Heartwarming

The CRB had an amazing night at the New Daisy Theater on Beale Street in Memphis the other night and I was overwhelmed that so many members of my family made it out to see the show. It was the first time in probably 30 years that we'd all been together in the same place, since many of us live in other states. I was moved, to put it lightly.This was only half of my family who were in attendance and I dubbed them, The Hardcore Crew because they made it to the very end of our long, three-hour night of music. Totally amazing. My mother, who suffers from Parkinson's, gets tired very easily and usually goes to bed around 8 o'clock every night, so for her to stay up through all of that was wonderful to see. She was very excited, as it was the first time she'd been able to see me play in many years and having the rest of the Sluppick clan there kept the energy level really high. I too, was elated that she made it downtown. In addition to that, 10 or 15 of my closest friends from high school were there. Wow. I'm a lucky dude. Earlier in the day, my good buddy Craig scooped up the meat lovers of our group and drove us over to my favorite food spot in the country, Payne's BBQ.  It's the one and only time since I started this crazy diet that I've made an exception to the rules.  Here's why...[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKK11qUlzFs]Get the picture?  Well, needless to say we got the day started off right and after the meal of amazing chopped pork and delicious beans, a very happy Chris Robinson looked at me and said that in all of his years of traveling, it was the best sandwich he'd ever had. Smiling widely, I told him that we know a little bit about BBQ in Memphis!The photos in this story are all courtesy of this gentleman right here...Paul Pollmann, and he's from Amsterdam. He's a really great drummer, film maker and graphic designer and we met through this very blog a couple of years ago and keep in touch via email. We discuss vintage drums, our favorite drummers, etc. He even mentioned that his soul band at home in Amsterdam plays a couple of The City Champs' tunes, which was flattering to hear. It was a real joy to finally get to meet him in person. He was in Memphis, visiting the city and doing some work on an upcoming documentary film he's helping produce on dearly departed soul singer, Sir Lattimore Brown. What a cool dude.Thank you, Paul! And much love to all of my family, friends and loved ones. My heart is full. So is my stomach. Now its back to the diet. Yeow!