The Occasional Milkshake is what happens when Hootie and the Blowfish, The Blue Dogs, and Cravin' Melon all take a break. Hootie lead guitarist and founding member Mark Bryan, Blue Dogs stand-up bass slapper Hank Futch, and Gary Greene, who plays drums for Cravin' Melon, and percussion for the Blowfish, began jamming together for fun in the early aughts, when their respective bands were on hiatus.

The Occasional Milkshake's motives are pure - have fun playing music. The guys like to switch instruments and open for themselves. Hank is actually a fine acoustic guitar picker, and he likes to sing old songs while Mark works the mandolin, and Gary sometimes tries his hand at banjo. Once they plug in, it's a rock show, with
originals and covers that fall all over the map; from bluegrass to punkabilly, and anything in between. Laughter is a key ingredient, and there is plenty of it. It's a spontaneous affair, with a loose set list - the way music is supposed to be.

You can catch the Occasional Milkshake, Saturday, Jan 3 at the Windjammer in Charleston, SC.

A special evening is planned for tonight, Friday, Nov 21 at the Music Farm in Charleston SC for the family of Staff Sgt. Matthew Joseph Taylor. Taylor was killed in Iraq on September 21 of this year, he left behind a wife and three little girls under the age of six. He enlisted the day after the 9/11 attacks and was just 61 days from completing his final tour of duty.

Tonight's show will feature performances by three local bands: The Plainfield Project, Mental Note and Henry's Attic along with Mark Bryan, guitarist of Hootie and the Blowfish, who will MC and play solo between acts.

We hope you can make it.

What happens when four golfers hit the open road in Myrtle Beach? Find out every Tuesday at 7:30 PM as Charlie Rymer, Perry Swenson, Josh Kelley and Mark Bryan get their license to live it up, South Carolina-style, only on The Golf Channel .

Catch Tonight's season premiere at 7:30pm EST

Check out an exclusive Mark Bryan interview and performance in the AT&T blue room!

Mark chats about Hootie & the Blowfish, working with drummer Fred LeBlanc, and living out his dream. Also, catch performances from his latest solo release FORK IN THE ROAD. See it all at attblueroom.com/music

"pull over awhile
let the outside in
and the sunshine paint your skin
what I feel right now
I can't say on the phone
But I think you might already know

Meet me at the side of the road (x2)
Remembering songs and letting everything go
And making our way back home
I'll see you at the side of the road"


Hello there!  Here are some lyrics from a song I just wrote and recorded with a talented young kid named Jon Robert out of Massachusetts.  Kind of appropriate at this particular juncture.  The song originated from a rather comical Hootie moment a few years back. We were in a van on our way from the Portland airport, to a show on the Oregon coast.  We decided to pull over for a smoke by a nice pond on the side of the road.  Everyone including the driver got out for a stretch. Within a few minutes, a small school of very vocal ducks came waddling our way, apparently to let us know we were on their turf.  I believe Darius got the worst of it with a peck on the boot.  So we go to get back in the van, and it turns out the driver locked the keys in the car, still running.  So we're having a laugh, waiting on a jimmy, avoiding duck attacks, when a Fedex truck pulls up for directions.  The driver says, "aren't you guys Hootie and the Blowfish"?  We're like, "maybe".  So he gets out to get a picture, or some autographs or some such thing, and the ducks go after him.  Finally we decide to walk up the street to get some coffee, and i started humming, "meet me at the side of the road".  Sometimes they just come to you like that, but you also have to stay tuned in to the energy of the moment.

When Jon Robert and I decided to record it for his new CD, we asked Josh Kelley to produce it.  We're both fans of his stuff, and Josh has an amazing sense of melody and groove.  We wanted his energy on the track, and believe me, he has tons of it.  We all met in Chicago on July 1st and 2nd, and knocked it out.  The song came out great, and I guess you will be able to hear it soon on Jon's new stuff.

Speaking of Josh Kelley, the second installment of our TV show ROAD TRIP - MYRTLE BEACH is airing this month on the Golf Channel, Tuesdays at 7:30pm EST.  We will shoot four more in October that will air in November I guess.  Then they will air all 12 at some point.  It's been a ton of fun, and I have really enjoyed working with Josh, Perry Swenson, and Charlie Rymer.

I'm writing this in Danville, Va. where we will be rocking a Hootie show tonight.  We are about two and a half weeks into the tour, and it's going very well.  There have been awesome crowds, and excited fans.  It hasn't taken long to sink right into the tour groove.  I still love this.  My joy has been enhanced by the fact that even though we are not making a new album together, we are playing each other's new material.  so in essence there is new hootie happening.  We pulled out "Ride Along", which is an outtake from LOOKING FOR LUCKY, but happens to be a fun song to play live.  We are also taking a shot at playing "Ford Econoline", a song that we recorded for a Nanci Griffith tribute album.  We had Radney Foster produce our version, and it's pretty rockin'.  When we started doing Darius' new single "Don't Think I Don't Think About it", Peter Holsapple already knew it on guitar from some of the radio performances he'd done with D.  So I swithched roles with him and learned it on mandolin, and lap steel, which has been particularly enjoyable, and a little challenging (in a good way).  We have also been doing my song "A Fork in the Road", with Darius and Gary Greene singing Danielle Howle's parts.  Soni, Dean and Peter learned it quickly, and everybody sounds great.

The Drew Davis Band has done a stellar job as the opener.  What a bunch of talented, great guys.  It deifnitely feels like summer camp with trucks again.  We have had some excellent Cornhole matches, and those guys have mad game.  I can't say enough about how much it feels like a family out here with our awesome crew, and everybody rolling together.  Living the dream...

remarkably,
Mark Bryan