Uncle Daddy’s Smoke Shack
Episode I

[In best Paul Stanley screeching]….HELLO NASHVILLE!!!

Thanks for wasting some of your time checking out this column.  Dave has been nice enough to let me spread my writing wings on the revamped Nashvillerock.net. This is my “introduction” column.  The real first column will be coming soon. So, please allow myself to introduce……myself.

I was born in Nashville and raised in different parts of the country.  My father was a salesman so we would wind up back in Nashville quite frequently. At the age of 6, my dad taught me my first guitar chords but I gave up out of frustration when my fingers were too small to form an F-chord. I received a top-o-the-line JCPenny Synsonics Steinberger rip-off guitar for my 12th birthday (this guitar style will give you an idea of what music was considered “hot” at the time, White Lion anyone?).  Along with my rockin’ guitar, I received a booming, lunch-box sized Harmony amp. This amp pumped out a resounding 10 decibels (lock up your daughters folks!). I began to take lessons and formed a group in high school.  We did some local gigs but never amounted to much. We used the idea of being in a band more as an excuse to get wasted on the weekends (as if we needed an excuse!). I went to MTSU for a couple of years but decided to drop out to pursue regular work and get back into music. I tooled around with writing and recording with some friends but still didn’t get back on stage.  I moved to Kansas City, MO in August of 2001 to “find myself” and get the hell away from Nashville.  After meeting my wife up there, we decided that Nashville was a much better place to raise a family than the crime-filled (not cream-filled) streets of Kansas City (trust me folks, it’s not all cows & farmers up there!). So, now I’m back in town with my wife, 3 children and I’m putting a new band together called SAY UNCLE!.  We hope to be playing gigs by the Fall.  In the meantime, I want to get familiar with the current state of Nashville rock/metal and hopefully make some good friends in the process.

   This column will rotate on a normal basis.  While one week, you may read a memoir of my past days of dive-bar glory; the next week, you may see a review of a show that I’ve attended.  I’ve also been bit by the myspace.com bug and was blown away at how many Middle TN bands are listed.  So, I will be doing myspace.com page reviews for local groups. There are lots of talented groups in our area and I plan to shed light on some of them.  I hope you enjoy what I write, but if you don’t, that’s fine.  You can go read Dave, Hornet, or Winslow’s articles too.  E-mail me with any suggestions, comments, and insults.  Thanks for listening.

Uncle Daddy Longlegs
www.myspace.com/sayuncleband