Recent Pictures and Up-dated Schedule

A wonderful young lady came out to the Silver Spoke a few Fridays ago and took some of these pictures...she captured some pretty good essences of our characters as players. Hope that you enjoy them.
Scheduled gigs:

The Silver Spoke 1400 Saltillo Rd. June 12th, 2009
Bob's Tavern Havelock June 13th, 2009
The Point After 1011 W. Dawes June 20th, 2009 (Poker run 4 cancer)
Silver Spoke 1400 Saltillo Rd. June 26th, 2009
Spirit of Brownsville Brownsville, NE July 11th, 2009 (tickets $10, boat ride on the Missouri, free food,
3 hours of floatin'!)
Would love to see anyone interested in having a good Rockin' Time.
We aren't' famous, have no desire to be, we just want to have fun playin' music that means something to us.

Hat of Chaotic Obscurity & Sheepish Grins

Can't believe how long it has been since I last checked in...too busy on Face Book...this unfortunately is not a joke...okay maybe it is...Anyway been going through more changes...can't escape the fact that this is pretty much the way it goes until I can no longer use any of my senses. Up, down, over, out, and pretty much sideways... Most days I remember to buckle up...the enjoyment of the ride is predetermined by my perception...on the days I refuse to use my safety devices I usually end up in the ditch somewhere with a look of complete shock and awe wondering what the hell happened????...then if I'm lucky... a smile will play upon my face...and I will sheepishly say...Oh yeah!!!...if I'm not so fortunate...I wake up in a few days and notice that the hat of chaotic obscurity is sitting squarely atop my head...yet once again. Despite it all...I have been able to start recognizing that the longer this little routine keeps repeating itself...the shorter the spans grow of me wearing that doggone hat...and the more sheepish grins I get to wear instead.

KZUM

Well tonight is the night for Full Measures radio review...I have been told it is a streaming broadcast which means I guess that it is broadcast via the internet to who ever wishes to listen in any part of the country. Pretty cool huh? Anyway ...we are set to go on at 10pm this evening May 14th. It will be a live performance with a few bits and pieces of music we have recorded as well. This segment will include short intervews and some bullshit thrown in for good measure (or Full Measure?) and it will be LIVE. So anything we say cannot be taken back....Yikes! We are all pretty pumped for it and I have to admit I am not feeling as nervous as I thought I would....but it is only 8am for me right now. We are also scheduled for the SIlver Spoke this Friday May 15th. Start time is 8:30 until we finish around 12:30ish. Hope that you all will check it out and give us plenty of feedback or flack as we need both most of the time.

"FULL MEASURE" The Band

Since one of the reasons for developing this blog site was motivated by the fact that I recently joined a new band I suppose I should tell you a little bit about us. We are dubbed "Full Measure" due in part to it's members coming back from the darkest recesses of "hard" life and "hard" luck. All of us have come back from the brink of death and our own self-destruction, and the main constant for all of us is that music has always been the one thing that has been critical to our existence. Music, for all intents and purposes, has lead us to hell and back and everywhere in-between. By the time we found each other we were just playing for therapeutic reasons and had no expectations from each other regarding our abilities. (Cool thing is we still don't) There is no specific direction, no perfection, no hopes of fame or fortune, we just feel glad when a club says "yea, sure you can play". Recently we were offered to fill a position as a House Band for the Silver Spoke located on 1400 Saltillo Road of of Hwy 77. We felt like we were given the "Key to the Highway" (Thank you Clapton!) We play whatever we can put together which is turning out to be quite a bit of stuff. We consider ourselves "classic rock" and try to get the arrangements close to the originals, but since we have all played for years, I have to confess, we usually put our own spin on things. Still most of it is recognizable. The material includes songs from The Beatles, Clapton, Pink Floyd, Steely Dan, Neil Young, Jackson Browne just to name a few, plus some good old fashioned blues, rock 'n' roll, as well as a few of our own that we are playing around with. The members are as follows: Adam "Atom" Seward, only because when he stops fooling around being critical and lets it go he blows it up on that guitar of his, plus the fact he starts doing the cutest little dance move when he starts to tear it up.(Makes me grin every time). Mark "Thumper" Backencamp due to the fact that he gets so exicited he starts double kickin' that bass drum so fast he reminds me of the rabbit from Bambi. (The look on his face is priceless!) Then we have Mr. Erik "the Dork Man" Delaney as front man and lead vocals. The only reason I call him Dork Man is because he is still green and some of the things he says and situations he gets himself into are just downright "Dorky". He however is the right man for the job and does what a front man should do...he makes the ladies melt. His vocals for the most part are spot on and he is only getting better and stronger in his position with this band. And last but not least you got me, Kristin "the Chevy" Ford, reason being is that I have been told I play a mean bass for a "broad", hence the name Chevy...I may have been born a Ford, but I got me the heart of a Chevy. All things considered we have a ton of fun and take requests from the audience so that we will at least try to have them before the next gig. So far our crowds are small due to the fact that no one knows us yet, and I can't help but feel the financial situation with the economy is playing it's part, but "it's all good." The Following is a List of our Schedule in case any of you who read this blog are interested in catching a show sometime. By the way the Silver Spoke has the best Pizza and Chubby Burgers I have ever tasted, and the owners are just good old-fashioned laid-back folk that are in the business of allowing people to blow off some steam and have a good time.

GIGS

May 2009
May 1st - Silver Spoke 1400 Saltillo Road, Lincoln, NE. 8:30 pm - 12:30 am
May 2nd- The Point After 1011 W. Dawes Ave. Lincoln, NE. 9 pm - 1 am
May 3rd - Auld Center Antelope Park, Recovery in the Arts Concert Lincoln, NE. 1-5 pm
May 15th - Silver Spoke 8:3o pm - 12:30 am
May 16th - Sidewinders 17th & 'O' st. Lincoln, NE. (time to be announced)
May 29th - Silver Spoke 8:30 - 12:30 am

May 14th- Radio spot on KZUM to be announced.

June 2009
June 12th - Silver Spoke 9 pm - 1 am
June 13th - Bob's Tavern 6212 Havelock Ave. Havelock. 9 pm - 1 am
June 26h - Silver Spoke
These are the postings for now, but just so you know the Silver Spoke is pretty much every other weekend through September.
Will also get the time posted for the radio spot on KZUM as soon as I know the time slot.

Why's it Gotta' Be So Crazy?

This is purely from my own perspective and is subject to change on a daily basis, but just for the sake of today....HOLY CRAP! In the last month I have seen a change in attitude not only in the social aspect of this country, but in the people that I choose to call friends, my family, and I guess more importantly...myself. Seems there is a lack of patience and tolerance for the new political regime,(which if memory serves me right we tolerated the Bush Administration for 8 years) it also appears to be accompanied by a sense that everyone is holding their breath. Experience has taught me that you COULD die if you don't breathe, but you basically just turn your lips blue,pass out,and wake up with a helluva headache. There is a sense of fear that is motivating people's choices and the way we treat one another. My relationships are suffering due to this apparent tension. I have been a "little fish" in this big ocean ever since I was born, and so I feel I have developed a form of resignation as to my position in life. This does not mean that I am willing to conform to an institution's laws that are unjust, nor does it mean that I will allow myself to be cheapened, beaten, coerced, bullied, brutalized, or manipulated by another human being or system, at least not without my express permission. I feel it boils down to the choices I implement and how I choose to view myself in relation to the changes that so often happen in life. Isn't that what life is all about anyway? Ebb and flow, up and down, forward and backward, with a whole lotta sideways thrown in for Good Full Measure? The older I get the more I realize the only reason I get up anymore is to see what life is going to throw at me next and my battle cry is "COOL, BRING IT THE F@$K ON" as I go screaming loudly into my day with a big-assed "YEE HAW!" I don't really have a specific point, only to suggest that all of you that I love (and I mean this worldly) for crying out loud don't forget to put your seat belt on, sit back, and try to figure out which ride you got stuck with for the day. And for goodness sake, be nice if at all possible, not just to others but to yourselves as well. Where do we think we are all going to in such a rush? We all end up the same way eventually right...nothing but dust. Let the rich and famous be rich and famous, the poor(if you decide to help them) be not so poor, the students help them learn (we are all students by the way), and let the teachers teach, preachers preach, artists and writers express,the peacemakers be at peace, and although I hate to say it, let the hate mongers monger. All of these things I have recognized I will not change, nor is it up to me, what is up to me is how I choose to live my life while I still exist in the presence of life, whether I am deemed unrealistic or altruistic, hey that's the hand I've drawn for the day. Is Life truly all about the motivations of Politics, Religion, Money, and Power determining our placement or position in life, or is it more about accepting the fact that if we are graced with living one more day we should do all that we can to experience and connect with one another to see what, if anything, we can come up with together to make this whole ride a bit more comfortable, quite possibly share the exhilaration, and if nothing else...the experience of being human?

RE: Adult Content

Sheesh! Who knew that adult content meant nudity...Okay it is quite evident that it wasn't me. I thought that it meant bad language as in the four letter word type stuff. Thanks to my giggling sister Kelly, she informed me unless I am posting nude photos or videos I probably need to take the adult content restriction off. I am seriously thinking about taking a picture of my big toe naked. I apologize for not having more to blab about or new pictures to show off, I am still fumbling around with the gadgets and doohickeys. Is doohickey a word??? I just noticed that my spell checker didn't go off so I guess it must be huh? Sure is a funny looking word that doohickey. Yes...I am afraid I am intellectually vacant today. Which means that I am lacking not only adult content, but any content all. Til next time. KLF

Givin' The Full Measure

Well I have decided to follow my sisters lead....I am stepping into the age of technological advancement and communication as it seems good old fashioned letter writing and land lines are becoming a thing of not only the past, but my past as well. Makes me sigh...but it doesn't surprise me. In a way I always believed that we would be flying around in outer space by now, thanks to my avid viewing of Star Trek as a youngster. Cool thing is...might still happen in my lifetime.
Anyway...I decided to start this blog to keep friends, family, and anyone curious enough to view it, updates on my life and times as I attempt to become more and more human. That is not to say I wasn''t born human, it just means that I didn't (and sometimes feel) grasp the totality of what it entails to be human...hence the inspiration behind the name of my blog. My mission...to experience the Full Measure of life, love, and the pursuits and merry chases it allows me to participate in...Someone once told me that "death is the easy part, living life is the hard part". Even though this is basically true, surviving the hard parts has made me stronger...and more human.
Hopefully this blog will contain snippets of weird thoughts, philosophies, family ties, and current educational and musical up-dates. Yet whatever occurs, it will be an adventure none-the-less.
Here goes...
Kristin Ford