Am I an Introvert?

Posted on July 24, 2023 by Just Chuck

I’m an introvert.  Maybe that’s not the right diagnosis.  I’m shy?  Again not completely true.  I am not comfortable in normal social settings.  My social skills are lacking.  I can’t walk up to a stranger and introduce myself, much less carry on a meaningful conversation.  This social awkwardness was a challenge in high school.  Meeting and talking to girls or attending social functions such as dances or parties raised my anxiety to extreme levels.  It was easier to retreat.  I didn’t attend my school Prom because I couldn’t get up the nerve to ask a girl and I felt people would laugh at me when I danced.  I did attend parties in high school but only with my best friend, and even then I would follow him around at a party like a scared child because I didn’t want to have to meet someone new and try to carry on a conversation.  I became a good observer and listener.  I have never pursued a woman because I was always shy or really had no idea how to approach and converse with the opposite sex.  When I did have a girlfriend, it was because she pursued me and we would communicate through mutual friends.  My wife chased after me and caught me with the help of one of my brothers.  I like to tell her she won the lottery.  Along with family, I have a very small circle of trusted friends and that’s all I need.

I recently read an article that I think explains quite a bit about my situation.  Based on many of the causes and complications mentioned in the article, I believe I have Social Anxiety disorder.  I wouldn’t say it is severe to the point where I can’t go out in public or go to work, but it definitely affects my self-esteem, my anxiety level at work and meeting new people or attending social functions.  Some of the symptoms I have are: 

  • fear of situations that may lead to negative judgment
  • worry about embarrassing oneself
  • intense fear of interacting with strangers or conversing
  • avoidance of situations where attention may be directed to oneself 
  • anxiety before or during social events.  

This disorder can result in complications, some of which I display, such as:

  • low self-esteem
  • difficulty being assertive
  • hypersensitivity to criticism
  • poor social skills.  

I’m not suicidal or drink or use drugs, I just use avoidance as much as possible. Peer pressure is one thing that sends my anxiety level through the roof.  People just don’t understand that you can be different from them resulting in expectations put on you to drink and socialize like them.  I’ve heard it before – “What’s wrong with you?  Have a beer.”  Extroverts just don’t get it.

As an adult on the verge of retirement, I still have a tough time attending company social functions.  A happy hour or even the company Christmas party causes anxiety that rises exponentially the closer the event date comes.   I find it tough to carry on meaningful conversations with people I work and interact with on a daily basis.  I hate phone calls and meetings and prefer emails. Emails and text give me a chance to capture my thoughts and put them down concisely and coherently. When put on the spot in a meeting or phone call with a question I know the answer to but can’t seem to answer because I am frozen due to anxiety, I will manage to get out “I’ll find out and get back to you.” This makes me look like I am stupid.

In my early employment years I used alcohol to grease the party social wheels and get my mind to overcome my anxiety.  Never at work though. Now, when I attend a party, my alcohol consumption is minimal, if at all, and I gravitate toward people that I know and trust.  There have been times where it is just me standing around with my wife commenting on people at a party. Then we leave early.

I deal with anxiety daily. I have a hard time turning off the logical, analytical side of my brain.  I worry. I constantly run through What If scenarios.  What If leads to worry which equals anxiety. 

What If is my trouble avoidance system.  I take the path of least resistance.  Stay out of trouble.  Don’t cause waves. It’s no wonder I’m a homebody.  I come home from work on Friday afternoon and my truck sits in the garage until Monday morning.  Safe in my home cocoon enjoying my hobbies.

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I miss Dennis

Posted on July 17, 2023 by Just Chuck

It was four years ago today when Dennis’ body was found sitting on the couch in the living room of his Sachse Texas home.  His little brother, Robbie, found him early that Wednesday morning when he dropped by to check on Dennis. I received a text from a mutual friend, Steve, on my phone two hours later while I was sitting in a conference room at work with a few other people who knew Dennis.  I was shocked.  I had to leave the meeting and sequester myself in my office so I could read the text twenty more times before it finally made sense.  I cried.

Brothers from other mothers. Me, Dennis, Steve 1982

Dennis was like a brother to me.  I met him in the spring of my tenth grade year, 1977, in a Geometry class at Killeen High School (KHS) in Killeen Texas.  We both sat in the back of the class.  We were both Army brats.  We realized we both loved the same rock bands and had a similar sense of humor. From then on we were best buddies. 

What really bound Dennis and I for life was the guitar. He had taken up guitar, learning to play, and I had taken guitar lessons three years prior; I knew some basic chords and how to tune a guitar.  Dennis’ brought his excitement for the guitar and inspired me to pick it up again.  During that spring semester we talked about music, guitars and sometimes Geometry.

During class Dennis would use his arm as a guitar fretboard and show me how to play barre chords he had learned.  I had never learned these chords in beginning guitar lessons, I knew basic open chords and old folk songs that no one wanted to hear me play.  Barre chords were rock.  Barre chords were an epiphany.  It was like learning the secrets of the universe.  Clouds parted and all became clear now when I listened to rock music.  Barre chords were what all my favorite bands used to play their songs.   

I’m sure people looked at us with amusement when we both would grab our right arms with our left hands and play out a chord sequence from a favorite song.  I learned quite a number of songs this way from Dennis.  It was destiny that we start a band.  How could we not.

Except for one 80’s cover band, every band I have ever played in included Dennis.  Our first band in High School was LEAF (don’t ask).  Then came Second Chance, a band we put together after high school.  We were pretty damn good and played many local bars before we broke up and heading off to different colleges.

We met back up in Dallas with college degrees in hand and started where we left off, playing house party’s and open mics at local bars. My last band with Dennis was called Rockenstein.  I sang some songs, played rhythm guitar and keyboard.  We were pretty damn good and played bars regularly.

So how did Dennis pass?  I never learned the full reason. I never heard what the toxicology report said. I am damn sure it started with cigarettes.  He smoked, a lot.  It wasn’t cancer though.  The downward progression of his health started four years prior to his death. Things started going downhill when he had blood flow issues to his legs.  That led to him requiring a triple bypass open heart surgery. His smoking caused his blood vessels to contract to the point where all the major arteries going into his heart were clogged.  Blood was only flowing through the small capillaries.  He could’ve had a massive heart attack if he had exercised in the slightest.

After bypass surgery he gave up smoking, but not for long.  Smoking again, it didn’t take long for blood flow to his legs to become an issue again.  His left leg stated to literal die. So they cut it off at the knee. Life just got more difficult then. Sometimes he would wear a prosthetic but most times he was in a wheelchair. His last year of life he worked for me. I had gotten him hired back on at the company. Many times I would get a text on Monday mornings saying he was in the emergency room. he had been there all night due to severe pain. His good leg started hurting and, with his severed leg, he was always in pain. The pain was getting worse and the medication dosages got higher. Finally it was decided he should go on long term disability (LTD). My last text to him, on Tuesday afternoon July 16, was asking where he was on getting that paperwork into Human Resources. He had, and was waiting to get approval to start LTD. That never happened.

I miss Dennis. I miss the jokes we would share with each other over texting. Or we would go out on a Saturday night to see a mutual friend’s local band play. Or we’d be setting up for our own gig at a local bar. He had been a part of my life for so long. My wife knew him almost as long as I did. We were both devastated by his passing. Every year I will continue to post about his passing and share photos of our lives. Maybe one day I’ll put together a memoir of all the bands I played in and feature Dennis prominently.

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Camp NaNoWriMo

Posted on July 10, 2023 by Just Chuck

I wanted to wait a bit before I announced this.  Just in case I failed.  I have been participating in Camp NaNoWriMo for the past nine days.  I have successfully fulfilled my daily goal of writing at least 645 words per day on my way to completing 20 thousand words for the month of July.

NaNoWriMo is the acronym for National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo normally takes place during the month of November and the goal then is to write 50 thousand words.  I’ve been a member of NaNoWriMo since 2005 and have attempted the 50K challenge four times in the past. I’ve never written higher than 5 thousand words and lasted past the first week of November. It is not easy to write 1667 words per day to reach the 50K needed to declare yourself a NaNo winner.  Especially when you have the Thanksgiving holiday thrown in the mix.  I tried and I failed and disillusionment about being able to write set in.

Recently, to maintain interest in NaNoWriMo, the folks that manage the whole thing came up with the idea for camps.  These are currently held twice per year and occur in April and July.  During a Camp NaNoWriMo, the writer can set his own goal.  You can set a word count, or perhaps you are in the editing phase of your manuscript, or you are in the prepping stage doing outlining or research.  Whatever you want, you can make that your goal and their is a formula for converting hours spent into a word count.  The only caveat is that you need to reach your goal by the last day of the month.

For myself, I missed April’s camp and chose to try the July camp.  This is my first Camp and I am tracking my words.  I set my goal for 20 thousand words in 31 days.  That equates to writing 645 words per day to stay on track to meet my goal.  I felt this was a perfectly reachable goal. As of this posting, after 9 days of writing, I am at 6,634 words or 33% of my 20K goal.  I feel good.  The structure of Camp NaNoWriMo and setting your own achievable goal have shown me that I can successfully write on a daily basis.  It takes me about 20 minutes to write 645-700 words each day.  Many times I will do that at work when I find myself with a break in the daily shitshow.  Many times I find myself writing more that the minimum needed to reach my goal.

What am I writing? I am working on a memoir.  I may have mentioned it here before.  Its about a time in my life when I tried, and for a brief two years, successfully ran a music business.  Myself and a partner opened a rehearsal and recording studio business after a massive layoff (a mini memoir soon to be posted here) from a company I thought I would retire from.  Such is life. 

I will post more updates and m final tally at the end of the month. If you are a member of NaNoWriMo then drop me a line. Let’s be buddies on NaNo. Oh, and come November, I’m going to kick NaNoWriMo ass and win my first 5oK word challenge. For that I’ll be working on my fiction novel.

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Did you know?

Posted on July 3, 2023 by Just Chuck

With the 4th of July tomorrow, I just happened to be reading Brad Meltzer’s First Conspiracy book and I’m at the part of the book where the start of the American Revolution and the Declaration of Independence are introduced.  Here are some facts I learned from this book that I did not know.

At the beginning of May of 1776, the Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia and began to question what the Continental Army was fighting for. Up to this point in history the colonies were happy to continue life under British rule but with more favorable taxes and concessions.  During the meetings the pro-independence radicals began to gain control of the Continental Congress  and ask why must we continue under British rule?  Why can we not self rule?

The debates led to a consensus to explore the possibility for independence by putting pen to paper and drafting the ideas that were being discussed.  On June 14, John Adams selected a little known delegate, who was only there as a quick replacement for a sick Thomas Payne, to start drafting a document for independence from England.  That 31 year old red headed delegate’s name was Thomas Jefferson.

Thomas Jefferson was chosen by Adams because of his elegant prose. It took Jefferson fourteen days to draft this “declaration” document and on June 28 John Adams presented Jefferson’s first draft to the Continental Congress. 

The delegates from the 13 colonies spent the day reading the document before debating it. After 3 days of furious debate and minor revisions, on July 2nd, the document was put to a vote. The vote passed, the document was approved. 

After another round of revisions, the wording of the declaration was finalized on July 4 1776.  The colonies no longer considered themselves part of the British empire.  They wanted self government and to rule themselves and this Declaration of Independence was their statement to the world.

Contrary to popular belief, the Declaration of Independence was not signed for another 3 weeks.  In the meantime, two hundred copies were made and sent out to all 13 colonies governing bodies.  One specific copy was sent and received on July 9th by the Commander-in-Chief George Washington in New York City. George Washington was in New York City preparing his rag tagged Continental army for an imminent British attack from British encampments on Staten Island.  That copy of the Declaration of Independence was read to the entire Continental army and everyone cheered. Now the army had something worth fighting for.   Now they were fighting for their independence.

They lost that first revolution battle of New York City to the British but lived to fight another day. And we all know how that turned out.

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Vinyl of the Month – Hey Hey It’s the Monkees 20 Smash Hits by The Monkees

Posted on July 1, 2023 by Just Chuck

Before I had ever heard of the Beatles, I already knew who The Monkees were.  The band was formed in 1966 originally as a fake TV band (a la Partridge Family) and they came into my living room every Saturday morning singing their poppy, can’t get them out of your head, tunes. 

I wanted to be a Monkee.  I wanted to drive around in the spectacular Monkeemobile.   Even in fourth grade I wanted to impress girls without having to talk to them by playing music like the Monkees.  I wanted to be Micky Dolenz, the drummer.  I wanted a drum set but never got one.  Sadly only Micky Dolenz is alive today.

The Saturday morning Monkees shows were repeats, of course, of the two seasons (1966 and 1967) that were originally shown at night on NBC.  The Saturday Morning showings were on CBS from 1969 to 1972, the years we were living in St. Louis. 

Dad had just purchased our first color TV, a huge console set in a dark wood cabinet.  It occupied its own corner of the living room and perched on top was an antenna console with  two telescoping antenna flayed out in a large V.  Our evenings were spent tuning in to one of three channels – ABC, NBC, CBS – and watching intently.  It was about this time when the parents invested in a set of T.V. dinner trays.  

On Saturday morning, while the parents were still asleep, I would get myself a bowl of cereal and plop down on the floor in front of the TV and take in, what no longer exists today, four hours of cartoon and children’s programing aimed to sell you the latest toy or cereal.  It was glorious.

I can recall watching another of my favorite Saturday morning shows at the time, The Banana Splits Adventure Hour.  The Banana Splits were another “fake” band but they were live action costumed animal characters.  I loved Fleegle, Drooper, Bingo and Snort.  I was a Bingo fan.  I loved the songs.  Tra La La, La La La La.  I loved the goofiness of the show and the additional segments of Danger Island.  If you watched the show you will never forget “Uh Oh Chongo!“.  

The Monkees would follow with their 30 minutes of music and mayhem.  When that initial line of the theme song was sung, you couldn’t help but pay attention.  

“Here we come… walking down the street… we get the funniest looks from… Everyone we meet…Hey, Hey, We’re the Monkees.” 

So many wonderful memories of those Saturday mornings.  It is sad that we no longer have that ritual for our kids or grandkids.

The album “Hey Hey It’s the Monkees 20 Smash Hits” was released in 1985.   Of the 20 “hits”, most people would likely only recognize seven of them (three for sure).  So its a bit of a stretch to say “20 smash Hits”.  Regardless, it is a good album to listen to and think back to those Saturday mornings.

So, for bringing back Saturday Morning memories in St. Louis I chose “Hey Hey It’s the Monkees 20 Smash Hits” by The Monkees for this months Vinyl of the Month.

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I Miss Sears

Posted on June 26, 2023 by Just Chuck

I miss Sears.  

Every year, as the summer days started getting shorter, Mom would herd my two brothers and I into an old blue Ford four door and make the annual trek to our local Sears store with the singular purpose of shopping for new school clothes for the coming school year starting in September.  

Although she made us think we were picking out the clothes we wanted, she was really guiding us through a clever reverse psychology to pick out the jeans, shirts, and sometimes shoes, that she wanted us to have.  I looked forward to the new clothes but I whined through the whole process.  Mom would stand guard in front of the fitting room curtain and shove an armful of clothes through the slit with the command “try these on and let me see what they look like.”  I would quickly slip out of my cutoff jean shorts and raggedy T-shirt and tug on the very stiff, very dark blue Levis Blue Jeans.  I always wore Levis Jeans and continue to this day.  I could never adapt to the fit of a pair of Wrangler jeans.  I  completed the ensemble with the shirt provided, an alternating green and blue striped shirt. 

I sauntered out from behind the curtain in a stiff legged Frankenstein walk exaggerating the extended Frankenstein arms for the benefit of my giggling brothers who were too young to need school clothes at this particular visit.  New Jeans smelled good but were like putting on a pair of plaster-of-paris leg casts.  “Walk normal please!” My mother demanded.  I dutifully performed the fitting room walk while Mom checked the length and then the waist by placing her thumb inside the jeans and pulling the jeans away from my torso to see how much play I had between my skinny body and the jeans.  The interrogation would then start.  Walking up and down in stiff legged jeans and getting peppered with questions from Mom was no longer fun at this point. 

“How do they feel?”  
“They feel like jeans.”
“How do they fit?” 
“It’s hard to walk in them, but I guess they fit fine Mom, can I take them off now?” 
“No, go put on the other shirt I gave you and let me see how it looks with those jeans.”  

This would continue for another hour or so.  

As an adult reliving this memory, I now realize that I was a human paper doll providing my mother with the opportunity to get her fashion designer yearnings out of her system. After what seemed like a week in Sears, we had a significant stack of clothing that would soon be my fashion statement for the coming school year. I would proudly wear those new clothes on the first day of school and every day after until school let out at the end of the following May.

By the end of the school year nine months later, I would have grown a couple of inches and my jeans were now what would be considered “high waters”. I’d get some teasing from some of the meaner kids those lasts weeks of school. Once it was officially summer, Mom would get out the scissors and those jeans would become cutoff shorts to be worn through the summer months until once again the summer days would get shorter and it would be time for another visit to Sears. This process would repeat until I started high school.

I miss Sears.

My first credit card was a Sears card.  I got it in 1984.  I think it had a credit limit of $300.  I think they mistook me for my dad.  We both have the same name, I’m just a Junior.  I used that credit card to buy a Panasonic “Walkman” that played a cassette tape.  So, my first ever credit purchase was a Walkman copy. 

I was so excited to have a credit card.  My next card, a couple of years later, was a gas card – Gulf I think it was.   It was not a common thing to have a credit card.  Most people didn’t trust or want one. 

My parents didn’t own a credit card until much later in life.  Except for car and house, they paid cash for everything.  If they didn’t have the cash they put it on layaway.   Everyone used layaway.  The annual school clothing trip always resulted in my school wardrobe being put on layaway.  My Mother would drive down to Sears on paydays and pay a little bit with the intention of having the merchandise out of layaway before the first day of school.

I miss Sears.

I miss the Sears Christmas Wish Book, hell, I miss Toys R Us, but as a kid you would look forward to that annual special Sears catalog coming in the mail sometime in October or early November.  A kid could spend a whole day leafing through the Wish Book circling desired toys and ear marking pages so you could come back later and write your letter to Santa.  When Santa stopped being real we still circled and ear marked pages for Mom.  She would purchase a subset of our requests (because we wanted the moon and more) in early November and put everything on layaway until right before Christmas Eve.

I miss Sears. The store was such a big part of my childhood and even into adulthood. The wife and I bought our first washer and dryer from Sears. I still have my Craftsman tool sets.

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No Monday Post

Posted on June 19, 2023 by Just Chuck

WIth Father’s Day activities yesterday and today a work holiday, Juneteenth, I took a break. New post next Monday. Instead, enjoy this song I recorded many many many years ago.

Fascination (Ozone Ferd rendition) by Corner Desk Studio on #SoundCloud https://soundcloud.com/corner_desk_studio/fascination-my-rendition

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Hobbies and Collecting

Posted on June 12, 2023 by Just Chuck

I have many hobbies and collections. The two sometimes overlap. My hobbies, or whims, rotate depending on my creative state of mind or an external influence such as YouTube or family.  It makes it tough to focus and become good at any single hobby or skill.

Take for instance, photography.  On a whim I decided to expand my photography skills.  I watched YouTube videos on portraiture, I bought all the equipment needed and I set up a portrait taking setting in the foyer of my house.  And I learned how to take portraits.  And I practiced on my family.  And I began to think I could do this when I retire, take school pictures, animal portraits and the like.  I bought multiple background screens, including a green screen so I could take pictures and then photoshop persons into exotic locales.  I bought and took courses on photography, stuff I already knew but wanted to freshen up on.  And then I ran out of steam.  I took all of the lights and screen down, packed it all up in storage bins and that is where it sits today.

Probably my most expensive whim was due to watching YouTube videos of people that travel around the U.S. in their RVs and Vlog about their adventures.  I wanted to do that.  I wanted to be a RV YouTuber. So, I bought an RV.  A Winnebago Micro-Minnie that suited me and the wife perfectly along with all the accessories that are needed for a comfortable camping life (outdoor rug, outdoor furniture, hammocks, outdoor string lights, etc.).  There are a few posts on this blog of some of our trips to various RV parks.

To further my future YouTube life I bought a GoPro Hero camera, the tiny little camera you strap, stick, or hang from practically anything.  I figured I needed one for documenting our drives to RV parks and hiking adventures we would go on.  Then I bought a drone, because lots of YouTube RV channels have drones that take glorious sweeping videos of a state park or the mountains of Arkansas.  I wanted to do that.  Over the course of 15 months, we camped 6 times and then, due to family dynamics, the RV sat in storage for 6 months at $200 per month. That was expensive for a toy that was not getting played with.  So, we sold it back to the dealer.  I still have the GoPro, drone and all the RV accessories if anyone is interested.  I guess we are too lazy to put them up for sale.  We should.

I have a collector’s mentality, but I collect stuff I enjoy.  Comic books, certain toys and anything from the 1966 Batman show. I’m slowly rebuilding my Vinyl collection as well. Unfortunately I am a collecting completist.  I pre-order my comic books two months in advance, so I’ll order the first, second and maybe even third issue in a series before I get and read the first issue.  If after two issues the story sucks, I’ll continue to buy the book monthly and force my self to ready it just so I have a complete set of the series. I think its a OCD thing. A fear of missing a key issue in a series.

I plan on retiring soon. This means no more extra money to expand on my hobbies or continue to pad my collections. Then it will be time to start selling off the comic books and action figures. I will never sell my 1966 Batman collectibles though or my vinyl collection.

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Home is….

Posted on June 5, 2023 by Just Chuck

Home is where the heart is right?  That’s how the saying goes.  Doesn’t matter where you are or who you are with, home is where the heart is.  I assume we’re talking about my heart.

Home is where my mom lives (where I am currently writing this from).  Home is driving 500 miles for 8 hours to spend a week with the woman that gave birth to me.  She is always happy to see me.  She will cook whatever I want, which is not good since I am on a low carb, low sugar diet.  Just entering that house where I attended first through third grade is very comforting.  Its cozy even though it is old and very small; and the shower is barely wide enough to bend over and soap your legs; and the waterspout only comes up to my nose so I have to bend over to wash my hair.  But its home.  The bed is not my home bed, it’s a bit uncomfortable but I survive because being around my mom is a safety net.  When my dad was alive, I had no worries about Mom.  He was there to take care of her and us as well.  He was my lifeline if I needed one.  I know if all else failed I could go home to Hattiesburg Mississippi, and everything would be OK.  Another cocoon.  

Home is my recliner where I plop in front of my big screen TV and proceed to vegetate and watch YouTube videos when I get home from work,   It signifies I am home, I am safe, and I can relax my body and mind.  My cocoon from the big bad world outside.

Home is my house in Texas. I’m a homebody.  On weekends we don’t go out much. During the pandemic, we got used to staying at home instead of eating out. We would entertain ourselves at home.  We watched a lot of TV and movies.  We got comfortable doing that and so we have not broken that habit. I’ve not been in a movie theater since 2018. We spend the summer in the pool.

Home is my bed in my own house.  Settling in for a night of sleep feels comfortable and secure.  Even better if it is raining outside.  That is a level of coziness that can’t be beat.  A cocoon.  

The next day brings work and anxiety due to traffic and having to do things I don’t want to do anymore. I’m getting close to retirement and I have an attitude, not a good one either.  I don’t like doing certain things, like flying.  I don’t want to leave my home and fly anymore, at least not for this company.  I’ve done enough of that over the years, and it has not gotten me anything.  Its difficult to fly these days.  The security, the bag limit, the rude people.  It just sucks.  I need my cocoon.

Home is where my hobbies are.  My music room where I can sit and practice guitar and write songs or listen to vinyl albums.   My comic book room where I can sit and read comics or work on writing.  I could never get bored with the hobbies I have.  Photography, writing, drawing, reading books and comic books, toy collecting, comic book collecting.  I never need to leave the house except maybe to get in the pool on a hot summer day.  Whenever we do leave the house it’s to do something where we stay in the car, like Pokémon hunting.  Otherwise, I come home from work on a Friday and my truck sits in the garage all weekend.  

Home is where you can spend a whole weekend and not have any need to get out and mingle with the rest of society.  I hate people, people are not really nice when you go out.   I have a terrible view of society.  People don’t get along anymore.  I want to go home to Hattiesburg, leave the big city of Dallas, and enjoy a small town where it doesn’t take 30 minutes or more to go somewhere as simple as a store.  I hate the big city now.  When I first came here, I loved it. Small town life was just boring as a twenty-something.  I want boring again.  I want nice people and a nice community.

Home is many things to me and since my heart is firmly placed inside my body then I guess you can say home is where my heart is and currently it is in Hattiesburg Mississippi.

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Vinyl of the Month – The Godz by The Godz

Posted on June 1, 2023 by Just Chuck

You’ve probably never heard of them but The Godz are Rock and Roll Machines and they will tell you  why in their song Gotta Keep a Runnin’.  They will go so far as to suggest we are all Rock and Roll Machines.  

The Godz are a band that formed in 1976 in Columbus Ohio and their first album was The Godz, released in 1978.  The band originally wanted to call the album Rock and Roll Machine until they found out a Canadian band named Triumph had used that title for their album.  I did not know at the time, but Don Brewer produced the album.  Don Brewer was and still is the drummer for Grand Funk.

I can’t remember why or where I bought the album.  I do remember seeing them in concert in Austin Texas sometime around 1979.  They opened for Triumph, yes that Canadian band that had an album called Rock and Roll Machine.   It has been many years but here is a brief list of things I recall from that concert:

  • I went with 2 friends, Bill and Howard
  • It was at the Austin Municipal Auditorium
  • We had shitty seats up in the balcony but snuck down to floor seats, ending up on 7th or 8th row, center stage.
  • The Godz played first and it may be because of their performance that convinced me to buy the album. They kicked ass.
  • We were so close to the stage, when Triumph came on and their opening pyro explosions went off, we were literally blown back into our seats and felt the heat.  Did they use too much powder in the pyro?   Possibly.

We enjoyed the concert and we talked about Triumph‘s opening pyro explosion for days.  Another great memory and for that I chose The Godz by The Godz as the Vinyl of the Month.

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