Dear All - while I have a brief moment I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. A warm hug from me to you and all your loved ones (including man hugs for all those capable of taking them)

Joe, Mick, Galen, Allen, Jeff, Mike K and Mike M - thanks for all the great music, tours, and great moments together and I hope you all have a great holidays. Hope to catch up with you all in 2013

To lose Dad last week is just unbearable. It might have been more manageable if we were expecting it, but I had less than 24 hours with him, most of which is tormenting me as he was very very ill and I nursed him through the night at hospital

I'm exhausted, and somewhat bewildered and confused by everything. I have no doubt I'll end up pouring stuff out on here, for which I apologise, for many of you have been through this and don't need reminding. That being said, I have a request....

"To Peter, a fellow Satch Fan" (and an amazing father)

To all my friends in Satchland:

MERRYCHRISTMAS AND AN AWESOME 2013!

JOE: I would like to see you in Portugal next Summer if it`s possible. I would like to wish you an amazing 2013 and Merry Christmas to you and family. Lots of love and Happyness. Always with you :).

Love to all, cheers!!

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays Satchfans!!! May you all have an awesome holiday. Extra special love to those who have lost loved ones this past year ....I hope your memories bring you some peace & comfort in these difficult times.

Merry Christmas everyone, and big hugs to all who have lost someone they love. Things don't feel right, but we muddle on all the same....cuz what else can we do.

Cheers to Peter...and to John, and to Viv, and to Hazel and to Katherine, and to all those who have passed on as well as those left behind. Just know you are loved and missed so dearly. One day we'll all make it 'around the corner' to see you again, and how happy that reunion will be.

Thanks T! God Bless them all who have gone on before us.

We had a lovely Christmas eve. We kept our lil' mum in our thoughts all night. My pop showed up with a smile and we all made the best of it. Life is different, but it goes on. We have to keep those we've lost alive in memory and stories. They're always with us.

I bought my oldest sister two small gifts. It occurred to me that I don't think she really has any gifts to open on Christmas morning. Just two simple things that didn't cost much, but I knew she would love them. She sent me a text this morning thanking me and said it made her cry.

My kids made me a calendar, and on every page is a pic of them - then and now. It made me cry.

That's what it's all about. My heart is full. I am blessed.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Dear Joe,

I have been a student of diatonic theory with my teacher Kevin Wyer here in Olympia, Washington for almost ten years.

I'm in what you call - and I concur - the "visualization stage". I can see my modes, most of my intervals, arpeggios, etc. on the neck. I am not as strong in spelling as I could be, but have a pretty well trained ear. Kevin was a student of Howard Roberts in the sixties, and he ended up teaching Kurt Cobain a few times in Aberdeen. Not the best reference for guitar teaching, yet it was Kurt himself who took the simple knowledge Kevin taught him, such as major arpeggio inversions in the bass strings, to make amazing songs such as "Heart Shaped Box". I know much more theory than Kurt ever did, yet at this time can't come up with anything to match some of the great ideas he had in his own approach.

I know all of this math, tools and rules granted by diatonic theory. But I am struggling in being able to write my own music. I am a big fan of you and Steve, yet try not to set my standards so high as to be as proficient as you guys, though I ultimately wish to be free with my instrument. I look on YouTube for lessons in writing songs, and have to wade through ten minutes of incorporated, "This finger at this fret, this finger at that fret" stuff. I can see and hear an Emin arpeggio, I don't need to be taught the simple things anymore, except for in retrospective reference. In fact, it'd be a hell of a lot easier to learn from those videos if they didn't talk at all.

My question to you is, what do you think may be a good set of things to practice so that I may become much better at being able to write? I'm on my way to getting a cheap 20-20 condenser mic so that I can hear myself through playback with actual tube tone, rather than crappy software tones through direct-in play which was at first my only option. I can often overlook good ideas as I play in the moment but can catch them in playback. I want to be able to make music with integrity and confidence - something that I enjoy and am proud of, rather than what sells. What, perhaps, did you do as a younger man to become the proficient writer you are? Of course it's all relative in a sense, but from teacher to student, what could you advise me to do? Thank you so much, Joe.

With Love and Admiration,

Did everyone see this? Foo Fighters, Kid Rock and Lenny Kravitz Perform Led Zeppelin Medley at Kennedy Center Honors

Kenny Arnoff is drumming for 3 songs. Lenny Kravitz rips the roof off. Barack-O is singing along and remembering his dope smoking days, and by the end of Stairway To Heaven Robert Plant is crying watching Jason Bonham drum behind two of the most powerful women in rock & roll and an awesome chorus.

UGH! It cuts off! Sorry folks. search for it or try to catch a rerun. Buddy Guy is on it, as well as David Letterman, a ballerina, and it's early so i forget who else.

Hi Joe,

Dear Dad, you realise you've mucked up on being the oldest Satch fan ever? Tsk tsk... christmas day with you was odd this year, but I did my best

Peace, keep up the drunken posts :-)

Guys, what shall I do with my Satch tickets for my pop? Do I, keep a seat empty for him on every show, or do I invite someone else along to share in Joe (knowing pop should be there), or just give the tickets away? I'm thinking I keep em empty, but I have plenty of time to work it out and maybe the answer will leap forward, but just thinking out loud...