Friday G Tones show review, plus my goals in music

The G Tones played out Friday night. It was very loud but very good. First, my acknowledgements.

Thanks to Jan for bringing Duncan, Kristin and the Beautiful Erin out, and to Megan for bringing Chris out, because without them I wouldn't have had any people there specifically to see me.

Thanks to the Guitar Monsters for jamming with us for sets one and four, allowing me to play blues harmonica and branch out and warm up.

Thanks to Carrie for the Sambuca and wings, even if that stuff did cost me more than Karlin and I made combined.

Thanks to Tracy for bringing herself out and for lending me her car to get me out there with my equipment, and back.

Thanks to Karlin for bringing out his sister Kim, who says I'm crazy, and for being my bass player/soul brother for the last 46 years and counting.

Thanks to the Led Zeppelin and World of Warcraft freaks for chatting me up after the gig about their 200 bootlegs.

Thanks to Pink Floyd, the Doors, the Foo Fighters, Thin Lizzy, the Beatles and Stevie Wonder for the material we ripped off.

Thanks to Shortty and Spills for being "on" for all the songs we practiced so damn much. We were in the pocket.

Thanks to Tony for writing the songs that really rule, for putting up with my annoying habits on the pitch bend, and for bringing out his Lovely Jen.

And thanks to everybody else who was there, whether you talked to me or not. Just thanks for being there!

So the G Tones played what I thought was an excellent show Friday night. What impressed Tony the most was the vision of eyes being fixed on the band. No conversations. Just watching and listening. And enjoying. Even if his vocals did sound a little muffled, and if the rest of us were way too loud. Minor stuff. What was most impressive to me was how well we all played together for our first outing.

So here's what I'm thinking.

Part 1: What really energizes me about this band is the original stuff. We have a number of originals Tony came up with by himself long before I ever entered the fray. Now with Karlin and me aboard, we're entering a whole new dimension of songwriting. We're getting together late Sunday night, supposedly, to try writing some stuff again. So, anyway, we gotta write music. That's a priority. I'm gonna get my songwriting fix with these guys, which I haven't had in any other bands since about 2000.

Part 2: We record it every time we rehearse from now on. We get copies of what we record so we can listen to it throughout the week, critique our own parts and learn from our mistakes, and figure out whatever it is we need to do to become note-perfect. Then, armed with knowledge, we can enter the studio in a few months -- having written an album's worth of material -- and lay it all down. Have an album out with the G Tones by the end of the year, no later.

Part 3: Another goal is to be playing gigs out every weekend next year, at least once or twice a weekend, without fail.