All my online activities have slowed down this winter. I’m not even tweeting the contents of my sandwiches as frequently, and for this I will try to make amends. Check my Twitter feed for references to donkey meat and gloriously free cups of ice.
I have used up all my rolls of online fat and am hungry to produce new content. Thus, you should know that I am performing in Charlotte NC on Saturday Jan 16 at the Midtown Plaza location of Common Market, everyone’s favorite punkrock deli. Know also that I will be at Carrboro NC’s own Open Eye Cafe for a Sunday brunch show from 12 – 2 pm on Sunday Jan 24 and in the underground and mostly smoke-free Cave in Chapel Hill NC the following week, on Sunday, Jan 31 at 9 pm.
Why two hometown shows in a row? And on weird days and times? For love of my friends Caleb and Joel. Caleb Hawley is joining me at the Open Eye Cafe, and he’s a wonderful, soulful Stevie Wonder of a fingerstyle guitarist from NYC. Likewise, Joel Ackerson, lately of Reno NV, is touring the East Coast with a new record and I want to play tennis with him. So I set up a show for him at the Cave on the only day he’s in town. Joel’s music is serious: it wears glasses to connote how serious it is about catchy tragedy. Glasses also protect Joel’s music from the flying glass splinters of your shattering heart at his shows.
In other news, I was thrilled recently to learn that I’ve won an ASCAP Plus award! It’s a small cash prize that recognizes emerging artists who play a lot of shows but don’t get a whole lot of radio play. Considering how many hardworking performing songwriters there are out there, it’s pretty awesome to be selected, and an honor. Thanks, ASCAP!
Ok, I made some calls and it’s confirmed, I’m coming to Charlotte to play tonight at 8pm. It’s at Common Market on South Tryon St. Come out and let’s warm our toes together in a punkrock deli!
Tonight’s show at Harry’s Market was cancelled due to snow. Fingers crossed, we’ll see what happens for tomorrow’s show in Charlotte. Keep ya posted.
Wow, this year is coming rapidly to an end. Looks like my last shows will be this weekend – tonight in Chapel Hill, NC at Harry’s Market out on 54, and tomorrow in Charlotte at Common Market’s Southend location on Tryon St. All this is, of course, barring some sort of snow apocalypse, but it doesn’t look like any of what’s fallen so far is going to stick, so I’m pretty sure these shows are going to be as scheduled.
It’s been quite a year for me. I released my first new CD in a few years – and if you’re still doing your holiday shopping, all my CDs do make fine gifts – and I went to the Kerrville Folk Festival for the first time and worked staff, camping out in the Texas dust for almost a month and breathing folk music. This spring, I also played my first webcast show, and ended up doing three or four of them, both from home and webcasting on location from clubs where I was playing. That’s really kinda neat. I’d like to do more of that this coming year.
In 2009 I began teaching harmonica lessons and I’ve enjoyed rethinking the rudiments of another instrument and doing some research as to how best to present them. Ukulele also entered the scene this year, and while it’s really similar to guitar, it has its own quirks that I’ve had to take into account when helping people get started. All this started from guitar for me, and I’ve been teaching guitar for going on ten years now, if you can believe it. Wow.
My year-end project is to set up new websites just for my teaching. Not sure if it’ll be one site to rule them all, one site to find them, etc – I’m leaning towards having individual subdomains for each instrument I teach, to give them each their proper due and hopefully help drive search traffic by doing only one thing at each site.
In other computer news, I’ve also been enjoying working on my computer using the Linux operating system. So far, I can do everything I need to do, although sadly, Netflix doesn’t have Watch Instantly support yet for Linux because of DRM issues. Drat that DRM.
Dunno if this will be my last posting for 2009. I’m pretty spontaneous with most of my web stuff, but if this is it, happy holidays and see you in the new year!
Ok, so this month I played in Jupiter, Florida, at Florida Atlantic University, where I went running on an exclusive golf course and got strange looks from a variety of giant prehistoric birds. The room was full at the show, which makes 2 for 2 since 2007 at The Burrow. Go FAU Activities! Way to rally the troops :)
And of course last weekend I went up to rainy, windy Hartford, Connecticut, Hog Butcher to the World, brawling, sprawling Hartford, Connecticut for NACA Northeast. It was my first time attending a NACA college event outside the South region, and despite the weather, the students were all really chipper, really into it. I guess they’re used to it? I got to put a shark monkey on my shoulder (pictures to come), and as usual I met a ton of people, so many that Facebook told me to slow down when I started sending out friend requests. Ok. Deep breath.
And now I’m back online and on the phone, following up to set up shows for the spring. Northeast schools, let’s do this thing. Also, South region schools, I haven’t forgotten you. We can do this thing, too. In fact, anybody anywhere? Let’s do this thing. Specifically: let’s set up a show for me to come play. Not that other thing, whatever it is.
I’m playing this Wednesday at Florida Atlantic University in Jupiter, Florida, where the projected high temperature tomorrow is 84 degrees. That show’s in their student lounge, which is named The Burrow after their school mascot, the burrowing owl. I played there two years ago and had a blast, even if I didn’t believe at first about the owls. They are real, though. Very real.
Then Friday, I’m playing in Duke University’s Page Auditorium, contributing music to a benefit concert for CASA, which advocates for abused children. The cover there is $5, I think, and I’ll be on sometime between 7:00 and 9:00 pm.
And on Saturday morning, I’m back at the Eno River Farmers Market in downtown Hillsborough NC, behind the courthouse, where my patrons will tip in leafy greens, edible and spendable. Fingers crossed that it will be warm enough outside to cross my fingers [knock on wood]. See you!
Wish I had pictures to share, but imagine everybody painting pumpkins pink. Other colors, too, but a lot of cancer-fighting round squashes. The sun started to set as I played my second song, and it hit my eyes like a spotlight. A couple of songs later, we were in twilight (pre-werewolves, but still lots of drama). A core group of listeners clapped after every song, and the rest of the group seemed blissfully high on pumpkin and paint fumes, intent on their work. I didn’t have much supernatural material for Halloween week, no more than usual, but I did my best to play morbid stuff wherever possible. I Will Follow You Into The Dark, check. Pink Moon, check. Makeup Company, check? Not morbid, but: ghosts and identity theft. Two hours. Concluded with an Oasis singalong, need more practice with that. Is Pete Seeger taking interns? When he plays, everybody sings, it’s amazing. See you next time, PU. Peace out!
Live Video streaming by Ustream
This streaming thing is pretty cool. I set up a webcam for Friday and Saturday night’s shows, and then archived the video for playback on demand. So we’ve got the entire second set from my Broad Street Cafe show up (with trio) and BOTH the first and second sets AND an encore up from the James Joyce solo bar gig. The Broad Street show was awesome, we were on our game, people were listening, and the band played well.
By contrast, my solo pub show was…a little chaotic. It’s a different beast. I mixed up lyrics, hit a few bum chords, and the noisy crowd and TVs and laptop were all kinda distracting to me, but that’s a bar gig for you. Whattya want?
Ok, yes, I unintentionally switched two of the seven verses of “Tangled Up In Blue,” and in “Advice For Ladies,” I reversed a lyric accidentally and said that male friends are much closer to each other than are girls and their gay best friends, which, as everyone knows, is false. Have a drink. Music in a bar is not about lyrics, people. Or about “music,” when you get down to it.
As a footnote, the audio was distorted for the first James Joyce song, but I adjusted it and it comes through better after that. Enjoy!
