Shooter's Tavern & Pizzaria.

Tonight I'm back at Shooter's for a solo show. That's an interesting show, because you have to play it two different ways. There's the dinner crowd early, and by the end it's mostly pool players and barstoolers. My set is flexible enough to adjust. Shooter's is the place I'm most likely to get a request for AC/DC or Buck Cherry or something equally ridiculous on an acoustic guitar. I usually don't bring the keyboard at all, as that material is not as relevant to the venue. I'll get my share of piano work tomorrow night at The William Tell in Thornton.

In other news, Rick Clogston was nice enough to write a note about me (and some other local musicians) in his blog. Check it right on out!

Lago.

I'm the feature performer at tonight's singer/songwriter night at Lago in Meredith. I absolutely love these shows, because they only allow original music. How refreshing! Last time I played the feature spot, someone tried to give me 20 bucks to play Margaritaville and I told him I couldn't. Even Linden (the host) said I probably should have taken it. I told him that getting to tell someone I wasn't going to play Margaritaville for once was WORTH $20. Heh.

As both my faithful readers know, the Lago shows are recorded and posted as podcasts later in the week. I'll post the link when it goes up (probably Friday or so). But avoid the wait and come out tonight! Have a glass of wine and listen. I'm in 'drinking songs' mode right now, so expect a heavy dose of those.

The seven barrel brewery.

(Who Are The) Brain Police make their triumphant return to The Seven Barrel Brewery tonight. It's been a while since we've been up there. The photo is (and hopefully it's fairly obvious) from our Halloween show.

If you've never been to the Seven Barrel, this is the perfect night to check the place out. The band is real good; all the guys have it locked down tight. For my part, the material is ridiculously fun to play. We do stuff by AC/DC, Toadies, Primus, Soundgarden, Dead Milkmen... and there's a couple filthy sea shanties thrown in for good measure.

And the beer. I can't even tell you how good the RIP Stout is. I wrote a song about it. I'll be coming home with a growler of that stuff for sure.

And if that weren't enough, it's Straightjacket Jennie's birthday, and she and her crew are going to be partying it up with us! The show starts at 10pm.

In other news, I'm kicking around a possible solo summer tour. That cruise ship deal just didn't add up, but a shorter small-venue tour might work. Details to follow.

In other other news, it's drinking songs time! In February I'm going to try to write another album of drunken singalongs. If you have a good drinking story, and can remember at least half of it, then send it along. :)

Recording, and little else.

I did some work on a few songs for the new album. There are seven tracks I know I want to have on there, and I'd like to come up with 5-7 more to fill the CD out. I'm aiming to have it done by the summer. There's no Weird Al-type gig on the books yet to use as a release date, but we'll see what happens. I'd love to be able to 'support' it with a little tour of coffeehouses on the East Coast.

In other news, I'm still without a vehicle, and it's cramping my style. I should be out looking for shows. The schedule is busy enough for the next couple months, but there's a block of time from St. Pat's to Memorial Day where I didn't book a lot of work. You see, there was the possibility of playing a cruise ship for eight weeks. I was pretty excited at the idea, but in the end, the numbers just didn't work out. Bad timing, that's all. Anyway, now I've got some holes to fill.

This weekend I'm playing a couple shows: Friday I'm with (Who Are The) Brain Police at the Seven Barrel Brewery in West Lebanon, and on Saturday I'll be doing a solo show at The William Tell in Thornton. Actually, I'm at the Tell for the next four Saturdays in a row.

Paul Revere.

Here's a video of the Trio's very first show, which was just over a year ago at Milly's in Manchester. I've been wanting to do some more work with the band, and I got thinking about this particular show. Things came together pretty well that night. Nice, considering we only had maybe two practices before the gig. Anyway, enjoy our take on the Beastie Boys vs. America.




In other news, tonight I'm playing at The William Tell in Thornton. The show is from 6 to 9. Come on out and drink yourself warm!

Live at Lago.

I was at the open mic at Lago in Meredith on Monday night. It was a good one; there was a nice group of singer/songwriters doing original stuff. The podcast of the show just went up, and you can hear it right here.

In other news, it's showtime again! I'm at Shooter's in Belmont tonight. Big props to Mike and Robyn Piper for loaning me one of their cars while mine's in the shop. I've never bought an EGR valve in my life until the TWO I've had to get in the last two months. Grr.

Related note: it's -20 out this morning. And the car Mike and Robyn loaned me just started up like a champ. I'm letting it sit and warm up, but daaaaamn. Old reliable. Thanks again, guys!

Elegy for industry.

The new Song Fight went live last night. The title was Elegy For Industry, and I submitted an entry for it. Having just listened to all the submissions, there's quite a few good songs in there. Go check 'em out!

In other news, the van is in the shop. It keeps stalling. I hope it's nothing too serious, 'cause when I put the last 2 grand into the thing, they told me it'd run 'a good long time'.

The gift of music.

Every year at Song Fight, a bunch of us get together and record cover songs for each other. It's called the Gift Of Music, it's hosted by Soul Tree Records, and the newest batch just went up. I did a version of Gordon Lightfoot's "The Watchman's Gone". Whoever is supposed to be covering a song for me hasn't come through yet, and if I don't hear from them in a week or so, I might just do it myself, because my list of song choices was pretty sweet this year. Anyway, check out the songs right here.

Recording.

There was a flood at the studio, and I'm moving out of it. I've got a recording setup in the basement, and it's working out all right. I actually wrote and recorded a Song Fight entry over the weekend! The fight is due today, and should be posted shortly thereafter. The song title is 'Elegy For Industry'. With a little more time I could have done a lot more with the song, but it was good enough to submit anyway. And boy is it nice to be recording again.

And not a moment too soon. February is coming up fast, and that's the month I write my drinking songs! Anyone with any good drinking stories should send them to me. And anyone with any interest in generating some good drinking stories should set up a time for us to go out drinking.

Weekend recap.

It was a nice busy week. This week is not quite so hectic, which is nice, except that it kind of isn't. As you know by now, I'd rather be playing every night. Anyway, I played New Year's Eve at Shooter's Tavern, and it was a nice low-key affair as advertised. Then on January 1 I did a very well-received solo show at The Country Cow. On the 2nd I played an apres-ski show at Cranmore, where I got to really experiment with the loop pedal. That was fun. Saturday was a double; I played for the Masons in Holderness (see photo), and then did a show at the William Tell in Thornton.

All I've got on the books this week is a Saturday gig, but I'm very excited about it. No Limitz is playing the Stix Entertainment Center in Meredith. I finally get to perform at a bowling alley. A lifelong dream will be realized this weekend.

The Country Cow.

I'm playing at The Country Cow in Campton tonight. This is a short post because I'm typing it on a Wii and it takes forever.