9 AM in California, March 8, 2004
Delta 394 - Oakland to Atlanta
I can't believe it's already been a month since the last time I wrote one
of these updates. That was during my New Zealand tour, in the land of summer
- and now back to our regularly scheduled program...
Today I'm coming home from a quick weekend on the Left Coast. I did a weekend residency at a church in Lafayette, California, near San Francisco, including a guitar workshop, a kids' show and an adult show. A couple of days before, LJ booth was performing at a house concert just a bit south of there, so I went down to see him and visit my good friends Jeff and Andrea. It was great to see and hear LJ, whose music I've admired for years, not to mention to hike in the woods with my buddy Jeff and pick wild mushrooms for dinner. Jeff's a winemaker and Andrea's a librarian, so between book talk, music and good wine and food it's always a nourishing place to visit.
Now the amazing part: I'm going home for three and half weeks with no shows.
I'm sure it's been years since I've done that. I didn't plan it that way originally,
but it's good that it worked out like this. I was hoping to go to the Middle
East in this time frame to do some peace concerts, but the calendars didn't
match up. I'm still going, but it looks like it may be early next year. Instead
- wedding planning!
I'm getting married in July, and it's amazing to be doing the tangible things
to prepare for that. Deanna and I are determined not to get stressed about
any of it, and so far we're keeping to that goal. She's wearing my great grandmother's
wedding ring as her engagement ring, and that will become the heart of her
wedding ring as well. Last weekend we talked with a jeweler about working
on her ring and making me one. It's amazing how hard it is to leave it with
him for a couple of weeks so he can work on it. We've both gotten accustomed
to seeing that ring on her finger.
I'm hoping to block off some writing time in the upcoming weeks, and I've
got a few other projects cooking as well. Look for the street team, the LaMottely
Crew, to be launched in a week or two. We're just ironing out a few details
before that all happens. The basic idea of a street team is that it's an organization
of folks who help out with promoting concerts and selling CDs afterwards,
spreading the word about CD releases, etc., in exchange for free tickets and
CD discounts and other perks that we mail out from time to time. Jen and I
have spent a lot of time planning it and trying to make it something that
will be fun for everyone involved, with the able assistance of former intern
Jason Shadrick and my brother-in-law Eric, who has been doing some consulting
for Lower Dryad Music. Stay tuned...
Also on the project list is to start working on pitching a children's book
to publishers. I expect this to be a long-term project, but I'm looking forward
to the process. I recently received the final drafts of artwork for the book,
which is designed around the lyric to my kids' song S.S.
Bathtub. The illustrations were done by Carrie Patterson, an artist
in Virginia who is also a long-time friend. Our hope is to find a book agent
to help us with this, and to package the book with the CD included . So...
um, know anybody? ...know anybody who knows anybody? Seriously, the strength
of an indie career is the grass roots support and connections, and if you
do have any ideas of who we should send this to, we'd sure love to hear about
it.
I've been busy touring in the Southeast since I got home from NZ, and have
done most of those shows with River Guerguerian (www.guerguerian.com),
an amazing percussionist based in Asheville. He tours internationally with
Middle Eastern music stars like Omar Faruk Tekbilek (yeah, I know, but you
would know who he is if you were into Middle Eastern Music!). River plays
all sorts of interesting instruments, but folks seem to respond most strongly
to the cajon, which is a plywood box he sits on top of and plays with his
hands. It's hard to describe, but amazing to see and hear. Hopefully we can
catch up somewhere along the line, and if not, I hope to have some performance
video up on the site soon. And speaking of additions to the web site, there
are some new articles and reviews on the Articles
page. Always good for procrastination.
Be well, and thanks for checking in,
David