The Changing of the Guard

Take a look at Jake, he's standing next to the front man for the band, "Playing in Traffic" a local band from our little corner of the world.

Jake was asked to sit in with them because their regular bass player was out of town.  It was pretty amazing.  The crowd was big, especially for a Sunday, what's more, the crowd was YOUNG, I mean young, most of them aren't of legal age to drink.  

As I watched them getting set up I looked around the room, there were many people that I knew and that I've known for years.  One lady in particular was Linda, Linda and I along with Jake play in another band.

We were sitting together remembering when our generation was the up and coming one, we were the younger crowd that was settling in and trying to make a name for ourselves.  We were playing the music of our generation to an audience that was grateful to have kindred spirits serving up their entertainment.

Tonight wasn't about us however, it was all about the next generation.  

                

As the band began to play, the crowd came alive, 

they screamed and sang in lock-step unison,  songs that I'd never heard in my life.  It was one of "those" moments.  A moment where I could actually feel the passage of time, I could feel my youth slip a little further into the distance.

On one hand it was a bit sad, but on the other hand it was very satisfying, almost like we could rest assured knowing that our legacy was in good hands, young hands, hands that are ready to conquer the world in their own way.

I teased with Linda as we smiled ear to ear watching the show.  I said, "You realize we're out the door; right?"  She said, "We're not out the door Trout, we just have to move on to the next thing, we have to continue to show them the way, we're not through, our role has just changed a little".

Linda's a wise woman.

It's really wonderful to be in a room with more than one generation of people, it's really wonderful to see yourself in the next generation.

The day I first met the future Mrs. Trout.

Check out my beautiful bride, all decked out in her finery. It's hard for me not to drag her straight upstairs when she's in this getup!

This crazy woman married me in a weak moment 24 years ago, what an amazing time we've had. All those years and two beautiful children later I can honestly say there's never been a dull moment, every day is an adventure, let me tell you.

Being the hopeless romantic that I am, I still remember the very first time I laid eyes on her, what a moment I had.

The year was 1977, a short, fat, red-haired, freckly boy was just starting his Jr. High School career, in case you hadn't guessed, that boy was yours truly. I was being given a tour of the school by a friend of mine who'd already been there - being a year ahead of me in school - Blaine Barnes was his name. Knowing my affinity for eating, one of the main stops along the route was the cafeteria. We ambled our way through the long hallway that lead to the dining hall, the hallway opened up into a rather large room filled with tables all neatly facing the same direction. The whole south wall was glass, allowing sunlight into the cafeteria. We walked about halfway into the room when lo and behold there she was . . . YOWZA . . . what a vision of perfection . . . she was leaning with her back against the glass, speaking to a friend of hers. I found out a bit later that she was an older woman . . . a full year older than myself.

She was easy on the eyes, decked out in her Hash jeans and Frye boots, her blonde hair shining in the early afternoon sunlight, as we came a bit closer I noticed her scrumptous brown eyes and rather full . . . blouse . . . shall we say. In all my days I've never had a moment like that again.

As we walked closer - me trying my best to inhale my bellybutton toward my backbone - Blaine did the most brazen, uber-brave thing I've ever seen him do, he stepped toward her and said, "Hi Jennifer, good to see you again this year". My heart skipped a beat realizing that Blaine actually KNEW this perfect specimen.

She looked at Blaine and smiled and said, "Hey Blaine, good to see you"

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Now I'm not CERTAIN the wording of the greeting Blaine and Jennifer shared, but I remember as clear as day what Jennifer said as she first made eye contact with me
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Jennifer looked toward me with disgust and said the following:

"So Blaine, who's your fat friend?"

Ladies and gentlemen, the chase was ON! I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but nothing this good ever comes easy. The future Mrs. Trout had no idea the passion that lived inside my big body. It was only a few short years later that she and I said, "I do", but in reality it was that moment in the cafeteria had sealed our fate.

People tell me I'm strange.

I took this picture from my desk at a job I recently moved on from. I sat at this desk for 6 years. The wall looked pretty much the same for all six years.

I guess that in itself isn't all that strange, the real strange thing about me is I've eaten the exact same lunch for three years now.

My lunch philosophy is simple: If it's working; why change it?

As you know I shed about a hundred unwanted pounds a few years back and I really don't want to find myself in that condition again. So I've concocted an eating schedule that I adhere to with great care.

I have an uncle who I worked with for about ten years and he ate the exact same lunch every day for the ten years I worked with him. My lunchtime regimen must certainly be genetic.

I eat many times per day:

Breakfast is a shake made of a scoop of vanilla flavored protein powder, 1 banana, and 16 oz. of vanilla flavored soy milk.

I then hit the pool where I swim laps for 2 hours, 4 days a week.

At 10:00 I eat an asiago cheese bagel.

At noon I eat a MetRX Big 100 meal replacement bar, apple pie flavor.

At 1:30 I eat a banana.

At 2:00 I hit the weight room for 35 minutes, four days a week.

At 3:00 I eat another asiago cheese bagel.

At 4:00 I eat 1 oz. of salted cashews.

At 5:00 I eat another banana.

Monday I play water polo for two hours after work.

Tuesday and Thursday I swim for another two hours after work with the Leopard Sharks swim team. My yardage total for Tuesdays and Thursdays is usually right around 10,000 yards, counting morning and evening sessions.

I take Wednesdays and Saturdays off from swimming, I usually run or drag my tire sled on those days.

Sunday I swim for an hour.

I'm a creature of habit I guess??

I don't know where that bra came from, dear, honest.

Say hi to Leo. Leo was the Blue Coyote drummer for a long while, super good drummer. I love Leo a lot.

The band was at a little memorial get-together for a friend of ours that passed away tonight - John "Guitar Doctor" Renborn. We had a fun time, it turned into a big jam session with a bunch of musicians including Leo showing off their goods.

I was reminded of a funny story about Leo as we played tonight.

Leo is a newlywed, he and his wife Susan have only been married about a year. Right after Leo had gotten married, I think it was about a month after the wedding, we were playing a gig and above the stage at the place we were playing are some giant elk antlers. On the elk antlers rested several bras cast onto the antlers by boozy women enjoying a moment of craziness.

The night we were playing, Leo had a friend of his shooting some video of us.

We finished up, put our stuff away and headed home, it was about 2:00 am. Well, Leo and his new bride were unpacking Leo's stuff the next day when Susan discovered a bra in Leo's gig bag. It was a dainty little red see-through number. Very sexy to say the least. Susan was - shall we say - less than happy with her find. Leo tried to explain to Susan that he didn't know how the bra had gotten into his bag. I can only imagine the dancing Leo did trying to get Susan to believe him.

I don't know how far a guy would get with the ol' "I don't know where that bra came from" story.

Leo had an incredible stroke of luck, his friend who was taping us actually caught the bra falling from the elk antlers into Leo's gig bag, it was plain as day, no mistaking it. Marriage saved.

Technology is a wonderful thing . . . sometimes.

What? I didn't hear you.

Man . . . I need some hearing aids.

My hearing has never been very good. I don't know why, I blame mom and dad of course. I even recall way back in Elementary school having really bad hearing. Every year when we would have our hearing tested, the audiologist would be horrified with my results and immediately jump on the phone with my mom proclaiming my affliction.

Mom would say, "Yeah, I know . . . he doesn't hear all that well".
Well, it starting to get REALLY bad. It affects my everyday life, my work and my social skills.

The other night the Blue Coyote Band was playing a gig in Mancos Colorado at a lovely little dive called "The Columbine". It's been around forever, has a lot of history. It's a very cool place to play. When the band ends a set, typically we mingle with the crowd - most of whom we usually know - and have a beer and get ready for the next set. Well at this particular gig there were a couple of gentlemen sitting at a table enjoying the show and when the set ended, one of the men gestured for me to come to his table. Not that unusual, I figured he probably wanted to compliment us on our music, or just say say hi, it happens all the time.

I head over to his table and reach out my hand, he shakes it and we exchange names. He's one of these men that speaks very quietly, well my hearing the way it is, if there's any background noise at all I can't hear a freaking thing anyway, so I leaned down close to him so I could hear what he was saying . . . .

Before I could react . . .

He grabbed my head . . .

AND STUCK HIS TONGUE IN MY EAR . . .

For the love of Pete; he stuck his TONGUE IN MY EAR?!?!?!?!?!

I was horrified, I recoiled away from him and I'm sure I said something very tactfully about how I was flattered by the attention but he wasn't really my type. I know he got the message, he and his friend got up and left.

So I took the first brave step . . . I went to the Ear, Nose and Throat doctor and said, "Doc, I think I may need a hearing aid". He patted me on the shoulder and said, "come on in, let's take a look". Even though I don't have my hearing aids yet, I already feel better about the whole thing. Now I just have to figure out how to come up with the money . . .