and packed up a bit early and that was it. (That’s the first time this year we went home early but none the less, this was not a typical year at any venue)

So that was our weekend of “Thanks”. We hope you all arrived to your destinations safe and sound and got back home the same way. Wish us luck with our Triple Venue weekend coming up, and (oh, I almost forgot to mention that I’m cooking breakfast up to the Afton Fire House on Saturday morning, complete with Santa for 100+ people. The cost is $6 a head for Pancakes, eggs and all the fixins', at the Afton Fire House Saturday morning at 8am. (Spring St., behind the Afton Inn)

Peace and Love,

Mikee Dee^^

Short Change Band - Thanksgiving Week

Well hello once again to you as we enter the week of Thanksgiving. We have two shows this week - FAT WEDNESDAY 11/24 - LIVE AT THE HITCHIN' POST BELDEN HILL- 8PM start and BLACK FRIDAY 11/26 AT DAVY'S LAST CHANCE SALOON - CHENANGO FORKS - 9PM.
What a great way to help celebrate the season of giving. Giving the Short Change Band a listen...

On to my PPOTW: This is an upcoming peeve of sorts, as I don't think it has happened just yet. Harley Davidson over the last two years have closed two of it's U.S. manufacturing plants only to hear now they may open a brand new one in India.

This is why Americans try to purchase the closest facsimile of the American concept at least up to this point. I will put this in very simple terms. If this does indeed happen MY next motorcycle will be a Victory or something similar that is still made and manufactured in America by Americans. That would be like taking GM and moving operations to China or even Korea. It’s not a good thing, people. I will keep you all posted as this story takes shape.

On to last week’s shows. Friday night at Dino's in Binghamton. It was a great show and a great crowd. KW had to handle the vocals on his own as I was out of town on assignment. I’d like to give special thanks to Kip for filling the shoes while I was out.

Saturday Night was Hunters Appreciation night up to the Central Hotel. It was another good show along with some fantastic fixings for all the hunters that came out. Once again, great job and Kudos's to Bobby, Chopper, Rob and Ollie for all the hard work putting this event together. Free of charge are always the toughest ones. Also we would like to thank Herb for coming out and playing guitars for the evening as well as the infamous Steven B. Cook. Ah, It felt so good "to be back home again".

So as we head into Thanksgiving week and the first full week of hunting season, please be careful and be safe and think about what you're doing before you do it. You sure as hell do not want one of those portable blow tubes installed on your car as a memento of your intoxication. Also have a great Black Friday experience and make sure you remember the less fortunate while you're shopping, ‘til you drop...

And don't forget to say a prayer for our Service men and women abroad for all they give, so you can eat your dinner in your home safely.

Peace and Love. Happy Thanks to you all,

Mikee^^Dee

Short Change Band - Mid-November, 2010

Well hello to my friends. I hope your weekend was a fine one and you got to go out and enjoy some of that great late-fall weather. Some of you even got the scoots out this weekend for one last run with the sun. Sweet!

Let's get right to it.

PPOTW: This week’s pet peeve deals with gasoline. I like when a barrel of oil climbs to $87 like it did last week. Keep in mind - they say this price is slated for January delivery, and the price at the pump today goes up 15 cents in a matter of hours. Damn that pisses me off. And don't tell me what a bargain our gasoline at home is as compared to Europe's. I don't live in freakin' Europe and I don't have passenger train service or buses where I live. So that's my pet peeve of the week. If I'm missing something here e-mail me back. Meanwhile it's just one more thing Pennsylvania has over us. Cigarette prices, clothes without tax and gas that's 15 cents a gallon cheaper - maybe more.

Hey, my new Italian Governor- are you listening here? You have a couple more things to fix while you're rebuilding New York, that our last Governor didn't see.

THIS WEEK’S SHOWS: DINO'S IN BINGHAMTON FRIDAY NIGHT- 11/19- 8:30 START: and SATURDAY EVENING 11/20 - AT THE CENTRAL HOTEL in NINEVEH. FOR HUNTERS APPRECIATION NIGHT- SHOW STARTS 5PM/ FOOD PROVIDED.

Last Friday night’s show at the Hitchin' Post. My goodness what a fun night that was. We had guests come all the way from Windsor way and from points west as well.
And once again we changed up the P.A. format. This time we tried the powered tops over the conventional Peavey's. It’s just one more consideration. Each system has their “good” and “bad” about them.

We did incorporate a full rock and roll sound which was a first at the Hitchin’ Post for us. We've come an long ways since the days of the Ovation and Congas, complete with acoustic percussion for the blues bar sound.

We also changed our location in the bar as well as we pointed due-north for this show. Anyway, we played for three plus hours and had a smokin’ show with only one fifteen minute break the entire evening. The bar had a great crowd and I think both young and old liked what we we’re doing as the dance floor was full for the last few tunes. This show I give a rating of about an 8. The equipment kept it from being higher I think.

On to Sunday, we we’re back to Dean’s in studio's one and two as we continued to work on album #6. I forgot about the greatest hits collection, yep album #6 and “Back to Basics”. We have two more dates for the year as we hope to finish the "foundation" of the album by year’s end.

So that's about it for this week boys and girls.

Remember gun season officially opens next Saturday morning at sunrise. So, beware of both and deer and hunter at this point. Be well and be good, I hope to see you for a couple of great shows this next week.

Be safe/drive safe. Peace and love,

Mikee^Dee

Short Change Band - Week Two of November, 2010

Well hello to you all, I hope you put to use that extra hour of sleep you got this weekend. I did, that's why I'm writing the blog so early. Anyway, let’s get right to it.

This week’s show: [The Hitchin' Post - 8:30pm to 11:30pm Friday Night 11-12-10] I hope to see you all there!

Next: On to the PPOTW. This week’s Pet Peeve goes out to all of the continuing negative press being given to Loud Pipes on Motorcycles. My take on it is - I've been riding scoots now for over 35 years (Harleys for about 20 years) Jap Bikes can be loud and Harley's can be louder. I personally would like to have a dime for every time I personally cracked that throttle open and some dumb ass opened their eyes at me long enough and spared my life to live another day. But not like any other annoyance, this one goes away in about 10 seconds – so get over it already.

On to Saturdays show review. We were at Gordy's in Damascus. It was like being back home again for the band. And of course we had to partake in some of those "finger lickin’ good chicken wings". Priceless! Let me say this - so many of the venues that we play have food available and a menu (a few still don't) but I personally like my Gordy's wings the best. And they are still very reasonably priced. Thanks Pat for making us feel "Right to home" again!
The show kicked off at exactly at 8pm. The crowd was light for the first set but by 10pm the place was full. It always makes you wonder if you suck or not when your crowd doesn't show up to watch ya. Fortunately we proved the latter.

We still are making adjustments to the sound system and we finally feel comfortable with a sound between the "big guns and the little guns" sort of right in the middle. The only thing we have not modified is DD's sound as he uses the same rig for any venue. The bigger gigs we still do kick it up a notch and will continue to do so. KW does have a stacker and a Les Paul he does like to still play it from time to time.

So by the third set we had a visitor come up and set in. It was none other than our very own Susie from the now infamous Blue J's. And just like the days of old, we sounded sweet. Ahh you gotta love that Susie, we had to twist her arm but we did talk her into doing four tunes with us. Nice job Susie, and once again, our thanks you.

See, if you missed the show this week - you missed history being made once again. That was the first time in almost four years that I got to do some live stage music with Ms. Susie. (Ahh ya gotta love her)

The overall night's performance rating for the show was in the high 8's for sure.

So in Closing have a great week and remember this next week as it will include Veterans Day on Thursday. Do something nice for our Veterans as they give their lives every day to help protect yours.

Next Saturday it's back up to Dean's in Studio's 1 and 2. Wish us luck as we continue work on the next album – “Back to Basics”

Have Great Week, be safe, peace and love,

Mikee^^Dee

The Short Change Band - Beginning of November, 2010

Well hello to you all. Sorry for the late entry this week as I really wanted to wait for the much anticipated midterm election results. And just as I figured, the American People have spoken again as they all waited two years for a change that never seemed to happen. So, they went back to what they know. If it sounds too good -it probably isn't so good after all.

New York on the other hand sent a different message all together. They liked their weak leadership, high taxes, loss of personal freedom and late budgets, so much so, they signed on for another term of it. I guess only time will tell. It's not the journey that worries me as much as the ride. Does the word "term limit" mean anything to anyone?

Anyway back to business, Friday night we were at Davy's and it was a great show. We also had a great group of people and players that all showed up for the party. Also, special thanks to Val our bar hostess, as well as all our guest musicians, Jamie, Johnny, Joey and Stacey. I rated this show an 8.5 on the performance / delivery scale.

Saturday night was band appreciation night. I took in shows from “String of Pearls" (nice job Pearl) as well as “Pawn Shop”. This is the first time in a while since I’ve seen Patty, Jeff and the gang. If you like “Sublime” type music, this is your band. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to sit in a bit as I truly enjoyed it.

Unfortunately we did not go into the studio this last week as Dean was working on some new digital equipment for the board. We will return on November 13th to continue work on the "Back to Basics " CD.

This Week One Show - SATURDAY 11/06 at Gordy's on old Rt.17 in Windsor/Damascus. The start time is 8:00pm. (Remember, you gain an hour of sleep Sunday at 2:00AM) Come down early like we do and order up some of those delicious wings and fries that separate these folks from the rest.

Have a great week, and I hope to see you all this weekend.

Peace and love,

Mikee^^Dee