My rock and roll summer

I was talking with my brother Stephan a couple of months ago, and I reminded him I was going to turn 50 this summer. He asked me what I wanted to do, and I didn't even have to think about it. I said, I want to play music. Stephan and I founded a band called Ghost Ranch over ten years ago. The band was gaining some momemtum, playing festivals, earning good money, getting some air play and recognition from the Northern Nevada and Northern California community and a growing following in Las Vegas when I pulled the plug on the project by taking a job in Astoria Oregon. I was sort of delusional when it happened, because I convinced myself that moving to the Pacific Northwest wouldn't change things much and that the band could continue as it was, but of course that didn't happen. Stephan lives in Las Vegas now and we still get together periodically to play, but I've been missing some sort of closure around the Ghost Ranch project. So, getting back to the conversation about me turning 50-- we decided to put it out there and see if we could find a venue to play live. Stephan contacted Mary Bennett from Bruka Theater, and she suggested the band come to Reno and play a closing night party for a play and that we invite the Reno community to party at Bruka with the reunited Ghost Ranch band, so that's what we decided to do.
Shortly after booking the Bruka party (scheduled for next Friday, July 30th) Stephan spoke with recording engineer Bjorn Thorsrud (Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins, Dandy Warhols, etc) a childhood friend of ours about coming to Reno to record the band live. He said he couldn't make it, but invited the band to come to Chicago to spend some time in the studio. So that is what we are going to do. Stephan and I pooled our money, and we are paying for drummer Jon Caggiula (Gunshot Licker) and guitarist David Highsmigh (Ghost Dance, SWINE) to join us in Chicago. We also hired some videographers to shoot some footage in Seatle, Reno and Chicago to document whatever it is that we are doing. The shots I attached are from the Seattle shoot. I'm excited and anxious at the same time. Mostly I am just grateful to be given the opportunity to do what I love with people I care about.

Acoustic Asylum at Stephan's House

I am in Las Vegas, and I shot this short video on my camera at my brother Stephan's house on Thursday. Stephan and his wife Betsy bought a rambling Vegas ranch house with enough land for Betsy to raise chickens and train horses. They cleaned out the "mud room," set up the PA and invited the family over for a night of music. This is just a slice of what that night felt like. It's Stephan's daughter Selena singing a Linda Williams song with her dad on electric guitar and her uncle on backing vocals and acoustic guitar. I hope you like it.

How to Disapear Completely

That's a title of a Radio head song from the album Kid A. It became sort of my theme song in the gym this year. I thought the idea of using this song to lose body fat was sort of funny.

In January of 2009, I posted the following:

I wrote in a previous post of my resolution to drop 5% of my body fat this year. I actually didn't have a clue what my body fat percentage was when I wrote that piece, nor was I sure how realistic dropping 5% for a guy like me was.

Friday, I purchased a body composition analysis from Brian and his mobile body fat testing lab www.BodyFatTest.com. It's a mobile lab in a semi-trailer truck with a submersion tank in it. Brian had me strip to my bathing suit, submerge myself in the tank and blow as much air as I could out of my lungs. He took four measurements to assure accuracy, then a computer spits out a fairly impressive body composition summary. I had a couple of pieces of good news. First one is, I'm taller than I thought I was (5 ft. 11 and a quarter inches). Second, my body fat for my age is closer to Good, placing me in the 55th percentile. If I want to drop 5% of my body fat, that would bring me to a weight of 176.5, but that is if all of the weight I lose is fat and not muscle.

I took another body fat test from Brian on January 6th, 2010 and I was pleasantly surprised.

Here are the actual results from that 2009 and 2010 body fat tests

Date--------Weight-----Lean Lb.-----Fat Lb.-----Body Fat%
1/16/2009---187.8------149.95-------37.85-------20.1
1/06/2010---172.2------151.85-------25.35-------14.3
---------------(-15.6)-----(+1.9)-------(-12.5)-----(-5.8)

Like I said in the previous post, I wasn't really sure what dropping 5% of my body fat meant at the time. I know now that it is a pretty big deal. For men by age (40-49) 20.1% body fat is in the range between fair and good, specifically between the 50th and 55th percentile. 14.3% is in the excellent range, between the 85th and 90th percentile for my age group. And, keep in mind, for a man my age, if you drop below 6.6%, you are in danger of burning essential fat.

I feel good about what happened. When I was thinking about what made the change, part of it I have to attribute to some blood work I did and a prescription from my doctor for some hormones to put me back in balance. Another contributing factor was my regular attendance (every Monday night) at the West Seattle Martial Arts Club, a club that was started by a couple of disciples of Bruce Lee over 25 years ago. The Monday night core workout kicked my butt so badly I found myself highly motivated to go to the gym as often as I could on weekdays, so I wouldn't be in as much pain the next Monday. I've stuck with it, and now I am being asked to show some of the new guys the ropes.

For next year, my goal is simply to move in the right direction, and it actually is not that hard, because the good news from my body fat test has made me more motivated than ever to keep working out!