You know Ricki C.  He's the guy who has forgotten more about rock n roll than you will ever know. Oh, you saw The Doors movie? Ricki saw the fucking Doors start a near riot at Veterans Memorial in Columbus, Ohio. You own the AC/DC box set "Bonfire"? Ricki C had lunch with Bon Scott. Ricki is the guy who tried to kill himself twice but the Rolling Stones saved his life. You remember that don't you?

 Ricki is the guy who plays guitar not because he wants to, but because he has to. The guy who saw The Who, MC5, The Stooges, Hendrix BEFORE they were on anything other than AM radio in half empty clubs. He who tuned guitars, kept groupies away from other girlfriends and moved gear for Willie Phoenix and The Buttons and the Shadowlords and Flower Machine and True Soul Rockers.

   He's the guy who gets on stage and asks if you want an encore. The guy behind the merch table. The guy on CD102.5 doing "Invisible Hits" with Curt Scheiber. The guy who works at Ace in the Hole records when Pep isn't there. And he never plays any jam bands in the store. He's the guy playing rock n roll all alone on his acoustic guitar at the comic book store. Don't you dare call him a singer-songwriter. Them's fightin' words. Ask Rick Ocasek.

Ricki C, I know the guy. I've spent countless hours sitting next to him in a van. He inspires me to be a better person/rock n roll fan. We once even witnessed a Too Live Crew concert together in a park in North Caorlina. That's a brotherhood. Ricki C. You know the guy. He can't shut the fuck up about Mott the Hoople, Hamell on Trial and The Whiles. Yeah. That guy. he doesn't drink or smoke but he hangs out in rock n roll clubs 3 nights a week. He does a great meringue too. You know the guy. .

all bullshit aside "The Bathtub" is the greatest rock n roll story ever told. read it and tell me i'm wrong.

 Read it here 

"Ok Colin, we get it. Rock n roll saved Ricki's life...blah.. blah.. blah.. Big Deal x 2. Enough with the rock n roll stories. How about some sex and drugs stories involving Watershed?"  

 fine..... Ricki has those too.

 drugs:    

  sex:   

please pass on the info to Ricki's blog to all intelligent people who love rock n roll. 

http://rickic614.blogspot.com/2012/01/part-one.html 

Announcing a new World Wide Movement: "Pay The Rent Saturdays!" a plan to support local business beginning Saturday January 28th!

Ok people, I'm not going to bullshit you. Things get a little tight around the coffee shop this time of year.  More so, there is this guy called "the landlord" and this thing called "the rent" and together they can be a real drag. It seems like almost every month he is all, "yo, give me some money" and I'm like,"dude...I ain't got that kind of scratch handy", so I need some friends to come in and buy a drink or sandwich and help us "Pay the Rent".

We all know buying local is much better for the planet, economy and our collective well being but let's face it, who hasn't sat in a drive-thru burning gas just to get one sweet taste of Starbuck's overpriced Beelzebub blend? I know I have. Say what you want about the Devil or McDonald's, but if they know one thing it's: location,location,location!

It's not like I'm are asking for a huge favor. We have great coffee, mocha, lattés and all that jazz you can get at all the big places. Don't like coffee? No problem, hot chocolate, breakfast sandwiches, grilled cheese and tomato soup etc. Free WIFI. Come hang out. Study. Stalk your ex on Facebook perhaps? Good times.

"But I really like big corporate chain stores?"- you say?

Once again, no problem! Here at Colin's Coffee, we aim to please! On "Pay The Rent Saturday", we will have a jar out where you can just give us money and you do not have to order anything. You can support local business and then walk across our parking lot and choke down some crappy Mc Yuks swill. It's a win-win!

                                                     One Day a Month!

In all seriousness, we live in a world where corporations are not just king, they are considered "people". I stare out the windows of Colin's Coffee every single morning and watch the McDonald's drive-thru line overflow down the street. And I get it. That's just how it is. People are busy and while we all agree "buying local" is the right thing to do, it just isn't always convenient. So here is what I propose: Just one day a month, the last Saturday of every month go patronize a local business. Colin's Coffee or whomever. Try a small local restaurant, or grocery store, or record store or bar. or go see a band or whatever. Go to the Clairmont...Oh wait, too late. Everybody misses the local place when they read about them closing in the paper/online but the best time to miss them is while they are still in need of your business. Pay that place a visit one day a month.

Write in in your calendar and plan in advance. Like researching a local vacation. The last Saturday of every month is when you give the little guy a shot. Just asking 12 days out of 365. Not only will it improve your community, I guarantee you will be glad you tried it.      (If you agree please share, duh)

In the meantime, See you at Colin's Coffee Saturday January 28th (though I have to leave for a bit to take my son Owen to his 2nd basketball game ever- that's how you roll at a small business).

Thanks for reading this and if you agree, please share the sentiment (duh)- Colin

Colin Gawel is best known as the founder of the worldwide, "Pay the Rent" movement. Additionally, he plays in Watershed, the Lonely Bones, and once ranked every single Cheap Trick song in a 29 page essay. He is a husband, father, songwriter, fantasy baseball player. He moonlights as a coffee shop owner. colingawel.com 

World of Beer has 550 different beers, a really cool staff and a bunch of TV's for your veiwing pleasure.

I haven't played 550 songs yet, but here is what you have missed so far:

Superior/Profile/Chemotherapy/Words We Say/Sad Drive/Maybe Best If I Go/Try a Little Faith/Cold Weather/ AM Boy/i-65/Still Love Christmas/Lonely Bones/Half of Me/ Pretty in a Slutty Way/Saturday Night There's a Party/Plan B/New Life (original version)/She Rains She Pours/New Depression/American Muscle/Sticky Bomb/ Set The World on Fire/Good Day/Mercurochrome/Over Too Soon/Best is Yet to Come/I Deserve you/ How Do You Feel/Broken/ Manifesto/Resonate/Straight to Hell/I'm Getting Ready/Hey Lydia

ok- I admit, I have done a couple of covers as well: Kinks "Celluloid Heroes", Bruce- "Johnny 99", Tougher Than the Rest", Mavericks-"What a Crying Shame", Replacements-"Swingin Party" -----not exactly red meat for the masses, but I'll leave it to the other acts to do Creed or "Cheese Burger in Paradise".

Hope to see you soon!  colingawel.com 

A few years ago during rehearsal with the Lonely Bones, Dan suddenly stopped playing his trademark walking bass line during "Sad Drive" and said, "Guys, I need to talk to you about something". Herb, Rick and I all exchanged glances and I muttered, "uh..yeah..sure...what is it?"

We turned down our instruments and picked up our beers and he said, "Guys I've been doing a lot of thinking these days about how much beer our band has been drinking during practice. after practice. before practice. I mean look at us, It's 9:30am on a Sunday morning and Herb is already talking about who's turn it is to fly or buy"

Rick chimed in, "Dan, I don't think it's fair to criticise Herb, I mean, It is a legitimate question, that case of Milwaukee's Best is almost gone and it's not going to re buy itself. And.. we still have 14 more songs to run through. If i didn't know you better, I would say it almost sounds like you are suggesting that we run out of beer."

"I've got a bad feeling about this", said Herb.

Dan took off his Bass and turned off his amplifier and sat down on the sofa. The room was silent except for the hum of the PA and Colin cracking open the last can of  "beast".

"I think our band has a problem," Dan began, "Guys, we need to face the truth, we drink too much beer. And what's worse, we really drink way too much crappy beer."

Colin took a long pull on his can of lukewarm brew and said, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Guys, I've run the numbers and it turns out that if we just built our own brewery, we would actually SAVE money over the long haul. Instead of running to the Quick-ee mart every 45 minutes, we could brew our own supply. What's even better, you guys know I make the best beer so we wouldn't have to keep choking down this swill every Sunday morning".

Dan had a point. If he knows two things on this planet better than anybody, it's brewing beer and playing rock n roll. It was only logical. The rock n roll was covered, it was time to get some first class suds up in this place.

"I'm not gonna lie to ya fellas. This isn't going to be easy. It's gonna take a pretty big facility to produce the amount of sauce we need to keep this combo functioning properly. Good thing is I've found a spot right off 5th Avenue in Grandview. And you guys know how I visited hundreds of breweries during my touring days? I wasn't just drinking, I was taking notes and now I know exactly how I want to build it.. Rick, didn't you read a book once or something?"

"Actually Dan, I'm an engineer"

"That's Great Rick, You can help out. Colin and Herb, can you do me a solid and stay away from the brewery until I have a couple batches in the cooler? We'll never get any where with you guys around drinking everything"

Colin and Herb looked at each other and shrugged, "We'll do it on one condition, once the brewery is up and running, we'll do a show where we can drink as much of your beer as we want", said Herb.

Colin added, "yeah".

Dan said, "Gentlemen, it's a deal. Now who's up for a case of Keystone light? Herb, I'll buy if you fly?"

Please like "Four String Beer" on Facebook    http://www.facebook.com/fourstringbrewing 

Check out the Four String Website

Colin Gawel and the Lonely Bones will be performing at the Four String Brew tasting party at the Woodland's Tavern, Friday January 13th 6-8pm. The show is sold out, but if you really want to get in, drop us a line and we will see what we can do.

Colin Gawel plays in Watershed and The Lonely Bones. He moonlights as a coffee shop owner and writes these bloggy type things when there are no customers. colingawel.com

To stop those monsters, one-two-three,

Here's a fresh new way that's trouble-free,

It's got Paul Anka's guarantee ... [winks]

Just don't look! Just don't look! [repeat several times]

 Personally, I think the BCS has run its course. My coffee shop intuition tells me that people have grown weary of debating who should be in the title game each year. More so, my gut says that people are resigned to the fact that it doesn't really matter who plays anyway. It's doesn't feel like a "real" championship in the way all of the other sports do. Of course everybody likes to bash the BCS system and claim they want a playoff, but the simple fact is that if fans truly want a change they could do one very simple thing: Don't watch the BCS title game on TV.

It's all about money and ratings folks. If you truly desire a different College football system, do not watch the title game. If you tune in, your are compliant in supporting the BCS system and forever lose your right to bitch about how, "the bowl system sucks".

To simplify: If you watch the BCS title game, you endorse the BCS system. So shut up with the complaining already.

If you turn off the TV it is a vote against the BCS and killing its power.  If the ratings numbers come in around the country (exempting LSU and Bama fans naturally) and they are low, you will see change in a hurry. (You can still listen on radio, or go to a bar if you must- ok sports nerds?)

You can do it. It's just one game. One night. It's a week night anyway. Get some sleep. Don't you have a job?

And while we are on "Weeknight", nothing in sports pisses me off more than the college football championship being played on a week night. College football IS SATURDAY. That is its very fabric, its pacing, its tradition. You aren't suppose to work all day, watch college football, and go back to work the next morning. No sir. You get shit done in the morning, rake the leaves, play with kids, and by Saturday afternoon you are free and clear to drink beer, scream at your friends/TV, and sleep off the hangover Sunday waking to catch Sports Reporters on ESPN and adjust your Fantasy football team before kick off. That my friend, is college football.

What's more, you don't see the NFL moving their title game off Sunday do you? Hmm.. I wonder why? BECAUSE SUNDAY IS NFL FOOTBALL. They know that much.

And please spare me the money argument. College football is a ratings monster. It would crush in any time slot let alone Saturday at 6pm (just like the Super Bowl but a day earlier). The bigger issue is that College football needs to protect their brand and demand the title game is played on a Saturday and not leave it up to some network pinhead who is looking to maximize their short term profit/product placement.

Oh, and aren't these amateur athletes suppose to be in class anyway? How does a weeknight game make sense to the college presidents and professors who allegedly value this sort of thing?

So, for all these reasons, please tune out the BCS title game this year. I promise you will feel good about it the next morning.

If you find yourself caving, remember these 3 simple words: "Just Don't Look".  If you don't watch it, it will go away  http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Just_Don't_Look

 Colin Gawel is a songwriter/father/husband who plays in the band Watershed and fronts his solo band the Lonely Bones. He moonlights as a coffee shop owner and writer of hack little essays like the one above. Mostly about music, but sometimes things he knows even less about. www.colingawel.com  www.watershedcentral.com 

Coming soon, "Why the Big/Pac 10/12 should leave the BCS Now" - ( I meant to get get this finished Jan 2nd as well but the coffee shop has been too busy-got to go, customer)

There is plenty we don't have in common as well. 

I can rank every Cheap Trick song ever written and talk at length about which KISS non make-up album is the strongest (Asylum).  I can perform, when prompted, 5 Beatles songs. (full disclosure- I sorta fake the words to "Come Together" and "Let It Be" so it's more like 4.6 songs)

Joe P can talk and perform classical music endlessly. He is a professional organ player and Latin teacher. His band The Whiles have had a song on an Acadamy Award nominated movie soundtrack and have been written up in Rolling Stone. 

and once a year he performs ...EVERY SINGLE BEATLE SONG EVER RECORDED IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER.  You read it right.

Thursday Dec 29th- Kobo-4:30pm-2am (yes-it starts at 4:30pm. Kobo used to be Oldfield's on High BTW)

For details and many links to get better acquainted with Joe Peppercorn and his jaw dropping musical talent, link to his facebook page through www.watershedcentral.com or  click on any of the links below

Show Information from The Hot 17

"A (Really) Hard Day's Night" 614 Magazine, November 30, 2011.

 The Whiles on Myspace

Seriously people, It's up to you to make "Still Love Christmas" a hit and it's going to take at least 3 minutes everyday to make it happen. Here is how you can help:

-send people to colingawel.com  the video will be posted the entire month of December

-purchase a copy here or on I-Tunes or listen on Rhapsody or Amazon

-purchase or steal a version and send it to all your friends. 

-come to see Colin Gawel and The Lonely Bones "Still Love Christmas" Happy Hour at the Rumba Cafe Friday Dec 16th. Doors at 6pm, Bones on at 7.

-Request Colin Still Love Chirstmas to dj@cd101.com or text: request Still Love Christmas to 68683 

Please, if you love the Still Love Christmas CD the way we do, please find some time this month to pass it around. At the very least, your efforts could result in less air time for "Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time" which I think people of all faith could agree is a good thing.

Do it now. sample e-mail    Hey _____ I love this Christmas song! Check it out at www.colingawel.com  

BTW- I wouldn't call the EP a concept album, but then again.. it kinda is. You really need to have the whole thing. It's free to listen so please give it a spin top to bottom.

Big room set: Stickybomb/Set The World On Fire/ American Muscle/ Mercurochrome

LC: Stickybomb/ Suckerpunch/Mecurochrome/Small Doses/Can't Be Myself/5th of July/Set The World on Fire*/Don't Add Em Up*/Broken*/ American Muscle*/ Obvious/Anniversary/Best is Yet To Come/ Black Concert T Shirt/----How Do You Feel (acoustic) I've Been Looking Everywhere

* = new song

“American Muscle” and “Sticky Bomb” were recorded this summer with Mike Landolt (Maroon 5, O.A.R.) producing, and they, along with a batch of other songs from the sessions, will be featured on a new, full-length (as yet untitled) album that will be released in June 2012. The June release coincides with the publication of bassist Joe Oestreich’s memoir, Hitless Wonder: A Life in Minor League Rock and Roll (Lyons Press), which tells the story of Watershed’s twenty-plus year haul through the music biz bush leagues.

In their long career Watershed have done damn near everything there is to do in rock and roll. After dropping out of college, they signed with Epic Records and sipped champagne in long, white limousines. Then they stuffed themselves into a Ford Econoline, and they’ve been living off beer and beef jerky ever since. They humped their amps through the doors at CBGB ten times. They’ve played the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip. The Metro in Chicago. The Rat in Boston. They’ve shared the stage with Wilco, Ben Folds, Tommy Stinson, The Damnwells, Cheap Trick, The Smithereens, Insane Clown Posse (no shit), and long list of has-beens and wannabes.  Their catchy, three-minute rock gems have been featured on Gene Simmons Family Jewels and on MTV’s Laguna Beach, Date My Mom, and Made, and they’ve been in rotation on radio stations from South Carolina to Seattle.

"World Of Beer" is a brand new pub located in the new Shadowbox Complex on Front Street. Or a better way to describe it, the old CD101 space on Front St. Needless to say I have a strong affection for that spot and when the opportunity arose for me to be one of the first performers I leapt at the opportunity to christen the new space with some appropriate music worthy of the building's glorious past.

so here is the deal: Every Thursday evening I will be playing solo (voice/guitar/harmonica) at happy hour5-7pm. WOB beer has 500 bottled beers and 50 on tap. It is a really cool space and I may even end up playing on the stage they have built over the bar. We'll see. I will be playing all sorts of solo and Watershed songs plus whatever hits the spot. Good tunes, mucho beer and NO cover.

Also- I will be on FOX/ABC TV with Johnny DiLoretto Tuesday Nov 1st, 7am-9am to talk about the WOB and the new gig. Tune in.

Please help me spread the word and consider Colin Gawel at World of Beer, Thursday's 5-7pm for your social calendar. I promise it will be a good time.  WOB Facebook link here  http://www.facebook.com/wobbrewerydistrict?sk=info  or a cool article from Columbus Underground http://www.columbusunderground.com/world-of-beer-opening-in-the-brewery-district 

hear the tunes or read the words at colingawel.com  or just google him