This Yellow Taxi Cab In Which I Ride

Do people even read the titles of blog posts? Hopefully not. My friend, Bill -- who attended my show at MochaBlend last week, and who took pictures and video with his digital camera and cell phone -- sent me the aforementioned pictures and video. Here are a couple that Bill took with his cell phone -- Verizon, I think. The rest of his pictures, as well as the ones that Stephanie took, can be found here . Unfortunately, the video didn't come out too good. While it certainly depicts me playing and singing and generally looking like a hip, confident rock star -- something I am most certainly not -- the sound quality is rough. I could only stand to listen to it for a minute or so before I turned the volume off. I may decide to cut and paste bits and pieces of it into a brief showcase video, where you can see/hear parts of a few songs. If I do decide to do it, it will be under a minute in length.

While in Lake George this past Saturday night, we were stopped by a random person and asked for some information. Wayne, as he later introduced himself, was from Staten Island and was looking for something to do. As an "adult" he needed to be where there was "adult" stuff happening--music, dancing, clubs, etc--not family stuff. I pointed him in the direction of the bars--although, I regretfully informed him that I didn't know of any clubs--after which, he told us that he was staying in an area that had nothing but "water and trees," and that he drove until he found some lights. Which is where he was when he found us. It was quite an entertaining conversation. Stephanie and I played minature golf at Pirate's Cove (twice--two different courses) and got ice cream at Bob's Ice Cream--the go to place for ice cream in Lake George. We also had dinner, earlier in the evening, at Jitter's Cafe in Saratoga. ------ On Friday, we had gone to Fresnos af...

Last night was the MochaBlend Cafe show in Troy. Overall, things went pretty well. I had a great crowd that included a bunch of friends and some casual listeners--pretty much all of whom gave me nice compliments on their ways out. MochaBlend is a great cafe. The seats are incredibly comfortable and plentiful. It's a small place, as most cafes are, but it doesn't feel crowded. The performance space works quite well; I was able to play to everyone. Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling too great while I played. Earlier, I had hurt my neck. I'm not even sure how it happened, but I pulled a muscle pretty badly. Badly enough that I went to the chiropractor for help. Still, during my set, I was in pain. I played two sets with no set list. The first set was a little iffy, as I was trying to save my best songs for when more friends came. My second set started out pretty good. I played some of my more upbeat songs at first, then I tried to slow things back down. For some reason, I cou...

Last night at Caffé Lena's open mic the task of hosting fell up on my shoulders. I have done it a couple of times before when the normal host needed a day off, but it has only been a couple of times and each time I do host, it is still a new experience. Hosting is difficult. You must be entertaining and engaging. You have to keep the listeners listening and be sure that they give all levels of performers their attention. I got some nice compliments regarding my hosting skills, so I must not be too awful at it. This is a jpeg of the list of performers. It is all scratched up because many people switch places and some decide to leave as the night progresses. ------ Tonight is the MochaBlend show. I am quite excited about it. My friend Maurizio lives near the cafe and told me that it is a great place to play. I am listed in the Times Union's Preview, which is a section of the newspaper that lists events in the area. It's very exciting to see your name in print, even if it is j...

We had a crazy hail storm here the other day. I took some video of it and edited it down to less than two minutes. It was pretty crazy and a little scary--as can be discerned by Stephanie's statement in the video. Here is a picture of a "golf ball sized" piece of hail. It's kind of amazing how hard these things actually are. A careful inspection of the photo will also reveal some of what we occassionally eat here in the James Frederick residence. ------ Last night I attended the Fulton Book Company open mic and stayed for the featured performer, who was no other than my neighbor Bill Ackerbauer . He does an old-time folk, blues, country style. Some of the songs he played were from songwriters whose names I hear often at Lena's--Mississippi John Hurt, for example; all, really rootsy stuff. And played quite well. I played "Endless," "Walking; Standing Still," and "Sink or Swim." Bill gave me English teacher points for using the key...

I have been neglecting of this blog lately. And for that, I apologize. Actually, I have been quite busy with more pressing matters of various important natures. Even so, I have had time to enjoy some interesting experiences of which I would like to share. Here goes: Saturday the 9th, I played a lunch time show at the Coffee Planet in Ballston Spa. Things went well. Although, I had a difficult time bringing my songs down to the level in which they are intended to be played. At lunch time, there are a lot of folks coming in for food, waiting in a haphazardly developed "line" for their food, and then leaving with their food to eat outside or somewhere else or occasionally not leaving and chatting with their companions while I play. The "line" in which I speak of is often formed directly in front of where I was set up, and in between me and the rest of the restaurant--which causes difficulty for the performer who can't really make eye contact with the people sitting...

This past Friday I found myself involved in a new experience. Some friends and I journeyed to Saratoga in search of something to do. Last summer, we frequented a pool hall tucked away in a back alley called Backstreet Billiards. It was kind of cool. None of us are really great pool players, but we hang out, listen to classic rock on the juke box, and my friends can drink beer. We also make fun of each other when we hit really terrible shots. It's fun. We decided to do that again. On our way up the alley, we all sort of sensed something different. We didn't talk about it, but after we left--much later--we all agreed that we felt something. There were an awful lot of people hanging around outside. In the past, the place was always nearly empty; out of the eight tables that they have, there would usually only be three taken up. I opened the door to the place and was met by a bouncer dude who asked us for our IDs, which was something that had never happened before. At the same time...

This is probably going to a quick, and--quite possibly--unintelligible, post as I am quite tired and am looking forward to re-introducing my head to my pillow. However, I wanted to get something down about the show last night (Saturday 5/5) before I get caught up in the week and forget about everything that happened. I played at Jitters Cafe in Saratoga/Ballston Spa (it's like right on the line, I guess--no one is quite sure which city it is in). Jitters is awesome. They truly have the best cafe style food that I have ever tasted--and I have tasted a lot of cafe food. If I didn't live so far away, I would definitely visit Jitters more often. I had a chicken quesadilla. They put black olives and onions and green peppers on it; it's delicious! I played fairly well. I did mess up some songs. I actually destroyed Crayons and was momentarily--and mostly introspectively--frustrated with myself for doing so. The other mess ups weren't as obvious and I was able to recover with...

Regarding PWNED . It is 12:48 am. I have not found myself awake at such a time in so long that I have forgotten the euphoric feeling associated with the complete lack of sleep that I currently suffer from. How did I get to this point? Read on. This past Saturday was the beginning of a nor'easter (I am really liking wikipedia tonight! or is it morning?). Sunday morning I awoke to nasty snow, sleet, rain, etc. Which really sucked as I was scheduled to play at Slow Jed's from 12-2. Well, I had to cancel. But not before I packed up my car with all my gear and attempted to brave the wicked driving conditions. Once on the Thruway, I passed a car that was pulled over on the side of the road. About 10 minutes later, another car. This one appeared to have slid off the road. A few minutes more and there was a two car accident, both vehicles were off the road and facing directions that were not equivalent to the direction of traffic on that side of the Thruway. No more than a minute late...

I am recovering from a wicked sinus infection that--combined with the initial antibiotics that I was given--has completely wiped me out. You see, they first game me something called Levaquin. After just one does, however, I thought I was going to die. Without getting into too much detail, I was stricken with some of the worst stomach symptoms one can imagine. On top of that, my joints ached so bad I could barely walk; I had the shakes; my eyes went in and out of focus; and I had mild hallucinations (yes, mild). That was on Monday. It has taken the rest of the week just to get over those side effects. The second antibiotic is taking care of the sinus infection. Before the illness, I played at Jitters Cafe as the opener for Ryan Jenson. First, let me say that Ryan is absolutely amazing! I have seen this guy play at open mics a few times and I have always thought that he was a great songwriter and entertaining performer. However, seeing him do a full show with 100% energy was downright un...

Let me begin by revisiting the last entry that I recorded here in blogger. It was a concert survey. One of the questions asked was the following: Coolest thing to get at a concert?: My response was: Autographs... and/or guitar picks, drum sticks, set lists--you get the gist... I have some of all of such things, minus the drum sticks, in my concert diary. That answer has been changed slightly since the Pete Yorn concert @ The Egg in Albany Tuesday night. The line, " minus the drum sticks " must now be replaced with " including a drum stick ." More on that later. Firstly, I had a blast! I attended the show with some excellent companions, ate at a nice Chinese/Japanese restaurant before the show, sat in row A, sang along with 90% of the songs, got to stand up and dance (well, not really dance but, you know what one does at a concert), and took some pictures. Some of which came out blurry... but you get the idea. This man is so cool. More coolness. ...

Because of the upcoming Pete Yorn concert that I am unbelievably excited about, I decided to pilfer the following concert survey from a myspace friend's bulletin. The answers, of course, are my own. First concert?: Huey Lewis and the News (if you can believe it) at SPAC; I was twelve. My second concert was Bryan Adams (of Summer of '69 fame) at the Knickerbocker Arena (a.k.a. The PepsiArena, a.k.a. The Times Union Center). We were on the floor a good distance from the stage, but there was a smaller stage near us that Bryan and band played a three or four song set on. It was pretty cool. Last concert?: The last concert I saw was Jewel. It was a solo acoustic show, which--as a solo acoustic performer--was of great interest to me. It was at the Palace Theater in Albany. We waited around outside before the show and took a picture of Jewel as she hastily walked from her tour bus into the theater. Next concert?: PETE YORN!! w00t!! I'm hugely excited about this. @ the Egg in Alba...

It's winter time--there's no more doubting about it. We got three feet of snow in two days, I think. Crazy. What's most crazy about it is that all the local schools closed for three days! Not one, not two, but three. Which means that kids got an extra long vacation as this current week is their winter break. This also means that teachers and substitute teachers and school counselors and principals and what not, all get get extra time off too. It's a great benefit of working in the education system. Breaks and snow days--you can't beat that! So, in this free time that I have, I have been setting up some gigs with the area venues. I have a couple dates set in stone, but I still need to hear back from a few other places. I'm planning on gigging like crazy for April, May, and June. I might play one in July too. I'm also learning some new covers and trying to write a new song or two. I've fallen in love with the Gin Blossoms again. They were one of my favorti...

I played last Saturday at the Moon & River Cafe in Schenectady, NY. It's a great little place for music of the soft spoken variety, such as my own. However, this past Saturday, I played with Phil Drum, Dave Scheffel, and Bob Redman--three excellent muscicians who often play at Caffe Lena's open mic. It was a cool show. We played loudly, though. Phil opened with a solo set; although, Dave joined him on harmonica for a song or three. Bob joined him once or twice as well. Then Bob played a set. He had Phil and Dave play along with quite a few of his songs. Then I played solo. Here follows my set list with which musicians joined me on which songs: Endless Passenger In Your Dreams Sink or Swim (W/Phil Drum) Crayons (W/Dave Scheffel) Breaking Free (W/Phil and Dave) Phila Street Serenade (W/Phil, Bob, and Dave) It was cool having others play along with my originals. Phil really nailed the solos and--dare I say it--fills on Sink or Swim and Dave played a nice back up harmonica on ...

2007 has arrived along with another sinus infection. I have been on antibiotics four times in the last year. I should get frequent flyer miles or something. I can't even remember what it feels like to be 100% healthy. Well, First Night was pretty cool; even though, I was ill. Almost Awake came over for spinach lasagna and bread and music related conversation, as well as a tour of the house. It's nice to have friends over once in a while. Hey, it's nice to just have friends! Especially during holidays or events like New Year's Eve. After dinner, Almost Awake played at a local church as a part of Fulton County's First Night celebration thing. The acoustics of the church were pretty sweet! The turnout wasn't bad. I'm hoping to be playing First Night next year. Just as long as I'm not sick... After writing my last blog entry, I sort of broke out of my lifer's block... sort of... I did write a song. It's called Phila Street Serenade (Ode To The Open M...

You are probably familiar with the concept of writer's block--a perhaps fictional anomoly that causes those who write to, for whatever reason, fail and stall and generally lose the ability to write well. I have a friend who would argue that there is no such thing as writer's block and that he could write a song about anything at any time if he wanted (personally, I think he's being idealistic in an attempt to stay positive in life rather than negative like me). Anyway, I am in the midst of lifer's block, which works in much the same way as writer's block--except that with lifer's block, it's life in which I have lost the inability to do well and I constantly, and consistantly, fail and/or stall at. This, of course, makes lifer's block about a thousand times worse than writer's block. With writer's block, one may still have the ability to cook well or socialize well, but I seem to have lost such abilities and find myself unable to do anything well...

*Disclaimer: What follows may not be considered of interest to anyone other than the severely bored or the possibly insane. You were warned! It's Friday night--the night of the week where you are suppossed to get out and cleanse yourself of the previous five days. I'm at home sitting in front of my computer wrapped up in a blanked and freezing to death. Normally, I hang out with some friends on Fridays and goof off (goofing off typically includes: beating my friends in ping-pong, playing video games, watching comedy central, going to taco bell, etc...); however, this particular Friday finds one of my friends ill. Thus, the Friday night cleansing of the week is postponed. There is nothing to do when you are alone on a Friday night. I have solved five SuDoKu puzzles, practiced a couple of songs, attempted to write a new song, checked my e-mail, checked my myspace, checked my website, and looked for a job. Now, I'm eating crackers and doing google searches using words like: bo...

It's the Sunday morning after my Slow Jed's Mudhouse gig. I'm tired. Singing for two hours is tough work! Even so, the gig was great! I had a blast and people tell me I sounded good--two things that matter most in the realm of music making. I also had some good compliments in the form of acknowledgement; people seemed to enjoy what I was doing. I have to say that Slow Jed's is one of the coolest places I have ever been. A lot of people have been praising it, but I remained skeptical as always. As soon as I walked in, though, I was loving it. The walls are very cool colors (the room that has the stage is colored the same red as my kitchen!). There is unique lighting and fantastic art on the walls. It's a very warm atmosphere; it's a place that you can go and hang out and feel like you are home and not at home at the same time. Not sure what that means? I recommend visiting Slow Jed's to find out! I was a little nervous last night--not sure why, though. Maybe ...

The title is a bit of a play on words. You see, I've been playing (playin') a lot lately, which makes me very busy--or plain busy, which sounds a little like playin' busy... get it? Me neither... Anyway, I have had three gigs in three weeks! That is quite busy for me! I didn't advertise (I think that's the right word) all of the gigs, though. Mainly because two out of the three were benefits. The first of which was a benefit for a local museum. There was food and drinks and an auction. It was a cold night and there was definately a bug problem (we were outside under a tent), but otherwise it was a fun night! The food was great--of course, I had some--and I had some nice conversations with the people whom I met. I also made some good tips, which is great because it definately shows that my performance was appreciated. It is, after all, so easy to walk in to a venue, play, and walk out without feeling like playing even mattered. The next gig I had was at Flavour Cafe ...

I just realized that I wrote this blog entry back in August, but I never posted it. I don't remember why I didn't post it... and since I'm lacking anything new to blog about, here it is: AUGUST 16th, 2006 Here I sit suffering from itchy watery eyes, sore throat, and sinus pressure... gosh, I sound like I should be in a NyQuil commercial. I love NyQuil--you giant ____________ Q. Actually, my symptoms aren't quite what I mentioned. I itch. My eyes, my sinuses, my throat--it all itches... and like mad too! It seems to get like this every August. Yes, I am taking stuff; it's just not making it all go away, which is what I want. Besides the allergies, I have interesting stuff to blog about here. So, let the interesting stuff begin! I got a new PA system! It's pretty phat--yes, phat. It is phat because the guitar sounds warm with a good amount bass supporting it. It is also phat becuase the vocals are nice. Although, I'm saying these things without actually field ...