Bookings.

I want to thank everyone that has offered to help me through the loss of my gear recently. I'm lucky to know so many good souls. I'm also a New Englander, and I have a built-in aversion to taking handouts.

Replacing my gear will run into some money, but I can offset it by booking a few extra shows. So here's a list of dates I have available. If anyone can provide the opportunity for me to work to replace this gear, it would be the kind of help I'd have no problem accepting. :)

Sunday June 13
Sunday June 20
Sunday June 27
Thursday July 1
Friday July 23
Friday August 27
Friday September 10

Live at Camp.

Last Tuesday I played at Camp in Meredith NH. This is one of the songs from the show, an original with lyrics by Stacey Lucas.

By the way, that's the guitar that got stolen over the weekend. Lemme know if you see it around. :)

Stolen gear.

Someone took a bunch of gear from my car last night. I just got back from filing a police report. Here's what I lost:

My guitar. It's an Oscar Schmidt (by Washburn), small scale acoustic electric. In a hard-shell case with CWB and AVL stickers on it.

My wireless headset mic and transmitter. Audio-Tecnica. I just got that thing, too.

A gig bag. All the instrument and mic cables. I found one of the microphones from this bag on the ground next to the car.

I've got a show at The Village Perk today, and with some small purchases and a quick pillage of the basement studio, I think I've put together enough replacement gear to get through. This one stings pretty bad, though. That guitar isn't high-end or anything, but I was real happy with the size and the sound. And that headset mic was definitely helpful with my efforts to be more ergonomically correct.

So, anyway. Gonna pull it together and go play a show. This makes it harder to do what I do, but it doesn't change what I do.

Bike Week 2010.

Laconia Bike Week 2010 is fast approaching, and as always, I'll be playing a few shows in and around the Lakes Region. I generally try to book shows that aren't right in Weirs Beach, because it's very tricky to get gear in and out of there. Here's where I can be found:

Saturday, June 12 - Stix Entertainment Center, Meredith NH. A classic rock gig with No Limitz. In a bowling alley! Badass.

Monday, June 14 - Laconia Harley-Davidson. Another show with No Limitz, starting at 6pm.

Thursday, June 17 - The Country Cow, Campton NH. I've played a Bike Week show at the Cow for the last couple years, and it's always a good time up there.

Friday, June 18 - The Red Blazer, Concord NH. A solo show down in the big city.

Saturday, June 19 - The Black Cat, Laconia NH. When No Limitz plays the Black Cat, it's usually a pretty rowdy time. This gig should be especially so.

I am not a motorcyclist myself (I bruised my epididimus riding a dirt bike back in high school, and that was enough for me to lose my taste for biking). Sometimes I think having a scooter would be fun, but it's just not practical for the touring musician. But Bike Week is always a good time for me, because the crowds are always right into it. So I'm looking forward to this little run of shows.

A week in (and around) Meredith.

My strategy for booking shows is pretty simple: book anything that comes up, as soon as possible. It keeps me busy for sure. And it usually means driving all over Hell and creation. But this week, I'm lucky to have a nice little run of shows right in (and near) Meredith, NH. Here's the list:

Tuesday, May 18, 8:30pm - Camp, Meredith NH. I'm the feature performer at Live at Camp (formerly Live @ Lago), hosted by Linden Mazurka. I'll be performing an entire set of originals. Video and audio from this show will be available later in the week.

Thursday, May 20, 6pm - Giuseppe's, Meredith NH. I'm excited about this one. A 3-hour solo show with a grand piano just waiting for me. Giuseppe's is one of the very first places I played out, and I love going back there. I'm going to try to stream this one live if I can.

Saturday, May 22, 8pm - The Crazy Gringo, Weirs Beach NH. I've got to skip over to the next town for this one. No Limitz is doing the classic rock thing at the restaurant that started my lifelong love affair with nachos.

Sunday, May 23, 1pm - The Village Perk, Meredith NH. Back to town for a midday show at Gregg Grant's coffee shop. This show will likely be watchable online.

Then I've got no shows until the following Sat/Sun, when I play two gigs in Campton. Nice work if you can get it!

Weekend recap.

It was an unusual weekend; I only had one show. I played with No Limitz at Shooter's in Belmont. It was my first test of the new headset mic, and I'm pretty happy with it. Takes a little getting used to, but it'll work well, I think. No Limitz was well-received by the Shooter's crowd. We've got to adjust the setup so we can play smaller venues at an appropriate volume, though. We're finding that we're too loud for a few of the rooms we play.

I spent most of the rest of the weekend with my boys; we went to the Science Center in Holderness, and we stopped at my uncle's birthday party. I also got to start work on the downstairs studio. If I can find a few more hours, I can get that place ready to record again. Hopefully this week.

Rockin' the triple.

Every now and then I do a foolish thing to myself, and it happens just infrequently enough for me to forget just what it puts me through. And it's happening again on July 10. I'm playing a triple.

This one might not be so bad though, since all the shows are in close proximity to one another, and I might only need to set up sound at one of them. Here's where I'll be:

Squam Lakes Arts Festival, Ashland NH - this is an all-day event with a lot of great local musicians performing (among them, The Crunchy Western Boys and Audrey Drake). I'll be playing a one-hour set at 2pm, and it'll be mostly original material.

Veggie Art Girl Boutique, Holderness NH - Stacey Lucas is having her summer open house at the boutique, and there will be several performers here as well. Not sure what my time slot is yet, but I'll be there all day (except for the hour I'm in Ashland).

Shooter's Tavern & Pizzaria, Belmont NH - I've got a night show here, and it's a Saturday, which means it will probably be a duo show. Matt Langley is the likeliest co-conspirator, but I've got to confirm that.

It will be frantic and exhausting, and I'd do it every day if I could.

A pain in the neck.

I've been going to Physical Therapy a couple times a week, to try and get some back/neck pain straightened out. I think my posture at my shows is a large part of the problem. I lean over the keyboard (with a guitar in my lap) to sing into a mic for 3+ hours a show.

Recently my mic stand got damaged, and I was going to order a new one, and then I thought maybe I could use the opportunity to improve my setup. So instead, I've ordered a wireless headset microphone. It should arrive today, and if it's not too complicated to use, I might have it in place for tonight's show.

Tonight's show, by the way, is at Shooter's Tavern and Pizzaria in Belmont NH with classic rockers No Limitz. It should be a good one. This band will be a good fit for that room. The show starts at 8:30pm. Come on out if you can for pizza and music, and to laugh at my new Madonna headset. :)

Summer Schedule Part II.

The shows keep rolling in, and I'm almost completely booked up for the summer. Here are a few more rooms in which I can be found:



Giuseppe's Pizzeria & Ristorante, Meredith NH - Very musical, very Italian, & very good. This is one of the first rooms I ever played, back when I was a piano-only mohawked ruffian. It's really nice to be playing a few solo shows here. I'll be doing one Thursday night each month this summer.

Weirs Beach Lobster Pound, Weirs Beach NH - my first season up on the deck, playing outdoors for the Weirs Beach crowd. I'll be doing a couple Thursday shows there as well.

Walter's Basin, Holderness NH - Thursdays are pretty busy for me this year, I guess. Walter's Basin is a great spot right on Squam Lake, and shows in their lounge (The Basshole (yeah, that's right)) are always fun.

Check the show schedule at http://www.jimtyrrell.net/ for all the details. Hope to see you!