Big Kettle Drum joins Brandi Carlile at the Erase Hate Tampa Bay Festival

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Big Kettle Drum joins Brandi Carlile at the Erase Hate Tampa Bay Festival.

Rockledge, FL - September 30, 2012 - Big Kettle Drum (BKD), the banjo slinging, foot stomping, slide guitar Americana band has joined the line-up at the Erase Hate Tampa Bay Festival in Tampa, FL to be held on November 4, 2012.

Howling guitar riffs over a thumping Samsonite suitcase kick drum has Big Kettle Drum carving it's own niche in the Americana-Blues-Rock landscape.

"We are excited to lend our voice to this great cause," says front man Brant Christopher Menswar. "We jumped at the chance to join Brandi Carlile onstage at Curis Hixon Park and play for the great folks of Tampa Bay."

While their 2012 debut album is finding its way into heavy rotation on playlists around the globe, its their live show that sparks conversation around the water cooler. Passionate performances of their original songs mixed in with BKD arranged covers of everyone from John Lee Hooker to Billy Joe Shaver keep the heads bobbing and the fists in the air. BKD's boot-in-the-face approach has fans of all ages marching to the beat of the Big Kettle Drum.

ABOUT (ERASE HATE TAMPA BAY, INC)
Erase Hate Tampa Bay, Inc. is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation dedicated to making our community embrace a higher level of acceptance and appreciation for each citizen’s individuality. Through civility, kindness and respect for one another, we can make our community a better place to live, raise a family, build a business, and enjoy a long, secure life. Through our events and programs, we bring leaders in education, faith-based organizations, government agencies, and individuals together to promote an appreciation for diversity and cultural sensitivity.

CONTACT:
Grant Gelt
New Sound Artist Management
grant at newsoundmgmt dot com
www.bigkettledrum.com
www.newsoundmgmt.com

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Theo update

Not a good day today. Theo had more bleeding last night and today. They changed most of his meds back to IV so his stomach doesn't have to do any work, including drinking. He is allowed to drink water to take pills, but that's all. Because the two continuous drips for his stomach can't run trough a line with anything else, and becuase they have added more IV meds, and because he keeps having to get more blood, they had to put an IV I his arm to get everything into him on time. Because he's on so many steroids, they had to try 5 times and call in a nurse from another floor to help to get the IV in. Because one of the new continuous meds drastically reduces the body's insulin production, they are checking his blood sugar every 6 hours and have to give him an insulin shot if they are over 200. So Theo feels like because we brought him here to make him better, everything else is going wrong. I can't blame him. Please keep praying for comfort and healing in his body and in his mind and spirit as well.pray for Emi, Brady and I as well. We really had no idea what we were going to have to go through when this all started, and its hard to continuously have something else to deal with every day.

Love you all...

The Journey Continues

Well, today was rough. Theo got up at 5:30 to go to the bathroom and fell. More like slow motion crumpling, but same result. Anyway, it happened again later in the afternoon, but Em was standing next to him, per nurses orders. She wasn't much help because he is bigger than her, but he was talking to him during and he just said he was getting dizzy and then collapsed. They took his blood pressure in bed and it was normal, even bordering on high. Then they had him stand up and took his pressure again and it was ridiculously low. They determined that he was basically passing out when he stood up because his blood pressure was dropping when he was in standing position. They are thinking it is because he was dehydrated, so they stopped his lasics and gave him fluids. Then they gave him 2 units of blood. His hemoglobin wasn't super low, but it was trending downward so they figured he would need it in the next day or two, so that was a better choice to increase his body's volume. They also drew labs to make sure there isn't an infection that the steroids might be masking a fever for.

Anyway, he was pretty scared, but luckily they had done the MRI the night before and it came back clean with no swelling, which is mostly was Theo was worried about. He was feeling much better this evening and had a blast hanging out with Brady.

I am sure they will figure out what is wrong, but I dont know about a Monday release. To be honest, as much as we want out of the hospital, we want to make sure he is really doing well before they let him go. Too many little things keep coming up.

We will know more tomorrow or Monday. Love you all...

BKD FALL 2012 TOUR!

Great news Kettleheads! The BKD fall tour is shaping up nicely with dates confirming throughout Florida. We will be posting the dates and venues as we iron out the details. We will be playing multiple sets each night. This is exciting to us as we have a chance to switch it up with an acoustic set mixed into night that allows us to play songs you've never heard. Hope to see you on the road...Can't wait.

Theo's Battle

Rough day today. Theo was running a fever again and his stomach was still hurting. He threw up again tonight for the first time in a week. I had to leave for a bit to be with a dear friend who was in a bad car accident. God had his hand on her and her unborn baby boy. The baby was born via emergency C-section and both Mom and son are stable.

Even though its been hard to see the light at times on this journey...sometimes God makes sure His power and grace are undeniable. I thank Him for my Nomad family who literally wrapped their arms around people in hospitals today all over the state. I thank Him for continuing to heal my (not so) baby boy and for holding our newest Nomad in His hands today. His grace is more overwhelming than the chaos that was today. We so need that...right now. Love you all... B

Theo Update Graftication.

THEO IS 100% ENGRAFTED!!!!! That means that all of Theo's cells are now the donor cells. This is the news we have been waiting for. We still have a long road ahead but at least we are now positive that the transplant was a success. Theo is in good spirits and outside of some stomach pain from the GVH and ulcer, he is feeling really well. Pray that we get transferred to the Ronald McDonald House on Monday. That will be a huge step on the road to recovery. Love you all...w/  Brant and Emily Schorr Menswar

Theo Update

‎Theo had a really good day today. His white count was 10.77 and his ANC was 8500. Those are about as high as they can get, so now they are going to stop giving him the meds that boost those counts and they will drop a little but then even out on their own. The good thing about stopping the neutrophil (ANC) medicine is that that is the one that can cause the bone pain. He only had a little discomfort today and Tylenol pretty much did the trick.

Almost all of his meds were already switched to pill form this morning, so the only thing running through his line for most of the day was heparin. They are weaning him off of the TPN (intravenous nutrition) and he should be off of that by tomorrow evening. things are really moving forward!

My bud Pw Gopal flew in to spend the weekend with us and brought Theo a sweet '63 Harmony Rocket Electric Guitar! He loved it. Then my pal Shane Winnings stopped by today to give Theo a smock from Iraq that soldiers wear to protect themselves from the sun and sand. Theo put it on and looked like a Camo-Ninja! 

All in all he had a great weekend. Brady comes over in the am to spend the day/night with us so the good times will continue!

Love to you all...
B