SKYROCKET!

SKYROCKET! the cookbook

noreply@blogger.com (SKYROCKET! The Band) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:33:00 +0000

We've got, like, 5 songs in the slow cooker to finish learning. ZZTop, the Pretenders, Ted Nugent, Head East. Yum-O. Now that Darin's George Harrison tribute is over (it was incredible and we'll post some links to aud/vid when ready) and now that we're done skiing and all those other fun things we were busy with in January, it's time to get back to business as usual. South by Southwest is going to swallow us alive in a couple of weeks. Darin, Cory, Rusty Bouchet and Kyle will all be busy showcasing with different artists, while Trish....goes skiing.

our weekend in photos....

noreply@blogger.com (johnny) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:14:00 +0000

welcome to the skyrocket lounge.

mike and darin

mike and trish soundcheck at continental club

english and crusham backstage in houston

hotchkiss chilling out.

johnny crashes in hotel...

houston, we have a problem...

darin behind the wheel...

soundcheck on sunday.

rocker, kyle crusham.

the wedding goers on sunday night.... they danced for hours!!!!

i thought this star of david was awesome!

SKYROCKET GOES HOLLYWOOD...AND SHAKE-SHACKS NEW YORK

noreply@blogger.com (SKYROCKET! The Band) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 03:45:00 +0000

Well, sort of Hollywood. We're playing a big party in Newport Beach in September, courtesy of Jeremy Skiver. We're trying to pick up a Friday gig in Solana Beach at the Belly Up Tavern, so if you know anyone there, put in a good word for us....

And on October 22 we'll be in New York, helping to raise money for Madison Square Park.

Madison Square Park, by the way, is home to the world-famous Shake Shack. That's what I'm most excited about visiting. The lines at the Shake Shack are always long, so now they have the Shack Cam -- you can log on and see how long the lines are before you head down there.

I heart New York.

Skyrocket performs at the champagne and barbecue gala hosted by Hill Country, a mid-town Texas barbecue and live-music haven in the flatiron district on East 26th Street. The party will start in the restaurant at 6:30 and go on until at least 11 p.m. Stay tuned for how to get tickets and support the park. We cannot wait to see you there.

Did I say how much I hearted New York?

FOR THE LAST TIME, IT WAS THE SEVENTIES: an apologia for open marriage

noreply@blogger.com (SKYROCKET! The Band) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:16:00 +0000

OK. Has anyone else been watching Swingtown on CBS, and does anyone else relate to the teenager riding off on her bike in the rain? I could probably crank out some teleplays for this show if the writer's strike lapses back in. I'll keep you all posted.

Sex, the City, and the Girl in the Band - by Trish

noreply@blogger.com (SKYROCKET! The Band) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 04:52:00 +0000

Last Friday night we were sitting around the table in our green room, a borrowed office at the top floor of a museum. The topic on the table, so to speak, was The 'Yeah-So-What' Posturing Of Guys Who Admit To Having Watched Sex And The City. (For the record, Mike used to DVR the series when it was on HBO.)

I waited til Father's Day to go see the movie, so I wouldn't have to wait in line, and I'm pretty sure I'm the only one in the band who's seen it. I think I liked it for weird reasons. I teared up at weird parts and laughed at not-funny moments. I think the guys would like it for the same reasons I did, though, and they'd probably notice the same parts. There's this one scene, for instance, where Carrie, who's a writer for a living, admits to checking out library books just to smell the pages. I've been doing that since I was six, and only my best friend (who's also a writer) and my mom know this about me. OK, and maybe a couple of ex-boyfriends.

Anyway, that's what I liked about the film -- that someone paid attention to the little details that establish and cement creative friendships. Shared stupid trivia, shared disasters, triage and cleanup. Shared absurdity and alienation. Shared connection and fleeting glory. Shared mediocrity, shared contempt for mediocrity. Shared bathrooms.

The scene that put a lump in my throat was when Samantha, possibly my favorite character because she's so buoyantly self-serving, brings in breakfast on a tray. She feeds the heartsick Carrie some yogurt and winks her trademark 'that's my bad girl' wink. Shared dares to keep on going because who you are is the whole point of what happens to you.

If you're lucky enough to have a friendship like that, then you come pretty close to knowing what it's like to be in a band. Me likey.

Mike Belile Misses First Gig! - by Darin

noreply@blogger.com (SKYROCKET! The Band) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 04:29:00 +0000

Our bassist Mike Belile's seven-year continuous streak was broken last weekend on the 7th of June 2008. Up to then, as noted previously, he had played every show we've ever done. It's always been a subject of light humor with us, but unfortunately the circumstances aren't. Mike lost his dad over the weekend and the two were very close. I knew his dad and he was an extremely talented, warm and generous man. I'll miss him as well.

Cory Glaeser, our multi-talented go-to guy, filled in for Mike and kicked ass. Admittedly, it wasn't perfect. There were bum notes, which will be good news for Mike. That's right, Big Guy, you still have your job!

THIS IS YOUR SONG

noreply@blogger.com (SKYROCKET! The Band) — Fri, 23 May 2008 15:06:00 +0000

Here's what we're working on in rehearsals.

GOODY TWO SHOES - not as easy as it sounds apparently
HUNGRY HEART - with Darin even happier than Bruce Springsteen
ONLY THE GOOD DIE YOUNG which may never see the light of day after May 31

Plus the COUNTRY GOLD EXPLOSION which is classified.

The Man With Perfect Attendance (And Hair) - by Darin

noreply@blogger.com (SKYROCKET! The Band) — Thu, 08 May 2008 13:52:00 +0000

SKYROCKET has been around for seven years now, with changing lineups and sub players throughout. Out of the 140-plus shows we've played, only one member has taken the stage for every single one. His name? Mike Belile.

Our first appearances ever were on September 9th and 10th of 2001. If the following morning's historic events were really the wrath of God as some maintain, it was because of us. We were awful. Back then it was just Paul and Kyle on guitar, me on drums and Mike on bass. We had no front man - I sang from behind the kit and Paul sang too. Still, everyone at Hole In The Wall that first night got the jist and had fun. But it was clear we needed a lift, so we called in the best front man in town, Benjamin Hotchkiss. Instantly we had more focus, charisma and vocal strength, and a new name, K-Tel Hit Machine. What more did we need?

Johnny Goudie would answer that question for us after coming to Hole In The Wall. He immediately declared us his favorite band in Austin and asked to join (read Johnny's side of the story here). Eventually we said yes, and he debuted with us at Antone's in February 2002. [For those keeping score at home, Ben has missed two gigs and Johnny three or four, the rest of us zero] My sister Trish was there that night and was knocked out.

By the end of '03 we were cult favorites in the punk scene around town, which meant we weren't getting paid much. We got our first money gig in the form of a corporate Christmas party. That meant we needed more material...and a girl singer. So we brought Trish in and it worked right away. We became not just a band, but a force of nature.

Since then several of us have missed a few shows. I sat out most of 2005 to do an acting job and was replaced by Tripp Wiggins and Nina Singh. Johnny and Kyle have missed the most for touring and recording projects, and even Paul missed a couple of gigs last year, so our de facto eighth member Cory Glaeser has been on hand for over two years to fill all of those slots.

But Mike Belile, the Cal Ripkin of bass players, has never missed a gig. Mainly it's because he's afraid we'd replace him permanently. Not a chance. Where are we gonna find another guy with hair like his? I saw him the other day drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's. His hair was perfect.

How I became a Huffington Post Blogger -- by Darin

noreply@blogger.com (SKYROCKET! The Band) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 04:51:00 +0000

In 2005, I a went to a party in New York thrown by the Creative Coalition, an association of entertainers, artists and political activists geared towards enlightening young people on vital socio-political issues. While I was there I met political commentator Arianna Huffington. Starstruck, I gushed to her what an admirer I was of her intellect, her courage and her sense of humor (not to mention she's a drop-dead knockout and cameras don't do her justice, but I digress). She told me that she had just started a new online blog called The Huffington Post and that they were looking for bloggers and I was welcome to blog about whatever I fancied. Nervously I took her up on the offer, wondering what the hell I was gonna write about and who the hell would care. Both questions were answered very quickly. Three years on, The Huffington Post is ranked the #1 most authoritative blog in the US (out of some 5 million), with a huge stable of contributors. Here's a link to all my posts.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/darin-murphy/

How I Got My Voice Back

noreply@blogger.com (SKYROCKET! The Band) — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 21:45:00 +0000

People who've been following my career as Trish Murphy for a while, or even as Trish and Darin back in the day, might already know that singing has never come easily for me. Somebody somewhere out there has sat through a performance when I was so hoarse I could hardly get through the show, or even showed up only to find that I couldn't sing at all and had to cancel (this only happened once, in 1999 at the Mucky Duck in Houston, and I was still there to sign CDs and have a CD-release "party.") Those days are pretty much over, except for November and April bouts with allergy-driven pharyngitis, and if you were in Houston last weekend you heard it for yourself.

I have Skyrocket to thank, though, for a lot of my rehab.

From the time I was a tiny kid I've had kind of a rasp to my voice, and by the eighth grade things got pretty dire. I'd go to a slumber party and be mute the next day. Singing was limited to about one hour's worth, and after that forget it. Finally I was diagnosed with vocal nodules, which are basically hard callouses that form on your vocal chords and cut off some of the air that needs to pass through them to make a clear sound. Surgery followed in 10th grade, and months of speech therapy to correct some of the habits I'd developed in the attempt to make my voice audible -- to push sound out through those two tense, worn-out little reeds of muscle.

I didn't know then that it would take a lifetime, really, for my voice to heal. Nobody knows what causes the musculature to tense up in your throat, tongue, jaw, neck and head, but that's what happens when you're using an impaired voice. "Raising my pitch" to eliminate "tongue tension" became a daily practice in therapy, and it seemed so stupid and annoying to hear the fake, babyish pitch I had to use instead of my 'real' one, which was low and throaty and pressed down on my pipes in a way I could feel. The new voice was surprisingly free of effort, heady and relaxed, but I thought I sounded like a dork. I never got the hang of it.

My range was limited to maybe an octave by that time. I limped through high school in choir and theater, faking it as a second soprano and praying I wouldn't poop out when I got cast as Babe in "The Pajama Game." I can't even count how many speech tournaments I bombed when my voice would buckle under the pressure in final rounds. Sometimes we'd win anyway, but I never felt good about it. It seemed like whenever the stakes were high, my voice would always give me away.

Fast forward to the Trish Murphy years, when major-label showcases, South by Southwest, and the relentless grind of sleep deprivation and industry scrutiny caught up with me from time to time. By then I'd regained some of my footing and earned some confidence, but the high-stakes climate of career decisions and competition would still take its toll. I'd have nightmares where I would need to scream but no sound would come out. Or someone in the dream would make me fly into a hoarse, impotent rage.

By the time I joined Skyrocket, in 2004, I was ready for things to get easier. I'd just put out a new record that I'd financed and then promoted independently, including radio and European tours, and the stress of it was getting to me. I had also begun to realize, the hard way, that not speaking up for yourself to command what you need, want and deserve in life (or in a career) isn't a good thing. Eventually as I started to reverse that habit, the weirdest thing happened. The stakes somehow didn't seem so high any more. I started to relax. And my voice came back.

A few weeks ago my mom was in the audience and saw Skyrocket rip out a full-tilt version of "Crazy on You," complete with the little acoustic-guitar intro. She couldn't believe I actually sang it. I don't have one of those golden throats, but what I do have is hard-won, and I hope the sound that comes out is honest. The material doesn't matter to me. My own songs are written as a confession, and the singing is an afterthought although the melody is usually scrupulous. Singing other people's songs is strangely liberating. The stakes are lower. And I probably need the relief.

Matthew Mahon took that picture of my tonsils.

WEINERS, WATERGATE, AND WALLBANGER

noreply@blogger.com (SKYROCKET! The Band) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 04:03:00 +0000

If you read cookbooks from the 1970s, you'd think Americans lived on Campbell's soup and weiners back then. Maybe we did. The '70s were kind of the golden age of convenience food, when you could open a few cans, add some weiners, and proudly serve up something called a "bake," "supper" or "delight." And nobody batted an eye. Plus for dessert you could have Screaming Yellow Zonkers, or a good, boozy Harvey Wallbanger Cake, Sock-It-To-Me Cake, or Watergate Pie, which was really not a pie at all but something with pistachio pudding (wha??) and a pecan sandie crust. And nobody cared that everyone was already sauced from the cocktails. It was the SEVENTIES. I've heard this phrase used repeatedly to excuse just about everything from wife-swapping to DDT.

And the cocktails. The glorious, swanky cocktails. My grandmother was single and working for a liquor distributor in the '70s. So she had every cocktail recipe ever invented, plus lots of awesome logo swag like windbreakers, keychains, lamps and toys. We had a life size Johnny Walker Red bottle for a penny bank. A giant, blow-up canoe for the swimming pool that said CUTTY SARK on the side. And an inflatable Tanqueray alligator. She drank whiskey sours and played cards every Thursday. I adored whiskey sours as a child, but I could never understand why they'd ruin it by putting nasty whiskey in it. She used to make the powdered mix for me just with water and let me drink as much as I wanted.

So why don't we throw a party, play some canasta, and pretend that convenience foods, DDT and loads of alcohol aren't going to kill you. What the hell. Sock it to me.

SPAGHETTI FRANKFURTER SUPPER
1/2 cup each chopped celery and onion
2 tablespooons shortening
1 pound frankfurters, sliced
1 can condensed tomato soup
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
6 ounces cooked spaghetti

Cook the celery and onion in the shortening. Add the franks and brown. Add everything else and heat for 15 minutes. Serve over the spaghetti.

BEAN AND WEINER BAKE
for starving he-men

6 hot dog buns
6 weiners, sliced in half lengthwise
1 can condensed bean & bacon soup
1/4 cup ketchup
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish

Preheat the broiler. Separate the buns and put them face-up on a cookie sheet. Put a weiner half on each one. Combine everything else and spread it completely over the tops. Broil until hot.

WATERGATE PIE

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 (16 ounce) package frozen whipped topping, thawed
2 (3 ounce) packages instant pistachio pudding mix
3 cups cold milk
2 tablespoons maraschino cherries, chopped (optional)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
To Make Crust: In a medium bowl combine flour and walnuts. Mix in softened butter or margarine until mixture is smooth. Spread mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan.
Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes, until set and lightly browned. Allow to cool.
To Make Cream Cheese Layer: In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Mix in vanilla extract, powdered sugar, and 1 cup of the whipped topping. Beat until smooth. Spread mixture over baked crust. Chill for 1 hour.
To Make Pudding Layer: In a large bowl, whisk together pudding mix and milk. Mix until pudding thickens. Spread over cream cheese layer. Top with remaining whipped topping, and sprinkle with cherries and walnuts. Chill before serving.

HARVEY WALLBANGER CAKE

1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 (3.5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
5 fluid ounces Galliano liqueur
2 fluid ounces vodka
1/2 cup orange juice
1 cup confectioners' sugar

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 10 inch tube pan.
Combine cake mix and pudding mix in a large bowl. Blend in eggs, vegetable oil, 4 ounces Galliano, 1 ounce vodka, and 4 ounces orange juice. Mix batter until smooth and thick and pour into prepared pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes then remove and place on cooling rack. Spoon glaze over cake while it is still warm.
To Make Glaze: Combine the remaining 1 ounce Galliano, 1 ounce vodka, and 1ounce orange juice with the confectioner's sugar and blend until smooth. Spoon glaze over warm cake.

SOCK IT TO ME CAKE
1 package butter cake mix
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup water
4 eggs
1 cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and flour one 10-inch tube pan. In large bowl, blend together cake mix, sour cream, oil, 1/4 cup white sugar, water, and eggs. Beat at high speed for 2 minutes. Pour 2/3 of the batter into prepared tube pan. Combine pecans, brown sugar, and cinnamon, and sprinkle over batter in pan. Spread remaining batter evenly over filling mixture. Bake at 375 degrees F for 45-55 minutes until the cake springs back when touched lightly. Cool right-side-up in pan about 25 minutes. Mix together confectioners' sugar and milk. Remove cake from pan and drizzle with glaze.

WHISKEY SOUR

2 oz blended whiskey
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp powdered sugar
1 cherry
1/2 slice lemon

Shake everything together over ice in a cocktail shaker and strain into a chilled rocks glass. Makes one cocktail.

I Was The Walrus, But Now I Am...Paul?! - by Darin

noreply@blogger.com (SKYROCKET! The Band) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 04:39:00 +0000

All are aware who know me even remotely that I'm a big fan of the Beatles (to a fault if you're my spouse), but I never thought they'd ever be a part of my life story. One of the biggest thrills of my life was playing the role of John Lennon on Broadway and working with Yoko Ono in NYC. That all happened because of some homemade tapes I'd made years ago recreating early Beatles hits from scratch all by my lonesome. So It seemed like I had this sort of Lennon connection 'cause I did this dead-on impression of his voice yap yap. But that was yesterday. Today I learned that it's actually Paul.

This story begins in late fall 2004, when Austin rocker Billy Harvey called me about doing some voice overs for his new website. He had this idear of having celebrity guests appear on the site by dialing some phone numbers, and asked me to be the Beatles. So I went upstairs to my loft studio and laid down the best improvised impressions of John, Paul, George and Ringo that I could muster up, and I sent them off (to see and hear them on billyharveymusic.com, find the black phone and dial 999-9091, then click on the Beatles when they appear).

Flash forward to fall 2007. I get a phone call from Ken Scott, a well-known recording engineer who began his career at Abbey Road Studios during the Beatles era. Ken was preparing a multi-media presentation documenting his adventures recording the likes of Bowie, Elton, Supertramp, and of course the Beatles. The show included an anecdote of a session he had done with Paul during the making of the White Album, and to illustrate it he needed someone who could provide Paul's speaking voice. He found me, he said, after a mutual acquaintance sent him to Billy Harvey's website. So, giddy as a 1st grader I sprinted back up to the loft and spent a couple of hours throwing down my best candid McCartney quips and pinged them over to Ken. I didn't hear from him for another six months and wondered if he'd even liked what I'd done enough to consider using any of it. And then today I got this email:

Hi Darin,
I just wanted to drop you a quick line to once again thank you for the McCartney asides you did for me. I've now used them several times and the audiences really seem to like that section of the presentation. I even gave one at a Beatles festival in Amsterdam and the fans really thought it was Paul, so that was wonderful.

Thanks and cheers,
Ken

Well you're quite welcome, Ken. Say, you don't still have a key to Abbey Road, do you?

i fell in love at sammy's on main or the triumphant return of the silver dancers

noreply@blogger.com (johnny) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:33:00 +0000

live photos: aly toups

friday night we played sammy's in houston for the first time. we had a blast! here's an overview... there were pretty girls, a great crowd complete with dancing people, my uncle chuck, a helpful staff, delicious meatloaf, gorgeous bartenders, we played "surrender", we parked on a sidewalk, we hung with friends under the freeway, i got to hold a very pretty girl's hand while i sang a duet with darin, trish and cory brought the thunder even though they were losing a battle in the allergy war, we got to see our old friends from new years eve, benjamin found a new way to mess with me and it really works.

saturday we played a fundraiser for the zachary scott theater in austin. it was sooo much fun. there we dancers painted all silver dancing on little stages everywhere, dance troops on roller skates. i used the wireless microphone to sing to darin from across the room while slow dancing with a silver girl dressed in future clothes. people danced their asses off! benjamin invited 38 people onstage at the end. overall a super-great weekend!!! i can't wait to do it all again.

xo, johnny

HOUSTON WE HAVE NO PROBLEM

noreply@blogger.com (SKYROCKET! The Band) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 23:28:00 +0000

We love Houston. We'll be back there this coming Friday night at a place called Sammy's at 2016 Main. Most of us grew up in Houston, and we all have stuff we miss about it. Especially the ethnic food. Well, especially the ethnic anything. Houston is one of those places where when you're in Chinatown all the street signs are in Chinese. And now there's Vietnamese, Korean and all kinds of other Asian boroughs. It's the most international city in Texas and it seems hilarious to even use those two words in the same sentence. But it's true. We love Houston. It's supposed to be a packed show and we hope so. With lots of colorful people.

how it's done in san antonio... the photos!

noreply@blogger.com (johnny) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 20:32:00 +0000

hello. you read trish's blog... here are the photos.

HOW IT'S DONE IN SAN ANTONIO

noreply@blogger.com (SKYROCKET! The Band) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:53:00 +0000

We played a gi-normous party at the Argyle, which used to be a giant ranching headquarters but looks like a giant house that Scarlett O'Hara would haunt. The guest of honor was a young woman who'll be crowned as a Duchess at Fiesta, which if you've never been to San Antonio is their high society's version of a private Mardi Gras. It's a big, honkin' deal, and we don't really understand how it works but it means that lots of glamorous parties have to be thrown. Somewhere around 800 people were invited to this one, and there were two bands, us and a 16-piece salsa orchestra who flew in from Miami. They were spectacular. There were tiki huts everywhere, and a huge rowboat filled with flowers hanging over the dance floor.

You never know how people are going to react to Skyrocket!, especially people in formal wear, but in San Antonio nobody stands on ceremony for long. Or high heels either. It was a typical rock and roll throwdown after midnight. Trish had three costume changes and two boys in tuxedos to carry her around during "Material Girl."

The cutest girl at the party was from Victoria, TX and gave a detailed routine about how to work big hair. "I'm from the COAST! Honey, I know how to work the humidity!" She was hilarious. We hope we'll see her again this Friday at Cedar Street.....

SONGS WE LEARNED AT TONIGHT'S REHEARSAL

noreply@blogger.com (SKYROCKET! The Band) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 05:11:00 +0000

BOOGIE SHOES
Benjamin looks really, really funny when he sings this.

MATERIAL GIRL
Benjamin really, really wanted Trish to sing this.

MISTY MOUNTAIN HOP
If you already hear the song in your head just from reading the title, you're a Zeppelin fan.

MY KIND OF LOVER
Well, Benjamin loves Billy Squier.

THE BITCH IS BACK
A signature song for Hotchie. Although Darin also channels Elton John well -- he used to have this little Elton John costume he wore around the house as a kid. Kind of a "Rock of the Westies" look.

DO YOU REMEMBER?

noreply@blogger.com (SKYROCKET! The Band) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 04:44:00 +0000

What happened to YOU at the last SKYROCKET! show? We can't be the only ones having fun. Or confronting our personal issues. Or having wardrobe malfunctions. We carry duct tape for emergencies, so just ask....

HOW TO HAVE FUN AT A LANDFILL

noreply@blogger.com (SKYROCKET! The Band) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 05:30:00 +0000

Just add women with good teeth.

photo courtesy of Pam Blaine, the cute one on the right.

All too frequently our work leads us to strange places. This photo was in fact taken last Saturday night at a landfill just outside the Austin city limits. In true Austin fashion, though, it's not just a landfill. It's also an eco-preserve, exotic game ranch and special event facility. Fashionable-looking people attended, willingly danced to our music, and said they didn't smell anything weird. We had a glamorous 2,000 square-foot luxury cabin all to ourselves as a green room. What band wouldn't want that?

how i ended up in the world's greatest band. by: johnny

noreply@blogger.com (johnny) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 14:26:00 +0000

in the summer of 1988, i was 19 and i lived in houston. i was the singer of an odd musical project that was started by some jazz and funk musicians called, stranger. the band was only around about 4 months. anyway, we played a gig one night at houston's famed underground club, the axiom. that's where i met benjamin hotchkiss. he still remembers what i was wearing... a madonna "who's that girl" 1986 tour tank top and clown pants. really. maybe he asked me to light his cigarette or something. i don't know.

in the fall of 1988, i started a band called, panjandrum. the original line-up featured a keyboard player named, cliff tipton. cliff was the soundman for a group called, ezra charles and the works. through hanging out at the ezra charles shows, i met their very nice and very good drummer, darin murphy. i don't remember meeting darin, i just knew him. i can't remember if i saw darin's group, manic pop thrill before i met him through cliff, or after. i remember seeing manic pop thrill, at least once, at zelda's (fitzgerald's) in houston. their bass player was a very handsome and nice man named, mike belile. i don't remember meeting mike either, i just know that i liked him.

in 1991, just before i made the move to austin, some of my friends that went to rice university would go to the gingerman (on thursdays, i think) to see trish and darin. i went and i loved it. they were so funny and made such a beautiful sound together. i don't remember meeting trish either. i know i saw them at the pig and whistle and this place called the black forest tavern. they had a great scene going on and i always had fun at a trish and darin show.

in the fall of '91, i moved to austin and started playing around town with a girl named, michelle solberg. sometime in the spring of '92, i was trying to put a new band together and michelle suggested a guitar player. her friend, paul english. i remember meeting paul. he came over and i think i showed him some videos and played him some songs i had just recorded. we didn't end up playing together, but remember seeing him around. benjamin was in austin by then as well. he was in a very popular band then called, the duckhills. they were great.

over the next few years, touring regionally, we would all cross paths. darin moved to austin sometime in '94 and i ended up playing in his band, grover dill, for a while. then trish moved to austin. then mike moved to austin...... i don't remember meeting kyle either. i do remember being in the music lab (a rehearsal complex in austin) parking lot, smoking a cigarrette one day when kyle drove up blaring paul mcartney & wings, "1984". he stopped and stuck his head out the window and excitedly screamed out, "don't you think wings is the greatest band in the world?!?!" i knew we would be great friends after that.

then, one night in 2001, i was at the hole in the wall and i saw darin, benjamin, kyle, paul and mike loading in equipment. i ran up and said hello and asked what they were gonna be doing. darin said, "we're the k-tel hit machine. we're playing a.m. hits from the 70's. you're gonna love it.". and man, i fucking did! i went nuts! i realized they didn't have a keyboard player and suggested they could use me and my rhodes. eventually, darin asked me to play for a gig they had on valentine's day 2002 at antone's. i said yes. BOOM! here i am.

benjamin and the bride

noreply@blogger.com (johnny) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 14:17:00 +0000

FROM PHOTOG FATALE ASHLEY GARMON'S BLOG

noreply@blogger.com (SKYROCKET! The Band) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 17:43:00 +0000

A few words about Skyrocket.

I don't know how you might feel about wedding bands. But whatever that may be, you would have to rethink everything once you saw Skyrocket
play a wedding reception. This is truly a fantastic collaboration of very talented individuals. The energy they bring to an event is unlike anything I've ever seen - and as you know, I've seen more than my fair share of weddings. Beverly and I recently shot a wedding that they played and got these fun fun shots.

You'd just have to see it to believe it. But they never EVER disappoint.

I heart them.

Ashley Garmon

THERE IS NO END TO WHAT WE CAN DO TOGETHER

noreply@blogger.com (SKYROCKET! The Band) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:01:00 +0000

DRIVING ALOUD

MEET THE BAND

noreply@blogger.com (SKYROCKET! The Band) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 22:19:00 +0000

Hotchkiss took this.

Paul took this.

Johnny Goudie painted this

and this...

Darin can do this....

and Trish baked this. It's a cake in a bag.

This was Kyle...

and this, this was Mike.