We spend a lot of time on the road.....
Literally, I spend most of my time in a year on the highway in a van. Most of that time is in the middle of cities on a road that always looks the same. Farmland, hills, truck-stops, small towns, toll roads, rest stops, chem trails...... :)
The road goes on forever.
It's never ending and always constant.
It's every bathroom in every town with every vulgar racist political nonsense you could never imagine on the walls.
It's Doritos and Mars bars, Cokes and coffees all staring you in the face when you're telling yourself you need to find something good to eat. It's gray faced, low talking, midnight cashiers all asking if that's you on pump 9.
Watching tv shows on your phone,
listening to Lightning Hopkins, John Hiatt, Sonny Landreth and Richard Pryor. Taking turns in the shotgun seat,
and laying down a lot but never really sleeping.
Most of us just become zombie like people with one question.....
"How much longer?"
Then their are times when we engage in storytelling. We start laughing together at Louis C.K.
Cyril starts telling us about being on tour with the Rolling Stones,
Yonrico talks about playing with Ray Charles, I share a delicious drug story from way back. Devon and Bobby gets excited about tacos or football.
Everyone starts sitting up and looking around. We start sharing our favorite. music with each other.
This is a ritualistic period of time and we hardly think about it....
It's the last hour of the drive.
We've been riding for 12 hours all day and the last hour it gets really fun....
almost as if we don't want it to end.
It's like being held hostage and fearing for your life, only to be set free and strangely missing your ordeal.
So when we say "we're on the road"
we are literally on the road. You might think its a term used to describe the night to night concerts in different cities, but very little time is spent on stage.
This is not a cry for help, a whoa is me,
or even a romantic glimpse. It's just another blog from the tour. I run out of things to write about sometimes and go with whatever gets me typing.
We drive 12 hours today to Birmingham, Al.
"I'd love to stick around but I'm running behind.....you know I don't even know what I'm hoping to find.....
Running into the sun
but I'm running behind"
Peace, Love, Zito
Monday, September 24, 2012
Thursday, September 6, 2012
a blue room.......
Hope all is well in your blue world folks.......
I have so much to write about this week, I've kinda been putting it off a little.
It was Labor Day Weekend and that was a hell of a time!
The Royal Southern Brotherhood was back in full force this weekend.
On Friday night we kicked it off at Deb's Blues Farm.
It was the 10th Anniversary of this private blues extravaganza out on a farm in Montgomery City, Mo.
I met Deb Reitz about 8 years ago in Columbia, Mo at the Martini Bar.
Before that I met her friend Donna in Houston at the Big Easy.
I was playing one of the blues jams and Donna introduced herself, said she liked my sound.
Asked where I was from and I told her Saint Louis. She then told me about the Blues Farm.
Having lived in Missouri almost all of my life, I couldn't believe I had never heard of it.
This woman, Deb, was having a private blues fest with Tab Benoit, Preston Hubbard and others.
I said I have to do this Blues Farm.
I met Deb about a year later and begged her to let me come play at her party.
She liked my band and agreed to have us.
This year was the 10th Anniversary of the Blues Farm and it was my 7th year in a row.
The best people in Missouri come out every year for this party, bbq, bring dinners, bake cakes and cookies (you might wanna ask about the brownies before you eat one).
It's a hell of a party and is out on her beautiful farm. It's a mini Woodstock of sorts.
Unfortunately it rained this year, but that didn't stop us and the fine folks from having a great time.
RSB was there along with Anthony Gomes, Tony Campanella, Matt Hill, Preston Hubbard.
Deb is a real fan of music and first rate friend. She petitioned everyone to join the Blues Foundation when I was nominated for the BMA's and I believe single handedly helped me to win in 2010.
I will forever be grateful for her friendship and support.
I look forward to many more Blues Farms!
Saturday, RSB performed at the Big Muddy Blues Fest in Saint Louis.
As I wrote in the past, this was a very big deal for me and the city really came out in support.
The band was on fire and brought the house down!
It was a good feeling to be in my hometown and get such a warm response.
Saturday evening I played a late night set at BB's, Jazz, Blues and Soups in Saint Louis.
This was a special event as well. I didn't have my band with me so I contacted the rhythm section and former bandmates from my first album "Blue Room" Bryan Zielie and Doug Byrkit.
We decided to do a small reunion show and perform the entire album on stage.
The best part, we had not played together for 13 years!
We did not rehearse, we just listened to that old album and tried to play it stylistically to the best of our ability. It was a hoot!!!
First off, I had not listened to this album in a long, long time. I could not help but laugh at myself and how wild I was. The guitar playing is really over the top and crazy sounding and at speeds I could never conjure up again. The singing is not really singing, but more like a talking/screaming vocal.
It really brought back memories doing this show and listening to that album.
Brian and Doug and I were a real band. "Zito" was the band name and we played 5-6 times a week for years in Saint Louis. We all lived in my sisters house on the southside. We practiced almost everyday,
and had parties every night. It was all in good fun in those days, we were all pretty young and just having a blast. Their was no drugs yet or anything ugly, just too much drinking and lots of friends hanging out. Eventually we ran our course. I got more into drinking and yes early drug stages and the guys were looking to do more than just play blues rock. We parted ways and that was 13 years ago.
I have to say, these guys are excellent musicians and super good dudes and if I may say so myself,
I think it almost sounded like the album. I know for me, it felt like it.
below is a short clip of "Lovering" from that show.
Thanks to Brian and Doug for a great night- looking forward to doing it again!
You never know exactly when you're having one of the best times of your life, when you're younger,
until many years later when you can look back and remember it for what it truly was.
3 young guys, trying to play music and get chicks and have as much fun as they possibly could.
We succeeded gentlemen.
It's also bittersweet at this point in my life to know that it will never happen again, not like that.
But it's happening right now at my home with my family and in RSB and I am aware and awake and
very, very grateful. I'm taking it all in.
Peace, Love, Zito
http://youtu.be/0IMlmyEue5I
I have so much to write about this week, I've kinda been putting it off a little.
It was Labor Day Weekend and that was a hell of a time!
The Royal Southern Brotherhood was back in full force this weekend.
On Friday night we kicked it off at Deb's Blues Farm.
It was the 10th Anniversary of this private blues extravaganza out on a farm in Montgomery City, Mo.
I met Deb Reitz about 8 years ago in Columbia, Mo at the Martini Bar.
Before that I met her friend Donna in Houston at the Big Easy.
I was playing one of the blues jams and Donna introduced herself, said she liked my sound.
Asked where I was from and I told her Saint Louis. She then told me about the Blues Farm.
Having lived in Missouri almost all of my life, I couldn't believe I had never heard of it.
This woman, Deb, was having a private blues fest with Tab Benoit, Preston Hubbard and others.
I said I have to do this Blues Farm.
I met Deb about a year later and begged her to let me come play at her party.
She liked my band and agreed to have us.
This year was the 10th Anniversary of the Blues Farm and it was my 7th year in a row.
The best people in Missouri come out every year for this party, bbq, bring dinners, bake cakes and cookies (you might wanna ask about the brownies before you eat one).
It's a hell of a party and is out on her beautiful farm. It's a mini Woodstock of sorts.
Unfortunately it rained this year, but that didn't stop us and the fine folks from having a great time.
RSB was there along with Anthony Gomes, Tony Campanella, Matt Hill, Preston Hubbard.
Deb is a real fan of music and first rate friend. She petitioned everyone to join the Blues Foundation when I was nominated for the BMA's and I believe single handedly helped me to win in 2010.
I will forever be grateful for her friendship and support.
I look forward to many more Blues Farms!
Saturday, RSB performed at the Big Muddy Blues Fest in Saint Louis.
As I wrote in the past, this was a very big deal for me and the city really came out in support.
The band was on fire and brought the house down!
It was a good feeling to be in my hometown and get such a warm response.
Saturday evening I played a late night set at BB's, Jazz, Blues and Soups in Saint Louis.
This was a special event as well. I didn't have my band with me so I contacted the rhythm section and former bandmates from my first album "Blue Room" Bryan Zielie and Doug Byrkit.
We decided to do a small reunion show and perform the entire album on stage.
The best part, we had not played together for 13 years!
We did not rehearse, we just listened to that old album and tried to play it stylistically to the best of our ability. It was a hoot!!!
First off, I had not listened to this album in a long, long time. I could not help but laugh at myself and how wild I was. The guitar playing is really over the top and crazy sounding and at speeds I could never conjure up again. The singing is not really singing, but more like a talking/screaming vocal.
It really brought back memories doing this show and listening to that album.
Brian and Doug and I were a real band. "Zito" was the band name and we played 5-6 times a week for years in Saint Louis. We all lived in my sisters house on the southside. We practiced almost everyday,
and had parties every night. It was all in good fun in those days, we were all pretty young and just having a blast. Their was no drugs yet or anything ugly, just too much drinking and lots of friends hanging out. Eventually we ran our course. I got more into drinking and yes early drug stages and the guys were looking to do more than just play blues rock. We parted ways and that was 13 years ago.
I have to say, these guys are excellent musicians and super good dudes and if I may say so myself,
I think it almost sounded like the album. I know for me, it felt like it.
below is a short clip of "Lovering" from that show.
Thanks to Brian and Doug for a great night- looking forward to doing it again!
You never know exactly when you're having one of the best times of your life, when you're younger,
until many years later when you can look back and remember it for what it truly was.
3 young guys, trying to play music and get chicks and have as much fun as they possibly could.
We succeeded gentlemen.
It's also bittersweet at this point in my life to know that it will never happen again, not like that.
But it's happening right now at my home with my family and in RSB and I am aware and awake and
very, very grateful. I'm taking it all in.
Peace, Love, Zito
http://youtu.be/0IMlmyEue5I
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