Tour Date Etiquette

I was on ichat with my friend Austin a few minutes ago and I wanted to use a word. The word that means what you can and and can't say, and also means how to be polite. I wrote "eticate" but I knew that wasn't right. Then I wrote "edicate", then "etticate", "etticite" and I almost had a panic attack.

THANK GOD FOR THE INTERNET.

I googled "edicate" and it said "Did you mean etiquette?"

"YES!" was my quite verbal reply.

Ok, now that I've shared that little moment of heart-stopping terror with you I should say that if you're in Nashville and you're not going to be watching the season premiere of Lost tomorrow night, you should come see me play.

I'm playing at a place called The Covenant School, which is a private Christian school. I met Danny, one of the teachers there, at a show here in town and he has been telling me about his vision for teaching the parents of his students about art and Jesus and the idea that everything is sacred. It's pretty invigorating talking to this guy.

So he asked me to come and sing songs and tell stories at a fundraiser for their school. There's also an art show at this event, featuring local artists like these (1, 2, 3). He's asked some of these artists to do pieces based on my songs and apparently there will be some of them there. Needless to say, I'm pretty excited to see them.

So, yeah, I'd love it if we could have a good audience for him and his vision.

Also, I've updated the tour dates as of this morning. There are some special events coming up here in Nashville in mid-to-late February that you need to check out.

(If you're reading this on MySpace, some of the tour dates aren't showing up because Tom won't stop giving me errors on the March 2 and Feb 7 shows.)

PhotoShop has a steep learning curve

Well, a big, fat thanks to all of you who chipped in with suggestions for songs for the sampler, who voted for t-shirts (and submitted them) and who've inquired about helping to fund the free EP. I can't say how honored I am by you guys. It's pretty inspiring, to know that somebody out there cares. I'll stop gushing, but dang, you rule.

After five years with touring as a part of Caedmon's I'm finally getting my own little section of the show, officially. I'll get to use the band to back me up, so I'll be doing my songs within their set. This often happens last minute for me to do one or two tunes, but I'll probably do three and get to play them full-band. That's exciting for me.

Actually, though what's more exciting is that I'll be able to bring out my own merchandise. This is something I've never done before. Hence the need for a t-shirt design. I'll have those shirts, some coffee mugs, and a bushel of CD's available. I'm also getting the hang of PhotoShop after this week. I'll figure out a way to make that stuff all available online as well. It's going to be fun.

Tomorrow I'm going to go over and play a few new Avalon guitars, an acoustic guitar company I really love and endorse. They're going to help us out with a new guitar or two for the tour, so I get to go play a bunch and pick them out. Even though I probably won't be the one using them, it will be fun. I kind of have a thing for guitars.

Todd and I had lunch today at this interesting Cajun/Uruguayan restaurant. Yeah, you read that right. I don't know how he finds these places, but he does. It was good, but I felt a little, um, different, for a good couple of hours afterwards.

Todd's beard is looking super awesome right now, as well, I'll have you know.

Need your input

Ok, so I'm printing up versions of the Letters EP to give away on the upcoming Caedmon's tour. I want to add a pair of songs from each of my full-length albums after the EP, as a bit of a sampler. I've got these picked so far:

After the Garden (The Morning)
Kara (Photographs)
New Mexico - Bonus Version (Photographs Remastered)
Early in the Morning (The Morning)

It's not feeling quite right. "After the Garden" seems too much after "Swing Wide" and the other three are all spacious, atmospheric numbers. Which I tend to love the most. Any better ideas? I've got three or four hours tops, so if you have an idea leave it as a comment quickly! Thanks!!!

(By the way, in a few days I'll have a page up where folks can help both chip in financially to give these away and also request some for themselves to give out. If anybody has any suggestions for setting that stuff up, I've got ideas but, again, don't feel they're quite right. Rock!!!)

Shazam!

Well, I think there were a couple winners in the t-shirt contest. Numbers 1 and 6 seemed to take the cake, and will be printed up shortly. Thanks for sending them in and for voting!

Just think: Very soon you will be able to own your very own piece of interWeb-inspired soft, cotton-y, wearable goodness, all thanks to you and your hard work checking in here every couple of days.

So I've been working like mad on a secret project this week. And it's been fun. I wish I could tell you how fun, but then it wouldn't be a secret and XXXX would kick me XXX XX XXX XXXX and then I'd never get to tell you about XXX XXXXX and XXX XXXXXXX XXXX XXX. But soon, and very soon, I promise you. And I think you'll like it. Especially X XXXXX XXXX XX XX XXX. (and XXXX XX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXX.)

(Note: The previous paragraph has been monitored and edited, to keep you safe, by XXXX and XXXX. Our apologies.)

Today I got to do something wonderful. The illustrious Ben Shive came to the studio, and old pal Cason came by a bit later, and I got to play guitar on some of Ben's songs. I've told you, and him, for years that his record will be my favorite record of the year, whatever year it actually gets finished in. I feel like I practice and work and do all the things that aren't fun so that I get to spend a few days a year working on music this good. It is all worth it.

I pretty much only played through the Leslie today, too, which was super fun. (For those of you who don't know, the Leslie is the rotating speaker you usually hear an organ through.) There are a lot of pedals and computer plug-ins that simulate this sound, but at Sputnik today we fired up the real one, Coles ribbon mics in stereo on the low horn and a Korby FET on the top and: Shazam! What a glorious sound.

Enough nerd talk.

Actually, enough talk of any sort. I have to go pick up dinner. See you later.

Cool! I get to vote in a T-shirt contest!!

Many choices were given to me, seven are being passed on to you. Leave it as a comment, what's your favorite? I have a couple I particularly like, but again, I'm leaving it up to you. Let the voting begin...

Option 1


Option 2


Option 3


Option 4


Option 5


Option 6


Option 7


Thanks to everybody who sent your ideas in. And if you think have something great, still send it in, we may be able to pick some more a little later. Here we go!