When Movember ends

the road to success is always under construction- Anton Figg

I shaved off my stache today. I feel naked after 30 days of growing for Movember, to raise awareness and money for men's cancers. I had a couple of last minute donations, to push me over the $100 mark, which was my goal for the first year. Thanks to all contributors!
Next year I'll start earlier and set the bar higher, though the facial hair growing doesn't start til 11/1!
My daughter took a last mo photo, which I'll post once she gets it to me. I had a nice full stache at the end.

I played the Cave in Chapel hill tonight. thanks to Pete Pawsey for the photo.

My old Lilac home

If you're a musician or a music fan, and you haven't been to the Lilac Lounge at Weaver St. Hillsborough on Thursdays from 6:30 to 8:30, you owe it to yourself to go.

This is not a normal open mic. It's cozy, familial, supportive, and the quality of music is great. Plus host Pete Pawsey does an excellent job of recruiting some of the best talent in the are to play 45 minute headlining slots. I thoroughly enjoyed Mandolin Orange's set tonight, and was pleasantly surprised to hear the Ragweed Boys for the first time.

Here's a photo of me singing, debutting my Movember stache onstage.

Cheers Pete!

West Fest, Max Stewart art show

Greenie and I played an art show on 10/5 that featured Max Stewart's paintings. The show was a great success, Max sold a bunch of paintings and some notecards, and got some good exposure, Max is a quadriplegic who paints with his mouth. His still lifes are really nice.

Last Sunday I played West Fest, joined by David Shore on Drums and Art Champagne with only 2 (!) guitars, and he sounded great! He even beat me tuning up for one song. ( He seems to play each song in a differant tuning. Nice slide sounds Art.
Thanks to Ed Buck for the nice West fest pics.

This Friday, 10/16 is a MCFS show at Harry's Market at white Cross. On the porch if it's nice, inside if it's chilly and rainy! Saturday I'm back at Harry's for an afternoon benefit for Alzheimer's, and I'll be debutting "Ghost in my Grandma's house", a song about my Grandpa Elmer, who had the disease. There'll be face painting, and kids' activities, food and beverages, and information booths from Orange and Alamance county Alzheimer's centers. Music and spoken word onstage from 11 am to 3 pm, feuturing multiple artists doing 10 minute sets.

Durham Farmer's Market, fun with Greenie firends old and new

Played the Durham Farmer's Market today, one of my favorite gigs! Greenie Marley sat in on the old doghouse bass, and harmonies. a couple of lead vocals too, his voice is sounding great, kudos to the vocal teacher who just moved away!
A guy named Roger showed up with a mandolin and sat in for a few tunes. We played about three hours, got to do a lot of my originals, stretching all the way back to songs from my early California days, like "Clark Kent", and "Foolish Dreams".

Got to see my favorite potter, Sarah Howe, and her beautiful clay creations, the ever friendly, helpful, and kind market manager, Erin, and lots of friends and neighbors! My mom stopped by, and Catherine came in just as we were launching into "November Rain" (her song.)

I've got a bunch of shows in October, including an Alzheimer's benefit show at Harry's Market in Chapel Hill on 10/17. (I play there with the band on Friday the 16th too.)

Excited to get Tim Ferriss' "The 4 hour work week" from the library today, along with a stack of cds to broaden my horizons. My most recent library find gem was Steve Earle's "Jerusalem", awesome!

Words of wisdom from the aforementioned book:
"Being busy is a form of laziness : lazy thinking and indiscriminate action. Being overwhelmed is as unproductive as doing nothing, and far more unpleasant. Being selective - doing less - is the path of the productive. Focus on the important few, and ignore the rest. Lack of time is actually a lack of priorities."

I'm enjoying a pretty full moon over Durham, and some cooler weather as I write a new batch of songs. they're percolating as a batch, i seem to be working on multiple songs simultaneously, snatches of differant tunes come to me here and there, and I continue to evolve them as bits arrive. Kind of like tending a garden, there's the tomatoes, and the basil and the cukes, etc. Like a summer garden, I feel like i'm bursting, with new songs ripe for harvest.

I've got an interesting batch of shows locally in October, including an open gallery in Durham, an Alzheimer's benefit in Chapel Hill (for which I'm writing a song), a block party in Old West Durham, and a wedding on the coast (not so local, but still in the state.)

August was good, with shows at Carrboro''s Weaver St. Market on the lawn, Harry's market at white Cross kicked of with a release of a beautiful barred owl into the wild, Daisy Cakes' first anniversary downtown (I wrote them a jingle too), and a house concert in Raleigh.

I've been having a lot of fun playing with the 3 degrees aka the Folk Stars; Art Champagne, Greenie Marley, and David Shore.

Amazing Tone

Played a Raleigh show Saturday night at Amazing Tone music , a very homey venue with great sound. I shared the bill with Pete Leary, humorist/songwriter, who looks a bit like Santa and writes hilarious, insightful songs and delivers them with a twinkle in his eye!

John Lynner Peterson was there taking photos, here's a link to his slideshow of the evening: slideshow: There's a slideshow button on the top right of the page.

I did an outdoor show at Weaver Street Market, Carrboro, for the Sunday brunch crowd. The Folk Stars joined me; Art Champagne, Greenie Marley, and David Shore. Joe Woodson played a set as well. Great crowd, great day, lots of fun!

Next show, Friday 8/21 at Harry's Market at White Cross, West of Carrboro on hwy 54.

Durham Magazine interview

Thanks to Lisa Rossi for publishing her interview with me in Durham Magazine:
http://tiny.cc/pBVq9