“We just kicked f##%ing ass”

Chris O’Leary.

This report from the road comes from Gary Schwartz, sub­sti­tute drum­mer for the band: 

Just back on the road toward Syra­cuse, after a lunch stop at Tan­nersville Din­er. Truck stop look­ing, unas­sum­ing road­side Din­er. Food was sur­pris­ing­ly good, done right. 

This is my first road trip with the Chris O’Leary Band (and com­pa­ny) where, due to the dis­tance of trav­el, we all ride togeth­er in Andy Stahl’s 11 seater van. As we share lunch, I some­how find great com­fort in the sto­ries that are shared, the men­tion of mutu­al friends, some sad­ly no longer with us.
This group of musi­cians and friends are those that I have “come up” with in The Blues, for the last 21 years of my life. 

The most recent of these musi­cian­ly friend­ships has lived for 12 years.
I laughed to Chris V. (aka “John­ny Jazz”) as I ref­er­enced one of my clas­sic auto­mo­bile mishaps, “I can’t lie to you guys about ANYTHING, you were there!”

Any­way, the point is, these peo­ple, these moments, this mis­sion of musi­cal migra­tion, have me feel­ing peace­ful yet ener­gized, at my best, and more than a lit­tle bit introspective.

Micheal Bram, drum­mer for today’s gig, says on face­book, “Pri­vate par­ty gig with Chris Oleary Band @ Gor­don Elliot­t’s house. Nice digs!! Fo real!”