By now everyone who reads these regularly knows that the Rock Asylum is my favorite show to play and write about. It's very personally empowering to be able to put together an entire night on such a large level. I love inviting new bands to perform and then watching the crowds love them whether or not the individuals came specifically to see them or not. For me, the highlight of this show was watching a band called Diablo Royale. They went on first, but they draw very well and man did they rock! I must admit that I wasn't expecting much but, man, was I in for a treat. They’ll be back on the July Rock Asylum so make sure to check them out.

The other thing that stood out about that night was the fact that three different bands covered Led Zeppelin! Diablo Royale did "Living Lovin' Maid", Citizens Of Contrary Knowledge did "Bring It On Home" and we did "Misty Mountain Hop" - how cool is that? As if anyone needed further proof that the legends never die.

O.K., so how many things can go wrong in one night? The answer is, MANY. Where to start…Well first off, the absolute worst feeling to have on stage while setting up is to do it in complete silence where no music is playing in the club. That’s exactly what happened at Cook’s. We wound up standing there setting up our gear and because there was no music playing it seemed as if all other activity in the place stopped and all eyes were on us before were set to actually perform. It’s a very awkward feeling. It’s like when someone comes in late to class and the whole class would stop writing and look up and stare.

Next came the nightmare of starting the set and singing into the microphone just to find out that there was no sound coming out. At first I thought my monitor was very low or simply off. I soon realized that it was off in the house as well. I was singing my heart out to myself. There are plenty of things I enjoy doing alone, but singing isn’t one of them.

Especially when there is a room full of people wanting to hear your voice. After two mic and three cable changes, the sound finally came back. The good thing is that once it did, it was brighter and louder in my monitor than it has ever been.

Perhaps the biggest problem of the night was when we blew the power to the entire stage. I mean everything from the amps, to the PA, to the lights were gone. I’d like to think we had a little something to do with that (wink wink). But as always is the case at a ZO2 show, a bad situation was turned upside down to become a great moment working to our advantage. Paulie got the entire place to clap in rhythm and sing the chorus of “Fly On

Your Wings” with no music playing at all. In a sense, the fans become the instruments and their voices became the music. That’s the one thing we can always count on. No matter what goes wrong, the ZO2 fans still rock harder than any other fans.

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