Lifting weights with The Rock!

Ok so many years ago I lived in L.A close to Venice Beach. I worked out at the worlds most famous gym (Venice Beach Golds Gym) and it was common to see celebrities in there working out. One of the unwritten rules of the gym was that you didn't bother celebrities. I saw many movie stars etc in there working out but I never broke the rule of chatting with em.
So I notice that the wrestler The Rock was working out and it it seemed that we were on the same workout schedule (everyday at 1pm) anyway.. Near the free weights there was a row of benches and we often would end up working out there. A few times we exchanged nods and would wait for machines after each other.
One day I was watching the college world series in between reps (the gym had a bunch of tvs up) and I was proudly wearing my Gamecock gear.  The Rock sees me and says "So ya'll gonna win that thing or what" I knew immediately he was referring to The Gamecocks and we then had a quick chat about college sports and he told me he was a big Hurricane and we both chatted for a sec about our teams.
Then a few days later as I was struggling to get up some free weights i see a guy appear behind me and start coaching me to "get em up, you got this" and I was shocked to see it was The Rock so I couldn't look like no fool so I got the weight up. After the rep he smiled at me and said "I hear ya Gamecock" and went back to his workout. I was pretty pumped to have just gotten spotted by The Rock.
So for the next couple months when we'd see each other we'd smile and nod and occasionally chat about southern college ball. It was weird. I had a gym buddy who would later go on to be a famous movie star, though at the time he was still a wrestler trying to break into movies.
So tonight I turn on the tv and the WWE is on and The Rock is on there doing his thing and for  a sec it took me back 10 year ago to Venice Beach Golds Gym. Though he puts on a crazy bad ass mofo vibe on tv he's a good guy who came to save the day when I was struggling with 40 pound free weights.. Cool to reflect tonight on that story.

"Gamecock"

World Record Holder...

Was going threw some old emails tonight and came across some dialog I had with Guinness book of world records.  Figured I'd share a fun story with yall. Here's a cool and somewhat odd story about my music career.

So back in 2007 I played a lot of gigs. I mean A LOT OF GIGS! I was playing seven nights a week and twice on Sat and Sun and occasionally Three shows in a day. In the entire year I had 9 days off. I was just a gigging machine. At the end of the year I was doing tax stuff and added up my gig count and it was around 400 gigs of 3-4 hours each.  Everyone I told about this (managers, agents etc) said they had never heard of this many gigs in a year and one day a buddy of mine suggested I check and see if it was some sort of a record. So I contacted Guinness book of world records to see if there was a record for shows in a year. The guy got back in touch with me and told me that some band had the record for shows in a year at 350-something gigs at 90 min each. Well I started to get excited as I just did 400 3-4 hour gigs. I started the paperwork to see if I qualified and the guy got back with me and informed me that because my gigs weren't all ticketed events that they did not qualify. So I sent the guy an email and thanked him and this is what he wrote me back.

"Sorry that we can't accept your application but between you and I, if you indeed did 400 shows of 3 hours this past year then you not only beat the record but you destroyed it. So enjoy the un-official world record for shows in a year"

I got a kick out of it and to this day I am proud to be the most gigging man on the planet!

Will play for food...

Early Rizzle

Yes yes ya'll and we won't stop!

So it's been a minute since I checked in so I wanted to get ya'll up to date on some stuff.
 First off, this Friday night the 13th we are having a cd release party for the Highway to Jail six pack at Amos's at the lake. Come celebrate and get wasted with us! We'll be playing all your old favorites and some new surprises. So come celebrate the cd and Fri 13th with us! All info can be found at http://www.amosatthelake.com/

We have some new merchandise we'll be rolling out friday including girl shirts and trucker hats! We'll also have some Jager gear for all you crazies!

I'm gonna be doing some video blogs soon as well so check back in for that.

Random rant #1.. Why do people come up and try to talk to me in the middle of songs? It's the most annoying thing in the world. When I'm in the middle of singing a song and engaging with the crowd the last thing I want to do is talk to you about a request or the fact you play guitar too and just bought a sweet Telecaster. I could care less. In fact it's impossible to sing, play and talk to you at the same time. So please go back to school and retake common sense 101.

Random rant #2.. Why can't Chick Fil A have some sort of secret Sunday service. I get and understand the reasoning for closing on Sunday but damn.  Spicy chicken from Hardees just isn't the same.

Random thought #1. Why do they report power outages on TV?

Random thought #2.  If a cow laughed, would milk come out their nose? 

So I think I want to find a new drink so any suggestions would be nice. Get creative. Best suggestion gets a free drink! 

Random rant #3.. Had a guy who was managing the local carwash ask me where he could download my music for free. So when it was time to pay and tip him I just drove off.  Enjoy the free music and I'll enjoy the free carwash. I have now told all my local friends where to go and get free washes. Let's see how long they stay in business. Nothing in life is free. Including music. Next time you go to a concert and you have to pay a $7 ticket service fee, 40$ for a shirt, 10$ for a beer and $10 to park just remember it was all worth it to save $7.99 on that cd. 

Randon Thought #3.. Laughing stock: cattle with a sense of humor. 

So who else is ready for Football to come back on? 4 more months... South Carolina vs ECU at Panther Stadium Sept 3. Make plans to come and tailgate w me. It's gonna be epic! I may even break out the gas powered blender! C'mon!! 

Still making plans to shoot a video for "Where the wild things are" just getting some things organized and trying to lose a few more lbs so I look pretty for the camera. Don't worry though. A Early Ray music video will be coming soon! 

Well I'm off to bed. Make sure you come out this Friday night!! Amos at the lake!! Be there!! 

Early Rizzle