This Yellow Taxi Cab In Which I Ride

I'll be "emerging" this coming Wednesday (the 19th) at Caffe Lena's Emerging Artist Series. The show is at 7pm and features me and my guitar and my songs. I'm pretty excited about it. I've been playing at Lena's open mic for years and I love it there. The atmosphere is wonderful. It's not always easy to get a true gig at Lena's, however, because there are just so many songwriters and performers and genres and only certain of those are tested to bring in an audience. I'm hoping I get a decent crowd. I've put up flyers at the Caffe and Borders and Uncommon Grounds. I've also handed out some small flyers at the Caffe during open mic last week. I invited some co-workers and put up flyers at my job. I'm also planning on bringing my guitar to my training next week and trying to get a few other trainee's to come. And, of course, I sent out emails and bulletins on myspace. Perhaps, I'll send out another round of each. I started work...

Wi-Fi frustrates me. Or at least, hooking my computer up to wireless connections at any place other than my house frustrates me. Last night, I went to Starbucks and spent about 45 minutes trying to figure out why, when I do everything I'm supposed to do to hook up to Wi-Fi, I couldn't hook up to the Wi-Fi. I discovered something else that I can try after I had left Starbucks. So, I'm going to try to find a local hot spot later today and try again. Earlier that night, I frustrated an exasperated Gap employee. This occurred after I had sat down on a display of corduroy pants. I had a headache and I wasn't really into shopping (besides the fact that I had just been at the exact same Gap one week ago), so I sat down to rest while I waited for Stephanie to try on some jeans or something. Soon after, I noticed a Gap employee walking towards me pushing a cart. She stopped when she saw me. Turned around and walked toward another Gap employee. She threw her arms up and shook her...

I voted about fifteen minutes ago. I took a picture of myself with the "I Voted" sticker on my forehead. I'd be writing ten minutes ago if it wasn't for my attempt to put the sticker on my cat and take a picture of her, too. Note: there is no and will never be a picture of the cat with a sticker on it -- so says the cat. Anyway, I am way too excited about being able to vote today. I shouldn't be, but I am. It's not because I am hoping that my vote will change the world. Or that my choice in candidate is actually going to be able to fix everything that the last President fucked up. I'm just glad I got to vote in this election. You see, I have been unable to vote in the last one and the one before that and the one before that. I registered to vote (by filling out the proper registration card) four times in that time period and it still meant nothing to the board of elections. That is because my name comes with a "II" after it and the geniuses over ...

It was Halloween. Four young children dressed up in exciting costumes (a bee, a princess, a storm trooper, and a teddy bear) walked the streets in search of candy. Their parents were only a short few steps behind them. They found a house with a light on. It might have been the 10th house on their excursion. It might have the 12th or so. Either way, it was certain to have someone handing out candy (hopefully peanut butter cups or twix -- not hard candy like the old people give out. The good stuff.) They made their way up the walk to the brick steps. The house was white. The bee rang the door bell and their anticipation rang along with the chime. Soon, a youngish looking man, wearing a checkered grey scarf and a black hooded sweatshirt, came to the door. He stuck his head out and then stepped down on to the porch. He didn't have any candy. "I am so sorry," said the youngish looking man, "we totally ran out of candy and we don't have any left to give you. We forgot ...

Emack & Bolio’s . It's an ice cream shop and coffee shop rolled into one. And there is a little stage for musical performances. From their website, you can tell that they are a chain of shops. S I M P L E Theory , an acoustic folkafied soul duo, was playing at the Delaware Avenue (Albany) location last night. Stephanie and I attended. It was the first time we had been there and I hadn't known that it existed until this past Thursday at Lena's. Maurizio (of S I M P L E Theory) told us about his gig there. Stephanie loved the place -- she does love ice cream after all -- and she is excited about me playing there some day, which I would like to do. I didn't have any ice cream though. It's freaking October and it was cold last night. I took the laptop with me and I was planning on blogging with their Wi-Fi, but I couldn't for the life of me get this thing to connect to the webernet. Dan, who was there, tried to hook me up too, but to no avail. Here are a couple ...

Hello. Just writing to inform you that I am blogging in bed (as I mentioned in the last posting that I would soon be able to do). I am not quite ready to actually go to sleep since it is only 4:18pm. But I wanted to test out the new wireless router and it seems to work just fine. The end.

I have no idea where more leaves are going to go after they fall from the two trees in my front yard. I just spent a half an hour or so raking and tidying up the lawn with Stephanie. We put the leaves in a pile at the curb (we don't have to put them in bags like I've noticed a lot of other places have you do). The pile is ginormous and there is still about half a tree's worth of leaves in each tree. I am typing excitedly from laptop because 1) I'm typing on my NEW laptop and 2) I'm hooked up to the webernet here at my desk. In a little bit we are heading to the new Target that opened in our area last week to pick up a wireless router so that I can use the laptop anywhere in my house. I'll be able to blog from bed! Or order CDs from Amazon while I'm on the potty... potty shopping... actually, that kind of grosses me out... I promise not to bring the laptop into the bathroom. I haven't had a chance to test out the Wi-Fi yet. I have training this week for m...

Good news. My laptop came early! I have spent a good portion of my weekend preparing my old computer for some file transferring and getting the laptop (you have to name them and I called it Excalibur) ready for the files. The transfers worked smoothly enough. It just took a long time. The new laptop is about 20 times faster in file transferring than the old computer is. I had hoped to be blogging on the new laptop, but I'm not. I haven't hooked it up to the internets yet, because Stephanie and I haven't finished moving her computer files over to my old computer (which she is inheriting). As soon as that is done, I can hook Excalibur up the the internets. Right now, I am eating ice cream and bleeding from two gaping holes that are in the back and top of my mouth where wisdom teeth had been. They had to be removed because I was simply too smart for the rest of the population. Ba-dump-chi . Seriously though, I had to get them removed because they were cutting up the inside of ...

I have been giving more thought to the portable toilet (the picture of which is posted in the entry below this one) up on the scaffolding -- perhaps I have a lot of time on my hands... Anyway, how did they get it up there? And -- more importantly -- how the heck are they going to get it down? It's quite obviously heavier than it was when it went up. Not to mention, it's contents need to be handled with extreme caution -- you certainly don't want to have that spill happen on your watch. Well, Christmas is coming early for me (as is my birthday, which happens to be the same day). I am getting a sweetly souped up laptop. Stephanie is getting it for me and getting some extra help from my dad. I did some searching (to figure out exactly what I wanted) and found that Dell had an extremely sweet discount going on, so I built an XPS laptop with the features I wanted and we ordered it two days ago. It's due to ship in a few weeks. I can't wait to get it -- my current comput...

I have a cold. I have had it for a few days and it just doesn't want to go away. I hate being sick and it really sucks for singing. Due to a crazily busy weekend last weekend, I haven't kept up with my weekly postings. I'm going to quickly recap some music related stuff that I have been into lately. Open Mic at Caffé Lena this past Thursday: I worked the door and met some songwriters who were from out of town. Robin and Annie were from Brooklyn and were on their way to a gig in Burlington. They decided to stop at Caffé Lena's open mic while on their way. I played Breaking Free and Saving the World . Larkfest on Saturday: Stephanie and I went to Larkfest, which is on Lark Street in Albany. We mainly went to see two bands that were playing on the main stage. The Sense Offenders , who are headed by Tom McWaters (a Caffé Lena open miker), and Saving Atlantis , a band that was created in Fulton County (the county in which I live). A former student of mine from back in my ...

I love my camera. It takes good pictures in dark places -- like where there are concerts. Last night, Stephanie and I went to the Egg in Albany to see Shawn Mullins and Dar Williams. (I'm a huge fan of Shawn Mullins and seeing him play solo is haunting and inspirational). Before the concert, we had dinner at the Melting Pot -- which just opened at the Crossgates Mall a few months ago. I tried explaining what eating at the Melting Pot is like to my dad earlier today and I found that I just couldn't put it into words. It's... quite different and incredibly expensive (imagine the most expensive meal you've ever had and then eat at the Melting Pot -- you'll have a new most expensive meal you've ever had). Still, it might just be worth it for the different experience now and again. The Egg is quite a cool place to see a concert. It's relatively small compared to most concert places and it creates an intimacy that you can't get at larger venues. I wrote ab...

I'm going to see Shawn Mullins tonight at the Egg. Dar Williams is also playing. Mostly, I'm excited about Shawn Mullins. If you'll remember, I saw him at the Linda back in March, I think. (I'd have to scroll through the blog to find out the exact date; I could probably also include a link to the entry that I wrote about the concert and meeting Shawn, but I'm not going to be that thorough right now). I'm not sure if the concert is going to be a full band show or a solo thing or what. Either way it will cool, I'm sure. Hopefully, I'll get some pictures. ------ A little while ago, I shooed a bird out of my basement. Somehow it had come down the chimney and was making scuttering noises inside of the little metal door that opens in my basement, which alerted the cat, who in turn alerted Stephanie, who -- of course -- alerted me. I checked it out with a flashlight and confirmed that it was indeed a bird. I closed the metal door, found some gloves, grabbed a b...

Last night I went to Red Square in Albany for the first time. The place has a pretty cool atmosphere. I like it a lot. I saw Matt Durfee , Katie Haverly and her band , and Alta Mira . It was a great show. Matt was excellent, as always -- his arrangements are incredible and his fingers are so fast. Katie Haverly is someone who I have not seen before, but have heard on myspace. Her band sounded pretty good. Her live sound was a little off, though, compared to her recordings -- maybe not her fault. Alta Mira rocked! I had heard them plenty of times at Lena's playing acoustic. This time they were electric and their drummer had a full kit. There was just so much sound coming from their instruments and the Joe, the singer. It was just an incredible wall of sound. And it was great. It was good to see some old friends that I haven't seen in a while, too: Maurizio and Nick of Turtle Writing. I didn't want to leave when it was all over. ---- A little while ago, I finished reading Ela...

Hay Fever. I am on three different types of allergy medicines and my eyes still itch incessantly. The only relief I get is when I take benadryl on top of the allegra, flonase, and claritin. But, benadryl puts me to sleep and makes me groggy for hours after I wake up. I am currently in a state of grogginess even though I took the benadryl over thirteen hours ago. Even so, my eyes aren't itching (they do feel like they could itch if I'm not careful and accidently rub them or instinctively itch them) for the time being. There's not a whole lot to blog about. I'll just quickly recap Lena's last night and probably go read until the grogginess puts me to sleep again. Okay. The recap: It was an incredibly slow night at open mic. There were about 17 performers and, no joke, five non-performers. Four of the 17 dropped off and/or left before playing because, well, there just wasn't enough audience. I played tenth, which is not typically late, but there were only about sev...

If someone were to ask: What is one of the coolest experiences you've ever had? You might say, "Meeting Aimee Mann and having her put her arm around you when posing for a picture." Then again, you might say what I experienced last night. I had some friends over and we had a fire in our fire pit. We sat around the fire and I played guitar a little bit. We talked, made fun of each other, argued about ridiculous things -- the usual. We also roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. One of my friends had brought his work laptop and played some CDs when I wasn't playing my guitar. Then, he pronounced that he could also play DVDs and asked what movies I had. I named a couple and then explained that I also have seasons 1-4 of Scrubs . So, the sitting around the fire late at night roasting marshmallows turned into: sitting around the fire late at night roasting marshmallows while watching Scrubs . And that was a very cool experience. Not to mention, one of the episodes that ...

I came home last night after being out late at Lena's to find Mimmy, the cat that some times sleeps in my guitar case, playing with a cricket in the driveway. This was quite odd, due to the fact that Mimmy is an indoor cat and isn't allowed outside without a harness and a leash and a person keeping watch on her. Stephanie has lost cats in the past to the cruel world and we are taking precautions to make sure that the same fate does not befall the current cat. Which is why I was very confused to see Mimmy outside. "Hey, Mimmy," I said. "Watcha doin'?" I unlocked the back door and put my guitar, etc. inside and watched as the cat pounced on the cricket, let it go, pounced on it again, and repeated. I walked back down the back steps and crouched a few feet away from her. She had "escaped" a few times before and so I know how much she doesn't like to be "caught." You have to be sneaky. I was waiting for the right moment to... er, poun...

Yo. It's Friday and it's almost lunch time. I'm in my PJs still and I have been doing a lot of nothing for the past few hours. Although, I did lay down in my bed and listen to the radio while a slight breeze washed in through the open window. It was a nice, relaxing experience. And I needed it. A lot. I plan on doing more nice, relaxing things today. And tomorrow. And Sunday. Because I need to. A lot. I did attend Lena's open mic last night, but I didn't interview anyone for Inside the Open Mic . (I did receive an advertisement for the series on www.rkstar.com -- a local music 'zine -- which is pretty cool). I played Passenger and Endless at Lena's. Afterwards, Emily Smith told me that she sang along to Endless . I invited her to sing it on stage with me some time. She's a great singer. Some people have been asking when I'll feature myself in one of my Inside the Open Mic s. I don't know. I like doing the interviews. I suppose I could have Ste...

This past Thursday at Lena's was a little overwhelming, and as such, I did not interview anyone for Inside the Open Mic . I did receive some nice compliments on my editing of Episode 8, which features Gail Sparlin. That video, as well as the others, can be viewed from the following link: www.jamesfrederick.net/inside.shtml . I played Falling Slowly by The Swell Season and Walking; Standing Still , which is one of my own. I played Walking; Standing Still at a faster more rock-based tempo than I usually do. I also changed some of the words around to help it fit better with the tempo. I like the changes and I may play that version of that song more often. In fact, I played that version for a (very critical of my music) friend last night and, when the song finished, he asked, "Who is that by?" Which I take to be a compliment. Currently, my thoughts are kind of jumbled... and I feel a little bit out-of-touch, which -- when combined -- makes it difficult for me to come up wit...

I slept last night. I know I slept because when my alarm went off this morning, I opened my eyes and I was awake. However, it didn't feel like sleep. I had a couple of very vivid dreams and, what's worse, they had an effect on me that I'm still reeling from. One of the dreams -- the frightening one -- was about me and, more specifically, me dying from brain cancer. This dream was most likely caused by my having read an article (in Glamour magazine of all places -- long story how I ended up with that) written by a person who took care of her terminally ill sister, who had brain cancer. I like real life stories like that... I'm a little morbid... and it usually doesn't effect me very much. I feel sad about the article and I think, "Oh. That's sad" and I some times write a song about it, but I usually move on. Typically, dreams of my own demise (of which I have had many in the thirty plus years of my existence) have the same effect. Which is why, this tim...

Last night, we had some friends over and grilled hot dogs and had s'mores -- we roasted marshmallows over our new fire pit table. It was a perfect night to sit around a fire with friends. I took my guitar out for a little bit and played some potential sing-a-longs. Ring of Fire went over particularly well. I played at the Farmer's Market in Gloversville today. Things weren't going so well at first, but it turned out to be a very nice gig. Not to mention, I left the market with a bag of corn and a bag of bread that I didn't have previously and that I earned just from playing some songs. You've gotta love playing at Farmer's Markets. I also learned an important lesson this time around: Check the power supply before setting up all your PA gear. I had my entire thing set up and ready to go. All I had to do was turn it on. When I did, nothing happened. We later determined that the electricians must not have known that we needed the power and didn't hook some wir...