too far to turn back now

"What is the perfect Christmas gift?"

Christmas will come and it will go.
Each year I will be concerned not about how much I am spending but, do I have enough to spend?
That annoys me.

Aside from that I can celebrate. There is much to be thankful for.
I,whether I like it day in and out, have a job that pays my bills. I have friends who are there for me and we yell at each other, give each other hard times, etc. We are there for each other. That's the point.

A woman, who is so much more reasonable than I am, loves me. In daily interactions I'm still surprised. This is all to say that in not feeling to festive this year I am very excited to have our "First Christmas as a married couple!" Which a lot of people insist we enjoy.
It's good that my family is hers and hers is mine.

This just in " the christmas rush is really on"

God bless these fine loves of ours.Keep them close. Our families and friends. The eternal aches and lost loved ones. Thank you Lord for the all and everything.

Yours or Mine?

It's December. Time is just flying right by.
I tore up the carpet, removed the staples, stripped the shit out of that shit, sanded the...all of it, replaced battered stair treads. Still the staircase in our house is not completely finished yet.
The day will come, Lord knows, the day will come!!
I can't wait to post pictures of it.

I am riding consistently through this cold. I felt a little threatened initially but, it really is not as bad as I feared. It seems silly to mention it so often but, I must. It really makes me feel so good. I wish more folks could join me really.
I have yet to be called "crazy" for riding in this weather. But, I know it runs in the family so I can deal with that. If someone said "you know, you're a real ass face for riding a bike in this weather." Well, then we'd have an issue.

So, we have a little rehearsal in New Hope tomorrow for Psalmships gig. Hosted by the Harvie family. Daniel and MaryJo are expecting their first child, a baby boy. I am very excited by this. Nothing is said to be more life changing than the birth of your child. Seeing friends of mine who are with child, it's just such a beautiful thing.
The light that is present is overwhelming.

I will look forward to us having our children together.Or kids will be so fortunate to have such a beautiful, loving mother. They will learn to deal with their father. :)

Moving away from kids to the holidays! Back again? Already?
Yes, and I've felt much more festive in years past. I think I'm due for some ugly holiday sweaters or some shit like that.
Ya dig?

Officially done. One more beer and it's off to bed.
Check back in a month. When the stairs are done, I'm in school, and I might have a song or two. If one or two finds me..

I was really in the mood to write here earlier but, not so much now. I'm going to fight that not wanting to and write anyway..

Wandering around I was thinking "What's been going on?" It seems like a whirlwind of events has been happening lately. Weddings, anniversaries, recording dates, trips with friends... It all comes and goes so quick.

Nate's wedding is this Saturday and it is actually the 3 month anniversary of ours. To state how I feel about that, simply, THAT IS FUCKING CRAZY!
It is crazy to me that last year, a handful of folks I'm pretty close to, were in serious relationships. Next thing you know, BAMM!! KAPOWWWWW!!!!
Married.

It comes, it goes, and then you pick out bedsheets. or...something...

It's crazy to me that I even met the person that is my wife. That she wakes up with me and is so very concerned about the cat. She deals with my obsessive everything, slow reaction time, and nudges me when I need the nudge.
I'm fortunate.

I'm working right now on wanting to sing. It's been kind of tough. Think I need a night locked away somewhere to get some garbage out of the old brain attic.

I am succeeding at riding my bike frequently and dealing with absurdly cold temps in the morning. It's a bit of rush to be honest. I read this interview where a fella said "I ride a bike because every time I get on that seat I feel like my quality of life is improved." Well said. I am fortunate to have a trail that I take the majority of the way to work. Drivers on Ridge Avenue should not be taken for granted either. Overall they have been considerate of me and very few sharp left turns have been made in front of me by opposing traffic.

My goal for the spring time is to enter in to a century ride somewhere. I dig company too so if that sounds appealing to you... lemme know sucka!

On the homefront I am planning on ripping up our carpet over Thanksgiving weekend. Time for that wood floor to show itself! This is part of my 2010 "Don't just talk.DO" campaign.

That's all for now.

There is a song

Life tends to take you all over the place. Half the time you don't realize it. You don't always feel it happening. I'm finding this to be true in the quiet hours when all I hear is the hum of engines and the ticking of our wall clock.
At most hours of the days, even when I try to make myself still internally, there is a song. Or there is a beat, melody and/or lyric in my head always. I'm not sure why I was made this way or why I can't shut it up some times but, it's really just how I am.
I work on music when it comes to me. I work on my point of view really.
The pleasure has been mine to work with dear friends on songs and we have session this weekend. I'm very excited.

At the opposite end of music(or so it would seem) I have been riding my bike, commuting, a lot. It is an excellent time to get rid of any mental stress, hum... whatever, and say hello to groundhogs.
But, in no way is it opposite. I once rode with headphones and it was a bad idea safety wise so, I went without. In the times since I can't believe half the sounds I hear. The heart gives a constant beat and you set the timing with your breathing. The wind gives a melody and birds give the counter melody. If it's a still day it's the the other way around.
Or whatever! No need to be technical or specific. It's just a great experience.
The music is everywhere.

I am thankful that after every ride I come home to...a home! Not just a house. a home. Something Em and I have worked on together. I could never have dreamed that this would mean as much as it does.
Silly me.
I played the beginning of a tune that I've been carrying around to Josh. It is called...............HOME? yes. seriously? yes.

It's really more than I can explain now but, my grandparents just sold their farm after being there over fifty years. Sold the farm with the land, most of their belongings and all of the farming equipment.
When I wrote the beginning line I imagined it as something my grandfather was asking me(we lived three hours away from each other - soon they'll be forty minutes away.)
"Tell me son, where will you build your home? So far from the ones you know..."

The rest I'll save.
But, we were there for the auction. We watched the life that was get sold off.
I walked in to a house once full of life and it was just a shell. Rooms change but, the memories stay. They are leaving a lot behind, my grandparents.
On the other end I can't wait to share a new life with them. I look forward to showing them the backyard. Our raised beds and clothesline are painted barn red. Like the country just got condensed in to a row home backyard.
I hope they like it.

Home Sick Home

So, it's a lovely Friday evening and I am a big ball of boring here. Sneezing, coughing and grumpy faced. Yes, grumpy faced. In reality I'm expressionless.

I started feeling a bit rough on Wednesday afternoon. "Oh No!" I thought to myself,"I can't fall ill now we have a show tonight at the Tin Angel!" I cleared up enough and got through the show clear voiced. It was a great evening with support from some of our best and oldest friends.
It was extra nice because we played to some fresh faces and they were quite in to the music. How lovely!

I really love playing full band shows but, something about a duo or trio is just so...easy. The minimalism is what keeps my heart at ease. It's not that there is less to remember.No. There is less to forget. Cables. Stands.Tuners etc.
It was nice. it's just one of those things that has to be tight or else it could flop.

Landon Pigg was a perfectly nice fella.

So, I'm going to put on some tea and strum the guitar a bit. Followed by coughing,sneezing and sleeping.
Killer Friday!

With friends like these

I have a dear dear friend. His name is RJ. Every 3 months or so he hands me a cd that is labeled "Dave's Dead Songs" These are tunes that I recorded and have basically never played live. Essentially recorded and left there. On the disc. Dead.
They were demos. Ryan Keller recorded them.

I have a funny relationship with these songs for some reason. They were kind of this...midpoint. I thought at the time I was really maturing as a writer. I feel like the material was getting better but, I was not a very good editor. You'll have this.
At the same time the tunes really reflect a very creative time when I wrote a lot. Absurd amounts. I was coming up with crazy ideas. I thought I was digging deep. Hearing it back I was just listening to lots of Counting Crows, Third Eye Blind and Bob Dylan. Hey he can have a song with 7 verses why can't I?

Really what it is is that at this time in life everyone had something going on and it was always crazy. And how would we handle it? And is it going to get better? Odd.
There was some sort of dramatic presence in the air and it was easy to grab a hold of. I can't say I miss it. I don't miss writing about a friend and his broken-hearted loneliness. I don't miss writing about feeling like I'm a failure. I don't miss the hangovers. :)

I do miss the closeness though. People are good at staying in touch but, that doesn't always mean they/we are close.

There is a tune called Mary Reese,about a man walking in on his woman - post suicide. Ryan has this accordion line that is really just chilling. And there are points where things fall in line so perfectly. We didn't know what we were doing and anything could work. Not the case any more. I'd say that Ryan has become an almost meticulous arranger but, with an ear that's exceptional.
There is another one that is actually a bit about some things Ryan - same Ryan - was going through and it could become something, needs some editing though.

Ultimately I hear these songs and I am so grateful. It always comes back to the support. Wonderful pals who want to hear, want to create, want to sing along. I love all the creative partners I've had. It's such a blessing.

I look forward to singing with the prettiest one Wed night at the Tin Angel!!

Living in Rooms

Well, my birthday "week" is almost over. There is still a trip to Rehoboth with some friends scheduled for this weekend but, I feel that is separate.
We did so much over the last week's time. Saw and heard some amazing music and had a bit too much to drink but, hell, you only live once. (Now it's time to cool down and get healthy again)

A major highlight was last night traveling with Nate to New York to see Jim Campilongo at the Living Room. It's a fairly well known venue that hosts gigs for Norah Jones, Richard Julian, etc. Jim plays guitar in groups with the previously mentioned as well as Martha Wainwright. He has a Monday night residency at TLR. Plays every Monday night at 11.
Yes. Starts at 11. Plays until 12. Take a brake and then starts rolling again.

Needless to say I'm sort of an exhausted mess today but, getting by. I got to sleep around 4. Woke at 7. Ouch!!

Well, J.Camp delivered bigtime. Nate and I have been trying to make it up to see this gig for well over a year now I suppose. It was worth the wait. Jim's music is instrumental and it fuses the right elements of country, chicken pickin' twang, brilliant jazz and gentle hints of blues. Effortlessly combined. He has some loud rock and roll romps too. Backed by an excellent upright bassist and a killer drummer sometimes I couldn't believe it was just 3 people. We.Were.Blown.Away.
Thanks Jim for being an inspiration and a gentleman as well.

One other fine highlight was Em taking me to a restaurant called August for my BDay dinner. What a treat. It's tough competing with Em's cooking but, August was definitely adequate. Yes, the crab cake was overpriced but, it was delicious!
It's cute because our anniversary is in August and we'll be creating a new anniv in that same month this year. Except on 8-06 and not 8-24 :)

I'm surrounded by dear friends and true love for miles.
Thanks to you all!

the time between

A lovely, calm and quiet Sunday morning. Soon enough I'll head out on a run.

It's been so long since I've done any blog entry of any sort. Thank God. Everything else on this page is just whining. I think at some point in time this was or is supposed to be a music focused blog and I'll try to stick to that. But, I am also getting married so............

Deathcard is done. It will be released soon enough(tax return) In reality,as I've been telling folks,instead of releasing it I got a bunch of electric guitar gear. That is half true. It's a good thing I did because it gave me a new point of view. Really it allowed me to get reacquainted with an old friend. I learned to play on the electric and found my connection to music through it. Only when I needed to be quiet while writing at 2am did I discover my father's Ovation.

So I got very in to acoustic and that was all fine and well. But, we all need a change some times. So I've been fortunate to come in to some nice gear and it's a delight. It's helped me to hear things again. Hear full arrangements and textures. I missed that.

Plus, it's given me some time away from the acoustic. Now, when I pick up the Gibson the sound is energizing and has something to offer. (It is easy to take a beautiful tone for granted.)

All that said I feel and know that my writing will change. My life has changed. As I mentioned I am getting married. And I've always struggled with writing about positive things. Which is rubbish. I never allowed myself to be open. I have never sat long enough to let the truth come through or to feel the light that wants to guide us. It's there and that's great but, even better it helps to bring the darkness to the light. In all life and love there is joy and equal amounts of grief and loss. I think that balance is going to come out in....what ways? We'll see...

I'm excited for the future, for new collaborations and ones that are long overdue. I'm so thankful for the endless support and love I receive. For the everyday and long months between.

More later.

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