I was attempting to assert my authority in the dressing room
before the show when the band members struck back in classic manner.

They ignored me.

But it wasn’t so much the fact that they refused to listen
to what I had to say.

It was how they decided to acknowledge me once the ignoring
portion of my torture had run its course.

They pretended that I was an insect.

It started as I was continuing to try and get them to listen
to me and Jerry said, “Hey, do you guys hear that buzzing sound?”

Then the other guys piped in and agreed that yes, it sounded
like there was a buzzing insect in the dressing room.

Then the swatting began, which I didn’t appreciate.

And finally, Sean put a cherry on top of the sundae by
requesting that a can of Off! bug spray be delivered to the dressing room.

And just like that, only two days removed from having a
random human being mistakenly think that I was important, the pendulum has
swung back in the opposite direction and I’ve become a bug.

Then about an hour later I returned to the dressing room and
was attempting to talk to Sean about something.

Once again, he wasn’t having it.

He walked up to me and uncorked a series of rapid insults
and name-calling in my direction, and in a split second I hit him with my
response.

I stepped forward, wrapped my arms around him, and squeezed
him in a giant bear hug.

Then I upped the attack even more, because I called Mike
over and he joined in.

Mike & I were the bread in a Sean Kinney sandwich, and
it was one of the single greatest defeats of Sean I’ve ever scored.

He was rendered speechless and just stood there enveloped in
a two man love hug, and there was nothing he could do abut it.

I’m a huge fan of music, and I believe a person can glean
some life lessons out of song lyrics.

So borrowing from the great Marvin Gaye “…only love can
conquer hate” and The Beatles “the love you take is equal to the love you make”,
I caught Sean completely by surprise by countering his verbal attack with an
onslaught of unexpected love.

And when I pulled Mike into the equation, it was over.

I’m not quite sure whether it felt so good because I took
the high road, or simply because I shut Sean up.

Mostly I think it was just because at least for this
skirmish, I won, so to paraphrase the immortal words of the Partridge Family, “I
spread a
little lovin’, then I kept moving on”.