Wow! I just heard from my friend, Herbert Buckel, that the Mayan calendar ends on the twenty-first of this month. Depending on who you talk to, there's either gonna be a spiritual transformation (which is touted as all good, unless, of course, you’re a writer of dark songs ... then you're in trouble) or an end-of-the-world catastrophe. Predictions for apocalyptic catastrophes include an interaction between Earth and the black hole at the center of the galaxy, and Earth's collision with a planet called "Nibiru." Why am I always the last one to hear about these things? I didn't even know there was a black hole at the center of the galaxy and I've never even heard of the planet Nibiru. I'll bet Jackie Blount knows all about this stuff, but has just been too busy to tell me. She really should have let me know about that end-of-the-world thing, though, I mean really. Of course, I should take it upon myself to stay more caught up on current events ... Well, I should have ... Maybe I don't need to worry about that anymore. The good news for me is that I think I have enough clean clothes to last me through the twenty-first, so I may have just finished my final load of laundry.
So, this gig at Vino Where You Live on Friday night, this could be your last chance to hear Jackie and me play. And, even if it turns out not to be the end of the world on the twenty-first, we don't have any other shows scheduled in the Columbus area. That doesn't mean that we'll never have shows in the Columbus area ever again (though you never know ... that whole black hole thing ... wow), but we don't have anything scheduled right now, so you might want to hedge your bets and make that haul out to Mount Vernon.
This may be the last email you get from me from this particular website, even if the world doesn't end. My friend, Patrick Bloom, one of my favorite songwriters, my labelmate at Mud Dauber Records and bass player for the Iowa City-based band the Feralings, is working on a new website for me that features photos by my friend Roger Feldhans. (Thank you Patrick, thank you Roger.) Because of the stage lighting, you can't see them very well, but in one of those photos I do have on funny pants. I'm so glad to have that documented. I have to admit, I set all of this new website stuff in motion before I knew that the end of the world might be so close. Well, since we’ve already started on it, we might as well keep going just in case that end-of-the-world thing turns out to be pseudoscience.
One of my musician friends was complaining on Facebook recently about being hit up by other musicians/songwriters for money to finance their recording projects. While it's true that it seems like there are an awful lot of these Kickstarter (and the like) campaigns recently and some people looking for funding have a mighty broad notion of who their friends and fans are, I'd just like to say that I am honored and pleased to support and be part of recording projects that matter to me. I've contributed to a couple of these projects recently, one for Chad Elliot and one for Gayla Drake. Both of these Iowa artists are, in my opinion, exceptional at what they do and very worthy of support. Even small donations (if there are enough of them) can make a real difference in whether a recording project gets done or not. There used to be grant money available to help artists with their projects, but a lot of that has dried up. I hope you'll go find Chad and Gayla on Facebook or on their websites and give a listen to what they're up to. I hope you'll choose to support artists and projects that mean something to you. In all honestly, I doubt that either Gayla or Chad can finish up their projects and get them out by the twenty-first of this month ... but, maybe we won't need our money by then either, so what would it hurt to send them a contribution? And, if the world goes on and the projects are completed, these artists will send thank you gifts for your contribution. My favorite is Chad's promise to send me a chatty postcard from the road telling me how he is and what he's doing. I love making people write to me.
If we make it to next year with our dark songs intact, I'm planning to tour with Eric Taylor again on the west side of the Midwest in May and on the east side of the Midwest in July. We're working on a Columbus date for you holdouts who don't plan to show up in Mount Vernon on Friday. See how I take care of you?
Okay, I should close. I've got to go make a bucket list and work my way through it over the next ten days. I really prob'ly shouldn't put that off any longer.
Thanks for letting me keep in touch with you and thanks for listening.
B