nope,.believe it or not,..a songwriter who has never walked the streets of nashville,...until now,..
let's start with the first impression,..which was,..
yikes!

Our first taste of nashville was the main strip. We met up with one of rich's closest friends, wayne, from NYC, and his girlfriend, Nikki, who just moved here.
For starters, rich and I have been itching for some good down home cooking,..and not the cracker barrel style,..some good BBQ,..
Wayne told us of place on the main strip called jack's BBQ and it was definately goooooooooood stuff,..
yum yum,..
The strip kindof freaked me out,..imagine vegas but with country music everywhere,..big 10 gallon hats, and a few less neon lights,..
I had this impression of nashville in my mind and the first 2 days, well,..I've had to keep trying to get rid of what I THOUGHT it was going to be like.
And I can't really describe what that preconceived notion was,.just not what it IS,..so,..anyway,..
I've never been much of a country music fan,..even after beng here a few days,..I haven't been converted, but we have seen a few players who were absolutely amazing,..

We're lucky to have Wayne and Nikki giving us the guided tours because otherwise we wouldn' know there was anything else!

So,.DAY 2: after getting some more BBQ for lunch with Jay and Wayne, and driving through the music row buildings and checking out gruhn's guitars,..our first gig was at very cool place called Hobo Joe's. It's easily the coolest place in Nashville (we've been to a bunch of places so far and I think that's a pretty safe statement)
The owners Gary and Kim are absolutely awesome and we had a great time playing there. Jay flew down for the occassion and Wayne (who's a bad ass guitarist) sat in
with us fo the show also. You would've thought wayne had rehearsed with us for years! in actuality, I think he's heard "Beauty Lied" once,..
hehe
the turnout was a little light which was unfortunate,..but it was GOOD FRIDAY in the BIBLE BELT!~ eek,..
regardless the crowd who did make it out there were treated to a great show! (and we taped it too, so maybe others will hear it afterall,..)
One very special guest in the audience was an old friend of mine, who'll we'll have the pleasure of staying with on sunday and monday night,..
my friend from NYC, Emma. I haven't seen her in about 2 years and I was overjoyed that she was able to make it out!

After the show, We took Jay out on the town,..yeah,..the strip,..yikes again,..Wayne had suggested we go to a blues club,..but of course, it was the only
club charging a cover,..so we just went bar hopping until we got tired of the scene,..

which brings me to today,..believe it or not,..I'm all caught up! and it's only 3:30am!
We got a chance to see a little more of the city. Before sending Jay back to NYC, we got stopped in at the Gibson custom shop. Man,..the guitars they have there
are amazing,..guitars from $400-$10k! crazy right?? they even had a guitar case that was bullet proof! (??)

I fell in love with a guitar there,..
she was mighty purty,..and played just fine,..
but i had no money, and it broke my heart
had to leave her
but she's always on my mind,...

country song or true story??
I left out the beer and the pickup truck, so can't be a country song,.
hehehehehe (just kidding)

so let me think,..
oh,.rich and I got more BBQ,.and he went to a famous drum shop,..he fell in love with a drum there,..same tired story,..

So we met up with Wayne and Nikki,..got some food and then Rich and I headed out to the station Inn to listen to some down home
bluegrass music.
Now, like i said, I'm not a big country music fan,..but bluegrass is another story,..I love bluegrass,..it's like the jazz of country music,..
Man did we have a great time!
the band was called "david peterson and the 1946 band"
they were amazing! The mandolin player was out of control,.actually the whole band was out of control! I can't describe in words how great they were!
I was stomping my feet and hollaring like a cowgirl! We had such a good time!
After the show, we stopped back in to hobo joes to say hi,..they had a funk band in tonight and we were hoping to catch that show too but alas, we were too late
Didnt' matter cuz there was still a party going on at Hobo Joe's and we hung out there for a bit and chatted and what have you for a bit,..
I really do love that club,..If any nashville-ites get a chance,.GO THERE! a great vibe and very cool people there,..and it seems that they have a very eclectic roster of
music blowing through there,..impressive!

So,.after that we came back here to wayne and Nikkis place, And this is where i've been ever since,..
in front of a happy MAC typing away,.I'm a dyslexic typer so please excuse any spelling or backwards words,..

we have a couple more days here in NAshville,..every day I'm liking it more,..especially the BBQ and the bluegrass,..can't get that in NYC,..well you can,..
but it's just not the same,..

more news to come!

HOME WITH EMMA

Well,..it's monday,.how the time flies,..
yesterday Rich and I packed up our things and headed out to Franklin, a suburb of nashville, to stay with my good friend Emma.
Seeing that it's Easter sunday, there wasn't a whole lot we could do, I was surprised at the amount of stores and restaurants open,..we assumed everything would be shut down,..
so we did some laundry and bought some groceries and spent a little time walking around the downtown franklin area, which is really a picture-esque town,..It's an old town, very quaint and cute,..lot's of upscale mom and pop stores,..very different from Nashville,..on the way out it's just rolling hills and mansions,.ridiculous masions,.."lifestyle of the rich and famous" type masions,..but when you put it into perspective,..what those masions cost down here is the equivalent to a 2 bedroom apartment in Manhattan,..eh?

We thought it would be great to do a little cooking tonight and allow Emma the chance to wind down and relax, she owns her own jewerly business called "emma valentine design"
as a matter of fact, I'm surrounded by her creations where I'm sitting at the moment. beautiful stuff! the woman works constantly AND if that weren't enough, she just moved into this beautiful apartment AND has worked furiously to get it in order AND she's about to get married to one of my closeest friends in NYC (and former bass player), Jairo,.who sadly, wasn't in town while we were here,..
I'l be adding her link to the myshytune site when I get back to gotham, so you can see her creations and hopefully even want some of your own!
anyway,..Rich and I were itching for celia's sweet potato burritos so I doctored the recipe as best I could from memory, and voila! instant success,..yum yum,..
Emma's friend Massoud joined us for dinner as well. He's a visual artist and actually has an exhibition at the Parthenon here starting the 23rd of April,..I'm bummed that I won't be able to see it!
what an amazing person he is! just a joy to talk to~!
We also had the opportunity to meet with Emma's neighbor Keith. He's also a songwriter, like everyone else in Nashville it seems,..and he's a really nice guy and judging from what i was able to hear, a fine guitarist to boot!
He and Rich hit it off instantly and it turns out he's created a little percussion instrument called the bongo box. He gave a few to Rich to pass along to other percussionists in NYC and Rich hasn't put it down since! we'll be adding his link to the myshytune site as well,..

I was so hating nashville for the last few days, with an exception of the BBQ the bluegrass and Hobo Joe's,..funny how as soon as we came out here to Emma's it was all love,..funny how that works,..
visiting the town over makes all the difference i guess,..

Emma and I had the chance to catch up on the happenings of the last 2 years and she played me some of her new songs,..what a delight,.i was almost in tears throughout. She's come such a long way since the last time we got together and I was tickled pink to finally hear her music. She's really good!
The whole night was a treat, meeting great people and hanging with my old friend,..
ahhhh
here I couldnt wait to leave and now I'm sad I don't have more time to stay with Emma,..
next time,..
I keep saying that,..

So tonight is going to a busy night,.Emma and I are going to hit the famous Bluebird Cafe', doing the open mic there, and then we're off to 12th and Porter where I'll be performing at the BMI songwriter series,..
I think it's going to be a blast,..
Our last night here in Nashville,.
Tomorrow we'll be on our way to a one day extravaganza in Decatur GA. I'm soooo excited to go there because we'll be staying with one of my closest closest best-est friends in the whole world,..Andy Martin.
I'll probably be up at dawn waiting for Rich's eyes to open so we can have as much time as possbile with Andy,..then it's off the South carolina and ending the trip in North Carolina,..I can't believe we're almost done,..

so that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
more to come!
Edit Delete
Sun, Apr 11, '04
2:04 am A MOMENT OF SILENCE

in the spirit of Easter Sunday,..in remembering who it was who died for our sins,..so that we all may be forgiven,..I have a confession,..

We've senselessly murdered hundreds of flying critters on our trip,..
thry were just innocent little bugs and beetles,..making they're rounds,.doing whatever bugs and critters of that sort do,..
then SPLAT!
on the windshield,..the headlights,..the front grill,..dead,..deceased,..no longer living,..
but we do acknowledge their right to live and be free to flap they're wings and buzz around,..
but then,..if you believe in karma,..
then those little critters fell pretty far down the food chain and perhaps they were meant to die,.or maybe they started as little ameoba
and worked their way up??

something to contemplate in this easter sunday,..
is the life of a bug any less important than the life of a human being? or any mammal??
or fish?
or plant life?
afterall,..we are all God's creatures,...

hmmm

helpful hint:
(while contemplating these very deep thoughts, make sure to have the theme of game show jeapardy in the background,..)

FEELING A LITTLE GUILTY

hey all!
happy monday to you all!
well technically tuesday,..
eh?

So, I was complaining a bit about Nashville for the first couple of days and now I feel bad,.
Tonight I finally found what I was looking for! well, and last night too,..
Tonight Emma and Rich and I did the Bluebird open mic night, which for you NY'ers is akin to the sidewalk cafe' open mic,..no need for expanation there,..
it was an interesting experience,..However, I didn't get to play cuz there were so many people there and took a little raincheck note so the next time I come I'll be able to,.
no biggie,..
but that wasn't really what I was looking for,..
12th and Porter was what I had been looking for all along,..
I played there tonight at their monday night "12 at 12th's" writer night which is an event sponsored by BMI, which was how I found about about it in the first place,.
In a nutshell, musicians supporting musicians and everyone who performed tonight was great!
I had a great time and I was really impressed and inspired by all the great songwriters/bands on the bill tonight. I also had the chance to meet some awesome people tonight which is always fun!
what a treat!
I left there inspired and just plain ol happy,..big goofy smile, the whole 9 yards,..
that was fun!

After the show Emma and Rich and I went back to her place. I mentioned before that Emma is a jewelery designer, and an awesome one at that,..She picked out a necklace for me and it is the most beautiful thing I own! I'll wear it every day,.so when the pics get loaded onto the website, take a look at this gorgeous blue beaded necklace and be inspired to get one that works for you, she has just about everything under the sun and it's all beautiful!
I'm so touched! I also wound up buying another necklace with some sparkly blue beads,..Emma has to add a clasp and then it's mine,.oh joy! I'm looking forward to showing off these peices!
ahhhhh
so, enough plugging,..back to me,.
hehe
We'll be on our way to Decatur GA tomorrow,..well today,.I can't wait,..it's why I'm here typing away at 3:30am cuz I can't calm my brain down enough to sleep!
We'll be spending time with my beloved friend Andy,..ahhh,..and then of course we'll be performing which is part o the deal you know,..
so that's the news for now,..
Big shout outs to Gary and Kim at Hobo Joe's who made us feel so welcomed and loved when we arrived!
Nuther big shout out to Wayne and Nikki who took us in and showed us the town, and to wayne for playing with us a hobo joe's, (we listened to the DAT it's grrrrrrrr-eat!)
And another big huge hug goes out to Emma for taking us in for the last few days of our stay and, well, for just being you! love you grrrl!
I'm so glad we had the chance to hook up and catch up on all our happenings!
and last but not least, to the folks running the show at 12th and porter,.for helping find what I was looking for in Nashville!
more to come!