Here’s a 60 second clip of a reharsal leading up to the recording session for today’s song.

This was the first time I had two guests on an episode. My Uncle, Steve Peck and my friend, Brannon Hancock.

My Uncle has a nick name for me “The Groove Guy.” It comes from an interaction we had in 1982, when I was 4 years old. My siblings and I were fans of “The Electric Company,” an educational TV show for kids, it was based around Language Arts. I loved the sketch comedy pacing and the cartoon segments. There was one cartoon segment that made an impression on me.

It showed common figures of speech that would be actually impossible, occurring in a cartoon world as if they could. For example: “raining cats and dogs” had pets descending from storm clouds. The main character of the cartoon was a 70s disco man – a groovy guy – as I called him. At the end of three segment, his animated character did some that terrified me, literally. He said, “so long, now, I have to split” then he was rent in two halves, head to toe, fade to black. It made quite an impression on me.

My family was living in an apartment complex in Indianapolis, not far from the Speedway. Rows of “two up, two down” townhouses, around small, common lawns and parking lots. 75 Beachway Drive. A Gene Glick development. We loved running around the property, climbing the trees, meeting the other kids, but trying to avoid the bullies on the corner “Greg and George.”

I digress.

Uncle Steve at the time was in his 20s and lived in Indy too. He’d visit from time to time. These were exciting occasions. He was very gregarious and would love to get us all laughing.

When you’re 4, you’re naturally shy around grown ups, at first. Even friendly ones.

So earlier in the day when my Mom told us her brother was coming for supper. I said to her, “If Uncle Steve comes, I’ll split!” Thinking I’d hide like I’d hide in the front closet whenever on TV Bruce Banner turned into the Incredible Hulk (which also terrified little me.)

My mom was tickled, and told Steve on his arrival. He found it hilarious too. And if memory serves, he wanted to give me five and let me know he wasn’t scary.

And, as he recalled during the open mic at my wedding reception, I looked up and said, “Uncle Steve, you are a groove guy!“ So from then, his nick name for me was “the groove guy.” It’s the longest standing nick name I’ve ever had.

Speaking of wedding receptions, this summer my family traveled to Ripon, California in the San Joaquin River Valley. There surrounded by almond tree farms, my wife’s young brother, Issac married my new sister-in-law Brittany.

At Issac’s reception, a rolling slide show of pictures was presented – it showed bride and groom at every stage of life leading up to their nuptials. My heart was warmed to see the picture above included in it. It’s a picture snapped by Elizabeth near Christmas of 1999, in our first appartment. I am helping 2 year old Issac play guitar, and I’m holding “Pete” the red guitar, the same guitar I found in storage at the empty Valpo house in 2016, and on which I began to write “Never Really Over” after a night of hanging with the Pancinis at Duffy’s Place.

During the episode, Brannon and Steve bonded over a mutual admiration for the jazz singer Julie London.

She is new to me. When I hear “No Moon At All” it takes to the San Joaquin Valley at night in California. I spent an evening listening to her catalogue, for the first time, because of the interview, on the patio of an Air BnB house in Ripon, CA, at night. Summer breezes rustling the palmetto and fruit trees in the edge of the yard.

“Pete” the guitar has been an important instrument in my musical history. Purchased at Marion Hawk Shop (Pawn shop) in the summer of ’99. I used it in M.Cotu for a while. Duwayne liked to strum it during Gypsy Heart song writing sessions. Troy had it restrung as a leftie in the first year of Bottle Rocket. It made it on the version of No Guarantees on our 2003 EP. It has intonation problems and not very flattering electronics, but it’s shape and my love for it inspired Heather to buy the black Epiphone Dot semi-hollow body that has become my most played guitar ever. (As mentioned in her episode from Feb. 25, 2022.)