CD Release-izzle

all right... good afternoon. I'm delighted to assume my position on the couch this afternoon to sip on some tea, and watch some long-awaited college football. Unfortunately on this side of the state, Western Michigan doesn't get much tv coverage. so I'll have to settle for some U of M or MSU on ABC.

There's the big cd release show tonight. and by "big" I just mean special. Xhedo's is a great room that I've been playing for a little while now, and it's so intimate and sounds so good... so it's the special show tonight. I don't know who's going to read this before tonight, so I don't feel I'm spoiling anything, but I made up these cheezy little programs for the evening. In honor of the new cd, it just says a few things about the songs, and about the night, and is just a little momento for people to possibly hold onto to remember the night, or to use as something to start a campfire with when nothing else works...

We played our second ever band performace yesterday at the Arts, Beats & Eats festival in Pontiac. It featured Jeff George (perch) on guitar, and Bubs (bass) on the good old hand drums. I am known in a small circle as "catfish." I don't know why, but if you hear it, then I guess it's stuck. We have some kind of fishing theme applied to our ensemble... it was cool though, to play outside, a nice breeze blowing, in addition to THE CYCLONE. this set featured for the first time Bubs singing a couple harmonies, and when you meet the guy, and hear his deep voice, you may think it's not going to sound good, but believe you me, it did.

we went to this piano bar after our set, and stayed there for hours. it brought me back to a couple years ago when I was in college. Underneath the piano bar is a little dive bar downstairs. it's separate from the piano bar, but they share restrooms. anyway, it has a couple tvs, a golden tee machine, and a pool table. and is just a really small place. well a little while back I used to play at this bar, one saturday a month, in typical solo bar-guy fashion. playing 3-4 hours, bunch of covers, some originals, usually with not many if any people listening. Needless to say, this monthly gig I used to have didn't break me onto the local music scene, a scene of which I still feel I have not officially become a member. it did help me though. it helped me to figure out what types of shows I didn't like, and which types of 'venues' I didn't want to play. shows like that inclined me to set up these shows at cafes, and coffeeshops, and small rooms around the country. because at least I'd be playing somewhere where getting through to someone was a possibility. I used to get about $200-$250 per night at this little bar. I used to drive two hours from kalamazoo and play for 3-4 hours, and then drive back in the middle of the night, never telling anyone I was coming back near home, cos I didn't want them to know. I was just making the trip to collect the money, so I could create a cd called "time is right." one day my older brother was hanging out at my place my senior year, and he saw an invoice laying around from the studio with about a $900 balance (believe me, just one installment), and he just dropped a hundy spot on my desk and said see ya later. we're all millionaires.

little things like that helped me to be able to complete that project at the time, and the little project gave me the inclination to travel around and play shows, cos someone might be interested in purchasing one, or at least accepting a free or drastically discounted copy, and little discounts like that allowed me to eat before heading to the next town, and the fact that I could survive for a month or two or three on the road made me want more. This new cd is the next installment, hopefully in the long run it'll end up being a small installment, just like that invoice was, and mean much more in the big scope of things.

tonight is for the people who saw a progression when I was just playing the low E string, cos I didn't know any chords, and then the ones who bought the cd, or told their friends about it. or the ones to came to the show, just cos they hadn't seen me in a while, and saw a listing in the metro times or something. and I sit here and drink my green tea so I can do these people justice. I want the performances to be better than the cd, and if it can't be that, then let it at least be something that you haven't heard before. cos then then at least either the cd or the performance will be better, and you'll go to bed at night having heard something new, whichever one it may be. time is of the essence, and although I never thought I'd be patient enough to stick around these two and a half years which have flown by, I know that if I had to, I could stick around for another installment, and as long as the juices of creativity continue to flow, I don't see any recession coming.

well well well well well well...

let the floodgates open for september journals... I leave on labor day...

JA