MAKE HOPE

The Return of the Blog Part 1

We lost communication for a couple of months. But transmission is up and running. We have a signal.
Since we've left off there's been family time, the kid's growing up fast, a dear friends wedding on a beach
with white sand between our toes.  Learning various in's and outs and ups and downs of life.
 A recent tour that started in Miami, Florida and climbed up the coast through
 D.C. to Pennsylvania to New York to Fitchburg Mass. to Michigan to Chicago to Madison Wisconsin with our buddies Pert Near Sandstone. Another stop in Wisco in Marshfield, then back home in Minnesota in Winona at Ed's. "pictures coming soon". Not to mention getting ready for our show at the Fitzgerald in St. Paul. MN on Dec. 6th.

We called that tour Make Hope Tour. Vol. 1 in celebration of the NEW EP MAKE HOPE. Which is available on our website in our store, as well as various outlets online.
We've been working on this record in between babies being born, moving, being on tv, people getting married, learning and living with loss, turning dreams into reality and dancing with them, touring the country,
and going outside of the country to share the music of the HEART.

Thank you for your consistent patience love and support as this journey continues to unfold and touch
the hearts and minds of people all over this country and different pockets of the world!
"It's music from the Heart for the Heart" and that's our mantra, that's our prayer, that's our message.

If you want to hear more of the message and stay connected, we have a couple new ways to do so.
1.  I just started a new YouTube Channel which has our brand new music video FRESH.
2.  You can go to our website www.thefeelin.com  and click on JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST
3.   We've added some new music to our STORE,  including the NEW EP "MAKE HOPE"
       and be on the look out for new shirts, tour posters and some original artwork.

Peace and many many thanks

I truly appreciate all of your support and love

Make Hope

ND

Blessed & Busy

Welcome back to the Monday Morning Meditation.
It has been sometime since the monday morning blog, or the bloggin for that matter.
There has been so much LIFE happening.

My wife and I are watching our children grow so fast.  I've truly been making it a point, that while I'm HOME... to be home.

 In the middle of weaving in and out of various time zones peppered with a colorful cast of characters who keep odd and all hours, "including myself". 

 Life has been busy and this train hasn't stopped. 

Blessed and Busy

But there's these breaks almost Divinely Orchestrated in their timing.

These moments of CLARITY, that shine a light in the darkness of doubt.

Balance

is the meditation 

it is the way

It is a state to be reached

and once reached...

Maintained.

Navigation through the everything in our day,

In our Life.

Speaking of life.

This was the first time in a long time I spent the weekend with my WIFE kid free.

Thank you thank you to both of the GRANDPARENTS 

for watching our kiddos, so we could have some Mommy and Daddy time.

My Gal and I started the weekend off headin down to Winona for the 10th Annual...

 Boats and Bluegrass Festival. 

Our dear friends Pert Near Sandstone closed out the night on Friday...

but not without asking our good buddy Sammy Weyandt from White Iron Band and 

myself to be their special guests for the whole night!

It was such a gas a true treat to return to the Roots so to speak and play with old friends.

A big thank you to the Fassbenders and everyone else in their crew for putting on such

a fun festival! 10 years Strong!

A huge success and space and place for gathering together and sharing the gift of music and song.

The next morning found my wife and I having to wake up and get out of bed heading North.

Our next stop was St. Cloud.

Again some of our dear old friends Collective Unconcious were playing at a Gala for the

Paramount Theater

In the spirit of "Coming Together" to raise money to continue to support the Arts.

Collective Unconscious played all of Abbey Road in it's Entirety!

I had the privilege and treat of sharing the stage with them for a tune or two.

Thank you thank you to everyone who came out.

Your continued support helps keeps the arts alive.

It helps provide a place for expression to be experienced.

And for that and from the breath of my Heart I Thank You.

I've talked about it for a while but MAKE HOPE is finished and almost ready for the people.

Please Stay Tuned for the book is about to open.

Very soon...

Peace and many many thanks for your continued support.

Flower Power!

Hello ladies and gentlemen and kind people

Good Day from the Pacific Northwest!

Nicholas David and the Feelin Band are back on tour and spreading the gospel of Love

one fine city after the other.

Our first stop was in Troutdale at McMenamins,

at the Edgefield.

We played on the loading dock tucked behind some flowers and bushes.

It was our first garden party of the season.

Flower Power!

McMenamins has a gagillion properties out here in Oregon and Washington, 

and last weekend was their Birthday Celebration!

They had bands playing all day long and sharing the gift of rhythm and melody.

Culminating with a concert by Lyle Lovett!

It was super cool to be packing up our gear 

and hear Mr. Lovett and his Large Band playing as their melodies travel across this spot like no other

with many choices and places to go play.

One quick sidebar,

this place had all these little shops and spots.

I mean these guys utilized their space and then some.

I was looking for a bathroom and saw a sign that said Jerry's Icehouse.

Figuring there was a bathroom, nope.

It was a dimly lit room with all sorts of Grateful Dead posters and paintings..

while concerts of the Dead played overhead.

"the music never stopped"

The next day we were in Portland at the White Eagle Saloon.

These past couple tours we've been on they'll be a few stops where we play in smaller rooms.

Small or not the exchange of energy is so palatable and easy to grasp.

There were parts in some of the songs where we would pause and you could hear people breath within the break.

It was amazing to dance the vibration of 

Music from the Heart for the Heart,

in such and intimate setting.

You could really feel the Love.

Also this place is rumored to be one of the most haunted places in Portland. 

So we found it fitting to throw the Ghostbusters's Theme song into our closing number.

I ain't afraid of no ghost!

The kind people at McMenamins put us up in the super super awesome

Hotel Monaco!

What an colorfully creative place to recharge in this colorful and creative city!

Oh yeah they also had animal printed robes.

Here  Nicholas David and the Feelin Band model a couple different models,

our two choices are zebra or leopard.

So with that, we thank you and bid you adieu Portland and 

the  fine folks there in .

We'll see you back here opening for MC Yogi

at the Star Theater on Thursday July 24th!

Today we're heading  south.

Our next show is Wednesday July 23rd.

We play a free show at Old St. Francis School!

The show starts at 7pm.

Peace and many many thanks for all the love and support.

It means the world to us and gives us air to breath the breath of gratitude. 

To reflect on Love. 

It truly is the strength and momentum that allows and gives us the power and the privilege to try and be and share Love. 

LOVE. LOVE. LOVE

Monday Meditation VII. Inner-dependence

in the words of the great  Gift of Gab

you can choose to say "Good Morning God" or "Good God, Morning"

Either way You look at it, I still say Good Morning to You.

I just love the depth in that statement and the choices.

All you have to do is change a word and it changes a perspective.

I truly hope everyone had a good 4th.

And as we celebrate Independence, 

a friend of mine suggested we celebrate our 

Inner-dependence.

So many times we can put it on someone or something else.

to quote Diane Warren who wrote the lyrics to the song made popular by Milli Vanilli 

                                   we...... blame it on the rain, blame it on the stars 

                                               whatever you do, don't put the blame on you.

Personal accountability is lost. 

It's the weather, it's because I'm hungry,

it's because I'm busy,

it's because I have work to do, important work to do,

it's because I'm sad.

I believe the idea is...

When you start with yourself you have no one else to blame.

But we don't live in a bubble so how do we flow 

with our own accountability

in the Fast and Dirty Streams of Life?

One way 

could be to use the gifts we been given. 

We can share the gifts we've been given with each other, just like

we share our mistakes and our problems.

One way to change the world,

is to start with yourself.

When you have peace in your heart, it's easier to give peace.

When your mind is clear and not wet with worry,

you can be better.

When you find moments of stillness you can see how busy the world is.

 In that stillness there is Your Calm

Your Gift with what to bring to that moment.

Your Presence with what you bring to the world.

Yet

these

Moments,

they are fleeting.

Let us each do our part, 

so together we're stronger.

"Every Piece Plays A Part"

This will conclude our Monday Meditations for the time Being

I bid you adieu, 

back to the road we go.

I'll keep you posted 

and hopefully see you 

on the road 

peace and many many thanks

Hey Now and Holy Buckets!

Monday Meditation VI: Music is a Time Machine

Hello and Good Morning

We missed a week last week due to adjusting and moving with the many changes and many schedules of our family. On top of returning to the stage after some time off to finish up the album MAKE HOPE.  And gearing up to head out west.

Each time we've taken the stage after being away from it, I've had such an appreciation to be playing music and sharing music with people. And not only continuing the song that's carried us through time, but to reach people's hearts. 

Music truly has been a soundtrack to our lives as a human family. 

It has been our companion from roaming tribes and the hunt to towering skyscraper lawmakers and the hunt. Which ever path we choose the songs can soothe the blues away and give a moments peace as the music plays.

What are the songs that take you away?

What's your go to song when you want to let a couple of tears out?

What's the song you listened to after your first kiss?

Or the song that was on while you had your first kiss?

Those songs are almost time machines that can take us back to those moments. And the new ones are future writers that will make new memories.

speaking of new memories,

thank you dietz  for taking such a beautiful picture.

 this is from last saturday's gig in Redwing MN

after the many waves of rain subsided

What's the music of your life?

What songs have you joined in the choruses of life?

Are you singing songs of a Parent?

Are you a Peacekeeper?

Do you fix things?

Each of us truly are notes that make chords that are parts to the song of Life.

Whether it's discord or beautiful harmonies,

I Am truly honored and privileged to 

Be Here Now

with 

All of Us.

This is our Time to Sing in the Song of Eternity.

Peace and Many Thanks.

SONGS.MONDAY MEDITATION V

Hello and Good Day

Happy Father's Day to the Dad's Out There. Thank you to ALL the FATHERS.

 You are CO-CREATORS in CREATION!

Thank you to My GRANDFATHERS who paved the way and gave life to my PARENTS.

 Thank you to my MOM AND DAD for LIFE. 

Thank you DAD for your many examples that shine like the rays of  the sun 

and help light a path of Love and Peace in my life.

THANK YOU CREATION FOR SHARING LIFE WITH LIFE.

We are ALIVE within your  MYSTERY

We call you by so many names. 

GOD the FATHER. FATHER SKY. MOTHER EARTH.GODDESS.

MOON, SUN. SON OF MAN. 

THE MYSTERY.

THANK YOU FOR LIFE ITSELF and the ABILITY to PARTICIPATE in IT.

For a moment,

look back at your  LIFE, as far back as YOU can remember.

When we dance down memory lane,

what are the SONGS that fill YOUR soundtrack?

what are the colors?

How far back can you go?

Can you remember the start?

WHEN YOU YOU KNOW WHERE YOU COME FROM,

IT CAN GIVE A BETTER VANTAGE POINT OF WHERE YOU'RE GOING.

AND

IF YOU DON'T WANT TO GO THERE AND REPEAT THE PAST.

CHANGE THE NOW,

AND THE FUTURE CHANGES TOO.

Sometimes it may be best to clean up the past,

sometimes the only thing you can do is

LET IT GO.

Speaking of going, we are MORE than excited to get back on the road this weekend  before we head out west!

We've  added more  dates so FEEL FREE,

to check in.

We've been working away in the time we can to wrap up the ALBUM.

We are very close and Oh so excited to SHARE IT WITH YOU ALL AND THE WORLD.

THANK YOU for your LOVE and SUPPORT.

It is the SPARK that LIGHTS the FIRE TO THE SONG OF LOVE.

LOVE THAT CAN LIFT OUR HEARTS AND LET OUR SPIRITS SING.

In closing,

I was lucky enough to catch a couple parts of the recent 

ROCK N ROLL HALL of FAME INDUCTION on HBO.

I would would LOVE to end with a quote from PETER GABRIEL,

that made my HEART smile.

Hopefully it does the same for YOU.

PEACE AND MANY MANY THANKS.

Ladies and Gentlemen...

Peter Gabriel

"Watch out for music. It should come with a health warning. It can be dangerous. It can make you

feel so alive, so connected to the people around you, and connected to what you really are inside. 

And it can make you think that the world should, and could, be a much better place."

Chapters. Monday Meditation IV

Good Day Everyone,

If your LIFE was a book what chapter would you say you're in and on? What kind of characters are in your stories? What kind of character are YOU?

With time off from the road there's been some recording, rehearsing, praying, cleaning  the house, getting organized, running a business, squeezing in a date with my beautiful wife and running  with my kids. And in the ACTION  there are these EPIPHANY moments that grace the days. Those breaths that stop our breath and remind us we are alive and living.  Many generations strong.

What are yours?

What are the moments when you FEEL most ALIVE?

Deep in the recording process,  we've been capturing moments as well. Trying to find the "right" one or "right" ones...

What are your "right" moments?

We've been given many things that are bigger than good or bad, right or wrong, black or white. We are given many gifts to contribute and weave the tapestry of our lives.

NOW is the  time in our lives where we have the opportunity to apply what we've been given.

Different chapters in the book of life in which we all have a section.

The thing we forget is that are stories are still being written

This is YOUR choose your own adventure.

THE GIFT OF FREE WILL

LET IT SPILL LIKE WATER FROM THE SPRING

ECHOES IN TIME 

SOMETHING YOU AND I ALONE CAN BRING

I wish you peace peace peace 

thanks for your continued love and support

we are MORE than excited to be getting back on the road so 

keep checkin in, 

as we have more exciting things to share.

PEACE and MANY MANY THANKS.

Do you have any CHANGE? monday meditation III

Welcome back to Monday Meditation from A Beard's Eye View
We missed last week; honoring Memorial day and spending time with family!
It seems like time is speeding up as well shrinking because there is never enough. I also have never really used time, only to meet others in it and at the "appropriate" time they so desire.

In the faster fleeting moments, where do you place your desire?

When do you have time to love when you gotta go?

With things getting faster and technology connecting us at a rapid rate our emotions have to speed 

                    up as well, when we have already been out of touch with our emotions...

If we struggled when it was slow, what would you say we're doing NOW when it's FAST?

WE CAN RISE FROM OUR PAST TO MAKE A POSITIVE NOW. 

WHEN WE TAKE CARE OF NOW,

TOMORROW CAN BE TOMORROW.

ONE LESS THING TO WORRY ABOUT.

CHANGE

one of the universal languages.

THERE'S ALWAYS TIME FOR CHANGE

Another universal language would be MUSIC

It spans the globe and is AVAILABLE FOR ALL

EVERYONE HAS THEIR NOTE THEY SING THAT MAKES UP THE CHORDS AND CHORUS OF LIFE

IT'S WONDERFUL TO BE MAKIN MUSIC WITH YA'LL

THIS SONG HAS BEEN GOING BEFORE THE BEGINNING

I AM HAPPY TO SHARE THIS BREATH WITH ALL OF YOU

thanks for your continued support and love 

we get back on the road in a couple of weeks, so it's FAMILY and getting into the studio to 

wrap up the new album

MAKE HOPE

stayed tuned...

We have some exciting NEWS to SHARE.

PEACE AND MANY THANKS 

Monday Meditation II

Hello and welcome

Welcome and hello..

Can we find JOY in our RESPONSIBILITIES?

Hello and welcome  to a world of RESPONSIBILITIES...

If we're not careful we can loose OURSELVES  in our RESPONSIBILITIES and let them  solely define who we are. Yes we work, but is our LIFE work?

Yes we have to work at Life, constantly evolving and devolving even at the same time.

We can forget who we are.

And when we are lost we can REMEMBER

WE ARE ALIVE,

which means we are CHANGING...

If we are CHANGING, are we GROWING or DYING?

And if we are GROWING, we are CONTINUING.

ADDING ON to what we've already built.

And yes we can also GROW in NEW WAYS.

If we are DYING, it may not necessarily mean DEATH...

We may be DYING to an old way making room for SOMETHING NEW

Either way WE are CHANGING.

GROWING or DYING

REGARDLESS OF WHICH EVER CHANGE IS TAKING PLACE,

I like to always ask

ARE WE HAVING FUN?

ARE WE LIVING A LIFE THAT IS JOYFUL?

I know I have a big mouth. I try and use it for GOOD and TRUTH. To FEEL the 

LIGHT and LOVE . I try and remind people WE are not alone.  Remind people that WE are LOVED UNCONDITIONAL. And TOGETHER WE ARE STRONGER.

We ALL have work to do. We ALL have responsibilities.  We are ALL alive, growing or dying.

The Creator, the Family, the Friends, the work, the choices, this very LIFE, is available to be lived in JOY.

Last week we talked about spreadin' LOVE all over the BREAD that is this LIFE.

Let's take another slice out of the loaf of LIFE and spread some JOY all over this one. Be generous with it. Don't be shy. It's organic. ;) 

Let's let our JOY be overflowing, so it can only be SHARED.

speaking of sharing we are very excited to say we are in the last leg of recording MAKE HOPE

and can not wait to share it with YOU.

We have a bunch of new summer dates as well, so stay tuned

PEACE and MANY MANY THANKS

MAKE A JOYFUL SOUND

Meditation Monday

Hello and welcome to Monday...
Happy Belated Mother's Day to ALL the MoMs out there, including our MOTHER EARTH.
Because of you we have LIFE.

And LIFE was meant to be LIVED

so I pose a few questions I ask myself quite often;

a daily examine of SELF if you will...

IS THIS LIVING?

DO YOU DEFINE YOURSELF BY YOUR WORK, OR IS IT ONLY A PIECE OF THE WHOLE YOU?

WHO IS IT FOR?

WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS?

Here's one of my favorites...

ARE YOU HAPPY?

ARE YOU DOING WHAT YOU CAME HERE TO DO?

I came HERE to spread LOVE all over the BREAD that is this LIFE. I LOVE YOU and ALWAYS HAVE. As other WARRIORS of the HEART know, LOVE is VULNERABLE and has no problem looking out FOR OTHERS. Time spent LOOKING out for OTHERS, WORRYING about OTHERS, especially for the LOVERS who want to GIVE and SHARE their gaze can grow OUTWARD. EMERGENT and GIVING EVERYTHING to EVERYONE. And if ALL you want to DO is GIVE to OTHERS, you BETTER be GIVING from a SOLIDLY STRONG FOUNDATION so you HAVE SOMETHING to GIVE. So LOVE yourself; FREELY GIVING YOURSELF TO BE THE LOVE THIS WORLD NEEDS.

Life has always been changing, these last two years have been "very eventful" to say the least.

Dreams mix with reality, blessings of touring the country sharing the gifts of music, meeting people that have helped write the STORY of ROCK N ROLL. MUSIC and LIFE. 

And when there's LIGHT there has to be DARK

HOW WOULD WE KNOW THE DIFFERENCE?

As AMAZING as EVERYTHING has been there's been some hard parts. Trust has been tested, the strength of communication have proven valuable and FORGIVENESS IS PRICELESS.

I'm not just talking about forgiving other people, what I'm talking about is FORGIVING YOURSELF. 

When things are changing at a rapid rate it's easy to FORGET WE ARE MORE THAN ONE THING.

SO SIMPLIFY

BRING IT BACK TO THE ROOTS

WE ARE

MOTHER,  FATHER, SON, DAUGHTER, HOLY SPIRIT

AND WE HAVE MANY GIFTS TO SHARE

I'M GOING TO WRAP MINE IN LOVE

PEACE PEACE PEACE

The Catch Up

Monday finds us here that made it through the night. Good day and welcome to LIFE.
Some do it wrong and some do it right, but people's rights could be wrong, and yes wrongs can be made right.

Wrong and Right, Black and White, This or That

Peppered throughout and in between and right in the middle of ALL OF IT is TRUTH.

and TRUTH BE TOLD is BOLD and is in the eyes of EVERYONE. 

We last left off on Thursday morning in St. Louis at FOX2, later that day we headed to 

THE PAGEANT, and what a glorious garden of wood, concrete and sound equipment. 

We walked in, walked through a room and walked through another door and the next room opened up into a HUGE room,where the vibration lingered of night after night of magic and sound. Here's a pic from soundcheck to help give light to the visual recantation. 

 The evening was a light bulb to turn the light on and bring awareness to what VARIETY   does for so many families and their children. Even during soundcheck we had visitors, and the joy they brought like earlier in the day was holding hands with truth and you could honestly FEEL it. To sit in the same room, "a HUGE room" with TRUTH and GENUINE PURE JOY we were very lucky, honored and privileged to share in the MOMENT. There was also some radio winners that got to chill and watch us check the sound. We met them as well. And as we were wrapping up, there was a couple reporters that had some questions. 

One of the more eventful soundcheck/being of service/interviews/meet and greets before the show. But to be HONEST with you, ALL of IT was AWESOME and TOTALLY GENUINE. An exchange of energy. Super cool.

After all was said and done we went to prepare for the SHOW and make way for the evening to BEGIN.

Families from the charity began to speak about their life and what it's like to have children with physical disabilities and also what it's like to have a place that helps with that. It's very cool to share the evening with folks who HELP PEOPLE THROUGH THEIR STRUGGLES WITH POSITIVE SOLUTIONS. So with the REASON and PURPOSE stated of why we were HERE, the music commenced. OLD SALT UNION, took to the stage with some St. Louis Bluegrass...some cool harmonies and lots of pickin. A very warm and organic way to start the evening.

 BLESSED and ABLE we took to the stage to sing our SONGS OF HOPE and THE STRUGGLE, LOVE and LOSS. FALLING but GETTING BACK UP. 

SEARCHING

SEEKING

The songs were sung, we played from our ideas of SOURCE.

From our MINDS, From our HEARTS, and From our SPIRITS

And we gave it to the people

The SHOW was over and again what was 90 minutes seemed to vanish in the PASSION and HEART of MUSIC AND SONG. It was wonderful to meet the kind folks of St. Louis and to some that traveled from around the area THANK YOU for your LOVE and SUPPORT. It touches my HEART and makes it SMILE. Thank you Thank you Thank you..

And as fast as we came down to St. Louis we left and were on our way back HOME, that same night of MAGIC and SOUND. We made it half way there, slept and woke up late morning and kept heading north. We made it back to the great state of MINNESOTA, got the van unloaded, said goodbye to the band, showered, changed and headed to the next gig to see some friends who I played with last year. They were playing a gig for  ROTARY 5950, again another group of folks trying to make a positive impact in their COMMUNITY and the  WORLD. So when they asked me to come play a couple of songs, with them I could not say no. They are a ST. PAUL band that started playing music together in 1978, they are FREE and EASY . The keyboardist Scott and I met last year at another community function. We found a commonality in trying to use music with arrangements, parts, depth, skill and a message to inspire people. Especially people that are in positions to influence POSITIVE CHANGE in THEIR COMMUNITIES and in THE SAME BREATH THE WORLD. Plus it was at the RADISON BLU and that place is AWESOME. They always have such a cool vibe, amazingly inspiring art, the design is sleek and pretty far-out. I always getting pretty fired up when I'm there. And the FireLake Grill House is equally as inspiring.  Another VH1 Behind the music, is that's where my WIFE and I stayed the night we got married. Yet another reason this place is special. Here's the guys and one of the ballrooms at the Blu.

From our HEARTS and HOMES to the streets. In coffee houses and restaurants and bars.

In churches and temples and theaters and performing art centers. In old halls and ballrooms. To amphitheaters and arenas. To television and motion pictures. From our birth to our death beds music provides the soundtrack of our lives. It helps paint a bigger picture of where and what and who and how  and why we are. We become part of the song that's been playing since the dawn of time. Probably even before the whole thing started. 

What's your soundtrack sound like?

As always in PEACE

and many many THANKS

The Morning LIGHT

Good filled with the most good morning or late morning, early afternoon folks n folks.

I always blog after the fact and this is an attempt to do what I FEEL and FEEL like saying THANK YOU. Thank for  the ability to allow us to practice what we preach, to walk and be what we pray and hope for, and to turn the light on and be a reminder that we are ALL lights. We sure found some LIGHTS in St Louy folks.  This morning found us at  FOX 2, to help share the news of what we're doing here in St. Louy.

We are playing at THE  PAGEANT TONIGHT as part of their Night of the Rising Stars which brings music and charity together. The charity we are "dancing" with tonight is VARIETY ,the children's charity. Variety has been helping children with physical and mental disabilities since 1932. Some of the kids got to come to the news station this morning, and their PURE TRUE JOY was contagious. The cup of my heart is full. Thank you Brian and the rest of the folks at VARIETY for making a positive difference in the lives of many families. Thank you for helping them and allowing them to be KIDS. 

So excited to play and be part of something so sweet and positive. Something so genuine...Doors open at 7pm tonight the show is 8pm. Old Salt Union will be kickin the night off.

IN LOVE N LIGHT

PEACE and MANY MANY MANY THANKS

HEY NOW and HOLY BUCKETS

AMEN

See you on the road....

A Night in MAD TOWN

I wanted to start with a picture.  It bypasses me painting imagery with words and almost takes you  to the place itself. To some you may call this place your home, to some you've been here before, to some you may have went to school here, and to some you may mistake this place for somewhere else and believe it to be true. Perhaps there's some of you who've never been. For we begin this short tale of music and fun  in the town of MADISON....Wisconsin.....united states of america....north american continent...planet earth....milky way galaxy...in one of the many quadrants of the multiverse.

This weekend found us back in Madison, Wisconsin Folks, and we had wonderful time.
 The last time we we're there was in November at the HIGH NOON SALOON,
with our friends SISTER SPARROW & THE DIRTY BIRDS and
THE PEOPLE BROTHER'S BAND! This time found us deeper in the confusing maze that are the city streets of downtown MAD-TOWN...our place of musical sharings...The MAJESTIC THEATER

Twas an earlier show that evening of the last saturday in the month of April. And after successfully navigating the streets and construction we made it to the theater.  We we're loaded in and checked, got the merch set up and ready to go in no time. Hungry we went next store to THE MERCHANT
 for dinner and HOLY BUCKET'S this place was awesome. Dylan and Max and I shared a cheese plate with local honey and jam to start...

and for the main course dylan and I had the locally caught rainbow trout and max had a pork "something" I'm a vegetarian who sometimes eats fish. I don't retain the names of meat entree's too well. Although fish is in my book is technically "water meat" Anyhow here's a shot of the "rainbow trout water meat" on a bed of red lettuce with capers and  home made croutons..hope you do enjoy.

One of this places "mantras" is farm to table and on the back of the menu they had a map of where everything came from. It was super cool, and truly there is something to be said with eating what's in season and what is from the area when YOU are in the area. So full of nutrients  and inspired we headed back to the theater to catch the opening act....DIZZY JOAN.

He was a younger buck and a littler fella but his HEART is HUGE. He took the stage with an acoustic guitar, his voice and his heart. He spoke to the audience with confidence too, which too was inspiring.
Still full of nutrients and inspired we took to the stage....

We played that evening with and intensity and a dynamic that carried the LOVE and the HOME breath from wednesday's adventures in WINONA at MID WEST MUSIC FEST...we sang and played with reflections of inspiration that hit us since we landed in MADISON..Pouring your heart and out and singing with your friends can turn 90 minutes into what seems like a way shorter amount of time.. all of sudden we we're moving our instruments off stage and I was back doing the meet and greet and saying hello to old and new friends....we we're loaded up and packed back into the van and ready to go as fast as we came in...but we weren't done yet. Before we went to bed we ran around town with some good friends, stopped by the IVORY ROOM PIANO BAR . One of the guys played Brass Monkey by the Beastie Boys it was Awesome! One thing led to another and I found myself sitting at the piano..

What a night what and adventure, truly thank you from the breath of EVERYTHING we ARE.
To everyone at the Majestic Theater, Scott, Matt and Casey and the rest of the staff thank you for taking great  care of us. To Dan and Jeremy on sound it's "sounded" awesome, thank you very much. Thanks Dizzy Joan for warming up the stage with your gifts.To everyone at THE MERCHANT thank you for running a class act establishment with amazing food that supports the local communities...
and to the wonderful FOLKS that came out in support THANK YOU for KEEPING DREAMS ALIVE..

Peace and Many Thanks 

Next stop ST. LOUIS...the 1st of MAY

see you on the road

One Word....RETURN

Greetings and welcome back to a view from the beard's perspective.

And let me tell you the places it's been.

WHEN WE KNOW WHERE WE COME FROM, WE HAVE A BETTER SENSE OF WHERE WE'RE GOING.

Yesterday was a RETURN to Midwest Music Fest 2014 in good ole WINONA Minnesota. The Festival celebrated it's 5th year ! And we were asked to play it's Birthday Party along with our pals APOLLO COBRA at our good buddies ED'S NO NAME BAR.
 And across the street at BROKEN WORLD RECORDS  was  OLD KNIFEY, SHOP SHOP, and DESSA.  What a fun night and what a great way to RETURN to WINONA.

Winona became a second home for me a soon as I moved back from the mountains.
I started playing down there solo and as the band grew and changed I found a second home within a home at ED'S. So whenever we were in winona, the equation was  always...
WINONA = ED'S. The last time I played there was in  2012, right before I went out WEST and everything CHANGED. So to RETURN to ED's and see so many familiar faces was a BEAUTIFUL FILLING OF THE CUP OF MY HEART.
The love and appreciation in the room was FELT the WHOLE TIME. A LOVE that was familiar. Not Trying to sound like the prodigal son, but honestly it felt like the entire crowd was my parents and I was home visiting from my studies abroad. It was BEAUTIFUL.

Thank you Sam Brown, Parker Forsell, Isaac Sammis, the Board of Directors, and the rest of everyone that was part of the Organization of this Festival. Thank you Ben Asef and crew for helping with production and rocking an awesome light show.A quick funfact and due to the fact that the last two years have been very eventful, I've played this festival in 2011 and 2012 we just missed last year. And the last place we played was ED's. Thank you ED, Brandon and everyone else at ED's for reminding us why ED's is our home in Winona. And truly thank you to all the volunteers that help keep this festival a community driven event. And to the everyone that came out to celebrate last night it was an honor to play for you. The love was felt and received and I'm ready to share all the LOVE ya'll gave us with the rest of the WORLD. Next stop the MAJESTIC THEATER in MADISON WISCONSIN. We'll be there this SATURDAY APRIL 26th!

With gratitude and a humble heart I bow in appreciation for the continued support, prayers, and LOVE it is REAL STRENGTH for this whirlwind of an adventure. And when things are more new than not, I  AM finding it wise to RETURN to HOME or the different places we call HOME in our lives. To see and remember, to laugh and LOVE. And to then bring that LOVE and PERSPECTIVE into the new chapters of your life. 

PEACE PEACE PEACE

and many thanks

HEY NOW

Life Can Mirror a Reflection

Hello and Welcome

I would like to thank everyone from the breath of my heart for all the love and support and kind kind words on the joyous occasion of my gal and I's wedding. We wanted to try and keep things private leading up to the wedding, that and it was hard enough raising our children, routing the tours, going on tour, working on the record, driving across the country and planning a celebration of our love. 

If I've been acting weird lately, I feel like that explains it. "I know I'm weird, and have no problem admitting that, let me rephrase"....if I've been acting EXTRA weird lately, it's because the plate  was full. My heart overflowing.

And when everything overflowed, I had to pick up what I wanted and to pick up what I wanted, I had to see what I wanted. This is what I saw...

I AM SPIRIT true and through. the witness, the breath behind my breath

I AM HUMAN true and through. blood and bones. success and failure in one breath

                           capable of ANYTHING

I AM a SON     true and through, this is how i first came here, to honor my mother and father

                          and carry on the stories and gifts of my tribes

I AM a BROTHER  true and through. i became a brother in this life time. to love and support my 

                                  family, not only in blood, but OUR entire HUMAN family.

I AM a FATHER true and through. the dad to my kids. and not only me but every dad i've seen.

                              i became a parent to the world.

I AM a HUSBAND true and through, a partner and equal, the other half, the other side, the yin to the 

                                  yang. 

I AM many many things and nothing at the same time, but that is what i saw when I looked in the stars.

I know those are the main ingredients that make up my song. My song that I SING.

Because when I looked to the stars, I saw the moon and she reminded me that....

I AM MUSIC. 

and it's time to take my song back to the streets. 

stayed tuned and tuned we have  A LOT of FUN stuff coming up...

PEACE and MANY MANY THANKS

SXSW PART II

Welcome back folks.

I think SXSW finally got to us ladies and gents, on Sunday we were somewhere in Oklahoma and we decided to drive all the way to Minnesota without stopping. So that left us arrivin in the great state of Minnesota just as the sun started to rise. Which led to blending of sunday and monday turning into one long day with weird naps in between. 

So..a little more rested here is my attempt to recap our second day of shows at SXSW 2014...

But first.....

FRIDAYD NIGHT continued....We last left off at our show at the Liberty Bar.  Hungry and needing a little break from the festival we landed at Maria's Taco X-Press!

Now this place was truly awesome, there was some folks playin some rockabilly music on the stage and people on  outside takin it in as well as some tasty lookin food. So we went inside. This place was so funky looking. It reminded me of my old van. "that will be a later blog entry"

Maria herself came to say hello, her and her staff we fans and honestly they treated us like family. It was such a wonderful meal, great company and very rejuvenating. While we dined Maria had told us an inspiring story which I will share to you. She started her restraunt in a food truck and not knowing how to cook. And she just kept going, being herself and her dreams got bigger and bigger and carried over and into this world. And now 17 years later she has this oasis of  Creativity and Passion. Heart and Soul. Great food and honestly a place away from home that felt like home. Another example of the power of not giving up.  Thank you Thank you Miss Maria and everyone at Taco X-Press. Hey Now and Holy Buckets!

Invigorated we decided to go back into the Festival, we found a super awesome LIGHT park.
In the middle of all of the buildings and bars and closed off streets there was this park with tall trees, so it was dark. But in the darkness there was light. Cool creative, interactive light. One of them was a piano. Hope you do enjoy..

We marched onward, we turned a street and the some of the sounds of my middle school flooded the streets it was SOUNDGARDEN. I think they were rockin on a rooftop somewhere. We were walking on this street and they had their concert being projected on this building and they had small pa set up so you could hear it. We had to stop for a listen.

The hours were getting late and we still had an hour drive back to where we were sleepin for the night, but we had to check out DOSH
It's always fun to see Minnesota Musicians on the road. You breath home for a minute. Dosh was joined by the freakin awesome JT BATES on the skins. I love that dude's drumin.
Super creative rhythmic melodies sound collage  percussion drives the heart.

We didn't get back to the spot til pretty late, and I was vibrating from all the Music and Expression I couldn't fall asleep. So SATURDAY mornin came quick. 

We had two shows to play so we got our ties on and I'll tell you what. The warm weather and dressin up in vests and ties and suit coats and hats makes for a hot day,  to say the least. But if it's special then why don't we dress with style? 

Our first stop was at the Hyatt and it was off the path of the Festival so to speak, but still very fun! The The ceiling was super high so the acoustics sounded so cool, almost cathedral like.

Thank you thank you to All who came out to our "lounge" set. Super intimate and fun. Thanks.

The sun was goin down over Austin which, meant it was the moons turn and night time hit the city. It took us a while getting through traffic and the crowds, but we made it to the Holy Mountain, where our second gig was. After we unloaded, we had to go find a spot to park, we found one only a couple blocks away and FREE taboot! 

We made our way back to check out the NEW FRONTIER TOURING SXSW SHOWCASE!

We were able to catch some of Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds and Rosco Bandana both bands rocked and were fun to see. We've played with Sister Sparrow before so it was awesome to see them again, and it was cool to catch Rosco Bandana. I AM so blessed and so very thankful  to be a part of such a talented group at NEW FRONTIER. And I AM equally blessed and thankful to be in the company of such talented and amazingly creative and cool and great people as the musicians that are in the bands that fill their roster. THANK YOU THANK YOU.

After sweating and some sweating it was our turn to go up and do what we do. And yes folks we gave them our hearts while we threw our songs to the heavens .

40 minutes seemed like 2. And before I knew it we were done. It was  like we were in this soul funk music sauna so  maybe that's where my gauge for time went. After we got our thangs off the stage our whole band made a B-Line to go check out the BACKYARD stage, which would soon feature Cody ChesnuTT!

Raw and Emotional super powerful. Please check him out if you haven't already.

Thank you Thank you NEW FRONTIER for havin us be part of a special evening of Music and Spirit.

Thank everyone at SXSW volunteers, vendors, everyone. Thank you to all the fans who came to SXSW to support live music.

And Thank you to each and everyone of you for your continued LOVE and SUPPORT I can FEEL it.

PEACE to your HEARTS. PEACE to your MINDS. and PEACE to your SPIRIT

until next time..