Dude, My New Years Resolution!

When I was in the Marcia Ball Band years ago her long time bass player Don Bennett and I were watching a well know Rock/Blues guitar player at headlining the Tampa Bay Blues Festival. It was Walter Trout. As we stood off to the side of the stage we giggled at how he worked the crowd. Walter was playing loud and through a Mesa Boogie amp. He did all the tricks and somewhere in that whole thing he actually played some Blues.

Now I'm not knocking Walter. He really is a great player and smart. Smart? Yes, because he knows what the people want. They really don't care for the song, they want the thrill. It's like Kramer once said on an episode of Seinfeld, "You're not selling the steak Jerry, you're selling the sizzle." Dude, how true that is.

That night I looked at Don and made this proclamation, "When I'm 45 that's going to be me. I'll be up there playing as loud as I can and all the Blues purists will curse my name. Nobody will care how well I can sing or how much of what I play is actually Blues. I'll give them the sizzle, I'll be selling out, but I'll be making money too."

So this year I'm concentrating on getting a band back together. I'm going to sing more, no matter how bad it is and I'm going to play loud. Playing for the song and the singer is something I've been doing the last 20 years. It has gotten me some nice comments but for the most part, nobody really cares.

Pat Boyack - Mach II starts today.........