Got a nice letter today from Scott Hartley in Kansas City. We have known Scott for several years now, and continue to be impressed with his encyclopedic knowledge of music, film, literature, and baseball. Scott is also an artist of note, and maybe some day soon we can post some of his paintings on this site if we can get legal clearing to do so. He also brews some viscious/viscuous coffee, at least he did when I saw him last. Coffee so strong, it has fiber! Hey Scott, remember that time we saw the guy on the Zamboni chasing someone down the street outside old Chicago Stadium!
Again, nice of Scott to check in with us.

Breaking news...ok, maybe not. Anyhoo, I have been talking today with some listeners up in the Boston branch of the RGNC, and they were wanting to know when some of us might be up that way to drop some tunes on 'em. Well, just so happens that I am in the process of finalizing the arrangements to do just that. So, next month I will be playing (exact date T.B.A.) with Joe Distefano and Greg "Clyde" Christakos. Both of these guys are good players and a blast to be around. Joe is well known from his days back in Ohio (a.k.a.O-H-10), where he was founding member of a succesfull group whose name must be omitted from this discussion due to pending legal issues, and he's a good writer/player/singer. The old triple threat. And Greg is a grizzled veteran bass player from the Virginia/D.C. bluegrass- alt. country wars, where he still fondly remembered at U.Va.
(By the way Greg, you don't hit 30 - it hits you.)
Needless to say, both Joe and Greg are associate members of RGNC, and are firmly committed to the genre. However, we still need to work harder to increase Christako's coffee consumption rate.

Also, we all wish David safe travel and good playing in the days to come. Hopefully the March recording sessions will allow us to catch up with each other while we carve out the next set of tunes, which, of course, can be yours simply for the asking.

In closing, I offer for your consideration my favorite vintage t.v show lineup (thanks to dvd/vhs)
1. The Andy Griffith Show (B&W only)
2. The Andy Griffith Show (B&W only - back to back episodes!)
3. The Rockford Files
How's that for a good way to spend a couple hours while you finish off 3 pieces of pie and half a pot of Italian roast!

Recently, the question was raised, "What about Jeff Graham, where is he these days?" This refers to one Jeffrey Van Graham, singer-songwriter-guitarist who has worked extensively with other members of the RGNC in years past. Basically, the person asking the question wanted to know 2 things: A. Where is Jeff Graham now, and B. Will he be a part of the RGNC lineup for future projects? Both of these are relevant and timely questions for a number of reasons, which I will attempt to briefly address at this point.

As anyone in the Four State region could tell you, Jeff Graham is still a top producer. By that I mean that he continues to write, play and produce some great music where he now lives; Tulsa, a.k.a. "Tulsy", Oklahoma. If you are in that part of the "The 4", you will hear Jeff on the airwaves, you'll see him playing around town in any number of ensembles, and you'll see his albums for sale by local retailers. The RGNC has been in contact with Jeff and discussions are underway regarding a possible affiliation that would result in a significant addition to the RGNC roster. If and when this happens, we will post it here first. But, suffice it to say that the relationship between RGNC and Jeff Graham has always been a fruitful one. Alas, let us also remember that even though Jeff is one of the top musicians around, his top priority is his family, and RGNC respects and applauds him for his common sense attitude and integrity.

More later when information becomes available. Be good.

contact address for the Rosebud Good Neighbor Club is:

rosebudgnc@yahoo.com

feel free and welcome to send comments, questions.

History can be a great help when listening to someone's music. Especially if it's the history of the musicians you are listening to. By that, I don't necessarily mean the musical history of a group or person, but more along the lines of their life history, and a lot of things fall into that category. So, before you even hear a single note of music from RGNC, wouldn't it be kind of neat to know things like... what do they do for work? Or where they live? In short, what is it about them that contributes to their musical direction?

jobs, jobs, and more jobs:
OK, here's an ice breaker; some of the jobs I have had in my life, and even a few comments on them. The other guys can tell you about some other aspect of their own history, but I will start with the topic of work. Keep in mind, these are not all of the jobs I have ever had because I have had so many I can't remember all of them, nor are they listed in any order, but here goes:
1. delivery driver - flexible schedule, get to keep moving and see the town, nobody looking over your shoulder, so not a bad job if you don't mind the hassle of being a self-employed "independent contractor". The best of these positons for me involved delivering late arriving luggage from airlines to their customers. I actually made some good money doing that for a few months until the company got bought up by a bigger company who I did not want to work with.
2. record store retail clerk - What better for a musician than to go to work and get to listen to music all day, right? Well, sometimes. But low pay and lack of advancement help fuel some pretty viscious self loathing when you're counting out the cash register at 10 pm, before going back home to your roach trap apartment where you come across someone you gave guitar lessons to playing on a late night tv talk show.
3. janitor - ah, the night shift cleaning guy! Yep, did a bit of that too. Not the worst thing you can end up doing. The offices are empty by the time you get there, so again, nobody watching you all of the time. One place I cleaned even had free vending machines for their employees, which I considered myself to be in some pathetic, gotta have a Dr. Pepper now kind of way. Downside, it's obvious: toilets. Also, when cleaning near someone's desk you see the pictures of their family, house, boat, vacation, etc., that they have taped to the wall, and you think, oh, so this is how the people with college degrees and "real" jobs must live. They get to work during the day, they have a clean place to work where they don't get hurt, hmmm...
4. sheet metal factory - I caught on fire one time at this job. I mean I literally caught on fire. Some sparks from the metal I was grinding lit my shirt on fire one day. I was busy buffing the rough edges of some metal parts when I smelled smoke. A few seconds later I looked down and there were flames coming from my shirt! Fortunately, I was able to put the flames out quickly without any injury, but the shirt was lost...A warm, insulated flannel one too. That turned out to be my last day on that job because as I drove home that night, the transmission in my truck fell out and I got fired the next day for not showing up. (Gee, I guess I could have walked to work. It was only 28 miles away.) All of that for 7 bucks per.
5. pharmaceutical(sp?) test subject - I was just back from all summer travelling around and I was really strapped for cash. So I signed up to "participate" in this medical test; 3 days for $250. Not bad I thought. I'll go there, sit around, watch tv, read. They have this place where you get to sleep at night so they can make sure you don't have any bad reactions to the medicine they're testing, I'll be in and out in 3 days, no problem. So, they hook one of my arms up to this exercise machine and procede to really give it a workout. When I got done, I couldn't lift my arm, no exagerration. Then they gave us some pills and we were asked to let them know if it helped relieve the pain! Guess what, it didn't. For 3 weeks after I left the place I could barely lift or turn my right arm. I was worried, no joke. The swelling eventually went down and the bruising left and I can use the arm fine now, except for the fact that I permanently lost my ability to throw that knee-buckling curve ball that I was counting on to get me back to the "show" someday.

Oh well, enough of that for now. Maybe more tomorrow. Soon, you'll be able to read what the other members of the RGNC have to offer in their "history lessons", and someday we'll probably ask for you to send in yours, because were all in this together.

Today, January 27th, 2004, is the first day of use for the rosebudgnc web site/blog. The Rosebud Good Neighbor Club is a musical co-op, for lack of a better term. The RGNC is a community of friends who play music together, and who would also hang out together even if they weren't playing music. The music of the RGNC is an organic and eclectic style combining both the common and unique elements brought by each person in the group. The result could perhaps be referred to as the "Four State Sound", meaning music which has its roots in the states of Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The RGNC has a firm commitment to the belief that they are to play their music as well as possible, to record it on state of the art equipment when desirable, to produce the highest quality art and "product", and then to...GIVE IT AWAY...FOR FREE. In other words, RGNC plays, records and produces the best music around, and then they give it free of charge to whoever has a sincere interest in their music. It is safe to say, thankfully, that RGNC will never be hip, nor stars, nor commercially relevant. Nashville will not be calling, and Austin will not ask for demos. There will be no "industry buzz" about RGNC. Perhaps it will be best to make the statement that RGNC plays the best music you will probably never hear.

Think about what it might be like to live next door to someone for many years. You know them slightly, and say hello from time to time, maybe even talk a little bit about the weather or sports for a few minutes. In short, you don't spend much time thinking about them because, hey, you've got your own thing going on, right? You go to work, you pay your bills, you play some music on the stereo, maybe even mess around on your guitar from time to time. You're "with it" in at least some small way. And as far as you know, your next door neighbor is just a regular go to work type who minds his own business and keeps to himself most of the time. But then one Saturday afternoon, when your cd player is resting and silence fills your house, you hear the faint strains of music riding in from a distance...you listen for a few minutes trying to discern where it's coming from, who it might be...is it Bluegrass...country...folk..., no, wait, that was an electric guitar...it sounds new and familiar at the same time...so you begin to follow your ears...first to the living room, then out the front door as the music grows clearer and a little louder, not to mention the fact that it sounds really, really good! As you stand out in the front yard looking around to see where it might be coming from, you realize that it's coming from your next door neighbor's house. You say to yourself, "hey, I didn't know that guy listened to music...he even has good taste. I'm going to go ask him what it is and where he got it." So you walk over...the music sounds clearer still, louder, and even better...you walk up to the front door. You peek in through the screen door and see that the front door is open, which has allowed the music you've been hearing to reach your ears. And as you look again through the screen door, you can see through the living room and back to the kitchen, where, sitting around the table are you neighbor and his friends...and you realize that this music you have been hearing, this incredible, beautiful music that you followed out your door, is not from a radio, or a vinyl lp, or a cd; no, instead it is your neighbor and his friends...playing music in the kitchen; music that is as good or better than almost anything you have ever heard...

Welcome to The Rosebud Good Neighbor Club.