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Hey, I just got two more locations you can purchase the CD at. Not only is it availible in Rockford, Illinois at Media Play & Sam Goody... the CD is now at both CoOp Record locations in the Quad Cities. Their main location is on the Avenue of the Cities (old 23) in Moline, IL and the other location is on Locust in Davenport, IA. They are pretty good people there and I had no hassels getting the CD into the stores. They are also going to put up a poster at each location for me. If you are in that area stop in, check it out and let them know you heard it from me.
Talk about "One of those days!" Last night it didn't stop!!! I try not to ask too much out of life, but on Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. I really like to watch Ghost Hunters on the Sci-Fi channel. I usually record it in case my little boy, Damien, doesn't let me see it (or all of it) so I can watch after he goes to sleep. I went to start up the VCR and it broke. Just then... started making funny noises and said "Eject" constantly. I finally got it turned off by doing the only thing in my technical power, a good smack on the top, and decided I would have to watch it at 8. It was the first day of school and my 13 year old, Victor, was whinning (literally) that his simple one page worksheet was "too hard" and Damien started screaming that he wanted to watch Veggie Tales. He wanted to see the one we had on VHS but I finaly convinced him the DVD movie was OK.
I decided frozen pizza was the easiest choice for dinner. The boys were up for it so I turned on the stove. About ten minutes later when I have thawing pizzas on pizza pans I realized that the oven didn't light. About twenty minutes of my highly tuned technical skills at work I finally gave up and told the guys we would have Hot Pockets & chips for dinner. They only bitched and moaned for about five minutes. Pizzas wrapped in plastic wrap and returned to their frozen fortress I pulled out some Hot Pockets. Upon turning on the microwave I was shocked to hear it popping and see the sparks coming from the inside. About this time Damien enters the room, naked from the waist down, and informs me that he was wet.
I got him on his potty chair and realized it was now 8:02. I quickly turned on the kitchen TV since there was no way in hell Damien was going to let me pause the Veggie Tales movie for an hour. Side note- Thank God we decided to add a DirecTV receiver to the kitchen when we had it installed, I use it more than anyone else. So now I'm trying to catch snips of my show while attending to my 2 year old on a potty chair and working my technical magic on the ancient microwave in the kitchen that contains now thawed Hot Pockets. The pounding never did really work, but the microwave would once in a while operate for about thirty seconds or so. It ended up only taking me about fifteen minutes to get the microwave to work for the one and a half minutes it takes to heat a couple of Hot Pockets.
I finally got Damien changed and both the boys with food on a plate in front of them. Jumping to the kitchen I caught the TV just as they were going to a comercial. I actually got to stand in the kitchen and munch on chips during the next segment of my show. About that time Damien came to the kitchen and tried to drag me into the family room to show me what the tomato was doing. Vic was staring blankly at his homework sheet. I use that term since the answer sections were still all blank. He then looked up at me and asked if he could get ice cream. After explaining to him that he doesn't get ice cream until his homework is done I returned to the kitchen just in time for more comercials. I have to admit that I really do like the new Sci-Fi channel promos.
Hope finally shined through at the stroke of nine and I was able to inform Vic that completed homework or not, it was time for bed. Grumbling, bitching and complaining that he needed more food before hitting the sack he reluctantly proceeded to bed. I only had to tell him no about ten times, I think that´s a record. With Vic upstairs and the room somehow a lot more quiet than before I asked Damien if he would like to sit on my lap and watch some TV. He agreed and got a pillow. We both got comfortable on the recliner and found a show we mutually agreed on and that is when we saw it...
Pretty much anyone who knows me, or has seen one of my shows, knows I do not like bats. Sure enough the shadow swooping in circles above our heads was my nemisis. I told Damien there was nothing to be afraid of. I'm not sure why since he was being very brave and yelling at the, "naughty bat". I sat him in my chair and gave him a sheet to cover up with. I then proceeded to low crawl to something I could put on my head. Armed with a broom and my child´s Thomas the Tank Engine flashlight I ventured forth to meet my fate. The bat flew downstairs to the darkened basement. Who thought up the idea of putting the basement light switch at the bottom of the stairs?
I proceeded to the depths below and couldn't find the winged beast anywhere. I decided that giving the heater vent pipe above my head a whack. Finally my technical skills paid off! The bat swooped down from somewhere above the pipe and headed strait for my head. Good thing I had on my anti-bat doo rag! I ducked, dodged and nearly crapped my pants. After some pathetic attempts at striking the infernal critter with the broom, the bat tired of my game and went back upstairs. Upon my return to the human level of the abode my son had no clue where the bat went. Some lookout he is, remind me not to take him on any bank heists. I searched the entire house. A couple of times I thought I heard the bat, but I couldn't find it.
About this time my wife, Tricia, returns from work. She walks in, hears the bat in the corner, takes a plastic shopping bag and simply puts the bat in the bag. Her only real word to me if I remember correctly was, "wussie". She then took the bat outside. I swear she is the bat whisperer! She then went to the kitchen and got the stove lit. If only I couldn't get the dishwashing detergent out of the bottle or get the clothes washer to work, maybe she would do that, too.
I don't have to worry about identity theft... nobody wants to be me!
OK, there is good news. My CD is now for sale at both Sam Goody and Media Play in Rockford, Illinois. Next time I am in the Quad Cities I will work on getting it in the stores there as well. I spoke with the manager of FYE in Sterling but they use this service that is, to put it simply, complicated and expensive. I will be contacting someone at FYE corporate and seeing if I can work around their typical system. I really want to get it in a store for the local Dixon, Sterling & Rock Falls people. If anyone has any ideas for retail outlets for the CD, in any area/market, please let me know your ideas. If you own or run a store and you would like to carry my CD please send me an e-mail at: johncvorhees@vorheesenterprises.com. I would appreciate it.
People keep asking me when I am going to be performing in Iowa. Well, next month on the 24th I will be in Iowa Falls and on November 18th I will be in Clarion, IA. Check the schedule page often as I update the details and new bookings as I get things confirmed.
Now that I have a couple shows in Iowa coming up I expect to see some people I know in the audience! Make sure I know you´re there!!!
Wow, talk about an fun filled weekend! It all started on Friday. It quit raining about 6 a.m. so around 9 I left for the trip. I met my buddy Ed in the Quad Cities and we ventured forth on our bikes. Not even out of the Illinois side of the Quad Cities a car blows a stop sign and pulls out in front of me. I did the quick math in my head, braked, swerved and crapped my pants and with the grace of God missed flying over her car! We got out of town, hit the highway and had an otherwise easy ride. We hit some sprinkles near Washington, Iowa but no real rain.
When we got to Ottumwa I called my old buddy John Whicker (of the band Average Joe, www.ajrocks.net) like he told me to. I ended up leaving three messages for him over the course of the evening since he was a dumbass and left his phone at home. My brother came over and we went out for a little bit. The local strip bar in Ottumwa, Iowa is called Chills and Thrills. Let me tell you that there is nothing chilling or thrilling there. We ended up at a bar on the south side that had a band playing and some bikes parked out front. I'm going to be nice here and say that the band sucked! I could blow the lead singer away and I haven't sang on stage basically in a number of years. I'll leave it at that. We found ourselves walking the local Wal-Mart around 1 a.m. for munchies then crashing at about 2.
When we woke on Saturday we found that it had rained most of the time we were sleeping. It was drizzly and rainy off and on all morning. We had planned on going to Albia then Moravia, but we really didn't want to get that wet right then. Ed and I took a little walk to get breakfast. After we ended up at a dead end no where near any food we decided to walk back to the bikes and ride to Hy-Vee. My father drove to Ottumwa with my brother and his daughters and we all went to lunch in his car. Of course it never rains anytime we are in a car! When we got back from lunch we noticed Ed's bike had moved two parking spaces over and now was facing the hotel (if you can really call the shack we stayed in a hotel) instead of facing out like it was when we left. There was a long semi-circled scrape mark on the parking lot where his kickstand was dragging showing the path of the move. Then we noticed his battery was drained like someone was trying to start the bike. His bike was at the time set up so the started would kick, but it wouldn't actually start without the key. We figured someone had moved his bike and tried to start and or steal it. After better looking over all the facts and possibilities we concluded that his started switch had shorted out causing his starter to constantly try to kick over which caused the bike to jerk and move itself! It is amazing that it didn't fall over!!! I swear his bike has gremlins! After a few hours, a new switch and new battery we were back in business.
We ended up taking our bikes to my father's house and barrowing his car for our trip to Barnes City to see Average Joe perform. Whicker had asked if we could run lights for them. Due to the parking lot repair job we were behind schedule but we could make it. On the road to my dad's house is when we were belted with a true rain downpour. We were soaked by the time we got to his car. Of course, it quite raining right before we got there. In fact the sky cleared up and you could see the stars by the time we got to Barnes City. Oh well, that's how it works.
We had a blast at the show!!!!!!!!! Whicker, Mike, Fox, and Scott are all great guys and musicians. If you ever get a chance to see them perform it is well worth it. I was really impressed! We had a good time, took some pictures and told some stories. I also have to say hi to all the people in the audience I spoke with. The only name I can remember is Molly, but she did buy one of my CDs and kept calling me funny. So a big hello goes out to all the Longhorn Saloon crowd from Saturday night!
After the band was done we stuck around and helped them break down and pack up the gear. Ok, I helped and Ed leaned his drunk ass up againt a speaker most of the time. Ok, I really didn't help much... but I tried to keep them entertained. We got done packing up at around 3:30 a.m. and got back to the hotel after 4:30. Waking up at 8:30 really sucked! We checked out of the hotel and drove to my father's house to get the bikes. We drove home via Oskaloosa to Iowa City and picked up my son Vic from his weekend at the devil's (oops, I meant his mother's) house. It was a beautiful day for a ride. With all the pit stops, food breaks Vic and I finally made it home around 8:30 p.m. 499.7 miles later.
Whicker told me I should do something different with the pictures so I made them into a slideshow. there are pictures of our bikes, Ed's bike's gremlin mark, and the Average Joe show in Barnes City, IA. You can get to it through the picture pages or by clicking here. Please note that the slideshow will open in a new window. Check 'em out and let me know what you think.
Well, I have definately done a first... for me at least. Last night I did a show in White Cloud, Michigan (I think that is where they make the toilet paper). The show was at a Northway Lanes Bowling Center. Doing a show at a bowling alley is nothing unusual. Many venues in these smaller towns are different bars, clubs, community centers and private establishments. What was different was the stage was one of the lanes! It was awesome!!! I told them that if I started bombing I would just bowl a few frames. Good part is they didn't make me change my shoes... kind of felt like I got one over on them. Lee & Michelle Plotts are the owners and they are really great people. There were over sixty paying customers and each and every one of them was great! I had a blast.
I got the opportunity to work with Chili Challis. Those of you who listen to Bob & Tom (like I do) probably recognize his name. He has written for Jay Leno and the Tonight Show and has been in the business for many years. He was in the area visiting relatives and doing shows. If you ever get the chance to see him perfom, please do. You will not be sorry. Plus he is a great guy to boot!
Of course I took some pictures after the show. They are all posted on the pictures pages (I mixed them in with the pictures I already had posted just to keep you jumping). Below are some sample shots. Just click on the thumbnail pictures to have the full size image open in a new window:
Don't forget to check out the pictures page for more photos from last night's show!
Last I checked we are still on for the trip to Ottumwa, IA next weekend. We will be going to see my oldest best friend, John Whicker, and his band "Average Joe" perform at the Longhorn Saloon in Barnes City. It should be a good time. You can check out the band's website at: www.ajrocks.net. If you can make it out to their show call Randy at the bar (641-644-5145) and make reservations. Tell them I sent you! I want at least one person to come up to me and say they have been to my website!!!
Yes, I will be bringing my camera to Ottumwa. So look forward to some great pics of the trip!
