This one's no different.

Many of us have suffered personal losses. Some in the form of jobs. Some lost homes. Some lost people we love. It's been a hard time and while we'd rather focus on the good times, I have to tip my hat and show respect to the people that struggle along with us, in the audience, in our lives, on the net, and even into the afterlife.

This summer I got to reconnect with my adopted Aunt in Honolulu. I hadn't seen her in years but the passing of my grandfather gave us a good reason to catch up. What made the trip possible was the generosity of my parents, who brought me, my girlfriend, and my siblings with their spouses to help celebrate their wedding anniversary on the Big Island of Hawaii. Because of them, I got to look into the volcano and from the biggest mountain on earth, I looked through a telescope and saw the rings of Saturn and Jupiter in the same sky. Because of them, I got to snorkel in the placid cove where Captain Cook was "accidentally" murdered over 200 years ago.

This summer our drummer Mike returned home safely from his tour with the Navy. I look forward to catching up with him this week.

Since April, our drummer Bob, whose taken Mike's place so professionally, so pleasantly and so helpfully, has brightened our gigs and rehearsals with his storytelling, humor, and experience. Alas, he's had more than his share of loss and I hope that audiences together with the band, can help bring him as much happiness and relief as possible.

This summer brought us a new player and another Mitchell: Mr. Stokes, whose love of early rock and outlaw country comes through in his playing and who's backing vocals help fill out the live KVB sound. I look forward to more fun gigs, rehearsals and surf sessions with Mitch.

After this summer, our bass player Jason will be moving on to focus on his 60s style rock and roll band, Blues and Greens, with his brother Kyle. I wish them all the best. Perhaps he'll still sit in with us from time to time.

I look forward to having interested bassists join up with us this Thursday in La Mesa to audition for the Kyle Van Band. Ideally, they can play rock and country, Irish and Cajun. Possibly, they play upright and sing backups. Most of all, they should be fun to play with.

That's all for now. I've got some waves to catch. I guess there are still a few things that don't change, at least for now. ;)