Dave the devil !!!

OCTOBER - 2001

Road notes below - scroll down for previous post.
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10/31/01 -       BOO!!!...TRICK OR TREAT, SMELL MY FEET, GIMME A DRUM TO BEAT
- Bay St. Louis, MS              
I was unable to dress up this year, but this is what it would have looked like.

Happy Halloween friends, the ghosts and goblins are out and at it again. I remember Halloween as a kid, we had so much fun dressing up and trick or treating along with toilet papering houses and cars, what fun. (Don't try at home kids without an adult). I still enjoy dressing up for Halloween, although I'm unable to this year cause we have a show tonight and we're not allowed to dress up. I'm a very festive person and love participating in such things like Halloween. Last night at the casino, the midnight shift was coming on as we were leaving and you'd see the Halloween spirit coming in as the most of the midnight shift were dressed in their Halloween costumes. What a great time of year, where people get to goof for a whole day dressing up and acting the part for at least 24 hours. If I didn't know any better, you may think I would have came up with such a holiday. The mood is set for a proper Halloween with everyone in the south set for festivities around the Halloween spirit and it once again feels like it did when I was a kid. I never wanna grow up, there's too much magic to be felt as a child. The casino has a KISS tribute band called, "Hotter than hell" here to play tonight and also holding a costume contest giving away prize money. There are a dozen or so very good costumes that I saw at midnight already to get a quick idea of what people are doing, so I can't wait to see what everyone else is dressing up like. I woke up yesterday to turn on my TV to find "Rocky Horror Picture Show", and I thought to myself...it's official Halloween, I mean you can't have Halloween without the Rocky Horror Show, are you kidding me? I love that movie...every year I can't wait to see it to get me in the Halloween vibe. Each year, it's not officially Halloween time until I have seen the Rocky Horror movie atleast once in October, until then, it's all built up, antici..................................................pation!!!!  OK, OK, some of you didn't get that joke, but the rest are screaming, "DAMN IT, JANET"... while singing, "LET'S DO THE TIME WARP AGAIN!!!"... As I write this, Halloween is just in the A.M. hours, so there's plenty of day to party on, we'll just have to see what the rest of the day brings. Be safe my red blooded friends, look out for the black cats and all the monsters and ghosts creeping in the dark tonight. (Insert scary sound effects here...) Happy Halloween once again...TRICK  or TREAT!!!!     dp

10/30/01 - KNOCK THREE TIMES...ON THE CEILING... - Bay St. Louis, MS

Hello friends, another day in paradise here in Van-Dells land. The day off was spent taking care of bills, mail, and all of our other daily life items that most people don't think that we actually have but we do. I was up at at 'em early (yes before noon) to hit the grocery store and more importantly liquor store for pure survival items cause we're here for another week, just kidding!!! After marking out the main items on my list of things to do today, I soon hitched up with Dayne, Mark, Carl, and Jeff for a trip to a outlet mall to do mainly walking and window shopping. A few hours passed by quickly and we soon found ourselves back at home, (the hotel). Carl and Jeff made the trek for laundry duties while Dayne and I made our way to the buffet for our main coarse of the night. The terror twins ( Carl and Jeff ) made their way to my room later in the night to watch two movies that they had rented. "Joe Dirt" which I have seen before, and "Snatch" which I haven't seen but is a GREAT movie. Jeff and I have been contacting each other through my floor and his ceiling this week, for he is in the room directly under me. I'm on the 3rd floor and he occupies the room under me on the 2nd floor. We make plans to leave for either the show or dinner at a certain time and we tell each other, either call, or just bang on the ceiling/floor and that signals us to meet up in the joining hallway. It's quite funny, I'll here a knock now and think it's Jeff trying to get me to meet up with him and it's actually a drunk couple walking in the room across the hall, so we have a little break down in communication, but we meet up ok either way. Tomorrow is another day to play, thank you lord, I love playing and after only being off just one day, I miss it terribly. My batteries are charged...so bring it... dp

10/29/01 - BAD DAY TURNED GOOD - Bay St. Louis, MS

Hello friends, have you ever just had one of those days? Well, yesterday started out that way!! The Dolphins game was on, and that's all I wanted to do was watch the phins play some football. Well, naturally it wasn't broadcast  on TV in this area due to that they were playing the Seahawks. I had to settle for listening to it on my computer through the internet. From what  I was hearing, the phins weren't playing too well and that put me in a slum. With the time change and our shows being moved up on Sundays, we had a early show, so it was soon time to get ready for the show. I went to get dinner before the show and once again, naturally the world was against me as the woman in front of me at the deli wasn't happy with her order and spent a good time complaining and costing me my dinner time before the show. I think she enjoyed her complaining a little too much. I finally got my dinner, but I had to force it down as I prepared for the show. I wasn't in a mood to play, but once the stage lights went up, and I heard the crowd cheer, it was almost as if someone had turned a switch on inside of me. I become another person I guess you could say and within the first few bars of the show, I was very very thankful to be behind the drums and onstage performing. It felt so good to play. Proof showing that I was put here to play, I can't help it, I just love it. The show felt very good, although the front line have been loosing their voices from the 6 one nighters back to back. I just love the feel of performing either live or in the studio. It really is a gift from above to be able to do this for a living. After the show I find that the Dolphins had won the game, "GO PHINS", and all is good. Back to the hotel to cook some supper (we have our ways), you learn how to use a coffee pot to cook other things that just coffee when you're on the road as much as I am. Turning on the tube for some (ok) TV and putting most of my energy into the computer and a great book written by "Neil Peart" (drummer of Rush). It's ALMOST like home, not quite, but almost. Today is a day off like I said, so...laters... dp

10/27/01 -  HEY KIDS!!! DO YA LIKE THAT ROCK AND ROLL? - Bay St. Louis, MS

Hello friends, I'm sitting in my room after a good show watching a video of the best show that ever toured this earth. I'm of coarse talking about, "you wanted the best, you got the best, KISS". I seen them live 13 times all together and five times on their last tour and it was well worth the buckage on that tour. I left my VCR running to catch the live concert on Vh1 tonight while we were playing. I ran back here to crack open a cold one and watch it. What can I say? I love it!!! I find myself laughing in a very giddy way when I see rock n roll performed that well. I even called my mom before the show tonight to tell her to turn on Vh1. I took her to see them a few years ago, and she loved them. That's what I'm striving for, a great rock n roll show. I give my all every night and it's cause of a band like Kiss. There is a Kiss sanctioned tribute band called "Hotter than Hell" scheduled for another room here at the casino on Halloween. I'm hoping that we have enough time to catch them live. The weather here is turning a little cooler as I broke out my jeans for the first time this week. More of the same other than that, but life ain't so bad...hey!!!, I get to play drums again night after night and get money, what else could I ask for? Well...sure I could ask for that (whatever you're thinking), but I probably will get slapped in the face for asking, but I will cause you never know. dp

10/26/01 - ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER DRUMSTICK - Bay St. Louis, MS

Hello friends, the challenge of keeping the days from repeating is winning the game against me right now. Get up, shower, shave, computer, eat, warm up, show, back to the hotel, movie, computer, sleep and repeat all steps the next day. I guess this is a little taste of  what it's like to have a day job. On Wed, after noticing that I was low on drumsticks, I headed out for supplies. There's a old drumstick company called "Hot Sticks" that made drumsticks with paint on them to give them a unique look. I played a few pair as a very young drummer years ago. It turns out the the company is actually only about 15 miles from my hotel. Every time that we play this area, I visit them and have developed a business relationship with them. I went to the company and was able to see how the sticks were made and purchase a few pairs at very cheap prices. They still paint some sticks, but they have a new model out now. They're called Macrolus. Instead of paint on the sticks, they put this holographic type film on them. They almost look 3-D when you twirl them in the light. They look great when I twirl or spin them in the stage lights. My visit to them this week led me to more great deals on sticks and a few Macrolus models. A lot of you have seen me play with these sticks before. One pair that I bought was the only pair they had left at the time. They were painted like the American Flag, stars and stripes, red, white and blue. Quite unique pair of sticks and I don't think I'll be playing with them, I'll just hang on to them. It's that part of the day that we hit the buffet, so I'd better get ready for that. dp

10/24/01 - FEELS SO DAMN GOOD -  Bay St. Louis, MS

Hello friends, the first show after our two week vacation has come on gone, it was a good one. Sound check was a little rough and had me worried for most of the day. I wasn't looking forward to a rough show, we needed to rock out, and I needed it particularly. Set up and sound check ran over a bit causing me to miss a scheduled dinner with a fellow friend and musician, "Larry Grisham" and his mother. They were in town to see our opening night here in BSL. Tonight was the only show he could come to cause Larry is heading out on tour with his band "Beat Daddy's", (which is a great blues band). Larry originated from my part of the country and he now resides in the southern part of the U. S. A and we both have remained friends. We're talking of working together very soon on a album project. He's been wanting me on one of his CD's for a while now and it looks as if though it just may happen in the near future if the schedule permits. Larry arrived bearing gifts as he brought me the Beat Daddy's latest CD release along with promotional bumper stickers, post card and a case also. Quite nice of him if you ask me, I love the guy and want to thank him for coming to see me. Dinner was postponed to a later date due to the sound check like I had said earlier, but we'll hit it soon Larry, I promise. Good luck on your upcoming tour. I rushed through my dinner later with Carl, Jeff and Paul. We headed back to the hotel for a quick clean up and back to the casino for the show. I had sticks breaking, drum heads going out of tune, pedals coming loose, cymbal stands loosening up, and all points in between falling apart, but the show felt so damn good, I mean stupid good!!! Not playing for two weeks will kill a man. I'm glad to have had the time off to refresh the show to myself, but tonight, old songs even felt good. Sh-boom had a groove on it deeper than the grand canyon. Now the trick to being here two weeks in a row is how to make it NOT turn into "Ground Hog's Day", keep it all fresh like that. Want to know what it's like to be on the road? Well, the days start repeating after a while, and you have to entertain yourself with various things to keep things from getting dull. That's why you see a lot of rockers in trouble all the time. Even though the scene around you is always changing, that scene soon becomes surreal because the scene is always the same. Make sense? Got it? GOOD!...So now being in one place for two weeks really becomes a challenge, but I'm up for it and I have accepted the mission with gratitude. Tuesday night onstage felt so damn good...I can't wait for tonight, bring it on...dp
 

10/23/01 - THE WORLD IS A STAGE...WITH IT'S OWN FOG MACHINE -  Bay St. Louis, MS

Hello friends, I have forgotten what a eleven hour drive would do to ones body, but I was quickly reminded today as I awoke at a early hour on Monday morn. and scattered to get my suitcase and road gear packed. I dragged a few "toys" with me for the road being that we're in one spot for two weeks and we have our own rooms. The "toy box" includes a VCR, Laptop (of coarse), practice pad, digital camera, CD player and portable stereo. Yes we are entertainers, but we must entertain ourselves once in a while. Mark and I drove through the most dense fog I have seen in a while. We arrived at the hotel shortly after 1:00 A.M. here in Bay St. Louis, MS and we couldn't see the casino from the hotel, the fog was just so thick. It's kinda lonely feeling coming in as the A.M. hours are slow and we didn't see anyone coming in the hotel. The only other Van-Dell that Mark and I seen tonight coming in was Paul, he was loading in the hotel as we drove in. Everyone else is in their rooms either asleep or setting up shop like I am. I was so ready to get on the road and as I left my home town this afternoon, with each mile that passed, I felt like a great pressure was slowly being lifted off of me. I love being home, don't get me wrong, but I know where I belong, and that's playing the drums! I always get emotional before a tour starts up and after one ends, and no different tonight, but after a two week vacation, it all built up and the drive here was like the unveiling of a new person for me. Tonight the stage awaits and I look forward to it more than anyone knows!!! dp

10/21/01 - BACK ON THE ROAD AGAIN!!!!  -  home

Hello friends, I've finally got my act together on this website thing, "I think". I must give a shout out to Jason Tanner who helped me with getting me up and running. "You'll have plenty of time for web designing when you living in a van, down by the river". I'll be writing my infamous "Road Notes" here. I will still post road notes on the yahoo site as well as putting focus on this page. I'm sitting at home watching a video tape of the "Concert for NYC" from last night, while I'm watching the country version LIVE on CMT. Our buddies Diamond Rio are on right now, they are just amazing! It's very hard to watch some of the scenes on without crying. As Doug Pinnick of King's X said earlier this week in Nashville, "there are some good things coming from this, people are coming together, crime is down"...so there is a little good, and I always try to find the good in things. I'm washing clothes and getting all my P's and Q's in line for the road. I'm so happy to be hitting the road again, we've had a two week vaction which I've kept myself busy with the GSP CD and working side gigs which is very nice, but there's just something about being on the road and doing live shows for the Van-Dells fans, I can't wait to get back. I love it, I really do. We'll see you in Bay St. Louis this week. dp