Sneak Peak at the New Album

I wanted to direct everyone's attention to SoundCloud and a sneak peak at what to expect from the new album. We got some good tracks to choose from (18 in all), some pulled from "Lost In Mississippi" and some brand new stuff. I'm excited for everyone to hear the album and can't help with the teases. I would also like to inform you that these 3 songs are available for FREE DOWNLOAD if you signup for the Kevin Waide Mailing List at KevinWaide.com, so head on over and sign up today!

This Saturday, June 1st, the Project will be playing at the 2013 H.O.G.S. Haven Festival and Bike Rally at Whitetail Ridge Outdoors on Birmingham Ridge Road in Blue Springs, MS. This festival is the first of its kind in the area and has already been making a lot of noise, so make your plans now to attend. This is a family oriented event, so bring the kids. The Festival starts at 11:00 am, and the Project hits the stage around 6:30. We hope to see you all there.

A New Album In The Works?

I kept it a secret until I had the files in hand, but I've had time to examine them closely and I'm comfortable with announcing that a new Project album should be ready in the coming months, maybe as soon as late summer! Wow, that was a mouthful.

Jim Staten and Paul Stone from Q-Now Audio and Mobile Recording were set up to run sound for the 2013 Tupelo Hog Roast, and with their equipment, were able to multitrack the entire performance. The files are clean (with the occasional cell phone interference that is the bane of our society!) and mixing has proven to be fairly easy thus far. I may try to post a quick sampling online in the coming weeks, as the album approaches completion, but I would like to say that I'm definitely liking what I've heard so far. I'll keep you posted. 

The Absolute Worst Part Of Getting Older?

I'm no spring chicken anymore. Exactly 3 months from today will be my 41st birthday. Today is my mother's 62nd birthday, and like any good son, I spent most of the morning with her. And, like any good son, I gave my mom the most considerate present I could afford: I went with my dad to do some work on the air conditioner at their church. My mom got to spend most of the day without him worrying her to do this or do that. See, good son. :-)

Which leads me to the title of this blog - The absolute worst part of getting older. I'm old enough now that the wrinkles don't bother me (much). The "platinum blonde" highlights in my hair have been with me since my late teens, so that doesn't bother me (too bad). People addressing me as "sir" still kind of gets to me, as does Mr., but I do live in the South, so I'm used to it. I'm sure I made a lot of people feel old when I was younger, because my parents taught me to "respect my elders." I still say sir and ma'am, Mr., Ms., and Mrs. Growing up in the South, this becomes second nature to most all of us, mainly because if our parents heard us disrespect an "elder," we were promptly administered a "back hand!" If you've never received a back hand, count your blessings. Those things are ruthless.

No, the absolute worst part of getting older is watching your parents struggle with things they've never had to struggle with before. Working on the church's air conditioning unit with my dad today, I almost broke down crying. My dad was always a strong, independent man. He rarely ever needed help with anything he had to do, and today I watched him struggle with getting a screwdriver into the head of the screw on the unit. 15 minutes of watching his shaking hands try to get the driver in the head of the screw, and wanting so bad to do it for him. But he's a proud man of 63 (he'll be 64 July 10th of this year) and was determined to do it himself. And the more he fought with it, the worse I felt. My dad and I never had what you would call a "good relationship," but in the last few years, he's battled Fibrosis of his lungs, resulting in a lung transplant in 2006, and multiple bouts with skin cancer, which has taken his nose and most of the right side of his face and neck (F#@K Cancer!). We've gotten closer over the last few years, thanks to my youngest brother being a bigger screw-up than me, and I cherish the time I get to spend with him, but I really wish his health was better. I would love to be able to sit on the porch and have a beer with my dad, but his health doesn't allow him to drink any alcohol. His energy level is so low these days that he needs a nap after making up his mind, and this is not the man I've known for 40+ years. I'm fighting the tears as I write this, hoping that by "saying" it I might find a way to cope with it. Maybe.

I guess what I'm trying to say is no matter what your relationship is with you parents, make it a point to call or go by for a visit as often as possible. Have patience with them. They're human, too. I'm sure my dad is having a hard time coming to terms with his decline in health, but the good Lord knows what he's doing, so they say. I just hope his pain is lesser than mine, because this is the worst thing I've ever felt. 

Sorry to bring you down with this one, but I had to get it out, and that is what friends are for, right? Listening.

2013 Tupelo Hog Roast

May 17-18, 2013 is the 44th Annual Tupelo Hog Roast at the VFW on Mitchell Rd., Tupelo, MS. The Hog Roast is an annual event and was started to help raise money for families affected by Cancer. "We started cooking for cancer, and now we have changed to cooking for St. Jude, Ronald McDonald House, and The Hospice House of North Mississippi," says Hayden "Boots" Willis, President of the Tupelo Hog Roast. "If you have never had any dealings with St. Jude, or never been, it is something everyone should go to. It is an awesome place. The Ronald McDonald House (in Memphis) provides people with a place to stay. The Hospice Patient Care fund provides money for people who can't afford to drive back and forth for treatments in the hospital."

This year will be the Kevin Waide Project's fourth year of helping raise money for these families. As most of you already know, cancer has affected my life and the lives of everyone around the Project, most recently by the death of our long-time friend Tim "The Milkman" Hopkins on March 23, 2013. My father has been rounds with skin cancer, and I lost a very dear friend, Edita Kubu, on August 21, 2010 to Melanoma. F#@K Cancer!

The Hog Roast kicks off at 6:00 pm on Friday, May 17, with live music and food, including crawfish, barbecue chicken, red beans and rice, barbecue bologna and sides, and will continue Saturday at 11:00 am, with the Hog Roasters serving their famous pulled pork barbecue and sides. A donation of $10 per person will be accepted to benefit the organizations above, and the Kevin Waide Project will perform at 8:00 pm! Make your plans now to attend and help raise money in the fight against cancer.

Current Goings On

I just wanted to make a quick mention of a couple of shows coming up that everyone may be interested in.

First, Guntown, MS is having its first ever HOGS Haven Festival and Bike Rally on Saturday, June 1, 2013. Admission is $10.00 and entertainment includes Caddle, Seeking Seven, 1st Degree, Brian Kingsley, and Breedlove, in addition to the Kevin Waide Project. The Rally starts at 11:00 am and goes until. Details can be found at http://www.hogshavenfest.com.

Second, The Project will be kicking off the 35th Annual Prairie Arts Festival in downtown West Point, MS, August 31, 2013. We take the stage from 9:00-10:30 am. I haven't seen the full lineup, but as soon as it is released I'll post it up here.

One more thing, I want to let everyone know that the practices with the John West Band are going great, and we'll be booking some shows in the very near future. I can't wait for everyone to hear the songs. I think it's going to surprise everyone.

We'll see ya at one of the shows. 

Light Reading

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream---and not make dreams your master;
If you can think---and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son!

"If" by Rudyard Kipling, 1865-1936

I learned this poem in high school speech class (thank you, Mrs. Braswell), and it's stuck with me all of these years. I think back to different passages often and see the parallels in my own life. I have had my share of ups and downs through the years, and during the darkest times, these words come to the front of my mind, reminding me to "Hold on!" We have all been accused, doubted, left waiting, lied about, and even hated. We dream, think, win and lose. We have heard our words twisted to serve someone's agenda, or had everything we've worked for taken away for one reason or another, sometimes by our own actions. We even gamble with our future, only to lose everything and start over!

It's how we deal with these situations that forge us into the people we become in life. I'm sad to say that I've not always reacted in the way I should when things go south, but I'm working on it. I'm keeping my eye on the light at the end of the tunnel and praying it isn't the front of an on-coming train. We'll see how it goes.