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.

Make Yourself

So I think a lot about "making yourself"...kinda like Incubus said. I am a big proponent of just going and doing it, no excuses. Another quote that has influenced me a TON is "Be the change you wish to see in the world" -Mahatma Gandhi. It just makes sense to me, if you want something to change you have to change yourself and lead by example, others will follow. So I have been trying really hard to do this for a long time.

The music scene in Columbus is great, and one way to make it even better is to do things you "wish" would happen in Columbus. There are a ton of people already doing this in this town that's why I think it is great. The Rock Potluck is a night where a bunch of musicians get together from different bands and all form a band for one night, rehearse 2 covers, and write one original and then do a concert all in a day/night. It is pretty awesome. Cowtown Round at Rumba Cafe every Monday puts two of C-Bus' best songwriters (in my opinion) Jesse Henry and Jason Quicksall on stage together with another songwriter (sometimes local, sometimes not) and has them rotate songs in an acoustic fashion. A lot of times the musicians will spontaneously collaborate on stage and it's magical. There are plenty of other examples.

So my brother and I have been trying to do different things that we feel are missing or that are just cool and maybe other people will catch on. We house musicians from out of state and do house concerts for them. Plan it out, people come over, eat, talk, listen to live music, and usually they tip the traveling musicians a good amount/buy their cds and hopefully become life long fans. We also do songwriter nights where we invite a group of local musicians over to play acoustic songs in the round, eat, laugh, share,,,,getting the idea? This creates community and allows people to be introduced in a non bar setting, just musicians. It is a great networking night and just always awesome in general. The next project we are embarking on is South By Southwest in Autin Texas in March 2011. We are gathering a group of Columbus' best to do a showcase down in Texas. Andy and our good friend Genean are going down this next weekend to secure a venue. This is going to be a great thing for Columbus in general and the idea is to promote the city through the event. Columbus bands, Columbus beer, Columbus sponsors of all kind but really celebrating the music of C-Bus. I am really excited for the next year and I guess the whole point of this blog is help others and you will end up helping yourself. You will also feel good and meet a lot of cool people, hopefully in the end it will come back but if not you know you helped a bunch of others. And I am not saying I am awesome or I helped anyone but and I rule..just saying that this is my journey and I really have enjoyed it.

I often get frustrated when people say they "want to be professional musicians" but then opportunities come up and they just have other priorities or what not. I am all for doing music on the level you want but don't say you want to be professional and act like it takes no work. It takes a ton of work, tenacity, sweat, blood, tears, being really poor, and I just sometimes find that people don't understand that. That being said, I love creating my own success, opportunities, and allowing others to be a part of it. Lead by example rather than saying "you suck, I am not including you". I will include you as long as you put the work in with me and we work together. Anyway, now I feel like I am just rambling. In the mean time check out the house concert we are doing November 3rd with Raina Rose and Rebecca Loebe

More adventures

So an update on some of the things happening in my musical world. A great happy hour with Shaw Brothers at Woodlands happened September 1st thanks for all who came out and thanks to Michael Miller from LA for playing with us. Mellissa Fraley had a great debut at the open mic right after our happy hour set. Myself, Andyman Hopkins, and Adam Cummins backed her up and she sounded really good! Look for her in the future she is gonna be big! :) ASB played at Hookahville for the first time..that was awesome! I got to meet Anthony "AC" Cole the drummer for JJ Grey and Mofro, really nice and humble guy and incredible drummer. I have always loved Mofro and the drums that came with and never knew till recently who it was. I slipped him an ASB cd, hopefully he listens to it, who knows. JJ Grey and Mofro played a great set at Hookahville and I was upset at the crowd size. The crowd for Kottonmouth Kings was bigger and I just think that's a shame cuz Mofro is really good. Not to say Kottonmouth Kings aren't good, they do their thing but in my opinion Mofro puts on a better show. ASB played right between arguably the two biggest bands at the festival (well besides Hookah) but as far as national acclaim, we were between the two biggest bands. It was an honor to play and Hookah RIPPED there set on Saturday night. Ok so after Hookah was our marathon gig week,,,I actually love these weeks though they are tiring I feel just very productive and like a real professional musician, ha. So here is a run down. Sunday house party, Monday Upper Arlington Labor Day arts festival, Tuesday Pearl Market with Shaw Bros, Wednesday another Woodlands happy hour, Thursday Rumba with ASB/Wet Darlings/Molehill from Chicago (nice set guys!), Friday off (phew), Saturday at One Eyed Jacks in Dayton which was really fun despite feeling kinda sick, and tonight we are playing in Granville for Nat Reebs open mic as the featured artist, just Andy and me that will be fun..forget the name of the bar sorry!

Few things, the house party ruled thanks so much to everyone that made us feel welcome and despite this being a charity thing (our name was entered and someone bid on this house concert for a charity event) we were tipped over 200 bucks! Amazing! UA labor day fest was awesome thanks to all who came out early to see Andy and me it was fun playing that big of a stage with the duo. Bill Patterson, no joke you are fucking awesome at guitar. The Wet Darlings in general are just a perfect combo with Jenny Lute's obviously good vocals, Aaron Bishara's solid rocking drumming, Joe's highly under-rated solid as hell groove bass playing, and Bill being this architect with feedback and strange pedals that have to be held on music stands..it's just a killer killer band. I am really happy to see them having the success that they have seen because for one they are bad ass, and I know the brothers Patterson have been working a long time and they deserve every bit of success they get. Molehill, you guys were awesome too thanks for coming in I hope to play more shows with you in the future! Thanks to Rory (spelling?) the chef at One Eyed Jacks, Sayaka, Ellen, and all the other awesome staff for making us feel really welcome and the compliments were also really nice. We hope to continue to play OEJ in Dayton and bring the thunder every time! Phew, hears to next week!

Ahh..time flies

So I am not very good at updating this..ugh. What happened since the last time I posted. Wafflepalooza 2010....for one. This time it was more epic than last. Activity books were colored in, Speak Easy Three from Buffalo NY opened up, 3 waffle stations with like...5 cooks (with official WFLPLZA aprons) a menu including such favs as the Elvis Waffle which was bananas, peanutbutter, bacon, and honey..yeah I said bacon plus a lot of other musically named treats. My favorite (name that is) since I named it was the Rick James waffle..which was a plain waffle with powdered sugar, go ahead and do the math yourself.

My dad's happy hour retirement party at Woodlands was a success with the Shaw Brothers playing and Zoe's cupcakes, oh yeah good stuff. I think we even got a house concert out of it which is always a plus! After that show we went to the Black Keys concert. I got tickets at the LAST minute from my good friend Christina, thanks Christina!!! :) The concert was really good and Ginger got to go with me. I actually liked when they brought in the other players on bass and drums to fill it out a bit, it did not take away but it gave it a little extra oomph. I like them both too but it was cool to see a little more gusto behind them, just enough.

Tony's bar in Newark with ASB on the 14th. Pretty good crowd eventually, it was a bit empty at first. Kenny filled in on bass and did a really good job. We had some people come out to see us that actually knew who we were (thanks Ashley!) and invited us to a party afterward. We were all pretty tired but we went and enjoyed some Bud Lights and I personally enjoyed the hot tub, everyone else were being wimps! Who cares that the girl with the bloody foot got into the hot tub? Ha..ok that's gross but oh well it was fun I figure the heat killed all those germs..I'm still alive so I'm good. I felt slightly bad for the kid who was sitting on the side of the hot tub with his legs in the water that kept falling off...but like a trooper he kept getting right back on top of that tub, even though he would fall off two minutes later. Good times, good times.

August 20th we played at Rumba for the Keith Jenkins and Moving Parts CD Release. Matt Monta and HCB played and it was a bit weird seeing them play with a different fiddle player. Pete, ya did a good job! Now there are two Petes in the band..ha! I felt like our set was just reallly good that night. High energy and the room was packed full of our fans so that was nice. I like playing Rumba cuz usually we get a really good crowd and it's just so high energy. It was nice being able to play a short set and then go relax for once!

I also played two farmers markets, a nursing home, a frat bar, a benefit concert, a Jamaican themed party (including food..yum) at a country club in Chillicothe, and a hippie music festival called Ohmstead in which there was some excellent people watching to be had. My favorite was the older woman with the random drum that she danced with and went up to people at random to have them play on it and that was their ticket for her to leave you alone...ha. Thanks to the Ohms who had us out I really liked the festival and we all had a great time! Thanks to everyone else who set us up any of the previous mentioned gigs or anyone who came with us, good times by all. So this week starts my crazy gig week where I am playing today, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday (Fridays gig got cancelled..phew). Look for us on facebook search Andy Shaw Band and Shaw Brothers for our schedules! Whewwwww.

Spikedrivers at Goodale Park 2010

Spikedrivers at Goodale Park 2010

Columbus is cool in that if someone has an idea they usually can just do it. I read in the Columbus Alive today about a woman named Nikki Portman who was in Brooklyn recently and happened upon a thing called Brooklyn Flea. She thought she would bring the hipster friendly open air market idea to Columbus so she did just that. I attended Summer Flea, she kinda stole the name but she gets some points for some originality and it was really awesome. This is a music blog and this is a bit off topic but the one thing missing was in fact music. It seems like everything that I have been waiting for in C-Bus or everything I see in different cities I think is cool happens to come here like the week after I am thinking of it. In this case I was in Washington D.C. like maybe a year or two ago and was thinking man we really need some cool open air flea type hodge podge markets where people can just set up their shit (pardon my French) and just sell. Nice work Nikki Portman, and like I said my suggestion is just to add maybe a small acoustic act who can just either busk, you pay them (ideal) and have them bring a small p.a., or heck have a stage. Switch the acts up every time you do it and you are good to go. I was thinking about these types of markets and cool things to do, they are not just for us C-Bussers but for tourists. The more stuff we have going on all the time the more people will WANT to come visit this awesome city and happen upon something cool and in that realize the amazing stuff going on here every day that you may have to hunt to find otherwise. Anyway fun times. So before I went to Summer Flea I enjoyed some great FREE music at Goodale Park Music Series. The Spikedrivers are one of my fav bands in C-Bus and I keep thinking they are going to break up. They are all kinda all over the place, heck Megan lives in New York and John Boerstler just got a new liver, I guess it's more of a fear then anything because I love them so much! The people in the band are all so down to earth especially Megan and Jesse (the ones I know the most) and I can't say enough good things. So they keep on playing and I love it, somehow Megan finds the time to drive/fly back and fourth from NYC, you crazy Megan. Here are two little clips from today I took on my iPod nano, yes they have video cameras on them now. The audio is ok, but the video aint bad for a thinner-than-a-pencil heavy-as-a-spoon camera.

Knoxville, Nashville, Cinci, and beyond

So I have been gone for a week..just got back from Kentucky with my girlfriend Ginger visiting her family and her home town of Hazard Kentucky where she grew up. Lots of small little towns including Whitesburg, Jenkins, Kona, Millstone, and more. I learned a lot about the area, culture, coal towns, and it was really great. Now this is a music blog Chris start talking about music. Well we went to a bar called Summit City Lounge in Whitesburg. We heard it was the "liberal" "Hippie" bar in town so we checked it out, naturally. In fact it was pretty much the only bar in Whitesburg so it made sense to go. The first night we were there was a Tuesday and the characters were of all age and even some people from New Zealand were there. We heard there was karaoke going on so I told Ginger we have to stay and see what's going on with that. Wow, long story short these people can SING. We met a man named Fred and at one point the Karaoke machine was not working and Fred sang an acapella song probably one he learned in church and it was beautiful. He then continued to sing some country tunes in a beautiful deep voice. A slew of other people came up and sang right on key, right with the timing, and even in tune with the harmonies on the pre-recorded karaoke tracks. I thought karaoke was supposed to be drunk people that have never sung before..not the case in Whitesburg! Ok there was like one guy that was drunk and could not sing but everyone else was shockingly good. So the next night was the open mic that we had heard about previously online and then people were talking about it that Tuesday. Oh, I forgot I actually sang a Semisonic song called "Secret Smile" ..my first karaoke experience, I think I did alright! So I took my guitar into Summit City the next night and saw a ton of instruments all over, the place was more full then the night before and it was pretty full on a Tuesday. Apparently this is a hot open mic..or one of the only mics in the..I don't know tri-county area? We had metal, rap, folk, indie, jazz (flute! I might add), singer songwriters, young, old, experienced, inexperienced. From the night before we thought it would be all country little did we know the only bluegrass we heard was from a group from NEW ZEALAND!? Oh yeah and I played too, it was great I think I really won the room over I got a bunch of hugs after ward and some really nice comments about my voice so thank you all for accepting my music in a different town! Now I am not one to sterotype..I will ask Ginger if anything what to expect when going to her own home town and Ginger was shocked at the diversity and the talent. I was surprised myself that there was not more country or mountain music even in a "hippie" bar. So anyway, great times, great people and amazing scenery. I plan to go back to Summit City and play with Shaw Brothers really soon, we got several offers of people that said they'd let us stay at there house (heck, the bar itself houses musicians in the appartment above) and cook for us..woohee! I heart Kentucky.

So to go back in time Andy Shaw Band took a trip to Knoxville and played at this place called the Longbranch Saloon. Despite the bartender being ALSO the sound man we had a fun time playing. Ben Johnson filled in for Matt on bass and he did a great job. We met up with Keith Moody and his band and they also played with us. I love Keith Moody and his crew Steve and Manny they are such nice guys and very very hard workers. I learn so much every time I play with them they really are just nice guys and are willing to help us out so much. We played the next night in Nashville at The 5 Spot which is a really cool bar with awesome staff and cool lights made out of drums strewn all over the place. They have great food, a great stage, and a great sound system. The drum set they had in house was pissing me off cuz the hi hat stand and snare stand kept moving, that is my only gripe..but it was my fault for not just playing my own set since I had it in the car. The crowd was great and we just had a really fun time in Nashville hanging with Steve Wolfe meeting some of his friends partying at his house and playing with his dogs. Thanks for letting us stay Steve..reallly appreciate it! The next night we traveled to Cincinnati and played with The Ohms. We are playing The Ohmstead festival in August and thought it would be a good opportunity to promote that show and get in with their crowd a bit. They put on a hell of a show in their home town and were really nice down to earth guys. I especially loved the bass player "Psycho D"..or Donovan. He is actually a friend of Andyman Hopkins so I know he is good people. He is a bad ass bass player and knows exactly how to groove the bass reggae style, looove it. I look forward to the Ohmstead festival and the tix are only $25 for three nights!

Oh so after we had our mini (mini) tour we had some songwriters over to the Shaw house for a songwriter night. We have been doing these for maybe a year now? Every couple of months we invite as many songwriters as we can over and just share songs. We basically go one by one and then other musicians can join in while a songwriter is playing. This past Sunday was an AWESOME songwriter night where everyone ended up jamming on everyones songs. My favorite was when The Judah Method (aka Quinton) was rapping and all of us with our acoustic instruments (ok I ended up plugging in my electric guitar and doing some fun stuff on there) joined in with Andyman on the upright bass, Adam Cummins on brushes, and others on their respective acoustics some playing some beating on the side of the thing...it was a really cool experience. Zach Whitney is one of my favorite new singer songwriters. New to Columbus that is, he spent ten years I believe in Austin honing his craft. This man can work a room like no other and I can really learn a lot from him. When he plays, everyone listens. Zach knows how to project for one, he looks in the eyes of his listeners for two, and he plays guitar well, sings well, and has amazing lyrics that people can relate to. He has a song about his hometown becoming a suburb and them putting up a Target and man it just hit close to home. You hear songs about growing up in the country and the fast pace of the city but this song just hit straight to my experience. The suburbs are kind of that in between thing. When we were kids it was just a small little town (Gahanna where I grew up was a village, not yet a city) and little by little you see trees being cut down, farms being erased, fruit stands leaving, and the Target, and the mall, and the downfall (in my opinion) of what makes these little towns great. Now I love Target but I also love going and buying fruit from a farmer and looking at the beautiful field filled with deer across the road and that stuff can not be replaced, not for a looong time. So amazing songwriter night and I can't wait for the next one. That's it for now..phew long post!