The Lava Pups

Sometimes something reminds us how much fun playing live is.  Last Saturday was one of those sometimes.  The Pups returned to Safetyville USA for the firefighter chili cook off.

The stars and planets must have been aligned just right because…Read more

In the Spring 1965, Bob Dylan committed an heretical act in the eyes of America’s, and probably the world’s, folkies.  Before then, at 23 years old, he was the leading songwriter of the American folk music revival.  Some of his…Read more

“We’ll meet you in parking lot by the tennis courts at 7:30.  Some volunteers will be there to help you with your equipment.”  For a moment, that made me feel like a rock star.  But not being familiar with the…Read more

Loyal readers may remember how Sue came to be a Lava Pup.  But for others, here is the four sentence recap.  In June 2012, a year after releasing our CD and playing some gigs, Paul the Pyronaut moved to the…Read more

Sometimes you just got to go with what you’ve got.

Getting ready for Shine’s Surf Night yesterday included running through the set without the benefit of a band.  Wow, the old fingers were exceedingly bulky.  They had a mind of…Read more

What’s in a name?  At our Saturday coffee clutch, one Wiki Weekend Warrior mentioned that he heard a band named "Trampled by Turtles" on satellite radio.  He observed, “They sure don’t plan on going very far with that name.”  Biting…Read more

During his feud with Geffen Records, Neil Young co-wrote “Payola Blues” for his Everybody’s Rockin’ album.  Its verse was:

“No matter where I go
I never hear my record on the radio”

That summed up my expectations when we recorded …Read more

Time to get back to rock ‘n roll!  This year marked the third annual Sierra Surf Music Camp.  That means it is here to stay for awhile.  After all, when you do something twice with a smart dog, it then…Read more

Back in the Nineteenth Century, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds . . . .”  That was before smart phones and text messages, and his phrase still went viral.  As you may recall…Read more

I’m getting too old for this crap!  Have you ever said that?  Thought it?

As I sat in the Portland airport, some guy in a dress shirt sans tie -- after all, it was a Sunday -- paced by.  The…Read more

Been off the blogging track for nearly four months.  Is that a hiatus?  A vacation?  A sabbatical?  A creative slump?

Of course, when you neglect a project for awhile, you feel that you must come up with some excuse.  This…Read more

As Thursday night's practice concluded, we moved our gear near the Doghouse door.  Rush (the band) was right, “All this machinery making modern music.”  Amps.  Drums.  Hardware.  Guitars -- an extra just in case.  Bass.  Pedal board.  A bagful of…Read more

At 7:45 or so the last time the Pups played Shine, the then owner asked, “Are you going to have enough people here?”  That question was answered with a question, “Why?”  Her response was disheartening, “If you don’t have enough…Read more

How do we keep up with technology?  A Neo-Luddite might answer, “We should not.  We simply should refuse to embrace technology.”  A true Luddite might answer, “By destroying the damn machines.”  But that was not successful in the 19th Century;…Read more

Somebody recently asked, “How is that jumping thing going?”  As we all know, sometimes enthusiasm overwhelms common sense.  My knees can attest to that.  Today, they hurt.  

The pain, in turn, raises the age-old question of whether overweight older folks…Read more