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LET'S GET DRUNK!!!

Let's Get Drunk...

Photo: I took this selfie last night in front of the beer vats at Liquid Hero Brewery in York, PA. We had just finished rocking the joint with our album release party. (Timeline: 10 weeks sober so far.)

Woke up this morning with a "gig hangover" (see definition below) and checked my messages as I sipped a cup of thick coffee. Just one message from my best friend, Ben "Gitty" Baker.

Ben knows all about my "one year sober" decision and has been really cool about it. Because we work together and share so much in common, we're continually on Instant Messenger, brutally making fun of each other the whole time and goofing off. This morning's message from him was a quote from Charles Baudelaire...and it encouraged me to get drunk.

It was exactly what I needed to hear.

Here's Ben's message:

"You have to be always drunk. That’s all there is to it—it’s the only way. So as not to feel the horrible burden of time that breaks your back and bends you to the earth, you have to be continually drunk.

But on what? Wine, poetry or virtue, as you wish. But be drunk.
And if sometimes, on the steps of a palace or the green grass of a ditch, in the mournful solitude of your room, you wake again, drunkenness already diminishing or gone, ask the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock, everything that is flying, everything that is groaning, everything that is rolling, everything that is singing, everything that is speaking. . .ask what time it is and wind, wave, star, bird, clock will answer you: “It is time to be drunk! So as not to be the martyred slaves of time, be drunk, be continually drunk! On wine, on poetry or on virtue as you wish."

-Charles Baudelaire

Thanks, Ben. I'll drink to that.
Stay primal.
Shane

SEE SHANE SPEAL IN CONCERT!!!

Show today:

Album release party at Liquid Hero, Day 2!!! Sat., 5-8pm - Liquid Hero, York PA >>INFO

Upcoming shows:

Sat., Oct. 21, 9:30pm - The Cove, York PA. >>INFO
Fri., Nov. 3, 7pm - Liquid Hero, York PA >>INFO
Sat., Nov. 4, 8pm - SPEAL'S TAVERN! New Alexandria PA >>INFO
Sat., Nov. 11, 9pm - Pig Iron Brewery, Marietta, PA. >>INFO
Sat., Nov. 18, 3-7pm - Gunpowder Falls Brewing, Shrewsbury, PA >>INFO
Fri., Dec. 1, 7pm - Liquid Hero, York PA >>INFO
Fri., Dec. 8, 9:30pm - The Cove, York PA. >>INFO
Jan. 18-20, 2018 - The New Orleans Cigar Box Guitar Fest. (Info coming soon)

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Comment by RTZGUITARS on October 10, 2017 at 5:04am: True words Jim, when I put that first string on a guitar and hear that first note it's like a shot of Crown after a long day at work.. The few hours it took to get to that point was worth it. If I spent that time sittin in the bar Id have nothin but a thinner wallet much thinner I like Crown!

That picture must be of pick the night he finish that guitar. All we really need Shane is good friends like Ben from what I see here. Hope that T shirt comes in 3x

Comment by Jeff 'Bones' Reilly on October 9, 2017 at 6:29pm: Pmsl ..... I got Drunk last night .... Night before that and night before that ..... Seems a thyme going on here .

Comment by the anonymous pick on October 9, 2017 at 5:36pm

Comment by Jim Morris on October 9, 2017 at 4:05am: I hear you Shane! What a great quote Ben sent you. I still drink (maybe just a bit more than I should) but my best drunks come not from the alcohol but from a new build or a cool gig or learning a new song. Many of my musician friends have gone deep into alcohol and other things that have really hurt their playing. Many of my friends who make instruments have described being in the shop as therapy and that's the way I look at it too. The longer I stay in the shop working with sharp objects the less I want to drink. Now I gotta go get fiddle drunk!

Comment by Jerry Jordan on October 9, 2017 at 3:23am: Shane, I was an awful drunk.,.,now heading for my 6th year sober.,,.keep up the good work and stay real !!!!

Comment by RTZGUITARS on October 7, 2017 at 5:37pm: Well good luck on the record and a sober tour of Breweries! That's a tough gig. Even if our drinking doesn't effect them our Family's , Bands and the livers are much more important then any bottle. It's ok to drink on the way to work in the morning as long as you drink on the way home at night. Charles is right. 71/2 yrs. and thankful