Newness

Who reads this??  I was just wondering that the other day.  Do people really read my blogs.  I'm not the most prolific blog producer on the web.  Amidst my self-proclaimed A.D.D., it's usually not at the forefront of my to-do list, but I love reaching out across the digital world to share some of my thoughts.  My life is an interesting up and down of a lot of different activities that includes music as a large part of that.  I just got off a personal growth retreat with the Wright Institute called Tracking and I got a lot of cool shit out of it.  One of the things I learned is that I actually remember a lot more than I give myself credit for if I only stop and actually try to do it.  Too often days go by as a blur and when someone asks me "hey James, what's been going on?"  I draw a blank in my fog of memory.  So it's a good thing to think back on my day and wonder what did I do and what stood out and affected me??? 

I do a lot of cool shit and often I get lost in just doing it all.  Each week I study wing chun martial arts, I'm a digital hardware engineer as my day job (currently doing a project for NASA), take a personal growth class, practice with my band Discofist, try to keep in shape, spend time with friends and family, and of course keep up with my independent music I post on my site.  I never realized how friggin involved every activity is!!  Honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way, but I need that time to reflect on all the different things I do in my day so that I'm thinking about it as a person who actually reacts to things and not just some robot that crosses activities off a to-do list.

In thinking about my own acoustic music, I've got a couple things brewing in the fire.  My friend Jon has access to a studio in the city and told me he wants to record four of my songs for me!!  He's a badass recording engineer with a degree from Berklee and a musical mind that keeps going.  I've sent him my songs that I recorded in my room (you know the ones on the page - www.myspace.com/jimmythered) and he's going to choose the ones that he wants to record.  After writing a couple more songs, I'm ready to record an album and I'd like to get that done by the end of the year.  Since recording an album with Discofist, the bug's bit me and I'm ready to get that going.

Now, what else??  Oh yeah!  I have a new concert coming up a week from Saturday!  April 18 at Bill's Blues. The time hasn't been confirmed yet but I requested 6p.m. from the booking company so more people can make it out.  I'm trying to learn the song Neon to perform it.  It's one of my all time fave songs but it's a monster to pull off.  I love this place and Bill's a really badass guy.  Even better, there's a tiny chance I may be able to open for my friend Armando at Goose Island in May.  I say tiny because there's no promises and they may want a full band which I don't have right now, but I'm sitting tight hoping I can get the gig.  Right now it's his band, Lovers in Arms, and a couple others.  I would LOVE to be an opener for that!

That's allllllll that's cooking for now.  Let ya know if I come across anything else.

Late.