Dear Friends,
I touched on this a bit over the last few days in telling the story of Pinky, but to wrap it up, at least for now, I should probably go into why our show in March of 2019 will be the last one.
Around the time I started doing The Father Figures with Michael and Bobby in 2009, I had decided to retire from Pinky. It wasn’t for any reason other than I was just tired of doing the same thing over and over. It was fun, but to keep playing the same songs and not really progressing as a band, my heart was just not in it anymore.
Would I have liked to have accomplished more with Pinky? Sure. I do wish we would have followed through on some of the conversations we had over the years and played outside of Arizona. We played Tucson a few times and that was fun. It would have been great to do a long weekend with the boys out to the coast and I’m sure we would have gone over well, but it never happened.
I would have liked to have written more songs, too. I had a few things I was working on for Pinky near the end, but they didn’t come to fruition. I was very satisfied with the seven or eight year run we had. We played a lot of fun shows and laughed our asses off, as I have shared. We also probably bought a car for the owner of Newcastle Brown Ale.
I have to wonder if anyone from that company ever heard “The First Time The King Tried Newcastle” which was our ode to Elvis and Newkie Brown. One of my favorite riffs from Pinky to play.
“Dixie bring me another drink. You better make it fast. ‘Cause I don’t want to think. I like it like that. There he was. Ten feet tall. Newcastle Brown Ale. He drank them all.”
That’s how it started. There was a really fun version of that when we went into the 602Radio studio and did their show. Steve was on lead guitar for that and he knocked it out of the park that day. I have always liked what Eric and I came up with for the breakdown before the guitar and vocals come back in.
We had great, fun moments. “The Jerk” and “I’m Gonna” were definite crowd favorites and “Geronimo” had fucking choreography. How cool is that? The official name of “Geronimo,” at least in my eyes, was “Geronimo (got high and jumped out of an airplane).” Eventually, though, that was something I was ready to leave in the past.
From 2009 on, we played a few shows here and there and it was still fun. We would get sucked back in for one reason or another. I probably said no more times than the boys would have liked, but it just wasn’t as fun as it once was. It wasn’t anyone’s fault other than my own, either. How do you break up a band that features some of your best friends?
When my friend Conan needed a gig for his band in March of 2019, it seemed like a fun show for Pinky to play. Jay was able to come to town from Georgia where he lives now, and we put on a great show. The crowd at Chopper John’s that night was full of friends and it just felt really good. That’s what any band would want for their last show.
It’s not like I went into it thinking I would never want to do it again. That was not part of my plan that night at all. I figured we would, on occasion, dust it off and play again, but when we were on stage that night roaring through our set, it just came to me that I was done. It just felt right and still does to this day.
As I write this, I’m listening to Halfway to Honkey Heaven and enjoying the fuck out of it. I’m proud of it, too. Some of those songs are among the best I’ve ever done, for sure, and I’d put them up against a lot of stuff that is more well known. Some of it is just silly and that’s okay. Big, dumb rock is what we were shooting for, and we succeeded.
I have told Jeff that I would revisit Pinky if we did the songs in a classic, mid-60s country style. We would need a pedal steel guitar and maybe a few back up singers, but I can see how that could work. Really. It would take a lot of time and effort, though. I would do it if everyone was on board. Kinda like that country Ween album.
For my bandmates, if they read this, I hope this had been a fun way to take a look back. I know I have left out a lot. There are details that are hidden under layers of booze and smoke that I don’t recall, I’m sure, but I haven’t left out anything on purpose.
Well, see, now I’m thinking that I didn’t mention the PTWKAF/Bourbon Witch Family Band. We have done a few offshoot shows as Bourbon Witch or the Family band and played a bunch of Pinky songs and some covers and had a blast, too. Mike from the Skullbusters joined us for one of those and we also include our friend, Jx, on guitar as well. We have another planned for November, but there won’t be any Pinky songs this time.
I don’t want to be that guy who takes his toys and goes home, but it’s good to put even the best things to bed at some point. Here in 2022, I’m not really looking to go backwards except to write about it and tell the story. For any musicians reading this at any point, I offer this advice:
When it feels like it’s time to be done, be done. You can always change your mind on a new day or not. Either way, do what feels right and don’t hang onto something with dear life that truly has a life of its own. Pinky was a great time in my life and hopefully in the lives of my bandmates.
Amen, motherfucker.
See you tomorrow.
At least there is one shot of Eric doing his thing. This was at one of the Bourbon Witch shows and that, of course, is the Bourbon Witch himself.
Here's a link to the first CD:
Here's the second CD:
Here's a link to a fun video:
And another...a fan video:
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