The Bobby Rock Newsletter #116 (3-30-25) - Roaring into 2025
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My Friends -
Greetings and welcome to the first BR Newsletter of 2025! For those of you new to the e-list here, I don't typically have this large of a gap between issues. So my intention moving forward is to get back to being more consistent with this thing, which will likely mean publishing shorter check-ins more regularly. This issue will, as per usual, likely be a bit on the long side, but thanks in advance for indulging me as we get caught back up. As always, I do appreciate you guys being on board. Now let's get into it!
In This Issue:
What's Up? In the Here and Now...
Lita Ford Shows: Update with Pics...
Into as of Late: A Couple Books to Jack Up Your Mind...
Drummer's perspective shot with Lita Ford and Dee Snider during "Close My Eyes Forever."
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The Here and Now...
I'm waking up this morning in yet another hotel room, this one near Minneapolis. All of the usual showday protocols will be cranking up here shortly, as we are hitting tonight back at the Treasure Island Event Center. I'm inclined to mention how crazy things have been so far this year, between juggling all of the work and creative projects, with being a relatively new first-time dad (our kid just turned two in January). But this tends to sound like I'm complaining, at least to my ears, and I find that intolerable. Life is good! It's jam-packed, but good. I wouldn't have things any other way right now, even as I continue to manage (with mixed results) this kind of double-life scheduling. I am a lucky man and I know it.
Beyond a fairly robust Lita Ford touring schedule this year, I wanted to share two new developments for the first time, right here:
Next Book
This painful ol' snap is still one of my favorite "writing" pics, as it captures the hopelessness that often accompanies the process!
For all of the writing projects I've juggled over these past few years, it looks like my next book will be a compilation of writings, title to be determined. I've always loved anthology-type books from authors who write a lot of shorter, standalone pieces, and it's been on my bucket list to publish one of my own. My lightbulb revelation to jump on it now happened during a recent moment of self-flagellation, where I was berating myself for not publishing any new books of my own for so long. It went something like this:
"Motherfucker, you have three or four decent manuscripts, at various levels of completion, just sitting there waiting to be tightened up. What the hell have you been doing these past few years that you can't finish one?"
And then... it hit me. I have published 115 editions of this very Newsletter. And upon a deep dive into the Newsletter archives, it turns out that I have written and/or curated over 150,000 publishable words (the general equivalent of three solid books), throughout these editions. And then when I factored in key pieces from my blog over the past eighteen years, I simply asked, What will become of all this shit? I mean, blog posts and newsletters can rapidly dematerialize into digital black holes once they've been published... even though much of this work can be as laborious and time-intensive as anything I've ever written for a book.
And yet, it shouldn't matter if something first appeared in a "second-tier" publishing format like a newsletter or blog. If the work holds up, and it can be presented in a more evergreen format like a book—the ultimate evergreen format, in my opinion—then I say, put the shit out there... so long as it can be published in a collection, sequence, or theme-concept that will be of interest to readers. And so this is the task before me at the moment: choosing wisely from an extremely diverse collection of writings that, well, would not all typically co-exist in the same book. (But hey... when have I ever done anything "typical?")
New Studio
Over the past several months, I have set up shop in a new "away from home" private recording studio. This place is bangin'! It is essentially a two-room set-up: a drum room for my giant Alphabet Kit, which is now all mic'd up and ready to record, and a super-vibey "control room/zen den" to man the recording process, do some writing, meditate, etc. Put them both together and you have my own customized version of paradise.
With my longtime tech, Cubby, last December, just as we were moving "the big kit" from a temp practice space to the magical new place.
The main criteria for this new environment was actually all about finding a specific kind of drum room. I wanted a place with naturally superior acoustics—with tons of that "Bonham-esgue" ambience—so that my kit could whisper, sing, or scream in a space that would completely optimize and support the unique nature of its signature sound. I walked into this space, clapped my hands together at various points around the room, then simply said, "Holy shit." I knew this was it. And once we got the drums in there and I started hitting things... it was truly like canon fire. From there, my primary goal in the recording set-up concept was to simply capture what the drums naturally sounded like in that room. and that's where we are now. Recording, practicing, and zenning-out have already commenced!
Pics to follow—along with a new solo record this year.
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On the Road with Lita Ford
Here are some highlights from some of the Lita shows we've had so far...
Our February run kicked off with a few Texas dates, with guitarist Howie Simon filling in for Patrick Kennison (who had committed to another tour when it looked like the Lita Ford schedule was open during that range of dates). It was nice to play with Howie again as it had been a minute. We did a bunch of Nelson and Scrap Metal shows together awhile back, as well as a number of dates with Alcatrazz featuring Graham Bonnet.
With Howey just before our set in Amarillo.
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What's my favorite city to play in America? El Paso, Texas. True story.
Here's what I had to say on social about our return to El Paso:
From time to time, someone will ask me what’s my favorite city to play in America. For more than three decades now, my answer remains the same: El Paso, Texas.
Sure, there are many, many other cities in this great country that I love to play, both big and small. But my history with this place, in particular, has kept it a sentimental favorite through the years. Since the mid-80s, I’ve played every kind of venue here imaginable, from opening up for Iron Maiden with VVI at the County Coliseum in ‘87, to a sold-out theater show with Nelson in ‘91, to a handful of packed-house clinics for Danny’s Music Box at various hotel ballrooms, to several memorable shows at a small but rockin’ club called Saso’s with my own band… and on and on it goes.
I loved every one of those shows, mainly because of the people: always that enviable combination of attentive, appreciative, and wildly expressive! And now, tonight, I am back in El Paso with Lita Ford at the kick-ass Chavez Theater. Let’s do this!
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From there, it was off to Johnson City...
From social: Fresh off the stage last night in Johnson City after the Lita Ford set, with Dee Snider as our special guest. So great to play those Twisted tunes with “the main man.” (We have more of these double-bill shows on the books for 2025.) And yes, that’s the legendary Gary Hoey there, crushing it on guitar, filling in for Patrick. Rockin’ set!!!
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We wrapped up Feb with a return to The Golden Nugget in Vegas...
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PS. It is now the day after. Our last stop near Minneapolis brought us up to date with another show with Dee Snider in our series of co-headlining/special guest gigs:
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This summer is shaping up nicely. There are some cool European festivals on the books, such as...
Steelhouse Festival - South Wales:
Wacken Open Air - Schleswig-Holstein, Germany:
Masters of Rock - Vizovice, Czech Republic:
Fun, fun, fun! More dates soon...
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Into as of Late: Tom Grover's Relentless & Winning
I keep circling back around and revisiting these books, so I figured I'd better mention them here.
First, let me say this: these books are not for everyone. Tim Grover is probably best known as Michael Jordan's primary trainer through the glory days. He was a proponent for weight training when very few were doing it in the basketball world (for the unfounded fear that it would make players bulky, tight, and slow). But Jordan was getting his ass handed to him by the Bad Boys of Detroit at the time and was looking to get bigger and stronger, so the Bulls could finally get to the Big Dance. So, through some fortuitous craziness, these two connected, then remained aligned for the duration of Jordan's career. The rest, as they say, is history.
Grover has gone on to train other noteworthy champions—with Kobe Bryant being at the top of the list next to Michael—and through it all, he has cultivated peak performance and mindset philosophies that would be useful to many. Personally, I dig the relentless, "tough love" nature of his advice, but I'm also obsessed with the peak performance-style ethos inherent to world class athletes (which is also why I'm somewhat of a sports fanatic). Others might find the harsh, narcissistic attributes of his "clients" to be a bit jarring. But hey... I look at it like a buffet of insights: we don't have to put everything offered on our plate... only that which nourishes us. And most of us won't have to adopt the sophomoric and even "cutthroat" aspects of a high-level competitor's mindset that so many world-renowned athletes have adopted.
Note: The audiobooks are excellent! The narrator really captures the feel and vibe of the material and, of course, both of these books are really fun to listen to while training.
Scope previews on Audible or Kindle to see if you dig the vibe...
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Thanks again, everybody. Connect soon!
Until then,
BR
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