Shooter's.

I know I mentioned it in my last post, but just a reminder: tonight I'm at Shooter's Tavern in Belmont, and it's gonna be a low-key no-cover way to ring in the new. C'mon out if you're around! And if I don't see you, Happy New Year! I won't be raising a glass at midnight, 'cause I'm working. But my first order of business in '09 will be to drive home, crack open a barley wine, and get caught up.

A new year.

Here comes 2009 whether you like it or not. Personally, I don't mind. '08 was a good constructive year, I suppose. It certainly had it's share of difficulties. I've got a good feeling about this next year though.

And it starts with a little run of shows, which always lightens my disposition. On New Year's Eve I'm playing a solo show at Shooter's Tavern and Pizzaria in Belmont. If you're looking for a nice low-key place to ring in the new year where you don't have to pay a cover or buy a button or stand outside, then you should come out to the bar with me.

New Year's Day is a solo show at The Country Cow in Campton. I was just there last night, actually; they've started a Monday open mic. I like that room. Still my favorite buffalo chicken.

On January 2nd, I'll be doing an afternoon show at the Cranmore ski area over in North Conway. I played for them a few times last season and it was always a blast.

Saturday 1/3 is a double: I'm back at the Masonic lodge in Holderness in the afternoon, and then it's off to the William Tell in Thornton for my early evening show.

I wish every week was like this. It's tough to stay consistently busy here in NH. It's probably the same was in most places, I guess. But the January schedule looks pretty good. I'm still open on Friday the 9th though. Anyone need a musician?

The show (and the snow) goes on.

I played at Tallulah's on Sunday. It's one of the bars at the Ragged Mountain ski area. The commute was horrible, but I've never heard of a ski area gig being cancelled due to snow, so I left good and early and got there in time to set up and let fly. It was a good show, but a bit short; by 4:15 the place had pretty much cleared out. My buddy Bob came out to ski (and to watch the show), and he did me the favor of taking a picture of one of the schedule posters. It's nice to see my name on so many posters, even if they spelled it all wrong. It's a weird name, and it's rarely spelled correctly (Tyrrell). But this one was laughably bad.

Double booked.

I won't be at the Country Cow as previously scheduled for this evening; it seems they double-booked the night. These things happen. The band Country Express is playing instead, and they're pretty good at what they do. The bass player is Steve Ainsworth, who plays in No Limitz (my classic rock cover band).

Having the night off frees me up to go out with the boys from (Who Are The) Brain Police. We'll be checking out some venues in central/southern NH tonight.

In other news, I've got a loop pedal coming in the mail today. If I can get the hang of using it, I'll have it out at this Saturday's show at the William Tell. I got to play with Chris Downing's Line 6 pedal for a couple weeks, and it was a lot of fun. The one I ordered is a Digitech, and it looks like it'll work pretty much the same way.

Monday at Lago.

The podcast of last Monday's show at Lago can be found right here. It was a sloppy set, but it was fun. And I did a couple songs I don't normally play live.

I'm hoping to make it to tonight's show as well, but I've got a Christmas concert and a company party to attend as well. We'll see how much I can fit in.

A grand opening.

Tonight I'm playing a two-hour set at the brand-spankin' new location of VeggieArtGirl and Taylor Made Graphics. It's... well, check out the snappy ad. It tells you everything you need to know. :)

In other news, there's been no heat and no power at the studio for the better part of a week. Grr. I've got a couple recording projects I want to get going. Hopefully that gets fixed soon. I can keep my equipment in an unheated garage for free, after all.

In other other news, the New Orleans Saints are playing tonight, and if they lose to Chicago, their playoff chances will drop from 'very slim' to 'none at all'. Geaux Saints! I'd watch the game if it wasn't exclusive to the NFL Network. Grr again.

Back to Lago.

All month I tried to get back to Lago for their singer/songwriter night. They've moved to Mondays since I was there last, and it seems something has come up every Monday. Well tonight I'm the featured performer, so I'll be there for sure. I just didn't want to be that guy who shows up for the feature and then doesn't come around on the other nights. Hopefully I'll get down there for at least one more Monday this month. It really is a great venue, and the original music to be heard there is always good.

In other news, we went to Funspot over the weekend. I played (and got the high score on) the Donkey Kong machine that Steve Wiebe set the world record on. I only got 14k, but it was enough for 1st place. (They've obviously reset the machine since Mr. Wiebe's million-point effort.) There's a documentary about the record called The King Of Kong, and it was pretty entertaining. You can rent it (or stream it) from Netflix.

Been a while.

Suffice it to say things have been a little busy lately. And they're going to continue to be busy, but at least now I'm busy playing shows. Tomorrow night (Friday) I'm at Shooter's Tavern in Belmont, and on Saturday I get to start back up at The William Tell in Thornton.

In other news, I got to do some sledding with the family over the weekend, and we got the photo for this year's holiday card. Shannon had the best bail of the day: a full flip out of the inner tube. He talked about it all day. Awesome.