One of the great things about being in this band is that we get to meet so many wonderful people. One of those people was Claudia Trujillo.

Claudia used to come out to nearly all our shows in Sioux City at Rhonda’s Speakeasy, Icky Nickel, The Patio, etc. She would even drive over to Norfolk or West Point and other places just to hear us play some music. But the best thing about seeing Claudia at a show was that meant we got the chance to talk about what was going on. She’d teach Conrad new things to say in Spanish and we’d talk about all kinds of music and our favorite concerts.

We learned of her love for Walt Disney, Brian Wilson, The Beatles, Queens of the Stone Age, and art. We eventually discovered that she had a pretty good singing voice. So we would have her join us on stage to sing Pat Benatar’s Hit Me With Your Best Shot.

Here’s an mp3 of her singing with us. Mr. Hand with Claudia singing Hit Me With Your Best Shot.

Over the years we shared many good laughs.

Today we learned that Claudia died due to a medical complication. She was only 29. It doesn’t seem real or fair. Our hearts go out to her family and friends.

Rest in Peace Claudia. It won’t be the same without you.

This past weekend we had a little Mr. Hand reunion. Our previous drummer, Jeff Lickfelt made the journey up to Sioux City from Arkansas to spend some time with us. Fortunately we were playing at the Patio so it gave us a chance to do some jamming. Our good buddy Mike Fitzpatrick also made the trip and joined us on stage. All in all it was a great weekend!

We played our first set of shows at The Patio in Sioux City, IA this past weekend. It sits near Tony’s Pizza which was the location of one Mr. Hand’s first ever shows back in ’96 and brought back some good memories. We had a good time at The Patio and appreciate everyone who made it out. We’ll back there on Nov. 7 & 8. Hope to see you there!