-12/27/10- I don't have to be famous. For reasons I may never be privy to, maybe it's better for us to remain moderately influential and well liked, but not famous.
I guess what got me thinking about this is that in a few weeks I'll be attending a movie premier in Hollywood. For a film that will probably not break any box office records, or be a runaway instant success. The film is called Ricky, it's a love story about a guy who idolizes Rocky Balboa, and it features two songs of mine (Lady and Fall). Now I think the film looks pretty good... but it won't make me famous and I'm ok with that.
-05/15/10- I'm in the process of recording a new album, I'm calling "Roots". And I don't know why, but for some reason I'm on a quest to find strange instruments to add to the tracks. In my search, I've found some really amazing old instruments I'll be playing on the album, most of them instruments I'd never even heard of before... and with that said, I found this video while searching through a listing of Indian folk instruments. Watching this video makes me feel like a musical slob, in many ways. And on a semi-related note, a new favorite instrument of mine is the harmonium.
Ravi Shankar, Alla Rakha - Tabla Solo in Jhaptal
-03/15/10- This song is great... give about 3 and half minutes of your life to listening to it.
"I shall be released" - Joe Crocker (Live at Woodstock)
-02/23/10- Lately I've been writing and playing my new songs around town, mostly at this open mic in Riverside... they always draw a good sized crowd of well receiving music fans. Last Thursday I played 3 of my new songs there... it's a weird dynamic to play 3 song sets, it's so small you feel like you have to fit an entire night into a few minutes. But I enjoy being over there.
Here's another "Golden Oldie" for you:
-10/23/09- Just finished up one of the first studio sessions for the new album, Roots. It's gonna be a couple months of recording and mixing, and it's just started, but the way it's turning out now is real exciting... Today we went in and began recording my new song "In the morning", and got a rough mix of it. We still have to add organ and some more percussion, but it sounds good already.
I don't know what's come over me lately musically, the new songs I'm planning to record are definitely more 'soulful' than I've done before, kind of in an American style, with pop-rock elements. I trust that's an incredibly abstract way to describe the new music. But just, when it comes out, get the cd... you'll like it.
Alright, so for my "golden oldies" section this week I've got two. The first one isn't really an oldie yet but I like it, so it get's added to the list. And the second is a great Ray Charles classic. Enjoy.
1. The Alternate Routes - Ordinary
2. Ray Charles - What'd I say
-10/15/09- I've decided to do something with this Road Journal... I'll periodically post "golden oldies", great recordings of old music that's been fading out of public consciousness, in an attempt to bring it back, if only in some small way.
The first of my "Golden Oldies" recordings will be:
The First Time I met the Blues by Buddy Guy.
-10/10/09- If you didn't know already, I'm the webmaster for my own site. Just one more thing to add to the list of things musicians should know how to do. A few others on this growing list would be; how to take rejection and how to grow just the right about facial hair to give you that rock-n-roll edge.
But that's not really what I'm writing about... ok, here's another sidetrack and then I'll get to the main point. Buddy Guy is the best blues/rock guitarist still alive today, or ever. Listen, love it, he's jaw dropping...
Now to the real crux of what I decided to write about... This is a road journal, but today I stayed home, never once got in my car, that now take as granted. Didn't even step outside until well into the afternoon. It was a good day.
Really, that's not what I meant to write as my 'big statement' for this entry, but I guess I'll let that be my main spiel for the day, and this'll be the wrap up. Recently I had someone visit my website from the country of Qatar. I had no idea where that was so I looked it up. What a weird thought to know that someone from a country I'd never heard of, wanted to read about my music and the little comments I post about nothing in particular.
-08/23/09- There's nothing like the sudden awareness of time... I was fiddling around on the website about two weeks ago and saw I hadn't updated my Road Journal in about nine months, so now that I've got the time, I'll give a short overview of this past year, just some highlights and what's been going on in my head these past few months.
So after Nashville (see entry below), I kept driving, played a show in Arkansas, then I went up to Denver and stayed a few days. Visited my cousin, Tommie, who lives up there, and his wife and little girl. We played a show in downtown Denver, which effectively made us no money, but it was great to play a show with him again. It had been about 4 years, I'd say, since our last concert together, and even though much had changed for us personally and musically, we still love what we do, even if much of it goes unnoticed. (he goes by the name Kelleen, look him up)
After Denver (the last date of the tour), I drove down to my new home in the LA area and began to settle in, I released Break me down that November and began to find my place in the over-saturated LA music scene.
In May, I got to play a few LA dates with my friend Scott Tyler (who is always writing better songs than me, which I appreciate). This July saw the release of my fifth album, the Sound and just a few days ago I got to play my first international gig out in London. Which was surprisingly not much different from a US gig.
-11/18/08- I'm in Nashville now for another day, before I head out on the road again. My welcome here, as well as in Asheville, where I just came from has been very warm. Thank you to those of you who deserve thanks for that.
Tonight I stopped by an artist showcase at 12th and Porter, in downtown Nashville. I'd been a while back for a more intense show, but this one had a different feel. They'd cleaned up a bit since the last time I came by, new rock-n-roll art on the walls and white linen covered tables and sprinkled all around the room where older guys drinking wine, dressed too nice to just be going out on the town for leisure. (I'd not noticed this before, cause I'm not a local. But as I was told, those are sure signs of the record executive.) There's been apparently a "buzz" about a new girl in town. And they were there to stake it out. And as it turns out we were also there to "stake it out", there's a possibility a friend of mine could start drumming for her, so we went to see if it's something he'd be interested in.
The air was tense; everyone wanted to impress, to exude confidence. And as a performer myself, it was funny to see so many people examining a musician, and not there because they genuinely like her music, although it wasn't bad, that's not the point. The point is, in fact, money. Can I make this person "big" enough to make a substantial profit? Is it worth the time and resources? Is it marketable? The point was never music. It was a business meeting under the guise of a concert.
I'd say rather shortly this girl will be made a star. You'll probably hear her new album and tell your friends about how good it is, maybe buy it, maybe download it. And behind the scenes the same processes will be going on and on, searching for the new next big thing, and the next and the next.
-10/03/08- We can't plan our lives out... I went into this summer thinking for sure I was going to leave California at the end of the summer, pack up my gear and move on up to Chicago. I've since decided to stay here and jump into the LA music scene, this fall I'm recording a new cd , which I'm calling Break me down: acoustic sessions, and I'll be touring across the US. This is such a hopeful time for me, such a welcomed change, a blessing.
-06/04/08- It seems a main topic of our conversations this week, Scott and I's, has been, "how do we improve and what is that quality that defines great performers",
We never quite figured out what it was, but over the length of our tour we've improved noticeably as performers, as musicians. It could be confidence, it could be a
number of things.
Monday we played a showcase night at a pub in Santa Monica. Before I went on, at around 1am, being the last to play that night. Scott said, "You own the stage, this is yours"
and after my first song a guy named Val, who I met after the show, yelled with emphasis," Show us your soul". And for the rest of the night, that's what I did.
If I don't 'show my soul' what good is this? It is unnoticeable, and worthless in many of the ways that truly matter.
My older cousin started doing music before anyone else in my family. He told me one night, and it's stuck with me, that the stage lights will expose everything
about you. And after 5 years of this I can say that statement is utterly true.
Maybe the indefinable quality is something in the soul of the performer that the fan appreciates. For some those appreciated qualities are also admirable ones;
truth, peace, integrity, inner happiness, love, justice. And others appreciate the darker qualities of the soul; lust, hate, rage, and the like.
In truth, I possess all those qualities. But my hope is that the light should expose more of the good and that my music and the soul it shows will
be a benefit to your soul, to your person, yourself.
-05/31/08- This deserves to make its way into the journal. This morning at about 6am, Scott and I got up, pack ourselves into an SUV and went down South, about a 45 minute drive. We went surfing. We never stood up, but it was our first time, so I'll cut us both some slack.
-05/27/08- I'm in Hollywood right now, staying in my friends apartment about four blocks away from the big movie premier theaters and the hall where the Oscars
and Grammys and various other award shows are often held. For those of you that know Hollywood this comes as no surprise, it's a little dirty, the stars on the sidewalk
are nothing special, and most of the area is run down. Panhandlers and street performers dressed in absurd costumes line up in front of these famous landmarks,
which in a way,I'd say, have become shrines.
Last night Dan and I took a walk up an unrealistically steep hill, a battlement if you will, away from the ugliness and the show of downtown Hollywood,
up to Whitley heights. Quiet mansions, a beautiful view of the hills, 'The Sign' and a giant glowing cross, I did not expect to see, perched on the hill closest to the sign.
Yesterday I also saw celebrity tour buses venerating the 'private' homes of our stars. And another friend of mine gave me the scoop on the paparazzi;
as it relates to her friend, who nanny's for Gwen and Gavin's son. It only more proves how star-struck we all, including myself, really are. I don't
have to give their last names and most of us already know who I mean.
From my best guess, I'd say the lustful drive to be close to celebrity comes from our unfulfilled needs, to be loved, to be accepted, and
our unquenchable yearning for power. Celebrity promises them to us, and we will gladly worship it in jealousy, if by fate or luck it could
be ours one day, and we it's and us the dream of the common man. But we are not meant to be worshiped, those are my thoughts.
-05/03/08- Last night I sat listening to "Bill", I would give his full name, but it escapes me, he's been playing music for 75 years he said,'But I can't play fiddle anymore, cause my hands...' I played a little too, but could not, neither did I wish to really compete. If you can humbly claim to have been humbled, then that was my experience. Why would anyone come to see me play, when Bill is obviously better? Except for one thing he kept repeating,'You see, when I was first starting, I'd see someone and want to give up, then I'd see someone and think, well I'm better than they are, but I've never seen anyone perfect.'
But after 75 years, no one can play fiddle anymore, all our simple perfections fade.
I'm in between shows now, 19 days, then California and music and imperfection.
Added 5/05/08- Bill's last name in Lanham.
Added 2/14/09- I just found out last week that Bill died this past winter, and it's hard to be sad when you think of what he is breaking from here, and what he is going home to.
Added 7/31/09- While digging through some old music, I found a 19 track cd Bill had given me, which to my best guess is entitled 'Gospel music and singing'. So as a musical farewell I've decided to put up 7 of my favorites from the cd. I hope you enjoy em, it's not music we're used to hearing today, so give it a few good listens and I promise you'll love it. All the instruments and vocal parts were sung and played by Bill.
-04/23/08- There is no room in New York City, the club we played at, Laura Gould and I, it was jam packed, in the backroom, fifty or so people, maybe 10 of those standing, in a room about the size of three walk in closets, we played to the most attentive crowd I've ever sat in front of. No real stage, the vibe was that of a sixties poetry lounge. I'd go back again, great times, great people.
-04/19/08- My body is tired, my voice is fading, today I sang at 50 percent if that. and now I understand more the limits of my strengths, and the strengths of my weaknesses, you can't play a show in TN at 10pm and then play in Grand Rapids at 7pm the next day without getting sick, it's just not possible.
I've found that I can handle the drives much better without the radio playing, without the background noise driving is fairly peaceful. For example, today I drove from gas city , IN to Akron, Oh, in almost complete silence. Just thoughts, and empty corn fields.
I noticed the dramatic shift from the brown of barren fields to the bright green grass and back again.
Another thing I've cherished on this trip have been the conversations. It could be that my appreciation for this has been built up, through it's absence, in the long drives alone with my corn. But I don't think that's entirely it.
Some people's conversation mean more to you than others, some who's laugh you wait for in anticipation for you know it's sound. Today, a good friend of mine described it as therapy, and I am inclined to agree with her.
After 2500 miles or so I can say, and with a measure of authority in the matter, that those would all be empty miles, a scenic blur and a horrible waste of gas, if not for those waiting kindly to receive me and for the time I sat and watched the sunset in Indiana and the feel of the breeze off lake Michigan.
-04/13/08- The congregation at the Anglican church this morning seemed to my observations to be a most genuinely grateful mix, and I would say that that same theme has seeped throughout my whole time here. The venues although not packed by any stretch of one's imagination. Have been filed with the happy faithful, good friends, and those to whom the title of good friends would need only time for it to be placed.
I'm not sure exactly why I'm writing in the style of an English paper. It seems to fit. A lot of thoughtful conversation, and two fun shows, which seem to be side fixtures amongst the greater purposes of life, It's people, and I am genuinely grateful for their welcoming.
-02/04/08- Hey guys welcome to my newly developed road journal, I'll be filling this up with stories, personal struggles and/or victories I'll encounter during my upcoming tour. Watch for updates.