Bittersweet

In a single word, the gig on Saturday night was "bittersweet" in the sense that there were positives and negatives.

On the positive side, I am estimating that I played at a 95% "grade" as far as hitting spots that we worked on in rehearsal. I call that tremendously awesome. I felt positive about how I played Alex's drums. As I begin to listen to the 3 files I created on my phone (one for each set), that impression is being reinforced.

On the negative side, I am saddened to report that Uncle Rico the Band is not going to be a band anymore. Why is the band not going to be a band? There's a variety of factors but probably the two biggest are time and there just isn't enough of it in a day to balance family, the band, and work by other members of the band.

When I think about my time over my tenure with the band, it's easy to look at numbers. What I've been thinking about is I spent 60 hours (including transportation from North Liberty to rehearsal in Cedar Rapids and then back home) with Uncle Rico. That doesn't count the hours I made my family listen to our setlist on my MP3 player whenever we were traveling somewhere in the Ford. It also doesn't count the hours I spent practicing the songs in the den on Alex's Yamaha electronic set. So, given 60 hours, the payout of those hours is a 3 hour gig and the $100 I got paid.

I'm not complaining about the time I invested. This was only my third band since high school - Old Stew and Lou's Classic Ride being the other two - and I think playing with Gary made me a much more precise drummer than the other two. With the other two, if I changed up my pattern or changed up a drum fill, it wasn't usually noticed. With Gary, though, it was noticed. Gary is a very precise guitarist and keys in on certain parts that are played by others. It wasn't an easy concept to dial in to my mentality.

Maybe something will change in the future and, if it does, I will be happy to play with Scott, Gary, and Greg. I updated the All Videos of Me Playing Drums page with some pictures. When I get the videos Alex took on his iPod, I'll add those as well.

I'm not in any of these videos.

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New Wave 80s Rock Covers

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Ring of Fire cover

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70s Punk Rock covers

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Buddy Holly Covers

Song Name -- Artist (original artist)

1. All These Things That I've Done -- Killers
2. Bad Case of Loving You -- Robert Palmer
3. Basket Case -- Green Day
4. Blister in the Sun -- Violent Femmes
5. Blitzkreig Bop -- Ramones
6. Brown Eyed Girl -- Van Morrison
7. Brown Sugar -- Rolling Stones
8. Dancing Queen -- Yayhoos (ABBA)
9. Dancing With Myself -- Billy Idol
10. Don't Change -- INXS
11. Fight For Your Right -- Beastie Boys
12. Folsom Prison Blues -- Johnny Cash
13. Hey Jealousy -- Gin Blossoms
14. Hot Stuff -- Cockroach (Donna Summer)
15. I Ran -- A Flock of Seagulls
16. I Saw Her Standing There -- Beatles
17. I Wanna Be Sedated -- Ramones
18. I Will Survive -- Shout (Gloria Gaynor)
19. I'm a Believer -- Smash Mouth (Monkeys)
20. I'm Gonna Be, 500 Miles -- Proclaimers
21. Interstate Love Song -- Stone Temple Pilots
22. I've Been Everywhere -- Johnny Cash
23. Jenny / 867-5309 -- Tommy Tutone
24. Jet Airliner -- Steve Miller
25. Johnny B Goode -- Chuck Berry
26. Just Like Heaven -- Cure
27. Lola -- Kinks
28. Lonely Boy -- Black Keys
29. Love Her Madly -- The Doors
30. Margaritaville -- Jimmy Buffet
31. Melt With You -- Modern English
32. Mony Mony -- Billy Idol
33. Oh Boy -- Crickets (Buddy Holly)
34. Paranoid -- Black Sabbath
35. Pump It Up -- Elvis Costello
36. Ring of Fire -- Social Distortion (Johnny Cash)
37. Rock and Roll All Nite -- Kiss
38. Rockin' in the Free World -- Neil Young
39. Rock'n Me -- Steve Miller
40. Santa Monica -- Everclear
41. Should I Stay or Should I Go -- Clash
42. Squeeze Box -- Who
43. Still Rock and Roll to Me -- Billy Joel
44. Sweet Caroline -- Neil Diamond
45. Train in Vain (Stand By Me) -- Clash
46. Two Princes -- Spin Doctors
47. What I Like About You -- Romantics
48. When the Sun Goes Down -- Kenny Chesney
49. Wonderful Tonight -- Eric Clapton
50. You May Be Right -- Billy Joel
51. Your Mama Can't Dance -- Poison (Loggins and Messina)
• For next rehearsal
• It's the End of the World -- REM
• Angie -- Rolling Stones

We have also played these songs in past gigs.

1. A Hard Day's Night -- Beatles
2. Accidentally In Love -- Counting Crows
3. All Shook Up -- Elvis
4. All the Small Things -- Blink 182
5. An American Girl -- Tom Petty
6. Angie -- Rolling Stones
7. Authority Song -- John Mellencamp
8. Break Up Song -- Greg Kihn
9. Burning Love -- Elvis
10. Bus Stop -- Hollies
11. Cars -- Gary Numan
12. Come Out and Play -- Offspring
13. Crazy Little Thing Called Love -- Queen
14. Crocodile Rock -- Elton John
15. Day Tripper -- Cheap Trick (Beatles)
16. Don't Be Cruel -- Elvis
17. Driver 8 -- REM
18. Fortunate Son -- Creedence Clearwater Revival
19. Go All the Way -- Raspberries
20. Good Girls Don't -- Knack
21. Hello Mary Lou -- Creedence Clearwater Revival (Ricky Nelson)
22. I Fought the Law -- Clash (Crickets)
23. I Love Rock n Roll -- Joan Jett
24. I Wanna Be With You -- Raspberries
25. I Want to Hold Your Hand -- Beatles
26. I'm Yours -- Jason Mraz
27. It's Not My Time -- 3 Doors Down
28. Know Your Enemy -- Green Day
29. Kodachrome -- Paul Simon
30. La Bamba -- Los Lobos (Ritchie Valens)
31. Lay Down Sally -- Eric Clapton
32. Monster Mash -- Bobby "Boris" Pickett
33. Mrs Robinson -- Lemonheads (Simon/Garfunkel)
34. Oh Pretty Woman -- Roy Orbison
35. Photograph -- Ringo Starr
36. Promises -- Eric Clapton
37. Puppy Love -- Donny Osmond
38. Red Solo Cup -- Toby Keith
39. Rock and Roll Music -- Beatles (Chuck Berry)
40. ROCK in the USA -- John Mellencamp
41. Run Rudolph Run -- Bryan Adams (Chuck Berry)
42. Running Down a Dream -- Tom Petty
43. Seven Nation Army -- White Stripes
44. Sex and Candy -- Marcy Playground
45. Shake Your Booty -- KC & Sunshine Band
46. Shama Lama Ding Dong -- Lloyd Williams (Animal House)
47. Somebody to Love -- Jefferson Airplane
48. Surrender -- Cheap Trick
49. Suspicious Minds -- Elvis
50. Teddy Bear -- Elvis
51. That'll be the Day -- Buddy Holly
52. The More I Drink -- Blake Shelton
53. They Say Its Your Birthday -- Beatles
54. Twist and Shout -- Beatles
55. Upside Down -- Jack Johnson
56. Vertigo -- U2
57. Who Says You Can't Go Home -- Bon Jovi
58. Wild Child -- Chris Ocasek (Crickets)