Tapas (IPA: [ˈtapˌas])

is the name of a wide variety of appetizers in Spanish cuisine. They may be cold (such as mixed olives and cheese) or warm (such as puntillitas, which are battered, fried baby squid).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapas

"Tapas" in Murfreesboro (The geographical center of Tennessee, the fried culinary capital of the south?)

Avoiding The Blogosphere

So... I'm back in Denver. I've been here for a few weeks now and I've been avoiding this blog of mine like the plague. Partly due to the fact that I've been busy working, trying to recoup some (all) of the money I spent on the road. Partly due to the fact that I've not wanted to tap into the many emotions, good and bad, that I experienced on my 6 week road trip from Northern California to Asheville, North Carolina and back to Colorado. Mostly due to the fact that I despise writing and it takes me the right frame of mind to get to the point where I have the time and energy to sit down and put finger to keyboard.

Well, I don't know where to start. My last official post was about my experience in Memphis. From there, I headed to Murfreesboro, TN where I was to reunite with my partner in musical chaos, Josh Cochran, aka, DJ Anemone for a very impromptu concert at Main St. in Murfreesboro. I called up Josh about a month prior to my trip to see if he might be able to throw together a show for us to play when I got to town. He obliged, booked a date for us to open for his awesome funk band Sky Hi and we didn't really talk about it again. For many musicians who don't get completely annihilated on drugs and/or alcohol before they play, this can be terribly frightening--"I'm going to be playing, on a stage, under lights, in front of a bunch of people, and I don't know what I'm going to play? No way in hell, I'd rather go streaking through the venue, get some pizza stix from Dodge's and take 20 hits of acid before I do that!"



The interesting thing is that I have total confidence when I take the stage with Josh. It's been that way since the first time I ever played a note of music with him some 10+ years ago. No matter how bad things may start or end, no matter how retched the conditions of the venue, no matter how awful the vibe of the crowd may be, there will always be one moment when we play music together that will be special. Something that the crowd may or may not recognize but something that I can be proud of... something that is spontaneous and creative and unique to our collective consciousness, something that I've never quite reached with another musician no matter how skilled or educated. In Murfreesboro, on February 20th, 2009, Josh and I reunited on the stage to play original material for the first time in 7 or 8 years... it was epic

We fell on our collective faces.



Not so much fell on our faces but it was challenging to say the least. There were some technical difficulties--like other musicians who WOULDN'T GET OFF THE STAGE! It was an awkward set up, it was really loud, and we had no idea what we were doing. There were a couple of moments, but this is definitely one I wish I could take a mulligan. Oh well, so be it. I hung out, heard some great funk music, kicked it with some of my best friends in the world,

reeked of cigarette smoke, and I went to Dodge's... TWICE!

All in all, it was a great night. We didn't get out of the venue until close to 3 am and we didn't get back to Josh's until 4 or so. I woke up at 7am, headed to Nashville to help my sick dad and worn out step-mom replace their water heater. After a 7 hour process of lifting, welding, sweating, and passing out standing up, I had to face the reality that my father was very ill and I was really scared. That took all the fun out of blogging and about everything else...

Upate

I'm currently in Asheville, NC. It's snowing outside and I don't know if I'll be able to leave tomorrow or not. I was in Nashville for a little over a week. My dad was in and out of the hospital... he seems to be doing better now but I was very worried for a while. However, I realized that I was very fortunate to have the time to spend with him and my step mom. I haven't felt much like writing or updating the blog after Nashville. I've got a bunch of pictures and some good stories from the road that I'm hoping to post soon. Thanks for checking in.