Ah….so let’s see where to begin. The ride down to Cincinnati was….well…not all that exciting. But it did go by pretty fast. I picked up a new harmonica and a new harmonica brace (yep, getting back into that whole deal) on my way out of Chicago, so I was able to rig that up and practice my chops while driving. Not the safest thing in the world I suppose – but then again I’m a pretty compulsive text-while-driving driver. Fueled on coffee and the “poor musician’s feast” – 1 mcchicken and 1 mcdouble – I shot down I-65 and met up with I-74 outside of Indianapolis which carried me straight southeast into the heart of Cincinnati. If you haven’t been there it really is a pretty town. It sprawls out over the rolling hills of the Ohio river valley, which this time of year are a deep green given the oh-so-generous rainfall that the midwest has recently received. The river itself is a beast, usually seeing a good deal of action from barges. I have a strange interest in inter-modal transportation, so that kind of thing gets me off. What can I say.

Unfortunately my presence in the Cincinnati scene is not too strong yet, and the band in the Parlour Room didn’t have a super huge crowd. What did this mean for me? A slllllloooooooowwwwww night. I did get a chance to play for a few folks though, and they sincerely appreciated it. No CD sales but when I play to 5-7 people all night I can’t really expect much. I passed out a few biz cards, so we’ll see what the future holds

The merch booth is packed and ready to go. CD’s, business cards and a solitary sticker – gotta get more of those soon! Time to get outta dodge…See ya in a booth for dinner at the infamous Skyline Chili in Cinci.

Yep, that’s right, tomorrow I’m hitting the road for a couple of days. I’ll be on a solo tour through Cincinnati, OH (Thursday, July 29th) and Nashville, TN (July 30th). In Cincinnati I’m playing at a venue called the Southgate House which is regarded as the best music venue in the city – not including the big time spots like theaters and arenas It’s a really, really cool place. It’s the old historic home of the guy that invented the Tommy Gun, and their very proud of this fact. I believe you can purchase your own Southgate House t-shirt toting this fact for about $15-20. Anyway, they have three venues in the house. One main room that holds about 1,000, a smaller room that holds a couple hundred and then a lounge. The lounge is where I’ll be tomorrow night. It’s basically a little space set up by the main bar. You get lots foot traffic and exposure as people come in/leave from the other shows. We had a great time in the Lounge back in April, and I’m looking forward to my solo show there tomorrow night.

As for Nashville, I’m playing with a friend – Larry, from Hurricane Doyle (check them out – they’re solid) who we met playing in the area back in April at a venue called the Five Spot. It’s in East Nashville and so far I have heard only great things about this spot (no pun intended, of course). Fingers crossed.

I’ll heading out around 1pm tomorrow in Ol’ Blue – the infamous “touring bus” that you’ve heard me mention. She’s a 2001 Ford E-150 V-8 conversion van. I’m all class. So if the balding front tires can do me one more solid I should be good to go. The van is just about packed up and ready to roll.

My plan is to bring my laptop and blog at least once if not a couple of times a day on this tour, so be ready. You can come join me on the road. If I can get some decent photos with my iPhone I’ll post them as well. Some point in the not so distant future I’ll have a video camera – and that’s when the fun will REALLY start. So for now I say good night. I’ll talk to you guys from the road manana. Rock on.

Well we’ve completed our first three shows with the newly arranged band and it has been AWESOME thus far. Our first show was back on 7/10 at the House Pub in St. Charles. There were definitely some challenges involving sound and getting the right mix….and I could have really benefited from the sweet invention known as duct tape. With my new keyboard and stage setup things get a little out of hand with cables. Kind of like a giant pile of rubber spaghetti. However, I knew everything was going to be alright by the second or third song of the show. I was keeping an eye on people’s reactions in the crowd – namely those who have followed the band for a while and are fairly accustomed to the kind of sound/show we put on up to that point. There were certainly many expressions of curiosity being cast upon us….up until that moment in the second or third song. At that point I saw the curiosity and skepticism leave people’s eyes, to be replaced by pure enjoyment. I could sense that people had forgotten about the new arrangement, leaving their concerns and doubts behind and were truly getting in to the music and show at hand. Once I witnessed that transition I knew we’d hit on the head. It was, as I like to say, All Rock ‘n Roll in the End from that point on.

Our second show was in Terre Haute, IN last week – Thursday, July 15th at the Verve. We’ve always had a great time at this venue in the past but this was different. Random people approaching the stage and crowding in to watch. Full cheers and applause at the end of every song. I was sweating balls by the middle of the first set – and I hadn’t even stood up yet! We were on fire on all night, having gotten the initial nerves and kinks out of a number of the tunes from the first show. I have to give it up to the Terre Haute crowd. They made it a very special night. All the way down to the respect they showed when I chose to do a couple solo acoustic tunes later in the night. I felt like we really connected in a different way than we did during prior shows. We can’t wait to be back down in Terre Haute.

Our third show was the following Friday, July 16th in Decatur at the Lincoln Lounge. It was a bit of an off night crowd-wise but again we really turned some of the skepticism of old fans into real excitement for what lay ahead.

I can’t wait for all of you to hear these new arrangements and be a part of this new show. Everyone in the band is being pushed and challenged to their limits and bringing some extra to each show. All systems are, most definitely, a go. Rock on.

After a solid 5-6 weeks of aggressive rehearsals I’ve got myself and the band ready to rock in our new format. We’ll take the stage for this inaugural show of sorts in my hometown of St. Charles, IL tomorrow night and I’ll spend a considerable portion of that time behind the first instrument I ever learned – the piano. The new arrangements have kept me up thinking most nights and I think I’ve solved their riddle, for better or worse In certain ways I feel like I’m taking the wheel and letting some of my closest influences crash out in the back of the van – always available should I need them. It’s exciting and I sincerely hope that excitement – the stuff that puts chills down your spine and raises the hair on your arms – will be harnessed into a hell of a night for everyone at the show.

It’s time to raise an old bottle full of new beer and make a toast…

Well, it’s finally arrived. Tonight I’ll take the stage at Goose Island Brewery, here in Chicago, for the last time with a bass player. Darin Mullins, my bassist from Feb 2nd, 2007 – July 2nd, 2010, will be departing from the Long Haul after this evening’s performance. He’s been an absolutely fantastic member of the band and an even better person, all around. It’s definitely going to be an adjustment not having him around and he will sincerely be missed – especially for those early morning drives on tour I’m going to have to learn how to be functional before 10am.

The rock is definitely rolling as I’m writing this tonight. My brain is on fire. I just came from seeing the Max Weinberg (Bruce Springsteen’s drummer in the E-Street Band) Big Band up in Evanston, just north of Chicago. Incredible show. I haven’t seen a live big band in quite some time and the sheer energy and amount of sound is really unreal. Some of you know and some of you don’t know that I spent a good amount of time in the jazz world and tonight’s show definitely presented me with a frothy mug of nostalgia. It reminded me a bit of why I play music.