Last Saturday night was my first gig in Santa Cruz in 4 years.  I played at The Ugly Mug in Soquel. There were quite a few people in there studying when I started. My friends started rolling in a little after I started: Andy brought her friend Laura, Jacob and Jen came in, said hi, and ran off to grab a burrito before they both sank into blood sugar comas and came back afterward, and Robin and Bruce wandered in late because they got the time wrong, God bless'm, and of course Kirby was there to show his support even though the poor guy has heard my songs 1,000 times. It was a nice night. I tell ya, it makes all the difference in the world to be playing for friends and family. The audience was very appreciative though and the tips were really good. As a venue,... eh... the seating arrangement is really odd but the vibe is good, and it's always nice to be in the Cruz. We all went out to dinner afterward at Mobo Sushi and closed the place. It was a great night.

Tonight, I did the featured artist position at Red Rock Coffee's open mic. That was nice because I hadn't been in there since the new ownership took over. They put in actual stage!! That was awesome. It also got a much needed paint job. I really liked the new seating arrangement for the open mic and Scott and Steve were just great. I really like it there. It was nice to see some old faces in the crowd too. Autumn and the Fall Guys Chris and Hank were there, along with Andrew whom I haven't seen in ages. Props to Bill for hooking that up. He gave me Steve's email addy and I mentioned that Bill gave it too me and he's like, "Well, if Bill gave this too you, I don't even need to hear you, I'll go on Bill's recommendation." I'm like, "Damn Bill, got any connections at the IRS?" Bill did the harmonies on Helplessly Hoping with me which seems to be our cursed song. We jacked it up one night at BRS, totally my fault, just couldn't hear the harmony. Tonight's catastrophe: Two people sitting in the front of the stage decided to sing along with us. I just kinda fell into a trance listening to them listening too us when suddenly I realized that Bill and I were not singing the same lyrics. The people whom I started following weren't singing the correct lyrics! It was quite comical but I stopped the song and started over. It's just too pretty a song to butcher. The second time around was much better.

I'm playing Frescaroma this Friday night. First time there, I haven't even seen the place before so we'll see. They're supposed to have a bit of a hip hop flava to the place so I'll be playing more uptempo, higher nrg stuff. We'll see how that goes. I'd sure like a percussionist. Anyone, anyone?

This week, there was a new guy named Jeremy. Played guitar alright but needs work in the vocal department. I think he was really nervous. Then there was Leroy who did a couple soul tunes, most enjoyable. Then there was Christy Bryce. She was dragged in by her bass player and forced to drink a couple beers. We were out of time but I made sure she went up and did at least one song. She was really good. She had seen me play before somewhere but I'm not sure that I recognized her. Anyhow, she has a band but she's been out doing an acoustic thing. We're going to book a show together at The Blue Rock Shoot in November. I'll keep ya posted on that.

The first featured performer was Chris Hanson who is one of my favourites. His overhand guitar style is interesting to watch and his voice is really haunting, and he's really just a great guy. He's set up a concert for the Day of Peace tomorrow in Santa Cruz with Univeral Language and Dis Moi at the Vet's Hall. We're going to try to set up a show together in November as well in Santa Cruz at E3. More coming on that one.

The second performer was Tiffany Joy. I don't know much about this young lass but she played pretty solid and had a nice voice. I didn't stay for her set though as I've been sneaking out to La Victoria to eat. I just can't go the entire night without food, my blood sugar drop to my socks. She said something about playing the stage at Santana Row soon.

The third performer was Kaila D'Sa who consistently puts on a great show and tonight was no exception. He really can draw a crowd. I didn't stay for his entire set since we let the performers play longer than a half hour. By 10:40pm, I was done. I need to practice a little from my show tomorrow night at Orchard Valley Coffee and take a shower. I'm actually up way later than I should be right now. argh.

We got there a little late, having to drive from the South Bay, so we missed one of my favourite local bands, Sila and the Afrofunk Experience. We did however catch another favourite, Brett Dennen. This was my first time seeing him with a full band, two of which were recognizeable sax player Anne Stafford and percussionist Will Kahn from Santa Cruz'sSambada. I have to say that the sound absolutely sucked. First was Brett's guitar cable shorting out and needing to be replaced. Then, the entire audience sound would go out and come back in... this happened a few times. The sax was only playing through the monitors. Brett was still as great as ever and his drummer Randy "Detroit" Schwartz nails it hard on every song as if he and Brett are one. I wish I had a Randy but I think he's something that the universe gives you when you're earned it. My friend Chris was the stage coordinator and as much as he kicks ass at what he does, this was not one of his days. The gods of electricity were not with him on that cold foggy day.

We missed Blackalicious to see Brett but made it back over to the main stage to see New Monsoon from afar. I'm not a huge fan having seen them before. They do a eclectic world rock thang that doesn't really get me going. Not that they aren't excellent musicians and really tight. Today however, I really enjoyed their set, especially the Marvin Gaye cover of Innercity Blues.

In between sets, I walked around a bit and checked out the multitude of vendors and information booths set up in Speedway Meadow. One of the more interesting ones was Northern California 9/11 Truth Alliance who promotes the idea the 9/11 was an inside job. There is a lot of rhetoric and conspiracy theory surrounding 9/11, but this group as well as touring author and speaker David Ray Griffin are really trying to just stick to the facts that are unarguable and not trying to sell theories. You can check out their newsletter and find out more about the movement to try to impeach President Bush at their website. One of my favourite articles that I came home with was a dollar bill that had been recreated as a Fraudulent Event Note, worth 9-11, with George W's in place of George W's. This was endorsed by Cooperative Research, GNN, Questions Questions, Global Research, Justice for 911, September Eleventh, Community Currency, 911 for the Truth, 911 Inquiry, and many others... the list is REALLY long. I'll try and post pictures of the bill because it's truly extraordinarily done. Props to the artists. The other big "Stop the War" group was Answer Coalition who meets every Tues. at 7pm at 2489 Mission St. ..30 to discuss strategies to help bring home the troups.

Liberation ink who does printing on sweatshop-free shirts was there showing their skills, as well as a musical instrument builder from Africa named Mamadou Kone promoting some beautiful djembes, dunduns, and a kora that really caught my eye. AK Press was there with lots of books on the subject of politics and anarchy. Another booth was the Vote No on Prop 85 group who are trying to combat the latest initiative to stop abortions. These initiatives always seem to fail but I guess it gives the proponents and the defenders something to do and a reason for being which overall is a good thing. I'd rather people feel passionate about something than just sitting in front of the TV and letting others do it for them. And last but not least was the Yes On 89 booth. This I truly believe in which is the initiative to put some control around contributions to candidates running for election in California. This really needs to happen on a national level. We're so trapped by the one party acting as two parties, i.e.; Democrats and Republicans. They're all the same and they all have their fingers in the same pie. It's really time that this comes to an end and this is a start toward that. I for one am pretty tired of the "he with the loudest voice gets heard" mentality that controls our country. Rant complete.

We got there a little late, having to drive from the South Bay, so we missed one of my favourite local bands, Sila and the Afrofunk Experience. We did however catch another favourite, Brett Dennen. This was my first time seeing him with a full band, two of which were recognizeable sax player Anne Stafford and percussionist Will Kahn from Santa Cruz'sSambada. I have to say that the sound absolutely sucked. First was Brett's guitar cable shorting out and needing to be replaced. Then, the entire audience sound would go out and come back in... this happened a few times. The sax was only playing through the monitors. Brett was still as great as ever and his drummer Randy "Detroit" Schwartz nails it hard on every song as if he and Brett are one. I wish I had a Randy but I think he's something that the universe gives you when you're earned it. My friend Chris was the stage coordinator and as much as he kicks ass at what he does, this was not one of his days. The gods of electricity were not with him on that cold foggy day.

We missed Blackalicious to see Brett but made it back over to the main stage to see New Monsoon from afar. I'm not a huge fan having seen them before. They do a eclectic world rock thang that doesn't really get me going. Not that they aren't excellent musicians and really tight. Today however, I really enjoyed their set, especially the Marvin Gaye cover of Innercity Blues.

In between sets, I walked around a bit and checked out the multitude of vendors and information booths set up in Speedway Meadow. One of the more interesting ones was Northern California 9/11 Truth Alliance who promotes the idea the 9/11 was an inside job. There is a lot of rhetoric and conspiracy theory surrounding 9/11, but this group as well as touring author and speaker David Ray Griffin are really trying to just stick to the facts that are unarguable and not trying to sell theories. You can check out their newsletter and find out more about the movement to try to impeach President Bush at their website. One of my favourite articles that I came home with was a dollar bill that had been recreated as a Fraudulent Event Note, worth 9-11, with George W's in place of George W's. This was endorsed by Cooperative Research, GNN, Questions Questions, Global Research, Justice for 911, September Eleventh, Community Currency, 911 for the Truth, 911 Inquiry, and many others... the list is REALLY long. I'll try and post pictures of the bill because it's truly extraordinarily done. Props to the artists. The other big "Stop the War" group was Answer Coalition who meets every Tues. at 7pm at 2489 Mission St. ..30 to discuss strategies to help bring home the troups.

Liberation ink who does printing on sweatshop-free shirts was there showing their skills, as well as a musical instrument builder from Africa named Mamadou Kone promoting some beautiful djembes, dunduns, and a kora that really caught my eye. AK Press was there with lots of books on the subject of politics and anarchy. Another booth was the Vote No on Prop 85 group who are trying to combat the latest initiative to stop abortions. These initiatives always seem to fail but I guess it gives the proponents and the defenders something to do and a reason for being which overall is a good thing. I'd rather people feel passionate about something than just sitting in front of the TV and letting others do it for them. And last but not least was the Yes On 89 booth. This I truly believe in which is the initiative to put some control around contributions to candidates running for election in California. This really needs to happen on a national level. We're so trapped by the one party acting as two parties, i.e.; Democrats and Republicans. They're all the same and they all have their fingers in the same pie. It's really time that this comes to an end and this is a start toward that. I for one am pretty tired of the "he with the loudest voice gets heard" mentality that controls our country. Rant complete.