jana pochop singer songwriter austin, texas music blog

A Day In The Life

2010-12-19T21:31:00.000-08:00

I have been inspired by a cool post by Chuck Anderson over at MusicianWages.com...he describes his day in the life as a working musician. He's got a very different day than anything I typically do, so I figured doing my own would not result in me being accused of plagiarism.

Today was a 12 hour day from when we hit the road to when we got back home. I woke up at about 8 AM. The gig was a private party, and it was 3 hours away, so we got some coffee and picked up a fellow musician and took the scenic route because most roads that are not I-35 are scenic around these parts. We spent most of the time talking and I did buy a Giddings newspaper whereupon the police blotter provided 15 minutes of entertainment because it consisted of things like, "A cow was reported wandering loose on CR 391. Deputy Durburger arrived on the scene and herded the cow into the pasture. It was all ok." I'm not lying.

About 30 minutes from our destination we heard a weird rumble. Susan pulled over and we had a smoking and shredded trailer tire. Luckily, Susan is not only a kickass musician, but pretty handy with a jack. We were on the road in 15 minutes.

We got to the gig, set up the PA, changed clothes, sound checked, and I handled some email stuff while I waited for the show to start because there was wifi!

Yes that's Susan and Kevin Welch. Yes it was awesome.

It was fun and easy and I watched a good show and afterwards we packed it all back up and headed back. No flat tires on the drive home, just caffeine consumption. I had an hour drive back to Austin and now I'm blogging. It's almost midnight. Zzzz.

That's usually what a day is like when we leave home and return home in the same day. These days are rare, but appreciated.

During the week a typical day for me involves waking up as early as I can stand depending on how late I was up the night before...the first half of my week is spent trying to normalize my body clock and the second half of the week is usually spent destroying it again. That's ok. I still try and get 7 hours a night regardless.

Anyways, once I wake up an inject coffee into my veins, I'll handle email and do booking. I do best with booking if I have an expansive amount of time because while it is very analytic to map things and route things and put things on calendars, it is also a creative process and I like time to sit and think. I'll handle web site updates, blog, or do my own writing during the mornings, too. Sometimes it's erranding like mailing gig posters and the like...the post office is not my favorite place, but I like the do-it-yourself kiosk so I get out of there with as little human interaction as possible.

Then depending on the day I'll either go work at the music school (Red Leaf School of Music) from afternoon into the evening or go work for Dan at Rubicon Recording. (A thorough Rubicon post is forthcoming. It's really cool).

This past weekend we had a non-gig day, so Susan and I spent it registering for the Folk Alliance 2011 conference, arranging some travel plans for her, and making spreadsheets and plans for her new album release in February. Then we watched a Mae West movie because what else do you do after making spreadsheets?

It's a varied week every week and I like it that way. Sometimes it drives me nuts, but I've done the monotonous job thing before and I wouldn't trade this for anything. And now...about that bed time thing...tomorrow is here.

Tiny Fan Hands

2010-12-17T10:36:00.000-08:00

My friend Josh just informed me that his daughter Lily is a big fan of Track No. 4 on For & Against. I like to get at them young. :) Also, that track is called "Drive Around," so when she's 16...watch out, Josh.

Green Chile on the Road

2010-12-07T02:02:00.000-08:00

Yay 505 Chile!

Record Groove Sky

2010-12-06T13:18:00.000-08:00

I took this somewhere outside El Paso. The clouds looked like record grooves to me. There's a great DJ in the sky, apparently.

This weekend was good...we went to San Angelo (see previous LOCKED IN THE BATHROOM post), Lubbock, and Amarillo.

I commented to Susan that we are usually either coordinating a stunning execution of pull up to the gig/load in gear/change clothes/sound check/walk dogs/set up merch in a record 7 minutes and 46 seconds, or we have hours to kill for well, hours. (We are actually ALWAYS punctual and early, but our degrees of early change and make for less hectic load ins sometimes). In Lubbock we had hours to kill, which was nice. I laptopped at the venue, we walked the dogs around the venue neighborhood which happened to contain a mall. It's good we had stuff to do or I would have dropped my paycheck on crap at Dillards out of boredom. I work like that sometimes.

The Amarillo show was great as usual, as Susan has a crack team of musicians up there and they do a great band show. The drive home from Amarillo yesterday was long, though I killed maybe the first 3 hours reading out loud from the New Yorker (my favorite magazine because it's interesting and it costs $6 but it takes me like 5 hours to read, so that's cheap entertainment, and then I get to say things like "I read in The New Yorker...").

It was the Thanksgiving food issue, so I informed Susan and the dogs about such things like making borscht, pickled cabbage, a roadhouse in New Orleans that hasn't changed since 1962 or something like that, and gastropubs in NYC. After a while my throat got scratchy and now I have a lot more respect for talk show hosts, because I was not cut out to talk for 3 hours straight. However, I will train so that I can do it more, because I like reading and Susan likes books on tape, which I am almost akin to except she doesn't have to change the disc every 60 minutes.

We had a headlight out, and we got pulled over twice by very nice officers who informed us of such fact. We also needed to decide where to eat dinner.

"Where do you want to eat?"
"I don't care."
"Oh, we're being pulled over. I'll pull into this Dairy Queen."
(Nice officer interlude).
..."Wanna eat at Dairy Queen?"
"Ok."

Sometimes these things just get decided for us, which I prefer to making decisions sometimes. While in line at the DQ, Susan decided that in the future, she will refuse me my per diem on food unless I order things in my old man New Yorker accent. I will either starve or get over my fear of public humiliation in fast food restaurants. Updates forthcoming. I told her I would start by being British, though, and work my way up to old man.

Trapped In the Bathroom.

2010-12-03T08:56:00.000-08:00

Last night in San Angelo was eventful. We played a great venue called The House of Fifi Dubois, which is a stellar retro/antique store with a bar and a stage in the back of it. It's in a huge downtown building that is 100 years old itself...very cool. Those folks do it right.

So then we got to our motel, looking forward to cable TV and a bed. Susan went in the bathroom and before too long I hear the door handle jiggling and Susan yells that she is stuck. The knob was not engaging the thing that makes the door open. I said, "HOLD ON! LET ME GOOGLE IT!" Because that is what I do. So I googled how to pop a lock with a credit card and it worked and Susan rejoiced and we thought that was funny. She had to go walk to dogs who had been in the car for 8 hours, and I was going to settle myself in.

So I go in the bathroom and shut the door a little bit but not completely, and I take a shoe off and while doing that...I lean into the door.

And Susan's words echo in my head..."We're going on a fairly long walk."

Fairly. Long. Walk.

Nothing on my person...no phone, no hotel key card to jimmy it.

This will not do. I will not be stuck in the motel bathroom for "fairly long."

The first course of action is to jiggle and yank on the door. This is not doing anything. I look around; there's not much in a motel bathroom. There is a little wrapped bar of soap, so I unwrap it and see if I can make a stiff enough piece of paper to jimmy it. No dice. I toss the soap.

I do always carry guitar picks in my pocket, and there are two screws on the knob. The next 40 minutes is spent slowly, one quarter turn at a time while sitting on the motel bathroom floor...unscrewing the screws. The top one comes pretty easily and freedom was in sight. The bottom one just kept unscrewing and unscrewing. I got bored. I got lightheaded from angling my head in an upwards but sideways fashion while moving a metal screw millimeters at a time. I decided there was one more recourse.

I ripped the check out time placard off the bathroom door (I had already half dismantled the knob so I figured what's a little more property damage?). It was a plastic-y material and I thought that might be able to handle the credit card trick. Nope. Back to unscrewing with a guitar pick.

Then I just gave up and figured that Susan would be done with her walk soon. I stood there, sending telepathic messages of "DISCOMFORT! LOCKED! TRAPPED!" hoping that she would somehow pick up on the vibes. It's worth a shot.

I started planning out my little life in the bathroom. I had water. I had a towel, I could make a little pillow. I could do chin ups on the towel bar to stay in shape. The acoustics were good so I could work on my singing. Maybe I could write a novel on the wall by scratching words with my guitar pick. Maybe I could burrow through the floor, or move the ceiling tiles like in Jurassic Park.

Then Susan came back in the room.

"Susan?"

"...Oh no."

She did the credit card trick (it works way faster if you're on the outside using the card FYI). She then went to complain at the desk but there was no manager. We will see how this plays out but I'm hoping for at leasy 40 free nights. I won't name the chain. (Spotel Mix).

Susan promptly tweeted the happenings, and then we laaaaaaaaughed. It's good to have a friend on the road for when you get locked in the bathroom.

Ye Olde Alma Mater

2010-11-26T19:43:00.000-08:00

I took a minute to stop and take some photos at UNM since I am home for Thanksgiving. The University of New Mexico is one of the prettiest campuses I have been on (if you like adobe)...Fall is the best time!

Where I went for financial aid stuff...

The main drag

The Honors Building where I took a Gallows Humor class

A little Ritalin

2010-11-19T07:24:00.000-08:00

Must. Focus. And. Do. Work. Pretty excited to go home to New Mexico for the holiday, but it's not the holiday yet and I gotta get stuff done. A little focus for all our Friday mornings pre-Thanksgiving! Katie sings on this one and adds that just right ambient tension to the vocals. Yay Katie!

Ritalin by janapochop

Birthday (Observed)

2010-11-18T06:13:00.000-08:00

My birthday was on Monday this week, but we had a house concert scheduled at our friends Amy and Cheryl's house on Sunday, so we kind of just made Sunday a birthday day as well.

We used some of my stickers for a birthday sash until I tripped on it. I'm clutzy.

Susan drew me a cake. It was good but chalky.

My friends Katie Lessley and Havilah came all the way from Austin to hang out and sing! Because it was my birthday and that means I'm special and can demand things, I had Susan and Katie and Havilah come up and sing on a couple of tunes with me. It was pretty smokin' spectacular. One day I will afford them all as my permanent band and we will tour in a Prevost and take the folk world by storm. Wait, folk artists and Prevosts don't usually mix. We might have to sell out a little, girls. It's ok, the bus will be fancy.

Cuteness!

Who doesn't want a Susan Gibson show for their birthday?
Who doesn't know what I'm talking about?

Thanks to everyone at the house concert and to my buddies for singing and to Amy and Cheryl for hosting us all! On my real birthday I worked and Katie made me pasta (yessss!) and I went to bed early, haha. Too much excitement for this old 28-year-old. Bring me my lap afghan.

H-Town!

2010-11-17T05:51:00.000-08:00

We had a swell time in Houston this weekend. Susan played in Boerne (San Antonio) on Thursday and then we just hoofed it to our friends in Tomball (north Houston) so we could wake up where we needed to be instead of waking up somewhere we didn't need to be. Always a good rule of thumb.

The Gene Simmons of folk.

We caffeinated up and headed to KPFT for "Wide Open Spaces" with Roark, the coolest DJ on the planet. His show is named after that one song that Susan wrote you may have heard of it, so that's cool. If you check out their Facebook Fan Page you can see all the videos from the interview.

The static and the blur: an interpretation. Photo by Melissa Noble!

Then we killed some time in a park whereupon I laptopped on a picnic table and it was a lovely day. Then we headed over to the house of some fine friends who made us DINNER oh my that is always a perk. Thanks Nancy Jane, Leslie, and Jim!

Nancy Jane, Susan, Leslie, and moi...songwriter girls unite!

THEN we headed to an awesome concert series called Heights Live! right in the middle Houston. These folks have created a listening room in the fellowship hall of a church, and then in the set intermission they SERVE PIE. Um hello? Folk music and pie?

The version of Susan's "Perfect World" that we did all Vaudeville style when Susan's arm was broken was requested, so I got my strum on. It's been so long since we have done it that was I was hoping I didn't forget it, but the I realized Susan has the hard part and all I have to do is...strum. So that was fun. I'm glad she has 2 arms again, though.

And then we drove to Dallas. Thank you, Houston, for your kind hospitality! And check out Heights Live if you're in the area...great folks. And listen to KPFT, too.

Photo Perfect

2010-11-11T08:10:00.000-08:00

The idea of getting photos taken scares the daylights out of me. I think I feel kind of unnatural when I know I'm supposed to pose but look natural but not think about it but "this has to go on a poster." So I put off photos for a while.

Luckily, my friend and awesome photographer Machelle Dunlop came to my rescue. We worked together at the county government back when I first moved to town, and I was the admin/singer-songwriter down the hall and she was the admin/photographer and we BOTH quit the government grind and she takes photos and I play music. It's pretty fun to think about.

Since I know and love Machelle, and since she is so good at making folks comfortable, I had a great time hanging out with her last month and taking some photos around Austin. She had scouted this awesome bush in the middle of an empty parking lot, and it looks like we're in some foreign land...there's a bit of it on the right of this photo.

I won't give away what this structure is that I'm standing in, but I will say we probably trespassed for the half hour we were there, haha. I really enjoyed watching Machelle work because she thinks like a photographer...songwriters are observant folk but it's different when one's art is so visual. Machelle saw cool textures in walls and trees and investigated what looked to me like empty parking lots and suburban dullness that turned up lots of great little locales for photos.

So there we go. I'm stll trying to re-design my website to where I'm happy with it (now I'm picky) and I can't wait to integrate these shots. Here's one more, it's metaphorical for all the traveling this year!

Juice+Dogs

2010-11-08T20:40:00.000-08:00

Breakfast in OKC was not only red fruit juices, but they started things out well. Mine was the tiny glass of grapefruit. I need to partake in grapefruit more. We found a dog park, which is kind of a fascinating study in human/canine interaction. The dogs were coolest with each other when their owners were cool about everyone hanging out. There was one harmless pesky puppy and one little guy that tried to pin everyone else down who was twice his size. A lot can be learned about human psychology in a dog park.

More fun in Fort Worth watching Susan songswap with Elizabeth Wills. E-Dub, as I have taken to calling her with absolutely no permission from Elizabeth herself...is absolutely one of the most fantastic singer-songwriters I have ever had the pleasure of hearing. She's also a gem of a person and has helped us out here at Team SG quite a bit.

Still getting the hang of this new iPhone 4...I love it. It takes pretty awesome photos. My night photos with the other one were usually pretty blurry. The fact that you can see this scene below without feeling carsick (desksick?) is a testament to how cool this phone is. One day I'll stop gushing but not any time soon.

Songwriters Serenade Video!

2010-11-07T15:35:00.000-08:00

Action...Figures.

2010-11-06T08:15:00.000-07:00

Right, so this is my first blog with photos from an iPhone 4, which will heretofore be known as the GREAT MAGICAL WONDER GADGET. I love it. Thank you, you know who you are.

Anyway, we had an unplanned day off in Oklahoma because of an unfortunate gig cancelation, but hey those things happen. We were on the road no more than 20 minutes looking for protein for breakfast when we saw on the sign for the Pauls Valley exit that there was an Action Figure Museum. Excuse me?

Jana: "ACTION FIGURE MUSEUM!!"
Susan: "Whaaat?"
Jana: "ACTION FIGURE MUSEUM!"
Susan: "Do you want to go?"
Jana: "ACTION FIGURE MUSEEEUUUM!!!!!"

Yeah, we went. Turns out, this guy who is an artist and lives in Pauls Valley...really like action figures. So he turned his collection into a whimsical museum. Maybe the brightest colored museum I have ever been to.

Behold the wonder!

Just a sliver of the main display wall...

There was much nostalgia to behold...Ninja Turtles were my thing. I had to explain that I went through a variety of favorites (Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael...sorry, Michaelangelo). There were Batman displays and Star Trek and Star Wars and Mickey Mouse and DC Comics and Marvel Comics and even Spinal Tap action figures. Phew.

I walked away amazed at the amount of merchandising that goes into all of these big name cartoons and movies. I knew it, but to see ALL of it displayed at once was mind-numbing. Down to the underwear.

Today it's a show in Oklahoma City! I wonder what kind of randomness we'll encounter...

Vision Board

2010-11-03T08:48:00.000-07:00

Dan's not done with me yet, oh no. Technically I have kind of...run my Folk Music Grad School course. I hesitate to say that because my work is never done, but I have studied with Dan for a solid 3 years now. I think my progress has been beyond anything I could have hoped for...some of it planned specifically when we started and some of it being surprises that neither of us could have planned.

I am a better singer, I am a better guitar player, I am a more developed writer. I just finished my 2nd EP. My income is entirely derived from the music business, in whatever pieced-together fashion...it works. This is a far cry from the slightly clueless county government administrative assistant who walked into Dan's office three years ago.

Like I said, there are always new challenges and Next Steps, for me and for Dan. I am currently working with him on his amazing new business, which I will unveil when I write a more specific blog post about it soon. (Vagueries!) He's working on his music and art, too -- and his mentor assigned him the task of a vision board. Of course he told me to do one, too. (Here's a really good post about vision boards from blogger Christine Kane, who is a songwriter-turned-guru...).

It was fun to rip apart magazines looking for stuff that applied to my goals. Now, my caveat is that I have two types of magazines lying around:

1. Somewhere along the line I got subscribed to Forbes and have been receiving them for a year without ever paying them a dime. Thank you, Forbes.

2. I buy guitar magazines sometimes but usually because I want an article in them, so I have a hard time cutting those up.

Out of the Forbes I found a lot of ads and article titles that seemed to apply. I'd like to make a decent amount of money...a comfortable amount. I don't need a Lear Jet (though I joke that if I am to pick up Lady Gaga for our duet shows, I might need a Lear Jet)...but I'd like a house and some awesome guitars and the ability to not have to stress about cash. So there are those types of goals. And then there are the cut-outs that pertain to travel, because I do love it and won't stop any time soon. And there is the one about being a web phenom, because...well, I like the word phenom. And some iPads and other gadetry because I am a nerd. The only thing I couldn't find a photo of in Forbes was a Grammy, but it's implied.

I recommend a vision board just because...it's good to dream a little and hang it on the wall and be reminded why you are working so hard at 6 AM or 1 PM or 2 AM or whenever you work.

Now I gotta find a picture of a Lear Jet....

The Essential Dixie Chicks

2010-11-02T08:26:00.000-07:00

I won't lie. It's kind of cool that this album being released has a tiny impact on my own working life. If anything, it is something cool for Susan to discuss because see that sticker with the song titles on it? ONE OF THEM IS HERS. Awesome.

My Dixie Chicks history is long and not-so-storied. I remember the music video of them sitting on an airport baggage claim spinny thing - their big debut. I don't remember the first time I heard "Wide Open Spaces," though. I owned the album long before I ever heard of Susan (apparently I didn't read liner notes much). I liked that they played their own instruments.

I do remember being super excited about buying Fly (their second album) when it came out, so I was a hardcore fan by then...sometime in high school. I didn't see them live until I moved to Austin in 2006 for their Taking The Long Way release tour; it was awesome. I had just moved to town really and didn't know anyone well enough to have a concert buddy yet. It's weird to go to a big show like that by yourself, but then again, I wasn't going to pay attention to anything or anyone but what was happening on stage anyway.

As I started to realize how Austin-based much of their circle is...from Terri Hendrix's composition Lil' Jack Slade (also on the Essentials list) to getting to know Lloyd Maines, it made me like them more. They are surrounded by good folks. I am fortunate to be surrounded by some of those good folks, too, all without ever having met any of the DC's themselves. They have continued to be musical pioneers, championing great songwriters and being great songwriters themselves. Sticking to their morals when mob political hysteria got ridiculous. Being all around hard-working creative folk.

And for that I will quote Susan and what she says every night at every gig..."Thank you, Dixie Chicks!" Amen.

The Last October Weekend

2010-11-01T20:10:00.000-07:00

Oh it's good to be back in Texas. I liked the Southeast. But I like seeing folks I know at the shows and that does not happen in states where I've never been before. We traveled to Navasota, Houston, and Port Aransas this past weekend. Port A might be one of of my favorite places ever...it has the lovely Third Coast Theater, lots of pastel houses on the beach, and even more nice folks that come to the show than pastel houses.

Third Coast is where Terri Hendrix hosts her songwriting workshop every year, and so my first few times in Port A were spent in songwriting bliss. Large poster-sized photos of the artists that play there line the walls, and of course The Boss is up there...so it's even more cool to return to the workshop scene in a work capacity for Susan. I should have made her pose next to her giant portrait. No, I shouldn't have.

One thing that maybe I haven't shared is that when I am feeling punchy, which is most of the time because hey, life is good - I burst into spontaneous accents. Not around everyone. Actually, usually just in the car...so that means Susan and the dogs get the brunt of my accents. My favorites are my old-somewhat-New Yorker-cranky-man and my British. Not together, though I have tried to mesh them with disastrous results. Anyway, this weekend was so fun I was in accent-mode the whole time. Wot?

On Sunday we made it home in time to see porterdavis at Gruene Hall. It has been too long since I have seen Dan the Producer play, and what better place then Gruene? They rocked it.

Today was a recovery day which was problematic because it was also Monday, and I was expected to start a new work week. I am bad at spacing things out. Holding out for a week off at Thanksgiving! And...onward.

Fors & Againsts

2010-10-25T13:38:00.000-07:00

I did a little polling on Facebook about what folks were For and Against at that time of the day and hour...it was fascinating and funny and happy. Of course I made a podcast!

Check out the Store for your copy of For & Against...

In Search of A Song!

2010-10-23T08:26:00.001-07:00

All right, y'all - I am stoked to be the winner of the Searchlight "In Search of A Song" Contest. Rich is the kind dude who did the interview with me, and he managed to make me sound not so rambly and incoherent! He's kind of a magician.

Check it out here, and support support support these fine folks! They're doing great things for musicians.

What's on my plate lately? Well, that EP came to fruition...you know, that one. Next step is a website overhaul. You won't recognize this thing soon!

It's For & Against Day!

2010-10-20T09:50:00.000-07:00

Um, whew. The EP is here. In Austin, anyway. It's being delivered to Red Leaf and I am not there yet. I should get there so I can have it and so UPS doesn't have to mess around. The tracking numbers claim it is HERE, though!

In honor of that, here's a ghetto music video montage. Because a purposefully ghetto video is better than an accidentally ghetto video, if you ask me.

Thanks so Dan, Katie, Suz, Emily, and David for making this happen - and thanks to all who have and will buy this little EP!

Alabama is...Ala-mazing

2010-10-13T11:35:00.000-07:00

Right, so I explained that this is the exploratory tour to new rooms and new towns, which means there are just not as many people in the rooms we've gone to as we are used to in more pathworn venues like Texas and out west. So we've had a great time but sometimes...like a lot times...you just want a lot of people in the room.

Did I mention I bought boots before we left?

We found that on a Tuesday night in Orange Beach, Alabama. There's a fabulous venue/dance studio/classroom/artspace called Beach Cite Studios, located right on the pier in Orange Beach. The people came, they listened to the songs, they laughed at all the right times (which always shoots me in into the fantasy-land stratosphere that I too could compete on Last Comic Standing), they engaged in the music, they want us to come back. It was sublime in every way. We celebrated by watching Bravo and eating coconut M&M's at the hotel.

Today is a day off before we go to Birmingham, and I am going to MAIL OFF MY TAXES! I spend 4 hours on them yesterday morning and wrapped them up. I have a confusing job/living/driving situation which makes them hard to do. Last year I had 2 employers, changed cars, and moved. Bleh. Anyway, they are done. Then I will go to the beach and investigate tarballs (haven't seen any but I haven't looked yet).

Greetings from Gulf Shores

2010-10-11T22:28:00.000-07:00

It's pretty down here. We drove in at sunset and I have seen the Gulf Shore Beach in the dark, so I'm sure it will reveal its glorious daylight wonder tomorrow...but it was cool to walk in a good 6 inches of fine sand and sink with every step. The beaches in Texas are pretty packed. This Alabama sand is a different beast. It was pristine, with nary a weed or rock to get in the way.

To recap the last few days...Virginia at Ashland Coffee and Tea was so fun; the venue is such an esteemed listening room and the folks are the nicest. We're going back in April! We saw a little of Richmond and ate some lovely Thai food downtown. The Yelp! app on my phone has helped immensely in booking motel rooms and finding places to eat that don't suck.

The next day we drove to Chapel Hill, NC and Susan was interviewed on WCOM before the gig, and then she and I got to guest DJ for half an hour. We played stuff by our friends; Jess Klein, Dana Cooper, Terri Hendrix, and then...Flight of the Conchords to top it all off. Win for suSANNNG! and DJ Lady Popo. At a late night truck stop break I got a non-traditional North Carolina pig. It pained me because it is not white and does not have hearts for eyes, but this was my last chance for a NC pig so I took it. He's ok. He'll fit in.

Suz at The Cave in Chapel Hill

Then we stayed the night in Charlotte (which I know is a big town but for the life of me I could only come up with that it is the home of the Hornets...) and walked the dogs in a cemetery which was only slightly creepy. Then we drove from Charlotte through South Carolina to Georgia where Susan songswapped with Rachael Sage and Chris Trapper at another of the nation's great listening rooms; Eddie's Attic. What a room. It has birthed the careers of folks I love like the Indigo Girls and Jennifer Nettles. Then we drove to Alabama to stay in Montgomery for the night, which is 4 states in one day!

Georgia Pig. Score.

Today we left Montgomery but not before consuming more Thai food (yes, in Alabama, so?) and I had to stop and get some flip flops. I started this 2 week trip with the intention of proving I am an adult and can wear real shoes for 2 weeks, but I quickly discovered that I don't wear flip flops out of immaturity, I wear them because I don't like crap covering my feet. I was miserable, and Susan had to endure about 3 stops at truck stops and a CVS that involved me unsuccessfully searching for flip flops. (WHERE ARE ALL THE FLIP FLOPS IN ALABAMA???)

I finally scored some in Montgomery. Which is also the place where Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus, which is not related but interesting nonetheless.

And tonight we walked the Gulf Shores Beach and now I am blogging and for now you are completely up to date.

Chips Are Loud

2010-10-09T03:16:00.000-07:00

Out East/99 Cents at a Time

2010-10-08T12:06:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Richmond, Virginia. We got here late last night after driving all day. I try to route things so the jumps are small, but sometimes...you have a day off and a long way to drive. We went from Nashville to Richmond, and by the time we got to Virginia it was dark so I don't really know what Virginia looks like yet except the Richmond airport across the street from the motel. Yep.

The drive was fun, though. Somehow we got to wondering what British rap sounded like, which lead to a big iTunes download frenzy of songs by British, Scottish, Russian, and Japanese hip hop. Check out "Bonkers" by Dizee Rascals. Cool song.

On Wednesday we drove through Memphis from Little Rock to Nashville and found some BBQ. I discovered that my friend Tiffany in Nashville had at one point sold merchandise for Lady Gaga before she was crazy famous. Of course I flipped out. There's a Merch Person that I could learn from.

Memphis!

Yesterday we started off with a brunch meeting with Susan's awesome publicist Brandy at Noshville Deli in...yes, Nashville.

Noshville

This is our exploratory tour for the year...meaning these are all new venues and tried and true crowds and fan bases have not been built yet. Susan has worked hard to build Texas and the Rocky Mountain tour run, and the Southeast seems like a logical next step in terms of what is close to Texas and full of music fans. As the booker I won't lie and say it's easy to do these runs the first time - sometimes crowds are good, sometimes not. The venues we have booked are all great, though. The folks we have met have been awesome. And you have to do something the first time so you can build it the next time.

We're taking advantage of the new strangely re-modeled Motel 6 rooms -- they look like IKEA spewed all over, in a good way. Gone are the weird floral bedspreads. It's hip. And it's cheap. Yay Motel 6!

What Are Happening

2010-09-30T10:14:00.000-07:00

Makin' every band glow takes coordination.

Time management. Believe it or not, I used to give seminars on this stuff in college. For my job. Now I think I need to take one. See, I now have 4 jobs. This is the stuff of my life, and I feel the need to share it. So while I am incredibly lucky that I decided to give up the 8 - 5 office thing and go at it on my own, "on your own" sometimes means "piece it together."

So things at the music school are good and I am still working there, and Producer Dan has branched off that and formed his own recording studio, which is awesome. So I am splitting my time at the school and the studio.

I am, of course, still booking and tour managing for Susan. This is a great great job and I am thrilled every day that I get to do it, even if close friends maintain the booking end will have me chain-smoking in a unicolor tracksuit and talking like Marge Simpson in 3 years. Booking is not for the faint of heart, and I sometimes get a little antsy and yell at the air, but the thrill of the chase and the subsequent reward of seeing a gig go well for Susan is WORTH IT.

I was perusing the calendar from when I first started booking to now, and I am better. The dates are fuller, they make more sense. There's always a few dates that batter and bruise me until the bitter end, but things resolve. I am ending my 2nd year as a booking agent. Phew.

So anyway, the 3 jobs. I just started this new job division thing last week, and my brain almost exploded. It's not even that I'm working 40 hours for each job - the school and studio only add up to about 20 hours a week, plus the hours booking and traveling. But the diversion of attention when I am in Austin juggling all 3...requires a lot of energy. It requires a lot of energy to focus on one job to do it well, so I imagine trying to focus on 3 is akin to...working at the United Nations. Keeping everybody happy and out of war.

All this to say, my FOURTH job...is figuring out the Jana Pochop music part of it. A good chunk of it is fulfilled by traveling with Susan. I get to play, see the road, meet new people; it's a great way to do it. I recommend it for everyone in my equivalent boat.

Then there's the launching a new record thing that I am not so experienced at yet. The Early Year came out to a little fanfare, based mainly around my blog and my friends and family. For & Against deserves my utmost attention and a huge push, because it does. I imagine this to be a full time job, too...that's why they employ whole record labels to do this stuff.

Then there's the gigging around Austin thing, which I need to do more. Play with some friends, make some walls of sound. This excites me too.

Then there's the find time to write, find time to practice, take some voice lessons. This website needs redesigning. The blog needs to be fixed because Blogger made things weird with subdomains. Yadda. Make money, make connections, keep friends, do good jobs, keep up with my own thing, find an hour or 2 to watch Hulu. It's the stuff of life.

I hope this doesn't come off as a gripe session, because it's not. Like I said above, I have jobs that let me work with very awesome folks. I have the opportunity to put my music into the world. I just want to do it right. That's what's on my mind.

Pre-Order For & Against (Please)

2010-09-28T08:40:00.000-07:00

It's that time! I spent last week finalizing artwork (with the help of the fabulous Emily), and I mailed off my master to Oasis Disc yesterday evening. It's all out of my hands for about 2.5 weeks until it's back in my hands...like a ton of copies worth. My hands won't hold them all. Which is why I am asking you to pre-order your copy (or one for you and one for your best friend).

Seems like the pre-order thing is popular these days, and I'll tell you why. It's because being an independent musician is popular. We all get to do our own thing, and it's awesome. So what difference does it make if you get one now or get one in 5 months?

Well, firstly -- I want you to hear it NOW! I'm so proud of this record. We had so much fun making it, and it sounds really, really good. I'm not going to pull out my usual false modesty here. For & Against is great. It's the best thing I have ever sung on, played on, or written. Some of my favorite people ever are on it. How's that?

Secondly...hell. I started this long paragraph about how it costs money for independent artists to produce these things (no lie) and we front it out of our pocket (no lie)...but it got preachy and I've read one too many preachy pre-order emails for me to want to make one.

So I'll just say it: if you're here, you have an interest in me as a person or as a songwriter or as a musician or as a tour monkey for people you like. Thank you. If you wanna support and get some music, I'm thrilled! No infomercial needed.

Pre-Order For & Against here.

For & Against

2010-09-20T07:53:00.000-07:00

I just spoke with the kind people at Oasis Disc Manufacturing (yay Donna!) about getting a crap ton of CDs printed (dear Lord you all better buy 1 or 16), and things are underway to get this EP out into the world! Emily Shirley has once again rocked my artwork, and here is the cover. It took me several brainstorms of "what about this?" and "I feel blue. Blue is what I feel," to pin down what I wanted, and every time Emily was patient and presented me with stellar options. I knew we were done when I looked at it and said, "Oh, that's what I should have asked for in the first place."

THAT folks, is why you employ a graphic designer in stead of go all DIY on artwork. (Unless you are an artist, which Emily is, and she did her own artwork and it is stellar. I would end up with Crayola marker on my arm photographed or something).

So I'll get a bunch and then hopefully sell them to kind folks like you. It's a great little record, it really is. Pre-order chances and all that good stuff are forthcoming!

Jpo Shirt Phenomenon

2010-09-19T02:44:00.000-07:00

Well, maybe phenomenon is an overstatement but I gotta say, I am continually shocked and humbled at the number of folks who wear their JPo shirt in exotic and foreign locales like Hawaii and Ireland and Fort Worth. I love it! So much that here is the Flickr stream for all to see.

If you want one of your own I am most happy to handle that here at the store!

Tour Recap

2010-09-18T08:51:00.000-07:00

Sloooow! I am slow! The thing about this tour, being our second to Montana in 3 months, is that while it was fun and the scenery was gorgeous, it was kind of the same thing as last time except I was not hunting for ceramic pigs. So there's that.

We did get to detour through Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park this time, which was amazing even if it was raining when we got to Old Faithful. It started downpouring and while I like me a geyser, I like being dry. So we saw the geyser but not geysering. Still super cool. Still took a geeky photo in front of it.

This is Yukon the cat who lives at The It Club in Butte, MT. He owned the place, and sat on the merchandise bag some of the night. We were best friends by the time the gig was over. I almost snuck him in the trailer.

In Saratoga, WY, Susan stopped by Big Brothers, Big Sisters to talk to the kids about songwriting. She's a natural teacher along with her natural entertaining, so I think everyone had a great time!

In Taos at Michael Hearne's Big Barndance Festival, Susan and Don Richmond ripped it up on stage.

My buddy Dave was there as the official photographer, so I figured I'd paparazzi him. Sorry, Dave, your fans demanded it!

And then there was the Amarillo show with Gary Wayne! He was a member of the Groobees with Susan, and he is one of my favorite guitarists ever ever ever. Also he's hysterical. And a nice guy.

On the trip home we had 5 gigs in 5 days, and I preferred it that way. I was pretty proud of my booking that leap frogged us from northern Wyoming to Luckenbach, TX in 5 days without any horrific drives. Each day was about 5-6 hours long for driving, which is doable when you have energy drinks in bulk. Yes, it was good.

Quarter Geography

2010-09-13T22:18:00.000-07:00

Road Food

2010-08-30T10:03:00.000-07:00

We've been doing really well this summer on not only sticking to a food budget, but also not buying the crappiest piece of junk available in the convenience store.

This means we travel with coolers and plastic boxes filled with good stuff. Some of my favorites so far include plantain chips (where have they been all my life?), green chile in a jar, jalapeno pita chips, and garlic sesame sticks.

Ooo! And then we buy a bunch of vegetables like red peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, snap peas, and radishes and chop them up and keep a veggie bag. When you have a cooler they keep a surprisingly long time. Yay for healthy stuff.

Wyoming Sights

2010-08-29T09:43:00.000-07:00

Somewhere outside Dubois, WY

A Centennial Moon

Grad School

2010-08-28T09:39:00.000-07:00

Touring is good to me. In June I was named Employee of the Month. This week, while visiting our friends Kris and Jen who work at Adams State in Alamosa, CO, I was presented with my Master of Music Business.

Pomp and Circumstance, please.

Where I've Been

2010-08-27T20:49:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we found ourselve with a day off in Taos, where we started writing a song in the park before a high school "sophtmore" sat down at our tree and started reading us his novel. He had 2 chapters done. It made for an interesting afternoon.

The next day Susan played the Larry Joe Taylor festival in Red River, NM, where I stuck my toes in the very very very cold river.

Then it was up to South Fork, CO for the Rhythms on the Rio Festival. If I had my druthers for a 5th job it would be live concert photography. I bet that pays even less than playing the live concerts.

THEN it was off to one of my favorite places on the planet, Centennial, Wyoming. Susan's cousins own the Friendly Store/Cafe/Bar/Motel there and they have this cool stage off in the aspen trees. It was magique, to be French about it. I highly suggest if you are around Laramie you divert for a trip to Centennial. Tell them we sent you! Have an omelet. The omelets are the best.

Tomorrow we finally get to Montana! A drive through Yellowstone is on the list.

Saga of the Broken Nebraska Pig

2010-08-26T21:28:00.000-07:00

I stuffed some pigs in my backpack and forgot about them, and I guess they got knocked around too much because Nebraska busted. Thankfully, it was a clean break. Surgery was performed.

Nebraska is recovering and is now safely duct taped to the dashboard.

Tour Tour Tour

2010-08-20T04:32:00.000-07:00

Oh hi. We left home last Friday and it's Friday already and here we are in Taos, NM. We have quite a bit of road ahead of us still, so it's been a good little jaunt up here. Taos is, as I have stated, where I will live when I retire if not before. Today we sat in the park in the shade and it was considerably cooler in the shade than the sun. This does not happen in Texas. Sorry, Texas.

We spent a day in Amarillo with Susan's niece and nephew and went to the Discovery Center, one of those science museums where you can touch everything and learn stuff. I learned that black holes do something to you called "spaghettification." It just made me hungry.

Inside a giant bubble!

The Old Blinking Light in Taos is one of my favorite venues to visit because the people are great, the food is awesome, the view is stellar...too much good stuff all together. I bought an OBL hoodie even though it's not really hoodie weather yet. But we're going to Montana and I'm ready.

Susan had quite a few adoring fans at the show, and something that doesn't happen very often...a percentage of them were under the age of 5. These kids had a great time.

This little guy even brought his guitar to jam with Susan. He did great and will probably be headlining before we know it. Just remember us when we need backstage passes, dude.

Today we go to Red River and then north to Colorado. The longer drives begin!

Stuff Susan Brought Back From the Store

2010-08-19T19:44:00.000-07:00

Because we are fancy and we require fancy things.

Because we are in Taos and we need to taste test both.

Because Suz is the best boss evaaaaarrrr!

Hit It

2010-08-13T09:01:00.000-07:00

Seems like we just got back from Montana...oh wait, we did just get back from Montana. It's so lovely up there we are headed back!

I Can Make Anything Creepy

2010-08-12T22:43:00.000-07:00

Music from incompetech.com!

Wall Drug, South Dakota

2010-08-10T22:16:00.000-07:00

Well That Was Awesome

2010-08-08T20:06:00.000-07:00

I flew in last night after taking a plane from San Jose, the heart of Silicon Valley. Today I drove to Luckenbach for Susan's gig, which is about as far away from Silicon Valley as you can get. While I was drooling over the fact that Google and Apple were headquartered mere miles away, it was nice to kick back in Texas under a giant oak tree and watch The Boss and her hawt band. Hawt in the heat.

My mini-vacation to see Mary Chapin Carpenter was excellent. I left my laptop at home (gasp!) and was instructed not to do any work for 2 days for gawdsakes. (I mostly succeeded but maybe I did a little booking, maybe I did). I flew in and was picked up by my buddy Heidi, a fellow Mary Chapin fan, who has always been my tour guide extraordinaire in the Bay Area.

The first show was at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga, a gorgeous hilly, sprawling, EXPENSIVE little town. Grapes and technology will do that to a community, I can tell. The venue was stunning, and the music was stunninger (ha). Shawn Colvin was on the bill as well (weird, I didn't see her on my Southwest flight from Austin) and started the night off with a solo set. Then MCC came and rocked our faces off. It got kind of chilly, so much so that we could see the bands' breath onstage when they sang. I did not mind because I knew back in Austin it was 102 or something stupid like that.

The second night was at the Wells Fargo Center in Santa Rosa, a bit north of San Francisco. We drove through the city in some fog, making for a gorgeous if obstructed bridge view. Heidi had scored me awesome seats both nights, and photography was allowed thank goodness. Video was not, and I felt the oppressive stare of the ushers both nights so all I managed was about 5 different 3-second clips huddled in fear behind the chair. Which is fine, although I'm pretty sure appearing in one of my homemade videos would launch MCC to fame and fortune. Oh, wait. Nevermind.

The music...ah, the music. You know, Mary Chapin was the first artist I latched onto as a young kid looking for musical greatness, and she has held steady in my book of the best ever since. I truly believe she is one of America's greatest songwriters, period. Fight me in the alley if you disgaree.

So anyway, the last time I saw her was 5 years ago when I was in college, still unsure about the musician life but thinking it would be horrifically awesome to be a touring musician. So when I saw her 5 years ago everything was magic and mystical and electric.

This time it was not that, but not on a bad way. Judging by Mary Chapin's tweets, the tour life for those guys - which consists of riding on a Prevost bus - is not much different than what we get to do in a Sprinter van (or an Element, as the case currently may be).

It's not mystical in that I know the band has worked their butts off musically to be consumate pros at what they do. Nor is it magic to imagine how they got the venue or set everything up...that stuff's all pretty much how you do it on any level of touring. You drive, you play, you sleep, you drive. (Although I think on a big tour bus someone else drives all night and you wake up at the next city...awesome).

So what this means is that instead of being ridiculously shocked that this was all happening in front of me, this time I got to focus on the music. Helped considerably by the 3rd row seats (again, thank you, Heidi!), I was able to see nuances and facial expressions and chord fingerings and all that good stuff. Very very very cool.

Mary Chapin is, for one, a phenomenal fingerstyle guitar player. You know how some people start chording a song and then talk over their playing to introduce it? That's kind of hard. It's like tapping your foot in time for 3 minutes while telling a story. I have done it to some success and also messed it up entirely. Both nights MCC finger-picked the gorgeous pattern to "I Have a Need For Solitude" (Youtube is here) while telling a fairly long introduction to the tune, without missing a beat. My eyes crossed because it looks simple BUT IT IS SO NOT SIMPLE! My new goal is to get that good at finger-picking something. Anything. Check in with me in 7 years.

Other stuff like watching one of my main guitar influences (I refuse to use the term "guitar hero" anymore, oops I just did), John Jennings, tear it up -- but then also seeing what scales he was using for some songs or what chord forms...that was awesome. There's a musical language being spoken by these great players that I am not fluent in, but starting to understand common phrases and techniques. That made me happy, too.

Ultimately, I enjoyed the stage presence and songwriting of someone who, while I've only met her briefly once, is one of the main people responsible for getting me going along my path. While there are much more active mentors in my life now like a Dan or a Susan or a Terri, when you're 15 and sitting in your room with an electric guitar wondering what you're playing it for, you need motivation, and I was fortunate enough to latch on to Mary Chapin at an early part of my musical growth. I had a good example set early.

And THAT, dear readers, is why I flew 2000 miles for a concert. Amen.

In Case You Needed The Reminder...

2010-08-05T11:09:00.000-07:00

Heavy Lifting

2010-08-04T11:03:00.000-07:00

This photo has nothing to do with this post.

Wheeew! When you're a workaholic, getting out of town for a mini-vacation is a test of conscience and will. I survived summer camp at Red Leaf, where all the campers kicked butt at their show and all of us staffers breathed a sigh of relief. Being in one locale for 3 weeks, 8 hours a day was weird. Some days I liked it. Some days I wondered why the scenery didn't change like it usually does out the window.

This weekend I saw Terri Hendrix play at the Cactus Cafe, always a fantastic show. I took about 8 photos and 1 turned out, which is on par for my ratio.

Tomorrow I fly to California for aforementioned vacation and tomorrow night I will be watching Shawn Colvin and Mary Chapin Carpenter tear it up in Saratoga. Pretty excited.

But first? We drive to Houston and play tonight! I love me some Main Street Crossing in Tomball...

Montana Ceramic Pig

2010-07-27T07:01:00.001-07:00

The things I'll do...and the things other people will do by association.

Impulse

2010-07-21T07:39:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you have to throw caution to the wind and do something spontaneous. My biggest hurdle in deciding to take my friend Heidi's offer of 2 spare tickets to 2 Mary Chapin Carpenter shows in California in 2 weeks was whether I wanted to coordinate the travel for myself. I coordinate travel for a living, so doing it for fun made me go "eck." But I have a flight and I am excited!

I haven't seen my No. 1 musical influence live since 2005. I am well overdue.

Susan Kerrville Interview

2010-07-20T05:44:00.000-07:00

A great interview with Susan, some insight into what makes Kerrville Folk Festival so cool, some new record thoughts, and then she says nice things about me at the end. :) Thanks, SG!

Ceramic Pig Update

2010-07-19T06:22:00.000-07:00

(Please review my state ceramic pig collection post before continuing, or you won't get it. You still might not get it, but at least you'll know what's going on and what the rules are).

Who knew it would be so hard? Who knew?

Ok, so for the record, on this last tour I had a list of states I had already acquired a ceramic pig from (New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming)...and then quite the list of new states (South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Montana which I had missed on the last tour). I was ready. Poised.

The first chance for pig buying was Montana, and since we had a leisurely day's drive with no gig at the end, we tried not one but TWO truck stops before leaving Billings where we had stayed. Nothing. But whatever, we had a lot of towns to go before Flathead Lake.

Livingston. Belgrade. Bozeman. Nothing. I even tried the biggest gift shop ever in one of those "gateway to Yellowstone" towns (I forget which)...the nice owner lady tried to convince me to buy a Grizzly Bear Bank. THAT IS NOT A PIGGY BANK AND IT DOES NOT SAY "MONTANA." No no no.

Susan was a huge sport for stopping so much.

About Bozeman I griped on Facebook that the hunt wasn't going so well. That's when Brad in New Braunfels, TX replied that he called the WalMart in Butte and they said they had them. Now we had a SCOUT! We stopped, found a giant souvenir section, and searched...but apparently the lady that told Brad they existed in the WalMart in Butte, MT...lied. There were no pigs. So I Facebooked that we were leaving Butte empty piggy banked, and once again a message from Brad...that Ross at Muralt's Truck Stop in Missoula had a Montana pig waiting at the counter for us. HECK YES! We walked in and Ross was off of work already, but his co-worker said, "You must be looking for a pig, huh?" Yes, yes we are. I bought Brad one too since he worked so hard for it.

There's video of this whole thing, I just need to edit it. In the meantime, look at the map-chart I made, it's very scientific.

South Dakota scored with a Deadwood pig (of course) and then my brother-in-law found a plain old South Dakota pig too, and I told him it counted since I was in the state the day before he found it.

Nebraska delivered as did Kansas. (We were in Iowa for a short time but did not gig there so I choose to not feel bad that I missed out on that one...next time). When we walked in the Nebraska truck stop and the souvenir shelf was front and center with two types of pigs on it, we got super giddy about it. I hope the security cameras got that and someone thought it was funny.

Not in Kansas anymore.

All in all a successful pig trip, thanks to Susan for stopping and Brad for the sleuthing!

Announcement

2010-07-18T06:37:00.000-07:00

On June 28th, 2010 I was named Employee of the Month by Susan in the Red Robin parking lot at the mall in Missoula, Montana.

I am Susan's only employee.

All Nite Drive Part 5

2010-07-17T14:37:00.000-07:00

It is most decidedly daytime now.

Let There Be Done

2010-07-17T14:03:00.001-07:00

Pretty sure I have signed off on final mixes for EP 2, also known as For & Against. We master and then the music part is done. The artwork is almost done. DONE, I SAY!

Ridiculous.

Texas Box Guitars

2010-07-16T07:01:00.000-07:00

Maybe I'll call it "The Burqueño." How New Mexican of me.

Ok, this is the COOLEST. Dan the Producer has had a Texas Box Guitar for at least over a year now, and I have been drooling over it because:

a) it's a guitar
b) it's got a license plate on it, which not only looks cool, but to me is a geographical reference, which I love (see also why I collect ceramic state truck stop pigs and hang maps on my wall for aesthetics).

When I moved this summer for the 47th time in 4 years, I found my old New Mexico license plate in a stack of crap and pondered what I could do with it that would be cool because I wasn't going to get rid of my first ever license plate.

Then the lightning bolt struck me, 2+2 came together (4), and I emailed Walter Morgan at Texas Box Guitars. Walter is the COOLEST, and he came by the music school to check on Dan's guitar (and Dan) and to show me the options for mine. We decided a black box would make the bright yellow stand out the most, and away Walter went to his magical guitar shop in Dripping Springs while I was driving around the country last month.

Probably the 2nd email I sent when we were back in town this weekend was to Walter to see when I could pick it up. As opposed to most other guitar buying experiences I've had, which has either been in a music store or on Craigslist, this was super enjoyable. Where else do you go to pick up a guitar made just for you and get offered a Coke and chat with the maker (and Walter's awesome better half, Susan) at their kitchen table? So fun.

It's a 4 string slide guitar, right now I've tuned it to open G, and Walter installs a pickup that sounds great. Love at first note! I'm going to have to study up on slide techniques this summer...I wish I knew someone who worked at a music school. Hm.

I suggest you all go check out Texas Box Guitars' website...they are super reasonably priced and if you have a plate that's just hanging around your house, this is a great way to make use of it.

The quote on TBG's website? "You can never have too many guitars." So true.

Home

2010-07-13T06:20:00.000-07:00

Phew. So my excuse this time is there ARE NO CELL TOWERS IN SOUTH DAKOTA. Or anything AT&T will pick up on, anyway. We already get warnings from them that we are "off network" too much, so I feared that maybe they had just decided to cut us off entirely. But no, it picked up somewhat in Nebraska, a little more in Kansas, and then when we were back in Texas I had 3G again and I rejoiced.

Anyway, while I was off the grid for 2 weeks, we had some good shows and I got to spend some time with my family. The coolest part of having a job you schedule and having a boss that is cool with family time is that...you can go to a family reunion and just book a gig to get there. That is why there is a photo of my and 563 of my most adoring fans, I mean, relatives at our gig in Spearfish, SD. Crow Peak Brewing was some good folks and also 3 blocks away from my aunt's house. I like that in a venue.

Michael, who designed the Jpo Shirt sweeping the nation, Mom, modeling it, and me, not wearing it because you should never wear your own shirt. The rules.

We spent some time in Winner and Colome, South Dakota for my Dad's memorial service. That's where he grew up, so we all gathered there and celebrated his life. I'm so glad I got to be there. Later that day a wind storm blew through and afterwards there was a double rainbow in the sky. I think it was fitting.

Let's see...after some time in the Black Hills, we headed to Omaha. When we were in Iowa the trailer kind of came off the hitch while we were driving 60 on 1-29. That was weird. We had driven for 400 miles already, so why it decided to do that 6 hours into the trip, we're not sure. Suz is a driving champ, pulled over right away, and proceeded to put it back on. No damage done. She's like her own AAA mechanic.

We finished off with 3 gigs in Kansas (where I saw MORE family in Hays! Yay!) and where I found out Lawrence is a cool town. The last show was in Lenexa (Kansas City), and then we saw a whole lot more of that view up there on the way home. I made up a rap about drinking water and not Diet Coke or tea or coffee ("Miss Hydration").

That's that...I'll finish off that "All Nite Drive" series I promise! Part 5 is right around the corner.

All Nite Drive Part 4

2010-06-28T19:53:00.001-07:00

(Part 3 is the previously posted Coffee disaster. I prefer to think of it as an intermission).

All Nite Drive Part 2

2010-06-26T12:32:00.000-07:00

It's Getting Political In Here

2010-06-26T11:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was all about promotion as The Boss did 3 radio interviews to promote the string of Montana gigs this weekend. Our first stop was a station with super nice people, and one of them informed us that the station hadn't played the Dixie Chicks since "The Incident" in 2003. Talk about a grudge. I AM NOT EVEN going to get into whether anyone thinks it was right, whether anyone thinks with hindsight it was right, whether it was geographically right or timed right yadda yadda. I have come around to the fact that most of the artists I respect have some of the same and some different opinions than I do, and that's fine. Radio, however, seems to hold a grudge for a while, maybe even to the point where the reason for the grudge is long gone and it's a simple matter of, "We don't play them."

Anyway, I was wondering how the fact that the writer of one of the Chicks' biggest hits was standing in their "No Dixie Chicks Zone" was going to affect anything. But everyone was super nice and the DJs told Susan how that song affected them at various points in their life, which is always cool to hear. So it was open arms for the songwriter, for sure.

I was relieved about that, but it made me wonder where the disconnect comes from for some of these long term haters. A songwriter writes it, studio musicians with families to feed play on it, publicists from Oklahoma, or Washington, or Vermont promote it...the artists tour with it, and in this case the songwriters tour with it, too. The merch girls sell CDs from it. It's a giant ecosystem and to blacklist the Chicks for exercising their free speech seven years ago affects a lot more people down the line than those 3 women. It's like boycotting Arizona Iced Tea which is made in New York because you don't like Arizona. Blah.

So there's as political as I'm going to get. I don't dwell on politics too much. It wastes my mind space, and it's a better job for other people with other dispositions. I am a big fan of being aware of who and what your actions affect, though...and thinking a little bit ahead past your kneejerk biases. Real people's jobs are at stake here. We're all trying to make a living by working hard, which is about as American as I can define.

Switching gears, it was over to Montana Radio Cafe for a lovely hour on Scott's front porch. Scott broadcasts with his own station from his gorgeous farm outside Bigfork, MT. You can stream his station live online right here. Scott plays great stuff!

We play The Raven right along the shore of Flathead Lake tonight, and it's a full moon! Should be fun.

And long live the Dixie Chicks.

Coffee Disaster on the Road

2010-06-22T14:57:00.000-07:00

First accident of the tour...

Made it to Montana

2010-06-22T14:31:00.000-07:00

Susan can back up the trailer really fast these days.

We made it to Montana! We narrowly avoided a tornado in Billings. It ripped off roofs of buildings and stuff, but by the time we got there 4 hours later or so to spend the night, all was quiet and there were just puddles left. Strange.

Now we're at Flathead Lake for a few days. I'm about to rip myself away from updating and booking emails to commune with nature, and maybe play the ukulele I hauled up here 2500 miles from home.

Why Oh Wyo

2010-06-21T08:29:00.000-07:00

All right, above is the moose photo. I added some helpful scientific labeling so you all could see exactly where the moose were. The light was bad, but they were close. Then they walked by even closer. We were very quiet.

We drove through the Medicine Bow Mountains to do a radio spot in Saratoga, WY before the shows this weekend and while the weather was lovely, if we had come a week or 2 earlier I would have been crying for mercy because I am a cold weather wimp. I am also a hot weather wimp which is why I am so glad to be in this part of the country right now because it like 102 in Texas. I have a very specific temperature range I am happy with, apparently.

Susan busted out her new Voyage Air Guitar for the Bigfoot 99 Radio interview, as she is an endorsed artist for the company and it FOLDS IN HALF. More on that later, but it sounds great and here it is with her duct taped pants. Artistic? I think so.

We played at the Friendly Store in Centennial, WY, which is a town of 60 people and then everyone else who comes in from towns nearby...so we had a pretty packed place. Always fun, though the space to dance backs right up against the stage, so I had to run interference and be all bouncer-like to try and keep the dancers from knocking the microphone and knocking Susan's teeth out. She still got popped in the face once but no harm done. Super fun show.

The next day we headed over the mountain again to Saratoga, where some friends of ours put on an awesome festival IN THEIR FRONT YARD. ON THE RIVER. It was amazing. Even more amazing the yard had been full of water a few days before due to some flooding, but it receded just in time for some music.

There was a noise ordinance curfew, so while Susan and I were playing "Wide Open Spaces," the police apparently told then to shut down the sound system. It was all very polite, but it was my first time having a show ended due to the cops. Good times!

We slept and slept and slept and then drove and drove and drove so we are in Billings (narrowly missing a tornado). Today we make it all the way to Flathead Lake. Google it, it's super far up there. Yay!

Headed to Montana!

2010-06-20T12:29:00.000-07:00

A more in depth post soon...but we had a great great time in Wyoming
and and now we have a ridiculous drive from Saratoga to Flathead Lake,
MT. That's exciting. As Susan said, "We don't have to talk to anyone
for 2 days!". Let the silence be golden.

So Far So Great

2010-06-17T10:13:00.000-07:00

Well I've lost track of days already. Oh well. I'll just blog when I feel like it, like usual.

We are in Centennial, WY. Susan played a fun show in Arvada, CO at the Old Towne Pickin' Parlor, a killer music store where you can play anything hanging on the walls, and there are a LOT of cool guitars on the walls. I fell in love with a little small-bodied Martin, and checked the price tag: $8995. So I tried my hardest to sell $90,000 worth of merchandise to earn my 10% commission so I could buy the guitar. I fell a little short. Next time.

Then we stayed with the parents of my college roomie, Beth (who is now Dr. Beth, yay for smart roommates!), and Beth's mom made us puffy pancakes with gluten free flour. Something about that flour makes them huge but very light. The only pancake where you feel like floating after eating it.

After a general car maintenance check, we left Denver and headed up to Wyoming yesterday. It was errand day, so we stopped and bought a new power inverter for the car because the old one had broken, and I am pretty antsy and useless in a car without the ability to plug in my laptop. Susan understands this, thankfully.

We also stopped at a Guitar Center and I got a "how to play the ukulele" book. Suz might regret that later, haha. Or she might just make me drive the whole way to cut down on my practice time.

Upon arriving in Centennial, we were there no more than 20 minutes when the dogs went ballistic and we went outside to find 2 moose (mooses, meese, mice, mooi) in the yard, no more than 20 yards away. My first wild moose sighting. They walked by us and went along their moosey way. Very cool.

Today is a day off and I am parked in the hotel room, about to do some booking and edit the great "All Nite Drive" epic film, sure to win me and Oscar and skyrocket us to Youtube fame and fortune. Or something.

Day 2 and 3

2010-06-14T22:59:00.000-07:00

Sunrise somewhere in West Texas.

All right so this counts for 2 blogs, since we did our Houston to Taos drive and if I wasn't driving, I was sleeping or talking deliriously to Susan about something silly. It was surprisingly...not bad. We totaled it at 22 hours total, including a stop in Fort Worth to pick up our friends Amy and Cheryl, and a 1.5 hour stopover in Amarillo...since we left Houston at about 10 PM on Sunday and got to Taos at 7 PM (8 PM TX time) on Monday. The gig started at 7, but luckily Susan is a pro at putting on makeup while I negotiate mountain passes from Cimarron to Taos. Gorgeous!

Happy to be in New Mexico!

Silly videos forthcoming. Onward.

June Tour Day 1

2010-06-13T17:52:00.000-07:00

30 Day Tour...Day 1

2010-06-13T12:45:00.001-07:00

Susan backstage at Kerrville

All right. Let's see if I can do a blog post a day for 30 days. Don't be sad if I don't, but let's all have a party if I do.

We started the weekend at the Kerrville Folk Festival, where Susan played a kick butt set on the mainstage. And then we slept, and then we drove to Galveston and Susan played with Mark Jungers and Matt Harlan at The Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe. Fun!

Arkansas!

Now we are in Houston for a show tonight and then we will hop in the car and drive for 17 hours to Taos. I stayed up until 4 AM and then slept as long as I could to jack up my sleep schedule. We'll see how it goes...

Mini-Procrastination

2010-06-11T05:29:00.000-07:00

Old Crazy Eye.

I call it mini-procrastination, and it is the most evil kind. Right now I probably should be packing, or going to Wal-Mart for provisions for the trek west or something (2 yoke, 4 oxen, and 14 pounds of butter). Except I am still staring at my inbox and my phone.

I'm like the guy in Groundhog Day, where every morning I wake up freaked out that I am SO BEHIND because booking is like this: you book one gig, you do a little dance, then you look at the rest of the empty days on the calendar and you slump a little. So even though I just booked a gig for March 2011, and we are discussing plans as far out as May 2011, I am freaking out about July 2010. There is no prolonged joy in this job if you are a perfectionist mini-procrastinator.

I say mini-procrastination because it's not like I put this stuff off for weeks or days. I chip away at it and that's what you're supposed to do. You make calls, you email people, you wait.

I DID spend most of today thinking that I should be getting around to working (the joys of working at home, I guess). So as the day wore on I convinced myself I was soooo behind, that there were no more gigs ever to be had ever, and that I might as well apply at Starbucks.

When I finally sat down, sorted emails, made some calls, checked up on things...I realized that I am where I am supposed to be, can't humanly do more, and am doing ok.

But that didn't stop my little mini-procrastination fit from FREAKING ME OUT. Sigh. And I will wake up tomorrow morning and have the same freak out, even though I worked all afternoon, hence I am SO Bill Murray in Groundhog Day.

But this is not a complaint blog, no. Because I looove the little fireworks of successes I get every day. And the connections I get to make in my brain between maps and miles and venues and dates. I know a lot of jobs don't give instant gratification like that, and I like me some instant and I like my instant NOW.

I just thought I'd remind myself in blog form that IT WILL ALL WORK OUT like it always does so that when I wake up tomorrow I'll chill.

Excited to head to Montana! It's hot here.

Overdub

2010-06-10T07:49:00.000-07:00

And 11th hour overdub is not uncommon in the record-making process, I've discovered. Luckily that just means Dan and I get to hang out, talk geekery, and play bass.

We sent off our next round of mixing tweaks, and I'll get more roughs to listen to when I'm traveling. The car stereo is going to get a workout!

I should go to bed.

2010-06-08T01:54:00.000-07:00

It's 1 AM. I'm awake. (Is that a song? I think it's a song).

I photo'd and video'd a recording session at Red Leaf for my buddies in the band Blue J last week. I am going to make a charming witty thing out of it, but it's 1 AM and maybe I should start that in the morning.

While I decide, in the meantime check out the newly added on studios at Red Leaf. This is where EP 3 will be made...

Album Artwork

2010-06-07T10:19:00.000-07:00

Emily Shirley, my favoritest graphic designer who rocked the artwork on The Early Year is working on the art for For & Against, and she came up with a pretty cool idea for it. It involves giving me homework, but when your homework is to DOODLE, I'm ok with that. So I've been doodling things that may or may not have anything to do with the songs on the EP. (Most of them do). It's been fun! For kicks, I did a little word art, too...looks a little something like this:

The Big Prep

2010-06-06T10:02:00.000-07:00

To pack: aviator glasses for ultimate cool.

One week from yesterday we will be embarking on our 4-week long tour to New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, and Kansas. And who know what else I will book between here and now. (Show me some love, Nebraska!)

This means I am not yet starting to pack, but I am thinking about it. In earnest. There's the whole inner battle of...pack enough but NOT TOO MUCH. The last thing you want to do is move your own crap around for a month because it's in the way and no, I did not need to bring my t-shirt commemorating the 16th annual Fiery Foods Show 2007. My mantra is If You Forget It, You Can Probably Buy It. (Note to self: does not apply to Macbooks. Must remember that).

The first part of the drive will be a bear, and I intend to make a short film about it. No title yet but the subtitle is, "Seventeen Hours In The Car From Houston To Taos." Mmhmm. We try to avoid routings like this, but sometimes stuff just lines up and you do it. So we're going to leave a gig in north Houston on Sunday night and drive all night to Taos for a Monday show. I expect delirious footage. Or boring footage.

We're also going to try an homage to Rachael Ray on this tour and attempt "Two Folk-singers Eat On $25.00 a Day Total." I think it's doable if we shop right, avoid convenience stores, and plan ahead (what?). It will probably be about 4000 times healthier, too.

You, dear readers, will become intimately familiar with the per unit cost of a box of Luna Bars, that's for sure.

Packing notes to self:
Something to read
Gum
Chargers for everything
Ukelele
Aux cable for iPod
Hoodie for Montana weather
Some other stuff....

Kerrville Folk Festival Pt. 1

2010-06-01T07:53:00.000-07:00

First of all, my friend Ashley informed me that this weekend (May 29th to be exact) was my 4th anniversary of moving to Texas. I'm glad she keeps track for me, because I had forgotten. I spent the anniversary in style, for sure...

Festival preparation: lots of water, sunglasses, Gold Bond Medicated Powder (it makes you all tingly!). Check.

The Kerrville Folk Festival is in its 39th year and is pretty much The End All of Folk Festivals. Thousands of people camp for the 3-week festival, and tons of great artists play. It's also home to one of the most elite songwriting competitions, New Folk, which Susan judged this year. Can you see how she's judging you through the camera lens?

I had a pretty great time for the 2 days we were there. After New Folk, Sara Hickman took the stage for the children's show, which made you want to get up and dance to tunes like "Pirate Tae Kwan Do" ("AAARRRRR! HI-YAH!").

Saturday night on the main stage we saw Producer Dan and his smokin' band porterdavis. So great! They brought the grit, in case there was soo much tie-dye and patchouli in the air.

Sunday was another round of New Folk judging. So interesting to watch the process and then compare our picks to the judges. I think they did a great job and it was fun to see all 32 contestants one after the other. That night was a big one, as Terri Hendrix was playing and then the Indigo Girls made their Kerrville debut.

So I was wandering around and found Terri before her set, and was put on harmonica duty for the night to make sure her harps made it onstage. She and Lloyd play about 46 different instruments so it was going to be, as Terri put it, a "melee" of a set change.

Terri introduced me to Amy Ray, folk royalty, and I said hi and tried to be chill. Cool like my Gold Bond Medicated Powder. After a while I just had to say something to Amy...and I will never forget what I finally said.

"Excuse me, do you know where Terri is?" Haha. Smooth. She was very nice.

Terri and Lloyd rocked their set; the Kerrville crowd is very devoted to the Hendrix Experience. Then the Indigo Girls shared the stage with Lloyd for a bunch of tunes and Terri also played harmonica on quite a few and sang. I was so proud and thrilled. When they launched into "Galileo" and "Closer to Fine," which everybody knows and sings along to, and are some of the cornerstone tunes of the modern singer-songwriter pantheon, I got a little verklempt.

Not a bad way to mark four years here. We stayed up until about 4 AM wandering the camp sites and playing guitar and watching the jams. And now my sleep schedule is most decidedly off. I have just enough time to recover until Part 2 of Kerrville in June 11th, when Susan takes the main stage for her set! Life's good and I am fortunate for the company I keep.

Find the Mojo

2010-05-28T21:42:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, various self-help advice tells you to act the part of what you are trying to achieve, or visualize it, or do something to kind of make what you desire become tangible for you while you try to achieve it.

I have to get tough when I'm booking, seeking out places and knowing I walk in to the situation with a winning hand, and treat people accordingly. Polite, but accordingly. So one day I dressed like a hood trainrobber.

And then I had the gold rimmed aviators/black fedora look. Which is surprisingly handy for keeping things on your head when you have nowhere else to put them. Like an atlas.

Those photos were about 2 weeks apart, I just happened to be wearing the same shirt, I swear. I don't have a lucky booking shirt.

I also acquired a shiny gold cap gun to go with the 2nd look, just for effect. (None of this would have gone over well at my old government job, especially the fake gun, haha).

May May May

2010-05-24T20:08:00.000-07:00

BLOGGING! Yes I still do it, just infrequently. What has been going on?

- I have been booking in earnest to complete our June/July tour from Texas to Montana to South Dakota to back. I have never booked in South Dakota before, and while it is one of my home states, it's...big, and maybe not so hot on folk music. But the thing about a good singer-songwriter is they fit in anywhere, you just have to find a stage and some ears. I'm working on finding the stages at the moment.

Look real close and you'll see a scar on Susan's arm.

We didn't really know until earlier this month if Susan's arm would be out-of-state giggable by June, but she is doing SO GREAT with the playing. You would not even know that she had surgery to put in 2 plates and 11 pins and had her wrist put back together a mere 3 months ago. Bones are amazing, because clearly they will snap if you move them wrong...but they also seem to go back together and get back in the game pretty fast. Humans are hearty.

- We are probably on mixing round...3? We sent our tracks to Phil in Dallas who mixed my last EP...he is great to work with and we just bounce back and forth...he sends a mix, we say, "MORE MANDOLIN!" and then he does that and we say, "GOOD!" He does an amazing job, as I liken sending a bunch of rough tracks (as many as 23 files for one tune) to sending someone a box of paint colors and telling them to have at it. Then they give you something using all the colors and you edit it. Fascinating.

- The artwork is coming along, too - I can't wait to share it. Emily is working on it once again after she did a bang-up job with The Early Year. I will reveal that the title of EP 2 is...are you paying attention?

THE TITLE OF EP 2 IS...

For & Against

Ta da!

- What else? The first weekend of the Kerrville Folk Festival is coming up and we will be there...the line up is pretty amazing, with Producer Dan's band porterdavis, Sara Hickman, Terri Hendrix, and the Indigo Girls. Heck yes. I'll take pictures. And blog more.

Twaiwah!

2010-05-18T09:33:00.001-07:00

Mixing It Up

2010-05-02T11:25:00.000-07:00

Katie Sings!

2010-05-01T09:38:00.000-07:00

Finally getting around to editing some old recording footage...yay Katie!

New MCC!

2010-04-27T10:18:00.000-07:00

Every time a new Mary Chapin Carpenter record has come out, from the time "A Place In the World" debuted when I was 14 and in 8th grade...I have bought it on the release day (good grief, 13 years ago). A physical copy! With liner notes and artwork! It's refreshing since I do so much downloading these days.

The Age of Miracles has arrived and it is lovely.

Competition and Such

2010-04-27T09:27:00.000-07:00

Busy! Wild and Crazy! Ok, maybe just busy. Here's a fun tale:

After we had done our deal at the Hallettsville Songwriter Serenade and then watched some incredibly talented fiddlers...fiddle, we decided to head back to the fairgrounds because there was a CARNIVAL set up next door. And maybe catch some of the closing band's set in the hall that night. So we roll up and get in the hall and the band was just...packing up. So we headed over to the carnival and found the ticket booth...closed. And so then we headed to the cotton candy booth and they said...they weren't selling any more. Those are the kind of wild and crazy times we have.

So the songwriting contest was fun, and I brought in a bunker bomb of a lead guitar player and background vocalist, hehheh. We practiced on the tailgate a lot. It adds to our cred, or something. That and the sunglasses.

It was super fun and I hydrated beyond what even Celine Dion does and I warmed up in the parking lot by wandering through the cars singing "Eee eee eee zzz zzz zzz" and making people think perhaps they should call the cops to collect me. I wouldn't have changed a thing about our performance, except maybe I would have won it haha. Which is fine to feel, because as my wise friend pointed out, you don't enter those competitions to not win. But 7th place out of 25 is not bad at all, and the hang time with the other great songwriters over the weekend was awesome.

Time to go practice some more on a tailgate.

The Thing About the Gaga

2010-04-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I've heard it a lot. My friend Jamie summed it up when I saw her last...she told me, "I wasn't sure if all your Facebooking and tweeting about Lady Gaga was true fandom or if you were being snarky and sarcastic...but I think you're really a fan."

Yeah, it's true. The diehard folkie likes the Gaga. I've always had an ear for some pop goodness, but I usually successfully ignore and/or ridicule most of who and what is put out there into the mainstream and set up to be labeled as having "viable artistic credibility." I get it. It's manufactured.

There is the road to performing which takes you to 4-hour gigs in front of the grocery store check out line (done), being the wandering minstrel in 100 degree heat for an outdoor market (done), playing in dive bars from Socorro, NM to Winston-Salem, NC (done). That is a path that one can argue with some hubris and annoying attitude that is hard earned and respectable.

Then there are a lot of people these days that look good and sing okay, and either through the virtues of American Idol or their mom being on Wife Swap (you know who you are), they can get noticed enough to where the big label machine sucks them in and starts making them a pop star. Most of us can see through it, and I think that it's fine. I've been known to rock out to a Ke$ha tune, but I've also seen her SNL performance where she is clearly questioning every decision her label handlers made from the the astronaut dancers to the U.S. flag cape. Weird.

Anyway, I find Gaga to be the opposite of all of this. Some stealth Youtubing (and I won't do it for you) will reveal pre-Gaga playing in NYC clubs back in the day (which probably means 4 years ago because she's only 23). There's some recital footage of her rocking out on a grand piano, too. So she has the musical goods.

The fact that my friends and I have horrifically long conversations about what sucks us in to the Lady Gaga phenomenon means she is doing something right. I'm kind of up on pop culture but I don't watch TV. I have to seek things out to see them, and what made me seek out Lady Gaga at first was just that she dressed weirdly. It was the double whammy of a coffee filter type dress followed by a glittered crustacean tiara that got me hooked. This was crazy.

And I read a little more, and Gaga is about building her community of fans. Not just building up fans to adore HER, but to build a community that people can be a part of and interact with. Not everyone's hanging out with Lady Gaga, but I would bet my lobster tiara that friendships and relationships and networking contacts have been born among her "little monsters" as she calls them that might not have existed otherwise. She promotes that community, and it makes sense. Is THAT part manufactured too? Doesn't matter because it filters down to something that actually works, as opposed to something that makes people go, "huh?" and not do anything.

Lastly, it's more about the whole performance art thing than just the music. I don't think we're used to a pop artist that lives and breathes her persona 24/7. I think these type of rock stars used to exist, but I've seen way too many tabloid photos of Britney dressed in sweat pants in line at the gas station to have any illusions about "real" pop stars. The Gaga, though? I don't really know what she looks like these days. I don't really care. I want to know what she will be wearing next, and what will happen on her next TV show. She makes me think about the role of a performer and an artist. And when it's all backed up by good pop that sounds awesome cranked up in the car?

That makes me a fan.

Achieving Goals That Don't Exist

2010-04-22T21:53:00.000-07:00

Last week at Gruene we thought we might have to do one last song, and the appropriate last song is of course called "Shut This Place Down," which I have not yet played with Susan, so I wrote the chords down real quick. Sharpie.

I have had flashes of an incredible time during these past couple of months of an incredibly tough situation. Like I posted earlier, no one wants their boss to break an arm (unless you have a jerk boss but hey, that's not my territory), but especially their boss who makes a living by using their arm a lot. The strum is coming back, I can see the progress with physical therapy already. And I for one cannot wait for Susan Gibson to return to full strumming form.

But, the lemonade of the situation is I have pushed myself on the guitar front lately way more than I know I would have if this whole thing had not come up. Since guitar is the musical thing I have been doing the longest, since I was a wee 11 year old, I have always felt pretty good about it. But you always compare yourself to others and think you're behind in the pack just by virtue of hesitation and some kind of inhibiting humility (or maybe that's just me).

Having to step up and learn 25 or so songs to be professionally performable up to the standards of me, Susan, and my standards for how good I think Susan is...was a toughie. After I started getting the progressions and charts down and then the tempos right, I was scared of the nuances that rhythm players throw in to their songs to make them theirs. Anyone with some skill can play a decent G C D progression, but only Susan can play it with the picking and strum style that is her own, and I have mine, and so does Bob Dylan. It has been an interesting balance of trying to pick up as much of Susan's style as possible, and then knowing when to just allow the tune to be a Susan song played how I would do it. I think I'm walking the line all right. At least, Susan has not thrown her guitar stand at me in disgust. Yet.

I also found I like the role of being a sideperson (derivative of the general term, "sideman" haha). It's different when you roll up to a gig and all you have to worry about is your guitar tone, and it's someone else's job to sing, banter, worry about who in the crowd cares and doesn't, etc. It's a different role. Do I like it more than performing my own stuff? No, but it's apples and oranges. Give me both, please.

So the goal that didn't exist...the title of this post. I never ever would have ever EVER planned on this situation, or the revelation into my guitar world to happen in such a short time. I think that's when some of our best learning happens, when you have to step up and make things happen to keep a train on its track.

So anyway...I don't know how long this gig will last, or what other gigs it will open me up to, but I am probably going to add "Steadiest Right Hand In the West" to my business card, har har.

Onward.

Feelin' the Love

2010-04-19T21:12:00.000-07:00

Last night we had a benefit to raise some funds for Susan's broken arm bills at Gruene Hall, one of my most favorite places to be, and now luckily, to play. When we knew we had it billed as "Susan and Friends," we'd thought we'd shoot some emails out to a bunch of people we'd like to see and hear, and hope that a couple of them were in town and free to come play the show with us.

Turns out, everyone one of Susan's amazing peers that we asked...said yes. Hence we had quite the amazing bill with Patrice Pike, Walt Wilkins and the Mystiqueros, Tina Mitchell Wilkins, Michael O'Connor, Shelley King, Mark Jungers, Elizabeth Wills, and Carolyn Wonderland. For those of you who are not in the Texas music loop...these people are Texas music GOLD. All of them. The show was amazing. And we had to cram them all into half hour sets, and the amazing thing is after 8 acts over a 4 hour period, we were only running 10 minutes behind schedule. Not only are Susan's people talented, but PUNCTUAL. Be still my task manager heart.

Here are some photos...thanks to every one of you all who came, threw some cash in the tip jar, and had a good time.

Patrice

Walt, Tina, Brian, John, and Bill

Michael O!

Did I mention it was PACKED?

Shelley, Elizabeth, and Suz harmonize...

Mark!

Shelley and Carolyn and a full house.

And now Carolyn has made me want a lapsteel. I need
to pick an instrument and stick to it.

Fare Thee Well, Sprinter

2010-04-18T08:47:00.000-07:00

Last month we cleaned out the Sprinter van, as it was also a casualty in Susan's accident that broke her arm (which a splint on now and is doing well). Unfortunately, as Susan put it...while the arm is fixable the van isn't. Sigh.

I only had about a year and a half as full-on van passenger (and even graduated to driver sometimes), but I saw a lot of the country from its giant windows, and dropped a lot of stuff in the wheel well that I had to contort myself to claim (evidence here).

Susan had quite a few years with it, and it was big enough in personality that the only name it needed was "The Van." Everyone knew when we had arrived at the gig, and many times people even knew when we were en route to the gig. The Van was hard to miss.

People are always curious about that type of vehicle when you pull up in it and pile out with 3 dogs, 3 girls, a PA system, 2 - 4 guitars, a banjo, merch...and makeup.

"Do you all LIVE in that?" No.
"Do you all sleep in it?" No, just Susan and her dogs.
"Is that a couch?" Yes.
"What kind of gas mileage?" 26. Booyah!

The next touring vehicle option? For now it's an Element, but it doesn't hold both gear and dogs. So I'm sure Susan will know it when she sees it. And it will become just as big a part of her road life as this Sprinter has been. And the miles put on the next one will be filled with just as much laughter, music, talk radio, dog water spills, dashboard knickknack collections, and teeth-clenching to get to the gig on time as The Van had.

And very time I see a Fed-Ex van, I'll feel a little nostalgic.

South Plains College

2010-04-17T02:18:00.000-07:00

We had the honor of going to South Plains College in Levelland, TX at the start of the month so Susan could talk to some of their classes and so we could perform on Thursday Night Live, their monthly student-produced TV show (a la Austin City Limits). This school has the coolest music program ever...it produces working musicians who have studied everything from sound, lighting, arranging, and performing. You can get a degree in BANJO. Heck yes. Our good friend Kate Hearne goes to South Plains, so we hung out with her all day and saw some classes.

Susan talked to a couple of class sessions, we played some and then talked about everything from writing to booking gigs to owning your own business.

Kate plays on Thursday Night Live like a rock star. We snuck a peek at the backstage dressing rooms for the student performers...

This is the girls' room.

And this was the boys'. We thought this was funny.

Then we had a grand old time playing and afterwards, I snapped this photo of a million little Susans everywhere. I wonder if they could sing in harmony with each other.

I don't regret my life path one bit, though if I had known about South Plains when I was college hunting, I might have ended up there. Trade school for musicians, much like my "folk music grad school" at Red Leaf -- gives you such an advantage when you start trying to make a living.

Lately

2010-04-16T08:35:00.001-07:00

Photography by Maurice

Ok, it's been forever. Part of it is that Blogger changed their publishing ways and my blog is messed up. Hence you are reading this at the non-normal location. Anyone who is any good at Wordpress design or whatever, or knows how the heck I can publish to jpo.com through this new Blogger ruledom, let me know. Blah. I'll fix it, I will.

But! Things have been fun. The Boss is recovering and also playing some slick electric guitar. I have gotten pretty comfy with all the tunes I have learned, which means I don't have a mini-panic attack every time we start playing one to make sure I am doing it right. I am a perfectionist. It causes mini-panic attacks.

We played a cool event in Yorktown, which as far as I can tell, is in the middle of nowhere...called Yorkstock. They made awesome t-shirts and we played on a flatbed trailer, which made a great stage. We should just haul one everywhere.

The Golden Light Cantina in Amarillo was one of my favorite shows lately, because I had finally hit my stride with all the material and John Lerma, drummer with the mostest, was so fun to play with. And because there's stuff to read on the walls when you're setting up.

We had quite a long row of songswappers at the Blue Light in Lubbock...there's Red down at the end, and then Brandon, and then Rode, and then Susan...who brought the lead guitar cred to the stage. Very fun. It is weird to songswap with 4 artists so you're playing only 25% of the time. I tried not to do anything distracting like picking my nose while we waited.

It's wildflower season in Texas, so the drives have been, as I like to say, disgustingly beautiful. I hope it's legal to pick one for the car, because I did.

Having a Blast, Kids

2010-03-17T13:32:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Winker for the photo!

My callouses are AWESOME right now. Thought I would share. I've been cramming and Susan and I have been rehearsing over the past few weeks so that I can play a full gig of her tunes and make them sound decent. So far, it's working. Now, Gibson over there throws in a lot of nuanced little tricks that deceive the casual observer but when you try and play them yourself you realize...Susan is a really awesome guitarist. So I've been picking up some tricks and some I'm just leaving there to lay in the road until her arm is back to strumming because, she does crazy cool stuff and only she can do it. So bow down to the guitarista in a blue cast, please. You can't keep a guitar nerd down, so Suz has been fingerpicking on a Gibson hollowbody electric and it's been super fun. We're all going to come out of this with a lot more music theory in our heads. I love it.

My car is now officially the FolkMobile.

So over the past few weeks I've gotten to be the right arm on a ton of cool stages with a ton of cool players. When you'd ask what are the venerable venues here in Texas to play, no doubt the names Gruene Hall, Luckenbach, and Saxon Pub would come up. We've played them all this week. When you ask who are some of the coolest, most reputable musicians in Texas these days, you'd probably see Terri Hendrix, Michael O'Connor, Adam Carroll, Mark Jungers, David Carroll, and The Mystiqueros on the list. We've played with them all over the past few weeks, too. Hot dang.

Everyone's been so cool and supportive, the gigs have flown by. Except the last half hour in Marble Falls when the temperature dropped about 20 degrees and we all started shivering. But that was fun, too. Thanks to my buddy Havilah for playing with us and selling the merch, too. I haven't figured out how to strum and sell a CD yet.

With The Mystiqueros at the Saxon.

Terri soundchecking for the Sunday afternoon songswap at Luckenbach.

Susan picks with Adam Carroll and Mark Jungers at Gruene Hall.

And with all of that, Dan and I still managed to meet to mix some of EP 2. Which is coming along quite nicely and probably in the 80% done zone, not to jinx myself. So fun!

That's that...we have a week off or so. I have more songs to learn. The weather is nice. Something called SXSW is happening this week. I might just nap.

This blog has moved

2010-03-15T16:24:00.001-07:00

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Hope Diamond

2010-03-09T09:27:00.001-08:00

UniTunes in Houston

2010-03-08T07:26:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I've been in a cave prepping for the big gig on Saturday night, whereupon it was Susan's return to the stage, cast in tow, and I was playing guitar for her. Which is a big deal because she is one of my favorite musicians on the planet. We shared the show with Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines. Who, as most of you know, are two of my other favorite musicians on the planet. Eek.

Except by the time we were driving to the gig we had prepared up the wazoo and I wasn't nervous because when you do your homework you don't have to be. So there was that.

We started off with our musical theater number, a 3 handed, 2 personed, 1 guitarred version of "Perfect World."

After that we sailed through the set. Susan is a champ and picked up some harmonica prowess and also got good with a shaker. I imagine by the time she gets her cast off she'll be proficient at about 14 new instruments because she's good like that.

Terri joined us for "Lovely When You Cry" and my own "For and Against" which was NIFTY...

and then Lloyd came onstage too and we had a grand time finishing out the set. And then we got up to sing with Terri on her set for "Hole In My Pocket" and "Wind Me Up." And then it was over.

And I was glad I did my homework.

Thanks to Susan for the shot as her guitar player. Dang.

Dan the Producer once told me about a basketball coach who would make his team run laps after they won games, because the best reward for a job done well is to keep working on what you do. So it's back to the geetar and charts today. More shows this weekend! Tomball, Marble Falls, and Luckenbach oh my!

March Madness!

2010-03-03T09:14:00.000-08:00

Hmmm. Best laid plans to blog more have gone awry, for a little bit. It's March! Hooray!

This week I have spent some time with an electric guitar and a loud amp, figuring out all the Mary Chapin Carpenter solos I used to be able to play in high school and college. I could probably compile a comprehensive songbook of her entire catalog if I tried. The good news is practicing because it's fun is back in style in my world. Rock.

Excited for the gig in Houston on Saturday. Maybe I'll sell some t-shirts. The first round has gone out to all the pre-orderers, and if people send me their photo wearing a Jpo shirt, I'll make sure they are famous. Just like...

HEATHER! Aka Lyrical Venus! She's live every Tuesday on KRUU-FM in Fairfield, IA. Check it:

Good from the Other

2010-02-22T21:40:00.000-08:00

Um, ok. So to lighten up the mood from that last post, I gotta say...whoa.

When I was a spunky bright-eyed and bushy-tailed 23-year-old...a whole 4 years ago, I packed up and moved to Austin to see about the music business based on a few things, but one of the main ones being that both Susan Gibson and Terri Hendrix hung around the Central Texas area and used it as their home base. I figured there was good stuff in the water if those two chose to be here.

And here we are, 2010 and the next show on the books for me is playing guitar for Susan while she gives her broken arm a rest, and she happens to be sharing the bill with Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines. So I'm going to stop blogging now and go practice guitar. Lucky for me, I've been playing a bunch of these Susan tunes for a while, and I picked up a big chunk of my strumming style from her.

Luck = Preparation + Opportunity.

Life is weird and wonderful.

Uncle, 2010! Uncle!

2010-02-19T21:54:00.000-08:00

All right, I call a re-do on this year. Let's just all start over. Whine whine, ok I'm over it.

I tend to shy away from personal blog posts. I know I know, it seems like I detail every truck stop and gig booking in excess, but that still leaves out a lot of what makes me tick, believe it or not. So I figure it's time to spill a little bit about 2010 so we can all move on and get moving on a real year.

Some of you know, some of you don't, but my Dad passed away on January 1st. It wasn't unexpected but it wasn't expected either, the timing and the occurrence. He had been sick for a while, his quality of life was not what he deserved. For this I am grateful that he is in a way better place. His family here is not mourning what happened, we are just missing him a whole lot. I feel like I'm too young to lose my Dad, but everyone's had different things happen to them in their lives and no one is too young or old for anything.

Because of this, every day this year is the first one of this new reality in my life. Not only the big deals like Dad's birthday or Father's Day, but the first February 19th without my dad. The first February 20th. My friends have been patient and understanding. I work and hang out with good people.

So there's that. And then this past weekend another big part of my life was shaken up pretty hard.

I was in Austin to see Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines play at the Cactus Cafe. It was an awesome show. I had a great time. I walked to my car. I noticed I had a voicemail from a minute prior. It was Susan the Boss - she had gone to La Grange (about an hour from Austin) to sing at her friend Elizabeth's gig at the Bugle Boy. I called her back, she had just wrecked the van in La Grange. She thought her arm was broken. I told her to call 911.

I drove like a responsible driver who just had to be somewhere an hour away ASAP and met her at the ER. And there were x-rays, and when your boss who plays guitar for a living ends up with x-rays like this, you start to question what is going to happen to a lot of things.

Fast forward to today, just so I don't leave you in suspense, but Susan's got 2 plates and 11 pins in her arm and wrist. She's expected to fully recover but it's going to be a few months. She's on the mend and already feeling tons better since her bones aren't moving around anymore. A lot of self-employed musicians don't have health insurance, this case included, so I got real good at fundraising really fast. People are generous and kind. They love what Susan brings to the world and so many people have stepped up, it's been incredible. I fully believe she will come out of this experience better than she could ever expect. And more metallic.

I've been overwhelmed at the kindness people have shown me, too -- they know I'm reliant on a touring Susan. That's my job, is to facilitate her touring on both the front end and the back end. When it became obvious that might halt or slow down considerably, many people offered help and support to me, too. We both have a huge community around us, and if we ever took it for granted, now I don't think we ever will.

I learned that with both of these big life events. You find out who your friends are, which is usually a bigger and more devoted circle than you think. You find out what you think you should be doing is not always really what you should be doing. I have decided that this is not the year for me to climb any ladders. I'm not up for it. I'm trying to focus on the things that matter to me. Family, friends, music, art. Words. None of that with any pressure or obligation. Just the enjoyment of their presence in my life, because it has been shown to me in stunning detail twice in the last two months that even the most important people and things in your life can go away very quickly. In the case of my Dad, it's a blessing for him and a mourning process for us. In the case of Susan, it's an intense feeling of gratefulness that she is still here.

Both are events that I know will make me embrace my own time here with more enthusiasm, less worry, more joy. So I guess 2010 hasn't been so bad after all, if that's what it teaches me.

Pwned

2010-02-13T20:52:00.000-08:00

We found this three-necked guitar in a pawnshop in Tomball, Texas. I know that several questions just flew through your mind. I will try and answer them.

1) We were looking in pawn shops because I decided I wanted some sort of new used guitar. Sometimes I get an itch.

2) It's a 6 string electric, a 5 string bass, and a 4 string fretless bass.

3) I have no idea why.

4) It was extremely heavy.

5) $600.00

6) No, I didn't buy it.

Time Machine: Freshman Year of College

2010-02-12T09:53:00.000-08:00

Scene of the class: Keller Hall

This article is not one I remember reading back then, because I just showed up to class one day and didn't know what to expect. This was when I was a freshman in college and the class Susan performed in was my Music Appreciation 139 class. Thanks for my awesome current job, Professor Kostur, wherever you are...

Dixie Chicks writer finds her own space - Albuquerque Journal
November 02, 2001 Byline: Kevin Hopper FOR THE JOURNAL

"I'm Susan the-girl-who-wrote-'Wide-Open-Spaces' Gibson now. Until I do something else."

So says Susan Gibson talking about her place in the country/folk music industry and what she has to overcome now that she is on her own. The "Wide Open Spaces" she refers to is the smash hit Gibson wrote for the Dixie Chicks' 1998 debut album of the same name. The album went on to sell 11 million copies and gather many top awards, including a Grammy for Country Album Of The Year.

While her song propelled the Dixie Chicks toward country greatness and became a bona fide commercial success, the Amarillo native's own music, which until recently has largely been made with her band the Groobees, tends to stick a little closer to the ground.

"I feel really good about 'Wide Open Spaces' and its commercialness," Gibson said in a recent telephone interview. "And I feel good about the Dixie Chicks doing it, but the fact that that seems to be what you have to emulate in order to find a place (in the music industry), I don't like that."

The Groobees split up in May, and rather than take an extended and much-deserved hiatus, Gibson has hit the road and will perform a number of gigs in Albuquerque, starting tonight with a performance at Kellys Brewing. She plays Saturday at Tractor Brewing Company in Las Lunas and again in Albuquerque Sunday at Johnny's Restaurant.

In addition to that, Gibson is taking time to drop by music appreciation class at the University of New Mexico this morning.

"I'm still kind of in the midst of extricating from the Groobees, but I felt compelled, even if it was for my own good, to (continue performing)," Gibson said. "It would have been easy to find a lot of reasons to take a break. It was important for me to not quit just because the Groobees did."

Gibson is due in the studio in early March and shows a strong interest in breaking away from both the Groobees and her status of "the girl who wrote 'Wide Open Spaces.' '' The 29-year-old Gibson said she respects folk-legend-in-the-making Ani DiFranco and ideally would like to pattern her career after DiFranco's.

Gibson's resolve to form a new identity will probably come to her much easier than most other artists. She's already got a country hit and a stable of Groobee songs that display her songwriting abilities.

Unfortunately, she has to deal with an industry that molds and shapes artists as it sees fit. Gibson again alluded to DiFranco and her ability to be seemingly in total control of her own destiny.

"The number one thing that Ani DiFranco does is believe what she says and stands by her guns," Gibson stated emphatically. "I mean, that's No. 1. That's human."

Folk Alliance

2010-02-11T17:35:00.000-08:00

We leave on Tuesday for Folk Alliance...the alliance of Folk. A big time conference in Memphis where everybody goes to schmooze and jam. We hope to meet a lot of venues and charm them. We made postcards. We are so ready.

Insert "Big as a whale" joke here.

2010-02-11T09:41:00.000-08:00

Whoa. So you never know what will happen when you're traveling around for gigs. This past weekend was an enjoyable one with two days in Houston and then a day off before a Monday night show in Port Aransas. We claimed a cabin over at Seashell Village (which our friend Jim owns and where Terri and Lloyd do their songwriting workshop), and went down to the beach. We were on the sand for about 35 seconds when a guy comes up and asks if we had seen the whale. Um, no?

Apparently a whale had washed up 3 miles down, so we hopped in the car and found it. It was long dead and apparently smelly, though I plugged my nose and never smelled it. They had dragged it into a dune they had bulldozed out to bury it, but people from the university were studying it...or dissecting it...or whatever you do.

There was a fin on the sand and the ball joint was almost as big as a volleyball. I touched it. Never thought I'd touch a whale, I'm not much of a swimmer.

It was neat all around because apparently this is not a common occurrence, so the chances that we would be there on the right day and also learn about it to go see...were slim.

This has nothing to do with music, except now when someone says, "It was as big as a whale!" I'll know exactly what they are trying to say.

Oh yeah, guitar.

2010-02-04T06:49:00.000-08:00

Made a decision to pursue art for art's sake and not business. Doesn't change a thing except maybe a sense of urgency about things. Makes me want to play guitar for the reason I ended up here in the first place: I really like playing guitar. Same thing for writing words on paper.

I can get caught up in facebooking and tweeting and youtubing and that's all awesome and I like it, too...but deciding to turn it all off for 2 hours today was long overdue.

Probably means I'll write a song or two here shortly, too.

Hello February

2010-02-01T20:28:00.000-08:00

I am coming up with the lamest blog titles lately. I've been here in Austin/Wimberley a lot, so life is going as usual I suppose. This weekend was fun, with Susan playing 2 sold-out shows in the speakeasy-like atmosphere of Oma's Secret Garden, a cool venue in New Braunfels owned by my friends Tracy and Paul. They were CD Preview shows, and the first night had Gabe Rhodes playing with Suz - he's producing her new record. Very excited about all of it.

Also Oma's had Terri Hendrix's overalls on display. Just sitting there. I laughed. They are cool like Terri.

On Sunday we drove up to Fort Worth for the Clubhouse Concerts Benefit show...it's a neat listening room above the White Elephant Saloon, and every year this benefit show funds the series. I songswapped with Susan and Ali Holder, which was very fun. I didn't even fall off my stool, which I was nervous about, because I'm a klutz. Anyway, we hung out for a bit and then drove all the way back. I could sleep for about 3 days straight I think.

I'm bracing myself because in 2 weeks it's off to Folk Alliance in Memphis and Nashville. Bring it, Tennessee.

Goodness.

2010-01-24T11:32:00.000-08:00

Oh yeah, this whole blog thing I've been doing for 3 years. I haven't forgotten! 2010 has been interesting to say the least. Some life things just require that you take some time off from your own self-imposed pressures and that is what I am doing. But I am back, blogging, and things are reaching full steam ahead momentum again. And I learned "Happy Birthday" on the ukelele for Susan. Happy Birthday, Boss!

The gigs are starting to pick up with me as merch girl/tour manager/merch manager/tour monkey/whatever...I need an encompassing title. Monkey fits, as long as people think kindly of monkeys. This weekend I opened for Susan in Austin (it's been a while since I played my own town, weird), and Susan played an awesome house concert in Kerrville last night. Here we are with our host, Paula, after the show when we had already put on our cold weather hoodies and I had donned my drive-home-hat, haha.

As for the rest of 2010, which I deem really starts in February because January never counts, there promises to be tons of good stuff happening. If I can keep all my plates spinning at once, that is.

- I'm going to be booking a couple more artists, starting soon, and I'll say more soon. That makes me a "booking agent." That means I am closer to actually "paying bills" reliably haha.

- My long-time co-conspirator Josh and I are finishing up some projects under our newly founded 20Something Media company; our first physical release of a documentary made by Josh comes soon!

- Susan's tour schedule is filling...first up out of state is Folk Alliance in Memphis and Nashville in February. I'm excited about New York in March and Virginia in April, too...still working on those dates.

- MY OWN RECORD, yeah that one, is getting there! Dan and I will get some background vocals by the fabulous Katie this week and mix away. It's sounding good. It's sounding like growth, which is what I asked for.

So there it is...much happening. I didn't chart this path for myself when I moved to Texas, but I love everything about it so far. Forward motion breeds opportunity. Perseverance breeds success.

Happy to be blogging.

Rules of Engagement: Road Food

2010-01-03T22:43:00.000-08:00

From Georgia. I did not eat these.

Time to blog about something silly but not silly at all. Feeding oneself is a topic everyone thinks about at least 3 times a day, probably more. After a year and a half of having many meals away from home and often purchased in 12-minute gas stops, I thought I'd expound upon some of the more obvious trends I've noted being (I know it's cliche) "on the road."

You have to move fast. Sometimes we have the luxury of a few hours to spare before a show, sometimes our butts are clenched to get there on time. Either way, you're not wanting to hang out at the Pilot Truck Stop along I-35 any longer than you have to, so there are steps. You walk in, and you immediately assess, "DO THEY HAVE REAL FOOD?" Sometimes you luck out and there's a deli with actual warm food that hasn't been sitting there for 6 hours. Go there first. Choose quickly. Check the lettuce, make sure it's not brown. Be thankful you are eating greens that day.

Fast food costs more at a truck stop. Usually a food and gas stop is combined, and there's not time to get gas and then drive somewhere and get food. Hence, it is handy if there is a Subway or something at the truck stop. However, be prepared to pay at least a dollar more than you would normally, and be prepared to wait. For some reason I find those gas station/fast food combo places take forever. And I tap my foot. And I get annoyed.

Alternatively, there is no deli and you're not up for fried potato products from Arby's, so then what? Some truck stops have a "health food section" which means energy bars and trail mix. Go there first. But trail mix is caloric, so don't get a giant bag. Finding Clif Bars or Luna Bars is like manna, and I actually feel the whole grains coursing through my body. Sometimes it's a Cheerios cereal bar, and I feel the high fructose corn syrup in my veins. But tasty HFCS it is.

SOMETIMES...you're without a deli, not desiring a Whopper, and there's no hippie granola bars in sight (this has happened to me in the southern states and in Wyoming, I don't know why). I have been known to pick up a Lunchable. I know. People are cringing. I get the "adult lunchable" which contains a duller package design, so that I don't feel like a 3rd grader when I check out. Sometimes the protein and minimal carb intake is worth it, even though it is a product with a name that actually means, "Able to be Lunched."

However, not surprisingly, that's not an option either sometimes. That's when I go for the juice products. Liquid dinner is better than oily grease in a bag dinner. Check the bottle and pray there's more fruit than sugar in it. I prefer grapefruit. I love it if they have Odwalla Juice. Odwallas are super rare. If you find an Odwalla in a cold case there's a Clif Bar section not far, and possibly organic pretzels,and probably hemp necklaces at the checkout counter. Rejoice. If not, go for pulp. Fiber is key when you will eat bar food later.

Experiment occasionally but not all the time. Go with what you know. We have seen every incarnation of every candy bar ever, covered in the white chocolate, dark chocolate, key lime flavored, cherry/strawberry/orange/cheesy/flaming/giant/purple/BBQ/aerodynamic. WE BOUGHT GIANT CHEETOS THAT TURNED OUR TONGUES BLUE. In Hot Springs, Arkansas. I remember that day well.

GROSSEST THING: Deep fried peanuts in shells with Cajun Flavoring. What's not to love? I like peanuts, I like Cajuns, I like fried foods. But a peanut shell is like sawdust, and if you deep fry sawdust, you're still eating sawdust. We were in Georgia or Alabama or something. Seemed like a good idea, until the next stop when I threw them out. Susan wouldn't even eat one whole one. Tsk.

In reality, we eat pretty well on the road. Between the kindness of our hosts and a lot of venues that serve good stuff, we do all right. But sometimes, you have to eat at a 7-11, and the faster you can triage the situation, get out, and get on the road...the faster you'll get to the next bathroom stop. And that's all there is to it.

Rules of Engagement: The Merch Table

2009-12-31T06:41:00.000-08:00

All right, so my oldest and dearest job title with what all I do nowadays is Merch Girl. I started this little escapade about a year and a half ago, and while I've stacked on more responsibility, this one remains an important part of the tour day.

Be present. When it's appropriate, like at a louder venue where people aren't just sitting and listening quietly, I stay at the merch table the whole time because people will come by immediately after particular songs and ask if they can buy that song. It's good to give people immediate gratification and it probably seals the deal a lot faster than forcing them to remember what song they wanted out of the 20 they heard.

They're all my favorite but try this one. People ask me my favorite all the time, and since all of the albums on the table are like unique little snowflakes full of goodness and wonder, I can't pick. But I always do for the sake of giving the buyer some direction. They don't really care what MY favorite is, they just want some decision-making help.

Know thy merch. It's not hard for me, because I love Susan's records. I came into the job already studied up on each album. It's been a big help when people will come up and say, "I like the tree song, where is it?" or "the one that goes something like, 'doo doo duh nuh dooooo,' I want that one." People get a kick out of an exuberant salesperson. I've had to sell merch for other artists that I've just met sometimes if it's a shared gig, and it's a LOT harder to even begin when I'm not familiar with their material.

Some nights, it pays the rent. Ideally, if I'm doing my other job as the booker well, this is not the case, but...some nights the merch sales are what make the difference between the artist walking away with zero profit after paying the band and buying the gas to get to the gig versus walking out with an ok payday. I try to make this a rare occurrence, but that's how the gig cookie crumbles sometimes. (So if you're ever on the fence about buying a CD at a show and the charming Merch Girl doesn't convince you, think about this paragraph).

Be part of the show. I find it always helps when people know me as "The Merch Girl." When I'm a character in this traveling road show that people come to see, it can be an extra bit of uniqueness to the concert-goer and potential merch buyer.

Be a good example. When I'm at the merch table, which is sometimes in the back and sometimes front and center in the room, I try to be a good spectator. It helps that I love listening anyway, but I'm always aware that I need to show the respect to the performer that I expect the audience to give the performer. Sometimes it can't be helped (see point number one, when someone wants to buy something in the middle of the show), but overall I'm sharing in the experience the crowd is having, and that makes things work smoothly. And I have been known to give death-stares to really loud and/or rude people who are getting in the way of people's listening.

There we go; some more notes from the road. I'm fortunate that my excitement and support for what I sell is 100% genuine. Your mileage may vary, but these things seem to work for us. I did get promoted to Super Merch Girl after all.

Rules of Engagement: Booking

2009-12-30T13:48:00.000-08:00

I've spent exactly one year now in some sort of official booking capacity for Susan. We do it the homegrown way by doing it together, combining her years of touring and networking with my OCD emailing skills. It is a good mix, and I have learned a LOT.

Firstly, I learned that I enjoy it. I like the hunt, the follow ups, the satisfaction of inking something in on the calendar. It's like jumping your opponent twice and getting kinged in a game of checkers; that type of satisfying.

I've learned it's not easy. Sometimes I wish my brain worked like they do in the movies, when all of the sudden the special effects team takes us on a trip through some genius mind that has all kinds of neurons connecting to different areas at once and we see how a brilliant thought forms. Some days I feel that powerful, when I can coincide maps and calendars and money and mileage. Some days I need to check everything 4 times to make sure it all makes sense, and correct as I go.

I've learned how to steep in a town's music culture in a very short time from very far away. I think it really takes two years or so when you live in a place to really get the ins and outs of a community where you live. Unfortunately, touring musicians don't have that luxury, and a lot of the time, I'm educating myself on a region's culture from my desk in Wimberley. Where's the best place to play for our type of music? What's the best night? Can we do an off night in that town? When are the tourists there? Who else is in town that night? You learn short cuts and ways around things, so that sometimes it feels like I've been somewhere before even when I roll into town for the first time.

I've learned that booking requires backbone. This is my boss's JOB, at which she does exceptionally well. I would argue she has honed her craft into the top 1% of people in her field (meet me in the parking lot if you'd like to argue, but I don't think you do). Sure it's all about music and art and joy, but it's also about being compensated well for a unique craft. So I walk into a negotiation knowing this, and it helps.

Booking also requires give and take. Venue owners are in business, too. We're all here to make a living, and there's a delicate balance to the relationship between the artist and the owner. We have met so many good people who want live music in their establishments, and on the good days everyone walks out happy. This is why it's important to support live music...it's small business, culture, musicians, and your community all wrapped up into a little ecosystem. We do our best and I love working with venues that do their best.

Lastly I've learned, being a songwriter myself, that this stuff has nothing to do with working on your music. But someone has to do it if you're the type who wants to get your music out there. The business brain and the time it takes to back and forth and plan and schedule is actually a huge detriment to working on one's art. I haven't really mastered the separation between the two yet, but it is possible. For now, my constant email checking will continue.

And now, I have some shows to book. 2010 is 12 months long!

End O' The Year

2009-12-28T14:28:00.000-08:00

I'm behind! I am in New Mexico for the holidays. I have been napping a lot. Thus is vacation.

The gig year ended nicely in Ben Wheeler, Texas...which I had never heard of until they booked Susan. Cute little town near Tyler...go check it out. Moore's Store is the venue there, and the SG Trio took the stage in fine form. I set up

THE LAST MERCH TABLE OF THE YEAR, too.

Michael O'Connor, Susan Gibson, David Carroll

Christmas in Ben Wheeler!

Then we drove all night to get home, and I helped by waking up every so often and saying, "ARE YOU AWAKE?" and then Susan would say "Yes," and then I'd sleep again. I'm useful like that. She's prepping to record a new album, I'm prepping to finish mine, and I think she'll probably beat me at getting a product done. She's quick like that. We'll both have records out in the spring, which is fun. Maybe everyone who buys a Susan Gibson record will magically get a free Jana record because that's how I will market myself with stealth infiltration of folk fans' minds. Hehheh. Just kidding. BUY MY RECORD.

Anyway...green chile in some format awaits me. More later.

Another EP 2 Video

2009-12-18T08:07:00.001-08:00