Happy New Year

    

     Hope everyone had a safe evening last night ringing out 2016 and welcoming in  2017. On behalf of everyone involved with the HughMcQueenMusicProject I want to wish everyone a happy, healthy and peaceful New Year.  We are excited to be starting off January 2017  with upcoming Shows in Lowell, Chelmsford and Tyngsboro. Check the Upcoming Appearances Page for dates and times.
    Typically on New Year's Eve, I avoid going out at all costs. I've always considered it "Amatuer Night".   This is one of life's lessons I have learned all too well.
  Back in the day, when we  did book New Years Eve gigs,  there was always trouble.  Regardless of the venue, if it was an establishment that served alcohol, it was inevitable that before the evening ended we would be dealing with more issues than the Boston Police see on a Halloween  Night with a Full Moon
      For starters,  there was always at least one overly zealous reveler insistant on joining the band up on stage. It was a fifty fifty shot on whether or not he, or she, would trip over a wire and knock over a speaker or two before being removed by security.
    Then, there's the very large and extremely jealous boyfriend  of the drunk chick. You know the one I'm talking about.  Encouraged by his drunken buddies, he is ready to rumble with the entire band, all because his soon-to-be ex-girlfriend, after downing her tenth shot of tequila, announces to Mr.Muscle Beach that she wants to go  home with the bass player. Certainly these incidents  aren't exclusive to New Year's Eve, but I can tell you with total candor  that  the odds of them occuring on Amateur Night are  guaranteed.
    Having been around the restaurant and bar/club business for a long time I've developed an  genuine affinity and respect for most waitresses,waiters and bartenders.  On New Year's  Eve I find it bordering on painful to watch the goings on while the overworked, short handed bar,kitchen, and waitstaffs. Justifiably cranky, and their patience worn thin, they spend their evening waiting on a roomful of over demanding, over indulging, unappreciative and under-tipping amatuer party-goers. Many  New Year's Eve revelers seem unfamiliar with the subtle nuances of restaurant etiquette, and in many cases, etiquette in general. I only wish that these people coule get a clue, but until they do I wish that they would just stay home. But they don't, so rather than deal with the scene, I take the last night of the year off and spend it with the the people that matter the most.
      So now Elise and I just keep it real,  and  instead or going out we stay home and  make our own Egg Rolls . I always make   some sort of Rice or Noodle Dish and Elise makes her famous marinated chicken,  Then we end up trying like hell to just stay awake until midnight. Usually after she falls asleep during the obligatory Holiday Movie she's selected for our viewing pleasure I change the channel and put on the Three Stooges Marathon.  I wake her up a couple of minutes before the ball drops, wish her Happy New Year, and we drift off to sleep into our sodium induced  Chinese  food Comas.. Such is the exciting life of an aging musician without the use of drugs or alcohol.
                                                            
                                                                                                      Safe Travels,
                                                                                                       Hugh