Firefighters, Chili, and the 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

Live in Studio A - Radio Does Not Do Pictures


“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

Sue - Artist, Designer, and Rocker

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

Fast, Loud, and Loose with a Sense of Fashion


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

The Babe Was One Heck of a Ball Player


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

Surf on the Radio: TJ the DJ and KDVS

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

Moon Dawg 2014

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

I'm Getting Too Old for this . . . . (Part 2)


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

Return Via the Old School


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

"I Saw a Little Daylight There"

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

The "New" Shine


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

Replaced by an iPhone Application

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

Airborne Yet? And Other Burning Questions


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