Musings on music, sports, life in general from Quincy, Illinois.

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Age ... And When Your Head Hurts

And a very happy Turkey Day to everybody today. It's a good time to be with family, adopted family and friends.

So today I am 42. Last night I thought I was 22. This morning I felt like I was 82. The whole age thing is relative. Right? RIGHT?

Ouch. Not so loud, please ....

Saturday, November 18, 2006

The Band

What I'm discovering is a lot of people listen to WQUB and are just starting to read this blog. So for the loyal Funions readers, have patience here just for a minute ....

The Funions started in June 2000 at First Union Congregational Church. We've gone through several major lineup changes and had several drummers spontaneously combust on stage, but we hired a lawyer, actually got one to play in the band, and we got all that cleared up.

The band is Dr. Mark Brei on bass, Chris Cornwell on drums, me staying away from the guitar and microphone unless absolutely necessary, and Larry Flavell on guitar and keyboards. Mark and I are original members, Chris is the best drummer in Quincy and half our age and sometimes wonders why he plays with a bunch of old washed up rock and roll guys, and Larry played in many bands back in the day. We dusted off Larry's amp and dragged him out of retirement about a year ago.

The church version of The Funions plays once a month at First Union and features Jack Inghram as our sax player. If you've never heard him play, you are missing out. Jack was a member of the legendary Freddie Tieken & The Rockers and man, can he blow that horn!

Our new CD, Just Pretending, is our third. Just like What Are You Waiting For? (2001) and Is This Appropriate? (2003), Just Pretending was recorded this summer at Copper Mine Studios in Quincy with Alan "Ghetto Fabulous" Lawless at the helm.

Just Pretending is 10 original songs and a mix of blues, pop and rock. We go from harder songs like "Ain't Love Grand" to a keyboard-driven ballad called "Better Place," written for my mom, who passed away in May 2005.

We are playing a CD Release party Friday, Dec. 1 at the Blue Onion with awesome local band Bartholomew, and we'll have CDs on sale for just $5.

Further inquiries, email me at dirkhartband@insightbb.com