Welcome to Tuesday,

            Tonight we Host the Final Open Mic for 2016 at the Hearing Room in Lowell Massachusetts. 
Since it's a school vacation week, I am happy to report that the lovely Elise will be joining me this evening, and I have been assured that, yes, there will be snacks! Also tonight, my youngest daughter, on break from Grad School, will be on hand to see her old man playing live in front of an audience, something she last witnessed  over fifteen years ago when she was still in single digits. So I really hope that many of you will be able to join me this evening  on what I promise will be a special night of performances. Come and play, come and perform, or just come and listen. Performances run from seven until ten p.m. 
   Some of you that have been regular readers of this Blog for the HughMcQueenMusicProject have heard mention the HEARING ROOM  many times before.  Last summer when I made the decision to return to a career in music it was the first room I played. Their Tuesday Night Open Mic nights hosted by Rick Cande and Lori Zuroff gave me the opportunity to work out the kinks after a very long  hiatus. So much has happened since those first couple of Tuesday nights back in the summer.
 We did our Launch Party at the Hearing Room back in November, and did another feature show there on December 3rd. We have booked and played  several other venues in the greater Lowell  area since that first evening, but coming back to the Hearing Room always feels like  being welcomed back home.
       There are very few venues in existence today ,whose sole reason for being, is to provide a creative outlet for local artists and musicians. The Hearing Room is one of these rare venues. It does  not exist to make a buck. It exists because some very special people believe that Art and Music matter,
       It needs your support, so come by and check it out. Come Browse, Come listen, come sing, come dance, come create.....come belong.   
                                                                                                                            Safe Travels,
​                                                                                                                             Hugh

    

            

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah, 

        When I was a kid , I always wished every year that  Christmas  could land on a Sunday. Growing up Catholic with the most Irish Catholic mother to ever walk on God's green Earth, missing Mass on Sunday was NOT an option. It always seemed to me that Catholicism had some very peculiar rules one had to follow if one did not want to end up having to spend eternity roasting marshmallows with Lucifer, and attending Mass on Sunday and on ALL Holy Days  of Obligation was right at the top of my mother's list. It was one of the Big Ten, (that's Commandments for you heathens, not the College Football Conference), and fell under the  category of "keeping Holy the Lord's Day". 
       Any year Christmas happened to fall on, say, a Monday, or a Thursday, it meant that our butts were being dragged to Mass at our Parish Church twice in one week. Imagine the torture of being forced to get "dressed up" twice in one week, then sitting "quietly" in uncomfortable pews while Father Carty preached on the wages of sin I had not yet had the pleasure of committing. But on the occasional year that Jesus' Birthday fell on a Sunday, it was like getting a two for one special, with Christmas Mass counting for both the Holy Day and the Weekly Obligation. I think I began to recognize Liturgical Loopholes early in life, and I confess,(pun fully intended), that through my younger years I used them as often as I could. Some day, I may have to answer for such transgressions , but we will just have to wait and see. For the most part, I think I've managed, in spite of myself,  to become a relatively decent human being,
       My parents did the best they could with what they had to work with, the "what they had to work with" meaning "me", I never made things too easy for them. Let's just say, without getting into a lot of detail, that I was not always the model "Altar Boy of Good Behavior" I gave my parents a run for their money, I questioned anything and everything, and  I am sure it was not an easy for my mother to instill in me the true meaning of Christmas, but somehow my folks managed. The Christmas Carols helped as well, since I've always been a "lyrics " kind og guy, "Joy to the World", Away in a Manger", "Silent Night", "Oh Holy Night", all sum things up rather nicely.
       And then there was the Nativity Scene, the plaster figurines my mother would carefully unwrap each year and set up front and center beneath the Christmas tree. With the Nativity Scene prominently set in the front, the presents from Santa set to the side, carefully placed so as not to disturb Jesus, Mary Joseph, the cows, the sheep, or the heralding Angel, my mother unknowingly established a visual display on the proper priorities of Christmas.
      Unfortunately, the three Wise Men and their Camels occasionally fell victim to a landslide of packages but travel on the Holidays can always be a little dangerous.
         I was a lot less Dogmatic with my kids when they were growing up, opting for a more secular approach in my efforts of teaching them right from wrong.  There were no threats of eternal hell, fire, and brimstone, or pulpit rants, or any sideways  glances of Sister Holy-Mary-Altar-Rail to stop them from misbehaving.  Staying off of Santa's Naughty List accomplished the same resuls as not disappointing Jesus and threats of eternal damnation.  
              So Happy Birthday Jesus! Have a very Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, and to all a Very Happy New Year. 
                                                                                                                    Safe Travels,
                                                                                                                    Hugh
                

Happy Monday to all,

  Hope everyone had a great weekend enjoying watching the Patriots clinch home field for the playoffs this year.
  As the Holidays repidly approach rehearsals continue as we get ready to bring in the new year with shows in January at The 110 Grill in Chemsford and Angela's in Tyngsboro.
  Tomorrow night on Tuesday the 20th we will be at the Hearing Room in Lowell as Rick Cande hosts this week's Open Mic. If you are interested in taking the stage tomorrow night the Hearing room now has sign up's on line . Just go to their Website and sign up. You can link to their site via Facebook as well. If you are looking for a relaxing break from Holiday Shopping and you've about had your fill of Christmas movies stop in to the Hearing Room at 119 Chelmsfor St in Lowell, (formally the 119 Gallery). Show starts at seven and I guarantee you will hear some incredible performances. Suggested donation is $5., plenty of free prking aand Free Popcorn.
Hope to see you there.
  Safe Travels,
  Hugh
​

       Hello again,

​
            Sorry it's been a couple of days since I've had a chance to sit down and        write a few lines from the bunkers of the HughMcQueenMusic Project. Both my mind and body are still adjusting to my new day time gig. 
         Our schedule between now and the end of the year is light, with only a couple of Holiday parties to play, but we still have two Open Mic nights at the Hearing Room. The first is on Tuesday the 20th,  hosted by my good friend the Human Juke Box,  Rick Cande . I will be hosting again on the 27th. If you have not checked out the Hearing Room in Lowell I recommend paying a visit on either or both nights. It's a great room to relax and hear some great performances. The venue is a BYOBeverage venue, as they do not serve alcohol.
      In January we will be at the 110 Grill in Chelmsford on Thursday the 12th, and on Friday the 20th we will be back at Angela's in Tyngsboro. We are trying to book a couple more shows for the month and we will keep you posted with listings on the Upcoming Appearances Page of the website at HughMcQueen.com as they come in.
     
       Monday morning was a great reminder of why I'm glad I no longer work at an Automobile Dealership. I shoveled off the deck and the front steps, took a few minutes to clean off Elise and K's cars, along with the Nitro Tour Bus, and then headed bck into a nice warm kitchen for a hot cup of dark roast and a leisurely morning read of the Boston Globe. I could say I really missed spending half of my day clearing snow and jockeying around an entire lot full of overpriced iron, but that would be a complete lie. 
        After an afternoon rehearsal I headed out to lend a hand to an old friend, the one and only Santa Claus. Nothing quite like spending the night trying not to drop a squirming infant as their mother insists on taking "just one more picture". Anyway, the kids were mostly great, and everyone seemed to enjoy getting their photo taken with Santa. 
         We wrapped things up with the Jolly Old Elf and as he disappeared  back to the North Pole to finish up his preparations for the big night, I headed  home to watch the Patriots. Playing Santa for nearly two hundred kids can be pretty exhausting, so as badly as I wanted to watch the entire Monday night game,  I had visions of sugar plums dancing in my head by about halfway through the second quarter . I called it a night, trusting the rest of the game  to Coach Bill and the G.O.A.T..  This is so not like me. I cannot ever go to bed before the final gun, the final buzzer, or the last call third strike. I can't  think of a single extra inning west coast Sox game that I didn't see through the end, As any of you that know me well can attest to, I am not and have never been a morning person. I have always been a night owl. So I'm starting to think that either my age or working a day gig is getting the better of me, Whatever it is , I'm starting to think about turning in early again tonight when suddenly I get a call saying  no schools all schools tomorrow. Think I'm catching a second wind just thinking about being able to sleep in  tomorrow morning, I hear it's going to be very cold on the lot.

                                                                                                                                               Safe travels,
                                                                                                                                               Hugh

         

    Good afternoon and Happy Friday,  

        I hope you all have survived another week in the salt mines and are  ready to have a little weekend fun as the HughMcQueenMusicProject returns this evening to Angela's CFP in beautiful Tyngsboro Massachusetts. We will be kicking off at about 6;00 and playing all of your favorite tunes, (at least the ones we know) almost non-stop right through until ten o'clock. So start your weekend off right and stop in for your favorite beverage, a couple of slices and maybe some wings. It promises to be a great night and it will be even greater if you are there.
            Sorry  I have not blogged for a couple of days but things have been quite busy. Although I really cannot get into a lot of detail, I will tell you  that this week, for the first time , I spent a couple of days substitute teaching in our local school district.
           Now  I have always respected the people I know that work in Education, but after filling in for only two days, I will admit that I only had a shadow of an idea just how incredibly difficult a job professional teachers perform every day. I can't lie. I enjoyed filling in, and for the most part the kids were great, but at the end of the day ,I was completely exhausted!!!
       I think I might have actually done a pretty decent job,  considering that my entire resume of teaching experience is limited to having worked with my own childern on their homework, papers, and reports,  plus a select number of  guitar lessons I taught several  years ago. But in just two days I got to witness real professionals in action, and I am in awe.
        Gaining personal knowledge of the world and it's workings can be a challenge all on it's own, but posessing the ability to effectively share that knowledge in a way that allows a child to actually learn it , while still maintaining one's own patience, sanity, and sense of humor......that is an extremely rare treasure.
    So to all the great teachers everywhere, Thank you for what you do everyday. Thank you for teaching our children, Thank you for sharing your gift.
   
                                                                                                             Safe travels,
​                                                                                                              Hugh