How Twitter Made April More Awesome…

Before getting into this, I wanted to let you know I did question whether or not it was appropriate to create a post exclaiming April was awesome when the same month brought storms that ravaged the majority of the Southeast and caused some serious damage in St. Louis and St. Charles County, which is where I live. What has happened is terrible. The lives lost in Alabama are shocking and disheartening, but it is events like I am about to talk about that help me to deal with tragedy, so I press on.

If you are a regular reader, you know that April = Awesome and was stacked with an amazing assortment of concerts. I was on-tap to enjoy at least four; however, before the calendar flipped to May, I was fortunate to have gone to 6 shows, two of them because of Twitter.

For those that do not know The Civil Wars, you should. They were coming to one of my all time favorite venues, the Old Rock House, but before I realized I was not alone in my obsession for Joy Williams and John Paul White’s breath-stealing harmonies, the show sold out. I fretted about it for a few days, and then started posting tons of The Civil Wars tunes on Twitter to console myself for missing this opportunity.



Without expectation, a friend from Twitter, Adam Houston, who I had recently met in real life (IRL as the cool kids call it), popped into my feed letting me know he had an extra ticket. Originally another one of our friends had claimed it, but her husband could not attend, so she offered it up. I jumped on it like Tigger jumps on Pooh. Aside from a gaggle of Wooh! Girls and their Bro boyfriends that thought it was completely acceptable to talk and cackle through the performance, it was amazing.

After seeing Company of Thieves (Yes I chose them over the Decemberists and Wakey! Wakey! and they did not disappoint) this Wednesday, I thought my concert going was over for the month, then I received a rather ominous DM (Direct Message for those that still scoff at Twitter).




Matt Riding is someone I have been following since the beginning but had never met IRL. He is a major player in the Social Media circuit, and while the bulk of our on-line conversations have been about music, we have had some professional exchanges as well. With that post coming in in the middle of the workday, I was a bit concerned that something had gone wrong and needed immediate attention, as Matt isn’t one to randomly DM me. I skeptically replied…



As it turns out, Matt had a spare ticket to Tift Merritt and Stephen Kellogg at, again, the Old Rock House. Admittedly I had never heard of Stephen Kellogg, but I have a few of Tift Merritt's CDs, so I was all over it. They both played acoustic, no band, just voice and 6 strings, and it was unbelievable.



If you seriously want to go to an amazing acoustic show, go to the Old Rock House for one of their Listening Room Series. The venue is PERFECT for singer/songwriters. When they first opened, I played there, solo, every Sunday for a few months, and I was always amazed at the sound of the room, even pushed it fully unplugged a couple of times. While rock shows are also great there, I am excited to see they are also using the room to display its natural gifts.

The video I shot off my phone was weak, but I found this one YouTube so you could get an idea of what Tift was like live.



All this talk of singer/songwriters and acoustic music reminded me that my friend Patrick Bloom is coming in town from Iowa to play the St. Charles Coffee House with me this Saturday, May 7th. It’s a pretty hefty drive to come down from Iowa, so I really want to pack this place. If you are reading this, please come to the show and bring some folks. I guarantee the music will leave your heart feeling warm and loved, and the coffee will keep your mind up for hours (Note: fear not they do have a nice selection of beer and wine).

See you all on Saturday!

Eric Has a Big Boy Blog...

I just realized that the title of this post, my first post, depending on how well you know me or if you know me at all, can produce multiple interpretations. If you only know me through the interwebs then maybe it means nothing to you, other than conjuring up some fond memory of a 30 foot statue of what seemed to be a 5 year old carrying a plate of rather large burgers, maybe every post from here on out will be comprised of my experiences with the Bob's Big Boy restaurant chain, and why not really. If you know KNOW me, you know I am a big guy, minus a 4 year period in the Navy and my Senior year of high-school, have always been a big guy, will probably always be a big guy, despite an insane workout schedule and an active lifestyle. Maybe this blog has been created to discuss what it is like to live as a big man in a heroin sheik society, how daily we all pray to have been born during the Ruben's period when big truly was beautiful. Maybe it is none of that and all of it.

I have been blogging for years, just through MySpace. Being a singer/songwriter MySpace is an essential part of my Social Networking life. It provides me with an opportunity to post songs and share them with anyone willing to listen, so I have used its little antiquated blog page to post my thoughts on recordings, songs, tours, musicians...whatever. Well, having crested 35 this year, I decided the great record deal and tour bus may not be in my future. It was a sad day, but I have always been one to find new cheese. This year marked a swing in focus from Music to Career. I will NEVER stop playing and performing, just reigned in the dreams a bit, so I can be content.

With new direction comes reflection, and reflections deserves a better platform, hence this blog. I actually decided to do this a few months ago, but I wanted to get a logo and make it all slick. The logo is still in production, and the words could not wait any longer. My friend Stephanie Tolle, the famed ironstef, besides being a foodie, a fantastically inspiring blogger, bowler and pretty decent golfer, is also a Graphics Designer, so she is helping me out with that, stay tuned for a logo that will melt your face...yes I said it, it is high-school cliche, and I don't care!

I wanted this first post to be an introduction of sorts, maybe lay out some acceptable assumptions about this blog. So here they are:

1. Because if the nature of my job, I am choosing to reign myself in, don't go corporate bashing, this is a choice I am making because I believe it is the right thing to do. Although I enjoy a Christmas Story cusstantrum as much anyone, probably more, my dad taught me years ago a good writer can write the moment more powerfully without the language.
2. I will almost always be doing laundry when I post, don't know why I wanted to share that, but I did. I actually own more guitars than pairs of pants, so I do lots of laundry.
3. I will include some type of poetry in every post, could be a haiku, short form, epic...there will be poetry.
4. Music and how it touches/moves me will be a recurring theme, lots of posts about great concerts, new albums I am in love with, and what I am doing with my own music, new songs, shows, recordings....
5. I am an out of the closet Teen TV addict: Friday Night Lights, Gossip Girls, One Tree Hill, as well as SYTYCD and AI, will definitely appear in posts.

I think those are five simple assumptions which should help you determine whether or not you want to read this thing.

That being said, laundry needs to be flipped, but first I wanted to share a quick poem. I am a very muse driven writer. I can force my pen but prefer not to. I prefer to allow an event, emotion, moment to guide the ink, so I write a lot when I travel, newness seems to impel me to write. He is a quick one or you...enjoy!

Nawlins

New Orleans drips energy
streets filled with winos and women
masses march to rhythm of “City Beneath the Sea”
smell of coffee fills squares
where people dance in conversations
over jazz movements
Creole flavors burn tongues
open nasal passages
allow pungent scents
that excite and sooth
New Orleans sleeps beneath
sounds of sweepers and Hymns