THAAAAAAATS RIGHT!!!! My Gig Is Finally Here.

The Venue:
Beyond The Bridge Cafe
13624 Valley Ave E Sumner Washington.

If You Google It On Maps it can give you directions!

The Line UP!
Fox 45
Sarah Palin's Backyard
Kale Iverson
Karina Thorpe
The Black Sails

You can also Find them on Facebook and MySpace

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sumner-WA/Beyond-the-Bridge-Cafe/89050351579

http://www.myspace.com/beyondthebridgecafe

My Setlist for tonight.

Down the Road
Clean Fresh Brand New Start
My Little Life ==>Such A Good Feeling (Mr. Rogers Cover)==>My Little Life
Eutaw (Old Crow Medicine Show Cover)
Long Way To Go
Love Over Grown
The Otherside ==>With A Little Help From My friends.

I know may of you can't make it but I'll be playing for you too!

WISH ME LUCK I'M SCARED SH*TLESS

Hmmm...No real reason to write.

Yeah, I don't really know what to write about. But some of my best posts have started this way. I guess I have a need to exercise my brain right now.

I don't know what words can really describe how I've been feeling lately. There is a healthy dose of exhaustion from an entire summer on the road doing crazy fun adventures. There is a heaping cupful of boredom as I still have to wait two weeks to get to work. There are a few teaspoons of anxiety and nervousness about finding a cool place to live and a real job. And there is a small constant sprinkle of regret and sorrow for leaving Alaska, I hear about my kids and friends and feel sad. Maybe if things worked out like I had planned it would all be gravy. But down to a letter the plans almost certainly did not get followed.

I left Alaska mostly because I was tired of being alone and of being alone all the time. And now, I seem to find myself alone almost as much. I get to visit people a lot which is definitely an improvement. Visiting is different though. I need a COMPANION. Someone on my wavelength thats around more that just once a week. That's the kind of lonely I'm talking about. It could be a girl but I would also take a best friend. Everybody is doing their own thing. I want to be doing OUR thing. Is that so weird to just want to have a companion? To have someone that wants to be around me as much as I want to be around them plutonic or romantic, where I can say "Lets go" and they jump in and finish the sentence with "rent a movie and make Indian Food!"

Things will settle I guess. I have lots of awesome people in my life. One of them is going to step up I just know it. Its just hard right now, everyone around me seems to be in survival mode, I think we all are, everyone is moving, or starting school, or looking for jobs, or god knows what, that is why I welcome the bone numbing cold of fall and winter, its slows people down.

I am very slow today. I am so sore from running the other day that I can feel every strained muscle in my body. Thats when it dawned on me. I'm turning 27 this year. How the hell did that happen? I'm old. Old and dorky. I need to get my shit together. I was feeling very young and strong just last week till I realized this fact. I gotta get that back. I'm young still, its all in the head.

Dammit, this post isn't really going anywhere, and I'm not even talking about Good Things I'm talking about Life Things. Life just keeps on going on around me and I seem to be in some sort of vortex of not mattering much. And I'm not even throwing a pitty party for myself, I'm fine, if I learned anything in Alaska its that I can endure a lot of shit and abuse and make it through. The confounding thing is how do you deal with life when you seemingly have everything anyone would ever want and you're still not happy. I feel like a whiney baby. Probably because I am a worker bee, I like to have a purpose and a project and after three months of goofing off (which was more work that you can imagine) I'm exhausted.

HEY UNIVERSE GIVE ME A JOB I WILL KICK ASS.

oh and ...

HEY UNIVERSE GIVE ME A COUGAR WIN THIS WEEKEND.

Sorry for the mega personal probably should save this one in drafts post but GOOD THINGS wouldn't be so good if there wasn't CRAP THINGS. I just keep scratching my head at this summer and thinking about what kind of life lesson I was supposed to learn from this one. I mean I can look back on lots of things that didn't go so well in my life and extract the wisdom from it. But what will I look back and get from this humdinger of a year. Jesus 2009 I'm frightened to see what else you got in store.

Is it just me that thinks this is a weird year?

Ok, the sun is shining, my roof is calling me for a yoga session...alone...so I will go for now.

Have a great weekend with someone you love.

Fall Is Here and Life Moves On

The air is getting crisper around the Puget Sound these days. That means the legs are gonna burn a little hotter when running Five Mile Drive around Point Defiance (something I did for the first time today with out stopping go ME!) I was able to keep up with my strong little brother the whole way and once I recover I will do it again. With all the free time I've had lately I've been making a lot of time for practicing music, working out, and trying to meet new friends.

This weekend at Dave Matthews Band at the Gorge was really actually very pleasurable. Yonder Mountain String Band got skrewed and had to go on first and only played about 45 minutes which I thought was pretty lame. G. Love and the Special was very good especially during their Saturday Night set where the played to the backdrop of a double rainbow and sunset after 8 hours of rain all day. Dave Matthews was pushing his new album so he repeated like 5 songs all three nights which I thought was kind of cheap and commercial. But to his credit he let MY NEW HERO Danny Barnes from the Bad Livers and also Yonder Mountain String Band play two of his own original songs from his album "Pizza Box." The songs "Side of the Road" and "Cave Man Song" had sorority girls, fratboys and younglifers who were attendance confused and pissed which was not only comedic to me and my bluegrass friends but also very satisfying knowing that on sunday those same Danny Barnes haters left the show singing the hooks from the same songs. GO DANNY BARNES!!! DMB more like DBMB (Danny Barnes-Matthews Band).

I got to go with my friends Mark and Kelsey and we had a blast all weekend long. I made some very very cool new friends and also got to play late night ukulele for a crowd of about 25 singing my popular party hits like "I like Big Butts," "Ice Ice Baby," "Regulators," "This is How we do it," "A Little Help From My Friends," and the ever popular "Cane Toad Melody," a song that I haven't played in 2 years.

OH OH OH!!! I forgot to tell you. I got my first real gig! I'm going to be playing a bar on the 25th of September with a few other people. I don't have the details yet but as soon as I do I will let you all know about it. I know most of you won't be able to make it but its pretty cool right?

I finally got some semblence of a job today too. I got hired as a substitute teacher for Tacoma Public School District. I have orientation in a couple weeks. Its a start right? A little cashflow never hurt anybody. I am a great sub too. I know that it will lead to a job if I don't get hired for something else.

Hal got a job at Harbor Greens a local produce place and is interviewing for an elementary PE position on Monday which basically means that I have job, he has at least one job, and my friend Kyle has a job. WHICH MEANS we can start looking for a seriously awesome three bedroom place in tacoma. Our goal is to get a place with a place to set up a band practice space and recording studio and really go for it with the music.

And Cougar football has begun. Cougs lost (duh...). But get to see my first Coug game in two years this saturday at Quest field in Seattle. I'm so freaking excited!!!! Everyone's gonna be there!

So, summer festivals are over, getting in shape, substitute teacher, new place on the horizon, cougar football, and sweet sweet northwest fall.

Good things!

...summer wind down.

I'll try to write about meltdown and weddings some other time. Now that summer is winding down I'm feeling a little down. Mostly because it started off so amazing and has been such continual high of great things, reunitions, love, family, music, nature and possibility. And if I know anything, as a Washingtonian this level of activity and joy can't (meteorologically, romantically, logistically) last forever.

While there is still many sun filled summer days to enjoy, fall is coming, and my heart has been a little bit heavier than it has been in a long time. Luckily for you blog readers (if any are still out there) crappy weather, solitude, and a melancholy heart seem to make this blog jump to life. So I apologize for the constant bragging about my awesome summer, just know that behind all those infinite smiles of GOOD THINGS I portray sits too, a mortal man with feelings and challenges and problems.

I do have some very GOOD THINGS to look forward too though. Here they are

TONIGHT: Playing my first open Mic Night at the Antique Sandwich Company in Ruston, WA since returning to the area. This was something I had planned on doing weekly but never seem to find the time for.

THURSDAY: Flying to Reno, Nevada with my family to sit by the pool at the Sands Hotel and to eat at the mighty buffets, and to try to strike it rich like so many before, and to soak up +90 degree weather, should be fun!

Next SATURDAY: Good things! Dave Matthews, Yonder Mountain String Band and G. Love and the Special Sauce at the GORGE! I'm going with my favorite human being and allstar of the summer, my brother Hal. Without him I think I would be a pretty sad person.

EVERY SATURDAY: Can you smell it? Can you? Thats right its College Football season and that means Cougar Football is on the way. My family (mom) has acquired tickets to every home game this year and a downtown motel room in pullman. That means pullman hear comes the Iversons!

And some promising job opportunities on the way.

SO although I've been better in some departments of life, I can feel that things are going to be ok. And ok is fine by me.

Enjoy the last of summer out there. Here are some lyrics to one of the songs I'm playing tonight.



If you need a little bit of attention,
then all you need to do is mention
that all you got is nothing but time
and I'll be right there, I'll be right there, waiting, waiting in line

But right now I am mending,
and the summer's ending,
and depending on weather or not you're coming back soon
or sometime after that, maybe in the afternoon
or maybe that in fact you don't really know
so for then I'm gonna move on down the road.

You and me we'll wait and see what our lives will turn out to be
If you need a little bit of space, I'll keep walking let me pick up my pace
don't you come chasin after me, I won't go chasin after you
we'll get through this eventually
and a hell, a well you always gonna do what you gotta do

But right now I am mending,
and the summer's ending,
and depending on weather or not you're coming back soon
or sometime after that, maybe in the afternoon
or maybe that in fact you don't really know
so for then I'm gonna move on down the road.

Good Things #6: Big Bottom, Phish at the Gorge

Boy oh boy I have been a busy summer lover this month.

Three weeks ago I went to Big Bottom Festival up near Packwood. I forgot my camera but spent 3 and a half days with a great group of about 250 people gathered on private property to camp, eat, play and watch Olympic Sound Collective funk our brains out with their amazing horn section on a really cool stage that overlooked the Cowlitz River. It was hot, and beautiful and I'm glad I ran into my Big Bottom Festival Friends.

Two weeks ago I went to see Phish at the Gorge. Not only was the weather amazing so was Phish. I had never seen them before and was actually really skeptical. Fortunately they were unbelievably good. I can see why people follow them around for years and years, they are that good! Friday night was good and many veteran Phish fans liked it better than Saturday night. I however thought Saturday was amazing and funky. I am all about the funk these days. I just want dirty, filthy funky base lines and funky guitar riffs, and the more horns the better.

Another cool thing about the Phish show was that I got to see my very first "Shakedown Street." This is where a bunch of illegal vendors create a sort of mainstreet for selling their products, wares, and bootleg merchandise. You can get food, stickers, music, clothes, art, and even see the second "Further" Bus driven by Ken Kesey and the Mary Pranksters. I got to meet and shake hands with Zane Kesey his son and that was pretty damn cool.

I spent the whole weekend with my brother and never left his side, we had a total blast. I got to meet up with my best friend from Australia (from NY living in San Fran) Jeff and his buddies Chauncy and Ames, as well as hang out with a bunch of revolving festival friends from summers past. I felt so at home! We went with Sam and Sharon, Met Mark and Kelsey, and saw Stephie and Liam. It was a great weekend.

Except for the new owners of the Gorge "Live Nation" they absolutely have turned the place into a corporate disasters and they staff were kind of jerks. Oh well their crappy management can deny the beauty of the venue.

Up Next: Good Things #7: Flowmotion Summer Meltdown, Weddings, Lake Cabins, Dave Matthews/YMSB/G. Love

I did make some progress on jobs, they HR Department from Tacoma School District called to check on references and found who they were looking for. My former principals gave me good recomendations and the HR guy said to make sure I check for new jobs implying that maybe they were interested in me.

I am definitely ready for work to start back up. All this summer fun has been great but I'm starting to feel a little restless about it all. I got my last paycheck from LKSD this weekend. I'm doing fine in the money department I just wish I had something to do. At least a substitute postition would be something.

Today I'm at a coffee shop all alone, writing blogs, checking emails, paying bills, job searching and later I'm going to buy some wedding/interview clothes. I'm feeling a little melancholy and a little lonely after 5 weeks in a row surrounded by so many friends and family and love. I guess you could call it a Lonely-Hangover.

Anyone still out there reading this? Enjoy the end of your summer!

Good Thing #5: Family Camp Conconully 2009

I could write a blog post about this amazing weekend camping with my family but my mom already did and it is a great blog post.

Click HERE to see it!

Anyways, off to see Phish at the Gorge tomorrow with the whole crew, Sam, Sharon, Stephie, my bro, and even my best friend from my Australian adventures Jeff is coming up from San Fran. My first Phish show!!!! WHoooooopeeeeeee!

Next week is Flowmotion Summer Meltdown with Hal, Sydney, Leslie, Kali and lots of other awesome friends. What a summer!

Still no job...

Good Things #4: Northwest String Summit

Its official, festival season has begun! SO HAPPY!

Good Thing: Yonder Mountain String Band's 8th Annual Northwest String Summit was a great success this year. Randy, Suzye, Sydney and my brother Hal and I ventured down to Bob and Martha Horning's Property to see some truly amazing hippie bluegrass awesome extravaganza goodness.


Here Is a List of good things at NWSS:
-Stephie and Matt put together a truly incredible camp and I can't thank them enough for all their hard work, the food, shade structures, music and lights were the best in the whole venue!

-The line up was not as big as last year but still great. Highlights included the Infamous Stringdusters and Del McCoury.

-Yonder's Friday night set was, in my opinion, the best and totally set the weekend off for a hell of a time.

-Strings For Industry's Late Night set on Saturday night was totally deadly good. The played funk, swampgrass, and a girl led cover of "Layla" that almost burnt the trees down.

-The SPACE STATION! Thats right, on saturday night in the middle of Yonder's set the Space Station flew over clearly visible to the naked eye. The best part is that the whole show stopped and looked right at it in silence, thousands of people just staring at the sky in silence, the band started screaming, "CAN YOU SEE IT? CAN YOU SEE IT?!!!" and then when right back into the song, holy shit!


-Me and Sydney Got rings! They are pretty cool and they match and everything. They have two bands for the two of us!

-My brother's Blog Post on String Summit. He almost got hit by a tree!!! Check it out by clicking HERE

-Best Of All, I Was truly happy!

Good Things #3: West Seattle Street Fair, Thunderstorms, and Record Players

Since this blog is no longer a diatribe about my narcissistic life, I will spare all of you with some of the more frustrating details and challenges I am facing as culture shock has finally set in. Its probably better to settle on the good things anyways.

Good Thing: The West Seattle Street Fair. Not only have I never really been to west seattle/alki much, but I also didn't know that they have a thriving and beautiful community of great people there. And once a year they throw a big street fair with vendors, food, bands, and lots and lots of fun. I have to say, getting to spend time in West Seattle with Sydney has completely changed my perspective of seattle in general. I never knew this little pocket of very cool Washingtonian life existed. Next year put it on you list of fun things to do !

Good Thing: Right now we are having a massive thunderstorm in Gig Harbor. Not only is this rare for NW washington, it is even rarer in the Puget Sound area. I absolutely love it when mother earth rears her head and lets everyone know how tiny and puny they are. Hopefully I'll see some lightening today (hopefully not to close).

GREAT Thing: The record player. My parents got my brother a record player for his graduation, a vintage original turntable, receiver, and speakers from back in the day when my dad was young. Its sound quality is so old and authentic, the real sound of the 70's. Our family has actually been bonding a lot around the old record player as we stay up late listening to old records and discovering lost gems of musical history's past. We've even thought about starting a family blog all about music reviews of old rediscovered albums. What do you think?

Well thats it for now, internet connection is a little spotty right now so I apologize for the sporadic posting, hopefully you're still out there friends.

This weekend is the Northwest String Summit. I'm so excited to join Randy, Suzye, Hal, and my baby Sydney in their very first (and hopefully not last) NWSS. We will be camping with Stephie and the old String Summit Family so I totally can't wait.

Hopefully I can get pictures up as well as get up some Europe photos soon.

Happy thoughts to you and yours and get out and enjoy that sun!

Kale

Good Things #2: Oysters, Wild Berries, 4th of July

Ah. Summer. Good Things A Plenty. Here are a few I've discovered lately.

Good Thing: Oysters. Period. Syd and I went to Anthony's and had the oyster sampler before our meal and it was deadly good. Most people would probably gag at the thought of slurping a plate full of barnacle encrusted shellfish off a dirty looking shell but they were so good. They are also supposed to be an aphrodisiac despite the fact that oyster breath is a major turn off. Regardless, I love oysters and especially with tabasco sauce on the half shell. YUM!

Good THING: Wild Berries. Here in the Northwest the Salmon Berries are just finishing their run. I picked about a gallon this year at my parents house! The red huckleberries are coming in full and ripe right about now and the wild mountain blackberries will be about 2 weeks away. After that we have to wait about a month till the full blackberry season and the finally finish with the regular huckleberry finishing out the berry season in the fall. If I'm lucky I'll be able to find the rare black cap berries and of course there will be salal berries everywhere. My dad will be making a 6 or 7 berry all northwest wild berry wine this fall from my pickings and I am so pumped to see how it turns out.

Good Thing: The Fourth Of July. I think that it is kind of great that once a year Americans let their hair down and just allow themselves to be American without the guilt associated to be a wasteful, ignorant, global idiot. Americans grill food on the BBQ, get inappropriately inebriated, get sunburned and light off explosives all the while sliding down slip and slides, playing Bruce Springstein and swearing a lot all around a campfire. Hell yes America. Go get you some.

Summer is in full swing...Things are happening, my new place is almost all moved in, I'm settling in finally, festivals are around the bend and I am still completely in love with Sydney.

GOOD FREAKING THINGS!