Gary State Bank Music Hall...

It's hard to believe it's almost been ten years since the release of "So Long" my debut album.  Donovan Guidry and I sat down reminiscing about those days in Brooklyn trying to pull something from deep inside.  I remember going home to Louisiana every four months to research and interview people from Grand Point.  I was finally appreciating my culture for the first time after years of running from it.  

Over the past few years Sean Delauneville(above) has been after me to play live over at his place and for whatever reason I never did it.  I was battling the bitterness of my split with the record industry along with moving on to my new projects and didn't really care much about playing live.  I've never wanted to be a big fish in a small pond or to be celebrated but something real has been happening with the folks back home with that record.  I've heard countless stories of people bonding over that record so I decided to sit down with my acoustic and play a few of those songs late one night and it hit me hard. All those cry's and pleas were now being directed back at me by my own culture who have embraced that strange sounding record over the years.  

Since starting to play live again, a peace has come over me about the whole thing.  I feel as if I was born to do it and I have a gift and it should be shared.  No more, no less.  

We met this week at the old Gary State Bank building, owned by Carl Monica.  This a storied building for him having rode out countless hurricanes in there with his Italian family.  He is a long time historian for the area and is really excited to have some other folks to bring some awareness to the culture. I'm so excited that they will be cleaning up this place for me to play a show in March.  

Donovan Guidry and I, along with my good friend Malik Baloney are planning to document everything with video, audio recording and portraits.  We all come from different paths and have arrived at the same place.  Donovan, the Frenchman from Lafayette and Malik, the creole intellect from Garyville.  We are all so excited to have an avenue to share our culture with the world.  Not New Orleans, but specifically a Creole/Cajun region that sits on the Mississippi River.  There will be no talks of alligators or other Louisiana corniness.  We will humbly distill this American life!

Searching for Sugarman....

A truly inspiring story about Sixto Rodriguez.  Not surprising to hear what happened to him as the record industry is loaded with soulless vampires.  Such a pure person though, continuing to love music even as he worked regular jobs.  An all knowing soul.  This is what music is all about.  These kinds of individuals sharing their pure self.  Thanks Sugar Man!

St. Roch Tavern..

The past two Fridays I have tried out playing at the St. Roch Tavern down the street and am loving it.  It is not associated with any old New Orleans traditions musically speaking and that is just perfect for me.  The most important thing about this place is the diversity and in my neighborhood.  

I have been knowing William Chandler for like three years now and always knew he played guitar but we had never played together.  Over the years we both learned that we both had a love of late 80's new wave and punk scene.  One day we decided to play and we just clicked and he pushed me into a sound that I've been after for a long time.  Along with being a really tasteful musician, he's great to hang with. 

On Friday, he played my Jazzmaster guitar because his Rickenbacker is in the shop and sounded great. We will probably play shows once a month and eventually be recording everything we do for NetLive Music.  

Jeremy Krause has been a long time fan of my music.  I guess he heard me in San Diego a few years back or something.  His startup is called "Netlive Music" and he wants to promote me with my live recordings.  We plan to meet soon to get to know each other better.  I'm really excited about playing live again.  I feel that it is providing me with much needed energy and confidence.  

"The St. Roch Sessions" is the name of the night at the Tavern.  I'm eventually going to be bringing in other artist to play and hopefully over time do my part in developing a local, new music scene that isn't tourist music.

At the Hearth...

Many changes are taking place.  The country just reelected Obama and everything feels like it's shifting to a new era.  The old guard is nervous but all the great young thinkers are excited.  Everything feels uneasy right about now.  Another school shooting in Connecticut, another political argument, another gentrification spat.  It all can be a bit noisy and confusing and then theres the damn Iphone's and Ipads and think pads and this pad and that pad.  Insta this and Pinster that.  I don't think we can even begin to see ourselves and to understand the mass confusion we are going through.  

Winter is upon us and the old house is getting cooler.  Our house, The McGovern house as I was told last Saturday by Mrs. Augustus and Bob.  Beautiful couple that have been in this neighborhood throughout all its changes.  Fire is a beautiful, soulful thing.  Much can be learned from building a fire.  Gathering dry, small pieces of wood over the sparks and then layering it with bigger pieces until big chunks of coal start to form.  Then come the logs and warmth.   When I build a fire it reminds me to be patient in all things.  Restoring, writing, friendships and relations.  All things needs patience but it's harder and harder to come by.  This is why I love fire.  It reminds me of being at the hearth in my Mamere's kitchen in an old simple wooden house.  The basic needs were met, we had fire, an omelette and coffee in the percolator and maybe 12 stations on the TV.  Mostly we had each other and a game of card tricks.  How hard would that be now, to sit in that stillness.   

This old Gibson was a guitar that was in a closet in my house where I grew up.  I remember going in there to peek at it.  I would always go in there very quietly because I knew it was special to my dad and didn't want to him to worry I was going to harm it.  I never touched it or took it out of the case.  I simply opened it and looked at it and it was always so beautiful to me.  I never considered playing it but it meant a lot to me back then.  Years later when I had become a musician in Brooklyn, I remembered that guitar and when I visited I ran to the closet and there it was, same place it had always been.  At the time, I was touring and home to play the House of Blues.  It was as if I was playing in the Super Bowl or something to folks back home.  No one ever heard me play, just my recordings.  It's funny to look back on.  I played a song on this guitar that night and it was feeding back like a wild stallion but my band and I just thought it was so special and had something about it.  They named it "Wild Pony". 

Now that I'm playing more guitar, it means so much to me.  Sitting next to the fire playing Hank Williams, Sr.'s music brings me back to the Hearth so to speak.  I want to always remember that simplicity and hopefully I can extract it and put it into song so I can share with others.  I feel this is what  I have to do but there is so much noise out there and I don't always know how to cut through it.  

The song writing parlor

A year ago, we were a little uneasy with the purchase of this property but things are changing everyday.  The median has been getting a face lift and the houses are now selling as fast as they're listed.  But the most important thing is the diversity of folks living here.  

I've been reading The Secret Languages of Birthdays and it told me that mine is the day of social ideals.   It goes into my attention to detail and believe me I'm suffering through some things in this area right now but am working through it.  It told me to use these skills and put them to use in the community.  It says if I direct too much of this on myself, it won't be useful to me.  

Todays meditation:

Everything is related.

Garden Room Renovation....

It's been a hell of a few months.  While working on the garden room we've been through a hurricane and lots of changes in the neighborhood and some live shows.  Between working, rehearsing and working on the house, I'm averaging maybe 5 hours of sleep.  It's nice when you finish a phase though and can look back on a project.  This Garden Room came out really nice and feels a lot bigger with all the renovations to the wall and ceiling.  Once again, Jay came to the rescue and worked with me.  This room needed some ceiling repairs along with many repairs to the wall.  The floor had a lot of damage too from termites and I managed to find more wood at the Green Project.  

We decided to expose the bricks on the fireplace and it really made a difference.  After a lot of chiseling and dust clean up, it totally transformed the room.

We had to cut out all the sections of the floor that were eaten and replace with the real nice wood that I found.

I finally found an old fan with a school house light on it on craigslist.  Simple fans have proven really hard to find.  Most modern fans are way over designed and look like they belong in some Italian castle.  I'm happy with this one though.

The Garden Room

Garden Room Renovations 2.....

We took a quick break to have a Monday night dinner party.  We had a small group of neighborhood artist over for Amanda's mexican specialties.  Every night of the week we are invited to things or we are going for a quick drink at one of the new places opening.  It can be exhausting but it is so exciting to be a part of all the different things happening in the neighborhood.  It's funny, at least 4 people at dinner had lived in Brooklyn and now are building their lives here.  Brooklyn South!

I did a lot of scraping on the walls and broke any loose plaster away and found a beautiful patina underneath.  We're not going to leave it like this but it is really nice.  It looks like a mixture of paint and plaster of paris.  This is going to be a very nice guest room with a garden view.

Restoring the Garden Room...

Jay and I are at it again after some time off.  I spent the last two months rehearsing music and finishing up the record.  I still have two songs to go, but am meeting people in New Orleans that I want to record with.

We spent the day yesterday chipping away at the old plaster that was covering the brick underneath.  We weren't into the faux look that someone had left behind.  It didn't seem natural in this house and we're not "Faux" kind of people.  We're more "what you see is what you get".  

Though I get annoyed to have to get back into working on the house after gaining momentum musically, I do love the restoration process.  I'm starting to appreciate having to work for things.  No matter if it's trying to find musicians, plastering or chasing dollar bills.  Everything is Everything!  The Lottery is up to like 300 million and we considered buying a ticket, but then I thought, "I like living here, I like my circumstances".  I think it will be a nice road to sharpen ourselves on.  This road in the Nouvelle Marigny along with all the talent and experiences of New York, will lead us onto the path of contentment.

The ceiling didn't turn out to be so bad.  We have some plastering to do but doesn't look as bad as down stairs.  Well, it's a beautiful rainy day in the city and a good day to get dirty.  I'm loving this morning coffee with some Debussy on vinyl in the background.  Simplicity is king!