Well, the dust has settled somewhat, and here's the scoop: with Jay leaving the band at the end of the year (I explained his reasons in past blogs), I decided to evaluate what the music means to me, and where I'm at with it at this point in my life. After many many years of being in a band, I've decided to go solo. What's this mean? Well, I'm putting Groovy Cool to bed. Rob and Chris will continue to play with me (I'm very happy about that), and a replacement for Jay will be sought, but we will play under the name Butch Ryan only. This will allow me to play my original music in acoustic solo settings as well as with a full band, and avoid any confusion. All the old tunes will still be played (both electric and acoustic). My music is my music, and it will never change. I feel at this point I can accomplish more as a solo artist. The marketing and promotion of an artist is hard enough, even more so with a band. It's difficult to come to conclusions sometimes when you have four different opinions. As I've stated before, Jay will be missed. For those of you who come out to our shows, you'll miss him more as he's a very close friend. He and I will continue to keep in touch, just not in a working band. And that's it. Me, the Throck, the lovely Christopher, and a new guy, still doin' what we do. Here's to the future. Take care. Later, Butch