Tis the weekend of the Noise For Toys Benefit yet again my friends.
Having lost track of the exact number of times we have done this thing
but believing it to have been close to 20 I am calling it--yet again--the
Umpteenth Annual NFT. Mr. Resistor was born in the Christmas season of
1982 as memory serves and played our first gig at a Christmas party at
Waldo Peppers which is not called Qioutes, I think. Though it was not a
beneft gig it was a three band show with some overlapping members. Along
with Resistor was Ricky Rowell and a band I was in with the gone but not
forgotten Pierce "Coldneck" Hodnette, Cresful "Corky" Reeves and Thomas
  "Aquinas" Dean that we called Blues From Another Planet. Somewhere around
here I have some snapshots and, strangely enough, I look more like my son
than myself. Time flies.
    Anyway, a quick review of the rules: Bring an unwrapped gift instead
of a cover charge to the War Eagle Supper Club on Saturday night,
December 22. The show will start at 9:30 or 10:00 depending on the number
of folks there (!) and will be Resistor followed by Leeroi Dynamite and
the John Bull Band. As was the case all those years ago there are
overlapping members and will likely be stage raiders of various stripes.
It should go well into the wee hours. Those attending early please be
sure to use your manners as my parents will be there for the first time
in probably ten years. Last time I recall my father dancing until he was
soaked in sweat with Greta. We'll see if either of them have the gas left
in the tank to repeat.
   The cash donations this year will go to the trust fund of Jeri Ward,
daughter of Kelly Ward who died of a heart attack this Fall. Kelly was
around way back in the day when the Rakes who later evolved into Resistor
were playing at the Casino here in Auburn about 1980 and was always a
joyful and sweet hearted guy. Every year it seems we put an old friend in
the ground. The Supper Club's owner, John Brandt, lost his brother a
couple years back, our drummer Dan lost his father this Fall and we all
miss Becky Sparks, Leeroi Meadows and Chris Hinds just to name a few
whose faces that used to grace us. Their absence makes me cherish the
ones that still remain with their new lines and greying and/or thinning
hair. We are all very blessed to be able to get together and play this
gig every Christmas and to reunite old freinds and lovers.
   Remember that the toys that we ultimately give to the AFD Toys for
Tots drive can be for anyone from infant to teenager and they needn't
always be brand new. Many of you have kids who have outgrown certain toys
that would really make Christmas day for some kid. So, let's get together
one more time and feel all right and help brighten the Season for someone
less fortunate than oursleves and, believe me, they are many. Wishing you
all a Merry Christmas and Peaceful and Happy New Year. Much love. B

 Hello Cybernauts, 
    We can now all exhale with our ring for the sixth finger firmly in
place (would that be the bird/war eagle finger on the second hand?)  after
the local college team's win in the Iron Bowl Saturday. Life can now
proceed forward and we can focus on less important things like sustenance,
world peace and exactly what will become of Lindsay and Britney. There is, 
however, one or two items that are a subset of the groups of important
and non-important things we can focus on and those are A) Leeroi Dynamite 
appearing at Buffalos again this Thursday, November 29 like a
troublesome cold sore that pops up to remind you of  a deal of sorts made long ago
that you thought was a thing of the past and yet still remains and B)
similarly, the Mr. Resistor and the Incapacitators One Millionth Annual Noise for
Toys Benefit Gala at the War Eagle Supper Club on Saturday, December 22.
Mark them down in blood on your calendars or perhaps etch them into your
inner forearm with a woodburning kit. You won't want to miss it!
    Concerning the Dynamite at Buffalos...by now you all know the
drill. We should begin about 10:30 and play three healthy sets of 
swampabillyfunkatelekineticrockinspazjazz at the very day low price of
free to the public. That's right. No cover. The price is right, regulated by
the Council on Wage and Price Stability and adjusted to compensate for 
inflation, symptoms of euphoria and any costs involved with bodily
injury incurred on the mean streets of Auburn as you and your herd of goats
make their way to the pub. There is really little reason for you not to
attend. Rotting fruit will be provided to pelt the band with in case they
refuse your request for, say, You Light Up My Life by Debbie Boone or Louie
Louie by Chuck Cochran. Anyway, we will see you there..all of you...and there
will be a test.
    On the Resistor tip I'm just getting the word out early so you can
mold your lives, hearts and souls around this sacred event.  We should start
ten or so with, at present, the musical lineup being Resistor, Dynamite and
Square Bone with flexibility to bring in and subtract fellow artists.
I think most of you know how this works but for those who do not...it is
sort of a toys for tots thing where you bring an unwrapped as your cover
charge. These are then turned over to the Auburn Fire Dept. who have a system
to get them to the area's underprivileged kids. If you do not bring a toy
there is a cover charge and that money this year will be put into a trust fund
for the child of Kelly Ward who died of a heart attack this Fall. He was
one of the Resistor...and even Rakes...family from way back when we first
began blighting this town with our three chord pollutants. He will be missed
for his sweet demeanor and ready smile. I will continue to pound you with
info regarding this event in the coming month.
    So, that will be it for today. While our other guitarist Brennen
madly chips away at his novel on Dust Bowl Vampires to the whirring of his 
unusually large table saw and happily bubbling vat of lava I will have
to be content to get my literary mojo working in these bi-weekly solicitous 
diatribes. The world surely cowers in anticipation. Peace, love and
amps on eleven. B.

Dear Sam,
   I do not like green eggs and spam, however and nevertheless,
here is a bit of spam sans the green eggs (for those of you that are
lactose intolerant) to yet again inform you that the Dyn-o-mite will be
going off at Buffalos this Thursday (11-15-07) at around 10:30 in the
hope that there are enough of you out there looking to have a blast to
make it worth our collective whiles.  I realize some of you have been 
pondering whether life is worth living after our beloved Tigers
were defeated and defeated handily by the stinkin' Georgia Bulldogs.
But, come down off those ledges. The buildings in this town aren't tall 
enough to kill but rather to only maim. Pull those revolvers away
from your tormented brows. It could be worse. You could be Falcons fan
like this dear narrator. Life goes on and it is sweet. Now, if we lose
to Bama all bets are off and it might be advisable for the non-football 
fans to stay away from the walkways beneath Haley Center for a week
or  two. C'est la vie.
    We will likely be opening the night sans our rhythm section as
my buddy, the Kang of Swang, will be employing them down in Montgomery
with the John Bull Band until ten or so after which they will light up
I-85  and arrive with yellow kerchiefs flailing, horse hooves pounding
and trumpets blowing to save the day (we hope). In the mean time,
Brennen,  Chuck and myself will be getting in touch with our sensitve side as
we explore the outer boundaries of drumless, bassless existence (hey, 
baseless existence...my picture is next to that in the dictionary!)
and bamboozle our adoring public with "folksy tales" of our days with
Huck Finn, Adolf Hitler and David Swanger. I always get the three
confused but I think Hitler is the barefooted one. Anyway, Myra, if you are 
thinking of coming out for an early set...think again. I'd feel a
lot  better if you saw us with Grover manning the engine room from the
jump. 
   Twice in one lifetime of Bruce minus primal beat is more than
should be expected of even the most kind of friends.  So, in other news, 
apparently the book I am writing will not  have the first words written again
this week. Still doing research so hold  that pose and choose your words with 
an ear for high drama. If you are considering quitting smoking you might want 
to put it off because when said book is made into film we all know that trails 
of smoke just give it that daring do devil may care ambience we all so enjoy. 
And for you ladies who dip snuff, well, you're lovely either way. Just do that
voodoo that you do and don't change a thing! War Eagle, Semper Fi
and butter me up and call me a biscuit cause it's gwine be a hot time
in the old town Thursday night. B

That day has come....that every other Thursday kind of day where
we, the members of Leeroi Dynamite and its affiliate franchises and circle of 
friends, do our thign at Buffaloes. The specific denotation for said
event that actually only represents yet another feeble attempt by mankind to 
impose his weak will on reality is October 18 at around 10:30 PM. In
the greater cosmos this is, naturally, immaterial, however, as we all seem
to be presently trapped like skunks in space and time it may be useful 
information.
    Not sure what to expect this time. We hope to avoid disgruntled and
possibly coke geeked harmonica players...unlike last time...in our
never ending quest to bring local legends in their spare time to the stage to
show their skills (and fill out our set). We are pleased that our drummer, 
Grover, will be able to make the gig as his appearance was in flux at
one point because his charming company was needed for his lovely wife, Dr.
Wood (that'd be a great porn name), on a trip to New Orleans for some sort
of conference. This trip is apparently off but they are off to other
regions outside the Hub of the Universe, i.e., Auburn, in the near future as
she looks to cash in on her recently acquired doctorate and in so doing
pull the rug out from under us by towing the baddest drummer around with her.
See him while you can. The drumming fixture on the Auburn music scene is
seemingly playing out the end of the string here. I've tried to explain to
Suzanne that us playing every other Thursday at Buffaloes ought to be enough of
a springboard to international stardom to convince her that there is no
need for her to work but she just isn't buying into the couch and bon bons
thing. C'est la vie.
    Anyway....not much new to report but I'll try to come up with some 
quasi-entertaining line of baloney should you venture to the pub for a 
listen. By the way, for those interested, Mr. resistor will be hosting
the umpteenth millionth Noise for Toys at the War eagle Supper Cub December
22. That is a Saturday. I'll be bombarding you with spam regarding this in
the coming months. Much love to all. B

    I'm trying to type this without my first cup of coffee this 
morning...skip that, I'll be right back--I think I just snapped a
synapse. Ok, have had first sip of Junky Juice so any logical disconnects or
outright lies cannot be blamed on the lack of chemical preparation. On to the
first order of business with invariable ADD addled forays into asides and
general  confusion...

    The band of brothers known as Leeroi Dynamite (Die-No-Mite!!! Jimmy
Walker where are you now?) will be unleashing our cavalcade of notes
and beats bent and bruised upon whoever might be inclined to step into the
club after the hour of ten o'clock (PM!!!!) on Thursday, October 4. Never
quite sure who may make  a guest appearance. Last time the Kang of Swang did
a quest spot and seemingly had the better part of his mojo working although it 
always kind of gripes my butt to have someone borrow my guitar and
sound better than me. I mean, it isn't hard to do but that is probably now 
something Miss Manners would do to a fella, is it? When he gave it back to me 
my old black tele, Mr. T, kind of looked up at me and said, "I pity
the fool that tries to play that smooth on me again!" In abject fear I was sure to 
play my standard plethora of four licks and six chords so as not to  undo 
his discombobulated mojo.You know, I went to see Thomas Freidman speak 
yesterday on campus and he expounded upon his the World is Flat book
about globalization and the suddenly somewhat level playing field and who
should I see there but Swanger? Man, the world is flat. Oh well, at least I got
a ride home.
    Speaking of Mr. Freidman, I was emboldened by a pseudo mathematic 
corollary he expounded upon in answering a question from the audience. 
Rarely have I ever felt emboldened by anything involving the M-word. Anyway, 
it goes like this...CQ+PQ>IQ (curiosity quotient plus passion quotient is 
greater than intelligence quotient). Now, if that doesn't make a  stupid 
person feel better then I don't know what would. But then, I'm stupid
so I wouldn't know, right? And curiosity killed the cat....oh well, at any
rate, the man got paid $75K to speak here for an hour and a half and I'm
smart enough to know it will probably take me close to 16,790 hours to make
that kind of dough so I'm going with whatever he said. Sometimes being smart
is knowing when to get out of the way and let somebody really smart tell
you what to do. That's why I let Brennen name the chords. Well, that and
that unusually large table saw the vat of lava and the turtleneck sweater
and the monocle he wears whenever I come to his house. BZZZZZZZZZ
    Hope today finds you all well and that tomorrow will find you at 
Buffalos and that Friday will find you sans significant hangover and
still  possessing the better part of your hearing and self respect. OK, how
about just the hearing. Much love. B

    As we the citizenry of Auburn trudge about in our sackcloth and hair
shirts, eyes cast groundward and thoughts cast toward what we hope is a
merciful College Football God there is a warm, glowing light beckoning us
towards its comfort at Buffalos on Thursday night, the 20th of September in
the 2007th year of our Lord....well, some people's Lord anyway. That light
would be the comforting glow of the tubes from my amplifier as we gather our
gang of merrymakers aka Leeroi Dynamite once again to wrangle joyfulness
from drums, horns and tautly drawn strings. Yes, despite indications to the
contrary, the sun rose again on Sunday morning after the Tigers latest
disemboweling and it would appear that life as we know it--or a close
facsimile--will indeed continue. Who'da thunk it? Well, that'd be me. As a
life long Atlanta Falcons fan my soul is 87% scar tissue and I am,
therefore, uniquely equipped to see the positive side of disappointing
losses, nuclear holocaust, famine, inoperable cancer, etc. Trust me...life
goes on...sort of.
    Not much new to report from the band perspective.  As of this writing we
are all seemingly good enough, smart enough and dog gone it people like us
enough to pull it off one more time. Negotiations with Chuck's uncle, Johnny
Cochran, have gone well enough that our saxophonist extraordinaire should be
there to let his super nova lovelight shine and, as ever, I will make a
cordial invitation to my old bud, Mr. Irving "Bo" Gallagher to come and sing
a few tunes with us and demonstrate how a real bluesman is supposed to
dress.  Mad Scientist/Guitarist, Brennen Reece and his Frankencaster will be
there as well as the Masters of the Engine Room--Mike Jones in all his funk
and fury and Grover who not only has reached a stature where he only has to
be described by one name but one where there is also no need to say more.
Grover.....yeah....Grover. Sweet.
    So, you have your directions and have been adequately inspired I'm sure
to take a power nap and come down and lend moral support as well as to use
your bodies as a sort of sound buffer so the bartender doesn't ask us to
turn down again. Until we see you again...B