Tommy Womack's journal/ blog - fun stuff

On the way home from Wapakaneto, OH. (God bless the Rythm & Brews club!) with the Coalmen this afternoon, we encountered our first gas at $3.99 a gallon. Of course it was three dollars and ninety-nine and nine tenths cents, so essentially $4 a gallon. I can’t predict the future, but what I can see for the immediate time times to come is that things are awfully gloomy for people who do what I do. This is the most acutely felt recession I’ve ever lived through and the gas prices are at the heart of it. Not only does it break the bank just getting to and from the gig, but folks are so reluctant to spend money now that they’re not coming out to the gigs. Either that or I suck.
Okay, I googled some reviews. I don’t suck apparently, so it’s definitely the economy. When 20 folks come to a gig, you owe them the same show you’d give for 1500 people, and generally I do pretty well delivering the goods in that spirit, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a drag on the engine. Don’t get me wrong! I’m sure glad and grateful for anybody to come see me play. But… well… you know what I mean.
I see both a new emphasis on regionalism (playing gigs within 150 miles of home generally, something that doesn’t leave all gig revenues at the pump) and figuring out some ways to have “live on the net” gigs where you pay your cover through paypal or something. I’m trying not to be just Joe Gloomy dwelling on a doomsday scenario to the exclusion of what might be done to mollify the situation. There will always be a way to bring you and me together; those ways just might have to change a bit.
It’s good to be home. Nathan turned 10 on Saturday and he got a Mario Kart Wii, which is some sort of brain-suck machine. I hate video games. Why don’t you just pull it out and jerk? Maybe when he hits puberty I’ll one day yank the joystick out of his hands and say “hey son, why don’t I show you a real joystick!”
You know what else I hate? Tattoos! What is the DEAL with all this drawing on your bodies that I see? There is nothing to make a supple fetching young lady’s ass look instantly unattractive like some giant fucking pair of bat wings, or horseshoes, or twisted thorns. A naked female body is a very attractive thing, to me. You may feel that way about the male body and more power to you. I assume it goes the same way. Basically, skin is pretty unless you have serious leprosy or acne or something. Skin with ink all over it is not pretty. I don’t care if you’re Angelina Please Go Away Jolie. It’s not attractive. And here’s a hot tip. Put all your money into tattoo removal companies, makers of tattoo-removal instruments and supplies and local tattoo removal outlets, because those places are going to do more and more business in the coming couple of decades as youngsters realize what a stupid mistake it was to tattoo Charles Manson’s face on your left shoulder blade or make a Marvel comic book out of your forearms.
I’m on the road in Indiana and Ohio next weekend and then there’s a month off which should give me and Will Kimbrough time to work on - and even perhaps entirely finish - the next Daddy record. I assume we’ll both being taking second mortgages on our homes in order to take Daddy on tour some, when the record is released, or maybe we’ll just pierce our lips and do a tour of local tattoo parlors. And don’t even get me started on earrings on lips. Don’t even get me going!
Rest in Peace Bo. We met once and I came away knowing that Bo Diddley was a lovely man! We’ll miss you. Tell Jimi hey.
love,Tommy