What happened to Rain?

Wondering the same myself. People are usually happy about the absence of Rain, but this is different.

Dis mon'soon will return mon'.

:)
Thanks for your concern, guys. I've been lurking, irregularly. And keeping quite busy. 
 
Among other things, we began rehearsals for a big Judas Priest night which will take place here in Vegas in June, and where both my wife and I will make guest appearances. This will be my first time onstage in 15 years, and I've been busy learning material and getting back into that frame of mind.
 

 
We've got to meet a bunch of cool people and we're thinking of putting a band together. Things are coming together  nicely, and playing with other people after so long has somehow changed my perspective on music and stuff.
 
Th rest of my time I spend playing the new Les Paul, trying to master sweep picking, playing with cats and learning to use my newly arrived studio toy - and trying to get better w/ Pro Tools...

 

 
Thanks again for your concern guys. I appreciate!

Just as expected.  Rain's life consists of music, music, music, music, cats and music! 

sharke
There he is! Good luck with the performance....that's something that would be a challenge for me, having not been onstage in about 12 years myself. And good luck with the sweep picking as well. I gave that up years ago and realized I could do much the same thing by playing fingerstyle - I'm hopeless with a pick 

I'd given up on sweep too, but every once in a while, I like to try something I suck at... Plus, I'm embarrassed that someone else has to play lead guitar w/ my wife on Painkiller. 
 
I guess it's one of the reasons I always liked Glenn Tipton so much - he keeps on learning.

Hi,
 
 
All of a sudden I had a desire to list a whole bunch of "rain" songs!
 
That ought to tease him into saying hi!

:)
 
That Priest night has been keeping me busy - mostly because I haven't been onstage in so long that I wanna make sure that I could play those songs forward-backward even if I were in a coma. 
 
Also, not hanging around here so much made me less inclined to hang around here so much. I just didn't want to make a big statement about taking a break or being so formal about it. I still lurk, and I'll post again. But I feel it's a good thing that I back off a bit.
 
And also, as if 7 cats and 2 mice weren't enough, we've just adopted this guy:
 

 
A Chinese Water Dragon. We call him Serge.
 
And this sort of opens the door - I'm developing a fascination for reptiles...
 
Which means we'll probably adopt a whole bunch more eventually. My wife wants a snake, I want a bearded dragon. And a turtle. And...

Thanks, Tom. I hesitated for a minute as I don't like to spend money on stuff that's not crucial, but I'm glad I finally came to my senses and grabbed them.
 
FWIW, the show was incredible. I was a guest on 3 songs, and by the 3rd one I felt right at home. That venue has some incredible sound guys, and the whole thing sounded amazing.
 
Of course, my wife stole the show. Her rendition of Painkiller and Victim of Changes still give me goosebumps just remembering it... The crowd went nuts.
 
Now, the good stuff... As a result of the event, my wife and I find ourselves involved in an incredibly cool project. So cool that I accepted to play bass, even though I'm a guitar player at heart. And we've met w/ lots of amazing people too, w/ whom we're staying in touch and will try to work in the not so distant future.

Congrats Rain!!
 
When's the US Tour starting? (I'm ready to buy tickets)

Actually, touring is entirely possible w/ this project. Not sure we'd go as far as the UK but major cities w/in the US is not out of the question.
 
Though I'd love to visit the UK.
And maybe have a pint w/ my friend Steve and listen to some Judas Priest... :P
 
By the way - a rather sad news. Serge the dragon passed away a few short hours after I wrote about him here a few weeks ago. We're not really sure what happened, and even though it probably wasn't anything we did or didn't do, one can't help but feel a bit of guilt.
 
But we came to realize that keeping a Water Dragon in such a arid climate isn't easy. So maybe we'll be better off w/ a Bearded Dragon. I've been reading books and doing research and we should be ready to bring one in soon. I'm just discovering how fascinating reptiles are.
 
In the meantime, we just welcomed our first hedgehog. Such a lovely critter! 
 
Anyway, that's the news from Rain's petting zoo.
 

craigb
Oh no!!!  Rain's going to have to become a bass player??! 
 
Man, I'm really going to miss those intellectual conversations we used to have... 
 
 
 
 

Intellec... wait, that's way more than two syllables. I'm getting bass player brain cramps.