Relaxing at home on a beautiful Memorial Day, I thought maybe I'd post here since it's been forever. Where have I been? Just living life. I recently (and some may say FINALLY) got engaged to my girlfriend Heather, so that was big excitement. We've been having an amazing time raising our 2.5 year old son, Caelan, together. It's hard to find time to write and play music, but on the other hand the time I've been spending with my family is irreplaceable. Caelan is constant entertainment, and it's so much fun just to watch and help him develop. Every day he becomes less a baby, and more a little man. He's now learning how to take control of his situation and make suggestions (and often demands) to us about what we should and shouldn't do at any given time. It's a great feeling to come home and have a little person without a care in the world say, "Daddy, come play with me!"

I also recently started a new job that has been demanding, challenging, and rewarding. I had been working freelance as a programmer/consultant so it's nice to enter a new environment and exercise the brain in different ways. I work with a lot of smart people that really keep me sharp. So, I haven't been able to devote a lot of time to music, and honestly I think a break will do me good. I will definitely get back to writing and recording, I just feel like I need to come back to it naturally as opposed to putting pressure on myself to be productive creatively - something I've tried often, and have never been successful doing. It has to come naturally.

Of course as soon as I do get back to it, including any new shows, it will be posted immediately on my site. Hope everyone is doing well!

Have your holiday preparations been as hectic as mine? Seems like everything converges to drive me crazy every year around this time. I think I'm done all my shopping now, though.

I've been practicing for my acoustic show on the 23rd. One of the reasons I hadn't touched my acoustic in a while is that it was a little out of whack. But, I got it adjusted/tweaked by Mark Burkert, who is the guitarist in a great band, Tapping The Vein, and has a guitar repair business, Precision Guitar Tek. He did an awesome job, and now it's fun and nice to play again.

I've also been trying to learn some kid-friendly cover songs for a great program called Musicians on Call. I'll be playing next Thursday night for some kids at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. If you have any good song suggestions, please post them or drop me a line from the contact page. I want to play some upbeat, fun stuff (obviously my stuff won't work too well!) but something a little more interesting than your average "Old MacDonald Had a Farm." Even if you don't get them to me before the 16th, I can use them in the future.

In other news, we have a band show in January at a new venue for us, Whiskey Dix, on 7th St. in Philly. I'm interested to check it out. I have another tentative acoustic show in February, and depending on what the venue decides, it might be a full band "unplugged" set. If not, it will just be me and my fine-tuned acoustic guit-box.

Hope you have a happy and stress-free holiday!

Russ (bass player) and I got back from LA on Monday. We had a good time, although I think the convention is definitely geared to more mainstream songwriters (pop/R&B/country) than alternative/indie types (or whatever you wanna call us). On one hand, it was cool to attend panels with hit songwriters like the guy that wrote "Peaceful, Easy Feeling" and "Already Gone" for the Eagles, but at the same time much of the talk was centered on writing "catchy hits." Not really my forté. There was still some good applicable discussion though, and it was good just to have a weekend to think about music, writing, and what I'd like to do.

The December 11th band show at the Grape Street got re-scheduled, and now I'll be doing a solo acoustic show on December 23rd instead. I'm actually kind of psyched because I kinda miss the ol' acoustic and it's good practice to have to play solo now and again. I'm opening for "J.R. and Sharon" who I am told are a very popular State College-based acoustic duo.

Also, I was invited to play a showcase in February for the Philadelphia Songwriter's Project, which is really cool. I believe it's the second Sunday in Feb, at the Adrienne theater in Philly. Details to follow.