Often Awesome and an Overall Life Update

It's been a little while since my last post, a lot has happened and a lot has stayed the same...guess that's about par for the course.

First, i fell compelled to call attention to the passing of an insanely inspiring dude, Tim LaFollete. Tim had ALS, better known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. I only had the pleasure of meeting Tim on a few occasions but he's been a great friend to a lot of my close friends (Mark, Joel, Josh, Seth, etc...) so even the first time i met him, I felt like I knew him. if you're familiar with the NC music scene, you may know him as the bass player from Kudzu Wish...and if you're not familiar with Kudzu Wish, you're missing out. Anyways, after his diagnosis, instead of being depressed and feeling sorry for himself, he along with friends and loved ones, started Often Awesome, a web series helping bring some light to ALS and the struggles of those that suffer from it. Go to the site, watch some of the videos, get inspired.

For those that may read this and don't know me, yes, I can be sad at the passing of someone I don't know that well. No, it's not the same type of sadness that I felt when jeanna, adam, or the other friends that I've had to bury (sadly too high for being only 27) but a sadness that this world lost one of the people that were actually trying to make it a better place. Tim's story is one of those stories that remind you to live life looking forward instead of looking back.

Ok, in other news, the acoustic album is close to being complete. It managed to morph itself from an EP to a LP, which is alright. Kyle is awesome enough and patient enough to let me work through the songs and keep recording as many songs as I feel. But, we have one song left to do, then some mixing...probably a few re-recordings (mainly vox cause lord knows i'm not a singer) and then it'll be out for the world to judge as they see fit. I'm fighting the urge to post demos on a daily basis. I'm proud of the songs but I'd also like people to hear a couple of the songs fresh, without hearing any version of it before so I'm going to hold off. If you really want to hear something, and you have my email, let me know and I'll send you something.

Also, BearHugger is back in action! I'm stoked on it. It's been hard to find a drummer in this town but I think we've found a dude that's excited about the material and excited to play it so for the past couple of weeks we've been working with him, re-learning the old songs, and writing new ones. It's been fun. While I enjoy the acoustic stuff, I really love playing metal...especially live. Hopefully, by the fall we'll be back playing shows on a regular basis. We're also re-recording the old songs so when i'm not recording the acoustic album, i'm at the studio there. Lots of studio time.

Started going back to jujitsu and I'm pretty rusty (10 months is a long time to be away) but I'm enjoying it, even when I'm losing all the time. I got to hang with Nicole and see Bella a couple of weeks ago, which was nice. Bella is growing up entirely too fast. But she still rocks the Zeppelin shirt I got her like two years ago and her favorite movie is Poltergeist...so a pretty awesome four year old. I went to a party this past weekend where I knew beforehand I wouldn't know anyone there and had a great time (happy bday Brandy). Normally, I wouldn't do this but it's nice to get out of your comfort zone from time to time plus Brandy always invites me to social events and I never go, but I plan on changing that.

So that's my life update. Lots and lots of music and writing, friends, jujitsu and just overall trying to stay busy. Busy helps me deal with my own personal crap in chunks instead of all at once and that makes it easier for me to think things through logically. May possibly add more stuff into the schedule if possible, I still have a free night or two a week...maybe some volunteer work or something if i can find something I think i'll enjoy. Who knows. Still, kind of working on moving to Charlotte, haven't been applying to any new jobs but if something came my way, I wouldn't be against it.

Music recommendations (promise I'll do a full on new tunes blog soon): Stray From the Path ~ Rising Sun; Beirut ~ The Rip Tide; Pentimento ~ Wrecked EP

Posted in: bear hugger,by sea by land,friends,music,often awesome