Long time no see..sorry!

Sorry sorry, I know I have not updated in a while. I never know who I am talking to on this blog, is it future me? Hopefully someone finds this blog useful, entertaining, or maybe so annoying and stupid they keep coming back to see what other idiotic things I post. Well it's been a while. What has happened in the past few months. I went on a cruise with my bro and had a great time...thought briefly about shipping off to see and playing music. Not that someone offered me a job, but I thought about it on the ship, that would be an interesting job, hopefully I would be able to keep my soul while doing it. A lot of the musicians on board looked like they hated life and I hope that I will never ever be like that. ASB had a great show with Ed Mcgee/Tan Beer Band and Jahman Brahman at Woodlands. Kevin Smith came in and did lights and he is soo awesome it was a great night ending in the whole crowd singing a couple of our songs along with us. Also chants of "Andy Fucking Shaw"...that was hilarious, we are going to make t-shirts by the way. But the main thing I want to talk about is this weekend which was The Columbus Songwriter Sessions.

So a few of us came up with this idea a few months ago and we ran with it. Let's get a bunch of bands together and showcase them in a stripped down almost MTV Unplugged kind of way in a theater. So we rented the VanFleet Theater in Olde Town East (also called the Columbus Performing Arts Center), got a ton of sponsors, lined the bands up, worked our asses of promoting and did it. This event was SO AWESOME and now that we are done to me it's like a no brainer, DUH, this is it. This is music, this is Columbus, this is my life and how it will now go from here...and it will just get BETTER. I worked really effing hard along with Phillip Fox, Andy, Jesse Henry, and Kerry Henderson and we really pulled this thing off. Though I wanted the first night to be sold out (as I should) it was 75 people from doing that, around there...it was a GREAT night. The audience was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Jesse Henry's new band "Jesse Henry and the Great Divide" in my opinion really stole the show the first night. Steven, Chris, Caleb, Jake, and Jesse playing some of Jesse's tunes, some gospel, and bluegrass all in a traditional bluegrass style around one mic. They are fabulous players and Jesse is just an amazing performer, wordsmith, and presence. I love that the music goes from sad to happy to funny to just a party where you want to stomp your feet. I feel like that is my next goal as a songwriter to write a song that gets people moving and or laughing...I don't feel I have really accomplished that yet. Jesse is so talented and such a nice guy, I can't wait to collaborate with him more and I know it will happen. Phillip Fox was great too, this was the first time I saw his whole band and it was a great show indeed. I love the Floorwalkers and always have it was really fun sitting in with them especially in this format. Ben on upright, Kerry on mando or guitar, Tom on djembe/snare, and Jon singing of course. I played some fiddle on some of their lesser known tunes like "Some Love" and "Whatever It Is" love hearing Ben sing.

This weekend just felt like this is how it is supposed to be. People come to the show to see music and to listen. They sit and they watch quietly and they clap at the end. Yes, it sounds odd that this is not how it normally is as a musician but it is not. Noisy corners in restaurants with the manager telling you to turn down, bars where people come to hook up and get drunk and yell "freebird" at you, windy, wet, rainy streets where people throw pennies at you..maybe it sounds dramatic but I have been in all of those situations. I could get on a big rant about how no wonder musicians become alcoholics or are stuck in dead end jobs to pay rent while trying to make it as a musician on the side. I hear the story so many times and I see so many fucking talented people that are just hopeless and it's really sad. Anyway, this weekend was a shining glimmer of hope for music. I am not saying I don't have hope for music cuz I do and always have and will. I am in control of my own career and this is why my brother and I (with help of others) set up things like the CSS because we are in control and we are not going to wait for anybody to help us out. It's just nice to see other musicians in this environment all sharing the stage, singing together, getting along backstage, shaking hands, sharing a laugh and just being who we should be in the environment we deserve. No distractions, just here for music. Phew..I think I am going to write a song now! :) Thanks again for all who came and check The Columbus Songwriter Sessions out on facebook we will do this again. Also there should be some video footage soon and audio so I will try to post when it comes.