I'm late...

I can’t sleep at night b/c I find myself not wanting to move my feet ‘cause it could wake my dog. I mean, he does have a pressing day ahead of him and all but I can’t figure out why I do this every night. In the morning I think to myself, “What is wrong with me? Why don’t I just move him? Or better yet, kick him out of bed entirely!” But in the half awake, half dream state, it always seems like an insensitive thing to do. So I spend the day wrapped in a fog that I don’t snap out of until it’s time to go to bed again. While Oscar, on the other hand is bright-eyed and bushy tailed all day long. And that’s important, b/c if he wasn’t he could miss someone walking by and lose his chance to bark out the window. Hmmm…what a little creep.


So anyway, Travis is back. We are working as a four piece now. A little different, but hey, we are survivors. What’s one more curve ball? We had a great weekend at Uncle Ron’s last week. Great crowd all three nights. Thanks so much for coming out everyone! I know a lot of you made it out all three nights… I barely pulled that off! We’ll be back there the first weekend in April.  As promised, I’ll save you all seats again. I cannot promise that you will be sitting next to someone you know if I save it so maybe you should come out early just in case. ;) We were planning on playing Bushwackers last weekend but due to some confusion between Dave and me, it didn’t happen. I am so sorry to those of you who didn’t get the last minute update! I got your emails that you were there and I wasn’t so I apologize! Don’t give up on us, we’ll be back!

What else is new??? Oh! I am giving vocal lessons at Blue Raven Studio here in Lincoln. Shoot me a line if you or anyone you know is interested please. Brian teaches there as well. He will teach you all you need to know about the guitar and bass. So other than that, I will try to keep you a little more updated. I ruined Jim’s (webmaster Jim) Valentine’s Day spirits so I will do my best to wish you all well for the holidays in a timely fashion from here on out. But just in case…Happy Easter! ;)

Merry Christmas!

Well, my husband is snoring away and b/c I don't wake up with him at 5 in the morning, here I am again. I hadn't blogged in, well, forever b/c I have been on facebook and twitter but then my brilliant husband pointed out that not everybody is into that. So for those of you who follow, my apologies. In other words, sorry Mom.

Corey Wallroff joined the band recently. He is a young talented musician who started drumming with us a couple weekends ago at Uncle Ron's. You can listen to his music on myspace. Good stuff!

Thursday and Friday went well at Ron's but it was a little sad getting on stage after the heart breaking Husker loss. I'm still a little miffed about that game, but hey, our job is to make you all forget, so moving on...We have thrown in a bunch of new tunes so if you haven't seen the show in a while it's full of surprises! Including what key we will do songs in. We started a tuffy a little higher than usual that night. The whole time we're doing the song I'm thinking, "These guys are going to kill me when I ask them to lower this song again!" I'm a littler slower than the rest of them and didn't figure it out until the end that it was a bit high. Don't think that I lowered it b/c I can't sing that high, b/c I can! BonJovi, BonSchmovi! I would have done it higher but Cori didn't want to play his drums in that key so I said, okay, okay...but only for you. I'm really easy to work with that way. ;)

During the holidays everyone is here, there and everywhere so we have some time off this month. Kind of nice to spend some time at home or with the family. Brian and I have also been playing acoustic shows to keep busy. We play wing night in Dewitt on a semi-regular basis and are starting up at Outlaw's in Garland as well. Anything else we can fill in the gaps with, we play.

So much has happened since the last time I wrote I'm a little blank on what to write! We are playing the Broken Bow Fireman's Ball this coming Friday at Huckelberry's Hideout. The cool thing about this new blogger site is that you can ask me about the things I am missing! So, ask away if there is anything you'd like to know! Otherwise, I wish you all a Merry Christmas! Everybody always seems to be so stressed out over the holiday so this year, try to remember what it's all about. It's my favorite holiday b/c I get to see and spend time with all of the family I love and miss being around. Take care everyone and Merry Christmas!

Sheila

How far back can I remember???

I have to write this down before I forget!  I always forget.  Anyway, the main bullet point I can remember from Bushwackers is that Miley Cirus...Cyrus...Sy...hmmm...really am not sure about that one...Surley it's not spelled like virus...although...;)  Anyway, you know who I mean.  So Miley's crew came out both nights.  Really nice people!  Some of the roadies told me if I make it famous they would love to work for me!  Wouldn't that be swell.  The famous part I mean.  It would be pretty grand to have roadies too...Andy will only get me so many green M&M's before telling me where to go. ;)  Other than that, my friend Jill came out again.   It's always good to play in Omaha so I can see her.  And it gives Bob a dance partner!
The next week we ventured to North Platte.  Seventeen inches of snow!  Little crazy.  Then Saturday night towards the end of second set I was struck by the swine flu.  I remember the exact moment.  Luckily I have an awesome band who followed me through all of my botched  song structures.  I was pretty "creative" with the lyrics I think.  It was a little hard to concentrate with my body flashing from freezing to boiling.  My friend Erin Erickson came all the way from Denver to see us!  I hope I didn't infect her.  Hopefully we'll see them again at the big wedding in Feb.  Thanks for coming!
Then...let me think...the wedding! That's what was next.  Brian couldn't be there and we missed him but Evan Lee was awesome enough to step in and learn all the music for the night.  He did a great job and we all had a lot of fun with him.  Thanks so much Evan!
So this weekend we are at Uncle Ron's.  Tonight we're opening for Joe Diffie.  I love a ton of his songs so it will be a fun concert.  I hope you can all make it out to hang tonight or tomorrow!  It's been a while since we've played  in Lincoln and we won't be back until December so puuullleeease come out and say hi!  We miss you!

The Sheila Greenland Band

The Sheila Greenland Band. I want to introduce everyone again. If you've been to the shows you know most of us but just in case...

Shane Mason. Our newest member. He has been playing the scene for years. I send the guy five songs for an audition and he comes with 90% of my set list learned. Can't beat that.

Sherry Starnes. Fantastic keyboards and fanominal vocals. (I spell it with an "f" because I like it better that way. It is more definite than the stupid "ph";) She is definitely one of the best I have ever worked with. Personally and professionally.

Brian "Pickle" Gerkensmeyer. I had never heard this dude play before he jammed with us. I used the word "jammed" because he didn't know it was an audition. After hearing him play I understand that it's because he is too damn good for an audition. He rocks the bass.

Brad Kulwicki. I remember watching him play in the past and wishing I was good enough to share a stage with him. Every so often I have to pinch myself on stage...

These people are awesome. So awesome that I often feel really strange about using the name the Sheila Greenland Band...until I remember, it was their idea. I've never worked with people who are so hell bent on promoting me. I am a lucky, lucky person. I don't take any of them for granted. At the end of shows there always seems to be one person determined to let me know that their cousin/sister/daughter/sister's, boyfriend's niece...whatever...would be a better fit in my band than I am. That their...whoever it is...is the missing link to take this group to the top. I'm finally to a point where I can say, "No." They may be better at a lot of things but this is my family and nobody fits better than me. I have had a great line up for years. People have given a lot for me and I remember them all. LaMont is the most recent. He busted his butt to cover ours this fair season. We thank you so much LaMont!

That's it for now. I was just laying in bed thinking about it and wanted to share. 

Birthday party was a blast!

We had so much fun! Krystal and Laura's birthday party was a blast. We were going to stop around 12 but played on until 3:00a.m. Lot's of fun people, great food, drinks and...well, it was great. I am super glad Brad could play w/me. He had Laura come up and sing for a while and covered a ton of songs that they loved. They spoke of having us back and I hope they do. You guys were great and I hope you had a happy 30th birthday!!!!

-Sheila & Brad

Throw me the money!

Well, as they say, "The show must go on." Travis left the band a couple weeks ago and LaMont Foster stepped in and filled our crazy schedule. I really need to start looking at maps when I'm booking. LaMont's first date with us was the Winside Street Dance a few weeks ago. (BTW...you rocked man. 60 tunes in two days is pretty impressive) We had a bit of a late start b/c once again...rain. It really does follow us everywhere. Our old friend Ryan proposed to his long time girlfriend Jess right before the show started so that was the buzz most of the night. Congrats you two!

The reason I need a map is b/c after loading out we hit the road by 4:30a.m. and had time for a two hour nap in Fremont before running to Kendra and Dallas's wedding south of Hastings. We were all dragging pretty hard but we kept on playing late into the night. When people throw money at you it kind of wakes you up enough for a few more tunes. ;)

The following Friday we hit the Grand Island Ethnic Festival. The rain left us alone that day. Hot, hot, hot...The show went great and we even made the 10:00 news! We're movie stars now. ;) We took Saturday off and saw some old friends (we had a blast Erin and Eric, miss you!) and hung out w/the family before the 4th weekend hit us. Like a bowling ball it seemed.

We played Uncle Ron's Thurs-Sat and on Sat. Pickle and I played at RJ's in Dewitt. We play there about once a month on Tuesdays. You really should come out. It's layed back, cold beer (love the frosty mugs) and awesome wings. I hear the entertainment is pretty killer too. Ron's turned out great too. Holiday weekends are always a little scary but you came anyway! There were so many of you that I saw on the dance floor and then didn't find you on break. Thanks for coming and grab me next time so we can catch up! Now we have a couple weeks off. Brad and I are playing a private party this Saturday but other than that, we're on a break. I think everyone's families miss them. A couple weeks off and back to Valentine! We're hitting the river. Make sure and check out the schedule, we are a little bit of everywhere coming up and I'm sure we'll be close to all of you at some point. We'll even have t-shirts to sell! Anybody thinking early Christmas gifts???? :)

Sheila Greenland and the Rain Makers

Last Friday night was a slow start but after 10:00 I couldn’t even make my way to the bathroom. They must have heard that it was Sherry’s birthday! We really need to work out a better birthday song…sorry Sherry. ;) But happy birthday just the same! My mom’s cousin Brenda (my second cousin I guess) surprised me by making it out w/her husband Bruce. The next night my cousin Jason came out too. I hadn’t seen him for at least 5 or 6 years. I almost didn’t recognize him! He was always the acrobat on the horses. He moved on to bulls long ago and is still at it. It was good to see them both.

Saturday Andy, Brad and Travis went golfing w/the Shooters crew. I wasn’t there but 9 holes took them 5 ½ hours and Stacy even got ran over by a golf cart…I would have liked to be there for that. ;) No worries, she’s okay. My sister Jade just moved to North Platte and then my dad made it to town last minute as well so I spent the day w/them and Brian. Guess he’s not much of a golfer either. More in to the Chinese buffets. Saturday night was even more packed than Friday and the crowd was great. We always love hanging out w/the Shooters crew and Kevin made it out too so we had a great time and can’t wait to make it back!

Going back a little farther, we once again got rained out in Dewitt. As a group I think we are rain makers…or maybe it’s just Brad. We played until 12:00 and that’s about when the lightening was just a little too much for playing outdoors. We’ll try it again soon. We’re outdoors again this Friday for the Winside street dance so we’ll test the rainmaking powers once again. However, we were outside last Saturday and made it through w/out a drop. We were playing at Yaney Park for Heritage Days in Kearney. It was also my Grandpa Marvin’s 91’s birthday party. The bigger part of the crowd was my family! Outdoors, no rain and my family again. Good show. :)

We have another big weekend coming again and will see a lot of our friends out. The Scheels crowd is even making an appearance! That always promises a wild party. I was warned by many that the Winside Firemen are going to be wild so I hope you can make it out for a great party!