johnnyhickman.com road blog 1

Greetings all. Although I plan to make this about the road, my first post here comes from home. The closest I've been to the road lately was a trip to Los Angeles 2 days ago to see Michele Shocked playing with the Sin City Allstars at Molly Malone's. I shuffled in with my buddies Sluggo and Mark from the band Skeetertruck. A Maker's Mark on the rocks was promptly placed in my hand......nice when your friends know you. Michelle was in fine form as were Sin City. For those who may not know, Sin City is a collective of Southern California based cowboy rock/country musicians. They organize the Gram Parsons tribute show known as "Gramfest" every year. Gram's daughter Polly is part of the scene. Wednesday's theme (these characters like themes) was The Dukes of Hazzard. They had a constant silent movie of episodes from the 70s cult favorite projecting over the audience and onto the opposite brick wall. You could sip a beverage and watch constant muscle car chases interspersed with close ups of Daisy Duke's famous back bumper as rough and ready country and southern rock faves shook the rafters. They called me up to sing a number so I launched into Merle Haggard's (hey...sounds like Hazzard right?) "Mamma Tried". Of course the band, many of whom are Bakersfield alumni knew it like the backs of their PBR grippin hands. It was well worth the drive for this Inland Empire desertbilly. I can't promise that all of these posts will be as coherent as this one...(jet lag, sleep deprivation and or alcohol may be a factor) but I will speak my mind and enjoy myself here from time to time. Thanks for checking in friends. All the best, Johnny