Howdy From Minneapolis,     Our show in Chicago Saturday was awesome. Los Straitjackets rule. Who could not love this band. Muchos gracias amigos.     I want to request that the Straitjackets play that Celine Dion song that they played on Conan O'Brian. They should release the recording of them playing that song on Conan. It's "My Heart Will Go On." I know it sounds campy, but, when Los Straitjackets do it, it's epic. The Titanic people really missed the boat with this one. Ha Ha.     It was good to see John Battles, Sean and all our friends in Chicago. Thanks to all in the windy city.     I want to get a little out there on ya'll tonight. I've been doing a little thinking. It seems to me that something needs to be said. When someone says something like, "Einstein was born with a gift," or, "Elvis was a born performer," it seems to me that it's just plain wrong. Like they were lucky enough to get these gifts from God while hundreds of children die of starvation.     I don't think God (or whatever you want to call our creator) would put us here to play out some kind of drama that he/she/whatever knows the outcome of. We're just here. Our creator gave us an ever-changing planet/universe in which anything can happen. But, out of that, we get freewill. I mean, we have the ability to determine our futures.     "Whoa Reverend," you may say, "what in the heck are you thinking?" Well, let me tell you why all of this is important. I remember being younger, like a lot of our fans, and how scary it is to face such an uncertain future. I remember wondering just how, in the face of all this adversity, I was going to be able to somehow forge a living for myself. I remember hearing adults describe other kids as gifted.  Maybe I wasn't really gifted. Then, all of a sudden, I was an adult without an idea about what I should be doing. I wanted to play music. I knew that I could make at least a little money by playing music. I'd done that in High School. My grandmother would always call me to tell me when the Post Office was hiring. I was broke and I was scared. So, I wanted to offer a little insight to some of our fans who may be in the same circumstance.     My mother told me that I could accomplish anything in this life as long a I was willing to go through the work and years that it takes. I believed her at first. Then I got too realistic for my own good. But, she was more right than I can relate.     This is almost like a religion to me.I believe that our creator gave each of us this special gift to do anything that we can dream. But, he didn't give any child any specific "gift." What he gave all of us is freewill. The freedom to be good or bad. The freedom to, for example, do like I did and ruin my best records by playing one segment at least a hundred times just to learn an almost impossible guitar lick. Well, back then, to me, it seemed like an impossible guitar lick.     Dream big. You can do it! We're still only able to use about ten percent of our brain power. Assuming that Albert Einstein was mortal (he was), and assuming that he only used ten percent of his brain power, if you could somehow tap fifteen percent of your brainpower, you would be smarter than Einstein. Einstein was not born a genius, he became one.     Work hard. If you ask Tiger Woods how many practice balls he hit before the age of fifteen, well, it would be mind-boggling.     Don't listen to nay-sayers, they will tell you that you have limited potential. That's wrong. You have unlimited potential. Nay-sayers like to think that they are being realistic. They like to believe that Einstein was born a genius and you were born with something less. God wouldn't do that, but, it helps those nay-sayers justify their own failures. Failures that caused them to give up.     Listen and learn. You have to be humble enough to keep learning. You have to be able to weed-out the negative criticism, and learn from your failures. Failure is not something to be feared because it will teach you to succeed.     Don't fall for shortcuts. It's all about the ride not the arrival. And, if you can teach yourself to enjoy the battle, then going through the years of hardship isn't so bad. Those years are part of the price of accomplishment. Your day will come. Hey, earning a thousand dollars doing something you love is more fulfilling than winning a million dollars in the lottery. Don't go for something for nothing.     Here's the main thing. Never give up. Keep trying. When it seems like things are not getting any better it's just a time of incremental growth Growth that will become evident at a later date.     Don't give up on your dreams. My mom was right and I would have been better off if I had taken it to heart. I'd be a better musician today, but then again, I'm still working on it.     We're in Minneapolis tomorrow night. I'll stay in touch. Yours truly, Jim "Rev." Heath