Tour Diary: Greetings from Charleston WV!

Well, last night’s gig at the Empty Glass here in Charleston was a much needed joyous night of music and fun on what has been a tour of driving interspersed with small moments of playing music. 🙂

The vibe and people were just great. As I pulled up on the little street to what looks like an unassuming little bar, I thought to myself – “I came all the way here for a bar gig?” And then upon connecting with the patrons (many of whom were the town’s top blues & rock musicians) I learned that the stage at The Empty Glass has seen the likes of Bela Fleck, Waylon Jennings, Governor Mule (is that right?). Suddenly a thought “Wow – there is some history here”. Funny how the mind works, eh?

(By the way – you can check their band out at http://myspace.com/thediablobluesband)

An acoustic duo opened for me – Sean and Karen, and they were a joy to hear. Great tunes, great voices, great vibe. Thank you Sean and Karen for your music.

http://www.myspace.com/karenallenarts

http://www.myspace.com/seanrichardsonmusic

I opened the night’s festivities with “Machine Gun” and the audience and I fell right into a wonderful interchange. They loved it and I loved them. Yep, that’s what being a musician is about – that’s our currency, what we value. You can’t buy “people enjoying your music”. Once again we see that the free things in life are the most precious, and the things we pay for are replacable!

I MUST give a shout out to “Roadblock” – the soundman and booker at the Empty Glass. In a music business full of agents, promoters and a whole lotta middlemen, he gave me the gig based on the idea of getting a new guy in and helping him build up a following. Like I have said in previous posts,it’s important to put people first, money second. There’s kind of a spiritual law that when you go with that, abundance and good vibes flow. Thank you Roadblock! We need more people like YOU in the biz!

Today I get to hang in the hotel, catch up on email and practice guitar. I just did a drive here in Charleston, picked up lunch, did some post office type errands…not unlike life at home. Wherever you go, there you are!

That’s it for now everyone, I’ll be at Taylor Books tonight and give you an update after the gig.

Thanks for stoppping by! Keep swingin!