January 6th-10th: THE EPS ARE IN!!

A lot can change in a couple days…

The biggest news of all for the first full week of 2020 is that on Monday, there were 2 heavy boxes on my front porch. Both had a CDBaby shipping sticker on the side, and I knew it could only be one thing- the EPs had arrived (mind you I knew they were coming- CDBaby sent me a tracker link so I knew the boxes would be there on Monday, but there was much anticipation still!) I shot a live video of the first reveal in my kitchen, and they turned out fantastic! For any of you looking to make a CD, I recommend CDBaby as a resource. The process was very easy, and the fact that they can show you what your product (cd sleeve) will look like before it goes into production is remarkable. Thank you CDBaby! The digital distribution (official release) should begin on January 17th, so keep your eyes peeled for that!

After the grand opening, I realized I had to send pre-orders, but had no packing envelopes to send anything in! Staples made that easy, but at a cost of $1.79/envelope (definitely overpriced, but a guys gotta do what a guys gotta do!) Came home, started stuffing EPs into envelopes, sealed, wrote down addresses on the front, and shipped ‘em out! Within days, the postal service had the pre-orders home-I know this because the people who got them shared it to the world (I’ll get into that more later.)

Tuesday, Wednesday-nothing to write home about particularity. I did however come up with an idea for what I think will be a killer song! It’s about my most recent run-ins with my so-called speeding habit when driving. I’m hoping that next week I can sit down and work on that some more. I also got the idea for a song I’m entitling “Needs No Introduction,” which is about those people you meet before you actually meet them-the kind of people that have an allure? that precedes them before you’ve actually met them in person. I’ve known a couple people like that (even people in my extended family) so I’ll try to have a demo of that up soon as well!

The end of this week is where things got REALLY exciting! First off, the 9th was my birthday, so THANK YOU to everyone that wished me such! I think I had roughly 160 people do that on social media, which I believe is a record (but who’s counting- don’t quote me on that!) My phone was blowing up with birthday greetings and EP posts! So many people who got pre-orders tagged me on social media, and seem to be ecstatic about the new music, so throughout the next couple days I’ll be reshaping and tagging those folks in appreciation. It also just so happened that I got booked for a show on my birthday, which is rare because the gig quantity slows down in a big way during the winter. This first gig of the year was a first for me-Houlihan’s in Mt. Lebanon, PA! The show time was great: 6:30-9:30?? I’ll take that. The venue was really accessible (I got to move all my gear in on my brand new dolly that I got for Christmas- TOTAL LIFESAVER,) and the bar was packed when I got there. They had the band and I crammed into a corner (per the usual) facing the bar. However, there was almost no marketing for us coming to play and the restaurant (and the “stage” for that matter) were so poorly lit that it was hard to really even see people’s faces. That, in turn, kept patrons from tipping the band- unfortunate, but not uncommon. I hope that those problems will be resolved soon, for the sake of the other 6 or 7 musicians scheduled to play there in the coming months.

Tonight, January Ice Jam 2020 kicks off, and even though I’m not on the bill anywhere, I can feel that this year plans to be really great. It’s gonna be super warm (70s I think) and that means everyone will be happy and in full force! I’ll have EPs on me, so if you need one, come find me there!