Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 141

Day 140 - July 29th 2009

“If you wanna make God Laugh tell him what you have planned”

I take for granted how much I use my legs on a daily basis. With no car generally if I’m traveling anywhere I walk at least a block or three to even get to public transit. With this injury it makes it a tad difficult to get around. Luckily I only had one place to go today and could sit at home and rest.

Casey and Zach came by in the afternoon and brought by Green lantern First Flight the newest DC Direct to DVD Animated Feature. It was pretty good, I’m hoping that the Ryan Reynolds live action adaptation will be just as good. They really picked up my spirits as I have been a miserable prick for the better part of the week.

After we came up with a new life motto they left and my folks got home. When I was ready I hobbled into the car and we drove down to Lickety Split. Kelvin and the crew were waiting as I arrived. He was playing solo acoustic tonight and he brought some buddies with him. I had some concerns about the attendance since it rained for the better part of the afternoon.

Frank Biscotti kicked things off and he played a solid set followed by Justin Barron. Both of these guys should be packing joints the World Over especially Justin. The night didn’t really get going until Kelvin hit the stage. He presented something that was on a universally different vibe than what he does with The Absolute Zeros. I think He may have only played two tunes from the Zero’s catalogue. Alan Ens hit the stage next. I dig him cause it sounds like chaos unless you’re really listening. The guys really good and everything he does is so deliberate.

JT and Hi Beta closed out the night spinnin some 70’s soul. They did an excellent job of keeping people there. And the party was still goin at 1:45 when I left.

I went home iced my ankle took some Aleve and went to sleep. I’m getting used to sleeping with the leg elevated. Not to mention I’m starting to feel better, I should be thankful. The injury could have been a lot worse

Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 140

Day 139 - July 28th 2009

The swelling was worse this morning that it was last night, mom made an appointment. I hopped into the car and was driven into Jefferson Family Medicine where the doctors took a look at me. He figured it was a sprain but wanted me to get an x-ray…great. Who knows how much that’s going to cost.

My dad drives me over and I got to the X-Ray place. The nice security guy throws me in a wheel chair and gets me to my destination. When I go to the person at the front desk she asks do I have insurance I tell her no and she looks at me as if I told her that I eat ass. She goes in the back and comes out and lets me know that I have to pay for this. Something I am painfully aware of. She processes me and I get my X-Ray. I get wheeled outside and when I get there my Dad’s waiting with another wheel chair.

Dad wheeled me back to the sports medicine office. If you’ve ever met him the very sight of him pushing me through the streets of Center City is simply priceless. The doctors confirm my suspicions, it’s a sprain. I don’t even need a boot. Just an air cast for when I’m walking around. t means now I have to go to Rothman. The doctor even mentioned physical therapy since I’m athletic (I guess if you call jogging and playing guitar with your teeth athletic)

Dad wheels me inside up the elevators and into Rothman. I approach another lady at a front desk and I have to tell her that I don’t have insurance. Then I have to watch her give me the east ass face…twice in one day. We get the air cast and I’m instructed in the fine art of wearing it. I long for the days when I can stick my foot in something and it heals my injury in seconds.

It’s going to take to heal my doc says. I’m not that patient a guy when it comes to this stuff. I’m terrified of the bill. I know it’s going to be high as hell since I’m uninsured. Didn’t I vote to put the democrats in the house and senate so they could help The President get this done. Fix this Shit.

I only had one guitar lesson today which was a lot more trying that usual since I had to walk on the bum ankle. Good thing for me I purchased some Aleve. I would have preferred some vicodin but Aleve’ll have to do. The lesson went pretty well then I got to go home and rest my ankle.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better than today. I have a Festival Gig this Saturday and I still have to figure out how I’m gonna do it on one leg.

Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 139

Day 138 - July 17th 2009

Jogging something I do everyday. With no day job I like to take full advantage of the fact that I can run in the morning. It helps me stay in the kind of shape I need to be in to perform at my physical best. It’s about the same mile everyday. A medley of old 80’s songs or Off The Wall plays while I’m getting my exercise. I’ve done it just about everyday since I’ve been back from tour and nothing strange has ever happened… until today.

I screamed bloody murder as I nearly tumbled to the sidewalk, my foot bent inward pointed towards my face. A sharp pain that I rarely ever feel shot up my leg and coarsed through my body, something’s wrong, really wrong, I can feel it.

I limp half a mile home like the dumb ass that I am. My ankle is pretty screwed up and I’m filled with fear. How serious is this? Cause I have gigs to play, stuff to do, all these things I need a pair of good legs. Do I need a doctor? I have no health insurance. What if it’s broken? What if I need surgery? What if for some reason they need to chop it off? I think all these things as I limp home like your common garden variety asshole. It’s obvious that I have Beavised my ankle…DAMNIT!

I get home and it’s swollen. I’m icing it I’m soaking it and nothings happening. It hurts…bad. I gotta call mom. She thinks I fractured it. That’s 8 weeks in a cast, that’s no good. Through some on-line research I deduced that my condition was closer to a really bad sprain which is no picnic either. Mom wants me to come see the doctor. Not into that. With no health insurance you might as well bludgeon me to death with a tire iron and leave me in the corner of the ER to die.

Hard as it was I needed to get my mind off of it because we were back at Philly Rising at World Café Live for the first time in two weeks and for the third time really this summer. Tonight would mark the end of our hiatus. I move around a lot during the course of the night so it was going to be difficult to say the least to do this. I figured though with the long layoff there’d barely be no one in line and it would be a relatively light night as it was going to take a while for us to build steam again…wrong

When I got there almost a full 90 minutes before I was slated to do signups it was already at double the capacity. There were gonna be a lot of sad faces tonight.

We got people signed up and the fun really began. We started early and one thing was apparent from the get go, this was going to be a night that was pretty heavy on talent. It seemed like everyone that hit the stage was going to be a real contender to win our competition. From New Wave Veterans Spoons for Adam to Soul newcomers the Overexposed, to The Parachuting Apostles, to banjo wielding Huston. Tonight it looked like the best acts in town were showing up and really competing.

The winner ended up being Gabby Fleishman, a young woman who’s been coming to Philly Rising off and on for about two years now. It was close bu she managed to make it out alive on a night where the competition was truly stiff. I was proud to be a Philly Musician tonight, and even though it didn’t make my leg hurt any less (actually it was pretty sore from all the walking I had to do) It made me smile, something I hadn’t really done all day.

Off to bed with me now. Gonna see if I can get some sleep, I’m almost certain it’s gonna be a long one tomorrow

Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 138

Day 137 - July 26th 2009

Nothin like goin to church after spending the previous night in hell…I swear my vision of hell is a club where they play techno music.

Another good service. My pastor usually let’s some of the other associate ministers like my Dad preach in the summers while he and his wife are away in the Bahamas. Today it was Rev. Bruton. Her sermons always come from a more social place, helping the poor and what not. She seemed to refer back to Jesus feeding the 5000 a lot.

I got home and that’s basically where I stayed for the remainder of the day. I’ve been running myself a bit ragged lately and rest was the only thing that was going to help with that.

I’m looking forward to Philly Rising tomorrow, we haven’t been doing it for the past few weeks and it’s going to be a pleasure returning (finally) to World Café Live .

Off to bed now.

Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 137

Day 136 - July 25th 2009

I woke up in jersey in a fog. The Malibu Rum I used to mix the drinks with’ll do that to you. I slept in till about 11 something I don’t normally do.

I heard the TV blasting and when I went upstairs I saw my sis and nieces were watching Torchwood, this British Sci-Fi series. It was pretty sweet, I’m sure an inferior American version will be on the way soon.

My folks got there around 2 and my mom and sis went to target while dad and I watched TV (the Phillies game and Eagle Eye respectively) and slept. They brought Chinese and we watched Push, decent movie.

I then got a call from Zach telling me that he and Rob were goin to the Barbary on Deleware Ave. I hate electronic music but I decided to give it a shot.

We got there around midnight we grab a drink or two and I’m approached by a blonde girl with a dick necklace. We chat for a minute mostly about her whiteness and then the conversation take a weird turn.

Blonde: So can I buy you a drink

Me: Sure

Blonde: I’m married so don’t try any funny stuff.

Me: What?

Blonde: I’m married.

Me: What does that have to do with you buying me a drink

Blonde: Fair enough

Then she slaps my butt and walks away. Weird drunk girls are insane.

I ended up running into an old friend of mine that I worked with when I was working at CAPA. That was kinda weird especially since I almost asked her to dance.

I attempted to dance but I could dance to this pulsating techno crap music.

I would tell you about the rest of the night but it’s foggy.

Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 136

Day 135 - July 24th 2009

I’ve got this thing about feedback. The morning after a big event I search the internet and talk to as many people as possible to get a feel for how the event was overall (me being the one that puts it together) and my actual performance. Having that information helps me make everything better so I’m hungry for it. I pop on the websites of the other acts to see what the feedback was, if there were problems I didn’t notice, things that people thought could have done better, so that if and when we work with these artists again I can improve.

The feedback so far ahs been good. One of the bands said they had sound issues with sound which is something we’ll be able to improve upon when we do shows with other bands in the future. The calls would come in next from people who came to the show, what they liked and didn’t like, who they wanna see again, who they don’t wanna see again, which girls were smokin hot (which was the feedback I kept getting about my string players…boys you’ll have to check with them about their availability)

What I hope is that people enjoyed themselves and that they tell people if you weren’t there you missed out. This time around especially I think that’s true. From top to bottom I thought it was an excellent show.

This weekend would be a rare time for leisure I met Steve (My bro in law) at Penn and we took a ride over to my sisters house. We played with the kids for a while and then when they went to bed we made drinks from the recipes found on the Red Lobster drink menu.

We got drunk watched Mike Epps and passed out.

Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 135

Day 134 - July 23rd 2009

Today’s the day.

I woke up this morning with the realization that this may be the biggest show of my career to date. The sheer level of people that I would be sharing he stage with was intimidating at best and to top it all off I was closing.

I spent some time with the questionarre sent to me by The Cellar Sessions pod cast, I’ll post it when I’m done. It’s pretty long.

My day basically started at 3:30 when I arrived at World Café Live for Soundcheck. Curt Chambers and Franklin Bridge got there around 4 and it was basically a matter of them getting things done and moving through so that we could start on-time. On a big show like this (8 acts, 4 Main stage and 4 Acoustic) there are a lot of factors and the number one factor is starting on time. I was worried when it was 7:03 and we hadn’t started.

We kicked off the show with Liat, a very talented young lady that I’ve been booking for quite some time she played four songs but apparently had problems with her guitar chord and it was shorting in and out. Her dad came up and tried to fix it probably throwing her off just a tiny bit. A brilliant 20 minute set.

Caitlin Potter would hit the stage next, as I was watching her I was standing next to Angela DiPalantino who was slated to perform next and I was talking about how when you have a long term relationship with an artist like I’ve had with Caitlin (almost two years now seven if you start from when she recorded that song on my first album) you get an opportunity to see them grow. She has really gotten to the point where she commands attention for all the right reasons. Caitlin truly has all the tools that you would want if you’re a female pop singer, great voice, great look, good songs, good stage presence, it’s only a matter of time.

Angela DiPalantino was up next. Angie spent some time in my band as my background singer. She’s really been working hard on her solo project since leaving and it shows. The songs sounded great and she has a very tight grasp of what she’s doing. She’s going to be an excellent pop artist.

Then Phunkyman hit the stage and basically destroyed it. I’ve always had a lot of love for them as a band and as people. It just amazes me that they make a sound like that. It’s Funky as hell, melodic, heavy, basically anything you would want out of music. The energy was fantastic. If I can sound like that in ten years I’ll be quite content. I can’t say enough about them I wish everyone could come next time and just check these guys out. They never ever disappoint and their audience seems to be growing. I learn so much just by watching them.

Emerson B would take the stage next and boy did he bring it. His hip hop mixed with Reggae mixed with funk is the perfect buffer to give your ears a break after a band like Phunkyman. People seemed to be running their mouths more during his set. I’m gonna try to put him on right before me next time to alleviate that just a bit.

It was time for the mighty Curt Chambers and Franklin Bridge would take the stage. Probably the most prominent band we’ve had on a HYPE! Show to date, it was a major coup for me to get them. Curt has a certain vibe and energy that the people soak up. His swagger is undeniable and the girls seemed to love him, my favorite moment was probably his closer Purple Rain. He actually went out into the audience and played a guitar solo while sitting on the soundboard. It was hilarious

The Damon Hamilton Project would follow. Probably the most elaborate of the acoustic acts. Like all the others it’s a shame you can only give them 20 minutes to do their thing. They’re one of my moms favoirte groups that I book. You gotta love Abracadabra and the Apple Juice Song.

Then after all this Amazing music the crowd (who strangely enough was still there) was forced to listen to my black ass for an hour

Set List
Superhero
(Oh) I Wish I loved You
The Way You Make Me Feel
How Can This Be Love
Feels so Good
(I Think We Should) Breakup
Leavin

It was Rob’s first gig back since his tonsillectomy. We didn’t seem to miss a beat. Our lack of time together caused us to do something that we do very well which is listen to each other. We were tight, it’s a great feeling. By The Way You Make Me Feel we were really cooking with gas. Bob Beach Came out and laid it down. I’d love to incorporate him more in the band. We talked about doing some duo acoustic stuff at some point in the near future. The horns were on point as usual. They are just getting better and better by the show and I may or may not add trombone to the proceedings once it’s all set and done. We were kicking ass. It was like the Eagles playing at the Linc, we had the home court advantage and the crowd was on their feet and dancing.

I had to get my Caucasian brothers and sisters on point with the clapping. I don’t get clapping on the upbeat. It’s on the 2 and 4 form here on out….lol. I have the best friends/fans on the planet. Hell even Val, Dani and Jaimi from Lickety Split showed up. It was an amazing show.

Someone described it as loose and colorful, very un-World Café Live like. But I love that place it’s awesome, you can turn it into a party there if you have the right kind of music, I had a great time

We ended with Leavin and Jake and I both had out of body experiences which would explain why we fell one measure behind the string quartet who looked absolutely gorgeous.

Encore
Billie Jean

The Encore is like the condom in the wallet, everyone knows it’s there but no one talks about it. We ended the night for real with a rousing version of Billie Jean.

We played for almost an hour and still ended the show 15 minutes early. I paid everyone and went home.

All in all it was the best show I have ever played to date and we’re just looking to take it to the next level from here on out.

Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 134

Day 133 - July 22nd 2009

Getting up was easier than usual. Even though The World Café Live show was tomorrow I was in a pretty good place about it. Since I’ve been busy trying to so stuff to get Lickety Right I’ve been pretty calm about this Downstairs show.

I got an email from someone at the Gap asking me if I would like to perform there in August as Part of their Born to Play event. People will be performing in over 700 Gap Stores simultaneously. There’s free involved in the form of Gap Jeans and if you know anything about me you know I don’t turn down free. I had a nice conversation with the manager and she explained to me that there’d be no sound system, so I have to figure out a way for Jake and Rob to be there so that they can also get free jeans.

Because the show is this Thursday I had to get my hair done today which was probably the first eventful thing that physically happened today. While I was in the chair I got a call from the Cellar Sessions, a pretty sweet pod cast that was interested in having me down for an interview/performance and I said yes. Turns out it’s gonna be the same week I play the Gap and get Free Jeans (You can tell I’m excited about that right). Yoni (The girl that does my hair) and I have a great time for the full 30 minutes she’s braiding my hair, watching Access Hollywood and debating celebrity gossip. The black hair stylist is way more fun that than the black barber.

Once we were completed Mom dropped me off at Lickety. When I got there Jack Gleason was playing. It was pretty empty at first and I had my concerns. Bust as the night wore on the acts were bringing more people. Lauren Malandra had quite a little crew there. I hadn’t see Lauren in over a year and was glad she was doing well. It peaked with Jason Min of Miss Vintage who brought in scores of beautiful Asian Women. We don’t get those at Lickety too often so I was soaking it in.

The show would end with Adam Rose who is a solid singer/songwriter with an awesome band. Closer to the end of his set his 9 Volt crapped out. His photographer friend who was clearly wasted approached me about it. After explaining the problem to him he got belligerent. Since I’ve go that World Café Live show tomorrow I didn’t want to go to jail so we called someone to escort him out. He came back inside and the band was about to go after him.

Once Adam and all drama was may man Chris aka DJ Hi Beta started spinnin that 70’s Soul and let me tell you he was getting down. People were staying, drinking, white people started dancing, it was beautiful. I stayed till about 1:30 before my ride go there to take me home.

I came home to a long questionnaire from the Cellar Sessions. It’s pretty in-depth and I will know myself well after it’s done.

All in all it was a pretty good night, I hope that doesn’t mean tomorrow show is going to be a disaster.

Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 133

Day 132 - July 21st 2009

I woke up this morning to the sound of my phone vibrating. It was from the producer I work with telling me the recording session was cancelled. It was cool though, I had plenty to do today and a show I wanted to go to. Soulfatronic was playing at Doc Watson’s and I really wanted to go.

First were my guitar lessons. My first student of the day was puzzled because the second chord in Natalie Imbruglia’s Torn didn’t sound right. As we looked at the tablature for the song we realized that she had the tab backwards. Once we got that straight she was doing a bit better. She skipped ahead and wanted to play a Sarah McLaughlin song that was in the book. Her key thing is going to be rhythm. Rhythm is so important when playing any kind of instrument. One is more likely to convince the general public they can play if they play rhythms that make sense. Once she gets that down she’ll be fine.

My second student didn’t have a guitar so I brought her a decent one to practice on so I brought her one from the basement for her to play until she gets one. I spent most of her lesson stringing it. She can now go practice BINGO.

After I left there I caught up Chris for a little bit and then we went to see Soulfatronic.

As I walked up the steps I was waved in for free. I saw the Soulfatronic guys and we talked shop and about how none of us were happy about them not being on Thursday’s show at World Café Live. They line checked and then they played an amazing show. Those white boys are mad funky. They are one of the few bands (you can really count them on one had) that I’ve seen in Philly on any kind of regular basis. The horn parts are mad hooky the rhythm section is tight, the guitar is nasty and Styles just kills it as an MC (his singing’s pretty nice as well) I enjoyed their show as always

After the show we hung out for a while and I went over to the Tritone to see Kelvin and Steve. I saw them for about five minutes until I met up with my folks who were passing through from a meeting and got a ride home.

Lickety Split’s tomorrow, World Café Live in two days, I need some rest

Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 132

Day 131 - July 20th 2009

Monday’s always a weird day when I don’t have open mic. I know I’ve been saying that all summer, you think I’d be used to it by now. What can I say, I love doing it, I’m inspired by it, and I miss it when I’m not there.

I spent the majority of the day making deals. I had to say no quite a bit today, which is the hardest thing for me to do sometimes. I understand what it’s like to be a musician out here trying to get certain things done, or a venue that is trying to get off the ground with a live music night, so sometimes I go to places I shouldn’t trying to be empathetic and trying to let them know I understand their plight. It’s a process and I’m learning, but the bottom line is that I have to run my business and part of that is saying “I’m not gonna be able to do that”, for someone who’s spent his life being a people pleaser it’s probably good for me to be in situations where I have to put my foot down, this isn’t going to make me popular and I’ve made mistakes along the way, but failure is success if you learn from it. The more I go through the better I will be at closing deals.

Also getting ready for Thursday’s show it’s gonna be a classic I think in terms of quality. You put Franklin Bridge, Phunkyman, and Boy Wonder and Caitlin Potter in the same room, not to mention all the acoustic acts that are playing. This may be the best show yet.

Other than that I spent the majority of my day at home trying to get everything straight for Lickety and attempting to write. I know that I won’t be able to do that until things clam down.

Work week starts tomorrow so it was Penn and Teller, Weeds, Raw, then bed.

Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 131

Day 130 - July 19th 2009

Dad preaches today, and like all family functions like these, we’re all due to be there. My nieces are all over the house, apparently they slept over. They have to get up and get dressed. My mother convinces me to wear a tie, to “support” my dad, I dunno how that supports him but today I don’t feel like arguing. Dad leaves ahead of us as I leave with mom and the girls.

We get there at 10 when the service starts. A few songs and prayers later my Dad hit’s the pulpit. The name of the sermon is called turn on your light. It was the kind of sermon that makes one squirm in his seat. It called the congregation to task about exactly what we’re doing to build up the body of Christ, who do we tell about Jesus etc. and how us shining our light creates a collective large light to shine throughout the World. More often than not Christians have their light off. As a spiritual leader one has to challenge people sometimes. The new warm and fuzzy trend in Christianity often criticizes the outside world but often forgets to let the believers know that they are screwing up.

A new slogan was born…Don’t make me turn off my light! Sometimes the mess around me makes me wanna turn off my light and get nasty. Hopefully you won’t have to hear me say that often.

After the sermon we went to lunch/dinner and spent some time together. Nikki came by and brought my nephew Aydan, I haven’t seen either one in about a month. So it was good to see them. We left the restaurant and headed to Shon and Steve’s and kicked it for a while there before going home.

We got home and I considered going out. Then I laid on my couch and that was the end of that chapter. Tommorow’ll be the last Monday I have off for a while. I’m looking forward to getting through the week.

Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 130

Day 129 - July 18th 2009

I woke up at around 10 to the news that my nieces would be coming over today. Luckily for me I had to be at The Tritone by 6. I’m not really a kid person, as a person who spends the majority of his day in noisy environments I like quiet at home and kids aren’t quiet. I love them of course and can’t wait to see them, they just have a sort of energy that makes me wanna wear condoms…even when I’m not having sex. I think all teenagers that think they are ready for sex should spend some time with a few kids and then they can see
what a job it really can be.

I set up Madea goes to Jail for them and my mom and when that was over we ventured downtown so that I could get to my show on-time. I took the kids for water ice and was dropped off at the Tritone.

I was performing as a part of The Perfect Ten, a showcase put on by The Absolute Zeros celebrating the one-year anniversary of their Tuesday Night Open Mic event. I was truly honored to be a part of it.

One of the acts was a no show so I volunteered to play a short acoustic set for the small crowd that was there.

Michelle
Ain’t No Way
Man In The Mirror
(I Think We Should) Breakup

It was pretty sweet playin on Kelvin’s guitar. Dave an old friend from Rittnehouse Square happened to come in with his girlfriend and sat and watched. They were partial to Man In The Mirror. The Quelle Source came in so I was finished.

There were a lot of really great acts including the new lineup for The Absolute Zeros with Bill on Lead Guitar and Sharkey (a really talented kid) on Drums. We got through and about six hours later it was time to go on.

Bill was sitting in again on drums for me cause Rob is still recuperating from tonsil surgery. I wasn’t as nervous tonight because we were playing for 30 minutes and not four hours. So I could pick a set of songs that sounded really good last night.

Superhero
(Oh) I wish I loved You
How Can This Be Love
The Way You Make Me Feel
Feels So Good
Walking On The Moon

The set was pretty killer. Bill really had a great feel for the songs that were chosen. I think last night’s Lickety Split gig did a lot for us as far as tightening up. We stuck mainly to the songs of the last record, which Bill knows extremely well. After you play with someone you get a good feel for tempo and speed. Bill did a really great job and Jake is as rock solid as always.

In the middle of the set Amanda Shames (Former Boy Wonder Guitarist) walked in. It was great to see her face again. I hadn’t really seen her since she left the band a few years ago. Still the adorable sweet kid I remember. I really wanted to sit and drink a bunch of booze with her but she and I will have to do that at a later date. I missed her in bunches.

My ride came and got me and I went home around 2. Dad was preaching tomorrow and I didn’t want to miss it.

Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 129

Day 128 - July 17th 2009

Friday.

For many people it means the start of the weekend for me, tonight it means the start of my first back to back shows since I came home. We’re (finally) back at Lickety Split. Lickety Split on South Street is the place that I’ve recently took over the booking for, but I’ve had a relationship with them as a musician for the past two years. At one point we were playing there every Friday from 10-2. It had a lot to do with building the fan base I built in Philly. People would come every week because they knew I was there with Jake and Kanako and later Rob. We’d gone through a lot of changes in the past few years, from once a week to once a month to twice a month to once every other month to ultimately me booking there. It’s one of our favorite places to play. Great people, great food, great drinks, and the crowd is always interesting. There is a feeling today that I’m finally back home. It won’t be the same without Rob.

Bill Rose of The Absolute Zeros (an excellent drummer BTW) would be sitting in. I’ve been emailing him the tunes all week but learning four hours of music is going to be close to impossible so this may be a tough gig. But Bill’s played with us before and I think we can get through it.

As I arrived on South Street the sky busted open and I had to run really fast into Lickety to keep from getting myself and the gear wet. It was about 6 so I had 3 hours before any activity would be happening on my end in the club.

Three hours later here comes my opening acts. It was the Amy Squared show. Ami Verill followed by Amy Regan. Both extremely talented Female performers , great looks, great songs. The rain is keeping people away though, usually this bar is packed on Fridays but now it’s pretty much half full. It’s gonna be a slow night.

Verill was up first. She’s the epitome of the piano/singer/songwriter chick. Her songs are tender, emotional, and earnest. She pours her entire being into her songs and her performance follows suit. The pain in her voice is what makes it appealing. She can really tear you open and make you feel what she’s feeling.

Amy Regan is a little different. Her vibe comes from a confidence that you rarely see from female singer/songwriters. It come from a confident, sexier place. She looks at you like the girl at the bar that flirts you into buying her drinks all night and leaves you with a smile and no phone number. Her music is very competent, this is a person who’s spent some time studying music, she knows very expensive chords and her songs are very well constructed musically as well as lyrically.

They both have bright futures

After Amy was done the challenge would commence. 4 hours, 4 sets, new drummer. Daunting at best, as I spend the evening hoping more people show.

Set 1
Sunshine of your love
Godess
Michelle
Always Givn Me The Blues
Hoochie Coochie Man
Daylight

This was particularly shorter Sunshine of Your Live went really well, Bill had the drum part right and I decided to skip some of the more ballady type songs we usually play it the first set in order to get to the more bluesy stuff that inspires the drinking. It’s was rough at first but by the time we got to the end I was amped up to play longer. I felt like we were really hitting the spot.

Set 2
Electric Love
What's My name
I Wanna Be your Lover
Whiplash
Private School Girl
Bitch
Demolition Man
Beautiful

This set was a bit longer with some funkier, heavier tunes that we play. 11Pm is a good time to be loud at Lickety, people are just exiting wherever they are and looking for a good place to go. This is the point where if there’s no one in the bar people start coming in. Most of these tunes are the more popular ones in my catalogue so this is the part of the night where we usually get going. A few people walked in, decided they liked us and perched themselves at the table for the rest of the night. Demolition Man and Beautiful were especially good. We tore into this set and felt like we were gonna be ok for the night.

This break was short, Rob’s usually there to keep me from wearing him and Jake out, myself for that matter. But with Bill there instead my excitement from the reception we were getting from these new people got the best of me. They liked my music and I wanted to play for them.

Set 3

(Oh) I Wish I loved You
The Way You Make Me Feel
Body
Feels So Good
(I Think We Should) Breakup
Ain’t No Sunshine
Woman
Superhero
How Can This Be Love
Billie Jean
Wasted
Hangover
Leavin

This was particularly smooth but I began to notice the fatigue my voice. It usually happens after hour 3. With all the worrying I did about Bill and how it was going to sound I went back to old singing patterns which take my voice out of commission even faster. Luckily most of the songs in this set are easy on my voice. A few cute girls walked in, but walked out before any of us could approach them.

We decided to stay up and just play the last two sets back to back to get everything in. By the time we got to Billie Jean we were on fire. We’d been chasing the spot all night, and we finally found it. My fatigue moved me to a more unconscious place and allowed me to let go a little in my playing. We like to take chances here, we’ve deconstructed and reconstructed a lot of these songs playing in this bar.

Encore
Walking on the Moon
Ain't no Way

After Leavin I was ready to walk. The guys that came in during the last song wanted one more.

Me: How do you guys feel?

Jake: 1...2...3!

He jump starts Walking on The Moon, which turns into a sweet jam, a really sweet jam. The interplay between Jake and I is always awesome on this song. I’m still waiting to write a song that’s as malleable as this one. After Walking on the Moon they ask for another so we played Ain’t No Way. After that we were done. All that was left was to get paid picked up and hit the bed.

Need rest. Got the Tritone tomorrow.

Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 128

Day 127 - July 16th 2009

Today brings the realization that this week is a slow one from a financial standpoint. Fortunately for me I’m getting Rel back on track today as far as her guitar lessons go so at least I won’t be bored or completely broke today.

I’m more and more concerned with Rob’s condition. When I talked to him this morning he was in pretty bad shape.

As I walked out the door surprise, surprise my ipod wasn’t working again. My uniformly negative experiences with all things apple didn’t deter me from becoming a member of the ipod nation and like always the shit doesn’t work. I was able to get 1.5 gigs of music on my 80GB Ipod before leaving the house and heading to Rel’s.

Fortunately for me Rel’s been practicing. The long layoff hasn’t slowed her down, She’s going to need that sort of fire and zeal because like anything else in life if you wanna be really good you have to work really hard at it. I’m very pleased with her progress though. A lesson is always followed by a long talk, usually about my relationship problems, which I won’t get into here. We headed over to the royal tavern for some food, I was starving, We talked some more and I realized that I was running late for Jake’s show.

Jake’s longtime band the Parachuting Apostles got a shot in the arm when Dom formally of The Feathertops joined the band. Having heard The Feathertops I was interested to see how this was going to work. I came up the stairs at Doc Watson’s (a place in Philly where I cut my teeth) and ran into their manager who I finally meet face to face for the first time. He seems like a nice guy that really believes in these boys. Zach had also arrived and I was stoked to see Jake play.

The band hit the stage around 9. Right off the bat this is probably the loudest band I’ve heard since I came back from tour. But two other things are also evident. Number one, they are all enjoying the crap out of themselves, two this band is really good. Dom’s also a pretty sweet front man and Jake’s very unique approach to playing lends well to this band. I was blown away by the performance. I talked with Val some more and we discussed goals and things and what I might be able to do for The Apostles. I’m slowly beginning to realize that people are either overestimating my power and influence or I’m underestimating it. I will of course do all I can for Jake and anything he’s involved in. He’s family.

Zach and I walked to the bus stop and after an hour of discussing life I caught a bus and went home. I have a long weekend ahead so I’m going to get as much sleep as possible.

Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 127

Day 126 - July 15th 2009

So I wake up to the news that one of the bands I have booked at Lickety Split is breaking up TODAY as in the day of the show leaving me one band down for tonight. Later on I get the news that another one of my acts has an emergency and has to drop out. Which leaves me with a half empty bill for tonight’s show…. Awesome. Stuff happens and I know that so I have a lot of phone calls to make.

I literally called everyone I know to try and fill it, no dice. I ended up contacting Alex Rawdin from last Night at the Tritone who was more than willing to come in and fill a spot, with me playing an impromptu acoustic set that makes 4 people for the lineup. Funny when I did my Wednesday Nights at O.N.E. we’d play all the time, sort of served as our practice. Now I’ve grown accustomed to my Godfather type role. But it’s not like I don’t love playing.

I also have the task of having to get 10+ songs to Bill Rose of the Absolute Zeros who is filling in for Rob on Drums. The prognosis doesn’t look good for him this weekend (and considering his age I’m worried about next Thursday’s show) so we had to get another guy to step in. I don’t like not playing with Jake or Rob but this is the nature of the business. Stuff happens and you have to deal with it. I must say though it’s adding to my stress level.

As I was in the midst of putting out the fires of this crisis my friend Maleata came by to buy tickets for the show which have selling surprisingly well, she hung out while I watched America’s Sweethearts. I took a nap and then I had to head down to dad’s job to drive to Jake’s to pick up my amp. Always good to see the Jakester. He has a gig tomorrow with his band the Parachuting Apostles that I can’t wait to see.

I got a call from my old friend Joe Rivera. Him and his wife were in town so they were gonna come by the bar. So I would at least be bringing two people to the bar to see me play. It’s been years since they saw me so it would be interesting.

I still had my concerns with half of the original bill there tonight. For the bar to do anything I’d have to count on two bands to do really well while Alex and I would basically serve as filler and what do you know as soon as Samantha Gongol came in the place was packed. Considering her talent and beauty I’m not surprised. Apparently her mother did an email blast before the show and all of her friends showed up. She played for about 30-35 minutes and sounded great. I’m getting he hang of mixing full bands in the room, not that there’s much to do. They could have played for an hour or two. She’s going to do legit business someday.

I played a short set followed by Alex Rawdin who was better tonight than he was at the Tritone open mic. He’s running the open mic at Panda Bar and he and the manager were basically ganging up on me trying to get me to say yes about coming. Tuesday’s are always tough because I have two lessons and I actually like to come home and get as much rest as possible. I’m in a position where I can take care of my body so I like to do that.

The place filled up again for Damien Anthony. I’d seen him play at Philly Rising but had no idea he was such a ripping lead guitar player. He played a very inspired set that got the crowd jumping and singing along. After he was done he was having birthday cake, I don’t eat Birthday cake and it was time to go home anyway, it was getting pretty late. It seems like just as I think we’re gonna have a dead night the people turn up. It was a really good night for half of the advertised bill not being there,

I got home and hit the sack. I had lessons and The Parachuting Apostles tomorrow. Life’s not so bad.

Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 126

Day 125 - June 14th 2009

With no Philly Rising yesterday today was the start of my “work week” it’s weird because music is my job now, and frankly it doesn’t feel like work but it’s hard work.

I left the house in time enough to get to my guitar student’s apartment early. Since we had time we decided to go shopping for songbooks. Joined by my other student we walked out of her apartment towards FYE

The walk over was hilarious. We hit FYE to search for books. One of them saw a book she liked as I thumbed through it. I want to make sure that the book is filled with things she can learn with the knowledge she currently possesses (you don’t want a book filled with songs that have major 7ths in them if you haven’t taught them the major 7th) it was a Jack Johnson Book that had a very special song in it she wanted to learn so I told her that I could probably teach it to her if she practices and works really hard.

We hit border’s to see if we could find a better selection. There were a lot of books We found a book of Children’s songs for one, and a book of Pop songs and a Beatles book for the other. We went back to FYE and got the Jack Johnson Book so now they both had two books to learn from.

Once we got back to the apartment I started my first lesson. We ran through all the drills and broke out the children’s book. It looked like endless love and Torn were going to be the first songs we work on. The book she got has tab which will help her immensely. She wants to dive into that Beatles book and she will when it’s time. With a clear goal hopefully she’ll practice more.

My second lesson was a bit easier. We ran through all the drills and broke out the children’s book. It looked like B-I-N-G-O was gonna be the first song I teach her. Lots of kids will know that one and she says a lot of the songs they do are to that melody so it should be pretty useful. Now that she has songs to learn it’ll probably help to increase her practice time. Her guitar is a P.O.S. so I gave her a beat up one I found in my basement.

Once I was done I txted my Thursday students to confirm and I headed over to the Tritone where I was guest hosting their open mic. Unfortunately the pickins were slim. Me and one of the other singups Alex Rawdin basically traded off tunes until my string broke, then he let me play his guitar. We basically went back and forth until the comedians arrived. Alex was very good in my opinion, has an excellent version of Chris Cornell’s version of Billie Jean in his repertoire. He runs an open mic on Tuesdays at panda bar, an old haunt of mine, well sort of. I may try to make it over there.

Got in late so it was time for bed. Big show at Lickety tomorrow and I gotta call the Six Flags people.

Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 125

Day 124 - June 13th 2009

Monday Monday Monday.

Not a whole lot to do today. Philly Rising is off again for two weeks so I’ll be spending most of my time getting things ready for next Thursday’s show, starting promo for when we do come back at Philly Rising and trying to put together the little short stints at spots throughout the year, and the daunting task of booking a club twice a week…every week. I sent out a bunch of emails trying to get things straight and after I was done I decided it was songwriting time so I ventured down to Rittenhouse Square.

I got Funky at the Park for a while working on some tunes. I had some interesting concepts come through the pike. Nothing in the vein of a complete song but I’m getting there.

I ran into B Dell with his daughter. We kicked it for a while and talked shop, I’ve been tryin to get him in as the Lickety Split DJ on Saturday Nights for the old school jam that Tommy (the owner) wants to do. We talked about the music biz and old friends and what they are doin now. Ken, and old friend who was just learning to play the last time I saw him, happened to be in the park. It had been 3 years since I saw him and he’d gotten a lot better at guitar and picked up the harmonica. Lily (from Saturday) joined us and purchased three tickets, it was pretty sweet. She told me that her mom has a blues band and I told her to have her call me about filling one of these empty slots at Lickety Split.

It was around ten so I hopped the bus and went home after failing to stay up and watch Weeds. Only one more Philly Risingless Monday to go.

Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 124

Day 123 - June 12th 2009

The drum beats at 8AM. The parents are up and they are yelling at me to get up for church.

I’m generally never too excited about getting up and going, my church can be kind of dry sometimes. It’s a little older, the congregation a little more on the well to do side, content to kind of just sit there and watch what’s going on. It sorts of lacks the visceral atmosphere that you might find at other churches or even a secular event like a rock concert. Depending on who’s preaching the sermons can be a little murky and depending on who’s singing the choir looks and sounds closer to the grave than glory. So there are some Sundays where the parents have to literally drag me out of bed.

I got there at 10 AM and the opposite was true. The sermon was topical, the choir sounded alive, I was engaged in what was happening in the service. Something that doesn’t happen as often as I would like when I’m not playing for the youth choir, it was a good service and apparently Dad is preaching next week,

As we leave church we head for Bertucci’s and my mind wanders to the fact of the day. Bang Camaro is at Rocklahoma today and I’m not with them.

It seems like I’ve been home forever but it’s only been a month or two. It’s still kind a weird for them to be going somewhere and me not going with them. I guess it’s like those guys who have like 3 wives stashed away all over the place. I was out there living a different life, same guy mind you but my existence was almost a 180 from the way I was living before I left. There are definitely differences from the touring life than the one I have now. With Camaro I’m not in charge, I show up get in the van and do my job and hopefully I take decent care of myself. There’s still nothing that beats going into a spot 15 deep. Part of me will always miss them, I’m certain that if given the opportunity I’ll perform with them again.

I wanted to go but my schedule and finances being the way they are it wasn’t really conducive to being able to take six days off, and with several trips planned in the next few months into some other markets with my own project I’ve got to save my money. If I learned anything from the Camaro brethren is that tours cost… a lot.

I’m sure they killed it. Holding their own with Twisted Sister, Anthrax, Ratt, Stryper, and the rest. Nobody brings it quite like The Camaro.

Once we got to vertices we had a good meal then went to Borders to get a book for mom dukes. After that we went home watched a House Marathon, I ate some General Tsou’s Chicken and pretty much vegged out. It had a been a tough past few days and I could use some rest.

Bang Camaro @ Rocklahoma

Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 123

Day 122 - July 11th 2009

Saturday, not a whole lot to report today.

Working on the Festival mostly in the morning trying to hook up acts with money people to confirm them for the show. I’ve only been doing this full time for a month or two but it feels like forever sometimes. With me taking over Lickety Split I’ve got a lot of work to do, there were a lot of things sort of left on the floor and the ship needs to be tightened.

After a few hours on the phone introducing myself to some of the guys that play there regularly I took a break. Letting this consume my life 24/7 is a crazy proposition. So I decided to have some fun. I called Casey and we decided to go out….He wanted to go to Lickety Split to play darts. So I knew I’d be going back into the Lions Den.

Once Casey, Julie, Lily, and I arrived on South Street we remembered that it was Greek Weekend. It’s when all the black college frats get together and throw a weekends worth of parties a byproduct of this is a bunch of black folk just wandering around south street. Cops who are probably scared out of my minds (lets face it if the hundreds of people on the street decide to start a revolution the handful of cops are as good as toast) are a little more on edge and hostile towards people than usual. We were able to get into the bar without much trouble.

We went into the bar and had a few drinks, some fun, and we played some darts. I’m a little better from that night Fox and Dan showed me how to play at the Lesbian bar in Amarillo, not much better though. We had to be locked inside of the bar for a while cause a cop got beat down. I used the extra time to take a look at the calendar to make sure what I know about the booking is the same thing that’s on the calendar, it’s not… lol.

Once it got a bit late to be there we skedaddled on home. I hit the bed hoping to not have to go to church tomorrow.

Boy Wonder: Professional Musican 122

Day 121 - July 10th 2009

Dad was home today. He had a sleep study to go to so he got home this morning. We cleaned the house a bit and then I headed out to try to catch DanI Mari. She couldn’t meet me till later so I decided to play in the park for a while and call my good buddy Barb for a meet up. She makes me laugh. We grabbed some lunch and sat in Rittenhouse Square for a while catching up and talking and then decided to go see Bruno.
The movie was wildly (and hilariously) inappropriate and once it was done I got back to the park.

I ended up running into Meron a very talented singer/songwriter from the area who I found out was running a booking agency handling some big money acts. I ended up getting into another industry conversation. A guy walked up to him and basically in a very douchey fashion told Meron that he needed to do something for him and his stable of artists. When are people gonna figure out that people don’t really wanna do anything for you unless you are bringing something to the table. Then I got the txt message I’d been waiting for. They want me to take over Fridays at Lickety Split. I was very excited. I knew I’d be spending the weekend trying to figure out what we had and what I needed to bring in to make it all work.

I ended up having dinner with my parents. I was all abuzz about it as I fielded phone calls on the ride over and tried to curb them at the table. This could mean good things for me and all who are involved. Everything (for now) seems to be falling into place. The next few months are going to be interesting. Me and the folks went to Longhorns and had steak and then I had to shoot over to Lickety to meet up with Tommy and discuss particulars.

Jake met me there so we had a few drinks, talked future musical plans, talked to some girls and Tommy and I finalized everything, I would need to hunt people down and see if gigs had been cancelled and then organize accordingly. I ended up leaving around closing time and hitting the bed pretty late.

Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 121

Day 120 - July 9th 2009

Waking up after a successful show is always a good feeling. Things went better at Lickety than they did the previous week and there are some rumblings about me taking over Friday nights which would be fantastic and combined with the new guitar students, would have me working at some capacity Monday through Friday again once we get Philly Rising up and running on a regular basis.

Spent most of the morning doing some stuff for Katherine Mundy, a very talented singer/songwriter that I’ve been doing some booking stuff for. Now that my situation is pretty much handled I can shift gears back towards doing some stuff for her. I sent some emails out to some places in NYC to see if we can shake the tree and get her something.

Once I hung up phones for her I turned my attention to some upcoming stuff. Possible Gig in New York in September as I continue to try to find a way to crack the big apple. Hopefully going up with Soulfatronic will help us out in that regard. People look at me like I have three heads when I say I do better on the west coast then I do in NYC not quite sure what that actually means.

Spent most of the day trying to write. Hit the park in the late afternoon to work on some tunes, things are beginning to take shape the creative muscle will hopefully flex something listenable in the next few months.

Can’t believe it’s almost Friday.

Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 120

Day 119 - July 8th 2009

Long day yesterday. For the first time in weeks I feel like I actually worked…lol As more and more people are interested in me teaching them guitar I have to make sure that I schedule things properly allowing me the flexible and freedom to do all that needs to be done. The show at World Café Live is two weeks from tomorrow and I’ll be kicking things into high gear as far as that goes. I have Lickety Split tonight but today I thought I’d spend the day at Rittenhouse working on some songs. I figured maybe I’d take Mom and Dad out to Lunch before I went. Things are looking better financially then they did in previous weeks so kicking it with the folks couldn’t hurt.

I headed over to the park and I got inspired getting through a verse and a chorus of a song called Possession. It’s dark and funky, at least it will be once I get around to laying it down, I’m very, very excited. While over there I ran into Chris and just as I was about resume writing I ran into Steve. He was going to a meeting regarding the Jefferson Square festival that I had just been brought into help book and promote. They were checking out the space so I decided to just go over there with them.

The meeting was productive. They’re really interested in Bang Camaro. The though of those two acts sharing he same bill is intriguing. Hopefully they can work it out with the business folks. It looks like this festival may be huge, I’m looking forward to planning it as the date approaches.

After the meeting was over I walked over to Lickety Split. I had some concerns about tonight’s turnout. We had an act cancel and another that’s hit or miss. But like the last few weeks the place was packed. People Boozin it up havin a good time and playing music. I was really impressed with City Line and band fronted by Mike Mitchell, a guy that I played shows with when I was first starting out with the Boy Wonder project. There are few guys from when I first started still making music so it’s awesome to see an old friend with a new project. He’s gotten even better as a singer, his voice is filled with so much emotion and soul and the songs really grab at you. They’ve got a good look, I can see them as a band that girls would like.

All in all it was another good night at Lickety Split. Good week so far in general so we’ll see what happens in the next few days.

Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 119

Day 118 - July 7th 2009

“I would not have picked up the guitar if not for Motley Crue. I would not have been interested in music at all if it was not for Michael Jackson.”

-- Bryn Bennet (Bang Camaro)

They buried Michael Jackson today. No gotcha moment where he comes out and does the moonwalk it’s over and done with. There are some who would be content if the guy never got any peace. Some want to honor him for all the humanitarian work that he did. For all of the detractors I will say this and try to move on. I rarely ever hear about the stuff Frank Sinatra or Elvis Presley were allegedly involved in throughout the course of their lives and careers.

I missed the Memorial Live because I got a call from Pop Dukes. He needed me to take his sleeping machine to him so that he could get it fixed. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense to go back home considering I had two guitar lessons to teach so I grabbed some lunch and sat in the park for a while until it was time. I started working on some tunes, I have chord progressions and what not out the ying yang. Still no lyrics yet. But hopefully that’ll happen sooner rather than later

As I called my first appointment of the day she was telling me that she had been watching it balling her eyes out. So it was my job to sort of focus on the task at hand. We got through the lesson and two weeks off seem to have helped her a great deal, she seemed to have worked on her technique and it’s improved to the point where we can start shopping for song books.

My next Student is also progressing nicely, we have to see about getting her a guitar. She’s also pretty much ready for song books as well. She’s interested in being able to play songs on her guitar for her students in her pre-school class. So once she gets a guitar we’ll focus on developing a repertoire. I’d like her to also learn something that would be fun for her.

I’m excited about the prospects now because we’re getting to the point where the teaching is going to deviate into a more individual sphere. They’ll both be learning two different things. Which excites me.

After my lessons there was a quick trip home but only to grab gear. I had a recording session to run to in Wynfield. I had a couple of hours to watch the Michael Jackson memorial. I thought a lot of it was fitting. I like Al Sharpton’s speech that was followed by John Mayer’s perfect rendition of Human Nature. Perfect in the way that it was just so fitting. It showed that Michael Jackson’s music impacted everyone not just the R&B singing dancing set and how important melody was to his music. I got through most of it and went on to my recording session.

There’s so much about the hip-hop recording session that feels like prostitution at least at first. You travel to someone’s house, it’s usually a little dark and creepy upon entry, you sit your stuff down and for a predetermined amount of time you use your talents to satisfy a client. What you’re doing is enjoyable but you’d rather be doing it on your own terms.

The biggest problem with all these sessions is the communication barrier as most of these hip-hop producers are more like computer programmers that like music than actual musicians. So words like riff and bridge could in fact mean anything, delay could mean reverb, and you end up having to decipher what their definition of rock is or R&B in order to fix your settings accordingly. It’s sort of like I’m speaking English and the other guy is speaking mandarin.

The second biggest problem is most of these guys aren’t (or can’t afford) professional engineers and often don’t have a tight grasp of their equipment, so it can take 50 years to get a sound from your guitar into the computer. You often end up assisting the person that’s recording you.

Once we jumped those two hurdles we were pretty much off to the races. He had some interesting beats, he used a variety of sounds and styles and unlike a lot of hip hop producers there’s a “parking space” for my guitar. Since there are so many programs and Keyboards where you can get so many different sounds so many guys layer and layer and layer and there’s no real room for someone to play and when they do it just sounds like too much but with this guys stuff you could see the two yellow lines. He had good ideas about what he wanted and as he threw the beats up and I laid parts down he allowed me more freedom which I liked a lot. After about 3 hours we ended with me playing a little Human Nature instrumental that I guess he’s going to sample and then I got my ride home

I was beat and needed rest. I tried to stay up to watch Weeds but it was nothing doing. Got a big day tomorrow.

Human Nature

Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 118

Day 117 - July 6th 2009

I took a jog today. The released endorphins just make me feel better about life in general. I’m tryin to figure out what exactly to do on the days I’m not jogging. I may end up jogging everyday again we’ll see.

My folks got back around 1. I was glad to see them back safe and sound. I ate some lunch and ran some errands with my dad that included me putting money in the bank (always a good feeling boys and girls) and stopping over at World Café Live for Philly Rising (an even better feeling)

We’ve been gone almost the entire month of June, they book shows on Mondays sometimes but never this many in a row. I was concerned that the turnout wouldn’t be great because people would be turned off from us being gone. But I got there at 4:30 and there were already 5 people in line. By the time we got to sign ups at 6:30 there were 30+…they haven’t forgotten about us. My old drummer Craig Kauffman was my sound guy instead of Bob Beach. He went the extra mile micing drums and amps, he seemed very excited to be working that night. He hasn’t been there long.

I opened the night up with a short set as usual, I kicked off my set with Man in The Mirror and banged through some Boy Wonder tunes. It was the first time in a while I played there without Bob on Harmonica so I had to play some stuff I don’t normally get down on.It was a lot of fun to play to a packed house that early in the night. I saw PM from Phunkyman there to pick up tickets. We’ve got a show there together July 23rd and it’s good to see people other than me out there grinding.

It was an awesome crowd. So many people not even performing just there to check out the open mic. Spectators, A&R Guys, nutcases, hot girls, and all things in between and I felt like I had them in the palm of my hand form there on out , no one talked while I was talking. There were a lot of great acts ranging from Singer/Songwriters to Hip-Hop to Funk and Reggae bands and even some rock bands. Our standout was Melissa Clampffer who’ll go onto our monthly competition. Her birthday’s tomorrow and she invited me to her party. Why do people even bother living in Northeast Philly

It ended at 11 and I came home beat. The start of a busy week. I have two lessons and a recording session tomorrow so things are looking good. Speaking of the 23rd I need to schedule a rehearsal for sometime soon. I guess I’ll miss the Michael Jackson memorial. I heard Mayer was playing, I guess I can tape it.

Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 117

Day 116 - July 5th 2009

Ice Cream Festival. Ever since I heard about this yesterday I’ve been psyched about it. The previous night’s partying made it hard to get up. Once we did we were golden. I took a train to Penn’s Landing, Zach met me at the bridge and we got in line.

$5 bucks got you a spoon and all the ice cream you could eat. I tried to make it to 20 cups but failed at 12 or 13. After we were done we went to Casey’s moms house and I grabbed the ribs that I wanted. After stopping a this place Casey took me home and I worked on some tunes.

Folks are back tomorrow. I’ll be happy to see them home safe but I did like having my own place for a week. Back at Philly Rising tomorrow as well, it’ll be good to finally get it back on track.

Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 116

Day 115 - July 4th 2009

July 4th the day that British Colonists declared themselves free of British Rule. They owned slaves at the time but we tend not to bog ourselves down in those details. The 4th of July is more about Fireworks and Partying than anything to do with America.

I was woken up with the sound of doorbells and door banging. Zach and Casey were outside trying to pick me up to take me to a BBQ at Casey’s mom’s house. We hit the grocery store and I realized that I’d left my wallet at the house, I felt bad because I didn’t have any money to pay for anything. Luckily I have friends that’ll spot me every once in a while,

We ate some food then proceeded to the fireworks on Zach’s Mom’s roof. They were pretty cool. We went bar hopping afterwards and then I went home.

All in all pretty good day, I’m looking forward to the ice cream festival tomorrow.

Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 115

Day 114 - July 3rd 2009

I had a long ride ahead of me today. My bro-in-law had to drive back to Philly from Orlando and I would be keeping him company. We got up in the morning and had breakfast, went to the rental car place to get another car for my sis and the kids and we were on the road.

Other than being one of the coolest dudes on Earth the advantage of riding with Steve is that they have Satellite Radio in their car. So I got to listen to the Foxxhole station, Jamie Foxx’s channel. They have standup comedy clips, music and today they were broadcasting from Vegas where Jamie Foxx’s tour is starting. They talked about a lot of things, mainly Michael Jackson and the music industry.

It was getting late so we pulled over at South of The Border, the attraction/shopping center/eatery at the Carolina Border. It seemed a lot cooler when I was 6. A lot of fireworks stores. We peed there and decided that it was a bit dirty to sit down and have food so we moved on to something a little cleaner.

Once we got back in the car Steve (who’s a huge Prince fan) popped in Prince’s new double album. I liked LotusFlower a lot I like MLPSSounds even better. This guy is a beast and even though I have albums that I like less than others, Prince’s output is one of the better one’s in pop music. It’s like no matter what era you’re talking about when you throw a Prince record on you know it’s him.

I fell asleep for about twenty minutes and when I woke up Steve was still flying. We were gonna get back to Philly in time for me to enjoy the 4th of July festivities here which I was glad about.

We arrived at my house at 5 AM I watched a little TV to decompress and then I fell asleep. Hopefully I don’t oversleep and miss everything.

Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 114

Day 113 - July 2nd 2009

I didn’t sleep. I’ve got a plane to catch to Orlando today to meet up with my family.

I opted out of this years family vacation, I needed to be here so that I can make money Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at least and I’m not really that big a fan of the whole Disney thing and I’m not really a fan of doing something over that long a period of time with the large version of the family unit. Everybody in my family are either small children, middle aged folks with kids, or old people making it a bit difficult for the single, childless guy to have a whole lot of fun. After my trip to California a few weeks back with Casey I realized the way I’d like to vacation, and it’s the opposite of the general Coles family experience. But in the weeks leading up my sister told me that her husband was goin to Germany and needed someone to sit in the car with him and keep him awake while he drove back to the city. After some arm twisting I said yes.

Cheryl (My Godmother) came to get me around 5. She drove up to the airport and I got through security to get on the plane and as we sat about ten minutes go by and the pilot makes an announcement.

Pilot: This is your Capitan speaking, according to our friends at O’haire International Airport, the entire systems have crashed. So we’ll be sitting here on the plane until they get back on-line.

Ok how in the blue hell does an entire airport crash, I guess I’d rather be on the ground instead of falling out of the sky so we waited for a while and then proceeded to Chicago an hour behind schedule. Once I hit Chicago I had a two hour layover and then I hit the plane headed to Orlando. As we sat there time passed and the Pilot makes an announcement

Pilot: This is your Capitan speaking, we have a very important part on the plane that needs to be replaced, it tells us if the engine is working properly so we’re gonna need everyone to sit tight until we get it replaced.

Again I ‘m frustrated, this is a trip I would have preferred not to have taken, and now I’m delayed in getting here. But on the other hand I’d rather be delayed than fall out of the sky. So we waited an hour opr so and someone arrived to replace the part. I got off the plane and headed towards the exit.

Dad picked me up and we headed towards Universal, I noticed that every road in Orlando has tolls, remind me not to come down here. After a few minutes we arrived put together mom’s scooter and headed towards the park.

I only had to spend four hours in the park. We hit some rides and I spent some time with my nieces, I’m glad I don’t have any children. Kids be bouncing off the walls and stuff and amusement parks make them extra excited. I got to hit some coasters and eat some food before we left.

There were tacos at my sister and her husband’s suite. We watched some news about all the stuff surrounding Michael Jackson’s death and the custody battle and what not I dozed off and when I woke up it was time to go. When we got back to my parents’ suite I made up the couch and went to bed.

Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 113

Day 112 - July 1st 2009

As an almost balancing out of the start of my week I knew today would be a long one. I just didn’t knw exactly how long it would be.

I spent my morning in heavy discussions with various people over music business related issues. Mainly from bands wondering how to get on shows. I’ve also been fielding a lot of questions from fans who bring bands to my attention. When asked by a fan about anything related to the HYPE! My answer is always the same. “I only talk business with talent and/or their official representative.” This keeps me from engaging in arguments with people that don’t really have a clue about how I operate.

With July and August locked up at Lickety for the most part I can turn my attention to getting Philly Rising back on it’s feet, the downstairs show at World Café Live I’m playing, getting with these folks in Minneapolis about promoting the show, and possibly trying to secure some other stuff in that area to really make that trip worth something. With all the booking and the hosting and the Mcing I can’t loose sight of the fact that I’m an artist first. My primary focus is making and performing music.

Around 4:30 the mad scramble would start to accomplish all tasks set before me. First I had to help Teremeh and Josh with their move from Center City to Germantown. I hadn’t been there all but got there in time to lift some heavy stuff and put it in the truck. I was sweating like a pig (as I often do) so it was a good thing I had a change of clothes in my back pack can’t show up to Cream stinking to high heaven.

Tonight would be one of the rare occasions that I’m double booked I had to hit the Cream Show (which had been moved to today from yesterday) first. Cream is the monthly competition for our open mic, where all of our weekly standout performers for a particular month play a show to determine who the standout performer for the month is. Tonight we had the monthly competitions for April and May.

April saw Average Soul (Folk/Smooth Jazz Group) Jubel Jenkins (Experimental folk band with seven string players and a guy playing the typewriter) and Jason Min (The lead singer in Miss Vintage doing a solo thing with loop pedals and such. At the end of the night Jason emerged the standout performer for April, I thought he had a real mastery of his effects and used them to properly service his songs. There’s gotta be a real rush being able to produce lush layered guitar and vocal sounds by yourself. Bands are awesome but to be able to do that alone and not have it be in the way of your music is definitely an awesome thing.

When April was over we moved to the May competition which involved Tayon Malik (Funk/Hip-Hop), 2mas (A tall skinny white guy that works as an English Teacher during the day), Michael West (A solid singer/songwriter) and City Line (Featuring Mike formerly of Just Six Spaces a guy that I started out with, the rare good Philly Pop/Rock group) This was a close one but 2mas eeked out a victory. I was happy for him he’s been a regular at the open mic, borught a whole bunch of people to see him, and delivered a great performance. For me it’s the juxtaposition of him being so dope and yet so very, very, white. As we were deliberating I got some calls from some of the Bands at Lickety Split (where I also book and host on Wed Nights) about who goes on when. I put out the fire and got goin over there.

As I was walking towards the train I thought about all my experiences over the past few months working and touring with all these bands and artists who are successful in their own right the common thread seems to be that none of them are currently signed to a major record label. It’s a really exciting time to be a musician, digital media and social networking sites have allowed anyone to put their music out there and find a market for it. The major labels seem to have their head in the sand and for the most part ignoring an entire facet of the music buying public, that may be why their losing money. They are still the best at marketing and promoting recorded music but that may change in the next five years as old guys who don‘t know anything hire young guys who don‘t know anything.

I arrived at Lickety Split around 11:30. The place was packed. I had added old HYPE! Regulars Uncle Waldo to the show last minute. They were one of the first bands I booked with any kind of regularity. A bratty garage band with the attitude of the Sex Pistols and a draw like U2. I swear every time they played a show for me there were a million people there. I’ve known two of them since they were 14, it’s been kinda weird watching them become beautiful, drunken young women. Good band, good people, I seem to be finding that combination at an alarming rate these days. Dani Mari and the staff at Lickety Split were pleased for the second week in a row.

After the show was over I went home and threw on Hancock. I didn’t plan on sleeping cause I had a plane to catch at 7 AM

Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 112

Day 111 - June 30th - 2009

I had this dream last night. It was about me having this black tie show for my birthday bash this year. Guys in suits girls in cocktail dresses. Even the bands, everybody just getting their rat pack on. Maybe it was a show in Vegas or something, something I always envisioned myself doing as I go older. It was pretty weird. But then again I’ve been having some pretty weird creative ideas lately. Some that I should probably just go ahead and fully embrace so I can lose the rest of my cotton picking mind.

With no lessons to give today the attention focuses back on music. I locked up July for Lickety Split and was really looking for the show tomorrow. I got a call for another recording session scheduled for next Tuesday. I gotta figure out a way to turn this stuff into bigger money. One must pay his dues first though, I understand that, perhaps someday all these things I’m doing will yield and even greater reward. I hope its sooner rather than later though.

After some time with the laptop I picked up the guitar and started strumming through all the ideas I’d been working on until the replay of the BET Awards came on. Most of it was to honor Michael Jackson. Some of the stuff was nice but it does make you notice that a lot of the performers today have got the dancing and the looking good part down but have really in my opinion missed the boat on what I thought were Michael’s greatest weapons, singing and songwriting. There were so many performances I saw where the singers didn’t deliver the goods live. That bothers me.

I get a call from Teremeh before I go to bed. Her and Josh need help moving tomorrow so I’m gonna roll over and do that before I do everything else that needs to be done. I should get some rest tomorrow’s gonna be a long day.

Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 111

Day 110 - June 29th 2009

It’s quiet here without the folks. With them in Florida and Philly Rising cancelled again I have no reason to really go out. Well except for my early morning jogs. I had stopped because running everyday on concrete was tearing up my body so I devised a plan. I would run on days when I wouldn’t be doing a lot of walking around. It would be a chance to get out of the house and get some exercise when I don’t have to be at World Café Live or Lickety or wherever else I need to walkt ot he train and then walk to. Ultimately that’ll come to two to three times a week spent jogging.

When I got back I showered and almost immediately started working on tunes. It’s really exciting on one hand as I’m coming up with things that will basically translate to fully formed songs, but lyrically I’ve got nothing. A songwriter with nothing to write about, I often fear the well is dry, that I’ve reached a point where maybe I could do something with myself and I’ve got nothing…damn. Hopefully that isn’t the case.

I worked on some Boy Wonder stuff trying to find a Michigan and possibly a Chicago date to go with this date in Minneapolis date in October. Still at the show swap mode (basically a band gives you a gig in their hometown in exchange for a gig in your hometown) as far as trying to route a tour. Getting all this stuff off the ground can be tougher than it looks but this Minneapolis date looks solid we should bring a decent crowd.

I had to work on some stuff for the HYPE! As I search for a Friday Night venue to books shows along with trying to close up the summer at Lickety Split. July’s almost done and August is getting there. Hopefully before I hit the plane for Florida I’ll have most of this stuff wrapped up.

I stayed up for a while to catch the new weeds and then I hit the sack.