Looking Back & Looking Ahead.

Last Thursday's POP ON THE GRASS show at the Florence Civic Center was a lot of fun. The rain held off, a great big crowd showed up, our friends The Fawns and School for the Dead played their wonderful songs, and everyone including us had a super time. Henning wrote a nice follow-up about the event over at the Living Rockumentary.

And don't forget, there's a chance to come see Trio DeVille (Rick, Nick, and Fred) this Saturday, July 11th. We're playing a set as part of the Big Brothers & Big Sisters Fair on the Amherst Common. Our part of the show is at 10am, so set your alarm and stop by. We'll be doing a quiet morning bluesy-jazzy sort of set, I think.

In other news, Ringo Starr celebrated his 69th birthday yesterday. Smithereens drummer Dennis Diken wrote a nice piece about Ringo for USA Today.

One last thing: We have tickets available for our Iron Horse show on Sunday October 4th, so all you local folks can stop us in the street or drop us an e-mail and we'll arrange something. If you get them directly from one of us, you'll save a couple-few bucks. For all you out-of-town friends and fans, please call or get your tickets online from the Northampton Box Office. They're nice folks too, and we get our tickets there all the time. The service charge is way less than the gas would cost you to drive there.

Rain Or Shine.

See you in Florence.

Just a quick reminder that it's POP ON THE GRASS this Thursday at the Florence Civic Center.

The show starts at 6:30pm, it's FREE, and if the weather isn't good for lawn seating, we'll move the fun inside. You get three local pop rock bands, The Fawns, Group DeVille, and School for the Dead, so be sure to come out no matter what the Weather Channel says.

July Tour Announced.

Time to tune up the bus.



As of today, we have a tour booked. Well, it's only two gigs, and it's pretty local, but it's two shows in two different towns, two days in a row. For us that's a tour.

Saturday, July 11th, GDV will be playing a set as part of the Big Brothers & Big Sisters Fair on the Amherst Common. It'll be the Rick/Nick/Fred trio version of GDV, and we'll probably be doing a quiet, bluesy-jazzy set. It's in the morning. Bring us coffee.

Sunday, July 12th, the same GDV trio lineup will be playing a semi-private neighborhood party in Williamsburg.

See? Tour.

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Meanwhile: Happy Birthday, Fred!

Today is our very own Fred Goodhue's 60th birthday. Over on Fred's Facebook page, people have been telling him he doesn't look a day over 55.

Modern Times.

I love this century. Last night while I was performing, my friend Henning took this photo on his iPhone and then e-mailed it to me. All from the comfort of his seat at the club. It was waiting for me when I got home and checked in online before heading to bed. What a cool surprise.


Photo by H. Ohlenbusch

The night itself was super. I got to play a bunch of my songs acoustically (solo stuff, Prestons stuff and GDV stuff), and that's always fun. Nick and Fred from GDV were in the audience, so I had them join me for the final three tunes. There was a drum kit and a bass and amp onstage already, courtesy of the incomparable Spouse, for whom I was opening. Spouse is one of my absolute favorite bands anywhere. Great guys, great songs, and I adore José Ayerve's voice.

Another splendid night in Northampton. They call it Paradise City for a reason. I love this place.

Show Update.

Okay, here are some upcoming shows for you. Life isn't all recording and mixing, after all. It's nice to stand on a stage and make noises at you from time to time. As of right now, we've got three gigs we can talk about.

The Elevens
Tuesday June 9th, 7pm. I'll be opening for Spouse, as they continue their weekly Tuesday residency at one of our fave Northampton venues. Note the time. These are early shows, and Spouse is one of the best bands anywhere, so get off the couch and head into town. You can have dinner afterwards.

Florence Civic Center
Thursday July 2nd, 6:30pm. We're calling this event "Pop on the Grass." You get three local pop rock bands, The Fawns, Group DeVille, and School for the Dead, performing a free concert on the lawn in the center of Florence. It's gonna be a happening, so happen to be there.



Pines Theatre, Look Park
Tuesday August 25th, 4pm. This year, the annual Transperformance show will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the original Woodstock concert. I'll be transperforming solo as John B. Sebastian. You'll be in the audience, right?

Right. See you there. And there, and there as well.

I'm With The Audience.

When I moved back to Western Mass in the early 90's, the Iron Horse was, oddly enough, the first place I performed -- frequenting their then monthly open mics. But even though the place is legendary and nearby, I have not been to many shows there over the past few years. Either I've been out of town for most of the shows that interested me, or I just got lazy about going out.

But this year it seems I'm around more, and I've been lucky to see a lot of great shows there over the last few months, starting with an acoustic Fountains of Wayne back in March. The Everyday Visuals, a band from the Boston area were the openers. This was a great show, with FoW reinventing old favorites as well as trying out new material. More recently I've seen Old 97's frontman Rhett Miller with Mike Gent of The Figgs in support, the latest Maggies reunion show with The Novels opening, and the wonderfully charming Jill Sobule. Each evening was time well spent.

Last night, Sarah and I were at the Horse yet again. We caught Katie Melua's show with David Berkeley opening. A friend had given us a pair of tickets, as she and her spouse couldn't go. We were spellbound. Katie is widely known and appreciated in Europe on a huge and lucrative scale, but she can't seem to find a similar audience on this side of the Atlantic. She's got strong songs, smart lyrics, above-average guitar and piano chops, an amazing voice, and a poised and comfortable stage presence. She's gracious and unassuming, but with a sense of quiet power to her. Cute as the proverbial button. She ought to be huge everywhere.

David Berkeley was an excellent choice for opener. Well-crafted songs, super voice, great playing and similarly amiable. We chatted briefly about the fact that we're both on an upcoming Mark Mulcahy tribute album, and how we can't wait for it to get released so we can hear all the songs on it from everyone involved (I did backing vocals for Chris Collingwood on Cookie Jar -- David contributed Love's The Only Thing That Shuts Me Up).

For a long time it seemed as though the only time I was out in the clubs were the nights I was performing, or else out in support of area bands I know and enjoy. But it's been a nice change, making the conscious effort to get out more, to see not just my local friends, but performers from all over the place. Sometimes I forget how nice it is to be an appreciative listener instead of the guy onstage with a guitar. Here's to more shows. The audience is a good place to be.

Here Comes Summer.

How was your Memorial Day Weekend? If it was half as enjoyable as the one we had, then I guess we had twice as much fun as you. It was nice to be home for the long weekend. I have been on the road a lot over the past two months, ending with a three day trip to New York last week. Sarah took a picture of me while we were there, and I took it a step further. It shows that we've been practicing.



Friday night Fred and I went up to Mocha Maya's in Shelburne Falls to see our friend Henning play a solo show. It was a great way to end the week and start the weekend.

On Saturday I mowed the lawn at MRI Headquarters, and then went downtown to run some errands. This trip included getting two of the Gibsons back from the luthier, where they had been for a rest and some minor tweaking. I had missed them, but I understand that they need a break at the guitar spa once in awhile. Once I got home, I fired up the machine and re-recorded two guitar tracks on Leaving Carolina, one of the songs going on the next disc.

Sunday was a lazy day at MRI Headquarters, until around 5pm when we headed up the road for an evening cookout with friends and to meet their new kitten, who is a little tortoiseshell beauty. Did I think to bring a camera? Of course not. Her owner took the photo.



Monday was another relaxing day until around 3pm, when GDV converged upon the Quincy Room Studio to record tracks for the last two songs slated for the album. We nailed them more quickly than I thought we would, and then Steve polished off the last of his keyboard overdubs. The only thing left to do are the final vocals and my guitar overdubs, and then it's on to mixing.

What does all this mean? Well, it looks like it might be safe to say that our Anniversary Show will most likely be the CD Release as well. Which means twice as much fun for all of us.