May 2010

Summer's come early and no one around here is complaining. It was a fine Spring. Erica and I took a bit of a break from housebuilding to play some music and visit and be a little more ourselves. As evidence here is a blog from my dear drumming friend in Ann Arbor, John Churchville.

also I post a video of Erica and I joining a lovely group who came through Marquette at the beginning of May. Hey this is the same song I posted last time. What a rip-off.

January 2010

I'm going whole hog on the house project these days. We hope to be moving in in the Summer or Fall. You can check it out at ourhouseonthecreek.blogspot.com. So not much new is happening as far as music goes. I'm enjoying my Tuesday nights at Harley's and Wednesdays at the Wild Rover. Here's a song from an interview I had with Sensitive E at UGN News. You'll have to hit the pause button on the bottom of the page to prevent an aural collision.

September 2009

The air has remained mild this month, and the leaves have yet to change color, but the gathering geese and sinking sun are unmistakable signs that it's going to be getting very cold soon. For me this temporarily shortens my house building to-do list, leaving only those things which can't be done once we get below freezing. Agendum #1 is building a chimney.

Music has been happy lately. I've been writing a few songs and learning some new things. My sister-in-law asked me to play classical guitar at her wedding. It was great to be challenged to do something a little different.

I have been interviewed by several people in the local media lately. About a month ago I had the thought that some publicity would be good and I said it out loud, so I guess that was enough of a wish to open the flow of newspeople.

Here are some links to some of those stories:

UGN-TV

The Mining Journal

TV6

August 2009

The house is coming along well. There are still a thousand things to do though. This Summer has been cooler than average. I remember one like this when I was in high school and how let down I was to have so few days which were hot enough to swing on the rope swing into the cold river. Now that I'm old and practical I couldn't be more pleased. At least this year with all of its labor.

May 2009

Spring building season is here and we're going full tilt building our house and studio. It looks like we'll have the place closed in in time to keep bugs out during the thick of bug season. For photos and more about our house check out our blog at ourhouseonthecreek.blogspot.com.

We plan to have music and feasting out there on Saturday nights.

I'll be playing at Harley's lounge all Summer on Tuesdays and occasionally at Hudson's on Fridays.

Cheers!

March 2009

Hello. I'm back to maintaining this blog after a few months off. Once we got started building our house, I became pretty much consumed with the race to get a roof on before the snow. We didn't exactly come in first place, but we won a roof just the same. So this Winter has been about catching up for me. Catching up as a father and husband, catching up with bills and vision of things beyond our little circle as it relates to this one project.

My musical life has been breathing slowly and smiling thanks to my children for whom lullabye time has become essential, and thanks to the Taco Tuesday people at Harley's Lounge. Having a weekly spot there keeps some balance in my life and I am grateful.

This past weekend I was able to play in Ann Arbor at the Old Town Tavern. There was a great crowd there, and I was joined by my old friend John Churchville for half the show. I forgot to take a break it was such a nice time. John got me thinking about recording. I have a few CD ideas in fetus stage, but clear details about them are hard to see this morning. The snow is starting to really melt today as last night it didn't freeze and it must be 50º already. We have at least six months of solid work to do on our house before we can move in. So I'll be spending the bulk of my time there for this year and after that we'll see.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

September 2008

The big news for me this month is that our house building is finally underway. The plans for it have been slow-cooking for about ten years. And at last at the beginning of the month we had our drawings approved by the county, meaning the time for debating details is over mostly, at least for a few months. The drawings and other images are posted at ourhouseonthecreek.blogspot.com. If you are in the area and have a free day, we would love to have you out to lift a brick or two.

Other than that, Erica and I are looking forward to October 18th when we are double-booked in our little town. First, opening a show featuring a great singer-songwriter who is passing through the UP namedEllis Paul. Then we get to perform at the Library to support the local watershed defenders called the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve. Frontier Ruckus follows us there.

I guess I haven't yet used this website to say anything about the threat to our water up here. A multinational mining company has received most of the needed permission to mine for a caustic ore in an extremely bio-sensitive area. The ore body lies directly under the Salmon Trout river, home to the last native Lake Superior coaster brook trout population in the US! They have made a mining plan which looks good in an obtuse hold-your-breath-and-look-at-the-money sort of way and is pretty sure to fail catastrophically. You can help. SavethewildUP.org is the best place I know to go to learn more.

We spent last weekend at my cousin's wedding on a farm outside Ann Arbor. Hurricane Ike gave us all more water than we could have easily imagined. It ran through the big tent in a stream under our feet and served to keep us all in close to each other, without the luxury and pretense of fancy dress. The music was alive. During the ceremony, between sunset and moonrise, the rain came down as hard as ever. I got to see it from under a tent crammed with brilliant musicians. Brian Delaney, the brother of the groom, and I had the opportunity to play Moon River for the bride and groom later in the night. Magical.

August 2008

Thanks to Obadiah Metivier ofMiddle Ear Mediafor helping me set this site up, and for teaching me how to update it.

Summer feels so good right about now. The water is warm enough to swim in everyday. I've been asked to sing for a few weddings this month. It's an honor to take part in a ceremony so important to people, when we are at our best: celebrating love. I wish there was a ceremony that would celebrate love for people going through divorce. Part of the reason divorce is so hard for us is that no one even really talks about it in the open. Imagine how difficult the first years of marriage would be if people were unwilling to freely admit it happened! I picture a ceremony where the divorcing couple meet on an altar somewhere and light their own new candles off of one in the middle. They could make vows to honor each other in their new life apart, and then walk away in opposite directions. Everyone cries and laughs and hugs each other and the couple entering their new phase. Appropriate gifts would be matching pairs of things like cups or candlesticks, to honor whatever it was that was there.

Our house-building project feels like it just got its fuse lit. I stopped working at my "day job" as a care giver for disabled adults and nearly have the plans finished. We are planning a building party for the weekend of Labor Day, but any time anyone wants to come see what we're doing just come out or send me a note. I can send directions.

June 2008

Hello and welcome to my new site. Try it out, look around and let me know what you think. I'm just getting back to town after a week and a half trip with the family to visit and play music. We spent last weekend in Ann Arbor. I had the chance to play a couple shows there with the band who helped me record my CD "Let it Go." Friday night we shared a bill withTimothy Mongerin an underground fruit cellar that was turned into a speakeasy during prohibition. A house was built on top of the cellar and now it fits right in with the other houses on the street. Saturday at the Crazy Wisdom Tea Room we were able to really play. Rob Crozierjoined us on bass and it hit that happening place you get to when you play with old friends who are awesome musicians. The next afternoon John and I joined the house band for a live music radio show calledRadio Free Bacon.They have an archive of past shows if you'd like to hear that.

Last Saturday I played at the Falling Rock Cafe in Munising. They have a great space and a welcoming community of musicians and music lovers who come there for Saturday shows.

Taco Tuesdays have been good to me. The big news there is that Adam Robarge has just left to tend bar elsewhere. He put a lot of effort into making that place a creative music venue and we'll miss him.

Summer's here now in the UP and so I'm going to be working on our house everyday until Christmas. I do plan to take Sundays off and then there's Hiawathafest and a few weddings to keep me from getting too serious.

Peace