Notes from the Road

Juice Fast

2012-02-14T12:58:00.000-05:00

My latest journey begins 2 months ago. We were discussing with Ms. Julie what films we wanted to show for the first 4 months of 2012 in the Peace Project Film Series. We had all been recommended "Fat, Sick and nearly Dead." Julie watched it, and said we need to show it. So we put it on the calendar.

And then she said, since it's a film about juice fasting, we should do a juice fast too. We could host a 5 day juice fast.

Fasting has intrigued me for last last few years. Since college, I have had a deep and growing fascination with spirituality. It has led me down many paths, collecting many ideas, joys, and bigger concepts of Love. I think it started with my trips to Wyoming, where I felt such a connection, and even as a child, I could sense something calling to me from those mountains, and this led me to an interest in Native American spirituality. In all of these ideas, fasting was a reoccurring theme.

I kept saying, someday.

So this opportunity, pushed me at the right time, and I leaped.

The movie was deeply inspiring, and my excitement for this adventure was palpable. The universe was also on my side. You see, a juicer made it's way to me, shortly before the juicing was to begin.

The night before my first day of juicing, I went out and bought fruit and veggies enough to make a large batch that would last for about two days.

Kale, cucumber, spinach, carrots, apples, oranges, pineapple, cantaloupe, watermelon, mango.

Mmm!

The first juicing experience was a little disheartening, shall I say. Not in the product, but in the fact that it took over an hour to juice. That was more time than I was expecting. I was able to whittle that down to about 30 min, including washing the juicer.

But the juice was good. And by day 2 and 3, I was feeling a little difference. A little more open to understanding myself. By day 4, I was noticing a few less pounds, and feeling pretty good overall.

Day 7 was difficult for me. The whole of the two week, I never felt hungry. I was comfortably full. Satisfied, if you will. But on Day 7, my habits reared their head, and I found I was deeply itching to have hummus and pita throughout the day. You see, I typically would have hummus and pita as I worked online during the day, and/or if I watched TV, etc. I munch a lot. Not that it's a bad thing, necessarily. But I think it is when you dont have control over your actions.

For both Day 7 and 8 there was great temptation to break my fast. But this being a spiritual adventure, I was not about to let my habits break me down. All of my will power was summoned, and I was determined to find a way over my habits.

This issue of my munching habit, while I knew that I did it, became very clear to me at this time. It was the first time I was looking at a habit of mine, and seriously, deeply looking it, in hopes of changing or overcoming it.

The empowerment in this choice and insight was profound, and Day 9 brought the best Id felt yet! And I mean yet. It was the best I have felt that I can remember in all of my 30 years in this skin.

Just before my juicing, I came down with a nasty head cold. And it took several days into the juicing for it to leave. As soon as it did though, I was back into a yoga routine. My energy was rising and feeling great!

My daily juice was typically a fruit-based juice in the am, and then a more veggie-based one in the pm. I was making large quantities so that I could take it with me as I traveled to meetings and shows, etc, so I wasnt really following recipes. My veggie drink was a mix of kale, carrots, cucumber, spinach, apples, grapes, beets, and ginger. My fruit drink was a mix of apples, pears, oranges, grapes, kale, mangoes, watermelon, pineapple, cantaloupe, plums, carrots, and sometimes strawberries. I added to this by having a carrot-apple-beet juice at Ms Julies Kitchen once in a while, fresh orange juice, fresh cranberry juice, and the random juice at Mustard Seed or another fresh fruit bar.

A big misstep: Earth Fare ... does not have very good juice options. They have komboucha on tap, but their mixed juices are sort of weird combinations. The one I tried had garlic in it, and was so disgusting, I nearly vomited. I tell you, so you dont make that same mistake. It took me hours to get that taste out of my mouth.

So now here I sit, at the end of this stage of the journey, forever changed. My eating habits will never be quite the same. Ive lost a good 15 pounds or more and feel exceptional. Juicing will be in my diet and lifestyle every week if not every day.

I walk on from this with a greater understanding of my body, and a greater connection to my self.

This has also led me to the next step, which is real fasting. My goal is to undertake a one day a week fast.

I highly recommend juice fasting to anyone. Be it for just before noon, or one day a week, or 2 weeks, or 30 days. Its a great adventure, and you will walk away more powerful and confident and energized.

Om shanti!

Value

2012-01-17T12:29:00.000-05:00

I just read a wonderful article by a talented musician, Carsie Blanton.

http://brighterthanabuoy.blogspot.com/2012/01/pay-what-you-please-manifesto.html?spref=fb

The value of music is an interesting topic.

What do you think, can a song be bought and sold?

Music is magic. All art is magic. It deals in the realm of emotion and spirit. It's territory is a place deep inside the soul, certainly much deeper into our being than most products (ie the ice cream cone or iphone).

As a music fan, music is a mystical experience. My life has been outright changed by music.

How has music changed your life and what is it's value to you?

Martin Luther King Day

2012-01-17T11:29:00.000-05:00

Memorials are not best built of stone, but in our lives.

Someone spoke of this during a Hospice memorial that was for my father and others who passed around the same time. It stopped me in my tracks then. And continues to inspire and prod me along my path.

It's easy to keep someone in our memory. It's much more difficult to live a memorial to those who inspire us.

Everyday, I see that Love is what is called of us. Every word I read points to compassion.

But what few realize about Love is that it is not passive. It is not weak. It's not just some big idea.

Love is action. Love is work. Love is difficult.

Perhaps what sticks us is that we don't really know what Love is. It's used in so many contexts, so often out of context. So often used to describe things that aren't really Love.

So, what is Love?

(baby dont hurt me, no more ... sorry, couldn't resist that reference ...)

Radical compassion. Radical compassion means we include all beings in our compassion. It means honestly living the golden rule.

Which isn't easy.

As we celebrate Dr King's teachings and legacy, I cannot help but think about his comment that the great evil of this time is not the people doing bad things, but the silence of the good people.

This is the difficult line to walk. A task that takes a lifetime to attempt.

And we will fail, sometimes. And we will fall silent.

But we must never let that stop us from speaking up again. Our voices could be ragged and tired, sore and soft, but they should always try to speak for compassion.

As we live in times where the Golden Rule is booed in public, we cannot allow any excuse to keep us from doing something.

Something.

Something.

You can start with yourself and your significant other or friends and family.

But start somewhere. And keep on going.

Best Of 2011

2012-01-04T12:45:00.000-05:00

Lots of new inspirations came across my path this last year. New music, books, and movies always inspire me in so many ways.

So, I'd like to share my favorites of the year. Hopefully some of these inspire you too.

Music:
(So im not sure all of these were released this year, but I associate them with this year ...)
- Fitz and the Tantrums - Pickin Up the Pieces
I love this band and this record. Soulful. Funky. And passionate. Good for anytime, and it still makes me want to dance.

- The Head and the Heart - The Head and the Heart
Really nice harmonies, but a fuller sound than the Civil Wars.

- Augustana - Augustana
Kind of like the Killers. But like their good songs. Off their first record. And a little less synthy. Good songs. Good melodies.

- Neon Trees - Habits
The title track makes this record worth it alone. Great rock band.

- Blind Pilot - We Are the Tide
This Portland band really caught my ear with their single. But the whole record is good.

- Trevor Hall - Everything Everytime Everywhere
One of my favorite artists. Brand New Day is a great song. The whole record is good, though it took a little time to grow on me. But it's worth the investment.

-Peter Bradley Adams
Singer/songwriter record.

- Oh Land - Oh Land
Something different. And Sweedish...

- Young the Giant
Good rock/indie band. Infectious songs.

- Bon Iver
I love Bon Iver. This record is beautiful and haunting. Wow. It continues to grow on with each listen.

-Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto
I am a Coldplay fan. This is a strange record for them. Its much more of a pop record than previous ones, but it's still got some great catchy tunes.

- Peter Gabriel - New Blood
An interesting record done with strings and vocals. some cool versions of Gabriel classics)

- Donny Hathaway
I fell in love with his 1970 Everything is Everything record. Especially his live version of The Ghetto.

- Lissie
Great voice. Honest.

Fun is putting out a new record next month as well! This is on my list. Mumford and Sons is expected to have a new record this year, too.

Books:
(I doubt any of these came out this year, but I stumbled upon them this year)

- Three Men in A Boat
A classic. British. Hilarious. Brilliant.

- Hafiz - The Gift/ The Subject Tonight is Love/ I Hear God Laughing
I have not been so moved by any poetry. It is divine. Mind blowing. Beautiful.

- Mark Kurlansky - Nonviolence
One of my favorites that I have read on the subject. Very informative and readable, and yet inspiring!

-Tolstoy - the Forged Coupon
A great tale that winds itself around itself over and again.

- The Animal Manifesto
A wonderfully caring and compelling treatise on respecting animals. Very informative and inspiring (and this is coming from a very active vegan!)

- The Bhagavad Gita According to Gandhi
I go back to this book all the time. It is one of the books that would need to be with me on a desert island.

- Sri Sri Ravi Shankar - Celebrating Silence
There is so much brilliance in this book. It's a collection of sayings of Sri Sri. Each saying is worthy of a long meditation!

- MLK - Where Do We Go From Here? Chaos or Community
Amazing. Could have been written today.

- Daniel Pink -Drive
An interesting look at what motivates us.

- Chip and Dan Heath - Switch
A great look at how to accomplish change when change is hard, which is most times, i think.

Movies:
I dont get a lot of time to see films, but these are what I saw and really liked.

-The Way
By far, one of the best movies I have seen in a very long time. Inspiring. It's a change your life sort of movie.Ive seen it twice now, and Im sure Ill buy it when it comes to DVD.

- Beginners
Touching film. Ewan McGregor is great.

- King's Speech
Great film. Worthy of the acclaim

-The Muppets
Just fun. Really fun.

- Paranormal Activity
The first one. Yeah, i just saw it this year. Creepy. Creepy. Creepy. Would sleep with a light on, but Im not sure that'd help!

- Got the Facts on Milk
Well done documentary. Informative and yet entertaining.

- One Peace at a Time
Such an inspiring movie. Movies about the problems of the world are seldom inspiring and uplifting!

Concerts:
Edward Shapre & the Magnetic Zeros - Amazing!! Wow.
Fitz & the Tantrums - dance party!
U2 - really good show. Better than I anticipated.

What are your favorites?

Namaste.
Zach

2011 Wrap Up

2012-01-04T11:45:00.000-05:00

2011.

A year of highs and lows. But since my glass is always half full, I want to focus on the highlights.

As 2011 kicked off, my band, the Bright Lights, went into the studio and began recording what turned into my 14th CD, Luminosity. The sessions were fun and organic, much of the recording was live, and yet we had some fun experimenting with vocals, and sounds, and things like the electric glockenspiel.

Was asked back to the 30A Songwriter Festival in Seaside, FLA. So much fun with Augustine, Carmel Mikol, Blake Gutherie, Effron White, and more.

In May, I turned a milestone in my life, 30.

And immediately left town.

For Wyoming.

A great summer Mountains and Meadows tour ensued. Great news folks and house concerts. The heavy and long winter kept a lot of my favorite mountain trails too snowy for me, so I found a few new trails, which became some of my new favorites! Lots of great communings with bears.

A young Grizz walked right in front of my car. A couple times.

On a back road, a mother Grizz with 3 young cubs stepped out of the woods. And she stood on her hind legs! I've never before seen a bear do this for real, not on TV! Incredible!

Some great shows back in Ohio. Painseville Party in the Park. Burning River Fest. The CD Release Show in the Gothic Building.

Rocked the Rathskeller in Indianapolis!

Peace Week grew bigger and better. A film series was started. Lots of yoga and meditation events, a living yoga peace sign, the windows and mirrors Afghanistan art exhibit, and a drum circle! The Civic Theatre hosted a Love Initiative performance. the Bright Lights rocked and we had the whole audience dancing and moving, spiritually and physically. We helped to bring the Human Values Awards to NE Ohio. A very moving ceremony of music, poetry, and recognizing the great members of our community, including Suzie Graham, Julie Costell, Happy Trails, Stewart's Caring Place, and the Akron Peacemakers.

I traveled to Buffalo and Covington KY for NACA conferences. In Buffalo, my friend, Maurice martin (of the band Winslow), met the man who gave us the 10 steps to being successful musicians (1. be humble. 2. dont have an ego. 3. be humble. 4. practice... that was all we got...). Met some great other musicians there too: The Other Mark Miller, and The Bergamot.

Crossed the country to Oregon for the Folk Alliance conference. Got to stand on a 1500 year old lava flow. (Swung thru Wyoming and got to hike my favorite canyon, Cascade Canyon, with no other people!! So amazing!!) Met some great folks there too. Mother Hen, The Whiskey Poets, Woody Moran, Kress Cole, Tatam Reeves, Kerry Patrick Clark, the Blackberry Brushes String Band (http://theblackberrybushes.com/).

Spent some time in Portland, OR. Great all around. Good food! Good people! Powell's Books!

Music Millennium.

Finished off the year with the Winter West Coast Tour. Several great shows with my friend Randi Driscoll. Some great house concerts, including the Cal Tech one, where I met folks who worked on the Mars Rover, the guy who de-planet-ed Pluto, and other crazy smart folks. Had a moving experience at the Self- Realization Fellowship in Encinitas. Debuted at the wonderful Zoey's in Ventura with Mimi Gilbert. Got to hike in the San Romero Canyon, where a coyote led us down the trail quite a bit, and we looked out over Santa Monica pier at sunset. Traveled over to Channel Islands National Park (Santa Cruz Island). Looked over picturesque cliffs and the blue and turquoise ocean. Saw pelicans, sea lions and seals, and dolphins. I family pod of Orcas crossed the boat's path. They all came right up to the boat, including the 2 young calves. They communicated and spoke to us. Then the adults mated.

Finally, the year ended up in Wyoming, where there was some snow, but a surprisingly little amount. Snowshoed. Cross country skied for the first time. Communed with Bald Eagles, Trumpeter Swans, Mule Deer, Elk, Moose, Bison, Porcupine, River Otters and Coyotes. Had a licked-clean car wash by 3 Big Horn Sheep.

Stopped in Omaha on the way back to Ohio, and had a black bean burger at the largest restaurant Ive ever seen, the brewing company in Omaha. Then had dinner in Chicago with the Bodhis.

A lot of cool stuff happened this year!

May 2012 be even cooler.

Namaste.

Thoughts from a Mountain in the Moonlight

2011-06-08T03:25:00.000-04:00

There are societies that measure time not by the sun but by the moon.

I like this better.

The moon is a creature of passions. Something about that strata of light appeals to our curiosity, to our imagination, to the better parts of our intuition. Maybe something remotely dangerous.

Especially here.

There are places where the starts do not shine - they dance! They cover the sky like neon ivy. Here there are no streetlights. Here the lights are only from the sky, having nothing to do with man.

Here the crickets hold philharmonic concerts. The owls guess all night. The coyotes and wolves mark the hours. The wind plays millions of leaf maracas.

All under the quite of darkness. Not city darkness. No. Real darkness. The meaning of the word. Where light is absent.

But not all light.

On most nights, the moon and stars spread a soft angelic silvery blue over the land. A colour in dreams and distant memories. The colour of the fog of age. On a clear night, the moon shines as bright as the sun, just in its own spectrum. A spectrum of full energy.

Isnt the blue flame the hottest? The most full of energy?

Would not the same hold of the blue light of night?

Something in human DNA calls us to intrigue with the moon and the moonlight.

It's the thing of romance. Its the thing of fairy tales. Its the thing of inspiration.

Although, to be fair, everything is a thing of inspiration. Especially here.

In a different time, there were stories reaching the cities about deadly, but beautiful beyond compare, but deadly mountains, capped with snow eight months of the year. Where flowers grew like weeds, and wild beasts covered the land. Where the rivers flowed from Heaven itself, and from Hell as well. A place not bound by society, not bound by the city. Not bound by the normal expectations of civilized man.

There were drawings and whispers. Stories told at dusk and in pubs. Stories not even the moon would dare disturb.

And some people, upon hearing these tales, recoiling in terror. They clutched their cross. They hugged their comforts. They drove their roots in deeper.

Some people were intrigued by the possibilities, and the chance for land, a new life, gold, perhaps.

And some people. Well, they heard this as a call home.

A call to a different life, where what was possible was whatever happened. A place where man was not the king of the world, just a life within it.

They heard not the "deadlys," the "terrible," the risk of "life and limb." For there was no choice for these souls. Life and limb was being risked day in and day out where they lived already. If not physically, then within the soul.

So they climbed onward.

It snowed here today. And several times last week.

I dont mind.

Its 90 degrees where I live.

I dont mind.

To be surrounded in Mystery is worth the cold.

To be encompassed in Beauty is worth the winter.

I stand here, upon a mountain jutting out of the valley with the grace a ballerina only can aspire to. The snow tucks in the majority of the surrounding mountains. In the distance, the grunts of the bison herd drift along. Grunts deeper than time itself.

My shoes are rimmed in mud, soaked, as are my pants. My hands are sunburned. Vitamin D is ragging in my cells. Breath fills my body with pure air. Breathed directly from God before. Or at least from the den of a forest that knows little of man.

Here I stand. An explorer and a prodigal son, both. My heart light as Times Square. But full. And genuine.

I feel the land smile.

Our souls embrace, long and deeply.

Mystery is where we find it. Maybe where we bring it. But its definition is peculiar to each of us. I have stood in the center of 5 million people. People with lives and cars and jobs and ... yes, there was mystery. Shallow and restless mystery. Mystery that flickered in the neon buzz. That hung around stench of the sidewalk and alleyways. A mystery that did not call my name. A ghost that four meddling kids and their dog unmasked as just the jealous banker across the hall.

But I do hear my voice. Sailing on the wind. In the raindrops. Sown into the melting snowflake. It's written in the lupin, or in the yellow timbre of the arrowroot. Its spelled out by the squirrels and marmots in pine cones and blow down. Its hummed by the stones rolling down the river. Its in the eye of a bear, foraging alone in a field.

It says, "We are Home."

Home is wherever Im with you.

And I wonder how long I will ignore their voices. How long will I turn my soul from itself. How long, how long?

A wise man said there are no problems. Problems are only there when we are looking for solutions. Once we accept there is not a solution, it ceases to be a problem. It is a fact.

The moons have drifted on. I have watched the flight of other birds. The feathers on my arms and back have filled in.

The ground is further than ever. But the moon is on my side. She smiles and sends confidence into each cell of my body.

My voice echos in my head.

And calls back from Here. From beyond the trees. Beyond the mountains. But Here, where the soul pervades even places. Even within the energy of rocks.

Dreams are just wishes. And wishes are dreams youve wished to come true.

I believe in dreams. They create our lives. What some might call reality. (Though i despise that term. Reality is subjective to each person and each moment, and there is no over-reaching out there reality.) Dreams. The soul has dreamed this and called it into existence.

How can I deny the voice of the soul?

So here I sit. In a moonbeam. Breathing. And knowing that the past has passed, the future is always tomorrow, and that now, the coyotes sing.

I know this song.

This song has been given to me by the moonlight when I was a child.

So I too sing.

When you hear your song, you'll know it. All you have to do is sing along.

New Record!

2011-05-06T11:24:00.000-04:00

The band and I are still working heavily on the new recordings. Yes, it will be a full length CD, album, etc. We're in the mixing stage, and working with our good friend Lesley Katzenmeyer on the CD graphics.

The music on this record is very exciting and the soul of the songs and the players is captured better than any record in the past. Im pretty sure you're gonna love this record . It has been stretching us and allowing some new creativity and new directions.

This is a record dedicated to inspiration.

We hope to have some new measures on the website and social media sites to keep you connected with this new music, and the band.

Excitement is building!

Stand for Something

2011-04-28T01:24:00.000-04:00

Art is something that creates itself. It forces itself into being. Through our souls. Through our hands. Our eyes. Our ears. Our breath.

Since is is birthed out of intention, we, as artists, need to have a passionate and larger intention. This path is not for everyone - I do think that real artists are actually called to pursue this path. And it frequently doesnt lead to fame, or even sustainability for that matter.

But that doesn't matter. We dont make art to live. We live to make art. It is in our very essence. Our very existence. I speak with seasoned musicians that tell me they would much rather have done something else, but they couldnt. This was what they had to do. And I can relate. (Though I wouldnt trade this for anything in the world - save maybe world peace and global compassionate consciousness).

We all need to stand for something. And artists even moreso.

Northside Last Night

2011-04-08T12:55:00.000-04:00

There is something about the Northside.

I'm not sure what it is, but there is something there. I've always liked the club, from the first time i walked through the door almost a decade ago.

Its dark, intimate atmosphere and narrow space carries a spark. Something in the air.

Perhaps it's the Luigis that struggles in. That delicious dough and marinara.

Perhaps it's the ghosts.

They hold the refrains from the thousands of songs sung there. They hold the residue of the hundreds of artists' dreams and creations. They dance in the silence. They sing in the hum of the lights and in the pauses in conversation.

Or maybe I just project these feelings on the room.

Maybe I just want a space in Akron where there is some magical aspect. Some little place that is my own personal Greenwich Village.

Whatever it is, once my feet touch the stage, Im transported to the peace of comfort, yet inspiration. Even on those nights where 7 of us are in that room.

My Northside nights are a space where anything goes. Old songs not sung in years may be dusted off. New songs may be sung for the first time. Any song might be altered or re imagined. And of course, any cover that might inspire me in the moment might arise.

Last night, I opened with Coming Home, which i havent played in years. It was a song I sang for my dad's funeral, and always reminds me of him, though it's not about him. The version was special, and felt quite inspiring as it was leaving my mouth and fingertips. A full version of If was rolled out too. Affinity made an appearance as well. The Traveller made its second venture out ever. I really like this tune. It's potential grows everyday.

About an hour in, Cameron joined me, rocking the beat box. And the goal is always to make Cam laugh at some point & bust up the beat boxing. It's an inside joke i think. But it's fun!

Shortly after that, Courtney joined us for Mountainside, Must Be & Home. Home is always awesome. One of the most fun songs to sing, even though I had no hand in writing it.

The night drew to a close with a magnificent Life that included a full fledged dance-a-thon in front of the stage. Possibly even a dance off between Cameron and Sarah. Then, it medlied into Kieshka, and I ran around the building.

But it was the encore that really got some response. I only like to do covers that I feel I have an attachment to and that I can bring something to. Covers that lots of folks have done, or that have a "quintessential" version, I like to steer clear of as much as possible. But I'd had Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" on my mind this week. So it asked if I would sing it. And i did. It was magical. By far the best version I'd ever done of the song. Lots of passion. The room grew totally silent, and I could actually see goosebumps developing on everyone! What a feeling.

Maybe it'll ask to be sung again sometime.

Until next time!

Studio

2011-03-07T12:13:00.000-05:00

I'm sure you've heard the news.

The band has a name. The Bright Lights.

After years of discussion and brain storming and crossing out lots of pieces of paper, we've arrived at this new name of musical enlightenment!

Have you seen the new "Meet the Band video?" It's the first in a series. Check it out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygjn7T4h5iE

In other news, we have been working hard the last month in the studio on what will be the bands 4th Cd (and my ... 14th).

This, as of yet unnamed record, will be released this Spring - if all keeps going to schedule.

We're all very excited about these recordings. They're some of our favourite newer tunes. And we've been able to experiment and flush out these tunes. We even have Tibetan bells on one of the tunes!

Keep tuned in for more info as we progress in this process!

Restaurants

2011-02-23T15:23:00.001-05:00

I talk about food a lot.

I realize this. Many of my posts from the road are about food and restaurants. It's my little way of promoting good places that are vegan or are kindly to vegans.

There are a lot of them!

Every now and again, I come across an establishment that is quite hostile to the non-traditional western dieter. A Bob Evans experience my good friend had shortly after going vegan where they told her to "go someplace else," comes to mind.

I don't really fault these people. We live in a society that is wary of anyone different than ourselves. Many folks are raised to believe that different equals wrong.

That doesn't change overnight.

Also, every establishment has the right to serve whatever it wants. Though I would love to see every restaurant have a viable veggie option, each place has their own market, niche, and clientele.

This is why I never visit a steakhouse or a seafood place, etc.

What does confuse me though are when asked about their options, a place turns hostile.

Usually, when someone is rude, there are a whole host of things involved in bringing about that side of someone.

But can we change that behavior? Should we?

When rudeness dwels from a place of ignorance or lack of information, is it our place to educate someone?

Sadly, we can't send the ghost of Christmas past, present & future after ever act of rudeness... can we?

No, probably not.

My advice for rudeness is typically to look past it, and to send prayers of compassion to that person. We all need more understanding. We all need more compassion.

So, I ask you to send some thoughts of compassion to the manager at the Courtyard in Brecksville.

I have to admit, that the rudeness I experienced there (including "is this just some lifestyle thing? no, we dont accomodate special needs.") riled me up a bit. I wanted to tell everyone I knew to go out and either vocally boycott the place or that everyone go in asking for vegan options.

But then I thought, what would that accomplish? It would satisfy my wounded ego, but would it be a constructive way to bring about change? Would this man be helped along to a place of greater understanding?

Doubtful.

So I am sharing my experience. Do with it as you wish. And please send this man, and the countless more out there, the seeds of compassion.

Winter

2011-02-08T11:42:00.002-05:00

I breathe.

This breath hangs in the still cold air like a bird hovering in an air current before finally fading out into the patches of falling snow.

And I breathe in.

I breathe in calmness, and a warmth, despite the frost on the air. I breathe in the songs of the crows, and the songs of the trees. Their stories fill the forest like story time when we were in 2nd grade.

To many, there is only silence. The occasional wind-whipping through the pines. But to me, a tale older than any of us is unwinding, with all the vividity of any poet or campfire teller.

It says, “Come listen to my story.”

And so I walk on, snow shoes digging into the deep snow. The forest is already surrounding, and the mountains loom above, though today, the snow clouds are low, and the mountains can freely hide behind their curtain.

The powdery snow reaches up to my knees. No one has been here yet, since the last snowfall. I am breaking ground, blazing a trail into the forest. The tracks of a coyote dash out from behind a near tree, and cross my path, disappearing behind the brush on my left. The scene still playing like a ghost. It is a playful moment for the canine, mouth open in a near-smile, looking for a good time, and perhaps a chizzler. So it heads into the brush, it’s fluffy tail healthy and tinted with a rusty orange flare.

I can almost hear him yip in the distance.

All of the air has stilled now. Too cold for even the wind to be out.

But the mountains are peeking through the clouds, as though the clouds were a tattered old pair of blue jeans.

The sun is even spreading through the cracks in the sky. It throws shadows in every direction, and spots the air with colour.

“Reminds me of a day many years ago,” says a near pine. “The river froze early that year. Bison still wintered by here. Their snorting was a kindly lullaby. We would all close our eyes and just sway to the rhythm.”

The pine stretched into the sky, poking through a cloud. Its branches were full and green, even under the fuzzy sweater of snow.

A swan flew by out of the corner of my eye.

Another deep breath. My feet began rising and falling again, and soon I could see the bend in the river.

It was not frozen though. True, the sides of the river were frozen, but a good-sized channel dashed through. It roared softly as it passed.

A duck of some sort swam lightly by the opposite bank. It didn’t look cold, but I would have traded places.

The mountains were now mostly in view. The river came from that direction. There was a large field between us. In the summer, it would be full or bright yellow flowers and Indian paintbrush. And sagebrush. And the more than occasional grizzly bear.

But right now, 10 feet of snow lay of all of that.

The nearest pine extended its limbs and with a generous embrace, whispered, “Welcome home.”

Valentine's Specials!!

2011-02-08T10:19:00.000-05:00

Want to get the perfect special Valentine's gift for your special someone?
Look no further!
You could have me come to your house and sing some songs for the 2 of you!

It's a Z-Valentine!

This is a special offer to all my wonderful Facebook blog readers!

Here are some options, suggestions:
1. I play a 35 min set of songs for you, and you get a copy of my newest record, Mountains & Meadows! ($75)

2. I play an hour set of songs for you, you get a copy of my new CD Mountains & Meadows, and I bring you some vegan chocolate & flowers! ($150)

3. I play a 90 min set of songs for you, you get a copy of my new CD Mountains & Meadows, and I bring you some vegan chocolate & flowers! ($250)

4. I play an hour set of songs for you, you get a copy of my new CD Mountains & Meadows, I bring you some vegan chocolate and flowers, AND i prepare a dinner for you! ($350)

4. For $1,000, I'll play all night for you!

(Prices are subject to negotiation)
Email me at zach@zachmusic.net or facebook message me. Dates and times are filling up, so reserve your spot today!

Mountains and Meadows Winter Western Tour 2010

2010-12-05T21:25:00.000-05:00

The sun is setting (earlier each day), sending streamers of rose and tangerine across the marshmallow sky. Said sun sitting somewhere in that small window between the clouds and the ocean - that wee line of blood orange that stretches as far as the buildings will allow a view. Rain sprinkled here and there on and off for the afternoon, but it wasn't enough to dampen much. The waves still rolled against the sand. The cars still rolled along the freeways. And the traffic lights were all changing to red.

I can taste the salt.

Which feels good. My throat and sinuses have been in less than good health for the last week. The direct result of nearly 2 months without adequate sleep (and by adequate I mean 2 days in a row with more than 4 hours of sleep). Thanksgiving filled my belly and luckily my throat lasted through the 2 shows I had that weekend, giving out in a little Chinese restaurant in Dayton, and finally returning 2 days ago.

But it's the holidays. And I am thankful for many things.

I am not in Ohio right now. For one.

I am in the 70 degree ocean sunshine of southern California.

My little reprise from the real winter, which I will be experiencing in the extreme in 8 days as I venture up to Salt Lake City and Wyoming.

So every minute here is well-appreciated!

Getting into LA in time to do a short house concert, tasking my voice, I was able to rest a day and fully regain a good 65 percent of my vocal cords. I spent the day working on Peace Project and other musical endeavours, including planning another totally new Love Initiative set at the civic Theater in early Oct! (It will BLOW your mind... you will need to be there... i mean it).

My friend I am staying a few days with had the television on as I was waking up and gearing up for my big house concert in Pasadena. There was a show on about a father that pushed his very disabled son on 100's of marathons, placing 1st or 2nd in his age group in most of the events. His son was able to use a device that helped him communicate, where he could type out messages with his head. Despite his many disabilities, he communicated very well, and was a deeply compassionate person. He even graduated Boston University as the first nonverbal disabled person in the school's history, and he lives basically on his own, though he has no ability to move anything other than his head. Such a moving story. And the fact that his father is now 70 and still doing full marathons, triathlons, etc, is quite inspiring. And the pair has inspired other families to do the same thing. The capacity of the human heart is so great. It is so much bigger than the simple bodies that we see. The compassion we hold defies all odds, and cant be contained in just flesh and bone.

And from there it went on to a show about people who've won the lottery. I was only partially paying attention here. It seemed like mostly inspiring stories of folks who truly needed the money and used it or saved it wisely. And then it went on and on about a doctor who won it, and blew some $600,000 grand on home renovations and such.

Money.

The green God of America.

I revere and respect all spiritual paths, as they all rise toward a similar god of compassion.

But I will not bow to that paper god.

However, I would like to interject right here that I do have 3 CDs currently available (What I Meant to Say, Lost + Found, and Mountains & Meadows) along with comfy hoodies, t-shirts, buttons, and stickers that all make such wonderful gifts for the holidays! AND that January is the PERFECT time to host a house concert, because what else is there to do in January but have wonderful music and friends fill your home with joy and laughter and Love! (Email me... we'll make it happen!)

The house concert was in beautiful Pasadena. In the historic section of town.

This show was one of the main highlights of coming out to the West Coast this winter. My friend Randi Driscoll, who is amazing (I recommend going online and buying her new live CD - it really highlights what she does best, i think!), was headlining the event. Also there was Lisa Sanders, a great writer and heavyweight in the San Diego music scene. I had done a show with both of them in the legendary Java Joes in San Diego this past summer.

We divied up the show so that i played 4 songs, then Lisa played 4 songs, then Randi (and her percussionist extraordinaire, Noah) played a good 45 minutes, and then we repeated the process.

I loaded up on some marinated tofu cubes prepared by Whole Foods, and totally delicious, and then kicked off the show. The space was tight, as tends to happen in house concerts (especially with 60 attendees), and we had a beautiful fireplace as a backdrop. This always makes me slightly nervous, as on the mantelpiece sat several clay bowls and dishes from deep in the ocean and incredibly irreplaceable. That and there were candles. Lit candles directly behind me.

But I made it without damaging anything! And I still got to dance in the little aisle way.

The crowd were wonderful and utterly brilliant scientists from Caltech. I must say, i was deeply inspired to be in a room with such huge brainpower (folks there had species named after them!).

Something in the ether of the room really aided my guitar work. Some of my best guitar playing at a show, in a long time. I love when the bar gets raised!

Randi and Noah joined me for their favourite song, Distracted. And it rocked. Noah is amazing with a djembe, a pair of bongos, and a hi hat. And Randi sang lovely harmonies, taking the song to another place, which is always the best place for a song to go!

A major highlight: (and having nothing to do with me) they passed a hat and had everyone write some sort of scientific term down, and then Randi would pick the terms out of the hat and incorporate them into a song! She is pretty adept at improv, and pulled together this amazing, ridiculous and spectacular version of Blue Christmas (involving Love Waves - yes there is such a term -and ironically it referrers to an aftershock of an earthquake... - Bob Dylan, and several words none of us could pronounce!

That and her version of Dont Stop Believing ("even scientists studying the bottom of the ocean - or the moon - know this song") in which she vocally did the famous speedy guitar riff in the intro.

Brilliant.

The night ended with a rousing version of Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" which brought back me, Lisa Sanders, her singing partner "Brown Sugar", and Randi's husband "The Whistler." We got a rhythmically-challenged Pips-style backing dance together - showing off our true talent (or lack thereof)!

If anyone reading this is in southern California, I highly highly recommend you coming out to our show on the 12th in Escondido "Randi's Jingle Bell Ball!" It features all 3 of us again, and will be so much craziness and fun, you wont know what to do with yourself!

I hope to bring Randi and Noah out to Ohio sometime this year, quite possibly during Peace Week (she has written a major theme song for the Matthew Shepherd Foundation and does a lot of work with this great organization). So if you see me posting that she's coming to Ohio, or anywhere else, you should go. You will enjoy.

Well, so it happens. My time is about up here in the cafe. My tea is out, and my car meter is nearly over. I'll check in again soon.

Until then, be the change you wish to see!

Namaste.
Zach

Thoughts on a Tuesday (pt 2)

2010-10-05T12:48:00.000-04:00

Peace Week.

Back in February or so, my friend Bekey Hewit came to me and said she wanted to do a concert at Musica on Oct. 2nd to celebrate Gandhi's birthday. She asked me if I'd like to be involved, and if I'd like to help. Of course i did! So in our little organizing session, we wondered if we could get the city to declare that day Akron Peace Day. Which then turned into Akron Peace Week as we discussed things we could do.

And then the city loved the idea!

And named Sept 25- Oct 2nd as - officially - Akron Peace Week!

As we began putting the week events together, we decided we wanted to do more than just this to cultivate nonviolence in the community, so we came up the Akron Peace Project.

I've been studying nonviolence for the last 3-4 years quite intensely. Spirituality has always intrigued me, and every religion honestly says the same thing - if you strip it down to the basic levels. It all boils down to 1 thing: Love. Love is the Ultimate. With Love as the Ultimate commandment, we cannot condone violence ever. I was turned onto Tolstoys brilliant writings on the subject of Christianity. His "Gospel in Brief" where he strips the Gospels down to their most basic, and "Confessions and other Religious Writings" both were deeply changing for me. One of the great things about Tolstoy is that he gave away his wealth and estate and lived as a poor farmer - practicing what he preached. Something very hard for anyone to do. From there i jumped deeper into Buddhism, the Gospels, Hinduism, and Native American wisdom. With each, I found that Love is the only goal, and that divisiveness, hate, and violence are unacceptable, and uncondonable.

This is where I came into reading Gandhi. Gandhi was never taught, nor even mentioned my entire school career (including college). So it was like opening up this amazing door of truth. And as I got more ingrained in his life and principles, our society was growing more and more divisive. As I step back and look at adults in this country who harbor secret hatreds, us and them / for-us-or-against us mentalities, absolute right and wrong mentalities, I see this epidemic as inherently needing understanding, needing a new Gandhi to step forth to remind us that together we are brilliant and able to achieve anything, that we are all of us the entire universe, that we are all one.

That no one holds a monopoly on truth.

Each side of a debate holds some aspect of truth.

And I couldn't sit back and do nothing. Yeah, I write happy little songs and sing them to 20 people a night, but i felt sure that there are other ways I could get the community together to celebrate all of us, to champion nonviolence.

Thus, the Peace Project begins.

The first step is to look within. This is an ongoing step. We must constantly challenge our views and opinions. We must constantly work to bring about our own inner peace. If we are violent in thought, then we will be violent in action. It is inevitable. If we can develop compassion in our minds and ourselves, than that is how we will build our relationships, and that will be the world we will build with our words and hands and hearts.

We partnered up with the Art of Living to help people gain some sort of mediation skills. They are a wonderful organization started by His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. They are a major force for peace in the world, and also inside us all. Mediation is a deeply powerful state and tool. We all mediate now and again. It has many names, and we often don't realize that we are meditating. Things like singing, dancing, praying, hiking/walking/running are all forms of mediation. The goal of mediation is the simply bring the mind to the present. To fully engage in this very moment. It's not just clearing the mind. That will come with enough practice. But it's about identifying and recognizing your thoughts. And it's infinitely healing and rejuvenating.

We will be helping bring the Art of Living's Yes+ course to Akron on Oct 29-31st. We've partnered with the Center for Conflict Management to do this. You really will want to attend this event. I've done a few small mediations with this group, and they have been dramatic. And they were just small little 15 minutes sessions! (More info will be at www.akronpeaceproject.org)

Love means nonviolence toward anyone. It also means recognizing that animals are sentient beings as well. They have the same nervous systems and pain receptors as we do. They have emotions and social structures. Until Constantine, Christians were vegetarians. It was inseparable from the Gospel of Love. Hindu and Buddhist traditions sanction vegetarianism as the way, since we are supposed to not harm each other. So, to be nonviolent, we must be vegetarian (at least - vegan cuts out all harm to our animal brethren). For it is like having violent thoughts and saying you are nonviolent. This basic level of violence perpetrated everyday cannot be reconciled with nonviolence.

So we tied in a dog walk event to Peace Week. It is a reminder of Gandhis sentiment "You can judge a nation by how it treats it's animals." We are also co-sponsoring a discussion with author Will Tuttle, author of the World Peace Diet, on Oct 28th at Kolbe Hall, Rm 51, in the University of Akron at 7pm. It is free. Once our hearts are opened to compassion they cannot accept the hardness of their previous state.

Most importantly, nonviolence is something we can all practice and spread. It takes a lot of strength, inner and moral strength. Far more so than violence does. But through our own lives and actions, and treatment of others, it spreads. It spreads because it works, and because it is naturally that state of humanity.

So I ask you to be a soldier in our modern satyagraha.

Namaste.

Thoughts on a Tuesday (pt 1)

2010-10-05T12:00:00.000-04:00

Well it has been a summer.

I say.

Ups and downs and back again. Since returning to Ohio from the Western mountains and big sky, I have been working hard organizing "An Evening for Chuck," my benefit for pancreatic cancer research in my dad's honor, as well as "Akron Peace Week," a week of events designed to spread and cultivate nonviolence in the self, the home , and the community. I've also been writing a good deal, and working out some of the new material with the band. And I formed a little sideband, The Bodhis.

Looking back, I guess that does seem pretty busy.

Firstly, every year when I return from the Mountains, I get depressed with the hiking options in Northeast Ohio. This year was no exception. I typically hike 10-15 miles a day in Wyoming, all up into the mountains - to meadows plush with wildflowers, little glacial lakes high up in a mountain, where at least part of the trail is still snow-covered. Hikes that include seeing bear, moose, elk, bison, marmots, wolves, eagles, and other amazing critters. I've yet to find many trails in this area that are over 4 or 5 miles (except of course the Buckeye trail). Most of the trails here also have little views, though they are pretty in their own way, there aren't the kind of entrancing views (save a couple of short waterfall hikes). But to my joy, I found a nice trail in Brecksville metro park that I really do like. It's nice and secluded, it has some elevation, and though not really many views, it is a nice little trail to hike. This discovery fueled some much needed happiness in early August.

Evening for Chuck.

We typically spend the better part of the year planning and organizing this event. We had the opportunity to bring in Isa Moskowitz, the famous vegan chef! That is until she backed out less than 30 days before the event. But we soldiered on, and had one of the most fun events we've thrown. My good friend, Brandt Evans (head chef of Blue Canyon), brought a few amazing dishes, as did Cilantro, the great new Thai place downtown. Mrs. Julie's Kitchen made some wonderful pumkin bread/rolls, and the Mustard Seed make a jolly cake. And of course Theresa's famous cookies (of which i think i seriously had 40!) But the real hero of the food day was Pita Pit. They were so kind as to donate a large batch of veggie pitas, and then came back twice to deliver more each time the wraps ran out!

Magic Mike made some uber-festive balloon hats, and Zumba seriously got us going! Dr. Shankar gave a wonderful presentation about the need for altering our diets to fight and combat cancer and many other diseases.

And the music!

The Bodhis had their world debut, which was so much fun! I love singing with Courtney! And Cameron's beat box just takes everything to a new level! Plus, David had on his cool Bodhis/Piratey shirt. It was the first show of many to come. Actually, we may be doing some sets on Nov 18th at Northside, and for sure at First Night Akron (at the Polsky Building 9:30-11:30pm).

I was so happy to have Brian Lisik involved this year. Kristine Jackson is always great! She knocked her set out of the park! The Tofu Fighters got the crowd up and rockin! Even having Bill Hall singing along!

The Love Initiative. It was a lot of fun to put a modified version of a Love Initiative set together with my band. If you missed the Akron Civic show, I dont know what to tell you. It was beautiful. So, I decided to try something like it with the band. We did it differently and more focused on the music than the Civic show was, but it worked very well! Plus, it debuted the video for Shoulder! (If you haven't seen it yet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuK1L8rI4-A) And it debuted several songs besides Shoulder, songs like Anyway (a duet with Maurice Martin of Winslow). And then there was the finale! Ever After and Sundown with HORNS!! Oh yeah. Oh. Yeah.

In the end, we've raised over $6,000 this year! Which brings our grand total to over $32,000! A small dent in the problem of this cancer.

In the Part 2... Peace Week!
Stay tuned!

I Love Mountains Tour Pt. 2

2010-07-07T12:08:00.000-04:00

Next up was Charlotte. Charlotte’s a cool town. I always feel I like it for a day or 2. I don’t think id be able to do it for longer than that. (But the tip of the Smokey Mountains with the greatest concentration of Black Bears in the entire range is only 3 hours away…) I do however, love the Evening Muse! Such a cool place.

My set was a total blast! A great crowd was there and enjoyed what I did. Which is always a very nice feeling. Lots of singing along that night too! The Meadow seemed to stick in a few heads that night.

I got to stay with my friends in Charlotte who have a sort of “Rock and Roll Motel.” They are a wonderful family! On my way there, they stopped at this new 24 hour donut shoppe. A 24 hour donut shoppe is in itself unique, but the donuts were seriously the size of an average persons head. Huge!!

On my way out of town, they took me to Manifest, which is this amazing independent record shop. It’s massive!! How could I not go to a record shop called “Manifest?” How could I not love it? I was able to pick up a few cool CDs of Indian chants/hymns. If you live anywhere around Charlotte, please support this place! I wish we had something like it in Ohio.

After passing out of North Carolina, I made my way back through Atlanta on my way west toward San Diego. I had wanted to stop at the Martin Luther King, Jr Center for Social Change and Nonviolence. It’s kind of a little Mecca for me, being hugely influence by the work and words or both Dr. King and Gandhi (who also has a prominent wing and statue at the center). The day was mild and overcast. Storm clouds were on their way in. The center is located directly across the street from the original Ebenezer Baptist Church. Standing on the street staring at this old brick building, a subtle power emanates from it. If you listened hard enough, and if the wind was blowing just right, you’d swear you could hear like whispers Dr. King giving a sermon from the other side of the stained glass.

As I walked up the stairs, they had a long memorial fountain with the tomb of Dr. King and Corretta Scott King, as well as an eternal flame. That alone was beautiful and moving. The clouds were throwing intense colours and shades on the entire scene, adding to the emotional impact. After walking around some, I crossed over to the other side of the street where the new Ebenezer church stands and where there are some rose gardens for peace and murals, etc. Around the rose garden were plaques of little poems written by Atlanta-based children ranging from 2nd grade to high school. All of the poems were wonderful, though a few of the really young children had written some pretty deep and remarkable lines, especially for their ages.

Like:

Peace!

By Ella Hurworth (Grade4)

We have eyes;

Open them and look for peace.

We have mouths;

Open them and sing for peace.

We have minds;

Open them and make peace.

We have hearts;

Open them and receive peace.

Or Sofia Sarmiento’s (Grade 3) “Peace:”

Peace is the ocean waves crashing on the sand.

Peace is families walking hand in hand.

Peace is helping a friend when he is hurt.

Peace is a puppy digging in the dirt.

Peace is when your heart does not shatter.

Peace is different people

Uniting for what matters.

Near the garden was a huge wall mural depicting large events in Dr. King’s life, and across from that a wonderful Gandhi statue. I spent a good hour and a half there, and Im quite sure I could have spent much longer on those wonderful grounds. Next time I am near Atlanta, I am going back.

Standing on those grounds, it really hit me how absent in our time such a strong figure of leadership with the courage to be wholly non-violent is. Especially as we have entered into a time where violence has o’ertaken much of our society. Why must our enemies always be people? We have the power to change our own reality. Jesus, Buddha, Gandhi, and Dr. King all showed the world it is best to love the person doing evil deeds, while hating the act that person is doing. It is truly only through this behavior that we will break the true bonds we have enslaved ourselves in and be free the tyranny of fear and violence.

With our own nation so divided and pushed to such troubling violent words and actions, a leader is needed now as much as ever.

The rain came as I left Atlanta, making the rolling hills of the Alabama scenery actually quite beautiful with rainbows and sunsets peeking through the clouds.

My goal of making it to Texas that first night got benched when on more than one occasion after dark a highway patrol car would follow me for several miles. They had a great way of being not welcoming and making sure that those who didn’t belong there kept moving along. I made it to Louisiana though before I had to give in to exhaustion.

That drive marked the first time I’ve been to Mississippi. AND I got to cross the Mississippi in Mississippi, which I got a lot of pleasure out of.

However; I had been mostly dreading the drive through Texas. My route was taking me the entire breadth of Texas. I crossed the boarder and got gas and peanuts at a big travel plaza, where the lady behind the counter was super nice and obviously entirely loved her job! A pretty good start to the state I thought.

12 hours later… I still had a good 18 hours to go… to get out of Texas! It was about as bad a drive as I had anticipated. Ugh. I did get to drive through a dust storm which was a first and very interesting. Being covered in a cloud of red dust on the freeway. Storms in the West and southwest are quite unbelievable. You get to see them peak above the horizon and continue watching them for miles upon miles. Lightning cracks unobstructed.

After passing flat lands and oil fields, I finally got to El Passo. I was intrigued by this area because you could see Mexico. And having never been, it was cool to at least look over the dessert and mountains and be able to say, that is Mexico. The traffic picked up considerably here. As I pulled over for gas and stood filling my tank, a man pulls up next to me and asks if I lived there. Despite the fact that I 1) have Ohio plates, and 2) was not wearing a cowboy hat, jeans, OR boots… Sadly I could not help him with his directional question.

Finally into New Mexico the drive turned around. (I actually cheered as I crossed the border into New Mexico!) It was still desserty, but some mountains had popped up, and the scenery was relatively interesting. White Sands National Monument was next on the list. Truly one of the cooler places I saw in the southwest. Huge dune fields of pure sparkly white gypsum! Plus, I got to be there when a storm was blowing by, so the cloud coloration was incredible. And it did rain for all of 3 or 4 minutes which is very rare there. It really is a sort of alien landscape. Neil and I were talking the other day about how the landscape of the East, Midwest, and even the Southeast to some extent are all very similar. Many places in this region remind us of a section of Ohio. But as you pass the Mississippi, and definitely after passing the Missouri or Rio Grande, the landscape is altogether foreign. White Sands is so different from the Midwest it’s hard to describe it, really. You start off entering a dessert, except with white sand. The early area of the park still has some grasses and plants, which gradually diminish the further in you go. A trail juts out into the sand early on where you walk around some small trees and plants. And where you see a small bush that looks like an aspen tree, and it is. The top of the tree. Yes. The rest of the tree has been buried by the sand over the days. But it can survive. And you realize how much sand is really beneath you. As you get into the true white sand dunes, you can walk around, though the only guides back to your vehicle are your own footprints. Every year several people get lost wondering around back there. A terrible place to lose your way. 1) it’s a dessert – super hot, no water. 2) it borders an air force missile testing base. Not a place you want to wander into.

I stopped into a small town on my way back from the White Sands to the freeway. A sign pointed out that a post office was there. In need of mailing a few postcards, I followed the signs around the block to a house. Yes, the post office was in a house.

You can tell what is troubling an area by the billboards along the highway. In Texas it was the Heath care plan that hasn’t even been implemented yet and abortion. In New Mexico, it was meth and drunk driving – quite a bad combo. But it made you much more aware and cautious of the other people on the road.

Compared to the never ending drive through Texas, I was out of New Mexico in a flash, and on my way to Saguaro National Park by Tucson.

I bet you can’t wait for Part 3?! I know I cant!

I Love the Mountains Tour Pt. I

2010-06-29T18:07:00.000-04:00

Somewhere back in time, I was a mountain dweller. Maybe in another life. Maybe I was really raised in the wilderness. Maybe it’s the gypsy in me.

Whatever it might be, the call of the wind and the smell of the sage speak louder to my heart than the lights of any city could ever hope to. My head is right at home under the roof of the unending sky.

As I’m guided by the trio of the bear, the bison, and the coyote, I gravitate West. The bear calls for open spaces, room to roam, lovely flowers to smell, meadows to play in, and the bounty of the mountains to support me, physically and spiritually. The bison leads me to the open spaces from the anthills of cities, calmly shows the strength to stand up to the odds and believe that whatever the goal, it can be achieved. And the coyote reminds me to sing and laugh and dance at every opportunity.

And so they are good companions, travelling with me in all my journeys.

And so it is that every year, my Western tour is a highlight of my year. And it will be, until that fateful day when the mountains swallow me up, and I will occasionally set out on a Midwest Tour. And that day will come. It’s creeping around every corner. I can feel its breath, and hear the click clack of its boots now and again.

Speaking of swallowing up – whilst in Wyoming the National Museum of Wildlife Art (which my aunt helped to start) had a wonderful exhibit of Maurice Sendack’s drawings. To see up close one of his final drawings from Where the Wild Things Are was such a moment. As with most children growing up between the 70s and 90s, that book was a huge part of my childhood. The imagination of the books really caught everything it was to be a kid. And then to standing face to face with a real final drawing from the book was pretty special.

The first part of the tour went smoothly, despite me attempting to kick a scratchy throat/ sinus infection that took hold the day I left. However, as I took every chance to sleep or rest, I watched Unmistakable Child, a documentary about a Buddhist monks search for his reincarnated teacher, a renowned Lama. Shot in brilliant colours and in the otherworldly natural scenery of the region it is visually pretty arresting and intense. The real interesting part though is that the majority of the process on how the Lamas search for a child who is the reincarnated master. And in the end, it seemed pretty compelling to me that they found the right one. This little boy rightly picks out the masters possessions and takes naturally to the priestly things they have him do. I recommend this.

I really enjoyed Athens, Georgia. Having never been there before, I was looking forward to the 2 days I got to stay and play there. Plus, I was feeling much better by then. It was nice to have a minute before I needed to get to my house concert venue that I could walk around the downtown. The shops and restaurants are all quaint and some are pretty cool. The have the famous double barrel cannon – that was never fired because it did not work. Apparently it’s impossible to have a double barreled cannon as a functional piece of weaponry. But it is a nice lawn ornament. And I feel that if we turned things of violence into lawn ornaments more often, we might begin to see the rays of peace.

Another of my favourites of Athens was the “Tree that owns itself.” A man deeded the land around this tree to the tree, so that it would never be cut down. Now, the tree is partitioned off with a nice little fence around it; its leaves are full and happy, and it is in control of its own destiny. I loved this! What if more of us would do this? Seriously, its like making our own National Parks, albeit on a much, much smaller scale. But how cool?!

Veronica and her husband Chris hosted my shows in Athens. Very cool folks, and cool musicians in their own right. They took me around the town, introducing me to the local Co Op, (which rocked!) the Junkman’s Daughter (which I’d been to in Atlanta – think Big Fun but bigger – they got me a sign that says “Vegans Welcome” from there), and the Grit.

The Grit.

Mmm!

Veg places are so perfectly funky and cool. They had marvelous food, and had cakes and desserts, too! I didn’t get to have any of those, but my mouth watered uncontrollably for a good day after seeing them! Go to this place. Well worth it.

Really enjoyed the house concert I did in Athens on that Saturday. It was a nice collection of folks, including this fun couple who were neighbors, heard the music and stopped by. An interesting couple, him from Germany, and her from Australia! And both wonderfully sweet to boot! There was another couple there, and I’ve been told that the next day he proposed, since they were both so inspired from the show and my music – he felt that was the right time! And I am deeply honored. Congrats Fain & Addy!

Part II: The rest of the South… Coming soon!

Stay tuned!

2010-06-23T01:02:00.001-04:00

The only test of truth is action based on the refusal to do harm

2010-06-12T21:36:00.001-04:00

Here in these vibrant verant groves amongst the marmots moose and bears, I do not withdrawl from the world, but into it.

2010-06-12T21:34:00.001-04:00

winning goal. Everything adance with song. Melodies in the birds. The mumble of the stream and the swaying foliage. The air is cool and brings a familiar smile.

2010-06-12T21:33:00.001-04:00

Sitting in the mountains. By a cold rushing stream. Willows all around. Pines stretching enthusiastically to the sky. As though the Heavens just scored the

Wormholes

2010-04-28T14:07:00.000-04:00

"Everybody wants somebody to be their own piece of clay."

This song came on as I started writing this blog today. I've always really loved this song - it's my favourite Marvin Gaye tune (tied maybe with his version of Yesterday). It's true on every level. Especially in consideration with Marvin's rough relationship with his father, leading ultimately to Marvin's untimely death at the hands of his own father.

I like to think that instead of molding anyone, I can help them take a single step or maybe be a simple page in their diary. It's said that every breath any of us take lingers and circles the world for years. That, yes, the breath of Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Gandhi, John Lennon, have been takin in by us all. That on a molecular level, we share a lot with all of our fellow man.

I also think that Gandhi was right. We need to be the change we want to see in others, in the world. This is a constant process, an evolution. A change in consciousness, which doesn't usually happen overnight.

So to everyone struggling right now, have faith in yourself. You have the breath of Saints, sages, yogis, and gods within you.

And. On that note.

I watched a show last night about how we are descendants from aliens.

It was late night, and it was the History channel.

The basic thesis being that the improbability of DNA for life coming together in a mere 6 billion years is basically impossible. So the evidence mounted.

Drawings and art from ancient peoples. Sculptures depicting leaders/ Gods in outfits strikingly similar to our spacesuits. Drawings of leaders in these images that appeared to be spacecraft.

That all people's have origin myths saying that man came from the starts. All civilizations had gods that actually came to earth from the sky. (which could undoubtedly be taken numerous different figurative and literal ways).

And then a piece of martian debris landed on earth, and carbon deposits were there, which scientists decided were left behind from microbial life.

So, then the question: did life mean to come here, or was it sent here on purpose?

Did the Martians before their planet dried up send out life to the nearest inhabitable place? Or, were all these images of space people, simply us from the future.

Yes, us from the future.

Can i remind you, this is the History channel.

The answer: wormholes. Theoretical space phenomenon. If a future us found one of these, and learned to harness it, then they could travel all over the universe, and theoretically, back in time. To apparently give us (their ancestors) our religions and myths, that would undoubtedly then lead to them and their civilization.

I believe in a lot of things. Whose to say whats possible and what isn't? It's all theoretical anyway, and none of us will probably ever really know for sure. It just seems like a lot of work for questionable results.

It would be like us travelling back in time to when there was primitive man and the birthing of civilizations, and us giving them gods and religions. The same ones that we know they had. It would be a process of simply keeping the circle turning, no?

And with that... I realize...

I've been spending way too much time thinking about this.

This is why free time is bad for me.

Sing on Marvin! I've got to go and sing too!

PS- i love spellcheck. It suggested "salespeople" for "spacepeople."

Birthdya Bonanza!

2010-04-23T10:10:00.000-04:00

Oh its a party!

Come one, come all!

The May air will be filled with the soul and funky tunes of me and my friends all night long! Lots of special guests will be there, and it will surely be a night to remember!

While the soul is groovin, so will the appetite be! It's a vegan pot luck, so you can bring your favorite vegan dish, snack, entre, dessert!

And with admission only a smile, I think its affordable, and very worth it!

Plus, check out some of the art and photography of some of my friends (and if you like it, it'll be for sale too)!

I hope to see you there to celebrate life and laughter, friendship and music with me!

Namaste.

Zach

Change

2010-03-25T01:56:00.000-04:00

So comes the Spring.

After a winter that seemed to have been 8 months long, the snow is melted, the buds are peeking out of their barked slumbers, the sun bathes in the blue sky, and our heavy coats are finally being hung in the back of the closet.

It's a time of renewal. Of rebirth. Of growth. Of change.

With the new year, we all look ahead at the year with wishful thinking and thin promises about how we're going to make this year better, or make us better. But it is with the Spring that we truly begin to enact the smallest of these changes.

This winter, I heard the phrase that we are all either activists, or inactivists.

And it has hit home more than ever.

Over the past 7 years or so, I have very consciously been finding ways to perform and lend my music to causes that I feel strongly about. Music is my weapon. It is my soothing balm. It is my smile. It is who I am, and how I am best equiped to help, to make a difference.

But I'm beginning to think that alone is not enough.

Which is why i started the Love Initiative.

Its still to get its feet under it, but it will. It's got a big task ahead of it: to foster and spread kindness and Love throuhgout our communities. And it's a task that will take more than one to achieve.

"I am just one man who needs you here/ I crawl out from my shelter cuz I need you here."

Love.

Love.

As in "love your neighbors as yourself."

As in "treat others as you'd like to be treated."

As in "This is my commandment, that ye love one another. [Jesus, In John 15:12]"

As in "unity."

I've been asked, and I've asked myself "what can i do?" What can we do as individuals angered by the lack of Love and kindess we see towards our fellow brothers and sisters of all species? What can i do to change this? To stop it?

I don't know.

Yelling at and hitting people over the head with the images of cruelty will not accomplish the goal. No ill words will achieve anything other than ill. No lasting revolution has or will come about by fore - be it words or actions.

I don't know.

Honestly.

But Im gonna die trying to light the night sky.

I know the change I want to see, and I am trying to become it.

Ahimsa.

All life is sacred.

Unity.

And if I can do it, so can you.

And you can do it.

And if you can do it, then we are not alone.

From a certain point onward there is no longer any turning back. That is the point that must be reached. - Franz Kafka.

I am stepping across that line...

Love Initiative

2010-02-26T18:03:00.001-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psJrPMmIYHA&feature=email

Featruing Zach,Courtney Cable, Rachel Roberts, and Tony Troppe!

Memories

2010-02-18T11:12:00.000-05:00

Time moves. It slides, skips, blasts on. It runs, it walks, it sulks. It slowly climbs up the slide ladder at night and swooshes down the slide in the day.

And you wake up 4 years later.

I have tons of memories of my father. Many are simple snapshots. Like a slideshow. Walking down the street at night. Standing by a horse pasture when I was teeny that he used to take me to all the time. Coaching the flag football team i was on when i was 5. Playing basketball with him in the backyard. Him sitting at the sound board, a huge smile on his face. Or a grimmace of intent as he ever-dialed in the frequencies and mix.

And I smile. The many blessings of having these great and small moments.

And i also see him, a virtual skeleton, sunken and unimaginably fraile sitting in the chair. Or lying in the hospital. Or being wheeled into an ambulance. Or doubled over in pain coming home from the radiologist.

As much Id love to have those memories vanish. They wont. And are sometimes more prevailant, more immediate.

But hard as they are, I cant say that I would really want to lose those images.

Those images, those moments have fueled a fire in me I'd never had previously. They remind me the finite strings of life are thin and can snap at any given second.

Which all really reminds me to live. Its a process, but these memories wont let me stop or turnback.

Thankfully.

I see him sitting in the chemo chair, trying to whet his lips, trying to find some comfort. and I see all the other people sitting in that chemo room. Young, old, and all with that same fear, that same sunken skin. And I watch the nurses feed and encourage foods that only fuel their diseases. While they are being eaten alive from the inside. And I lost faith in medicine. Western medicine at least. In doctors. In hopsitals. In people who are supposed to know what wrong and how to fix us. People who very blatently dont.

But I dont greive this fallen faith.

For I've found faith in something more important.

The truth.

Our diets. And you know what, we can suddenly save ourselves. Without PhDs and millions of dollars of hospital bills. Suddenly God says in a tested but reasuring voice, "You've always had to power to change, to heal, to love. Go with it. Ive given everyone all the tools they need."

And i see the light in my father's eyes dimming.

And there was nothing I could do.

But I can do something now. I can fight so that others dont have to go through that. I can fight the pessimisim that readily flows in these streets. I can shine. Little light that it is, it can help one person. Even inadvertantly.

I can constantly try to enlighten myself to be fully awake when around friends, to not divide my time with them by distractions of cell phones, to listen, to simply bask in the blessing of the moment. It's not easy. Our minds are taught to wander as children. I wonder, though, if I would never see one of my friends again, would I feel that i have let them know how much they meant to me?

I got to tell my dad. He knew.

As for everyone else, Im working on it.

This is the Love Initiative.

Love is Here!

2010-02-16T02:13:00.000-05:00

The Love Initiative Music & Love program is underway! As y'all know I will be performing all over Akron with little impromptu short concerts from today until the 25th - the night of the debut of the Love Initiative performance.

Everyday, the location of my performace(s) will be posted on my: Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Reverbnation, and official sites - as well as - 91.3 The Summit's Facebook & Twitter, The Downtown Akron Partnership's Facebook & Twitter, Buzzbin Magazines Faebook & Twitter, The Akron Civic's Facebook & Twitter, and many more!

Please feel free to repost these notices on your and your friends' sites! The whole goal here is to spread kindness, Love, and creativity throughout our communities.

So here goes. The Love Initiative will be bringing music and Love to:
Love Initiative Day 4 show:

16 - The Downtown Akron Trolley - Noon. Yes, I will be performing on the trolley! Come out and ride with me; it's free! It's a love trolley! Catch it by the Civic!

16 - The Summit County Sierra Club (at the Unitarian Universalist Church on W. Market St in Fairlawn) - 7:00pm.

Thanks!
Be the change.

Namaste.

Z

February Newsletter!

2010-02-01T18:20:00.000-05:00

John Muir said "I care to live only to entice people to look at Nature's loveliness." I whole-heartedly subscribe to this ideal. There is so much beauty all around us. From the mighty weed that survives the cement cities to the flocks of geese or swallows that form beautiful formations to the full majestic regalia of the Rocky Mountains.

I mention this because I am this month kicking off my show and movement called the "Love Initiative." (http://www.facebook.com/events.php?ref=sb#/event.php?eid=179843498294&index=1). It's a show and an ideal based upon Love, in the bigger meanings and concepts. It's about actually going out of your way to give kindness and Love to folks. Everyday on my facebook page, I will be posting small initiatives for us all to achieve to accomplish a broader bigger Love in our communities.

Also as part of the build up for the event of the Love Initiative at the civic Theater on Feb. 25th, I will be performing impromptu short acoustic/unplugged sets at various businesses in Akron. each set will be announced that morning on my facebook, twitter, myspace, as well as on the downtown Akron Partnership's and 91.3 The Summit's social media sites. If you'd like to help spread the word and post these events too, please feel free to do so. (I would love to know, so I can tell people where all to look for updates). There will also be several other happenings downtown and keep your eyes peeled for some Love Initiative art that will be popping up downtown as well!

The 31 days thus far of 2010 have stood on a much better path for me than most of 2009. I embarked on a southern tour called the "Looking for Warmth Tour" in which I found so much warmth in smiles, friendly fans and strangers, and even some sunshine! You can read all about my travels and the Looking for Warmth Tour at www.buffalozef.blogspot.com.

I have been nominated for the Best Singer/songwriter in the Cleveland Scene Music Awards. This is always a nice honor, and I've been nominated many last several years. Please vote online at http://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/Home. Some good friends of mine are also nominated. I would appreciate it if you supported them as well! Maurice Martin (of Winslow), Rachel Roberts, Kristine Jackson, Eclyptic, and Matt and Curtis (of Winslow) are up for Sax and Keyboards respectively.

Some other February news. I will be performing in Chicago on Valentine's Day at the (K)new Restaurant. It's a cool place, and I'm excited to play this event. I will be in town Saturday the 13th as well. If you'd be interested in hosting a house concert, please email me. It is easy to line up and promote! Plus, it's the best way to experience a Zach performance! The band and I will be loading up the Buffalo and heading off to Harrisburg, PA on the 19-20th for the Millennium Music Conference, which we have been asked to perform at. I'm excited to actually get to stop in Harrisburg! I've heard some nice things!

One last announcement. I have been asked to be a part of the "Dare to Dream Tour" which brings uplifting bands to schools, youth programs, campgrounds, etc for the purpose of performing and encouraging the students/etc to dream and work to accomplish those dreams. It's a wonderful message, and I am proud to participate. Visit http://www.daretodreamrocks.com/ for more info.

One thing to think about: if you, like me, do not have a Valentine this year, I think we should make it a special day to spread kindness and big "L" Love to strangers and friends alike. Maybe buy a stranger a rose. Or chocolates. Be creative.

Be Love.

Thanks! I really hope to see y'all this month! Your smiling face makes my day!

Namaste.
Zach

PS- I support these causes and think you should check them out:

The Lustgarten Foundation (http://www.lustgarten.org)

Veg for Life (www.vegforlife.org)

Sierra Club (www.sierraclub.org)

National Parks Conservation Association (www.npca.org)

National Parks (www.nps.gov)

No animals were harmed in the writing, creating, or sending of this email newsletter. Also, no animal products were used in the making of this email newsletter, or in any way sustaining the musician typing it all in. (V)

SHOWS:

2 • Happy Groundhog Day! I think we should all celebrate this day by doing something out of our ordinary routines!

5• Cabana's Island Restaurant • (8500 Station Street, Mentor, OH)• 7:00pm. Hello East Side! This should be a fun night!

6• House Concert • (Seven Hills, OH)• 3:00pm. I love house concerts! It is the very best way to see my perform! You can have me play in your house! It's easy! Email me for more info!

6• Brecksville Broadview Hts High School • (6380 Mill Rd, Brecksville, OH)• 7:00pm. I've been asked back to my Alma Mater to perform with my band to kick off their "Reeling in the Years" celebration. $15.

9• Barking Spider • (11310 Juniper, Cleveland, OH)• 10:00pm. This is a true gem and staple of the Ohio music scene, and it's always a wonderful night!

12• Tony's Speakeasy • (560 W. Tuscarawas Ave, Barberton, OH)• 8:00pm. It's been a while since I was last performing in Barberton!

13• TBA • (Chicago, IL)• 7:00pm. Stay tuned for venue info (or follow my facebook page).

14• Happy Valentine's Day! If you, like me, don't have a Valentine this year, spend this day, especially, spreading kindness to strangers!

14• (K)new Restaurant • (2556 W. Fullerton Ave - between Maplewood Ave and Rockwell St, Chicago, IL)• 5:30pm. Cool new place. They have a Valentine's special - $55 for a 4-course meal!

15• Happy President's Day!

15• Wolf Creek Winery • (2637 S Cleveland - Massillon Rd, Norton)• 7:00pm.A wonderful setting with great wines and good people!

18• Fat Fish Blue • (21 Prospect Ave E, Cleveland, OH)• 9:00pm. Another lovely set with the wonderful Kristine Jackson!

19• Millennium Music Conference • (Guillifty's, 1104 Carlisle Rd, Camp Hill, PA)• 9:30pm. The band and I have been invited to perform at this prestigious conference.

20• Millennium Music Conference • (Harrisburg, PA)• 8:00pm. The band and I have been invited to perform at this prestigious conference.

25• Akron Civic Theater • (182 S. Main St, Akron, OH)• 8:00pm. I have written a show based around my music called "The Love Initiative" which being debuted here in this gorgeous setting. It is a unique multi-media presentation, and unlike my typical performances! You won't want to miss it! $25. For this price, you get an open bar, a tour of the Civic, light appetizers, and a free unique CD only given to these attendees, ever!

26• Hermes Winery • (6413 Hayes Ave, Sandusky, OH)• 8:30pm. A very nice winery with great wines and a wonderful cozy atmosphere!

27• D & D Smith Winery • (401 W. Main St, Norwalk, OH)• 8:00pm. This is a brand new winery with great wines, especially their fruit wines!

28 • Enjoy the Full Moon!

March 5• Tangier's • (532 W. Market St, Akron)• 7:00pm. The band and I are co-headlining this lovely venue with my friends the Ryan Humbert Band! This is where the party's at!

Looking for Warmth 4

2010-01-25T22:39:00.000-05:00

The wind really picked up and pushed the rain down to the ground in torrents. It started that night. The trees whipped around the guest house all night. The racket wasn't exactly to the point of waking me up, but it floated in and about all of my dreamy subconsciousness.

Needlesstosay, my pea coat was back on that morning as I climbed into my van.

I started off at a brunch performance at Bud and Alleys before heading over to Central Square Records for a workshop featuring Nicole Witt and Shawn Mullins. The topic was songwriting. It was definitely interesting. I can't say anything was life-changing, but it affirmed a lot of the issues and fears that all writers and songwriters have, and it's always nice to heard, actually hear, that it happens to everybody.

I was standing close to the stage area, staring at a CD that was proclaimed "the best live r&b CD ever!" It was a concert from 1968 featuring Sam & Dave, Otis Redding, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas, Booker T, and more. It looked awesome. But I didnt bring any extra cash, so I just started at it for a few or twenty minutes...

We left there in order to get into the venue I was performing at. Evan was performing in the set before me, and I hadn't heard him yet. This venue was Shorty's. And it was standing room only before the first set went on at 3pm, and stayed that way until after my set. They had also cleaned up the sound since the night before.

On my set was Emily Lynch a young and talented singer/songwriter from Nashville and Effron White, a man who had been inducted into the Arkansas Hall of Fame! He had some amazing story songs. The audience was great - super attentive! And it was wonderful to see several of the other performers there as well. I made this set a little more introspective than the previous night's set, including Over the Road, which i dedicated to my dad, since his birthday was only a couple days away.

After my set i made my way to Stinky's Fish Camp. What a name for a place? I agree, there was some trepidation on my part, but it is a very nice place! All the staff were sweet and kind! They had me try Abita Turbo Dog beer, which was actually pretty tastey! And i am not a big beer fan at all. Dont be fooled though, their grits are made with chicken stock.

The set was cool. Carmel sounded great. Adlai Waxman had a jazzy side of Billy Joel thing going on, and Ryan Parker reminded me slightly of Ryan Adams/ Graham Parsons/ and some Tom Petty.

After a breif set of locals, John Oates and Reed Waddle came on. Reed won the NYC Songwriter's Circle contest last year. He has a very Brett Dennon/ John Mayer/Jack Johnson vibe. Good stuff though. John Oates sounded ok, though I think much of his voice was either not up to par, or simply gone. He did do a good version of She's Gone and Maneater.

So ended my last full night in Florida.

The morning woke with a brunch. A champaigne brunch. But the place, called Fire, did make me specially an Eggplant Napolean - all vegan. It was tastey and filling. Otherwise, I would have been relegated to some standard iceberg lettuce i imagine.

After the brunch we went out to see and hear the Indigo Girls, who were playing on a beach on the far end of town. The artists all got in early and got great seating (I was behind Shawn Mullins). The day was fun but really cold. The big upside was that the little cafe across the street had soy and made me a delicious and spot-hitting hot chocolate.

My friends Evan LaFloch and Carmel Mikol, who seem to be distracted.

Mr. Effron White.

The Indigo Girls.

Shawn Mullins singing with the Indigo Girls.

Why am I shivering when there are palm trees?!?!?

Beautiful dunes and inlets were all around the area.

This was the speed limit sign where I was staying. Yep, 17 MPH...

From there I rolled out to my show at Stinky's. It was crowded early. Emily Lynch was again on the set, and Ben Reno rounded it out. By the time we started, it was over-packed. And everyone was ready to be attentive. This set became much more upbeat with Upon Your Dreams, Manifest, Perfect, Ever After, etc. Manifest was the 2nd or 3rd song of 5, and it really struck a chord with a lady in the audience. She was right up front. And you could see the music rolling over her, enveloping her, and picking her up, moving her, etc. She began dancing. Somewhat tamely at first. But that didn't last too long.

Soon she was right up by me, almost hitting the microphone often. She ended up getting so into that she was disrupting much of the rest of the audience, and was eventually thrown out!

On other news, I got the whole crowd singing along to the NaNas in Perfect! What a wonderful harmony it was!

After me was most of Dread Clampitt. They had a full-time washboardist. Oh yes. They were wonderful at that barroom alt country/newgrass sort of stuff. I thoroughly enjoyed their set. Last of the night were 2 big hitter songwriters. the one, Chas Sanford, wrote "Missing You," the John Waite tune, and one of the most played radio songs of all time. He also rocked an acoustic 12-string, even to the point of blistering solos! He was quite impressive!

I sadly couldn't stay for all of their set, as I needed to get on the road to make it back to Ohio for a show. I said my goodbyes, and was soon driving out of Florida and into Alabama.

Where I crossed paths, most unfortunately, with a deer.

It did into survive the meeting. And my van's front grille and lights were trashed. However, the van still ran. So, I ducked taped the lights on and started down the backwoods 2 lane country road hoping the van would at least get me to a city.

It did more than that - it got me 14 hours down the line and home!

I can't say enough about my van! And 5 hour energy! That stuff works!

My Sunday

2010-01-25T02:20:00.000-05:00

A day in the life.

Yesterday, my alarm didn't go off. So I woke up 10 minutes before I was needing to leave to drive to Sugarcreek for my performance.

Wonderful.

Those mornings are the worst - those mad rush, anxiety-riddled dashes. But I got on the road in decent time, and ended up having just enough time to set up and even get a glass of blackberry wine (which was very tastey)!

Somehow, accidentally, when I changed my strings, a heavier set got put on. Which felt like I was playing the cables on the Golden Gate bridge.

And that was after the first 3 songs.

I had 3 hours to go for that show alone.

Argh.

But i finished up and drove the haul to Norwalk for a show @ D&D Smith Winery. The show was great and packed with many friendly faces. I even got some dancers going!

Only a 2 1/2 hour show this time, but my fingertips were slightly numb and sore. After packing up, I knew that with a long drive ahead of me, and no lunch or dinner or enough sleep the night before, it was gonna be rough. So i stopped at the gas station and picked up an extra strength 5 hour energy shot.

Yes!

It really works. I was awake the whole hour and fifteen to get home. And for unloading my stuff in. And I felt good enough to sit in my room and turn on the uber-junky casio keyboard i have had since I was 10 or so.

The ride home had me thinking of the Love Initiative show upcoming. And I had still wanted to write a few more songs for it (too many is better than not enough). And I came up with this silly idea of trying to write something on the keyboard, and then maybe I could perform it on a piano at the show!

Sweet! Right?

After about 5 minutes, I had stumbled onto something I really liked. And found a great verse and chorus.

And then I turned on the EZ cheeze factor of the pre-sets for beats. And this one was actually perfect! Infused with even more excitement, I pounded out the bridge and a few extra ideas. By 3am I had the song done.

I still can't play it that well. But it's getting there.

This morning... my alarm didnt go off again, and I nearly missed a meeting with Maurice Martin (of Winslow), the Zou, JD Eicher, Jeff Gargas (FTF Records)and Danny of Eclyptic.

Nearly. But not. I was a whole 2 minutes late.

And that could just have been my phone.

It has gone a bit awol lately in keeping time. I thought that cell phones were supposed to be on some kind of atomic time, but not my phone.

Nope.

Anyway, the meeting was great, and the socializing was a blast!

I got home in time to make some eggplant with roasted red pepper pasta sauce and lima beans before our rehearsal started.

And as for rehearsal. Let me just tell you that we've touched up and completely re-worked 2 songs with more to recieve the same fate. I'm very excited about the direction these songs have taken, and I think when we get this right, it's gonna be a fantastic show.

Just saying.

And now Im on the computer (what a surprise).

I just hope my alarm goes off in the morning. Im setting 3 this time.

(Im knocking on wood).

I'll end this on a random note: just watched Bon Iver's performance on Letterman while back doing "Skinny Love" and it still blows my mind.

Yes.

Manifest video

2010-01-25T01:31:00.002-05:00

Todd V put this together after my performance at Indie BOX in Cuyahoga Falls! It's an awesome place, and a great video!

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vGXfIIIsKc

Looking for Warmth 3

2010-01-22T14:37:00.000-05:00

The drive from Nashville to Chattanooga is a short and pretty drive. It's a drive of foothills and small mountains. And fireworks stores. Lots of those. It's a drive that during the fall would be spectacular with colours and shades. This time of year, the trees are bare and waiting the shawl of ice and cold to bear heavily upon each branch. The occassional hawk flew over the road in search of lunch.

Much of the trip I had Native american music blaring - still hanging over from the bison sculpture experience. It fit the scenery well. The soaring flutes and chanting taking me off to another time. A place where the spirit was allowed freedom and spirituality was ever-present and ingrained in us all. I almost half expected to see a ghost bison grazing in the distance off the highway, paying no heed to the cars dashing by, oblivious.

This was the first time I got to actually drive around and see much of Chattanooga. It's a wonderful town build in the valley of a few surrounding mountains, and the town itself has its share of pittsburgh-esque hills. They have a gorgeous waterfront, that on warmer days must be fabulous. I'd heard great things about their aquarium as well. And after passing their art museum, I wanted to have time to stop in. They had a Kennedy photos exhibit that looked pretty interesting. I'd have some time in the morning for sight-seeing, so my list was growing quickly.

I found a great little local grocery store akin to Whole Foods, with a wonderful 3 Bean vegan chili and an awesome discount on huge bags of raisins! Their Wifi allowed me some need computer time before performing.

That night I made my way to Lookout Mountain. I had high hopes of seeing Rock City (American Gods) or perhaps even Ruby Falls. The snag came about that there is little cultural to do in the area for under $15. And spending $20 to walk in the cold around Rock City didnt seem like a smart investment. Alas, some other time, some warmer time, I will check it out and get to the top, where one can see 7 states.

Supposedly.

That's been amazing me since I saw the sign claiming that fact. There's obviously Tennessee, Georgia, maybe Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina... but what else? No other states are that close. Supposedly Kentucky and Virginia fill in the void. This claim was first made by soliders in the Civil War, but has yet to be verified scientifically. Though, you'd think they'd get on that! Rock City info.

The morning came and a chill remained in the air. So after a few minutes debating my options, I pointed the car south and made my way for Atlanta. I could always spend extra time in that city.

I had enough time to wander around Little Five Points and catch a few minutes of a cool Funk/Soul band at Smiths before making my way to Java Monkey. This cafe is uber cool. It's a caffeehouse with a bar. And some food (including hummus and veggie sandwhiches). And fantastic teas.

Atlanta has a store much like Coventry's Big Fun! It seemed even bigger, but perhaps there was just more space. Junkman's Daughter. Fun place.

The next day I actually got to take off my coat outside for the first time the whole tour! It was upper 60s and sunny. AAAAAAAHHHHHH! Sunshine!

My house concert was in a nice area hosted by friends that I met in Wyoming. It was a fun night, as their guests were encouraged to bring their little kids with them. And they were dancing up a storm! One of the neighbours that came out was born and raised on the other end of Brecksville, where I live. Such a small world, indeed!

I was on my way to Florida by sunrise. It was a 5 1/2 hour trip, though I gained an hour as I moved into Central time (and Alabama).

The drive felt long and the scenery was little to excite. Plus, at least half the trip was on back roads and small little county highways.

But then suddenly the shrubs open up, and you cross over an inlet in the Bay. And it instantly felt like you were close to the ocean - it was in the achetechture and the air. The smell of fish and salt and water drifted in even through the van.

The town of Seaside (established in 1981) is very quaint and beautiful. It is a little piece of paradise. Little cottages on the beach and modest homes all around. The town center has several restaurants, a record shop, all sorts of little shops, and a nice little boardwalk by the ocean.

After checking in and getting my room assignments, which turned out to be in this lovely guest house, I made my way back to the BMI festival kick off party.

The party was held at a place called Bud & Alleys which is right on the ocean. It was obviously packed, but I made my way in. Where I nearly ran over John Oates (he is a short man). After mumbling an apology, I met up with some of the festival organizers. I've gotta say that everyone involved in this festival were amazing! They were kind and warm. I don't think i've ever felt more welcome then they made me feel. Here, I was introduced to Evan LaFloch (aka Smallfish Adventures). He's a fun personality who has been able to travel all around the world. We were immediately recruited to stand guard for the local TV station that was about to be conducting an on-air interview segment with Matthew Sweet. Shortly after, Matthew Sweet and Suzzanna Hoffs took the intimate stage. Before the night was over, I'd met a few more great folks like Carmel Mikol. She is from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and put the International in this International Songwriter's Festival. She had an mid evening set, and mine was late, so I went to hear her at Shorty's. Shorty's in a fun upstairs venue. It was constantly packed all weekend, and they frequently were having to keep a line running outside.

The influx of people and the semi-frantic expressions of the staff, amde you wonder how much they liked having the extra business and how much was an unbearable pain.

Her set was fun, and then we all moved down the road to the Bluz Bar for my set. Augustine was wrapping up their set when we got there. Nice folks now based in Brooklyn. The Bluz Bar in a word - rocked! It was a nice-sized club - the kind of place where the band could have a good time. They had a big roomy merch table with a smiling happy volunteer to run it. They also had a ton of star-like decorations hanging from the ceiling, and best of all - 2 christmas trees still up! One set up under the Jager light (almost like a kind of demented Angel). All the sets were rounds. Meaning all acts were on stage, and they'd trade off back and forth until the alloted time was up. Usually we'd get 4-5 songs each in. This first night I had the funny Blake Guthrie and the roots-rocky Sonia Leigh (who's on Zac Brown's label). My songs were very weel-recieved and I thoroughly enjoyed Sonia and Blake, both Atlanta folks.

After our set was a set by 18 South with Sam Bush and Jessi Alexander. Wow. It was a great set, complete with a great bluegrass version of Bob Marley's One Love.

Thus ended the first Floridian night.

Just Found These!

2010-01-22T13:07:00.000-05:00

I just found these pics from the Hullabaloo!

Enjoy!

My friend Courtney Cable kicked off the evening in a true hullabaloo fashion!

Then David Ullman took the stage. With this awesome Santa/Snowman hat. So festive!

Some of the crowd, the dancers/dancefloor! Whooo!

Cameron! The Hiphopopotomus himself!

Untethering myself. Getting ready to take you higher!

Looking for Warmth 2

2010-01-22T12:53:00.000-05:00

Pics!

The wonderful Lisa and Scott Horkin, hosts of the Garagemahal House Concert Series in Columbus. Taken in the Clintonville Resource Center.

My friend Ron Gedrich who I went to high school with. He was the one who officially started the "Zach Fan Club" back in 1999. It was great to catch up. We talked a lot of about food (surprisingly!) as he is going to be going vegetarian (possibly vegan) for health purposes. I wish him all the best!

This is the view from the church lot across the street from the Bison statues in Nashville. Not a grea pic, but it gives you some perspective of the scope.

There was something transcendant about this scene. With the houses and telephone poles in the background. As absurd as it is, it feels somewhat plausible. Mighty tatanka!

Here is where you see the Beautification Award. Love it!

The house concert i played in Atlanta had a few candles out. This was in a bed of wine corks, which was a very cool idea.

Hello Sunshine! Looking for Wamrth Tour 2010!

2010-01-13T17:44:00.000-05:00

Lack of sunshine does many things to us. It inhibits our focus and drive. It promotes depression. And kills sunblock sales.

So, being from Ohio, where the sun is a stranger much of the year, I've decided to go in search of warmth. Warmth from the heart and warmth from the sun.

So far I've found more of the former than the latter.

I left NE Ohio in between blizzards. We'd just been dashed with a good 4-5 inches overnight. Flurries followed me down to Columbus, dancing and taunting.

With Whole World Bakery and Restaurant still not open due to fire damage, I pulled straight up to the venue. The Clintonville Resource Center. The show itself was an extension of the Garagemahal House Concert Series run by the talented glass artists Lisa & Scott Horkin. Things started off on a good foot.

I got an email from a reporter with the Clintonville paper saying he'd seen a tweet of mine and wanted to write about the show. I was flabergasted for a bit that anything good has come from Twitter! Especially my twitter, which i think isn't even seen - i think it's really more of a fragment of my imagination than a social network... but he did see it, and he did write up a little article!

http://www.snponline.com/articles/2010/01/05/the_booster/arts/boallinand_20100105_0106pm_8.txt

We ended up even gathering up some canned food for the center, which services the community!

The night was nice! Christmas lights around the stage, an intimate audience, and hummus! A friend of mine, and the starter of my fan club back in high school, Ron, came out to the show! Afterwords, we went to find some vegan food for dinner, as he was looking at vegetarian and possibly vegan for the health reasons. The last place we could find closed as we approached. So we went back and made food at his and his girlfriends' place. It was a wonderful meal of veggie burgers, mushrooms, asparagus, some homefries and some great wine. Dancing Bull, i think it was called - a real nice red.

Despite hearing about a book shop in German Village with 30 rooms of books, I decided to head down to Louisville. There was still some talk of snow, and I figured it best to be on the road. Which turned out to be a good decision. There was a massive wreck on 71 which allowed me to go 10 miles in over an hour.

I pulled in to Louisville with enough spare time to walk a little of Bardstown road for excersize before needing to head to 3rd Ave cafe for dinner and set up. Dinner was of course the vegan reuban w/ a side of their spicy vegetable soup. Delicious! John, my friend and Louisville networking machine, came out and joined me for dinner. The show was nice as the crowd came in, and Ricky, the manager, loved it! He bought a CD and immediately put it in the CD player for the restaurant! We left the venue in search of some other live music. We made our way to the Zanzibar somewhere near Germantown. I love that part of town, because all the places are random houses in and amongst other houses! We were jammed in as more and more folks kept arriving. The music was okay and poorly mixed, so we left and went to the Nachtbar. A very cool place, but no music that night. Not that that stopped anyone. It was more crowded than Zanzibar! We stood by the jukebox as they played halfway tastey music until it got too crowded to stay comfortably. Off then to some other bar. Again no music, but much less crowded. We met up with some other friends there.

The morning came with excitement, as I was going to be trying Ramsis Sunday Breakfast Brunch buffet! And you KNOW how excited I was about this! They had: tofu scramble, black bean sausage, vegan potsticklers, potatoes, vegan buscuits, vegan pancakes, vegan french toast w/ plantaines on top, and some vegan chocolate mousse w/ bananas (which was so sweet i could only take a bite or two)!! Much great tastiness indeed!

It was the perfect way to start my 3rd day of the Looking for Warmth tour! I had not found any sunshine yet, but many warm hearts!

Nashville was a straight easy drive. My friend, and Nashville #1 fan, hosted a house concert at her new house. I pulled in on a sunny day and loaded in in time to set up and clean up. She had made a very yummy cherry mango cake for everyone, which i had one or two (or five!) little pieces of. Her dog, Franco, who is a friend of mine of MySpace was slightly terrified of me in person. We bonded slightly right before i left.

Anyway, the show was great! Brandon McGuiness (www.myspace.com/brandonmcguiness) opened the show. His voice was cool and had good music! and he's a cool guy! He even came out to my show the next night! As with all house concerts, it was a wonderful conversation, with many new inside jokes like "Have you seen my monkey?" and "You're welcome!."

I spent the next morning wandering around Nashville, working online, and fliering/drumming up fans for the show that night. Cafe Coco had a tasteful Vegan 3 Bean Chili sipped as I worked online.

Word came round that Erik of the Speedbumps (www.myspace.com/speedbumps) was in town recording his new record. My friend who hosted the house concert, Angie, was interviewing him for her column with the Nashville Examiner. So I went along meetig up with him at the studio. Erik's been a friend for a long time, and it was a great pleasure to see him so excited about his music! He said he's never felt this excited about anything he's ever done! He played us a few songs, which sounded great and mature and full.

During all this, the venue called and said they had to cancel the show that night! ?!*# WHAT?! There was a random employee paty that somehow slipped through the booking cracks. So i was forced to find another venue. Tough to do in any town, but especially in Nashville where everwhere has stages and music and they all book a decent time in advance. Plus, Rachel Pearl (www.mypsace.com/rachelpearl) was on the bill. After some scrambling, the original venue called back and said they'd been able to get things back on at the venue. A sigh of relief indeed! However, I found out that Rachel had already told her fans not to come out! All this being said, we had a great show, with a very enthusiastic and fun crowd! And the Bongo After Hours Theater is a really cool venue! There will be some video posted sooner than later from this set. Plus, I had to throw in my nod to Jon Nicholson (Somebody tell me love is alright, love is alright here - http://www.muzikmafia.com/artists_jonnicholson.php) into Ever After. It was much appreciated!

After the set we made our way to a few venues and ultimately ending up at Batter'd n Fried, a fish place, with delicious veggie rolls! It was a wonderful night with a great conversation and a very personable waiter with a great singer/songwriter joke: "how do you get a singer/songwriter off your porch? You pay for the pizza." It's funny... cuz it's true.

My last few moments in Nashville i was told I needed to see Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog. So i did. Which was funny, actually. This is when Franco the dog finally bonded with me. He'd been hiding in terror behind the couch, and finally about 15 min into the movie, came around and crawled up on the couch too! It was a moment indeed!

From there, I was told of a sightseeing opportunity in East Nashville. Right on the edge of the Ghetto. On Dickerson Pike. I wound off the highway. Waited for the traffic light, and then wound back under the highway now on Dickerson. Thinking "how far will it be... is this the right place ... did I head the right direction..." when suddenly out of the very middle of the road... a great bison appeared! It was the statue. And there were more! At least 2 more adults and one calf. In the middle of the road. In the edge of the ghetto. In Nashville? It was part of the Dickerson RD beautification project. But bison? Bison roamed the entirity of the American continant back in the day, and I, guess this was some sort of migration route for them.

I was also told not to stop for any ladies needing directions or anything, as they are hookers.

And there were 2 outside the family dollar.

Time was on my side as I could stop and take some pictures of the bison. Despite the hilarity of the situation, it was oddly magestic. these bison captured motionless against the backdrop of telephone lines and boarded up houses and businesses. The hazed Nashville skyline against their backs from one direction. It somehow captures the mystic qualities of real bison in the western wilds. And though out of place, they really somehow belonged in a weird unwordly way. They were all around. This was all theirs once. And I could see the grasses blowing in the chilled breeze with the vague hint of mountains in the background. I could hear them snort and dig. I could see them look at me. And smirk.

We were always here. We always will be.

What about all this? What about you?

Favorite Albums?

2009-12-27T16:34:00.002-05:00

As the band was gearing up to perform last night for the Cleveland Independent Christmas Bash, we got to chatting about our favourite albums. It was an interesting and fun conversation with a few surprises all over!

So Im posing the question to you. What are your favourite 8 albums? (And itd be great if you could say a little something as to why you've chosen what you've chosen).

Im not sure I can put mine in a numerical order, but I can list 8 for sure.

1. The Cardigans - Long Gone Before Daylight
This record leads off with "Communication" my theme song, and i think one of the very best songs ever written. There is a lot of emotion and beauty in this record. I listen to it often, and have it on me at most times.

2. Trevor Hall- Trevor Hall
Trevor is one of the best lyricists today. His spiritual lyrics and insights are enlightened and deeply moving. This record takes the best of what he does and is well-produced as well. One of the best records of the decade.

3. U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind
This record really turned a new passion on in me. The first time I heard "Beautiful Day" i was hooked. It was different and big. Moving from there to "Walk On." The whole record has a beautiful intimacy to it even with the huge anthems on it. This is the record that made me want to be Bono :)

4. Jewel - Pieces of You
This record is the reason I am singing today. I still have yet to hear a record with such honesty and emotion in every song. She flat out cries on "Painters." I found this record in high school when it first came out and i listened to it for about 3 years straight. I wanted to do that - convey that kind of emotion thru music. And Im still trying.

5. Tom Petty - Into the Great Wide Open
Tom Petty was a huge influence on me as a kid and as a budding singer/songwriter. Of course Mary Jane's Last Dance and Dont Come Around Here No More made me a life-long fan, but this record really speaks to me. Im not really sure why. It has the hits "Into the Great Wide Open" and "Learning to Fly" but the rest of the record is really well written and classic Tom Petty.

6. Michael Jackson - Thriller
I grew up on this record.

7. Speaking in Tongues - Talking Heads
David Byrne's brilliant. "Naive Melody" is one of my favourite songs of all time. His quirky style and lyrics have always been a huge inspiration to me.

8. Prince - Purple Rain
The best and possibly only Prince record good all the way through. Every song is great. And "Purple Rain" is the best song written. Ever. I also grew up on this record. And will be trying to write a Purple Rain my whole life im sure.

9. John Lennon - Walls and Bridges
This isnt the activist John or the lover John. Its a bit more introspective for Lennon and though it was his only solo No. 1 record, it isnt filled with a lot of hits. But songs like "Old Dirt Road," "Steel and Glass," "Nobody Loves You (When You're Down and Out)" are some of my favourite Lennon tunes. I have always been a Lennon fan, even before I realized it.

10. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
This record really moved me. It got me thinking in a new way about music, recording, and conveying emotion. "Skinny Love" would be on my top songs of all time list as well. I love records that can transport you to another time and place, and this is a quintessential example of that.

My best of 2009 (again in no particular order):
1. Trevor Hall - Trevor Hall
2. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
3. David Byrne/ Brian Eno - All That Happens Happens Today
4. Fun - Aim and Ignite
5. Kings of Leon - Only by the Night
6. Bell XI - Blue Lights on the Runway
7. Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros - Up From Below
8. What I Meant to Say - Zach (a little biased here)

The Love Initiative

2009-12-05T13:12:00.002-05:00

The Love Initiative.

Feb 25, 2010.
Akron Civic Theater.
$25. Tickets on sale now, but going quickly. www.zachmusic.net for tickets. THEY WILL BE SOLD OUT BY CHRISTMAS so get yours now!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef9dlEDf-u4

... That Being Said ...

2009-12-04T15:15:00.002-05:00

Liner Notes for the 10th Zach release - the EP entitled "... That Being Said ..."

1. This Is What It Is (To Be Loved)
2. Bobby
3. Violet
4. Ever After (Live in Cuyahoaga Falls)
5. Life Reprise (Live in Cuyahaga Falls)

All songs written by Zach Friedhof 2008/2009 ZEF Music/ BMI.
(c) (P) 2009 Buffalo ZEF Records.

Zach is:
Zach - vocals, electric guitars
Charlie Trenta - electric guitars, backing vocals
Neil Keating - bass, backing vocals on Ever After
Michael Marotta - keys, organ, noises
Brandon Austin - drums on Violet

with guests:
Dominic Tancredi - drums on songs 1,2,4,5
Nolan and the Plunketts - horns on 4,5
Cameron Jones - beat box on Life Reprise

Songs 1-2 recorded at Lava Room Studios in Cleveland. Engineered by Thom Pope. Mixed by Thom Pope and Mike Brown. Mastered by Mike Brown/ Michael Marotta.

Violet was recorded at UHF Studios in Cleveland. Mixed by Chris Maneri. Mastered by Michael Marotta.

Songs 4-5 recorded live at Cuyahoga Falls High School Auditorium April 25, 2009. Recorded by Chris Pepe w/ Clean Gold Audio. Front of house engineer was Charles Korecki. Mixed by Chris Pepe and Zach. Mastered by Michael Marotta.

Notes:
This Is what It Is:
I wrote this song during a summer whilst in love. What more can one hope for than to be someone else's highlight? Anyway, being love is all about giving love.

Bobby:
I became deeply inspired by Bobby Kennedy's life, words, and dreams. He was a brilliant man really making a difference on so many levels. I think this world would be a at least a slightly better place if he were still with us. I also got very interested in the Obama campaign and noticed a lot of similarities between the two men, their thoughts, and campaigns. This song was actually written the morning Obama won the election, after celebrating for several hours in Akron with a diverse and all equally emotional crowd of folks.

Violet:
I nearly died writing this song. One of my oldest and dearest friends, Cory Farinacci had a daughter in May. She was the first of my really close circle of friends to have a child, and I wrote this song for her and her daughter, Violet. I'd like to mention that I also dedicated this song to my keyboardist, Michael, who had a son, Oliver, last Chirstmas. I was really nervous to write a song like this - the chances of it being cheesey were so high! But during my summer Western tour, while driving through the Nevada dessert, this song came to me. I sang and hummed as I drove, realizing that I'd need to pull over to finish this song. I waited patiently for the next rest stop, which wasn't coming. In a panic, after nearly an hour, i finally reached an exit. Pulling off, i got out my guitar and went to work flushing out the rest of the song. It was 107 degrees in the shade, and I'm sure warmer inside my stopped van. I knew I didn't have much time. Luckily inspiration hit and the muses guided me through it quickly. Dripping with sweat and nearly passing out, i finished the song. Im very happy with how this song came out. The first rehearsal with the band for this song produced nearly the end result. Charlie found that beautiful soaring line, Brandon found the power of the beat and the samba-like ending, and the rest is a sort of history.

4. Ever After (Live in Cuyahoga Falls):
All I can say about this is "Horns." Thanks Nolan and the Plunketts!

5. Life Reprise (Live in Cuyahoag Falls):
Our good friend Cameron comes up from time to time and dazzles with his beat boxing. This section of the song was a free-for-all party. A good thrid of the audience had danced up onstage and were packed around us, and the mood was soaring. This is, for me, a little taste of the atmosphere and unpredictability of our live shows.

Thanks:
Tha band. First and foremost. Charlie, Neil, Michael, Brandon, and Dom. Y'all put some time in over the last few months making this happen. UHF studios for really working with us to record Violet. Thom Pope for doing a fine job with us on This is What It Is and Bobby (plus he orchestrated the strings for that tune). Chris Pepe for recording the live material and the time spent mixing them down. All the fans. You make it possible. Jesus, Buddha, Moses, and Gorrunga. Aum.

Let's all go where there's no more you and me. No they and we. Only unity.

Let's manifest ourselves in exquisitness every chance we get.

We always have a chance.

Namaste.

A New EP and More!!

2009-12-04T13:38:00.001-05:00

We have released for the Holidays a few new exciting items!!

1. A brand new EP! Called ... That Being Said ... it features 5 unreleased songs both studio and live, and a must-have for your ultimate Zach collection! It's only $5! Track list is This is What it Is (To Be Loved), Bobby, Violet, Ever After (live), Life Reprise (Live).

2. A beautiful green hoodie! It's soft and comfortable and has a gorgeous deisgn on it. I'm not good brag, but it's pretty awesome indeed! And it's only $15!

3. Tickets for the Civic Theater. These are going fast, but still on sale! $25. This get you:
- A mind-blowing, soul-expanding show
- Open bar all night
- Tour of the Civic
- A limited edition CD only available to the folks that buy these tickets
- Light appetizers
- And possibly a dish home made by me for all the folks that buy tickets!
That's quite a deal! And they will be sold out by Christmas, so you need to get them now!! They're at all my shows, and online at: http://www.akroncivic.com/eventlist/event_detail.php?id=723

By the way, all these items, along with my 2 CDs (What I Meant to Say and Lost + Found) make wonderful holiday gifts!!

See you soon!
Namaste.
Zach

December News and Shows

2009-12-01T02:17:00.000-05:00

Printable Version of Tour Dates
www.zachmusic.net/newsletter.hmtl

*** The Zach Pack Newsletter ***
December 2009 Edition

Howdy!

Another year is drawing to a close. As we come to this season of
reflecting upon the year, ourselves, and giving thanks for the many
blessings around us, I'd like to share some thanks as I realize so many
people I take for granted daily.

Firstly, a friend of mine, Walt English died tragically this past week. He
was a friend, a good man, and a good, different kind of booking agent. I
am glad I knew Walt, and will miss him. All of my deepest thoughts and
sympathies go to his wonderful wife, Becky, and their children.

I have a wonderful band - good friends first, and then great musicians.
They've been there for me when no one else has been. I appreciate then
greatly. There is also a wonderful community of artists in the Akron area
that make up a lot of my friends. It's a privilege to write and perform
with, and have them for friends. They enrich all of our lives!

Lastly, and not least - all the fans who have become my friends. You come
to many of my shows and support me every chance to you can. All that is
never overlooked, and always appreciated from the deepest parts of my
heart and soul.

If I ever take you for granted, forgive me, for you are definitely
appreciated and loved.

See you soon.

I. NEWS FLASH:
* BIG SHOW ANNOUNCEMENT: I will be performing a show called the "Love
Initiative" @ the Akron Civic Theater on Feb. 25th @ 8pm. Tickets are
onsale NOW and are $25. For this price you get: an amazing one-of-a-kind
special show, an open bar, a tour of the Civic, a FREE limited edition CD
that only the 110 people in attendance will get, some light appetizers,
and possibly food made by me for each person! What a deal! I know! There
is a catch: these tickets are going fast and will be sold out by
Christmas, so please order them NOW. Buy tickets at any of my shows, at
the Civic, or online @
http://www.akroncivic.com/eventlist/event_detail.php?id=723.

* The Official Zach Holiday Bash is @ Northside on Dec 3rd @ 8pm! It's
free, and there will be special guests David Ullman and Courtney Cable! Oh
yeah. Plus, FREE vegan pizza, desserts, and other appetizers!

* The Huffington Post just reviewed our record. And not only that, it was
written by the legendary Phil Ramone.

* You can buy the new CD, What I Meant to Say, online at
www.zachmusic.net/order.thml . Or you can get it at Itunes or off of
CDBaby.com/zach4. Or you can come out to a show, pick it up as well as one
of the 3 limited edition T-shirts, DVDs, buttons, and more!

* You really should check out www.buffalozef.blogspot.com and sign up to
follow the daily band blog! Yes, daily! The whole band will be adding
their thoughts and insights in daily doses! (Also, look for a monthly
podcast to start soon!). Plus, this is the exclusive place for my blogs,
pics, and thoughts while on the West Coast tours.

* Let's talk briefly about House Concerts. Yes, you can have me (and/or my
band) perform in your house for your friends! Sound like fun? It is! It is
an intimate experience that you will not soon forget! And it's really
pretty easy, too! We can even do some full band house concerts for anyone
interested in that experience! Email me at zach@zachmusic.net, and we can
make it happen! There are even some availabilities this holiday season!
What better Christmas (or other holiday/ birthday) gift!!! You can also
check out this video for a little helping hand and/or some ideas!
As always, all Breaking News is at www.zachmusic.net, where you can also
download past CDs, various songs not available anywhere else, ringtones,
pictures, videos, and much more!

THIS WEEK:
2 • Enjoy the Full Moon!

3 • Zach Holiday Hullabaloo @ Northside • (111 N. Main St, Akron) •
7:00pm. This is a holiday celebration and thanks to you for being
wonderful fans and people! My friends David Ullman, Courtney Cable, and
more will also be performing. And the band will be headlining. There will
be some vegan appetizers and desserts, and some prizes too! And it's FREE!

4 • New Orleans Showboat • (10310 Cascade Xing, Brooklyn, OH) • 9:00pm.
The Showboat is a unique and ambitious new restaurant and performance
space. I love new places!

5 • Doogan's • (55 Barrington Town Sq, Aurora, OH) • 7:00pm. A fun time
indeed!

7 • Poppin the Blues @ Great Lakes Brewery • (2516 Market Ave, Cleveland,
OH) • 6:00pm. You know this is going to be a great show! Kristine Jackson
and I will be performing, and I always have a blast when we're on a bill
together!

II. SCHEDULE:
December
2 • Enjoy the Full Moon!

3 • Zach Holiday Hullabaloo @ Northside • (111 N. Main St, Akron) •
7:00pm. This is a holiday celebration and thanks to you for being
wonderful fans and people! My friends David Ullman, Courtney Cable, and
more will also be performing. And the band will be headlining. There will
be some vegan appetizers and desserts, and some prizes too! And it's FREE!

4 • New Orleans Showboat • (10310 Cascade Xing, Brooklyn, OH) • 9:00pm.
The Showboat is a unique and ambitious new restaurant and performance
space. I love new places!

5 • Doogan's • (55 Barrington Town Sq, Aurora, OH) • 7:00pm. A fun time
indeed!

7 • Poppin the Blues @ Great Lakes Brewery • (2516 Market Ave, Cleveland,
OH) • 6:00pm. You know this is going to be a great show! Kristine Jackson
and I will be performing, and I always have a blast when we're on a bill
together!

9 • Fat Fish Blue • (21 Prospect Ave E, Cleveland, OH) • 8:00pm. Another
show with Kristine Jackson!

10 • Zach Unplugged at Uncorked Wine Bar • (High St near corner of Market
St, Akron, OH) • 6:30pm. I can't tell you how fun this show will be! Great
wines, and a completely unplugged set. These have become my favorite shows
EVER! And you never know what'll happen!

11 • Happy Hanukkah!

11 • Barley House • (222 S. Main St, Akron, OH) • 9:00pm. Full band
soul-pop extravaganza! There's no reason to not be here at the party with
us!

12 • Thorncreek Winery • (155 Treet Ave, Aurora, OH) • 7:00pm. Another
beautiful winery in a lovely setting! A wonderful setting for the holiday
season!

15 • City|Art Indie BOX • (Front St, Cuyahoga Falls, OH) • 7:00pm. I LOVE
this new black-box theater-style venue! It is hip and exciting and a
wonderful place to catch any sort of show, especially a songwriter's
night! w/ Kristine Jackson!

16 • Hospice Care Center • (3358 Ridgewood Rd, Akron, OH) • 1:45pm.
Hospice is a beautiful organization. My father's stay there really helped
me to cope and accept his passing. So I like giving back to them.

17 • Zach Unplugged at Uncorked Wine Bar • (High St near corner of Market
St, Akron, OH) • 6:30pm. I can't tell you how fun this show will be! Great
wines, and a completely unplugged set. These have become my favorite shows
EVER! And you never know what'll happen!

19 • Hermes Winery • (6413 Hayes Ave, Sandusky, OH) • 8:30pm. A beautiful
setting for the holidays! And a great place to come out and celebrate with
me!

20 • Power of Oneness Spiritual Center • (Chicago, IL) • 3:00pm. My music
is part of the service today.

20 • Uncommon Ground • (3800 N. Clark St, Chicago, IL) • 7:00pm. w/
Heather Styka and Allison Weiss. Hello Chicago!! I miss you! Come out and
rock with me!

21 • Welcome to the Winter Solstice!

21 • Wolf Creek Winery • (2637 S Cleveland - Massillon Rd, Norton) •
7:00pm.A wonderful setting with great wines and good people!

23 • Akron Zoo • (500 Edgewood Ave, Akron, OH) • 5:00pm. This is a
benefit for the Zoo. Maybe we can get a bear to dance along to Life with
me...

23 • Christmas Rock Show -12 Bands of Christmas • (Jammin Java Place,
7007 W. Pleasant Valley Rd, Parma, OH) • 9:00pm. A holiday rock festival
at this cozy cafe. Looking forward to rocking you again, Parma!

25 • Merry Christmas! On Christmas morning may we wake to find that
Christmas feeling and peace of mind!

26 • Happy Boxing Day! Don't hit too hard, though!

26 • Merry Kwanza!

26 • The Independent's Christmas Crash Soiree • (Roc Bar, The Flats,
Cleveland, OH) • 7:00pm. The Cleveland Independent is a cool new
Entertainment Magazine in town!

27 • Cleveland Browns Stadium • (Cleveland, OH) • 10:30am. Come early to
the game for the pre-show -my full band! It may well be the highlight of
the game!

31 • First Night Akron • (John S. Knight Center, Goodyear Ballroom, 77 E.
Mill St, Akron, OH) • 5:00pm. Full band! Ring in the New Year with this
wonderful celebration of music and arts!

31 • Happy New Year's Eve!

31 • Enjoy the Blue Moon!

1 • Happy New Year's!

III. What's ahead?
January Tour: 1/8 -Columbus, 1/9 Louisville, 1/10 - Nashville, 1/11 -
Nashville, 1/12 - Chatanooga, 1/13 - Atlanta, 1/14 - Atlanta, 1/15 -
Tallahassee, 1/16 - Seaside, Fla.

Feb 25 - Akron Civic Theater! Get your tickets now!! These tickets are
going fast and will be sold out by Christmas, so please order them NOW.
Buy tickets at any of my shows, at the Civic, or online @
http://www.akroncivic.com/eventlist/event_detail.php?id=723.

As always, the dates and times are subject to change, and new dates are
constantly added, so check the website often, and always call the club to
make sure of the details! www.zachmusic.net

IV. Recent NEWS
* Akron Life and Leisure Magazine and their 45,000 readers named us as the
Best Local Band (behind the Black Keys)! We are thrilled with this kind
recognition!

For more recent news, visit the "News" page of www.zachmusic.net!
**************************************

I hope to see you all in December! And keep checking out the website,
www.zachmusic.net for updates, breaking news, and info! Tell all your
friends about it! Please pass on the love of my music to all your friends
and family, and bring out someone to the next show of mine you come to
that will get as much out of my music as you do!!

"Be the change you wish to see in the world."

The best thing to be is inspiration.
We should manifest ourselves in exquisitness.

Thanks!

Namaste,
Zach
www.zachmusic.net
www.facebook.com/zachmusic
www.myspace.com/zach
www.twitter.com/zachmusic
www.buffalozef.net

Paper Dreams

2009-11-18T14:21:00.003-05:00

As I've been doing loads of computer and business work today, I put on Lost + Found since I haven't actually listened to it in a long time.

And Paper Dreams came on.

It always hits me. Listening, performing, both.

Charlie's piano on that song makes me want to be a better person.

I think that's my favorite thing I've ever recorded.

What do you think? What if I did a whole record of that kind fo thing?

Every time i listen to that song i fall in love.

What better reaction could you hope for in a piece of art?

New Online Store!

2009-11-18T01:58:00.001-05:00

You can purchase several of my records, tickets, videos, and more here:

Great Blog

2009-11-04T10:01:00.003-05:00

My friend and head chef of Blue Canyon in Twisnburg, Ohio has a wonderful blog. He touches on the theme I just wrote about in my last post. And i think it's something that a lot of us feel.

Please check it out:
http://www.bluecanyonrestaurant.com/chefbrandt/blog/

And then check out Blue Canyon! It is very tasty, AND he will make Vegan dishes if you ask!

Namaste.
Zach

Ohio?

2009-11-04T08:42:00.002-05:00

I have a question.

Where is your passion?

Where?

Passion - (noun) 1. any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as love or hate.
2. a strong or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm, or desire for anything: a passion for music. 3. the object of such a fondness or desire: Accuracy became a passion with him. 4. an outburst of strong emotion or feeling: He suddenly broke into a passion of bitter words.

Where is it?

I can somewhat understand some of the feelings of smallness in national politics. But i cannot in local politics. You can actually physically meet every candidate on the ballot for your local elections and school boards. And local issues actually immediately effect us. So why the indifference?

Let's make a few new laws:
1. You cannot critisize something without offering an serious alternative solution.
2. Treat all people and animals and things with dignity and respect.
3. "Listening" and "debate' will be taught in every grade in every school.
4. Empathy must be viewed as vitally important.

Let us wake up to reality. Really open our eyes to this illusion we have pulled over us - this maya of falsity and deception.

There is no you and me, no they and we - just unity.

Just unity.

Vote No on Issue 2!

2009-11-02T10:44:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow's the day! Vote NO on Issue 2!

Find your polling place here: http://www.vote411.org/pollfinder.php

And if you have any issues, call for election protection: http://www.866ourvote.org/

Six Reasons to Vote NO on Ohio's Issue 2

1. Issue 2 seeks to stop animal welfare improvements. Agribusiness interests are trying to change the Ohio constitution so they can continue cruel and inhumane practices on factory farms—confining animals in tiny cages and crates so small they can’t even turn around. Issue 2 proposes an industry-dominated power grab to protect the status quo: hens crammed into cages so tightly they can’t even spread their wings, breeding pigs confined in tiny barren crates and calves chained by their necks inside veal crates. We wouldn’t force our pets to live in filthy, cramped cages for their whole lives, and we shouldn’t force farm animals to either. All animals, including those raised for food, deserve humane treatment.

2. Issue 2 threatens our food safety and health. Factory farmers have put our health at risk by recklessly telling us that it’s okay to keep animals in overcrowded, inhumane conditions. Cramming tens of thousands of animals into tiny cages fosters the spread of animal diseases that may affect people. For example, the American Journal of Epidemiology reported that people who eat eggs from hens confined in cages are 250% more likely to contract Salmonella. The extreme confinement of animals is also a major factor in the emergence of diseases like H5N1 and H1N1 (bird and swine flu). Passing Issue 2 would be bad for animals—and bad for us.

3. Issue 2 favors large factory farms, not Ohio’s family famers. Family farmers and groups like the Ohio Farmers Union and Family Farm Defenders oppose Issue 2 because they know that food quality and safety are enhanced by better farming practices. Increasingly, they are supplying mainstream retailers like Safeway and Burger King. Factory farms cut corners and drive family farmers out of business when they put profits ahead of animal welfare and our health.

4. Issue 2 threatens Ohio’s environment. The American Public Health Association has called for a moratorium on new factory farms because of the devastating effects these operations can have on surrounding communities. Factory farms often spread waste on the ground untreated—contaminating our waterways, lakes, groundwater, soil, and air. By helping keep the worst animal confinement practices in Ohio, Issue 2 threatens our precious natural resources—that’s why the Ohio Environmental Stewardship Alliance and Ohio Sierra Club oppose it.

5. Issue 2 sets Ohio backwards, while other states are moving forward. Seven states—Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Maine, Michigan, and Oregon—have banned the use of inhumane confinement devices for farm animals. In the European Union, veal crates are illegal, as are barren battery cages (effective 2012) and gestation crates (effective 2013). Rather than make advances to help farmers, consumers, and animal welfare, Issue 2 will ensure that Ohio lags behind other states and public opinion when it comes to the treatment of farm animals and movement away from the worst factory farming practices.

6. Issue 2 is opposed by leading organizations and experts. Issue 2 is opposed by The Humane Society of the United States, the Capital Area Humane Society, the Cleveland Animal Protective League, the Toledo Area Humane Society, the Ohio Farmers Union, the Ohio Environmental Stewardship Alliance, Progress Ohio, League of Women Voters of Ohio, Center for Food Safety, the Ohio Sierra Club, Ohio Ecological Food and Farming Association, the Columbus Dispatch, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and the Dayton Daily News.

Don't let Big Ag get away with this power grab: Vote NO on Issue 2.

Please visit OhioAct.org for more information.

(From the Humane Society's Website: http://www.hsus.org/legislation_laws/ballot_initiatives/ohio_issue_2.html)

Make school lunches healthier!

2009-10-22T14:17:00.002-04:00

As you know this is an issue near to me. Studies are showing that this generation will be the first will a shorter life expectancy than their parents. A lot of that is due to our terrible diets. And we need to have the schools offering more healthy and reasoonable options and meals for our children.

or, Create a Petition

Huffington Post

2009-10-21T12:54:00.002-04:00

The highly esteemed Huffington Post did a mention/review of What I Meant to Say!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/phil-ramone-and-danielle-evin/dog-ears-music-volume-nin_b_315263.html

Thanks Phil!

Ribs and more

2009-10-21T11:48:00.003-04:00

Time flies when you're hopped up on painkillers.

This has been a wonderful week of shows and friends. And a misreable week of aging. Let's start with the good though.

I have fallen deeply in love with Uncorked (22 N. High St, Akron). I was even before i started playing there. Something is in the air at that little wine bar. The intimate setting and unplugged show (with wonderful acoustics!) are a perfect mixture. It reminds me of something that would be happening in NYC or London. But it's right here in Akron! Several great fans and friends came out, including Rachel (http://www.myspace.com/rachelrobertsmusic) and its always nice to see musician friends at a show!

From there a small caravan of us dropped in on David Ullman's (www.davidullman.net)set at Tastey Jones. Singing and dancing of course ensued. And they cooked up some tastey fries and apples for the 2 vegans.

Friday was a fun set at Barley House. The band was ready to rock. Chris of Clear Gold Audio (www.cleargoldaudio.com) came out and ran sound for us doing a wonderful job! We got my wireless mic working so i could run around the building singing to the folks, and the lovely ladies having birthdays (and the ones just hanging out as well).

Saturday morning started fairly early and took me down to Barberton for a Peace show @ Lake Anna. It was frigid, but there was a nice turnout. I dont think I'd ever been to Lake Anna before. I made it through my set still mostly feeling my fingers. Over the Road w/ the no more you and me no more they and we just unity lines at the end was especially moving and poignant.

Then off to the House of Blues. Kickin the cancer Blues (www.kickinthecancerblues.org) is a wonderful benefit and organization raising funds for individuals with Hodgkins Lymphoma. Some great pics are at http://www.pbase.com/budwardo/ktcb09. We had a wonderful time and really had one of the best sets we've had yet! A powerful emotion was coming down and out through us. Over the Road, Some Love, and Ever After were amazing. Kristine Jackson (www.kjblues.com) came up and added some lovely harmonies to Distracted! After us, our friends the Jack Fords took the stage and finaleed with a spirited version of the Weight. Kristine's set was wonderful as well, and she invited me back up to sing People Get Ready. A very different version than mine, but powerful still! Very powerful!

Then Sunday came. And i got to have some Tofu Scramble @ Tommys, which is pretty good. I dont think anybody makes a tofu scramble as good as the one you make at home, but theirs is good. And a nice rice dream chocolate-strawberry shake doesnt hurt either! I also got to take in Where the Wild Things Are, which i enjoyed though it was different from what i expected. I did love the cinematography and puppetry/costumry. The day ended with a drive out to Boardman for a Hawaian burger at the Flaming Ice Cube (an awesome vegan shop and cafe! (http://flamingice.com) I also got a lovely OM ring that i had been looking for in the back of my mind for a bit.

Moving on to Monday. Wolf Creek was a wonderful night. Really. Standing room only. So many great people came out and familiar faces! How could it not be one of the best ways to start the week!

And about the bad side.

Apperently, i am at that age where i can pull a muscle ... sleeping.

Yes. I awoke in the middle of the night Wednesday/Thursday morning with this horrific pain. To do my weekend shows, I was on some strong painkillers. And when I'd get home, the pain would overtake those pills, and make sure i didnt really sleep. So that lasted until Sunday when i finally got some sleep, and then by miracle, I am feeling nearly all better now. Whew! I must be a violent sleeper.

Or just getting old.

Bobby on Random Acts of Music!

2009-10-10T13:39:00.001-04:00

Recently Charlie and I were on Random Acts of Music. This is a wonderful unplugged version of Bobby from that episode.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPbiSW4fvPU

Enjoy!

Congrats Dom!

2009-10-10T12:48:00.002-04:00

Our good friend and long-time drummer, Dominic Tancredi got married to his long-time girlfriend, Sarah, last night.

It was a fun party- some good rock and roll, some good potatos, and good friends!

On behalf of the rest of the band, I wanted to wish my most heartfelt congratulations and deepest wishes for long-time happiness!

Namaste.
Z

Canton Palace

2009-10-03T01:58:00.002-04:00

Maybe I should back things up and start with yesterday first.

Northside.

It was nice to be back at Northside this month. There was a different atmosphere - something different in the air. I don't know if you felt it to - maybe it was just me. I did just start up a new meditation regime.

It was very nice to see so many great folks there, smiling, dancing, rocking! It really did make my day to have so many friends and fan family around! It was kinda a big day for us. Brandon, our new drummer, was playing his first public show.

He said it meant a lot to him to have so many nice and warm folks there supporting him for his debut!

Talking about my shows is something I'm really not that good at. So I'll summarize, as per usual :)

The night started off on an emotional chord with Autumn, Invocation, Lime Tree, and Manifest, which all were possibly as good as we've ever done them.

Then there was vegan pumpkin pie!!!

We had a nice line of dancers as well! Impressive! And everyone in step - it was a thing of beauty!! Did I hear someone compare it to Lord of the Dance... ? (I hope so!!:)

Then there was the after party/ encore! The 4 hour after party dispersing after 5am. A good end to a fun night!

And then there's the Canton Palace Theater.

I will have pics up soon.

I love this theater! It is gorgeous! With a nice stage and an awesome little labyrinth of dressing room tunnels!

There seemed to be some sort of snafu with the marquee, which had mistakenly stated we were on at 8:30pm, so i apologize to those of you that came just as we ended. I feel doubly bad because it was a great show!

Large stages are always a joy - room to feel, room to romp, and room for the sound to rock! Brandon played his heart out, as we all did. And with little weird Halloween set decorations, no less!

Some very moving moments tonight. Over the Road sent a warmth over me from the audience. It was beautiful and I cant really describe it. But thank you. The set built up to Some Love, where I got to leave the mic stand and plead give out every drop of my soul to the audience from the edge of the stage.

I think that Ever After could have been one of our best versions yet. Highly energized.

And there is nothing quite like dancing up and down the aisles of an old theater. It is wonderment. Definitely! Several little girls were getting into it and dancing along by their seats.

It all ended with a standing ovation.

Which, really, does it get any better than that??

Thank you. It made my night to see some kind faces and some folks I hadn't seen in a long while. Not to mention every one's kindness.

You rock.

You are why I sing.

And together we are agents of change.

Ciao.

Fall

2009-09-29T16:06:00.003-04:00

Autumn is possibly my favourite season. True, little can match the joy the new growth and glorious greens of Spring. Not to mention that inner exuberance at the fact that the layers of winter coats are able to be put away! But fall has such beauty. The leaves turn the world into a glorious palate of every hue of orange and red. They blow about the yards and roads and bring me happy memories of backyard football as a kid.

And there is pumpkin pie everywhere! Pumpkin everywhere! Mmm!

As a kid, autumn always held the agony of back to school. But somehow that didn't really ruin the season for me.

And Thanksgiving and Halloween both fall within fall's purview.

This year, however there does come a hint of sadness on the breeze. The voice of winter in singing in the distance. And i can hear it this year already.

The last 2 winters have been exceptionally cold and long. I'm not sure if it has honestly been that way, or if my perception has shifted. Don't get me wrong, i love winter until Jan 2nd and then i want Spring again. And waiting until nearly June to get it is unbearable.

My dream is to live in Jackson, Wyoming. One of the largest downsides to that for me is their very cold and long winters that start by the beginning of October and last well through May. But I think i could handle that. Somehow. There is such beauty there everywhere. Here, in Ohio, there is beauty too, but it is heavily muffled and choked away from view. Especially during the long sunless drab suffocation of winter.

Everyday I wake up to the fact that I need mountains in my life. Mountains. And meadows. And alpine lakes. And bears. And sunlight. (that helps too). None of these things are in Ohio.

Such are the thoughts that wrap me up today as I sit in a sweater looking out a window into the rain and wind and changing constellations of seasons. Maybe I just need some soup.

Or a nap.

Or love.

Even my guitar wanted its privacy today.

In a distant room I hear the Staple Singers telling me: "Come Go With Me."

Yet i have bills to pay. Gigs to hunt down. Tours to plan. Marketing to scatter. Sales to sniff out like a bird dog.

But i have no smell.

And what I wouldn't give for a mountain.

Evening for Chuck 2009

2009-09-21T12:54:00.003-04:00

Starting right off, I dont have any real pictures yet. Folks took them, and I am awaiting them. So this will just be a blog of words.

I was excited about this year's event as we had some great things planned and a spectacular line-up. My friends at 91.3 The Summit really got on board this year and did so much to help out! Plus, this year was a little crazy, since I wasnt actually going to be there from the start. We played the Browns home opener pre-game and then jetted down to Akron.

As things tend to, everything worked out very well.

All the food was quite yummy. We got the most compliments about the wonderful Vegan Tomato Bisque Soup from Primos Deli and the Chocolate Truffles Troy made. And as laways the cookies poet TM Gottl made were delicious. I had far too many of those... The Vegan Stuffed Shells were so good, they were gone before I even got there at 1:45pm! And though the Chiptole didnt arrive until about then, they went pretty fast as well. This year Angie and Keith decided to make juice - a carrot/giner/apple juice. And it was perfect! I'll be the first to admit that seeing carrot juice in there, i was skeptical. But it was sooo tastey. Indeed! And the pizzas from Totally Cooked were perfect as well!

Also new this year: as I walked up there was sidewalk chalk wrapping around the block about the event! Very nice!

We ended up with over 200 people in attendance and have rasied to date close to $5,500 for this years event, taking our 4 year grand total to over $25,500!

I heard Faces Made for Radio was better than ever this year! All i gotta say is: mmmm, banjo.

David Ullman played a wonderful set - and we got to debut our duet re-worked version of our song "Happiest Sad Song." I really enjoyed that. I like where the song has gone. This one really was like a child. It started out and progressed and developed a personality and went off to college then busked thru Europe for a few years, and is now a really interesting piece of music. :)

One of my favourite bits each year is the little duet section I do with Cory. We don't get to sing together that often anymore. So this is always nice. This year's version of "Communication" was perhaps the best we've ever done it. It is my National Anthem i think. That or "Delusions." And Cory of course nailed "One." It even made David Ullman's heart skip a beat!

I am glad Eclyptic was able to be on the bill this year. My dad and I knew them when they were still early in high school and just getting started. They are good kids and have an interesting sound that has grown and changed over the years. They have wonderful harmony and were enjoyed by everyone.

The Woovs were even better than expected! I'd been hearing great things about them for a couple years now. They have a nice groove-oriented kinda mellow vibe and really were absolutely perfect! It seemed to me they gained many new fans.

TM Gottl invited me up to do Chiroprator, a crowd-favourite duet. Next time we'll get the band involved, but there wasn't time to set everyone up. I have a feeling that song will just be getting outta control funkay in the near future.

Rachel Roberts is a good friend and a joy to have on any bill. She definitely didn't dissappoint. Her beautiful voice was right on, even though she was getting over some mild brochitis. And i felt a little honored to have her play my guitar for her set.

I was really pleased with our set. The band was tight. As tight as it's been i think. And we really were able to shine! "Some Love" was a personal highlight for me. We've been working on some things with that tune, and I feel I'm able to finally let everything out with it. We're entering a transitional phase of the music i think. We've all hit that 2 year mark where we are comfortable with how each other plays and where they go, that we can move in a collective direction. And i like the shores we are sailing to.

Each year my favorite part of the raffles are those few times when the person who really wanted an item wins it. We had a few this year. For the GPS Paula and Troy shouted out loudly from their seats before the name was drawn "pick Troy and Paula. Troy and Paula!" And then they were picked! And the guitar went to a lady who was extatic that she won it!

The real highlight though was the finale. We brought back Gary (from Faces), David, Rachel, Cory, and TM and went through the most inspired version of "People Get Ready" i have ever heard/played/imagined. Yes, it clocked in at nearly 17 minutes long, but wow. Everyone came in close and swayed. Everyone was tired and sweaty from the heat and the dancing and the whole day, yet everyone was ready and willing to be lifted, and to lift. And we did. We went somewhere. Together. 150 people or more - all as one.

People get ready. Theres a train coming. You dont need no bagage you just get on board. All you need is faith to hear the diesels humming. You dont need no tickets you just thank the Lord.

Everyone singing. The band building and pulsing. Cory's soul drenching out. Church was there, but this wasnt church. This was bigger. This was real. Handclaps on 2 and 4. David improving. Rachels sweet voice. Charlie's guitar like God's humming.

And we brought it down. "I believe. I believe." Everyone eyes open, eyes closed. Swaying. Standing. Dancing. Moving. Singing. Really singing. Im not sure i've ever had a crowd sing along with such soul and meaning. We were simply singing. We were believing. We were proclaiming.

I dont wanna reason anymore about the one i love. The one i love. i dont wanna reason anymore about God above. God above. I just wanna melt away into that sacred space. Drift away into that sacred place where there's no more you and me no more they and we. Just unity.

Even if it only lasted those 17 minutes. Even if it faded away with the sound and drifted into the shadows of Musica and out into the Akron night. It was there. It was real.

Unity.

Labor Day

2009-09-07T01:21:00.002-04:00

Have a nice Labour Day! I hope y'all can take a minute to be with friends and family. Cook something outside. Raise a glass to your loved ones.

I'll be in the lime tree.

Or at least searching for it.

It takes a while.

Ever After

2009-09-02T01:08:00.003-04:00

This video was put together by Lacey Tilley and was shot at the CD Release Concert at Cuyahoga Falls High School back in April.

Enjoy! (please post comments and rate it too on youtube... :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ndfz1HGPbVw

Behind the Scenes

2009-08-26T11:26:00.003-04:00

We had a little late night studio session recently.

5 musicians - late night - in a room.

The cameras were rolling.

Neil tuning up in the main room.

Ready to rock. (in the tuxedo t-shirt).

Charlie's playing was that good. I swear it!!

Papa Marotta laying down some tastey parts.

Brandon being productive... or just posing... or productive ...

Time for vocals.

Time for group backing vocals. Like the Temps... but not.

Teddy

2009-08-26T11:21:00.002-04:00

There have been few politicians over the last 40-50 years like the Kennedys. Teddy certainly lived up to that legacy.

We can only hope that torch has been passed along to some in the next generation.

RIP Teddy.

Wolf Creek

2009-08-18T00:15:00.003-04:00

A fun and long and hectic weekend is over. Today. Officially.

It started off with a 103 degree fever for much of the week. To the point I had to actually cancel a show.

Then it went to a back-to-back Staurday of the Great Lakes Brewery Burning River Fest on Whiskey Island. This was shot right after I jammed to the mayor Frank Jackson.

And this is one my favourite pics:

Jamming to the goats. Who were kind of dancing along like muppets. It was pretty hilarious. And it's kinda represented here.

Love it.

Lyrics to A Conversation Runs Two Ways

2009-08-13T23:32:00.002-04:00

A conversation runs two ways (a late night open letter)
(c) 2009 ZEF Music/ BMI

Well this might be the longest night
In the history of all mankind
I try to sleep but my mind stutters
Nothing can curb my mind’s endless thunder

So all that’s left is you
No one else to turn to
Im not used to this
Maybe I should just let it rip

Chorus:
Don’t ya see the tears I cry
Didn’t ya know she is my life
You could give me everything I need
Why wont you send her love back to me
Back to me back to me

Don’t you tell me about the long run
Some distant path im not yet on
I cant see past my fingers
Where she always seems to linger

Chorus
(just gotta have her) Love

Why do ya show me a love so pure
Tp rip it out and throw it on the floor
Don’t wanna hear about some mystic plan
No other woman’s better than my Jen

Chorus

Gotta have her Love...

And why must I ask this every night?

A Conversation Runs Two Ways (a Late Night Open Letter)

2009-08-13T16:27:00.001-04:00

Here is the song I wrote last night during the meteor shower and recorded live in my van today.

Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mNWtdvwQhs

Guitar legend Les Paul dies at age 94

2009-08-13T12:46:00.005-04:00

This is a major bummer. Les Paul was one rock legend I would have loved to see play. I think he was still a regular performer in the NYC jazz scene. Whenever I go to the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame I check out his exhibit. It doesn't change, but the history it worth reliving every time.

Chuck Berry is another - I hear he has (or had?) a weekly show in St. Louis... road trip?

Tribute

2009-08-10T13:51:00.001-04:00

Here's a tribute to one of the influeneces that got me into music.

I hope you enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbUHf226Syc

House of Blues and Trevor Hall

2009-08-06T11:22:00.005-04:00

Tuesday was a day I had been looking forward to on many levels for a while. Firstly for personal reasons. Secondly, I was to be playing with me friend Trevor Hall. And Thirdly, it was at the House of Blues, which is always a good time!

(All of these pics were taken by Eileen Matias)

Jen and I were there early for load in. But there was a corporate party in the Cambridge room, and thought we were told to be there at 5:00pm for load in, we couldnt actually load in until after 6:45pm. So that resulted in a lot of waiting. And watching Trevor and Chris and Mario wrap up the new order of shirts they just got in. (They said they didnt need help, and they had quite an assembly line going. It was impressive).

My Tofu Cows. Hanging out before the show.

Yes, I brought out the fabled Leisure Suit for the event.

It was an awesome crowd! Sold out by the time I hit the stage! (sorry to the fans that were turned away, but you gotta get there early, you know :-)

It was a blast with the front 15 rows being so super fun! Lots of singing along and dancing and such!

Ah yes, some of that singing along I was talking about...

Michael came out and sat in on Melodica for "Grey Clouds" and "Manifest."

Grey Clouds I did very spur of the moment, and haven't really done it much prior, but it got a great response. Which is always nice. Though I think aside from Life, Surround Me was the highlight of my set.

More fun times!

Michael having a good time.

I dont know what's happening here. The whole set was a blur for me. Between my mindset, emotions, the heat, and the crowd, i dont think i was consciously conscious.

So it probably wasnt the best night to be wearing polyester. It was very very very hot in there. The room was packed and there was that amazing collective energy that leads to the most amazing concert/musical experiences. I did think I might pass out a time or two.

But that didnt stop me from Rockin.

And it's always nice to have dozens of people cheering and such when i take off my jacket...

It was ultra fun to jam to the crowd, cuz they were all around me. This wasnt jamming to people, which happens a lot - no, it was jamming with people. People were strumming along, dancing, and rockin along with me.

Big ending. Thank you! See you next time!

Rehearsal

2009-08-03T01:34:00.001-04:00

Here is a little glimpse into our weekly rehearsals. This was at a moment when we were winding down and relaxing a little with one of our favourite covers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOCcZLWfKOA

Enjoy!

New song

2009-07-26T23:48:00.000-04:00

Enjoy this brand new song called Grey Clouds as performed in my van.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZqEWhfERFg

Sequels Better than Original

2009-07-26T21:51:00.001-04:00

So Zach and I are with some friends right now discussing sequels that are better than the original movie. Rather than spoiling you with all of the correct answers I'll leave it for everyone to throw out their options and will provide our list soon.

Here's an example

Godfather II vs. Godfather I

More River Rockin!

2009-07-19T12:41:00.004-04:00

My friend Brendan Curtin came out to see us at Rockin on the River last week, and brought his camera along. He is a photographer for the Cuyahoga County Coroner. He got some great stuff! Thanks Brendan!

Charlie rockin!

Charlie rockin! All of us rockin, actually.

Harmony.

I like the composition of the 3 of us singing here. Nice.

It has been extreemly fun to have a few songs that Im not beating on my guitar, and I can just sing and be awkward. I love it! I know it looks like Im doing a Van Morrison kick here, but Im not. I swear...

I love this one.

I love the trees in the background. Everyone of the pics with those makes me feel like we were playing in Central Park or something.

You sweep me off my feet. Im talking to you.

Yeah.

Iowa Motion Pics IV

2009-07-13T23:26:00.000-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzFFJwZJy6A

Iowa Motion Pics III

2009-07-13T23:25:00.001-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQQ31iZCgNw

Iowa Motion Pics II

2009-07-13T23:24:00.000-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdGngtDOWG0

Even More Iowa - motion pictures this time!

2009-07-13T23:22:00.000-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFYW6qwuA5g

More Iowa

2009-07-13T21:49:00.008-04:00

First of all - the following pics are courtesy of Mr. Neil (Joe Cool).

Charlie seranading us as we loaded the van to leave Ohio.

Michael helping to fit things in. A sort of real-life tetris...

And we're ready to go!

Charlie continued to searande us after we finished loading everything.

And then the melodica came out! I think they're finding an "A" here. Or Charlie is playing Bon Jovi...

There wasn't tons of leg room in the van. Dominic crammed himself in the footspace in an attempt to get more comfortable.

Ah - the Mighty Mississippi at dawn!

The John Deere Museum and Pavillion was directly across from our awesome Radisson hotel.

Good to go!

And then in for the continental breakfast. Dominic exaggerating the bite and the sausage and gravy in this biscuit.

Next up - a pool-side nap.

This was on the way to the show later. Neil was pumped.

These are the big toys folks got to play with! Digging in the dirt with these crazy huge things was awesome to watch!

On to the afterparty at Bent River Brewery. Darts were happening behind me.

Charlie posing by the tire of the van. Not quite as big as the tractor Neil was next to, but close...

Speaking of close... Cheer up Dominic - we're headed to Iowa!

After the eternal endlessness of getting to and out of Davenport, IA, we ventured to Chicago, where we had some pizza (and a salad for me) at Gino's east in Naperville.

Elvis just happened to drop by.

The sunset off the roof of the van while we sat in stopped traffic on the Indiana turnpike. It is fun to sit on the tunrpike - you dont get to do it that often!

So we made the most of the situation - impromptu jam of Runway (and many other of the hits).

River Rockin!

2009-07-12T10:10:00.005-04:00

Rockin on the River is an event that has always been nothing but fun for us. I have graced that stage some 4 times or so now. This Friday, we had perfect weather - not too warm, not too cold, and no rain!

An early highlight for me was while I was loading my gear in, a bicyclist happened to ride by while I was at my van. And that bicyclist turned out to be Karla from Jimmy's Cafe! It was fantastic to see her and to hear she's doing very well!

The Coldplayers were the headliners - nice Canadian folks who perform Coldplay's music.

This show was different for us because we put in a lot of Lost and FOund material - stuff we've been working on but hadn't really played much. And it's starting to take life and grow and meld into the rest of the show. On Your Own was a highlight of these tunes for all of us.

Neil - Joe Cool.

I love the stages surrounded by greenery. It is much more peacful and centering as an artist and as a concert-goer. The Warren Amphitheater was very green and flowery too.

Charlie melting a few faces.

Extra-thanks to the sales crew at the merch booth! They did a wonderful job! Thanks Phil, Lisa, and my mom!

It was a nice crowd - some 4,500 or so. Mostly attentive and rockin folks! Lots of seat dancing too.

And dancers! Yay! A whole crew of by the stage dancers!

My grandma came out and was dancing up a storm! Singing along to every song as well!

Thanks to Marilyn as well - part of the sales crew!

After the show, the band met fans and signed autographs. This is always such a wonderful time! Talking to people who really enjoyed the show and seeing their joy makes it all worthwhile!

Iowa

2009-07-09T13:42:00.002-04:00

A few quick thoughts on Iowa.

It doesn't want to let you leave. So be wary. It will keep you there way longer than you anticipate. Did anyone see the movie Cube? It's like that (except without all the death).

Anyway, here's a few shots i got from our wonderful Iowa show.

And I know the rest of the ban (esp Neil) got some great shots too, which hopefully they will post here and on facebook...

So we drove all night to get to Moline, IL by 5:30am. Where we hung by the Mississippi river for an hour or so, and then went into the hotel (before we could check in) and crashed the continental breakfast.

They had some nice oatmeal and a few bananas, too.

Though the band was more into the sausage and gravy biscuits...

After breakfast and a nap by the pool, we all went to laptops to check email and such.

The day went really well. We performed for the John Deere Classic PGA golf event. It was a party for the PGA players and the families and the head folks of John Deere. It was at the John Deere test site - which meant that people got to play on the huge dozers and combines and such that John Deere makes! We didnt because sound check got pushed too far back. But it looked fun to dig in the dirt with those! Neil was very excited!

The show went really well, actually. With the finale being us playing a medley of The Way You Make Me Feel and Ever After to a cool fireworks display.

We jammed with James Montgomery, an amazing blues harpist (harmonica) who has performed with everyone from Elvis Costello, to Bonnie Raitt, to the Stones, to the Allman Brothers. What a blast!

The afterparty made it's way to the Bent River Brewery which had vegan veggie burgers!! And they were pretty good too! Michael and Charlie rocked a nice game of darts.

Ok. Picture this. Iowa. We crossed the Mississppi so that the band could say they've been to Iowa. We stopped at a liquer store in davenport because Michael is a big fan of a beer called Fat Tire, which is not found in Ohio, but is in Iowa. So, he wanted to get a few to bring back home. So we see tghis liquer store and figure they'll have it. Out jump Michael and Neil. I look across the street at the gas station, and this is on it's sign.
Michael and Neil jump back in and say that the liquer store lost its license.

Ah - Davenport.

I look forward to seeing everyone elses shots and comments...

Mortality

2009-07-03T13:40:00.005-04:00

In some sense, i must be a mountain man.

I have spoken and thought much about the effect of the mountains on my mind, body, and soul. The Wyoming mountains are the one place (even more so than the stage) where I feel not only home, but home in the universe, in God - i actually feel God, which is something that rarely happens in the bustle of the cities and suburbs of Ohio.

It's more than meditation. Meditation is taking your mind inside - turning down the volumes of your surroundings. But in the Tetons, your volume is perfect, and the mountains, the breeze, the wildlife, the space, the brilliance of colours - it all brings the mind to the keyhole where it can contemplate God.

For me.

That's how it works for me.

God has come up already in a blog. Uh-oh. But this is about mortality ultimately anyway. So, i think you'll bear with me a little and continue on.

This lovely pic is from my last hike in Jackson. The trail to the very summit of the 9th tallest peak in Wyoming - Jackson Peak. 13,497 ft. This is early on in the hike. You get amazing views of the valley and surround mountain ranges.

A little ways up through the forest, you come to a few lovely meadowy areas that allow for gorgeous vistas of the massive Tetons.

The snow started about 1/4 mile before hitting Goodwin Lake. It was patchy at first, but shortly after this gravel field, it was constant. And deep. In the woods, it was about 2 feet most places.

Goodwin Lake is seated 3 miles up in a little bowl 1,500 feet directly below the summit. It's a gorgeous little lake, which was still mostly frozen. Not exactly a good sign for the rest of the hike.

There is something amazing about a frozen alpine lake. It is deeply still and calm. Like the calm of the dead - or the calm of the most vibrantly alive, perhaps. After leaving the lake, the trail of footprints grew tough to follow. But we soldiered on.

Losing the trail meant we had to simply forge our way through the forest in the general direction of the peak. It is an easy landmark, and so pretty tough to lose or find oneself really lost. But without the ease of the trail, we were relocated to climbing up the hill to reach the meadows instead of a more gradual slope provided by the trail.

Out here, the snow was much deeper - a good 3 feet. And it was melting, so it was tough to walk on. You tended to break through more, and many times found your leg sinking in up to the waist. But it was stunning scenery. Breathtaking in every sense. Again, without a trail to guide, we made our way up the peak. Jackson Peak has one spot that makes it easy to climb (where the trail is), so without it, we were taking more snowfields, more vertical moments, and more crawling and clawing our way across on all fours (or digging our hands into the snow).

Finally, within 45 yards of the peak we were stopped. That's the peak from where we stopped. It was a straight vertical scramble from there to the top. And in each direction were large hanging snowfields, that one wrong slip could send you down 1,500 feet to a very bad injury or much worse. So seeing it, and nearly touching, we were forced to turn back.

Our only real way back after a steady switchback route down was to slide. The last 1/3 of the mountain was too difficult to stand upright on, so we sat down and slid down to the flat meadow.

The view of the Gros Ventres ("Fat Belly's") from near the peak.

We made it down without incident, feeling exhilarated and accomplished. And cold and wet.

Here's where mortality makes its entrance.

Two weeks prior to this hike, I was introduced to the mayor, his wife, and their son at an event in Jackson. Very nice folks that I talked with for several minutes as I was sitting next to them.

Their son was an avid hiker.

He did Jackson peak the day after I did.

He slipped.

Fell.

And died.

And i find myself slightly dazed. Much thankful for every minute of my life, this reminds me. It tells me I still have more to say and do. Yet, it stings and numbs at the same time of how death constantly circles us all.

We decided to turn back because it was beyond our comfort level. Beyond our skill level for climbing. And just too much for us.

We hiked down, dried off, and I've now driven home.

He did not.

And so it could be at any moment.

And so, you are all my friends reading this. We all get caught up in our days/lives and details. When what really really matters is none of that. None of that at all. It is this. Friendship. Relationship. Human experience. Laughter. Conversation.

Everything else is meaningless.

I will try to help remind you of this. Can you help me?

Namaste.

The Western Road Pt 3

2009-06-20T12:14:00.003-04:00

Another few days of adventures! I've been on a few longer hikes and drives during the last couple of days. Something my soul has desperately needed. Each day Im out here, i realize how much my soul needs the mountains. Each day this soothes me more and more as home.

This is from an area by the Gros Ventre Slide - a huge section of a mountainside that broke off, avalanched down, and obviously completely changed the landscape. But this area is so interesting because it has deep red rock hills, very unlie the rest of the teton area.

They have a few horse ranches in that section. This is a little colt that was romping around for the minute and a half before I snapped this shot.

The avalanche dammed up the Gros Ventre river and created Slide lake. They have since navigated some waters around, so the Gros Ventre still flows into Jackson, but this lake is gorgeous, especially at sunset.

You know that an area is huge when several bison look like dots on the hillside.

We are still in Wyoming however. In the National Forest, folks are allowed to bring guns. and hunt the critters (that move about from the national parks and just dont realize they're in the forst now...

Sleeping Indian is a very definable landmark in Jackson. I hope to climb it someday! I hear it's absolutely amazing!

The wildflowers are just now starting to bloom, and I imagine within the next week or so, they will be in full force. The mountain meadows have THE most lovely flowers. It is literally breath-taking sometimes. Not sure what this kind is called.

Ah - the Rocky Mountain Marmot. Posing for a good shot. Cute little buggars, indeed. There were lots during my Death canyon hike.

Waterfalls are all over the place. All of the canyons have dozens of them. And they're all brilliant. This is in death canyon. About 3 minutes after running into a Mama black bear and 2 cubs 10 feet from me on trail. She then sent her cubs up the nearest tree. They were tiny, maybe a foot and a half tall-ish. More than adorable. To watch bears climb a tree is a very moving sight. I dont know why, but it is!

The rain has been hanging around in the mountains. Making for wet hikes, but cool shots, and it really makes me feel like im in some sort of prehistoric land - some kind of Jurassic Park!

Sad News For Fans Of Inexpensive Guitars

2009-06-17T16:32:00.002-04:00

Hey There Everyone!!!

This is my first post on this blog and I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news for fans of inexpensive guitars.

The OLP brand of guitars has been retired. For those of you who have seen the Zach band or any of my old bands may know that one of my favorite guitars to use is my red OLP MM1 (Its right up there with my '76 Les Paul Custom). I have had that guitar for about 7 years now and it has always been one of my workhorses. I also have one of their 4 string Musicman Stingray knock offs which I love. This is really sad because these guitars only cost around 200-4oo dollars and now the only option is to spend a couple grand and get a real ernie ball musicman (if you have the money, why not?).

C

P.S. - For Your Listening Pleasure, Check Out:

Zach - What I Meant To Say (of course!)
The Wombats - A Guide To Love, Loss & Desperation
Extreme - Saudedes De Rock
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Uncle Charlie and His Dog Teddy
Kenny Garrett - Beyond The Wall (Music to get lost in...emotionally speaking)

The Western Road Pt 2

2009-06-16T01:16:00.005-04:00

So it has been raining here for a month straight - something very unusual indeed. And of course, slightly hinders my hiking routes and abilities. A hike in a gentle rain to a mild rain is a beautiful thing. Some of my favourite hikes have been this way. But in a downpour, that is a different story.

So i have been pretty limited so far to sticking to the car.

Until today!

I started off with a 12 mile hike today. Not a bad intro hike. This first hike began at Taggert Lake and wandered about from there. I love this hike because whatever bushes grow there are the most fantastically pleasant fragrant bushes! If they could bottle it, i'd buy a case!

The wildflowers are just starting to bloom. These arrow leaf balsomroot are fairly prevalent thus far, and frequently turn whole fields and hillside yellow.

A few of the trails had to be shut down due to lots of bear activity.

I love the wildlife here. Not only are there squirrels and marmots, but otters, badgers, big horn sheep, moose, elk, coyotes, wolves, eagles, bears, mountain lions, bobcats, and more. Ah! There is no place better!

The clouds let up today. (for the most part). But there is new snow on the mountains. This is going to make it hard to do the several high mountain and canyon hikes I was hoping for...

There is still snow in the mountains. This is fairly low. I have never seen snow this far down this path before. Though with the rain and upper 60's this week, there will be very very high waters everywhere here.

This gorgeous moose came out of the willows and swam across a shallow lake to the other side, where I came upon him again later in the hike. Watching a large animal swim is so fantastic. The water was up to his chin/shoulders at the deepest. And he is a tall creature! This was the 2nd of 2 moose i saw today. Both bulls.

Also spotted: herd of elk, 2 bald eagles in flight, several marmots, several antelope, some pelicans, and

a very large lovely healthy black bear!

I get to hit the trails again tomorrow am, and will have some more pics up soon. There is little to nothing like being in the mountains - these mountains. Some kind of connection lives here, some kind of divine presence calls this home. At least for me. Every time I am here, i feel i am home - home in the rightness of the universe and my soul. Home where God is ever-present and frolicking with the bears, flying with the eagles, meandering with the moose, and fluorescent in the flowering hills.

"I just wanna melt away into your grace/ I just wanna drift away into that sacred place/ where there's no more you and me/ no more they and we/ just unity/ unity." - Trevor Hall

Agora / Metrosync

2009-06-15T14:58:00.002-04:00

I was reading Cool Cleveland last week and came across some sad news. The Agora has come upon hard times (no big surprise after the Jigsaw incident) and is closing for the summer. The attached recording studio, Metrosync, has closed.

With my prior band I spent several nights playing the ballroom stage at the Agora, and I took in some great ska shows and The Black Keys in the theater. It is a really cool rock venue even thought it is a bit run down.

Metrosync was my first time in a studio (Charlie's too I think). We recorded a song there after getting to the finals at the High School Rockoff. Not the greatest cut, but it was a blast. Charlie laid down some killer arena drums almost knocking over a couple overhead mics, and then added some of the fun guitar sounds he is more known for. I remember the engineer telling us how rappers would call asking "y'all make beats?" Some great memories at 5000 Euclid Avenue.

The Western Road Pt 1

2009-06-13T14:19:00.004-04:00

First thought: It's nice how it costs more to drive through Chicago than it does to drive across Indiana and half of Ohio.

I had a marvelous sunrise drive up the Big Horn Mountains in Wyoming. Im not sure there is a more beautiful place and time than driving up a mountain at sunrise and seeing the entirity of the countryside (including 2 states!).

These were the first critters spotted on the drive. This couple was in the Big Horn mountains, and was 2 of 15 moose spotted that day!

They were playing or fighting (not sure which), and it was amazing to see the female get up on her back legs for a second.

From there, the trip continued through the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway. Gorgeous huge country there. A few large herds of elk and deer were throughout this part of the drive. It winds into Montana, up by the Beartooth highway.

And from there, the Yellowstone enterance.

The Yellowstone welcoming committee was out and greeted me right away.

Yellowstone is breath-taking. Truly. There is no place on Earth more awesome than the greater Yellowstone ecosystem. I need to find a way to live there... anyway, a huge herd of about 500 bison roamed the Lamar valley. Continuing on I saw a wolverine by the side of the road. It stopped, looked at me, and dashed into the sage. I am still really excited, as I have never before seen a wolverine. This big horn sheep was next.

And the first black bear of the day. I ened up seeing 4 bears, two of which were Grizzleys and 2 black bears. This guy was pretty close - 30 feet or so.

Then he crossed the road and ate some leaves and branches. He stood up on his hind legs at one point to get he lower branches. He stood at least 4 1/2 feet tall. It was tremendous to see!

This is the frist Grizz I spotted. I couldnt get a great picture as it moved quickly acorss the street and up the forested mountain. But it was a gorgeous silver colour.

Just outside the Lamar Valley. Love it.

As i took this picture, a pack of wolves started yipping and howling near by. I couldn't actually see them, but they were definitely close and on the move. The yips of wolves are beautiful and haunting, and the song was happy.

It began raining as we left Yellowstone. It was kind of perfect, actually, adding that little ominuous vibe that so suits the amazing park.

More to come soon!

Ellet Library

2009-06-13T00:14:00.002-04:00

Here is a short video shot of me performing "Upon Your Dreams" at the Summer Concert Series Kick-off event for Ellet Library in Akron this past week!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMTYKQS3cdc

What a blast! Were you there? What'd you think? Yay for summer reading programs as well! I can't say enough good things about the public library - and Ohio has one of the very best in the nation!

Z

another blog

2009-06-10T15:19:00.003-04:00

just thought I'd post from behind the virtual drum set.

must be in a blogging mood - just posted new blogs on my woodshed myspace and personal myspace minutes ago. never have been good at regular posting, too busy too often.

lots happening in dominic's world....new car (pt next to the xb), working on dominictancredi.com (bug-fixing the geek-code now) and spending some time getting the last details of my October wedding ironed out (undisclosed location to thwart the paparazzi.)

crazy busy day today at Woodshed (lots of big, amazing, huge things coming my way since I put it out there...) and life is good. had a great lunch-time meeting today and reconnected with another old friend as well.

reading a great book you should check out by Seth Godin - called The Dip. Great, quick NF read about balance, specialization (being #1) and pushing through the tough times (for a worthwhile goal.) Great.

Gotta run....so much more to do.

What's your favorite new book? Post a comment. Pretty please???

- Dominic Tancredi
drummer

Publish Post

CoolCleveland Review

2009-06-03T12:17:00.002-04:00

What I Meant To Say
Zach
Buffalo ZEF Records

Parma-born singer-songwriter Zach is tireless. In the last decade, the Akron native has released nine albums and performed 200+ shows a year. He's played onstage with everyone from Dave Matthews and Neil Young to War and Chicago. And on his latest soulful effort, What I Meant To Say, he delivers his ten best and most organic-sounding tracks yet. He veers away from John Mayeresque territory and stretches out into a distinctive folk-rock/Americana take on pop music. Think Counting Crows with a Freedy Johnston-like sensitivity... and yet, he can get the funk out when he likes.

Zach recorded Say in Atlanta with producer Nick Chawala (Collective Soul, Gym Class Heroes) and the duo seem to have struck a creative chord together. "A Way Through" opens the festivities, with a rumination on Zach losing his father to terminal cancer. You find yourself thinking about the end of the line/ I find myself thinking about it more than I mind... he sings and you feel the disc (like his others) pull the direction of the disc into heartfelt existentialism. "Runaway," "Sky is Falling," "Some Love," "What Are You Afraid Of?" and the set-closer "World on Fire" are among the highlights here -- though "Apple Pie" could (and should) be this summer's funky-crunchy anthem of looking forward and staying real. Let's face it, you're fed up with what's on the radio in your car anyway. Zach's got a lot to offer; you'll definitely enjoy his craft.

Check out Zach's mad touring schedule and his new record by visiting http://www.ZachMusic.net.

From Cool Cleveland Managing Editor Peter Chakerian peterATcoolcleveland.com

Signs

2009-06-01T12:43:00.003-04:00

I love travelling around because there are so many bizarre things to see.

Take this, for example, in Morgantown, WV.

Some part of my life feels complete by seeing this.

Philadelphia 2

2009-05-29T14:28:00.003-04:00

As a kid, I was a huge Rocky fan. Huuuuge. And I went to Philly as a kid and saw and stood next to the Rocky statue. It was certainly a highlight for me at the time.

So, Im back in Philly, and I want to run down the street through crazy markets with chickens running all over, and end in a triumphant rise up the art museum stairs.

But I forgot my running shoes.

And I have no idea where all that is from here. I am in the middle of the University of Pennsylvania with it's old and oldly cool built buildings. The convention is a radio convention, and I'm put up at the Hilton - this somewhat upper-end hotel with a $10/day internet charge (needlesstosay i'm typing from a cafe and not the hotel) and 2,000 pillows on the bed. So many pillows, in fact, you cant even sit on the bed without sitting on a pile of pillows. It took me nearly 15 minutes just to take them off before crawling in to sleep last night.

We hit the first panel consisting of Citizen Cope, Moby, and such. An interesting topic of whether or not radio matters anymore to an artist/ career. The highlight was certainly Moby calling the major record labels Sauron from the Lord of the Rings, and how nice it is to see them crumble like the evil tower does at the end of the movie. Fantastic!

From there it was lunch. I mentioned that before.

Then on to hear Cracker do a short set. Cracker was on the bill for the first show I ever went to. It was Spin Doctors, Gin Blossoms, and Cracker. So, I've been a fan for a bit, and they did a special version of Happy Birthday to Me for one of the radio personel.

After Cracker, was another panel. And then more music. Cory Chisel (mellow and dark - not my favourite). Then my friend Trevor Hall did a set to promote his self-titled upcoming CD (i think you should get it - July it comes out i think). And Serena Rider finished off the set. After that we had my set and then a break for dinner. After a wonderful networking evening and a great chat catching up with Trevor, it was back to the World Cafe for the evening wrap up party.

Then the morning came. And they had a much more vegan breakfast, indeed. Granola, Cheerios, Bananas, etc. Yum. The day has been moving by pretty quickly so far, after a set by Guy Sebastian (not bad - soul-ish. if you like jamie lydell, john legand - but not that much soul). His highlight by far was Steve Cropper coming out and playing on 3 songs. Steve was the guitarist and songwriter behind most of the Memphis soul/ Stax sound (Sam and Dave, Otis Redding, Staple Singers, Wilson Pickett, etc). Then the Derek Trucks Band came on, and jammed for a while.

And now Im here. Needing to go back in!

Philadelphia

2009-05-29T09:28:00.002-04:00

Though the sun has not really come out since I've been here, I am certainly enjoying Philadelphia! My first show went wonderfully yesterday, as I rocked the room (and even wore a little bit of a hole in the carpet...)

Interesting note: The World cafe Live has hummus and other good things on its menu, but for the Convention lunch, it serves all meat sandwiches. But I was able to get some honeydew melon and a few tomoato slices, so I'm actually pretty happy about that.

Went to a Mexican restaurant last night. Took about an hour to get a burrito after I ordered it. It was a fun time though, chatting and hanging with new friends and interesting folk. Had some good cavs discussions waiting for the food. And they were playing Nirvana over the MUZAK and had the StrongMan competition on TV... but the burrito finally came, and I swear it was the size of an airline pillow. Yes. It was ok. It was a veggie burrito, and the portabellas in it were pretty tastey.

Much more adventures coming today. will write soon!

Namaste!

Golfers maintain high CAFE standards.

2009-05-28T10:54:00.004-04:00

Recently, in the news there has been a lot of discussion related to the setting of higher CAFE standards. For those that don't know, this has to do with the minimum requirement of gas efficiency new cars need to have. In line with these stories I provide a little anecdote I found in my current reading.

Currently I'm reading Tom Friedman's new book "Hot, Flat, and Crowded".And so that my references are correct, Friedman didn't write this, but rather found it somewhere in the vast and wide Inter-web and used it as a way to introduce one of his chapters.

"A recent study found the average American golfer walks about 900 miles a year. Another study found American golfers drink, on average, 22 gallons of alcohol a year. That means, on average, American golfers get about 41 miles to the gallon. Kind of makes you proud."

30 = 100,000??

2009-05-26T13:29:00.005-04:00

This is a big year for Erin and I. Both of us turn 30 this year (she turns 30 first, which you can guarantee will be reinforced many times in the upcoming months), we celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary in November, and we're living the excitement of becoming new parents.

However recently I've been wondering if turning 30 is the same as having a car turn 100,000 miles.

Usually the rolling over of a odometer to 100K means a few things.
1. You're only 11,111 miles away from 1's across the board. It's an awesome goal that takes forever to get there and is over in 60 seconds (that is if you're driving the appropriate speed on the highway)
2. A perfectly good car will start to behave erratically. At 99,999 you might be thinking that everything is running smoothly, 200K will be no problem, and you can count the money you're saving by not buying a new car or fixing an old car. However, within the next 15,000 miles watch out. It's easy to rationalize the simple things that everyone agrees a car needs (i.e. good brakes, a working clutch, tires, fuel pump, fan belt, shocks/struts) and the fun things are easily rationalized as summer approahces (i.e. a/c). However I'm amazed how quickly these "little" and "necessary" things add up when you take stock of your monthly and yearly car bills. With our short attention spans we forget that we just spent 300.00 on a different fix a few weeks back. And before you know it, you've spent enough money on fixes that could have been used on that new car you've been eyeing (and one the government and automakers are begging you to buy).

So how does this relate to turning 30...
1. Well turning 100K with 111,111 looming is oddly similar to the fact that 40 is only a digit away. For the next 10 years I'm going to have to hear and feel the buildup toward this wacky age filled with parties aimed at humiliation and consumerism beating the drum to make a much too big purchase all under the guise of being "over the hill" and having a mid-life crisis. Plus, like a car, 222,222 K or 80 years old should be attainable. But lets not get our hopes up (side note: I'm writing this as Erin's grandma just celebrated her 97th birthday yesterday and is probably aiming to go on another zany trip around the world soon. She didn't take her first plane ride until 90 but in the last 7 years she's been to Italy, Germany, Ireland, Canada, and Jerusalem. All for multiple weeks each time and in all times she was the first one up and the last one of the group to go to bed. She ran circles around everyone in the parties she traveled with. An amazing individual. My grandmas are amazing individuals but that's a time for another blog)

2. Much like cars that seem to be running great break down after turning over 100K, I'm feeling the same way. Prior to the last few months, I was on a 5 year cycle for seeing doctors. It's not that I don't like doctors or feel out of place in the medical setting. It's just that I was never sick. Ibuprofen and my season allergy medication was pretty much all I needed to handle all medical emergencies in my life. However in the last few months, I've been to more doctors offices than I've been in the last 10 years. I've been to opthamalogists (twice), general doctor (twice), and a dermatologist (once). All have been related (horrible allergies, strep throat, and allergic response to amoxicilin for said strep throat), all have been necessary, but is it coincidence that they're all happening as 30 is getting ready to rear it's head. I don't think so.

Unfortunately in my case, I can't trade myself in for a newer model. I'll just have to take out a bigger HSA/FSA next year and load up on the icy-hot.

Louisville in May

2009-05-23T11:31:00.004-04:00

This will not be as pretty and eloquent as Michael's lovely blog. But I'll do my best.

Louisville is possibly my favourite city in the county. Possibly. It has the most restaurants per capita of any city in the country!

The day started in Columbus, where we hoped to get a Whole World Bakery lunch. However, they were closed on Monday's, and after a suggestion from the awesome employee at Rag-o-rama, we made our way to Benevolence Cafe. And to one of the best falafel sandwiches i have ever had! Plus, they had cookies that were nice and moist and quite tastey! If you find yourself in C-bus, go there. You will definitely enjoy!

Car dancing on the way to Louisville. We got in in time to wander around the block around Stevie Ray's where I was doing a featured act set. It was a beautiful evening in the high 60's, perfect for a little walk. We came across a little bike shoppe, that was luckily closed, as we may have bought a bike... however one place on the block was open - and open 24 hours - the sex shop! A huge sign hung in the window so proudly exclaiming their all night hours.

Stevie Rays was a cool place and a good show. Justin Lewis is a cool songwriter worth checking out (http://www.myspace.com/justinpaullewis). The next morning, we made it to the continental breakfast at the Quality inn. Not for food really. I was in seach of some juice. Which they had. So i stood by the counter area with the muffins and waffles, etc drinking my juice and Jen her coffee. No one was around us, no one was looking to return to the food. Yet, a lady who worked there came roaring up to us saying "I cant let you stand there and eat. You have to sit down. You cant stand there." I had no idea there were rules of sitting while eating in Quality inns in Kentucky!

Blue Mountain Coffee and Wine Bar. A cool place. There was a little aquarium around the bar. And a wonderful crowd that night as well! (Thanks John!) Many new faces, many familiar faces, and many less CDs and t shirts to take home! After the show we went to John's building and shot billiards for a bit (something i have not done a little while).

Louisville is great beauce it has so many cool vintage and thrift shops. This one in particular had an old stero with these two knobs as the only adjustments. I want to add this category to my amp! "Yes, i need more loudness!" "Hmm. I think the loudness is a bit soft, yes?" I did get an awesome new hat. It has a feather in it. Oh yes!

Are you?

Heaven. ie Ramsis. Mmmm. Ramsis is the greatest restaurant in the world. Ever! I am certain, and not exaggerating at all. Their Parmesean Seitan panini is so fabulous, I am drolling uncontrolably right now. And they have Plantains!!! Plus, we tried their Roasted Veggie Panini, which was pretty equally good! Food is a huge reason i love Louisville! Besides Ramsis, there is 3rd Ave Cafe, which has so mnay good dishes including a Vegan Reuban, cheese grits (yes you heard me!), and mashed sweet potatoes. And there is Zen Garden, an amazing asian-style place with great vegan options. I cant forget Rays' Monkey House, a coffee shop that offers the best vegan cookies i mave ever had, and a grilled cheese and avacado sandwich! Mmm! Plus, their brewery, Cumberland Brews, has Great Lakes Brewery beers (weird) and Meade on tap! There is a place called Swan Dive, which looks amazing and offers Breakfast all day! (However they didn't open until 5pm, and are closed on Tuesdays, so not sure how that works... next time though).

Happy to be in the sunshine. So, for my birthday John's friend made me vegan birthday cupcakes! They were so good! Check them out (and my joy, and my hat! - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=716193261&ref=profile#/photo.php?pid=1911476&op=1&o=global&view=global&subj=716193261&id=639643449).

Louisville rocks cause it has things like this on it's streets. It's benches and bike racks are all kinda interesting. This is a dragon, possibly. Though not with a big beefy arm (trogdoooor!). Anyway, too much fun! can't wait to go back and rock out the Weird City!

This Morning

2009-05-21T08:55:00.002-04:00

I love these moments of self awareness. Today I should be tired. I should be upset that my commute took me almost twice as long as normal today and that I'm going to have to rush to get all of my work done so that I can pick up the little man from daycare at a reasonable hour this afternoon.

But at the moment I'm just basking in the experience of this morning, the sunshine, the music, the coffee, the zen of driving in to work.

I have been listening to the new Wilco CD (it's not out yet, but they've made it available to everyone on their website and someone must have ripped a copy off of that). But that's really not important right now.

I've listened to it probably 4-5 times all the way through already. But it seems to me, at this moment, that all of those times were getting me ready for this morning.

Ever since I woke up this morning I feel like I've been given the opportunity to take a step back and watch life as it happens. Not to actively take part, but to take in everything, process it, and come to a greater appreciation. Sure I've done a bunch of actions since this morning. I've showered, brushed my teeth, changed Oliver's diaper, drove into work. Heck I'm even typing right now. But it seems to that a spell has been cast and I'm just a witness.

I normally listen to NPR in the morning to catch up on world events and/or listen to some lively debate and discussion on interesting topics. Occasionally I listen to sports talk in the morning, but with the Cavs loss last night that wasn't an option.

However, this morning, I listened to the Wilco album. From the time I pulled out of Starbucks to the time I pulled into my parking spot at work the album played from start to finish. No extra time, no waiting in the car to hear the last two songs. It seems like all of the traffic that I had to deal with this morning was there to allow me to finish the album. The music took me over. Every note, every line, captivated me and became the sountrack to my experience of everything else I was taking in. Nothing on the drive looked any different than it normally does. I didn't take any different route. There was nothing new for me to see. No accidents or anything out of the ordinary. Everything was the same. But it wasn't.

I liken it to a concept Stephen King had in one of his books (I think it was Insomnia). In that book, he likened our spirits/souls to little balloons that hover over all of us. When someone dies the balloon is cut and the spirit leaves the person (that might not be exactly as it is in the book because my mind may have had some revisionist history on what i remember).

On my drive in I got to hang out in the balloon.

Right now I know that when I have a conversation, when I talk, the spell will be snapped and I'll travel right back down the string.

I've felt this way before and I'm sure I'll feel it again. It might not be triggered by the Wilco album again, maybe it will be triggered by a great Phish jam or a random song on my iPod. All I know is that music is the trigger and that when it happens I want the feeling to last as long as possible.

A few years ago, my previous band, Caribou Foot, recorded an album down in Nashville (copies are still available to anyone who'd like one). One of our songs, Dirt Nap, tried to bottle up a moment like this. We tried to record an album in one weekend which is a pretty tall task. At the end of the first night, after we've been playing for 12+hours, after we drank most of the beer in the fridge, after we were all on our 3rd and 4th wind we recorded this song. It was done live like the rest of the songs. However the recording of this is one of the few recordings I've done where I've been able to capture how I feel right now. A song where you can get caught up in the music, get sucked in, and for however long you're listening you get to float up in your balloon and watch life for awhile.

There's plenty of other songs I think that can do this. Steve Reich's "Music for 18 Musicians" can , the Decemberists "I was Meant for the Stage" has done this too. However to take part you need to be willing, to relax your mind and get lost in the music.

And once you're there the view is great.

CONTEST - WIN!!

2009-05-21T07:29:00.003-04:00

So, we had a rather lively business meeting last night. In hindsight, the Winking Lizard on the night of Game 1 of the NBA Easterns wasn't the best plan...but the beers and cheers helped! Go Cavs...

BTW - Firestone "Stone Stock" 5/22/09 gig canceled, circumstances beyond our control.

...switching gears...we want to hear from YOU. We need your feedback to make this successful, so I'm posing a few questions here.

FAN BLOG CONTEST #1

1. Do you have the new Zach album What I Meant To Say?

2. If so, what's your favorite track and why?

COMMENT NOW.

Today's the 21st. The 21st unique person to comment with answers to the above questions WINS A LIMITED EDITION ZACH MERCH PRIZE.

...go ahead, we'll wait here...

- Dominic

This Friday at Firestone high School!

2009-05-20T12:02:00.002-04:00

Random Acts of Music

2009-05-07T11:58:00.001-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhUVp_EQT_0

Rock and Roll HOF

2009-05-05T09:44:00.004-04:00

The Rock Hall is always a fun place to perform, especially for the Diversity Center's Walk, Rock, and Run event! This year was even better than last. The weather was nice this time, so there was a better turnout, and the staff at the Rock Hall was much happier and friendlier than previous times I've performed there. (Thanks Sarah and Shannon -pictured above - for having us!)

Dianne Millirons from the Just Love to Sing Gospel Singers stopped by, lending her voice to the singers in the crowd!

Though it was an early morning after a late night Outpost show, the band really brought their Rock and energy. Charlie was melting faces during this Life solo and showing up many of the guitarists enshrined in the museum!

Many thanks to the fantastic cheering section! It was nice to have an enthusiastic balcony cheering, singing, and dancing along! I love when there's a stage in the round (or anything close to it)! And the looks on people's faces as the rode the elevators behind us were classic at times! Lots of dancers this year! The little boy that was the first dancer on the floor at the beginning of the set was fantastic!

Mr. Charlie Trenta. Rocking.

Michael is a great sport to host the Veggie Cow on his organ for the set. He knows the importance of eating more veggies! He is a scientist afterall...

Action shot! We've been having such fun on stages where we have some room to move and breathe. The songs and the band take on a whole new dimension, and honestly feels much stronger! We can't wait to blast the Rockin on the River stage on July 10th @ 6pm! Plus, we can't wait for the return of the horns!

Harmony!

Heal me, my darling.

After the set, we roamed the Rock Hall for a few moments. Excitingly, the Diversity Center was cooking up hamburgers and hot dogs, and... VEGGIE BURGERS! And they were decent ones too. Then we made our way to the Springsteen exhibit. We were given wristbands that allowed us in, etc as the band. But apperently you need a different coloured one to get into some of the exhibits, so we ended up looking slightly like we just left the hospital when it was all said and done with all the wristbands we had! Anyway, we made our way up to the Springsteen exhibit. The most interesting part i think was the audition tapes for the record label. That and the giant notebook of revisions for his songs. He constantly revised the lyrics over and over again.

When my original lyrics get into the Hall some day, it's just gonna be one sheet with a couple scratch outs.

Hope to see y'all this week!

Release show

2009-04-27T11:36:00.005-04:00

All these photos were taken by the great Bruce Hicks.

Thanks Bruce!

(www.brucehicks.com)

The magical encore finale! Dancers, beat box, horns, and the leap!

Charlie was rocking out to a degree unachieved before in the history of mankind. So many faces were melted by his six-string wizardry, that the janitors are gonna be cleaning up that auditorium for at least 3 weeks.

Wireless. Such a great invention!

Action shot. Having fun!

So i dont knwo about you, but i've never felt an energy like that one that night before. It was beautiful!

Mr. Neil Keating. He was crazy hanging in with Cameron and I during the "jumping" section in the encore!

The big bird rockin out!

Michael was an his A+ game all night. Rockin the organ and synth! Mmm! And Paper Dreams was fantastic! Truly.

Dominic was rockin hard too! Risers are so nice!

More Charlie!

What a night! There was so much dancing, i got comments and emails about how sore folks were on Sunday! Now THAT is the best kind of dancing!

Thank you.

Reviews

2009-04-24T11:14:00.000-04:00

Akron Beacon Journal

Zach teams up with Falls High
Saturday release party for singer/songwriter to benefit school theater
By Malcolm X AbramBeacon Journal music writer
Published on Friday, Apr 24, 2009

Locally based, nationally touring artist Zach will play a concert Saturday at Cuyahoga Falls High School that serves a dual purpose: raising money for the school's theater department while doubling as the release party for the mono-monikered singer/songwriter's latest album, What I Meant To Say, to be released on the same day.

Zach is not an alumnus of Cuyahoga Falls High — he was born in Parma — but he does have direct connections with the city and the school.

''I have done a lot in the Falls and have a decent fan base there, plus my favorite soundman [Charles Korecki] in the area runs their sound department, and when we were looking for a place to have the release, he offered up using the school. And then he just said, 'Why don't we make it a benefit for the school?' '' the singer said recently after a gig at the University of Akron.

The school's theater department is not in imminent danger, but during times of economic crisis, the arts areusually the first in the budgetary crosshairs, making the show a pre-emptive musical strike.

''It's a shame. Arts are always the first thing to go,'' he said.

Though not a theater geek in high school, Zach did perform at his high school's talent show, and he says he has seen the value of arts education.

''I've had a lot of friends [since high school] and met a ton of folks for whom those programs have been instrumental in getting them through high school, and helping them find out what they want to do with their lives.''

What I Meant To Say is Zach's ninth album in a decade of performing, touring and recording. The bulk of the disc's songs were written during his father's battle with pancreatic cancer and shortly after he succumbed to the disease in 2006. But while such a deep personal loss might inspire some songwriters to fill an album with songs of pain and mourning, Zach took a different approach.

''I always try to look for the positive and the record is me searching, looking for that, and finding my way through that stuff. [The songs] are much more upbeat and hopeful that there is a way through it and a way to deal with it,'' he said.

For Zach fans, the show will likely be the last time to see him perform with his full quintet before he takes off for his annual West Coast summer tour. The show will feature several songs from the new album and some special guests, including a horn section, but there also is a good chance that the prolific songwriter will play even newer tunes.

''I'm writing new stuff constantly. I'd say I've written about 40 songs since January, so usually by the time a record comes out I've got a bunch of new material beyond that,'' he said.
A local high school band will open the show and What I Meant To Say will be available for purchase, with each ticket entitling the bearer to $3 off. Fans who can't attend will be able to purchase the CD online at Zach's Web site as well as at iTunes and other online music storefronts.

Malcolm X Abram can be reached at mabram@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3758.

CD Release This Saturday!

2009-04-20T14:00:00.003-04:00

CD RELEASE CONCERT!

THIS SATURDAY APRIL 25th!

Come one come all!

Cuyahoga Falls High School

2300 4th St.

Cuyahoga Falls, OH

Doors open at 6pm, and the show starts at 7pm.

Tickets are $7 or 2 for only $10!

Order tickets now at the Cuyahoga Falls High School Box Office, or online at www.zachmusic.net/order.html

Proceeds go to the Cuyahoga Falls High School Theater Department.

PLUS - each ticket gets you $3 off the new CD!

Yes!

See you then!

Brother's

2009-04-04T16:05:00.006-04:00

Brother's Lounge is possibly the best venue in Cleveland for music. They have a nice stage, atmosphere, lights, and sound. And they are cool to work with - at least they have been with us. We were asked to perform there as part of an unsigned music series.

Bruce Hicks - http://www.brucehicks.com/ - came out again and got these wonderful and candid shots of us! Thanks Bruce!

We got there and loaded in. They have a patio section good for loading. But i have to say a major downside is the lack of parking. There is a lot across the street behind my friends restaurant. However this lot is apparently only for my friends customers. The entire lot holding a good 100 spaces. I parked there to unload as it was the easiest option at the moment. I got 1 load across the street and into the club.
The second one however, prompted the owner of the My Friends (of manager) to come actually running out into the street to tell me that she's gonna tow my car cuz it's only her customers who can park there (and there was actually only one sign in one small section of the lot - not where i was parked - that mentioned anything about parking only for her place). I politely told her i would move my van as soon as i unloaded my gear. I had my last load in my hands, and my hands were full.
To this, she said you cant park there. I'm gonna tow you, shrugged, and made to go back inside. I raised my voice and said i will move as soon as i put this stuff down. To which she shrugged - which was from her body language the same as flicking me off. There happened to be a space opening up in the club parking lot, so i dumped my gear there, and Jen sat in the spot while i moved my van.

So i would advise not dealing with that establishment. I dont think they have much in terms of vegan dining anyway, but she was harshly over-dramatic for no reason whatever. It quite upset me. Silliness.
But all that went away when we set up to rock. We were the middle band. We plowed through a pretty upbeat set, bringing it down a little for one of our best versions of Some Love, and then took it back off ending with a romping Ever After.

Which included a nice dancing section, and some dance-off head butting between Cameron and I!

Our now famous TV. People love watching TV. So now they can. At our shows.

Dominic rocking out a groove.

After our set, we roamed around and made our way to the outdoor patio for a few band shots. We have never had a full band picture taken. So, we thought we'd give it a try.

Backstage. Shenanigans... And you know we'll probably end up using this one...

2009-03-29T11:53:00.002-04:00

As we near the time of release, we appreciate all the help everyone has given us in investing to make the record happen, and we very humbly ask for any further assistance to help us promote this record to a broader market.

Thanks again for all your support! You truly rock!

Zach