Too Busy to Blog

Images:

The view from my friend Janet's house outside of Kremling, CO. October.

My first time in the Supa' Dome. Saints v. Carolina. November.

Dawn Marie: The cutest roadie. New Orleans, January '10.

Trailblazers over the Suns at the Rose Garden. Portland, December '09.

Me and Baby Arlo, December '09. Portland.

My first time in the 'Hive'. Hornets over the Nets.
New Orleans, January '10.






It's been almost six months since I've made a blog entry. The phrase "write new blog" has been transferred from one to-do list to another and followed me from state to state. Between booking and promoting my own gigs, keeping up with emails and occasionally enduring periods of limited internet access, there has been little room for published self reflection.
It's January 8th, 2010 and I'm writing from New Orleans once again. After spending the summer of '09 living and performing in the Northwest, I packed it up once again and headed south in early October. Following a run of solo shows in Idaho, Colorado and Texas, I made it back to New Orleans just in time for Halloween, a 'national' holiday down here. It wasn't but a few weeks spent getting settled again in NOLA before I found myself back on the road. I spent Thanksgiving in Texas and flew up to Seattle at the beginning of December.
While I wasn't eager to spend one of the darker, drearier months back up North, I had a great run of shows lined up, including a solo slot at the Tractor Tavern in Seattle, opening for one of my musical heroes, Kelly Joe Phelps. In the ensuing weeks I played several shows up and down I-5, as well as two excellent shows in Portland with my band, Wellbottom. After our show on DEC 19th, I clocked off and headed back up to Washington to spend Christmas week with friends and family in Seattle and Leavenworth, WA, where my mom and stepdad live.
A few days after Christmas, I embarked on another ambitious stretch of travel, flying back down to Texas and then driving from near San Antonio to New Orleans just in time to play my first New Year's Eve show ever. I played DBA on Frenchmen St. with my friend Don Williams fairly early in the evening, then headed down to the river front to catch the most amazing fireworks display I've ever seen (by far). I don't know if it was in celebration of a new decade, or if they just plain have some new firework technology, but this shit was truly incredible.
Later in the evening, I headed back to the venue to catch some of Eric Lindell's NYE set. Having met Eric and played with his band last spring, Eric spotted me and asked me to sit in on a hot-ass gospel/soul tune that brought the house down. After a lot of travel and a couple of very long days, this was a perfect finish to my best New Year's in recent memory.