Birthday Bash: December
14, 2007
Thanks to everyone who came out to see us on Friday
night. It was standing-room only at the Electric Brew.
It was a thrill for me to play with so many of my favorite
musicians: Kent Dutchersmith, Bob Lichty, and Steve
Martin all put in superb performances; to say nothing of the
stars of the night, the Family Band, in their first outing
as a musical unit. I was so proud! I got to
unveil a couple of new tunes - watch for them on my
MySpace
page before long.
In the meantime, I'm looking forward to playing with the
Minor Profits again. We've got a gig coming up in
January. Bob Lichty continues to write great new
tunes. If you haven't done so yet, check out his
MySpace and
Soundclick
pages.
All for now. Have you bought a CD yet?
They're available at CDBaby - and they make great gifts!
New Album: "But
Seriously..." December 2007
I'm excited to be bringing out a new CD this month.
Over the past two years, I have written a bunch of oddball
songs that didn't fit with any other project. Finally,
it seemed to make sense to pull them together into one
collection. So here it is: "But Seriously..."
Eight songs and some seriously wacky photography on the cover.
Thanks, Katie. The
CD is available direct from me starting on December 14 -
just drop me a line, they're $10 - I hope to have it
available on the web in the next month or so. 10% of
all proceeds go to Residents for Environmentalism Stand
Together - REST - the local action group campaigning for
justice in the matter of Elkhart's giant car-crushing Mega
Shredder, which is shaking its neighborhood from morning to
night. Buy this CD, and you, too, can become a "Mega
Shredder Man" (or woman).
With The Family Band - Dec 14,
2007, 8pm The Electric Brew in Goshen, Indiana
Along with my
playing with the Profits, this fall I'm trying to do some
solo work - to keep up my chops as a coffee-house performer
AND to make space to get my family involved in the music.
I'm really excited to have a gig lined up for December in
which I can be joined by all four of my family. We're
busy arranging a number of my songs to include bass, sax and
violin, as well as featuring Katie's lovely voice.
December 14 is my 40th birthday - I can't imagine a better
way to celebrate than playing a gig with my four favorite
people. Come on down, get a coffee, and join us for a
fun evening. I'll be playing some old favorites, and a
number of brand new songs as well. And look out for
other special guests - you never know who else might be in
the house...
The Minor Profits - Fall 2007
The little trio that started playing together three years
ago has now grown to five. And we have a new name: The
Minor Profits. After a number of false starts on names
(What About Bob, The Mighty Firebrands, Matilda's Wedding,
Two Buck Chuck, and even The Steve Martin Band), it looks
like this name might stick.
Our new lineup is as follows:
Andrew Hauser (drums); Luke Kahawai (vocals); Steve
Martin (bass); Bob Lichty (guitar, keyboards, sax, harmonica
and vocals, spoons, shaker, coffee maker - honestly, it
feels like every month we learn another hidden talent from
this guy); Andrew Kreider (guitar and vocals).
We're starting to get some gigs locally. Bob
continues to write great stuff, and plays up a storm on sax
and keys. Luke's voice flat-out shines. Andrew
brings fantastic energy to our playing, with his
outrageously hip drumming. And Steve is rock-solid on
the bass line - as they say, cooler than the other side of
the pillow. It's a thrill to play with these guys.
Really - a dream come true.
Firebrands T-shirts travel the
world -
July 7, 2006
Pictures are arriving of FGS t-shirts in different
places around the globe. We're going to start posting
some of them in the photo gallery. Check out our first
offerings - from France and England!
iTunes
- June 15, 2006
It took a while, but at last all the tracks from both
Firebrands and Golden Strands and Sing Something Pretty
are now available for download on iTunes. Check it out:
iTunes
Great American Song Contest
Honor Award! -
April 18, 2006
This spring, the Seventh Annual Great American Song
Contest awarded "I have seen the Lord" an Honor Award in
the Gospel/Religious category. This is really exciting
for me. To see the whole list of award winners, follow
this URL:
Great American Song Contest
Spring Fever
- April 18, 2006
Happy spring. March gigging was fun - a Friday night in
Elkhart, at the Daily Grind, with an enthusiastic group
of hometown fans. Then a trip to Fort Wayne to play the
Three Rivers Cafe. That's a great venue - a wholefoods
store/cafe/deli housed in an old Walgreens building. If
you're ever in FW, check them out for great coffee and
more chocolate-tinged desserts than I have seen in most
non-healthy settings. Yum. Too bad I gave up chocolate
for Lent!
My favorite moment came at the end of the evening when a
guy in the audience said he liked the music OK, but he
wished I'd quit singing so much and let Katie sing more.
Now THAT I can do!
February musings
- February 17, 2006
It's been a great couple of months - copies of
"Firebrands..." have been slowly making their way around
the country and overseas. We've heard back from as far
as the UK and Canada, and today got a great video clip
of a young fan going bonkers in Greece. Wow!
Radio play locally as well. Keep requesting tracks, eh?
"See for miles" seems to be the radio favorite so far,
although a friend claims to have been woken up by "Greek
to me" at 6am one day.
I've enjoyed a couple of chances to play out in the last
month - once solo and once in a guitar-slinging British
Gent cameo for Kentucky T. Dutchersmith and the Rubber
Band. Check out KTD's new album "If you're not going
far" for some great family entertainment...
Anyway, next up are a couple of solo dates in March -
just me and Katie - in Elkhart and Fort Wayne; hoping to
get some more dates with the band before long, too.
Watch this space.
CD Release Party
- December 8, 2005
Well, it was an exciting evening. We had a great time at
the Athenian Ballroom, courtesy of our friends at
Elkhart Housing Partnership. The ninth floor location
gave us a fantastic view of Elkhart - even a rare sunset
as we were setting up.
The gig started at 7pm, and the CDs rolled in on the UPS
truck at 7:01.
Bob Lichty played a great opening set, and then I got to
play solo for a bit before being joined by the Mighty
Firebrands for the rest of the evening. Thanks to Bob,
Steve and Katie for playing, and to everyone who came
out to support us - make sure to check out a couple of
the pictures in the gallery.
BTW, we collected over $100 towards the work of the
Housing Partnership, which was a swell gesture by
everyone who contributed. Thanks!
Firebrands and Golden Strands
- December 7, 2005
The CD is officially here. I'm delighted with how it
looks and sounds. 12 new tracks, recorded at home as
before, but mastered professionally, which gives the
whole disk a professional lick and polish. Sound clips
should be up on this site in the next week or so. If
you're interested, you can order directly from me, or
else through CD Baby in a week or so.
New Album
- November 14, 2005
Hey, the new album is almost here. "Firebrands and
Golden Strands" will be out in early December, 2005.
Look for more info soon.
