Herbert Midgley's Blog: It's My Birthday, So here is a Present for You! A New CD!

It's my Birthday. Here's my present for you!

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Another year has flown by. It is so true, the older you get, the faster the years fly by. In my youth, it seemed like forever between birthdays. I love my birthdays because I would get some cool presents. One year I got my BlueMax Moongoose race bike, that was the best birthday present I had ever got. And after I had that super light bike, I could smoke anyone with their twenty pound bikes.

This is when I used to eat chocolate cake on my birthday.

Today, my last birthday seems like only a few weeks ago. As for the summer, well it seems like I was only saying goodbye to my Spring classes a few days ago even through I said goodbye to both Summer sessions since then.

Time flies by.

Every year I learn something major to improve my life. This year I learned that when you meet someone, they are the same person they are always going to be. You can't change anyone, and you shouldn't want to. Let them do what they have to do in life and you should do what you want to do in your life. Accept that, and you'll have a lot less stress in your life.

Me at 235 pounds in 1996.

This year I'm in the best shape of my life. Running has changed my life and this year I have increased the miles per week I run. It's amazing to me that this one time 235 pound person can run 21 miles a week. Being healthy is definitely the way to live your life, trust me on this since I have been both in horrible shape and in great shape.

This looks like a movie poster.

This year I have written screen plays, another full length play and of course a lot of songs. I have made a lot of music videos and short Sci-Fi movies too. Playing boogie woogie piano is great fun and I finally sound good as some of the early rock and rollers. And I got a chance to work on my fiddle playing.

I look great in the shadows.

It was great to work on my acting for camera. This year I learned that I have a lot to work on, which has helped me grow as an actor. I still can't wait to be the heavy for five lines in a major motion picture. This year I will study film making, it will be another fun and hard challenge. Over the next year, I hope you will see growth in both my short films and acting.

And I have rocked at as many open mike nights that I could find.

Since May of 2006, I have composed over a hundred songs. In the last four years, I believe that I have written over two hundred songs. This is so amazing to me! Only a few years back, I had given up on rock and roll. I still played it at home by myself, however now I can rock out any crowd! That's my mission every time I'm on stage, to rock out someone that hasn't ever rocked out!

Before I was the Internet Legend with my Les Paul.

It was my dream back in my youth to rock out with my Les Paul to a sea of adoring fans. Well I do that every week, and with my own songs too. Thank you Rock and Roll for giving me so much joy in my life. Now if I could only have another hit like "I'm a Nerd" and "Sweater Girl". Having one hit is cool, two is great so if I could get three, that would truly rock!

This year I got to see my best friend swing on the drums like no other. Talked about life with another best friend in Cali. Stormtroop around Nac with another best friend. Got see another best friend play piano. See my boys rock out harder than I can ever can, every time they walk on a stage. Went to New York City with another best friend. Explored Houston with my old crew. And got to spend two great fun and crazy weeks in Paris, Nice and Rome with another best friend.

I'm always looking towards the future.

It has been a great year. Can't wait to see what happens next year. Either you're getting better as a human being or you're not. I choose to work on becoming better. Perhaps one day I'll make there.

I miss Rita's and Thursday's Open Mike Night.

This week since I was off from work, I worked hard to release my fourth rock CD. The one major sad event that happened since my last birthday was that the place that I loved to rock out at, closed in September. Rita's was the CBGB'S of Nacogdoches.

That open mike night will be remembered as the starting place for so many local music acts. It didn't matter how good or bad you were, you could play for your twelve and half minutes. And if you rocked, the house would rock with you.

Rita's was so special to me. Most of my friends left in Nac, I met at Rita's. Thursday nights was the one night that I looked forward to every week. One time, I taught a music technology session at a conference, hopped in a cab ten minutes after it was over and caught an earlier flight home so that I could get back to Nac by 10 pm. That's how much I looked forward to rockin' out.

Every week, I would work on a new song to perform at Rita's. When I first went there everybody, including me, played mainly covers. Little by little I started to play my own songs, then I rarely played a cover. This is the first place I played "I'm a Nerd" live at. Since I started to play my own material, others did too. It was a great place and a great time. A musicians' community and family like no other. And I still miss that scene every Thursday.

Rockin' out everywhere I am.

So I had already had a working title for this CD before Rita's closed it's doors. The title was, "What!? More Whatever." Since Rita's is now being sold, I knew that I only had one chance to make sure the Rita's I knew, would always be remembered for what it meant to us musicians. The title had to be changed to "Rita's" to honor this special place.

The first three songs of the CD, I had a chance to play a Rita's open mike night. Funny, I can remember playing at Rita's a day before my birthday last year. The other songs I have performed at various other open mike and singer/songwriters nights.

I was going to make this a 'polished' CD with only twelve songs working hard to make the recording sound as good as I can. Well that's not how it was like to rock out at Rita's. So I played the songs raw and live with out editing. There are a few mistakes and drop beats on a few of the songs. However if you hear me play live, this is how I sound. Know that when you listen to the CD, that's how I sound. I hope you all enjoy the CD.

Have a great year, and when it's your birthday, I hope it's as happy as all of mine have been.

The First Photo of me on my Birthday!