The entire show is available on DVD at our Merch Store
The song you just listened to is never going to be one of my most popular. And it’s far from my own favorite. But there’s something about this song that drills so deeply down into my core. For me, church and faith was a place I needed to “deny myself”…purify, sanctify, be saved from my sinful nature. Not surprisingly, that never worked. And I never had a place within any of those institutions or communities where I could co-exist. Kinda like the guy in this story. Kinda like so many of the people Jesus apparently hung out with. I eventually turned myself loose on this life. And that’s the only way I ever found peace and happiness.
Anyways, that’s heavy enough for now…
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Sorry…that was kinda heavy too…but I was always fascinated, and appalled, by the Vietnam War and all that veterans had to go through, both over there and back here at home. “Empty Places” is a story set against this backdrop, and it’s one that dives into mysteries of life, death, and experience that we’ll most likely never fully understand.
i know i said the important reviews are those that come from regular folk…
But here’s what a couple radio DJ’s had to say about “Empty Places”
“What a great song...[Joe’s] lyrics are always on point, not a wasted word or a wasted breath.”
alright, back to our saga…
Actual Facebook post from one of my earliest shows. In fact, this is the same bar I played my first ever show in. (I have since changed my phone number)
CHAPTER 3
Well, you wouldn’t believe it if I told ya, but I’ll be damned if a year later, that same kid didn’t start going around to little bars up in St. Charles, Illinois, askin the pub owners if he could sit in a corner and play songs right out in front of everyone. No basement room or paneled walls to separate them or nothin. He’d learned a little bit over the years, and he figured, so long as he left songs from Aladdin off his set list, he’d be alright.
One night, he was standin up at the front of this long, narrow bar, hangin on to a guitar and standing in front of a microphone. In the middle of this Bob Dylan song about some gal from up north, the juke box comes on. This kid figures it must have been some kind of mistake. So he calmly tells the audience he’ll go get it figured out, walks off stage and heads for the bar owner.
Turns out, it was no mistake. Remember them old skits on TV where some guy would be dancing around on a stage and a shepherds crook would appear from the side, loop him around the neck and yank him off there? That’s pretty much what was happening to this kid. So he had to tear down all his gear – the speakers, the microphone, the guitar and everything else – and carry it all through this packed bar to his truck out back. If he’d have had a tail, it would have been tucked far enough up his ass to tickle his tonsils. Maybe he should’ve played that Aladdin song after all.
[to be continued…]
let’s do one more
I’m not gonna tell the story behind this song…I’m gonna let the story tell itself. Then I’m gonna let you think on it.
The entire show is available on DVD at our Merch Store
day 3 product features
Here are some featured products that relate to t’day’s songs & stories:
We got plenty of koozy designs that’r well suited to “Heavenly Drinking.” Click the photo for design options.
If you like big trucks, this might be “The World [You] Deserve.” Click the photo to browse.
Did I mention the Vinyls are translucent white? Click the photo to see all the Stories related products.