Halloween!

Tonight is the Halloween show with (Who Are The) Brain Police. We're playing the 7 Barrel Brewery in West Lebanon. Here's another video from the July show we played there. There's not much to see in the video, but it's one of our favorite songs.

I don't have shows Saturday or Sunday, but that might not be a bad thing. I'm still fighting a bit of the cold that everyone up here seems to have, and I expect tonight's show to pretty much wipe me out. It's gonna be fun though.

Back to work.

And not a moment too soon. I'm playing at The Country Cow in Campton tonight. The show starts at 7pm. It's the day before Halloween, but I don't think there's any holiday-based stuff happening there tonight. If I hear otherwise, I'll let you know.

I'm working on my costumes (yeah, that's right) for the 10/31 show at the 7 Barrel Brewery with (Who Are The) Brain Police. That's gonna be a silly good time.

Lunch.

Yeah, I hate to say it, but that's the most interesting thing happening today. Still, I made out like a bandit. I got a big ol' ham sandwich and a Vitamin Water at Wal-Mart. Total: $2.35.

Then I stopped at Second Comings, our local thrift shop. Found myself a nice new (to me) sweater for four bucks. Just in time for the snow! I mentioned that yesterday, and we didn't really see any. It looked like it might change over late last night, but the ground was bare this morning. It sure is cold enough now though. Maybe tonight.

A bleak October.

They're saying we may see our first snow here today/tonight. Maybe that's the way it goes over in Wisconsin, but man, here in New Hampshire I'm not ready.

This was the slowest month I can remember, in regards to playing shows. But November looks like a return to normalcy. Here's what's on tap:

10/30 - Country Cow, Campton (solo show)
10/31 - 7 Barrel Brewery, West Lebanon (w/Who Are The Brain Police)
11/7 - Shooter's, Belmont (solo show)
11/8 - Masonic Hall, Holderness (military appreciation show)
11/14 - Corner House, Sandwich (solo show)
11/15 - Shooter's, Belmont (solo show)
11/20 - Hong Kong Garden (w/Who Are The Brain Police)
11/22 - VFW Hall, Littleton (w/No Limitz)
11/28 - Shooter's, Belmont (solo show)

Still some holes to fill, but it's back to business at least.

Halloween is coming.

We celebrated Halloween early with the in-laws this weekend. On Halloween night I'll be playing with (Who Are The) Brain Police at the mighty Seven Barrel Brewery. It promises to be a good time. I'm getting my costume sorted out today.

The night before that (Thursday, October 30), I'm playing a solo show at The Country Cow right here in Campton. Come on out for some Halloween pregame!

Another tire.

I just got a flat tire for the second time in a month, having run over some piece of junk in the road. This time, it looks like a piece of a bearing from a truck. Last time it was a muffler. Either someone is doing a sloppy job hauling scrap metal, or there's a bunch of cars in my area that are disintegrating in the street. Mine included, apparently. And the added bonus this morning: the spare is flat too. Didn't find that out until I put it on. Awesome.

In other news, I stopped at the open mic at The Common Man in Ashland last night, which was fun, but not particularly lucrative. Especially with car repairs figured in. So, if I can get the mid-life Chrysler back on the road by tonight, I'm gonna go out again and see if I can book some gigs. The business is real feast-or-famine up here. It's a little more even for me now than it was a few years ago, but October and November still take a Hell of a dip.

(Who Are The) Brain Police?

Here's a clip from a (Who Are The) Brain Police show in July. We'll be playing the 7 Barrel Brewery in West Lebanon, NH on Halloween night. It promises to be fun. And loud. And the beer they make at the 7 Barrel, oh my goodness. The RIP Stout is so good I wrote a song about it once. Anyway, the show starts at 10pm, and there's no cover.

Never Tear Us Apart.

Someone over at Song Fight suggested an INXS coverfight recently. I took part in a collaboration with Heuristics Inc. and Johnny Cashpoint, forming the internet supergroup The Tyrrell Corporation. We put together a BladeRunner-esque version of an INXS classic, and you can hear it right here.

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Slipping Out.

I'm still (probably always) working on getting the studio set up the way I want it. Last month I did some recording to see how the live drums would come out. Here's one of the tracks.





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Not too bad, for just having one SM58 pointed at the kit. And now that Mike Kim's band Boss Level has moved into the studio, there's a much nicer kit sitting there waiting to be recorded. So it'll only get better.

In other news, I don't have ANY shows on the books this week. That's going to change.

Apostrophe Catastrophes.

Whether or not you can tell from reading my blog, bad grammar and punctuation drive me NUTS. Except when I do it; then it's cute. Anyway, there's this blog called Apostrophe Catastrophes that I read, and I sent them a photo a while back, and they posted it today. Check it out!

In other news, things are slowing down considerably. I don't have a show on the books until next Thursday. Ouch. I'm hoping to plug something in this week, and I'll let you know if anything comes up. I got to do some studio work this weekend, which was a lot of fun. Chris Downing loaned me his loop pedal. I simply have to get one of those.

Breakfast of champions.

Oh man, I just had a bowl of Quisp. I've been wanting to do that for years. And it was pretty much as I remembered it. I found a couple boxes of the stuff at Big Lots before my show at Shooter's last night.

The show went well enough. Playing a show during a Red Sox playoff game is a pretty tough sell up here, but there was a large group that was there to celebrate a birthday, and they were on board with what I was doing.

I'm not hosting the open mic at the Sunset Grill tonight, but I may still stop by. I'm really hoping to get to the studio and start putting down a few musical ideas. I've been playing with one of my old guitars tuned down to... I'm not sure exactly how you'd describe it. I guess it's like regular tuning, but down in C. Sort of like a baritone guitar, I guess. I'd love to have one of those to play around with.

A Friday off.

It's weird; Friday night and I don't have a show. I'm tempted to go out and look for work, but I'm pretty tired. I got together with a couple of the guys from No Limitz last night. We have a few shows coming up, but we're not nearly busy enough. Still, they got to check out the studio/practice space, and we'll be convening there next week for a musical go-around.

In other news, my New Year's Eve commitment is no more. I was going to sit in with the Undercover Operatives at The Margate in Laconia, but they've taken on a full-time keyboardist who is going to do the show with them. So, now I gotta find a place to play. I'd almost prefer to do a solo show, I guess. But we'll see what comes up.

The William Tell.

My Saturday night show this past weekend was at the William Tell in Thornton, on Rt. 49 out toward Waterville Valley. I've played a few shows there through the summer/fall, and starting in December I'll be there every Saturday through St. Patrick's day or so. It's a great room, and I get to do a lot of piano material. And the shows are comparatively early, too; the music starts at 6pm.

This coming weekend though, I'm playing a Saturday night show at Shooter's Tavern and Pizzaria in Belmont. That show is more of a guitar-driven affair. The Shooters Burger gets my high recommendation.

Huberfest.

This past Saturday I played an afternoon show with (Who Are The) Brain Police at Huberfest, the semi-official annual gathering at Bill Huber's place. It coincides with Warner's fall festival, so we had a lot of passersby to play for. Some of them even hung out for a while. Most of them just looked at us and wondered who wrote that Turning Japanese song.

(Who Are The) Brain Police are playing on Halloween night at the Seven Barrel Brewery. I'm looking forward to that one. We do heavier stuff; Toadies, AC/DC, Ramones, STP, Electric Six, that sort of thing. I'm working on getting the band back to Plymouth. They hosted the open mic at the Lucky Dog a few times, back when there was an open mic in that town.

Sean's birthday.

Today my youngest son Sean turns two. We're having chicken nuggets and cake and presents, and grammy and grampy are coming over. He and his brothers (Andy and Shannon) are watching a new Spongebob DVD on the couch right now.

Tomorrow it's back to work; I've got a recording project to finish up. But for tonight, it's cake and cartoons.

Columbus Day.

Yesterday I took the family to the Sandwich Fair. Normally we try to go on closing day, when the crowds are a bit thinner. That wasn't an option this year, as I'm working at the day job today. So we found ourselves at a much busier event than normal, especially due to the fine weather we had this weekend. The kids had a good time though, and I got my annual plate of greasy fair food.

Then I hosted the open mic at the Sunset Grill. It went well enough, I suppose, but I was on stage the whole night. Susan Kominz was the only other musician to participate, and she doesn't play guitar when she comes out, so I accompanied her. It would certainly be a better open mic with more musicians. But the attendees were happy enough with the performance, and it was a welcome distraction from the dismal Patriots game. (My Saints had a good day against Oakland though.)

I'd wanted to attend the singer/songwriter night at Lago (they've moved to Mondays now), but I have to meet my friend Mike at the studio instead. He's going to move his band in there, and we'll split time/costs. Since I can't use the place full-time right now anyway, it works well for me.

A quick note.

So yeah, I didn't post anything yesterday. The streak is over. I had too much going on, and I'll tell you all about it as soon as I can. But all I have time for right now is a brief recap:

I played a party in Warner with (Who Are The) Brain Police, I stopped in at Music For A Song and got some pics of my CD on the shelf, and I played a solo show at the William Tell.

Right now I'm getting the family ready to take a trip to the Sandwich Fair. And tonight I'll be hosting the open mic at the Sunset Grill. Busy little weekend. And it's not a long weekend for me; the day job is busy this time of year, so I've got to work on Monday.

Anyway, details and photos to follow.

Live at Lago.

The singer/songwriter show at Lago was just posted, and it sounds pretty good. You can stream (and/or download) the entire show at the Live at Lago podcast site. I played a few songs I don't normally perform live. Big Disco came out particularly nice. Also, Doug Thompson (from the band Worfield Circle) did a great set, and it was really nice to hear some of those songs performed live, having driven around for years listening to their CD. His music has a tasteful complexity that I try my best to put in my own songs. Maury Stauffer does a really cool song of distant family origin about the bobolinks in the corn, and Linden Mazurka runs the show and sounds amazing as usual.

Singer/songwriter night at Lago is moving to Mondays starting next week. I intend to be there for as many as I can manage. I will be the feature performer again in early December. Looking through the podcast history, I see several artists (Lisa Doscher, Audrey Drake, Eric Erskine, etc.) who have impressed me in the past. They've got a good thing going on over there.

Song Fight.

I've been kicking around an idea for this week's Song Fight, but I don't know if I'll get it finished in time. The title is 'In The Tank', and it's just begging for a good drinking anthem. And it's been way too long since I was in a fight. I'm not even sure I've done one since I got my tattoo, and that was St. Patrick's Day. Wow.

Last night I checked in at Hong Kong Garden in Plymouth. I think (Who Are The) Brain Police are gonna do a show there soon. The stage is kind of small, but other than that it looks like it's worth a try.

Humpday.

I finally ripped down a few tracks from the Cancer Walk show the trio played on September 20. You can hear 'em right here.

Last night's show at Lago went well, I thought. I'll be the feature performer again in early December, and I'll probably attend most of the shows between now and then. They're moving to Mondays starting next week.

Tonight I'm following up on a couple leads, and trying to get enough sleep to nip this oncoming cold in the bud.

Many hats.

I practiced with (Who Are The) Brain Police last night. It had been a few weeks. We've got an afternoon show this Saturday, playing a house/yard/keg party at Warner Old Home Day. This band is so much fun for me; I get to play my electric guitar and sing stuff by Primus, Toadies, Stone Temple Pilots, AC/DC, and like that.

Immediately after that show I'll be headed up to The William Tell to play my regularly scheduled piano bar gig. That one starts at 6pm.

Tonight though, I'm the featured performer at Lago's singer/songwriter night. I get to do a full set of original stuff. I'm wearing a few different hats these days, but that's what you've got to do if you're going to stay busy as a musician up here. Maybe that's how it is everywhere, I don't know. I haven't been everywhere yet.

Kathryn was at my William Tell show a month or so ago, and she drew this picture and gave it to me. Awesome.

Sunset Grill.

Last night's open mic was an interesting one. I was pretty concerned about how good-natured the crowd at the Sunset Grill would be, since they'd probably want to listen to the Red Sox game instead. It actually ended up being a really good night. There were not many other musicians, so I played a lot. It was very well-received. I did Sweet Caroline a couple times, of course, and I even threw Dirty Water in there as the game crept into extra innings. I don't have a show tonight, so I won't be competing with Jon Lester trying to close out the series.

Today I'm putting together a rough set list for tomorrow's show at Lago. It's the singer/songwriter open mic, and I'm the featured artist. Linden Mazurka (the host) will go on at 8:30 and play a few songs, and then I get a generous time slot. The venue features strictly original music, and isn't that a breath of fresh air. I don't get to do many shows like this. After my set, the stage opens to any other musicians who want to take a turn, so if you're inclined, bring your guitar and play!

Special guests.

I was able to invite a couple musician friends to the stage last night at Shooter's. I met Don Watson (pictured) earlier this week at Lago, and he came out to my show, so I handed him the guitar and took a break for a few songs. The guy's good. I won't be surprised to see him playing there again. I got a copy of his CD, but I haven't listened to it yet. What I've heard on his web site (and in person) has a real nice Jim Croce style to it.

My old friend Jon Gellert came by too, and I got him to sing a couple songs with me. I hope to get him into the studio sometime soon, 'cause he's got a great voice.

I think I'm going back to the open mic at Giuseppe's tonight. I really want to give that digital grand piano another shot. The breadsticks are pretty damn good too.

UPDATE: Guess I'm not going to Giuseppe's tonight after all. I just got a call to host the open mic at The Sunset Grill tonight (and next Sunday) right here in Campton. My breadstick fix will have to wait. Come out to the Grill, listen to some music, and watch the Sox win game 3!

Saturday.

This morning I reacquainted myself with an old favorite Saturday morning activity: watching cartoons. The boys and I hunkered on the couch and they had waffles (I had a bagel) and we watched some Spongebob. I'd have preferred Looney Tunes myself, but any port in a storm, y'know?

I hardly ever watch TV anymore. I'm online every day, and the computer screen is enough of a time sink, I guess. I get the impression I'm not missing much. We unplugged the cable back in 1998. Wow, ten years. The only thing I really miss is being able to watch the football game (geaux Saints!).

Tonight I'm playing at Shooter's Tavern. Thankfully, the Red Sox are on a travel day. If game 3 of the playoffs was tonight, they'd probably just cancel the show outright. That can be a tough room during a regular-season game. I wouldn't mees with that crowd during the playoffs. Anyway, if you're in the Belmont area, come on out. :)

Permanent Record is in stores.

Well, one store anyway. Yesterday I got the call: the good folks at Music For A Song in Tilton, NH got approval to carry my album Permanent Record. I drove down last night and dropped off a few copies, and now my CD can be purchased in a music store. How 'bout them apples?

I'm working on setting a date to do an in-store set. I'll keep you posted.

As for tonight, I don't have a show. Which is a bit odd for a Friday. I've got a couple projects going in the studio that I'd like to put some time into, but I'm likelier to just try to catch up on some sleep.

Still booking.

I played for that bus tour at The Margate last night. It was kind of a quiet night, but it went well enough. Tonight I'm probably going to stop in at the open mic at The Common Man. It's important to keep going to open mics, to stay connected with other musicians and to hear about opportunities and such.

I've just confirmed a show for No Limitz next month. We'll be at the Elks in Littleton, NH on the 22nd of November. Our last practice went real well; we worked out a lot of new material. I hope that band can start to put a semi-regular schedule together again.

Of course, I'm still looking to fill holes in the schedule, either solo or with one of the bands. If you have (or know of) the need for some live music, drop me a line. Saturdays are mostly taken up already though.

Lago.

I got to attend the open mic at Lago in Meredith last night. It's a nice place, all right; I'd never been there before. Linden (the guy who runs the show) opened with a few songs, and then the featured performer for the evening (Don Watson) took the stage. Nice material from that guy.

I played a short set, and Linden offered me the feature spot next week. Nice! So I'll be there next Tuesday. Come out if you can. And if you can't. keep an eye on the podcast page, 'cause I'll be on there eventually. :)