Making Up Was Easy To Do...

Oklahoma City Zoo Amphitheatre
Oklahoma City, OK
July 11, 2004

Hello Friends,

We're off today after making up our only show with Peter Frampton that we had to reschedule because of weather. It was a bright and sunny day and a clear, starlit night in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and that was good news for the crew, the promoter, the bands and most of all the fans. It was jam packed all the way to the top of the hill and around back in the new VIP section. The Zoo Amphitheater is widely accepted as the "friendliest" amphitheater in America. Ask anyone who's played it and they will explain, and concur. The friendliness was there in spades again last night, as OK City fans spurred us on from the opening notes of "Blue Collar Man." Lawrence reminded me when we were back in the dressing room just how LOUD the fans were when he played the first notes of the intro on the organ. It was another one of those nights where we were like little kids playing with the toy we'd prayed our parents and Santa had gotten the message we wanted. It went by way too fast, but we did have time to play "I Am The Walrus" again. It gets better every time we play it. We also played "What'd I Say" in our continuing salute to the late great Ray Charles. It's still hard to believe he's no longer with us. His music will certainly live on. I can tell you this, when the intro is played and we stop and I get to sing the first line "Hey Mama don't ya treat me wrong..." and the girls are all wiggling and the men all have that look on their faces that shows their utter delight in being suddenly surrounded by thousands of cute ladies shakin' it, it is an indescribable feeling of being transported to another place in time. Some things are eternal, and this is one of them. I'd like to think Ray Charles' spirit is looking down from heaven to see just what his music means to us all. What a great, sweet thing to leave behind.

We're off to Spokane to play a private show, day after tomorrow, with a day off in Spokane tomorrow. I won't mind a day of vocal rest and I be the other guys in the band won't either. The weather has been SO vocalist friendly the last few nights we've just been belting it out like there's no tomorrow, and I am feeling it today. It's a very satisfied feeling for the insatiable appetite we have as far as performing live goes.

It's unfortunate that every writer who decides to take a cheap shot at us for playing some of the places we play (fairs and festivals, casinos, etc.) can't be a fly on the wall and understand that while we do run a business, with employees and crew who all have families and depend upon us for their livelihoods and that yes, we make a living doing this too, that the real thing is--WE LOVE TO PLAY. All those things are byproducts of our love of doing what we do. Not to mention the major arena and amphitheater touring we do, Super Bowl appearances, etc.

We want everyone to come see our concerts and we're willing to play every corner of the country and the globe to try and make that happen. The more the merrier. Taking extended time away is painful and you lose what you had. We're like a battery that increases in power the more we charge ourselves up, and conversely diminishes when left unplugged for too long.

And because we play so much and constantly try to improve on the tiny details, and because my fellow players and singers in STYX are so good at what they do, the band continues to improve. I don't know what makes other bands tick, or why they are motivated to do what they do, but for us it is a love of the band, the music and of the craft of performing it live in a different city every day. We have the love and support of our families to continue so there's no conflict there.

Once we finish with tours like the one we just did with Frampton and Nelson (consistent sized stages in consistent sized amphitheaters) it is a daily challenge for our crew to see how much of our gear they can stuff onto a stage that may bear no resemblance to the one the previous day. For us, this is what helps keep it interesting from day to day. We love the process of sniffing out the parameters, the do's and don'ts, can's and cannots of a new venue. We are moving into the realm of the journeymen we've always admired like B.B. King, Ray Charles, and others who look at performing live as their chosen profession, the thing that they live to do, and do to live.

I suppose it's probably hard to understand if you're a young writer who feels that if you stray from your narrow field of things that make you feel like you belong and give credit to something you haven't experienced, it might be easier to try and make it go away and just paint over an entire genre with the widest brush you can shoulder. In time, if these writers ever venture out and learn to distinguish between the good and the bad of other genres, their writing will benefit from it. It's just unfortunate for readers who don't know that these writers actually don't know what they are talking about that makes me a bit leery of newspapers in general. If this is true about music writers, it's probably true straight down the line. I guess the point is, make up your own mind and don't let someone who's loose with the jabs do it for you (we're glad you already knew that).

We'd love it if such writers would come ride our bus with us for a weekend, sit on the side of our stage and watch how we do things, and witness the love, support and appreciation you give us everywhere we go, and then see if it affects their opinion of us. I have found that being wrong is a great way to realize you have learned something new.

Ah, another nice digression! It was nice to have the time between shows to do that. Now, back to writing a new song before I have to pack up and head for Spokane...

Thanks Oklahoma City. You were AWESOME--again!!!

Tommy Shaw