about

Visions
If I could be anywhere right now I would be standing in front of a mirror with shirt off playing my guitar. I mean � can you blame me? I like to make sure the crowd gets a good performance so I practice my various poses. I usually start my show with my �Hey look at me. I�m good looking and I rock the 6 string.� usually followed by the �Look at my ass while I rock your socks off�. If I�m feeling a little crazy and I think the crowd deserves it, I�ll go with the �Goddamn I�m fine and you really want me.� look.
Truly Deep
A lot of people say "Rick, You�re so gosh darn crazy. You should be on Survivor or Fear Factor or something", but it�s true. I enjoy it when people talk about me. I�ve got an open ear for anyone that wants to open a discussion on the topic of me. I don't like to follow the norm and do what everyone else says I should be doing. To be a true original you got to be your own man. Take the road less traveled. Zig when others zag. Be a one-man island. I�m �An individual. An original. Like Dr. Pepper.� A college professor once told me to go out and be my own man after I graduated. So I did just as I was told. Along the way I have found that people need me to document my life and what I see through music. I mean, without me telling them how cool I am, how would they ever know. My guitar has been a great companion helping me to tell stories about this long strange trip that we call�life. (Again � me just being an individual, so sorry if I get a little �weird�). I like to write songs about the wild n� crazy people, places and things I see along the way. I learn the most when I travel to college campuses and talk with other people. I love to bootleg my shows live. I like to share these with my friends and many fans. I enjoyed massive satisfaction one time when a fan e-mailed me from Nigeria telling me how much he enjoyed a live show I recorded from my basement in Bloomington, Indiana. He mentioned that all of the people in the village were singing one of my songs. They were crying and screaming every time one of my songs came on. Like people do Elvis or the Beatles or Jimmy Buffet. I have also been good at documenting with video. I have hundreds of videos of me playing massive arenas. One is from me playing the RCA dome in Indianapolis headlining in front of 8,000 screaming fans. Maybe on day I�ll let someone see it. I have also kept journals over the years so I can still remember life in the fast lane. Maybe in a few years I�ll let Oliver Stone make a movie out of them.

Musical Beginning
I learned to play the guitar when I was a young kid. My mom sat next to me and made me practice every night. I tried to convince her that my looks and originality would get me where I need to go in life, but she wouldn't have any of that. I love her for that because now not only do I get attention for looking good, but I can look good while playing guitar. When I was 8 I tried a phat spleef before one of our piano sessions. When I got home I couldn't get the smell off my breath so I held my breath until I was blue in the face. Finally I had to breath and let it out. My mom cried. I said, "Wassup be-atch. I jus be da natchal bone zugga zugga." Air, Air, Air
I really enjoy air. People always tell me, Rick you're always
breathing...you must really enjoy getting oxygen to your brain. And, I'll admit it, I do. Of course, I'm not really like everybody else...which is why I'm able to inspire the worship of thousands. Air is very important to
me. Sometimes, I like to just go outside with my pen and notebook and take deep breaths of air. Often, that leads me to write another incredibly original song in my notebook. Just a few weeks ago, I was breathing outside and wrote the following poem...
Air rules and I am a man
Air is important to me
but you wouldn't understand
For I am Rick Hardisty and you're just
an average Joe
I believe in the things
You could never know
My Influences
I love to music. There�s something about music that just makes me tap my foot. I have been listening to music since I was born and it still amazes me. Listening to music is still I get great ideas for songs. There is a great feeling you get from learning a Dead strumming pattern or at my advanced stage � the complexities of an entire Buffet song. I also love world music like Bob Marley. I have learned much about life just sitting in a Dead concert parking lot and talking to a "rasta" man. (Although I did think he was going to mug me at first.) I love to sit around and play Beatles, Elton John and Billy Joel songs to this day. I use to hear people talk about this band called the Beatles and I would think, �What a dumb name for a band.� But then I got their new album at tower records call 1. I thought it was ok, but then I got stoned. Dude, listen to that album HIGH. I also love the state of Florida cause that�s where Buffet is from and also where my Grandparents are retired. I�ll never forget the time I played at their retirement home. I like to listen to a lot of Gordon Lightfoote, Buffett, Sinatra, Marley and Dead and I have to say � I am pretty diverse and eclectic. (and �crazy�!?J) Sometimes, when I�m feeling extra wako, I�ll pop in some Zep, Floyd or Doors. I always think of Jerry Garcia , Bob Marley and Frank Sinatra floating with a cloud taking things lightly and looking down over the big ball and thinking, wow that Rick Hardisty is great. It reminds me of how awesome I really am. I enjoy putting lots of ranchero sauce (red spicy stuff) on my burritos. It gives me a nice refreshing jolt to my sinuses. The people at Taco Bell always give me a crazy look.
EVERYBODY WANTS ME
I started off playing solo acoustic shows for about 15 years ago and I can now tune my own guitar. During that time I gained a lot of experience and recognition doing shows on college campuses and clubs. Therefore, I feel that your party/venue would be a great fit for me. In college, I was the douche bag with the acoustic guitar sitting around the campfire singing Wild Thing and playing the intro to Stairway to Heaven for hours on end. I now have a list of 8 songs that have accumulated over the years. Some of which include Wild Thing and the Intro to Stairway to Heaven. Then I started writing my own songs and now I can't stop (even when people ask me to). Although I still enjoy performing solo I love traveling with my band�they�re my closest friends. Everyone in my band says they have the ability to go off and have a solo career, but why would they. I�m Rick Hardisty. We love living life on the edge and taking the road less traveled. I really get a buzz sleeping over at my bass player�s house, Shelley Imahoser. He makes me feel funny in my pants.
KEEPIN IT REAL
I have three brothers who love watching me live this "alternative" lifestyle (that�s right fellas!). They love to hear my stories of the road and are in dismay sometimes when they hear about an extremely controversial song that will go on my next CD. It�s called �Daddy Wants to Give Me a Big Juicy Sausage�. My bros say, "Rick, what will mom think?" and I say, "she knows I write about what I feel". Reality is reality. I enjoy writing about things that other people won't talk about. Living life in the fast lane gives you lots of opportunity to experience things out of the norm.