July 15-21
So as the ringing in my ears begins to fade almost a week after one of the best days ever, (Saturday July 14th - The day of the "Ride and Jam for Jamie") I would like to share some gratitude and thoughts on everything.
First off, I am so grateful for the Gallatin Roughnecks. Even though the weather did not cooperate that morning, without their idea for the ride, and enthusiasm to make this day happen, it never would have happened. Darrel and Sam are two awesome dudes! I was really looking forward to meeting all of the Roughnecks. We may still do the ride. More will be revealed.
Saturday 7.14.12 started with much anticipation. It had been raining on and off all week and the forecast said 50% chance of thunderstorms. With what we had seen so far the rains had not been overwhelming gulley washers. After a few conversations with Darrell we decided to announce a go for the ride rain or shine.
We woke up to a light rain so we kept our best game face on and went to work. Jim Horn, Mike Hulan and myself met up and loaded up about 16 cases of water that Angie and Jamie got for the ride registration (we were thinking 100 degree temps and blistering sun:) We rode around and got supplies for the auction, breakfast and plenty of ice. The whole time it's raining pretty steady and seeming to get heavier. I kept telling Jim and Mike "It's gonna clear off man...no worries!" They would just smile.
As soon as we arrived at GodWhy we set up our tent and iced down some water. Speaking of water.... right about then the bottom just dropped out! I mean it just POURED! We were laughing our asses off! As soon as one of us would say "Hey man.. this is gonna pass quick." Lighting would strike and thunder would crash and we would start cracking up again. We had a ball!
There was no way I was going to get bummed out about it. It was this same kind of weather that kept Jamie off the Life-flight that day. I am very grateful for Jim and Mike suiting up and showing up...happy and willing to get soaked. They are true friends.
It was way too dangerous to ride that day. After a few phone calls with Darrell and then a bunch of Facebook and texting we got the word out as best we could. Hopefully we will reschedule.
We found out later that Darrell started having a problem with his leg that day and ended up having to spend the next two nights in the ER. We were so sorry to hear that and we keep him in our thoughts and prayers.
We headed back to the house and dried off a bit and then began to get everything together to load for the auction and concert.
Everything from the time we arrived at Mercy Lounge until we left that night is such a blur for me.
A magic, chaotic, beautiful, crazy, wild, amazing blur!
As soon as I set my briefcase on a table when I first walked in it was GO TIME!
I am so grateful to my wife Sarah for heading up the auction. She was so focused on keeping up with everything that she did not get to see much of the show... but she was happy to do it. She and all of our amazing friends and family (kind of one in the same) made it possible for me to concentrate on kind of overseeing everything and being able to focus on the concert part while they set up and made the auction happen.
I really wanted to try and name everybody but I would hate to leave someone out. Please know how grateful The Simmons family is to every person who made this incredible night happen.
The love, support and generosity of our friends has been so beautiful to see and experience.
From the people who donated auction items...the awesome musicians who gave their time and talent... the people who helped.... the people who showed up and made a donation.... the people who prayed and sent us good thoughts... the people who were not able to make it but made sure to let us know that they were there in spirit. Without each and every one of them the night would not have been what it was. I have heard over and over that you could literally feel the love in the room. It's true. I felt it big time. Every person there played a part in that. Thank you so much for that.
The Gene Cook Band started us off and they totally kicked ass! Gene has always been one of my favorite singers and songwriters. He's a killer guitarist too! He has done an amazing job leading the band at Highland Park Church for years. I was proud to be there with him much of that time and to play his songs with Jamie in our band the Peacemakers for a few years.
With Paulie Simmons on drums (the start of a long happy night of drumming for my little bro) and Randall Turner on bass (Randall smokes the gitry as well!) the Gene Cook Band totally set the tone for an amazing night.
Jamie, Angie, DeAnna and Jonathan had arrived shortly before Gene was going to go on. As soon as we got inside people just surrounded him! It was in a very good way... everybody just wanted to see him. That was an awesome thing to see for a few minutes. I made sure they were cool and then went on to hook up with Barrett to get Jamie's bass squared away and then find Easlo and Paulie.
About 8pm I rolled Jamie backstage and we asked everybody to give us a few minutes to ourselves. Luckily Fish was there getting his kick ass poster's signed and had his camera.
We circled up like we have so many times in the past...just us four...except this time it meant more than it ever has. Words can't begin to explain the gratitude for that moment.
There were friends at the ready. We lifted Jamie up onstage and within minutes I heard his bass come to life...Paulie slammed a few licks to make sure the drums were in the house... then Easlo said:
"Nashvillllllllllllle!!!!!! We are SIMMONZZZZZZ!!!!"
We started in on our song "Days Like These" and I swear I thought I was going to explode!
So many emotions and feelings all going at the same time. I could not hold back tears nor did I want too. Tears of pure joy as I looked over at Jamie with a big grin on his face...absolutely killing the bass line in his wheelchair. I looked out at all of our friends and saw many tears of joy there as well.
Easlo was killing it! Paulie was slamming! I was just trying to keep up!
I have never experienced anything like it in my life and I don't see how I ever could again.
Many of you have been there with us from day one when we were updating on Facebook after the accident. You were there with us through the almost unbearable first days and into the start of Jamie's recovery. You were there with us. We could feel it then and I could most definitely feel it from the stage Saturday when we were playing.
Jamie was incredible. It can still be very painful for him to play and to move around a bunch. It may not have seemed like it to many who were there... but it still hurts, especially the day after. He kicked so much ass it's almost unbelievable! His bass solo in the last song was perfect!
Many of you don't know this but two weeks before the jam Jamie had to go back into the hospital to have his gall bladder removed. He was there for about a week. Up until that point we were pretty sure he was going to make it out to the Mercy. After that we were not sure at all. We met up early the week of and jammed a little on our acoustic's and he said he would not miss it :)
I don't throw the word miracle around. Saturday there was a miracle in the house and his name was Jamie Simmons. When he asked us to stand him up at the end of the set ....man. That was one of the best moments of my life. I am so grateful I got to share it with so many friends.
Simmonz is most definitely BACK!
The night was not over. Raelyn Nelson took the stage and kept the positive energy flowing. She put on a great performance and she also donated some killer swag to the auction from her dad Willie.
Paulie stayed on the drums...machine that he is :) with Jonathan Bright on guitar and Preach on bass.
In case you did not know the lineup had a theme. The theme was friends and family. Every band had a connection for us through the years. We have all played together in various forms over the years and these people were the only ones that were right for the night.
With that in mind we got some friends together to play a quick set of tunes from our childhood hero's Deep Purple. We had done it in the past and it was so much fun. A few years ago the Simmons brothers with Michael Webb and Rick Shell did a show called Machine Head (we played the whole album and then some) which was so much fun we have been trying to get it back together again for some time now. We were going to try and do it here when the planning for the Jam was in it's early stages but it just did not seem like we were going to be able to make it work.
We pulled it together a few days before the show with the help of Greg Mangus and Dean Tomasek on vocals and bass. I'm so glad we did!
With Greg and Rick graciously taking turns on vocals, Webb on the keys, Dean on bass, and Paulie and yours truly on drums and guitar.... We screamed through "Highway Star" and "Man on The Silver Mountain" I think Ronnie and Cozy would have been pleased! (Hell... they may have been there!)
Then the second highlight of the night took place. (Yep...SECOND..playing with Deep Purple was topped by playing with my little brother again by far!)
Through some kind of cool cosmic coincidence, Deep Purple was in town doing pre-production on their new record. Paulie just happened to be drum tech for Ian Paice. One thing led to another and before you know it I'm playing "Space Truckin'" and "Woman from Tokyo" with Roger Glover, Ian Paice, and Don Airey of Deep Purple.... my absolute favorite band of all time!
Thank you Paulie! You turned those damn drums around left handed and I thought to myself "Wait...is this really happening???"
I swear when Ian kicked into "Truckin'" it felt just like playing with Paulie. It was so natural. Their music is in our DNA. Roger came over and rocked with me once during the chorus... I know the smile on my face had to be the biggest cheesiest clown smile you have ever seen!
The smile on Jamie's face at stage left told me life was good.
Greg and Rick did an amazing job on the vocals. Just absolute awesomeness all around.
What an incredible experience. I will never forget it.
Suckerpunch came on and kept the good time going strong. Todd Albert, Jimmy Griffith, Tim Cherry and Brandan Blanke are great friends. They put on "Jamie Jams" right after the accident and raised a lot of money for Jamie.
Paulie and I were in our first real band, Speedlimit, with Jimmy, Todd and Brian Pugh back in the late 70's. I'm so grateful they gave up their usual Saturday night gig to be with us and to rock the house! It was awesome seeing Paulie play "Walk This Way" again!
Robert Leath and friends closed out the night with some of his songs and it was a perfect close to a perfect night. Jamie and Angie stayed until the last note was played. I thought he was going to have to leave much earlier but they hung tough. His gratitude was obvious.
Besides being such a great night of music, love, family and friends, the event was a great success!
We did very good on the auction and the combination of the door, t shirts, posters and donations was awesome!
Our whole family is so grateful for your love and generosity. There is really no way we could ever return the love...but we will keep trying... I promise!
It feels like we could never say "thank you" enough...or tell you how much we love and appreciate all of you. I know that you are not looking for thanks. All of you have just wanted to help from the very beginning. Well....guess what? You have... more than you will ever know. I hope you can see the gratitude and feel it when you read these words.
It is very real.
Love,
Mike
