Everyone is willing and able.

Play more.
Think less.
Impressions are not as valuable as inspiration.

I am currently listening to John Coltrane-One Up, One Down.

Customer B221 Defeated

I’m feeling awfully homesick for being homeless. I found myself in Burlington Vermont last week bumming around the coffee shops and parks. Some days were very inspiring either playing styles of music completely unfamiliar to me or spending my days walking in what felt like a painting out at a farmhouse in the country side of VT.
Part of being homeless brings a good deal of free time when you aren’t traveling further on down the road. It gives me time to think about how maybe I would be happier somewhere else. Peaking around the street corner to see what the next avenue has to offer. While in Vermont I was excited to get back home. This time I was referring to Boston as home. Well at least I’m trying to call it home.

But now here I am. Feeling awkward and out of place in the musty city. I’m just a single file ant moving through the veins. Maybe I’m just physically exhausted. Maybe it’s just this day. I’m in a tennis match with the city life. It’s a tough match, and I feel easily defeated. But I’m not ready to quit. It’s only the first match. Tomorrow might go in my favor. Now I know how the Sox must be feeling.

Weekly Playlist
Bruce Springsteen- Darlington County
Steve Earl- Mystery Train, Pt. 2
Anthony Da Costa- I Am Way Too Much
Gregory Alan Isakov- Big Black Car
Greg Brown- Just By Myself
Bela Fleck- Major Honker
Danny Schmidt- Beggars & Mules
John Elliott- Anybody Everybody
Tony Williams- Tomorrow Afternoon
Bruce Springsteen- Born to Run

From Salida CO.

I got to run my feet through the gravel at Orvis Hot Springs today on my way out of Telluride. It was a giant pool of hot spring water set inside an eclectic garden of native Colorado plantlife. Telluride was incredible as usual. David Byrne and Julian Lage were my highlights this year. I also got to see a fair amount of Bela which was awesome. I'm really feeling great at this moment in time. Traveling playing music can be a struggle to remain happy with yourself as an artist. I think a large part of it is that I have not been practicing and feel out of shape on the banjo. I absolutely love playing with Raina and it forces me to really rethink my technique. I try to remain dynamic and solid while not playing too much. Playing with her is definitely a fun creative space to be in but at the same time I'm definitely chomping at the bit to play with some serious bluegrassers. It makes me cerious that certain styles and musicians can just hit peoples hearts in such an emotional way. It becomes an addiction for people to experience the music they love in order to remain sane. At least thats how it is for me. I'm going to have to end this poorley written rant...right...now!

P.S. Punch Brothers nailed it with their tribute to Radiohead.

Day 3 of 3.

I got a wake up call at somewhere between 1 and 1:30. I almost never wake up after noon so this threw me for a loop and left me feeling groggy the entire day. In a frenzy I jumped in the van and we went to some chicken wing place in a strip mall to eat lunch with my good friends and hosts for the two days Brian and Amber. If you aren't in the know the majority of Huston is a strip mall or a car dealership. The restaurant was a trip but fortunately enough they did have veggie burgers. The venue we played at was the Last Concert Cafe and is definitely a diamond in the rough. We've played there a bunch of times and the shows always have potential to be amazing shows. To our disadvantage however it almost always rains whenever we play Huston. This was another one of those nights. After the show Manny quickly threw on his friend hat and started celebrating to our chants of happy birthday. The night ended beautifully by spending quality time with my closest friends. Anyway enough with the sap. I'll conclude this journal entry with a Carl Jung quote I read earlier tonight.

"No one has any obligations to a concept; that is what is so agreeable about conceptuality it promises protection from experience. The Spirit does not dwell in concepts, but in deeds and in facts. Woards butter no parsnips; nevertheless, this futile procedure is repeated ad infinitum." From Memories, Dreams, Reflections by C. G. Jung.

Day 2 of 3.

The day started off with everyone waking up randomly at the exact same time in the hotel room before noon. We loaded up the van and started our trek towards Bryan, Texas. It was a slow start with way to many stops at a Mexican restaurant, Dollar General to get Oreo's and socks, then a gas station. The coffee smelled awful so I opted for some caffeinated high fructose corn syrup fizz drink. Finally we started to make some progress and drove a good three or four hours without stopping. I had never been on highway 77 and 21 in the daylight. It was a pleasant change of scenary from the run down towns and plains near Corpus Christi. There's really nothing like the central Texas hillcountry. Its like a fusion of the hills in North Carolina and the African savannas.
We got to Bryan with plenty of time to hangout and have a couple beers. We enjoyed a round of Guiness with esspresso and raw sugar. The venue we played was the Revolution Cafe which is always a good time. The stage was set up out in the little court yard outside but by the end of the night we were playing acoustic by the bar drinking shots and being merry.
The drive home was out of control. At one point we pulled over to take a pee brake because all of us other than Manny (band manager/van driver) were very wasted by this point. Me and Dave jumped out and landed in a creek were we offered our contribution to the Earth. Then two minutes down the road Jesse (bass) and Pickles (fiddle) both woke up complaining that they too had a to pee. They apparently were passed out and didn't even notice that we had just made a pee stop so Jesse ended up peeing in a bottle then shoving the warm bottle in Pickles face as a means of persuading him to fill the rest of the bottle up. Pickles decided to hold it until we reached out destination.
When we finally arrived at Bryan and Ambers house we walked inside to find a bunch of snacks waiting for us on the counter. Amber really is the hostes with the mostest! The rest of the night consisted of passing a bottle of Evan Williams around and some serious jamming until 5 A.M. I should really go practice now but I will finish this later.

Cheers

Day 1 of 3 on the road.

Green Mountain Grass is back out on the road playing a bunch of shows for the next few weeks. We left Austin yesterday a little after 3. It felt good to be back in the familiar seat I spent so much time in last summer. After picking up Jesse we headed on south on I 35 towards Porkus Chrispy (Corpus Christi). The drive included a good nap and some serious boy talk. We learned a special secret about Pickles (fiddle) and D Mo (Cello) that I am not really at liberty to say. We got to Dr. Rockits with plenty of time to set up and drink a couple of beers. The crowd was into it and the energy was high. By the end of the night Dave (mandolin) earned himself the nickname Jonny Cockring. He also become one of the few honorary Green Mountain Grass attorneys. After the show we went for the ritual of loading out, talking to some Corpus crack heads, and walking down to the orginal Whataburger to eat a victory meal. I'm now sitting in Bryan, Texas about to do a sound check so I shall continue this later.

Cheers.

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.