a few random bits

Yesterday and today have been wonderful days off. I was needing them pretty badly. I was getting worn out. A few of us did a little Square Peg fundraiser last night for a low-income couseling service in Franklin, TN. It was fun, though I doubt we really helped them that much. Here are just a few of the things that I've been thinking recently:

"Ella, it's not even daylight yet"

Eric Peters is like the quiet ninja who busts out at the last minute and kills all the other ninjas. He's great.

My friend, and neighbor, Kenny is in the hospital right now. This happens often, but this one sounds bad. I'm going to visit him after lunch. Please pray.

Upon Randall's suggestion, I just put in a library request for a book titled Why You Can't Be Anything You Want To Be which I'm really excited to read.

Ella and I went to Target today and on the way home we stopped to look at some baby cows. That's right, we pass cows on the way to Target. I love this city. She just learned the baby sign language for "more" and has been walking around saying "moo" and signing for "more". She loved those cows.

Alison and I are really digging the show Studio 60.

Favorite Billy Cerveny quote from last night: "death is a sign of weakness."

Alison just got home with the groceries, I'm going to help her bring them in. Later.

taking the day off

It's not necessarily worth leaving for, but coming back home is great. I'm going to turn the computer off tonight and all day tomorrow and spend the time with my family, so I'll be back tomorrow night at the earliest.

I just want to say a quick thanks to everybody who came to the shows this weekend, and especially Tony and his buddies for all their hard work. I think Caedmon's is having the most fun playing live since I've joined the band, and I hope you all felt it. Have a great Tuesday and I'll see you soon.

home sweet hotel

I sang a song last night that I wrote eight years ago. It has a line in it that goes: "someday I won't wake up to find myself lying in another cold and lonely hotel bed." Well, I did this morning. And it wasn't that bad.

Truth is, I've grown to really love hotels. In a job where you spend every waking minute somewhere new, around people you don't know (even though they're usually great people) the hotel has become a familiar place.

Nine times out of ten, it's the same set-up. Open the door, see if we're going left or right tonight, pass the bathroom/closet area, see two beds with a night-stand in between, and finally, what really ties the room together, the little HBO scheduling pamphlet. That's like a family photo for the hotel world. "Walk the Line" is on the cover here in Washington, just like it was the night before in Dallas.

Anyway, I had a great day yesterday up here in beautiful, and I mean gorgeous, Washington state. The show was one of those ten-minutes-to-go-and-no-one's-here terrors that ends up all of a sudden becoming a warm and welcoming crowd. I had a blast, telling stories and singing songs. Thanks to all of you who came to hang out.

The guy who promoted this show is a frequent AndyLander, under the name of TK, for Tony Kevin. The man with two first names. He and his brother, Kramer, picked me up and put this thing on and in about ten minutes they, and a buddy, will pick me up in their dad's Grand Cherokee to drive me to Portland to play the last Caedmon's show of this weekend. I've got the ipod charged up to teach Tony why Bruce Springsteen is the most underrated folk singer alive and I think we'll have a good time. See you in Portland!

somewhere in Ft. Worth

I got up early today today, finished packing, then played with Ells for a bit before she and Alison drove me to the airport. Ella's in a big Daddy phase right now, which is absolutely amazing, but it made it very hard for me to leave, and according to Alison, hard on Ella, too. No fun. They had a play date, though, and a good nap, so hopefully that helped.

I traveled for a looong time today. Flight to Houston, layover, flight to Dallas, but bad weather added an hour to each flight. 9 to 4 on airplanes. Ouch. Thank God for the video iPod. Seriously. I watched a movie, a Family Guy, a little bit of Keith Urban live (dude can play guitar) and the first episode of that new show "heroes" which was pretty lame. Last night's LOST wasn't on itunes by the time I had to leave, and I missed the Office tonight as well, so don't leave anything on here to give it away until I let you know they've been purchased, viewed and enjoyed.

A few months ago I started working with a small management company down here in Dallas, to help me get some things organized and make a few new things happen. Paul is my main manager, and we got to hang out today the most we ever have. It was fun. He's an interesting and inspiring guy. We ate a Chipotle and I swear he knew every other person that walked in the door, and they didn't charge him for his food either. Apparently, come to find out later. he cleaned their windows for two years in exchange for unlimited free burritos. Smart guy. Glad he's in my corner.

Tonight I played a set at a church here in Ft. Worth. I haven't really played around here much so I didn't expect a lot to happen crowd-wise, but I was pleasantly surprised. The room was nice and full and people seemed to get into the tunes. Frequent AndyLander Elijah drove all the way from College Station. That was awesome. Thanks man, I hope it was worth your drive.

I'm staying tonight at the house of the parents of another band Paul manages. They're called Green River Ordinance and they're pretty dang good. Straight up pop-rock and cool hair. A couple of them came out to catch my show tonight as well, which was very nice.

Well, I'm REALLY excited about getting to sleep in, so I'm going to go. Thanks to all of you who came out tonight, and who stayed late to chat. Looking forward to seeing a good crew tomorrow at the Caedmon's show in Dallas.

leavin' on a(nother) Jet Plane

Hey there, sorry I've been a lackluster blogging phenom this week. I'm about to pack a bag while watching tonight's tape of LOST and then head to bed. I leave in the morning for this week's run of shows.

I've written about before, so I won't go into detail, but the day before I leave is always the hardest. Trying to cram in time with Ella (who doesn't realize what's going on) and Alison (who does) along with getting projects finished up and packing and all, is just crazy.

We had our neighborhood fellowship tonight, which was wonderful as always, and I had a guitar session all day at Sputnik. I got about two hours with Ells before putting her down and heading out for our group, so that was great.

Anyway, I'll have a LOT of time this weekend on airplanes and in vans and waiting through soundchecks, so I should be able to catch up then. Thanks, and I hope to see you this weekend!

Oh, and two other things, a few of you have written me about the details of the Dallas Caedmon's show and my site being different. Theirs is right, I'm sure, so let's go by that. If you get there three hours early and I was wrong, I'll sneak you into catering and play you a couple extra tunes before the show to make up for it. So it's a no-lose...

Second, my very pregnant (and cute) wife will have a lot on her hands with our 19-month old while it's just the two of them for five days. Alison has been instructed to get a lot of rest, but that's hard to come by around here. If you could pray for them and their time, (and if you're a friend or neighbor who reads this and wants to be an answer to that prayer) we would be very grateful and appreciative. Thanks.