Road Trip

Greetings from Sioux Falls, SD! Gene and I are on a road trip to Mt. Rushmore with his daughter Jenna and granddaughter Maddy. Yesterday, we drove all day to spend the night here in Sioux Falls. While here, I bought another guitar, one for camping and traveling. Fun! Today, we will drive to Hill City, which is near Mt. Rushmore and spend 3 days there. More to follow...

Good luck brother John on your knee surgery tomorrow!

Joan

Coco Bolo's

The band had a show last night in Aggieville (college town-KSU). Great crowd, even got a $100 tip from the owner! I think he likes us... Notice the stand-up bass player in the background, we were really crowded and the poor kid was constantly dodging Steve and his guitar. The 2 guys in Sonic Wood T-shirts are "Knot Heads" (get it?) It was a really fun night, and Gene's sister Lucia and her husband Jerry joined us from Independence, MO.

Hope everyone is well and have a great weekend!

XOXX, Joan

Lake of the Ozarks

Last weekend, Gene and I, along with his sister Lucia and her husband, went to Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. Lucia's daughter and family have a lake house and invited us to visit. They've got a lovely place and lots of toys. It's a really big lake with loads of people, houses and boats. Fortunately, their place is on a quiet cove. The weather was a little iffey, but we did some boating, played Scrabble, fished from the dock and visited. A very nice weekend.

In the studio

Here's how I spent my day... Steve and I played guitars for 7 hours, laying down the rythm tracks for 5 songs. Next week, we go back and do 5 more songs. Then Dale and Sparky (aka Fansler the mandolin player and studio owner) will lay down lead guitar and mandolin tracks, and then...we sing on top of it all. Whew! The end product should be a fully engineered CD that we plan to sell at our shows. Can you believe it? Just when I thought it couldn't get any more fun....

Sonic Wood on the web

Good morning all! You may now view our website by clicking on http://myspace.com/sonicwood. Please keep in mind, the recordings were done in Dale's garage, and aren't great, but we're having fun. There are no songs with me singing lead, just because I'm so self-critical I wouldn't allow it. Maybe later...

Thunderstorms and rain last night, more than 2" and more forecast for today. Getting into that time of year, severe weather season.

Gene left early this morning for his mom's house, and will be back tomorrow evening. Then it's my turn Saturday/Sunday. It's a tag team effort.

I think there's a new car in our future. Yes, I said NEW. As in, less than 50 miles on it! I'll post a photo when it actually happens...ALERT THE MEDIA!

Have a good day and we're sending good vibes in Uncle Paul's direction, in anticipation of his upcoming surgery.

Love, Joan

THE LITTLE GRILL

Sonic Wood played The Little Grill last night, a hopping Manhattan restaurant/bar that serves Jamaican jerk grilled food. They have music almost nightly, so it's considered "the place to be seen/heard". We were on the patio, which was nice, but as it got dark, the bugs were attracted to the lights and we were bombarded! Trying to stay focused while a skeeter is biting you, and a June bug has landed on your head, took an awful lot of concentration. Finally, during a break, we discoved a can of OFF and hosed down with it. Much better. We got a standing ovation for "Fire on the Mountain" and an encore. It was a really good night, we made some new fans (affectionately called "knot-heads"). The little dude singing is Dale's grandson Griffin, a future honky tonker and current "splinter" (little fan, not quite a knot-head yet). The kid has guts and can sing too.

Gene is officially retired now and loving the fact that he doesn't really have to do anything...except his chores and "honey-dos", but that doesn't count. Now he's thinking he needs to ride the Continental Divide, on horseback. There's a trip I may not be taking...you know that goes from Mexico to Canada?!

Love to you all and hope you have a leisurely holiday weekend.

Joan

Our Sorrow

Gene's mother, Arlone Nelson Cockburn, passed away this morning. She got to see or speak to all her children and grandchildren. There were even 2 jokes she told Carole early this morning! Gene and his sister have been with her since she fell ill yesterday morning. Arlone would have been 90 years old, next month. She was a good and faithful woman and will be dearly missed.

Joan