Ashby Frank
Mandolinist, Singer, Songwriter

Well I stayed and ate as long as I could, but I made it back from North Carolina to Nashville just in time to unpack, repack, sleep a few hours, and hop on a very full plane to Chicago. I really hate flying on full planes, and this one was exceptionally rough. On my left, I had a kid kicking me and the back of Justin’s seat constantly while his mom just kept saying “stop. stop. stop. stop. stop.”. On my right was a guy that was listening to reggae so loudly on his Ipod that I could hear it clearly.

Needless to say, but I was very glad when we touched down. There’s snow on the ground here and it’s quite a bit colder. My chest congestion isn’t going away like I wish it would. I’ve been taking decongestant and mucinex for a few days but the singing is still pretty rough.

We made it out to Sugar Grove, IL (about 40 miles outside of Chicago, near Aurora) with plenty of time to spare so we were able to sit down to a nice meal at the Fireside Restaurant. I got to watch Wake Forest beat UConn in the Car Care Bowl, capping off a good year for the Deacs. Here’s Justin leading us through the snow…

I was just thinking, why would a company spend money to name that game the Car Care Bowl? What a stupid name for a football game. I think some times about the extravagant things that I would buy if I won the lottery, and buying the naming rights for a bowl game might be another good one. “Ashby Bowl XII”, or the “Shallow Bowl”. Yeah, that’s it. ooor The Finger Bowl! Come watch Rutgers play Boston College, in the FINGER BOWL! Double entendre, get it?

Well we had a good meal and the we drove a few blocks away to the show. It was actually the end of the year event for the Northern Illinois Bluegrass Association, and the venue was some sort of a community center… we played in the gym, and there was a jam and chili cook-off going on downstairs. The warm-up room looked like some sort of funeral home… very nicely furnished for a community center. They had some great food to go along with the chili and all of the folks were really nice. They did have some rather strict rules and signs around the place that I didn’t understand.

Like I said, I’m still kinda clogged up, and David has a cold. Because of that, the singing was probably a little rough. Other than that, the show seemed to go pretty well. It’s always hard to play in a gym because of the sound, it’s very hard to hear. But the crowd seemed “entertained”, so all is well.

We’ve had today off, and have hung out here at our fearless band leader’s house in Oak Lawn. He got a new puppy for Christmas named Shelby. She’s a killer! She’s helping me type this right now.

Ok, well tomorrow (New Year’s Eve) we play in Evanston (another suburb of Chicago). I’ll try and get some pictures.

Ahight, signing off from Chicago. Here’s some pictures from yesterday:

Well, I’ve been messing around with the site for a few days now. I’ve gotten a few things working (Favorite Things Page and a first post, Mobile Version, a good start on the “About” page, User Registration, Blog Theme, Email, ect.) but there’s quite a lot more to do.

Along with messing with this page, I’ve been fighting a chest cold that I’m not sure it being helped by being around the cat in the house. Her name is Katy Hill, and, well, she’s siamese and she doesn’t care for me, or anyone for that matter, all that much.

The smell of the live Christmas tree also aggravates my allergies, but I like having one. I’m allergic to everything, but I’ve learned to live with it. It’s kind of a Thanksgiving afternoon tradition for my father and me to go pick out a Frazier Fur tree to put in the living room. It makes the house smell like Christmas, along with the food that my parents have been cooking since I arrived on Saturday.

Here you can see just a “few” ingredients laid out for one of the many dishes my mom is cooking, for one of the many family Christmas dinners that we go to. You can also see an eager Garry Frank (my dad) de-boning a duck for use in the planned Turducken feast here at the house on Christmas Day. Since Saturday I’ve already eaten most of an Egg Custard Pie, Chicken and Rice, Spaghetti, about 10 fruitcake cookies, pound cake, homemade rolls, and some other stuff I can’t remember. I think they just finished making the andouille dressing for the duck, and I think I’ve already gained at least 4 pounds. January is going to be the month of the diet.

Well I guess I should go get ready for church. Later I’m going to try and get some pictures of the rediculously tacky Christmas lights that are up around here. I really, really enjoy them.

Merry Christmas to everyone, especially my first subscriber Carole….and Ralph!

PEACE.

In my quest to make a list of my favorite things in this world, I’ll start with a real North Carolina tradition: Cheerwine.
My favorite sweet liquid carbonated concoction in the world is only rivaled by Coca-Cola and Pepsi in popularity back home. In fact, you can buy Cheerwine out of the fountain at many local non-chain restaurants. Cheerwine has been produced in Salisbury, NC (about 15 miles south of my hometown) since 1917 by the Carolina Bottling Company. (more…)

That time of the year has come again!

I always look forward to going home, but during this time of year it’s very special to me.
Tomorrow morning I’ll be leaving Nashville for my hometown of Tyro, North Carolina. (more…)

Welcome to my new home on the web!

My goal with this site is to let people know what I’m up to, where I am, where I’ve been, and where I’m going.
People are always asking and I’ve always had a hard time explaining what it’s like to be a musician on the road and in Nashville, and I have been trying to force myself to keep track of where I’ve been and memorable events in my life. So this seemed like the most logical way to accomplish both of those tasks.
I’m going to try my best to take a lot of pictures of where I go, and hopefully entertain everyone in the process.

So bookmark me, and check back often. I’ll have this place up and running during my downtime for Christmas!

PEACE.