A Sad Day....

Hey ya'll. This is my first bad news blog, but in the effort of truly documenting out story, I feel like I have to post in memorium.

We went out of town for the weekend, and while we were gone, our puppy, Hank, got out of the house and got hit by a car. We came home early. It's been a sad couple of days.

We had some friends coming over a bunch to feed them and let them out, and I guess Hank was waiting by the door. As soon as our friend opened the door, he ran out of the house, and down the road. He walked out into the busy street, and that was it. Our friend said it was quick, so he didn't suffer. They buried him for us by the shed on the side of our house here.

He was a great little dog. So full of love anf life. He was the most wild bassett hound I've ever seen. He'd do laps around the house with those big ol' ears flapping around.

He loved to wrestle with his brother.

He just turned 1 in March. We got him when he was a month old. He wasn't the sharpest little guy, but he loved us and his brother Charlie fiercely.

We have alot of great memories from the past year with him. He was our little buddy. Charlie's little brother. They were the best of friends. Charlie is confused, and that breaks our hearts. He got to sleep in our bedroom last night, so that made him happy.

We had some really great friends here to take care of things for us. We are truly thankful for what ya'll did for us.

Our little family is down a number, but we're staying strong.
We miss him so terribly, but we hope he's happy wherever he his.

RIP Pirate Captain Hank Williams
3/09-6/10

Oil Spills, Mullet Toss, and Fun Times.

Man, it always seems like so much happens that it's hard to post a blog to sum it all up. But, alas, here I go trying.

We've been up to alot lately.
Mentally preparing to move again in a few months, working on playing as much music as possible, spring break, summer time coming, oil spills, floods, etc.





It's a little discouraging knowing that this oil spill is going to make the tourist season suffer down here, and that the city we're moving to is half under water, but we're keeping our heads up the same way that the citizens of the impacted areas are. We're taking a class on Monday that will get us temporarily HAZMAT certified so we can help with the Gulf Coast cleanup. Victoria is hoping to volunteer with the Wildlife Efficiary, or perhaps the Humane Society, and make sure the local injured animals are well taken care of. She's a good one.

This oil is a big deal down here. Rumor has it that we've had a city-wide reservation cancellation rate of almost 70%... Might make it hard to make a living if nobody is coming...

The thing people are worried about the most is hurricane season, and the impact that an oil slick on top of 75mph winds and 40ft waves might have. Potentially disaterous.

But, as I said, we're keeping our heads up.

T-Bone, our guitarist, decided it was time for him to get on outta here, and moved himself back to Muscle Shoals, AL to be with his kids and family. He's missed here, but he's where he needs to be. Also, he's on his way to Nashville to help with relief there, and lay some ground work for us! There's alot of guitarists in town, so we've been able to keep working hard! Good things are coming soon, we can feel it!



Ok now on with the good, less depressing stuff!

Since the oil spill is making sure that music isn't going to pay the bills this summer, I have several job interviews this week! Lots of promising places that pay good.
Also, I may be able to work with some of the companies contracted to clean up the mess, and those pay anywhere from 18-25/hr. So, wow! The whole town is hoping to get that job, so hopefully, i'll get the opportunity!

We've been playing a ton of music around town. It's been so much fun that getting paid for it just seems nuts, but hey, I'm not complaining.

Check out these pics...







A few weekends ago was the 26th Annual Interstate Mullet Toss at The FloraBama.



You sign up, pay a little entry fee, get a t-shirt, get in line, get your picture taken, and then throw a fish. Yep, a fish. A mullet.

They have the whole thing divided into brackets by gender and age, and you win prizes based on how far you throw it. Believe it or not, this is one of the biggest events down here every year. The beaches were PACKED.



We were all in line discussing the best strategies... The most popular tactic is to fold the fish up, get some sand on your hands to help your grip, and throw it sop the head unfolds first, making the fish aerodynamic... Nuts, huh?

Here she goes....







Victoria threw that fish 48.7ft. The record for the girls 16-25 was 68.7ft. She was a little disappointed, but I think she did great for her first ever mullet toss. Hell, I didn't even try!

Cinco De Mayo! We didn't do anything real special, but it was Victoria's first Cinco as a 21 year old, so we went out for mexican and margaritas! David and Shelly ad some friends over so we came home and partied for a bit to celebrate the mexican victory over the french! Or just drink some tequila.... either/or.

We're looking very forward to Nashville in August, when we get to be close to home and all of ya'll. We miss you guys all so much. We're gonna miss all the people we've gotten to know down here and all the people who've been so good to us, but it's a worthwhile trade to be so much closer to home.

Both of our families will be making visits in the next month, and we can't wait. It's been since Christmas since we've been home to see anyone.

Michael and Becky came down to visit Victoria, and that was a blast, but we're ready for more so come on down!!!!



So... I think that sums up most of what's been going on lately. Sorry we don't stay current on this thing. We try, but we have really short attention spans. haha.




Love ya'll! See ya real soon!

PS

Oh, PS. If you guys haven't seen it all yet, you can find our music in several places now!

On FACEBOOK, you can become a fan of the BRAD JACKSON BAND. Just search for it in the little search box.

Or you can go to THE BRAD JACKSON BAND on MYSPACE to hear all the recordings.

And for videos, go to THE BRAD JACKSON BAND's YOUTUBE Channel.

Love you guys!

Wow, long time...

Wow it's been awhile since we've posted. I can't believe it's almost the end of January.

Time flies...

It feels like Christmas was just yesterday, and we were home in St. Louis with all of you.
We had so much fun, we can't even tell you guys. We miss you all so much. Victoria cries when we watch videos of little Katers, and we are so excited to get to meet Baby Jack, who I guess is due any day now.

Wow, time flies...

Things are going really good here. I wish it would stop raining. When it has, it's been sunny and 75 degrees so I want it to stop for good!

The snow-birds are here, and they keep Victoria really busy at work with their little blue hair. Her feet hurt when she gets off, but I take care of her when she gets home so she can just prop up on the couch, so she's ok.

Now that she's 21, we've been going out quite a bit more, to some new places we haven't been.
Her and Shelly even had a girls night last Sunday night and went out without us!

I've been working really hard on music and booking gigs with David and my buddy T-Bone. Were learning a ton of stuff really fast, and writing a bit too. We play the open mic nights to try them out, but we're working hard on booking the paid gigs too.

Spring is right around the corner, and the town is ready for it. Bring on the 6,000,000 people that will come through here by October. I want to play music every night.


We don't really have any new pictures to post with this update.


Oh wait! We sent out thank you notes, so expect those, but for awhile, we were just going to post a "Thank-You Blog". We decided notes would be more sincere. But we do have like 2 pics for that. Here they are!


CROCKPOT! Thanks GAMMY and GAMPY!

Victoria rockin the new mixer that Nama gave her. Thanks Nama!


....and that's as far as we got.


Well, we love you guys and miss you like crazy. We'll be back in St. Louis in a couple months to meet the new baby. We can't wait!

Wish us luck on everything we do! Til next time! Let's hope it's not as long this time. Byeeeee!

Brad's Parents Visit (Shrimpfest, Montgomery, Open Mic Nights), Baby Dylan, and Halloween

Hey ya'll! As usual, it's been too long between posts, so we're gonna sum it all up in one easy blog!

My parents came to visit on October 9th and spent 10 whole days here! We had a freakin blast!




We only spent a couple days at the beach, but we did so much else!

My Dad totally fixed our back porch screen and doors and we spent every night out there playing Spades.









Victoria and I never won a game, but we got rrrreeeealllly close every time.

We ate at Lamberts, went to Shrimpfest down at the public beach, and David and I played a couple good open mic nights at Floribama and Janna's Market.

Here's some pics to sum all that up.




























Later on in the week Mom, Dad, Victoria, and I all got in the car and went to Montgomery to see Jamey Johnson at the Alabama National Fair. We were able to get my Uncle Dale and Aunt Christine to come with us! Jamey Johnson was amazing. Me and Dale snuck backstage after the show, but were quickly asked to leave... oh well.
















We stayed at Aunt Christine and Uncle Dale's place in Prattville. We had a great time. We met up with my other Aunt and Uncle after the concert and we all went to IHOP, then went back to Dale's to sleep. We had a great time, and Victoria loved meeting my Dad's side of the family!



















The next day, we headed back to Gulf Shores, and had a great couple-few days just hanging around.


When it came time for my folks to leave, I caught a ride back to St. Louis with them so I could try to be there for Brian and Sara to have their baby. My dad helped me fix my truck while I was home so I could drive it back down here. I could only stay a few days, so I missed it, but Dylan Patrick Hart was born weighing 7 lbs, 10 oz on Saturday October 24th. I left on Wednesday! Only missed it by 3 days... He had to stay in the NICU for a couple days but he got to go home healthy and happy on Tuesday! Brian and Sarabell are parents!









He looks like his daddy, God forgive him. haha kidding.



Anyway, on to Halloween! This blog is covering quite the span of time here...

We made this Halloween Gingerbread House! Isn't it the ugliest gingerbread house you've ever seen? We're really proud of it. Haha.





And we carved pumpkins...



Victoria and I were superheroes again! (cheap costumes!)



David and Shelly were too, though we didn't get a good pic of it.


We had alot of fun Halloween night! We didn't really have any money to go out anywhere so we stayed in with David and Shelly and had Victoria's friend Amy over. Her boyfriend's name is Ryan and they're always so fun, although they didn't dress up for Halloween....




We just hung out on the prch and played games and stuff. We didn't get any trick or treaters, so we got to eat all the candy we bought!






The girls throwing it up for Waylon Jennings.


I'm sure we missed a big party back home, but we had fun anyway. It was definitely the most low key halloween we've ever had!

Well, that about catches us up doesn't it? We love and miss all of you. Come visit us! We'll see ya'll at Christmas! BYYYYYYE!


OH! PS: Go to our music page here: BRAD JACKSON MUSIC and listen to the new songs! Alot more to come shortly!