Sometimes I make playlists.

I guess I stole the idea from my brother maybe or someone but either way I used to make weekly playlists of music I'm really into at the time. I guess I could do the same for months and years or any measurement of time that's not a parsec because that's actually a measurement of distance thank you Gorge Lucas. So here are a couple playlists of the last couple weeks


Playlist Sunday 9/22
Watch'at Breakdown, by Chris Thile
Velouria, by The Bad Plus
Golliwogg's Cake-Walk, by Debussy
Chasin' the Trane, by John Coltrane
Peace, by Ornette Coleman
Naima, by John Coltrane
Impossible Germany, by Wilco
Epistrophy, by Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane
Childs Play, by Edgar Meyer, Mike Marshall, and Bela Fleck
(Manifest), by The Weakerthans


Playlist Monday 9/29
I'm not Sayin', by Norman Blake and Tony Rice
Lawra, by V.S.O.P the Quintet
Sherpa, by The Flecktones
Carter Country, by Jason Carter
All Blues, by Miles Davis
Latitude, by The Flecktones
New Chance Blues, by Norman Blake and Tony Rice
Freddie Freeloader, by Miles Davis
I Could Find a Way, by Jason Carter


"I Could Find a Way" is such a good ender! Other than making this list I was fortunate enough to go to the Austin City Limits music festival for the first time ever today. I had an outstanding time seeing the Sparrow Quartet and Gillian Welch and many others. Other than that though I'm going to say that ACL all in all is not the most enjoyable festival I've been too. Personally I've never been a fan of big shows and this is definatly the bigest festival I've been too. There were too many giant stages with lots of sound bleeding from one stage to the next. I'm not going to complain about the heat cause I'm used to that but I will say the dust was pretty bad. But thats not too uncommon for a festival. I guess I mostly just didn't like how big it was and I also wasn't too thrilled about the line-up. But I did only attend one day and this is how I feel.
Thats all I've got to say about that right now. My body and mind needs rest.

Experiments not on animals.

Today while at the St. Louis zoo I fell into a deep trance while watching the lion tailed Lemar's. Much like a trance described by Tom Robbins. These majestic creature are very inspiring. And as sad as it is to see them behind a thick glass window in a very small room made of fake plastic trees it was very inspiring to get to see them up close.

So far the road has been nice. I've been able to enjoy a lot. Some moments that feel so clear. This is not usual because normally when I'm on tour feel dragged down a good portion of the time. For some reason lounging in a comfy van only to be taken in by generous people and put up in they're homes is incredibly exhausting. Some of this loss of energy is definitely due to playing shows. But I'm trying to change some of my thought patterns and train myself to conserve and better use my energy.

The tour has been very eventful. So far the people at Finnegan's Wake have aided me in drinking tell I get happy and then sick. I pattern I had never experienced in this lifetime but definetly felt a little familiar and not the most joyful experience. Our shows have been decent. The clubs have all taken care of us and the crowds have not been interactive but seemed to enjoy the music. Thankfully this tour is more of a constant build up and after hanging out in St. Louis for a couple days I'm very confident that our show is going to be a great time on Saturday. St. Louis is beautiful, I had no idea. Right now I'm going to watch a little four rooms and then get some sleep. Good night.

P.S. Free sushi at the drunken fish. Better than butter. Can you believe it?

What is contra dancing? Like the video gam e?

Old Settlers was ridic!!! I'm bout to bounce on out to Louisiana and through Missouri on our way up to Chicago and back with the band. I honestly wasn't feeling ready to go but now I'm pretty stoked. So far we are waiting on Dave which is not unexpected. We've actually decided to make a waiting on Dave log. Anyway I don't have much to say and I'm very distracted. I'm also officially moving out of the Hippie Mansion II :( but I'll be back to visit. I'll try and post more too.

I got my Telluride ticket. I'll post if I end up not needing it, but I'm stoked. Hot Rize and Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers. I've been playing all the time as usual. Me and Raina played a beautiful wedding last week followed by an eventful show at Enchanted Forest. The power went out twice during the set. We just walked right out on the dance floor and played acoustic while they got the power back up and running. It was the highlight of the show. South by Southwest has officially started and tomorrow morning I'm going to try and get into Throw Down Your Heart the movie Bela filmed about his trip to Africa. Hopefully we will suceed and the show won't be sold out. This is all I've got for now. I'll post more later.

Its Decided

I purchased the new Punch Brothers album and I've been completely obsessed with the piece "The Blind Leaving the Blind". The first string of notes may come unexpectedly implanting the notes of a major theme of the first movement into your subconscious. The piece is an exciting journey of a song going over hurtles and at times breaking your heart with a beautiful arrangement of tension and dissonance all the while a subtle lullaby is holding the piece together bringing tears to your eyes when it triumphantly leaps out of the background right into the center of the listeners mind. Creating a deep almost meditative focus on the moment. The first movement is so involved keeping you locked in trying to keep up. The song feels more like five minutes than just over twelve. The song is constantly shifting shape seamlessly changing meter and rhythm.

I've been listening to this piece almost daily usually twice a day. It really is just beautiful and inspiring. Still though I have not come out with any ideas for songs. I've been putting most of my practice time to writing, I think I should set a deadline for myself just so I can get something down. Even if its not the best. I might just need to get one song out to open up the passage of many more.

On another note we finally finished the final mix of our album and are sending them to printed. We'll be playing release shows after SXSW throughout Texas up till Old Settlers then we'll go out on a mini-tour for three weeks to get us into gear for this summer. I can't wait for Telluride! I'll also try and write in here more.

P.S. I got that Huber banjo head and it sounds perfect.

You complete me.

Mouth, Words, Floor.

After playing three shows in the span of six hours last night and making very little money my room mate Spen says I am truly a professional musician. Professional or not it'd be nice to make a little money someday. The bands last string of shows have been really great. Our shows have been packed for the most part with fun audiences.

Last night Green Mountain Grass debuted a new song called mouthwords. Its a great song written by Jesse and arranged by the band. So in the past week we've added three new originals to our set and I think everyone will love them. So far we've gotten a great response.

We were given a keg from New Belgium and are talking about working with them in the future. So there a lot of drunk beautiful people running around the house right now. Its great!!

I spill a lot...But really I do

There really isn't very much to say about my day today. Hopi managed to pee in the middle of the kitchen without any of the twelve other people here catching her in the act. But other than that Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was a better movie than I anticipated which I'm not saying it was good, but entertaining almost only if you have read and are into the books.

Mainly I wanted to post a link to the Mike Harding Show where you can listen to Punch Brothers live at the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow. You have to sit through a little talking and two acts: those being Old Blind Dogs and Martin Simpson, before Punch Brothers play. I wont go so far to say that I find either groups bad but by the time the banjo finally starts clucking my heart was racing with excitement. If you are reading this from the future you might have to look at the Mike Harding show archives to find it or else it might no longer be available. I think its worth the time to give it a listen.

So this post lightly expresses my not so fearless opinions but I'm really not in the mood for controversy. On that note, I'm going to go read some news. Gerkin!

Not the best start.

This is my first blog at this domain. Here goes.

Today has not been the best day but I'm going to try not to vent right now. After being incredibly frustrated the last few days I've decided to spend most of my day on the computer. This can sometimes be therapeutic for me. Listing to music on itunes and watching video's on youtube. Its really fantastic, though I could be practicing right now. I find my practice time to be almost a complete waste when I'm feeling like I do today. My mood is gradually changing though with the hope of my girlfriend coming home soon. I've also been watching video's of Stuart Duncan listening to Wes Corbett and listening to John Hartford. And I'm starting to get the feeling that everything is going to be okay.

I just started reading the headlines on Democracy now and I realized that I really haven't been paying much attention to the presidential election. Which I guess isn't unusual due to my pessimistic feelings towards the voting system and government in general. Which thanks to Chomsky is changing (there is hope people, the revolution has already started). But I'm actually interested this time around to keep an eye on what is happening in the debates. I'm about to watch a debate hosted by Democracy now. And maybe later I will practice some. I can sense the future bringing me a Huber head for my banjo which I desperately need. Yay! This is all for now.

Soppin' the Gravy