I missed yesterday due to having an early show to play, so I decided to do an uncharacteristic Friday post even though the Internet is a ghost town on Fridays. Enjoy!

1. Joel Forsaken

Left Voicemail

2. Dylan NY

Left Voicemail

3. Rob Freeman

The Last Time We Spoke: On Rob’s wedding day last year. I wasn’t there, instead, Rob text me a picture message at around 11am, of a guitar I had sold him years earlier. It was really random but welcome. I called Rob back and we chatted for a little bit about guitars and music. About 20 min into the call he said “alright, I gotta run, gonna go get married now” and it was the only time he mentioned that his wedding was that day the whole time. Whether or not it was last minute jitters or just complete randomness, I will never forget that call. 

When I Called Today: Rob and I had a long chat, catching up about my band, and his studio (you can see the Fender Jaguar I sold him in the background of the video). We talked about the town of Boonton, where he is located for business, and the wonderful craft beer location down the street from him. Of course, it wouldn’t be a call between Rob and I if we didn’t spend half of it discussing guitars and gear, but of course, Im not going to bore you all with those details. However today’s photo is of a guitar I bought last year, which I wanted Rob to see. I miss talking to Rob on a regular basis. I used to tour with his band Hidden In Plain View, many years ago, and they were responsible for my first trips around the country. 

4. Krysta Frikkers

Left Voicemail

5. Brian Sella

The Last Time We Spoke: SXSW… Brian was down there with his band, The Front Bottoms, and we spent most of the week hanging out.

When I Called Today: I had one mission for this call, and that was to play a song for Brian, that I had recently written, that I feared may have inadvertently had one of his riffs in it. So once we got on the phone, I played it for him, and Brian confirmed that it was NOT a Front Bottoms riff! Success! After that, we talked for a few minutes about his upcoming tour in the UK, and I told him to bring me back the biggest piece of crap souvenir that he can find.

6. Gabby

Number Disconnected

7. Chris Gachot

Left Voicemail

8. Mike Galfas

Left Voicemail

I decided to stop doing “The Verdict” section on every entry. Some just don’t warrant any kind of “sum up”, which is what the verdict is anyway, and i always feel like im forcing myself to tack something onto the end of each entry with them. 

THE CALLS

1. Taylor Eldridge

The Last Time We Spoke: I’m not really sure… Taylor kinda sorta lives next door to me… that is, when she’s not living in Washington DC for school. I couldn’t tell you the last time we actually spoke beyond a wave or a short hello if we saw each other in passing.

When I Called Today: I kinda didn’t know what to do with this call at first… I asked a lot of really vague and generic questions at first, ya know the ones, “hows school?” “do you like DC?” “what are you doing in your free time?” you know, the ones that suck… however, there was a silver lining when Taylor told me that she may be going to study abroad this summer, and when I asked where she will be headed, she told me that she hadn’t decided yet, but that Indonesia seemed really interesting to her. I agreed with this as soon as I started thinking about Indonesia’s role in the history of the Earth… We don’t often think of it in terms like this, but in 2004, when that tsunami hit, Indonesia lost something like a quarter of a million people. Thats the kind of disaster that the History Channel tries to frighten people with, yet, it just happened 8 years ago, NOT 10,000 years ago, EIGHT. Let that sink in for a second…. okay? cool. So thats what Taylor and I talked about, and I told her that now is the time to visit, and lend a hand over there, because I’d be quite surprised if that country was back on its feet yet. She agreed.

The Verdict: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake_and_tsunami

2. Ryan Edmundson

The Last Time We Spoke: Ryan and I speak pretty regularly, as he works on the booking side of things with Those Mockingbirds.

When I Called Today: Every time Ryan and I speak its about one of three things… either show dates for my band, metal (in general) or bad ass guitars. By a random coincidence, Ryan ended up with a guitar a sold years ago, which was probably the coolest guitar i’ve ever owned. So when I called today, I expected one of these topics to be what came up, but Ryan threw me a curveball and told me that he had seen Nickelback play live the nite before and that they had a floating stage that flew the band out over the crowd. And then… Adam: “Ryan, you realize I’m going to write on my blog that you liked a Nickelback show right? and are you prepared for what it could do to your metal cred?” ryan: “Im totally okay with it”.

The Verdict: Ryan enjoyed a Nickelback show. 

3. Jeff Ellis

Left Voicemail

4. Nick Wilson

Left Voicemail