07/27/08 - Hey, we’re almost home!! I’m doing a little remodeling on the bath and trying to get some odds and ends buttoned up out here in Geauga County. We’ve got an open house scheduled for this Sunday and I believe our house will be featured on Asa Cox’ show that morning. Things are looking up band-wise also. I’ve been working with a couple of guys from ANDY’S LAST BAND; Bob Penko (our former and sometimes fill in bass player) and drummer Mike Karosky, in order to have musicians available when jobs come calling. We’re actually gearing more towards classic stuff that we all love. On the flip side, there’s a possibility you may see me sitting in with ANDY’S LAST BAND when their singer/guitarist extraordinaire, Dan Ivan is not available. And Ted and I are even looking for a drummer to do a country style thing, which is really up my alley. Things are turning around a little and I hope to be out there seeing more of you soon. Thanks.

07/11/08 - September of 2007 found my wife and I uprooting our family from our modest Painesville Twp. home and moving into a property I’ve had for sale in Geauga County. The move was to open our home for my Mother who had a fire in her home that left the house unlivable. Since that time I’ve been restoring her home as well as doing some improvements that needed to be done before the fire. All the while driving from Claridon Twp. into the Painesville area everyday to work. (about a thirty minute drive one way) The house we’re living in is wonderful. It affords the children their own rooms and bath as well as a lot of room to roam. But it’s never felt like home to us. Our little two bedroom house, total of 960 square feet was the first place Robyn and I lived that we knew if we never moved again we’d be happy. Even with the addition of our son, we’re sure the five of us will manage.

I’m hoping that by days end today I will have my Mother’s house together enough for her to move back over the weekend. Not that I want to get my Mom out of my house, but I’m sure she is anxious to get back as her house is looking real good. If things go well, we may be living back in Painesville soon, allowing a little more time for updates to this site. Once again, I apologize to those of you who check this site frequently. I really enjoy updating it and even though Butch cries about it, I really like sharing some of the non-band related things that happen in my little world. And with any luck you’ll be catching us at the clubs a little more often. Thanks again and see you soon!!

05/25/08 - Hey, we’re getting some jobs!! I had the opportunity to do my first solo job at THE RIDER INN in Painesville this past Saturday night. For all intents and purposes, it went well. I have to admit I was a little worried. I got a call about six o’clock Saturday afternoon from a friend of Ted’s (Thanks Frank) to play at eight. So I sort of showered, grabbed some equipment and headed off to Painesville. Everything went great. It’s a sweet venue to play for me as everyone’s very close. I was asked to come back for shows in July and August (I had to turn down a date in September as we’re booked) and I’m hoping I’ll be there once a month for a while. (A while meaning forever) I thank everyone from RIDER’S for being so kind and feel honored to be on the same schedule as my solo acoustic hero, Bill Keener. Bill used to host open mics at the FLYING BURRITO in the early 90’s when I first started getting my feet wet. He would invite me to sit in at some of his regular gigs and set me up with a few jobs along the way. I’ve even sat in at RIDER’S with him where he told me I should see about getting some gigs there. But I didn’t really think I was of that caliber. My solo shows aren’t really the “CATS STEVENS, ARLO GUTHRIE and such” that most people expect. I play some of that stuff but usually stick with stuff from our list done acoustically. Although you can almost always count on “American Pie” getting some air. Anyways, The point of this blog was to thank everyone and say I’ll be trying to get some of the more conventional acoustic stuff together to better serve those that request it. Be seeing you soon.

04/24/08 - As I’m sure you’ve noticed, our schedule ain’t exactly packed. And I just wanted to let everyone who cares to read this crappy little blog page the reasons. 2008 marks the 7^th season for the “finding mary” project. It started out as a four piece part time band to do when some of the other members weren’t booked with their other projects. By our third season we were a three piece outfit and playing fifty plus times a year. It was the full time band for our three members over the next few years. About a year ago, my wife informed me we were going to be having our third child. I couldn’t have been happier. And I started to lose a little interest in playing every weekend. I stopped drinking in July of ‘07 and even set Butch up with the job that eventually turned into his new fulltime gig with the GRINDERS. As it now stands, I book “finding mary” a little mostly when I get called, but don’t go out beating the bushes for band work. I’ve been exploring other opportunities and am looking for other playing experiences in which I’m not the boss. I will be using some different players from time to time with “finding mary” just to have the chance to play some different material and become less reliant on the present line up. For example, the May 30^th KATIE’S PUB show will have our old bass player, Bob Penko sitting in just to have the chance to play some of the ‘90s material we don’t play with the Yeti (Ted). I haven’t replaced Ted but will probably use him more on Saturday nights. I’m just trying to keep a fresh attitude and have fun. You may even catch me back behind the drum kit from time to time if needed. I will be letting you know about any other ventures I may become involved with on this sight and hope to see any of you that enjoy the band come see any of the other projects. It seems to me “finding mary” is coming full circle and going back to being a fill in gig for available members when they need some extra work. Thanks for your time and hope to see you soon.

01/29/08 - Well it’s been two weeks since we’ve welcomed our little boy into the world. Things are starting to resume a “normal” fashion again and I didn’t get thrown out of the house when I mentioned band business to my wife. January was a landmark month for ‘finding mary” in that we had no bookings. Yes for the first time since…ever a month went by without us playing somewhere. So I’ll give you the lowdown. As I’ve said below, finding mary drummer, Butch Capaldi is playing with our original guitarist, Marty Kraig in the GRINDERS. Butch likes to work as much as possible and I just wasn’t booking anything with our new bundle of joy on the way. His bookings with that group makes booking finding mary difficult but not impossible. So after some discussion with Butch and Ted, we’ve decided to keep finding mary around on a limited basis. Meaning we’ll probably only do one, maybe two shows per month. If it was a four piece group we would probably be done. But the three of us have had a lot of fun together and made some good do-re-me. So it doesn’t make sense to break it up or make replacements. I will probably be announcing some finding mary bookings soon. When the possibility of change started to look eminent, I began checking my options. One was for me to move to drums and bring in a guitar player. So I gave our buddy Steve Kincaid of REBOUND a call. Steve’s sat in with us more than a few times and has been bugging me to hire him since his first appearance. I’ve never found need to add a fourth to finding mary but really enjoy playing with Steve and thought it would be cool to go back to the instrument I actually have formal training on.

01/07/08 - I hope everyone’s Holidays were as enjoyable as mine. We had a great time. Santa came. Then we rang in the new year. I just returned from Niagara Falls on the American side with my daughter, Megan who completely rocked at her gymnastics meet. She swept all four events and helped her team win 1^st place by almost five points. And now it’s back to work, which is fine for me. I sort of go crazy when I’m not getting something done, yet I’m to ill motivated to do anything around my own house. Meaning if I don’t physically leave the house I’ll end up on the couch watching old “Law and Order” re-runs. I did manage to get a few things done around here as well as play a bunch of “Tomb Raider; Anniversary” for PS2. I’d like to tell you something new about “finding mary”, but there’s just nothing to tell. 2008 looks to be a year of limited playing as I have a new baby due any day. Butch has already found a home in another band, although he’ll still be doing whatever jobs I book that don’t conflict with his. Ted will probably start playing with another outfit, but I’m sure will do “finding mary” work as well. And me, well I’ve been thinking about getting back behind the drum kit again. I don’t look at this lull as an end, but just a break. We’ve been basically playing the same tunes for about two and a half years with this line up and it does grow old at times. But keep your eyes on the “finding mary” site and I’m sure you’ll see some dates pop up here or there. You may even see a different cast member from time to time. But “finding mary” will be staying around, much to the chagrin of some and joy of others. See you soon.

12/20/07 - We played the Wagon Wheel in Madison a few nights ago and it got me thinking about one of our old regular gigs; The Beachcomber II in Grand River that’s been closed since March, 2004 I believe. It was snowing as we loaded in at the Wheel and it reminded me and Butch of loading in at The Beachcomber. As we recalled, it snowed or was colder than hell every time we played there. Our only jobs came in the five months before they shut down, which happened to be (as our luck would have it) November through March, pretty much the coldest months of the year. And we played right by the front entrance so every time someone came in we’d get a good dose of that coldness. It’s old building still sits by the Grand River about a mile from the shores of Lake Erie which I’m sure attributed to the cold just as it does at the Wagon Wheel in the winter months. Despite the cold, we had a lot of fun there in that short span of time and played it‘s swan song the night it closed. It was a home bar to a bunch of the people in Grand River just like the Wheel is to those from Madison. In fact, it’s ironic that one of the places we hoped to someday get in back then was the Wagon Wheel. As a native of Grand River myself, I was more sad to see it go because it had been a home bar to me when I lived there. Which is why I have a fondness of the Wheel. Though I don’t know too many people from Madison, the home like atmosphere in there definitely makes it one of the venues I want to keep on the finding mary schedule. You might have thought I was going to moan about the weather at the beginning of this blog. But I’ve lived in this part of Ohio all my life and if I didn’t like it I would have moved long ago. I just wanted to share one of those memories as well as say thanks to the folks at the Wagon Wheel for making it one of those places we feel good about playing.

12/11/07 – A recent guest book entry from Dave Mason prompted me to blog. Well Dave, I apologize for not keeping up with this. Things have been a little more than hectic over the past few months as we get ready for our newest addition to the family. I’m entering my busiest time of the year as I coach three different gymnastics teams. Over the past two weeks I’ve attended three different events and by the end of the week will bring the total to five. In fact, I just returned Sunday night from the “Carly Patterson Big Dog Meet” in Charleston, West “by God” Virginia. I had an awesome time as four of our five teams won first place (including my Daughter, Megan’s level 7 team) as well as having a whole bunch of athlete’s win individual events. I also coach Kirtland High School’s team that consists of one girl who competes mainly at West Geaugua High School as well as a group of kids that compete on a more recreational level. In between these crazy weekends I try to squeeze in a finding mary job that’s getting tougher to do as our Drummer, Butch is now splitting his time with us and our old guitar player, Marty Kraig’s band, The Grinders. I’ve been getting the urge to play drums again and may put something casual together if I can find some guys who’ll put up with me. We’re not laying “finding mary” to rest or anything, but it’s time to back off a little as the climate for live entertainment seems to be declining. I’m going to watch what I say as I’ve found some of my previous blogs have pissed some people off. Let’s say for us, finding mary, after six plus years it’s hard to keep the energy up sometimes. Probably the reason we’ve lasted so long is the line up changes we’ve made every year or two. We’ve been over two years with the same three guys which hasn’t happened since… well, ever. It’s also near impossible for me personally to handle the business end on my own. I quit,… well stopped drinking in July and don’t frequent the establishments like I used to. But I still love to play and love being in a bar band. It’s just hard to keep up on it with everything else. What I could use is one more day in the week or four more hours in the day. Anyways, that’s what’s going on. We hope to see a bunch of you out at our shows. Thanks for kicking me in the ass, Dave. I’ll try to keep these things coming for you.

09/30/07 – WOW, It’s been a long time since I’ve blogged anything. I do apologize, as this page is the most popular after the schedule page. A lot has happened in my personal life in the last month and it’s been impossible to find time to fire up the computer, let alone write something down. Let me give you the low-down. You may have noticed I took the page down for the house I had for sale on the findingmary.net web site. My wife and I made the decision about a month ago to move into it and possibly sell or lease our old house in Painesville. It pained us to do so as we are both pretty much lifetime residents of Lake County, namely Painesville Twp. But we forged ahead. In doing so our home phone number changed as well as our internet provider. We spent about the first two weeks without a phone or internet which made it relatively hard to update the web site and this page with any kind of regularity. Even after we started getting these services it was hard to think about anything other than unpacking and trying to get the new house in a more livable condition. Even now we still trip over boxes in a couple of the rooms. We’re hoping to still sell this house at 12629 Forest Rd. in Burton Twp. and move back into our old house or at least our old neighborhood.

It’s nice being in this huge house where the kids have their own rooms and a bathroom for themselves (even though they still think they need to use ours). But it’s hard to call it home. Many of you know my wife, Robyn and I are having our third child (our first boy) in January. The extra space we have is going to come in handy. The extra driving as well as the distance from our family and friends is not. I’m hoping I will be able o keep this page fresh for those of you who enjoy reading it now that things have settled down a bit. But wanted to let you know why it’s been a while between entries. Thanks for hitting this page as well as findingmary.net and we hope to see you at some of our upcoming shows.

08/18/07 – To answer “guy from Ziggy Run” who asked, “why the drummer doesn’t sing more” and suggested we “play more classic rock”, on our GUEST BOOK; Our drummer, Butch does sing more songs as does Ted, the bass player. Although not nearly as many as I sing. So when I write a set list, I try to incorporate all of the songs they sing to give them as much opportunity as possible. Also, we have more classic rock selections on our song list than you heard that night and collectively we have a bunch more committed to memory that we do by request only. I think the reason you didn’t hear more of the songs you wanted was due to the nature of show. About half of the songs we played that night were by request. At one time I think we played three Toby Keith songs in a row by request. The other half were from our play list that Butch, the drummer, picks from. He picks the songs by what he feels the crowd will respond to rather than the ones he sings. So sometimes we neglect to cover all of our musical bases. It’s not something we do intentionally and if you’re ever out to see us somewhere all you need to do is grab a list and make some requests. If you don’t see the song or artist you want to hear, just ask for it. But I have to say as a three-piece band with a less than average guitar player, there will be a few artists and songs that we just don’t have the ability to play. If it’s within our talent range we’ll gladly give it a go. We’ve tried to keep our song list as varied as possible rather than focus on just one style of music, be it classic, alternative, country, motown, etc. to offer something for everyone that might attend our shows. We hope in the future we can better serve your musical needs if you ever venture out to see us again and thank you for signing the “finding mary” GUEST BOOK.

08/17/07 – I want to wish a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to one of my oldest and dearest friends, Rex Yommer. There are less than a handful of people I’ve been a friend with longer. Rex is a couple years older than me, but because we were such good friends and neighbors growing up, he decided to stay back a couple grades so we could be Juniors and Seniors in the same home room at Riverside High School where we both sort of graduated from. There are too many stories about the utterly stupid things we did in our youth to tell here. Let’s just say we’ve had some fun. Some of my fondest memories include Rex and I hope his include me. I can’t think of a time that I’ve asked him for help that he didn’t oblige me. Friends like that are few and far between. Happy birthday, Rex. Thanks and I love you.

08/01/07 – Our recent “schedule change”, due to no fault of our own, is one of these things we have to deal with once in a while. There have been more than a few places we’ve played in the past that have given us scheduling grief. One place, without fail, double booked us every time and we had to make a change to accommodate them. Some places changed ownership and didn’t feel they had to keep the bands that were hired from the old owners. Then there were a few places that changed the party responsible for booking bands, which left us at the mercy of whoever the new booking agent was. Our latest snag at STICK’S PUB in Euclid is due to something like this. With a change in entertainment managing we went from top of the list to the bottom. A show we’ve had on our books for months was just bumped a week and a half away from the date, leaving little time to find something else. We were offered a Sunday afternoon show in its place that I declined. It’s not that I don’t want the work or that we don’t play Sunday jobs (although we try not to). It’s obvious to me that the person in charge of booking may be using the band he likes or has friends in and, just as we were a favorite of the person booking last year, and leaving “finding mary” out. For instance, our first STICK’S PUB show last year was at the end of July and our last was Halloween. In between we made three other appearances, each for a special event. And we did well at every show. The pictures on the web site are the proof.

At spring’s end this year I found out the entertainment manager had changed and when I called to book some work with the new guy I was told there were no openings ‘til August. Right then I knew we were not favored, even though many of the patrons (that would be the people spending money) were asking for us. But one booking is still better than no booking and we do love the people that frequent STICK’S as they’ve never been anything but gracious to us, so I took it. Later; when a large company outing was scheduled for the same day, which would bring in a large crowd as it did for us last year, we got the ax. Why? My theory is either this fellow wanted one of his buddy’s bands to benefit from having a built in audience or there’s also the possibility that the bands he books are paying him an agent’s fee. This is merely speculation on my part. But I’ll tell you what I do know. STICK’S is a public owned facility and everything goes through City Hall. This means bands must submit a bill to be approved and then a check is released within thirty days. This is nothing new to me as I’ve been self-employed for a long time and it’s standard operating procedure. And let me be VERY CLEAR, The City of Euclid always paid in full as well as any of the best contractors I’ve had the pleasure of working for. No complaints there. At the end of every show, I always re-confirmed our fee with the person in charge and followed the billing process. As someone who is self employed, I’ve become accustomed to having enough capitol on hand to make payroll and always pay my band mates the night of a show if possible. Believe me these weren’t our first shows that we had to submit bills for or got paid with a check. Not all bands are happy to do this. Most want to be paid at the end of the night and most have almost twice as many members as “finding mary” which would make “paying the guys” tough for just one guy. So the easiest thing to do for an “agent” would be to have enough cash on hand to pay the band and then bill the city on behalf of the band. Which is a nice thing to do for the bands if the numbers match; how much the band got paid and how much the city was billed for. As I said before: this is all merely speculation. I have no idea what goes on. I’m no different than people that think there was a shooter on the grassy knoll or that the C.I.A. was involved with President Kennedy’s assassination. Everything could very well be on the up and up and I’m just paranoid. But another thing I know; an agent is only entitled to a certain percentage, I believe it’s ten, before it’s considered extortion, embezzlement, racketeering or one of those other fancy “Law And Order” terms. Also if those numbers I talked about earlier don’t match, the band could be on the hook to pay taxes on more money than they’ve actually made. Speaking from experience, it sucks when your 1099 slip shows more money than you know you could have possibly made and April 15^th is rapidly approaching. That means you are paying taxes on someone else’s money, and believe me; THAT SUCKS. As I said before, everything could be legitimate and I’m just being a sour grapes jackass because my band isn’t playing at STICK’S. Regardless, it seems we are “blacklisted” for now. You will still find us, finding mary at some of the other wonderful events hosted by the City of Euclid. Our Lake Fest 2008 job is a definite and we’ll have something breaking out that way for September any day. Once again, I do apologize to the City Of Euclid, It’s Mayor (who’s been to a couple of our shows) and all of the fine people that have supported us over this past year. Our hopes were yours that we would have seen more of each other this summer. We hope to see you around somewhere. In fact, if you know a place in the vicinity that you’d like to see us, sign our guest book on the HOME PAGE and let us know. Thanks everyone.

07/29/07 – The “finding mary” band is entering into another of those times in which you may see changes come. I debated whether to write this blog or not as to not offend my band buddies. But then I realized, I don’t have anything bad to say so why would they be offended. This is finding mary’s sixth year of being in the public eye, a mighty long time for a bar band with Butch and I being two only hold outs from the original 4-piece line up. Probably the reason it lasted so long may have been changing line-ups every year and a half or so. In the past six years we’ve had three bass players, two lead guitarists and even went through a couple other drummers in a two and a half month span in 2005 before I asked Butch to come back. New players usually mean new music and a new excitement about playing. Butch, Ted and I are the longest running version of finding mary as we’ve been together now for almost two years. Two years is a long time for a bar band and it looks as though things are going to shake up again. I won’t go into details but you will most likely see something change even if it’s just limiting the schedule. Who knows? Maybe nothing will change. But I doubt it. Regardless, I’ve had a great time playing with all of the guys that have been in and out of finding mary, especially the guys now. And whether or not the three of us continue on together, it can’t be disputed that finding mary has had the most success in the past two years. Which brings me to the realization that the things that I’ve had problems with in this band are really irrelevant. I’ve said many times that we’re entertainers not artists. We do this to please others and should get our satisfaction from seeing dancers on the floors and hearing how much fun our audience is having. With this in mind, I don’t have anything to bitch about.

07/ 15/07 – Somewhere on this page I blogged a little something about the smoking ban. It was really irrelevant and wasn’t really based on my personal opinion. It was more of an observation. We’re six months into the original ban date and a few months from the second enforcement. And now I’m going to give my opinion. I get to travel quite a bit, mostly through Ohio but also it’s adjoining states as well as a few others. Most everywhere I go, smoking is banned. In fact, my first experience in a town with a smoking ban was Columbus, Ohio where it’s been banned for years. Let me say, I’m not a smoker. Never have been, never will be. But I’ve been second hand smoking since birth. As probably have the other two fellows in the band. As a non-smoker it is nice to get home from a job and not have to shower the cigarette smell of my body before going to bed. It’s also nice to not have stinging red eyes or a cough. But I also know that I am pretty much a minority in all of the places we play and it didn’t matter to me that much. When this thing hit the ballots, I didn’t vote either way. I am glad it’s out of restaurants. But as far as the night life goes, it seems weird to be in a bar that’s not smoke filled. One of the first song’s I learned to play as a kid was Merle Haggard’s “Swingin’ Doors” that starts off, “This old smoke filled bar…”. What I’ve seen thus far is a big drop in the local bar business. Which boils down to clubs that are eventually going to have a hard time hiring bands when no one is coming in. Maybe non-smokers do make up the majority of the voting population. But they sure as hell don’t make up the majority of the drinking population. Much as I like not having the smell of smoke on my person at the end of a job, it’s sort of hypocritical that we’re in these places destroying our livers with alcohol. And it’s funny that I never see any of the non-smokers that told me how great it was going to be to come and see us when the smoking ban took affect yet in the mean time, the smokers only get to see half our show because they have to go outside to smoke. Actually it’s not funny. It’s ridiculous.

07/12/07 – I’ve recently run into some problems with the program that edits this page. For whatever reason, it’s been deleting past entries. It’s unfortunate that I’ve lost about a years worth of blog entries that were meaningful to me. But things happen and I’ve figured out how to do this page from Microsoft Word and archive it on my own computer. That’s the reason for the new look to THE COWBOY BLOG PAGE. I’m going to try to remember as much as I can to put back on, but if there’s a story you particularly fancied, e-mail and remind me of what it was about and I’ll do my best to recreate it. This blog page is the third most viewed page following the HOME page and the SCHEDULE page. It’s been viewed thousands of times and I’d like to keep the interest in it up and keep you reading. Thanks, The Cowboy

01/25/07 - Well I've done it again. Somewhere beloww in my useless ramblings is a blog about a number of people who's names I have mistaken when they've come to see finding mary. I'd like to appologize and welcome Georgianne not Georgette to that list. Her and her husband Bob, along with a slew of their kin most times, come out to see us quite a bit. She was introduced to me as George, which is what I call her. But on my KATIE'S page for Jan. 19th I mentioned that it was George and Bob's 33rd wedding anniversary and went on to say George was short for Georgette. I was wrong. And in retrospect, I'm almost positive I've heard her being called Georgianne. Of course as you should all well know by now, I am stupid. Just ask Butch. Once again I apologize and thank you, Georgianne, for signing the guest book and setting me straight. But you've entered a very elite status in finding mary-dom. When you come out to see us enough that I can learn your name wrong... that's something special.

01/19/07 - The Smoking Ban. As we pierce the skin of the new year, one of the repercussions from the politics of last year is the Ohio smoking ban. I won't pretend that to know all the details of this new law. And I'll do my best to not sound opinionated about it. I am not, nor have I ever been a smoker. But I love to talk. And I also love to listen. And the big concern seems to be, "What's next?" Meaning what freedom will our government next try to take from us, like the seat belt law. I'll give you my opinion on the seat belt law as I base it in fact. Those that know me well know I used to drive race cars in my youth. I started in 1983. Around 1990, an assortment of approved safety devices were required, one of them being a safety belt system very much like those you'd find in one of our military's finest super-sonic air craft. My first lap with new belts made me realize just how important being securely strapped into something that's going really fast (especially through turns) is to control it. For the first time I didn't have to hang on to the steering wheel as my upper body slid hard to the right when making a left hand turn. I could actually drive the car instead of just hanging on to it. What does this have to do with freedom and liberty? Well, I buckle up because I don’t want to infringe on the freedom of the other drivers sharing the road with me. How would I do that? Well, if I were to lose control of my vehicle and hit someone because I slid across the front seat or bounced out of it altogether, it’s no longer my life, liberty or pursuit of happiness I risk taking away. That’s why I buckle up. Not because the law say's I have to. When the seatbelt law started being enforced, a lot of people pissed and moaned that they had lost the freedom to drive without seatbelt and said, "What's next?" Well, I guess it was smoking.

01/07/07 - Well we're gearing up for our first show of 2007. It's funny that we'll be at STADIUM GRILL, a place that doesn't hire us on a regular basis. In fact we haven't been there since April of last year. It's also strange that our second job of the new year is LAKE DINE-N-DANCE (CITY LIMITS). I don't mean strange or funny in a bad way. It's nice have some options. In fact because of the demand for Saturday nights we may have to start booking alternate months at some places rather than every month. We've also been called on to do more benefits recently which are really nice jobs. Perhaps it's because we don't charge the ridiculous prices bands demand for private engagements. Regardless, we hope to spread it out a little more this year and I think you'll probably see us heading east and west to accomplish that. whatever this year holds, we hope you'll be a part of finding mary with us.

01/05/06 - As a continuation of my praise of The Yeeti, Ted from the Home Page, it brings me great joy to be bringing a bundle of songs back to our list. Ted showed up at our last rehearsal for 2007 (just kidding,..but maybe?) with some of our old standards that have been requested for a while. You'll be happy to know that songs like "All For You" by SISTER HAZLE and "Heart Of The Matter" by DON HENLEY are back. We also added Hootie and the Blowfish, The Calling and The Foo Fighters. Oh and the song "Breakfast at Tiffany's" by... whatever one hit wonder band it is that did it. We look forward to keeping up our standard of excellence for you. (this is where we insert the letters LOL for you computer savy folks) Come and check them out. As T-Yeti says, "We Will Rock, my Friend!!"

09/21/06 - As we roll into fall and the leaves starrt their journey to the ground we also enter competitive gymnastics season. It's usually around this time of the year I blog many of the incredible things my daughter Megan accomplishes. But today I dedicate my blog to my youngest little girl, Natasha Lynn. Almost every morning I drive Natasha or "Tashy", as we all call her, to her Grandma's house in Mentor. The ten minute ride almost always results in a good argument between the two of us. Take into consideration that Tashy is only three years old and I am one of the worlds biggest instigators. Today I got her going real good by making "funny eyes" at her. I was just raising and lowering my eyebrows, which we usually do at each other and laugh. Today it apparently wasn't amusing to her as she told me in a stern tone, "Don't make those funny eyes at me again, Daddy!" Which, to me, is an invitation to do it again. This time I received the, " If you do that again, I won't be your best friend anymore!" ultimatum. Now I am accustomed to dealing with people much bigger than her, but not many as mean. Needless to say my next provocation resulted in my getting a good kick to the back of the arm as well as an ear-piercing shriek to "STOP!" To settle her down I put Tom T. Hall's c.d. of Childrens Songs on track 14 (The Tree Song) and she calmed right down. Music really does soothe the savage beast.

09/20/06 - www.findingmary.net went over 4,000 hitss this past week sometime!! Thank you for taking such an interest in out band and this site. I try to keep the site as interesting as our shows and to put things in pesrspective, it took about four years to get to 4,000 hits on our www.findingmary.com web site. This site has only been up for a little over one year. Thanks and we look forward to your continued support. Catch you at a show soon!!

09/15/06 - Monday marked five years passing since tthe terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centers in New York City. I wasn't born when President Kennedy was assassinated, but I have to believe for those who've experienced both, the shock and horror must have been somewhat the same. I don't pretend to understand why people do the things they do. I won't stand on my soap box and point a finger at a person, group of people, religion, or country although I know at times I have. As you know, if you've seen our shows, we play "The Angry American" otherwise known as "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue" by Toby Keith on a fairly regular basis. I don't want to sound like "The Angry American" today. Today I'm the sad American. As I am whenever I'm watching an old episode of "Seinfeld" or any other television show or movie that used the Trade Centers in the back ground. I usually skip over the intros of "News Radio", one of my all time favorite sitcoms that I have on DVD, not to get to the program faster, but because the Towers are shown behind Dave Foley's opening credits and if I don't skip over I usually pause it and stare at the frame pondering. I remember the first time I ever saw the Trade Center Towers was on the back of a "Captain America" comic book. An advertisement for the remake of "King Kong" made me ask my mom what those two buildings were. It was then I learned they were the two tallest buildings in the world at the time. I remember being in Mentor Headlands on September 11th, working on a deck project and listening to sports talk radio, WKNR, and the hosts thinking fog had caused a plane to hit the first Tower by accident. Then the second plane hit and for a few moments they still thought it was an accident. When the news broke that it was a terrorist attack I immediately wrapped up my equipment and left the job to pick up my daughter at day care. I still remember thinking for an instant that this was the beginning of the end. And maybe it was. I drove to my mom's house to see the T.V news and arrived just moments before the first Tower fell. When the second Tower crumbled I was just numb. I couldn't really process what I saw. I'm a pretty emotional guy and it was just too much. It still is. That's why I'm writing this on the 15th of September. I speak for myself but maybe you feel the same way. The events of 9/11 made me hug my wife and kids a little tighter. Call my Mom and Dad a little more often. Wave to my neighbors and say hello to friends I haven't seen since High School. I keep those people I've known and loved, who aren't around anymore in my thoughts more often. Worry more and worry less. And forgive even if I can't forget. We can't change what happened but we can change because of what happened.

09//14/06 - Butch brought it to my attention that itt would be easier for him to read the blog page if it went in chronological order from the most recent blog. I'm all about making life easy for Butch so I changed it. Hope you like it this way too.

09/04/06 - Because "finding mary" is a smmall, affordable trio we have the opportunity to offer clubs that are starting up a "live" entertainment program something decent. Of course, I'm going to toot my own horn a little but the truth of the matter is most places will higher the cheapest bands they can find who will then come in playing a bunch of songs nobody really cares to hear at a volume that is past the threshold of pain. Then they wonder where their regular crowd has gone. I commend Rose at HACKERS for doing a little research first. And let me say that we did not pack them in at HACKERS. In fact I offered a number of times to quit early and "cut a deal", as we say. But ownership and management stuck with us for the whole evening and seemed completely happy to have us back on a regular basis. It's not very often an owner or manager can look past the register tape and press forward when it comes to bands. I really like HACKERS and hope we can get a regular following in there. Regardless, it's a breath of fresh air for us to work for someone who "gets it".

8//29/06 - It's hard to believe a year has passed ssince the "big change up" of The finding mary Party Band. It came to mind because we are playing the block party this Saturday that, a year ago, was my second job playing with a new drummer and bass player and was set to play the third show in the evening after the party. The thrown together material was really sub-par and we struggled through most of the show but...we got paid! I've always prided myself in holding the band together through those tough times and thank those fellows that helped me out. I do have to say it was a relief to get Butch back in the band. No slight to the other guys that filled the drum seat in his absence. But looking back to the very beginning of this band, it's true character came from Butch and I. Our harmonies on the vocal parts make our little three piece band sound much larger. And the ability to keep the songs coming, interact with each other as well as the crowd and offer something a little different than what you get with most other bar bands is key to what "finding mary" is all about. It is also nice to have a bass player that can sing a little bit too. T-Yeti brings another dimension that we have never had in this band. So I guess the point I'm trying to make today is, it's a little exciting looking back at how far we've come and where we're headed over the past year. And I hope we can keep doing it.

08/20/06 - It is unfortunate that things like this have to happen from time to time. Especially on a night when we're trying to really put a great show together for a new venue. Our first show at the WAGON WHEEL in Madison was going off without a hitch until midway through the third set. A very intoxicated patron who, up until this point, spent most of his time picking his equally drunk girl friend off of the dance took it upon himself to try spinning one of our stacked speaker cabinets on its stand. He was warned a number of times by our drummer, Butch (who owns the equipment) to cease. The guy left the floor momentarily, only to return to his antics. Unfortunately (for him) this time Butch was fed up and rightfully so as an altercation erupted. I heard it said that Butch was hasty in his decision to confront this idiot. I personally commend Butch for taking the matter in is own hands. Some people just don't get it unless you put the Kay bash on. Contrary to what you might think, we don't make "big bucks" doing this stuff. The two speaker cabinets this moron was fooling with run well over a thousand dollars to replace. I really don't care what his intentions were and neither did Butch. Non of us are headed to the big time and we don't have the dough to replace something someone should have just kept their hands off to begin with. The equipment in our band as well as any band you go out to see is OFF LIMITS!! We don't even fool with each others equipment for the most part and we sure as hell don't want someone who doesn't give a crap messing with it. A little respect and some common sense is all you need. I hate to come off sounding like I have an attitude or this is a regular part of our show. Believe me, this is a first. I've played with Butch for pretty much five solid years and know it takes a lot to push him over the edge. Just thought I'd let you know.

08/17/08 - A special birthday shout out to one of mmy oldest friends, Rex Yommer. I met Rex when I was in first grade and he was in second at the little school in Grand River. Later we became neighbors and very good buddies. Eventually, we were in the same home room class also. Over the many years I've been involved in the band scene Rex has always come out to hear whatever band I was involved with as well as hanging out at rehearsals (if that's what you want to call them) back in the "glory days". There isn't enough disc space to tell you all the hilarious stories of stupid things we've done growing up. But I did want to give some recognition today to a friend that has had my back for a long time. Thanks Rex. Have a great birthday and I'll be seeing you later to let you know just how old you are.

08/08/06 - The old "Murphy's Law" was in effect for The Cowboy this past weekend when my wireless microphone decided to quit working Friday night at SKELLY'S in Willoughby. To give you a little history, I went totally wireless about three years ago when I bought what I thought was a good microphone rig and guitar rig for about $600.00 for both set ups. For almost a year I had problems with the headset microphone (you know, the kind of mic people like Garth Brooks and Taco Bell workers use) It worked as long as I stayed within 20' and a direct line of the receiver. Also, it made me sound like I was singing over an A.M. radio. Very "tinny" sounding. Butch ridiculed it mercilessly. He'd say, "Buddy, what's up with your junk?" or "You should've spent more than $50.00 for a microphone." Regardless, the quality of "finding mary" shows went up because it was fun to watch the fat, bald guy run around and jump off of stuff. About two years ago I did a little research and instead of just buying the next junkiest thing off the rack at Guitar Center I ordered a decent setup from Microphone Solutions that ran me about a thousand bucks. It's been a good piece of equipment... up until Friday night. I know it's probably just a bad cord, which will happen when you jump around and act a fool the way I do. And I do still have my old "A.M.radio" sounding rig as a back up. But my good one will have to be sent to the manufacturer for repair and in the mean time I'll have to put up with my old mic, use a mic on a stand (really not an option), or go out and purchase yet another quality headset microphone. Because "the show must go on". I didn't blog this to complain or make excuses. I just wanted to give a little insight on the problems that crop up in this line of work. We're usually complimented on how much fun it looks like we're having or how good we sound. When a problem like this one strikes it's hard to do either.

08/02/06 - The Good 'nuff Band. For those who didn''t know, for a while through the early part of this year up until a month ago, "finding mary" drummer, Butch Capaldi was also playing with another project that started out as "Fester" and later changed to "Good 'Nuff". The group consisted of Butch, ex-"finding mary" bassist Bob Penko and a local guitar player/singer Fred Tafel. As the "finding mary" schedule grew, Butch made the hard decision to leave Good 'Nuff. Right now the band is in limbo I guess, which is a shame. Don't get me wrong, I'm ecstatic that Butch is on board "finding mary" 100%. But it was nice to have another area band along the lines of "finding mary" out there to see when we had a free weekend. My wife and I had been out to see the band three of their half dozen or so appearances and rather liked what they did. I hope Fred and Bob can find someone to drum for them as I know from experience that Butch is hard to replace. But it can be done. Hope you get it back together fellas. Good luck!
07/31/06 - Happy Birthday Mommy!! Today is my Mother, Lois Edwards birthday. I could fill this page and many others with a history of all she's done for me and still not scratch the surface. Much of who I am I owe to her. I kid around when she comes to a "finding mary" show and Butch and I switch drums and guitar, about how much she paid for me to go to college for an education in percussion performance so that I can play drums on two songs with my band. But honestly , It's true! In fact she's been involved with every interest I've had in my life. Throughout my music experiences, auto racing adventures and even my construction business, she's always been able to help me out when I've needed it. I only hope that I can offer my children as many opportunities as they grow up that she made available to me when I was a child. Along with everything else you've given me, thank you most for the love. May I never do anything to take the look of pride that I've seen through the years from your face . Thank you and I love you.
Your son, Ronald David Zahursky

07/23/06 - We played back-to-back nights this weekeend and I have to say it was a pleasure to have my beautiful wife, Robyn come out to see us Saturday night. I've been cutting back my consumption of refreshments when we play over the last few months and I guess my reward was to have her buy me drinks all night long. I'm not complaining at all. I had a great time. And I think she really enjoyed herself too. It was definitely a change from some of the past shows she's attended. One in particular she yanked me off a table and ripped my shirt in half. I can't say I didn't deserve it either. I was asking for it. Those who know me well, know I push the envelope until it tears. I believe it was her first time seeing us in SPUDDY'S also. Over the past five years I've been involved with "finding mary" Robyn attended mostly TOTH'S shows. I hope she had a great time and will come see us there again. Band life is tough on a wife and baby sitters are expensive but it really was fun having her there. Lately "finding mary" has been getting some super playing opportunities in which really consume most of my nights on the weekends. I want her to know I really appreciate her allowing me to work in this business as much as I do and I love her so much. Thank you Robby. I love you!

07/18/06 - I have to offer a group apology to everyyone who's name's I've messed up over the last five years. I will try to set the record straight right now and prove that I do know you're names. It's no excuse but I'm usually a little handicapped when I screw them up. Starting with Ilene, owner of the Old Mill who I called Irene Friday night. I’ve probably even spelled it wrong, it's probably Eilene. Then there's Mark, who I called Frank at Katie's on his birthday. Aubrey, who was not Audrey on her birthday. Dennie, current owner of the Hambden Country Inn is not Donnie, previous owner of the Hambden Country Inn. And I'm sure Butch apologizes for calling Steve Kincaid of Hammer Brian Kincaid of his fish club. I'm sure there are others but these ones come to mind. To all of you, I am truly sorry.

07/16/06 - Recently I've been asked by some of the people who come out to see us about playing of the larger venues. A few months ago it was Cowboy Food and Drink and now It's Rock City (both in Mentor)as well as the new Funky Frog. Well to make a short story long, we've tried to get into some of the larger places with little success. At one time a year or two ago we were on the books at The Avenue in Mentor but were bumped when management found out we were only a three piece band. It was explained that the patrons of their club needed to see more people on stage and four pieces was the least they would hire. Now I really have no problem with that, although I feel confident we would do fine, because we weren't making any more money there than we would at a bar. In fact I filled that opening with a job at Meximilians right across the street in which we made a little more money. But as far as the other large venues opening up around town I would say I doubt you will see us there any time soon. When I talk to managers at these places the first thing they ask is, "What kind of following do you have?" To which I usually respond, "If you need us guarantee to bring in a certain number of people then we aren't the band for you." Not to say that we wouldn't bring anyone in but "finding mary" has always been at it's best by playing places that have an established crowd that likes live music. This area is saturated with bands that have five or six people in them and play only once or twice a month. This leaves a very small window of opportunity for their friends to come see them. As you can see on our schedule page our jobs are usually not very far away from one another and we play an average of four times a month. There are also some very good bands that deserve the large followings they bring in. The places you see "finding mary" regularly have faithful patrons that know we'll be in for our once a month appearance in their favorite watering hole. And we do have some people that come out to different bars to see us much like a "following". My point is that you will usually find us, "finding mary" at well established taverns that wish to keep their regular clientele entertained and aren't folding up tent any time soon. We've proven our selves in larger settings in the past and if they don't want to take a chance on us because we're not going to guarantee 100 people it makes us no never mind. After five successful years of doing this we've seen them come and go, but rest assured we're not going anywhere.

07/12/06 - I don't go to many concerts. I may get oout to see one show a year if I'm lucky. I had the good fortune of seeing The Counting Crows with The Goo Goo Dolls last night at The Plain Dealer Pavilion and I have to say I'm glad that I did. I'd also like to say thanks to my boss and buddy Tom Logar for giving me the tickets as a birthday present. "Thanks Buddy!" Both bands were very high energy and played a good mix of their hits along with their new stuff. In "finding mary" we play a song from each artist. In years past we focused more on newer artists, but have gotten away from that a little. "Rain King" by Counting Crows really brought back some good memories. The Goo Goo Dolls played "Slide" and that was about all for songs that we used to do. But "Black Balloons" and "Broadway" are songs that I've always loved. I doubt I'll ever get the chance to revisit any of these songs with the "finding mary" band, but I hope to put some on my solo act list. Regardless I had a great time and I hope to be inspired in my own performances to keep the intensity levels high.