Post by Greg adkins on Apr 10, 2006 22:28:52 GMT -5
Hey everyone... sorry I've been kind of lame about not posting much lately. March and April have really been kind of slow months for me musically... they're a really busy time at work so I intentionally didn't schedule a whole lot of shows, but things are going to start picking back up soon... starting at the end of April and going on through June, I have several shows coming up...
But first, let me tell you about my last two shows. about 3 weeks ago, I played at Black and Brew Coffee in Lakeland, FL. My friend Adam Mayfield who is part of a really cool church plant down there set the whole thing up and made it happen... all I had to do was basically show up and play which was really, really nice. A couple of people from his church played a few songs too and that was really great.
This coffeehouse was kind of unique... they served wine in addition to coffee so the crowd was... well... sophisticated. I'd say about a third of the place was listening and into what I was doing... about 2/3rds was totally doing their own thing but hey... that's a coffeehouse show for you. And that's why I dream of the day when I'll never have to play another one, but for now, it's all I got, and that's alright. It's just hard to play when lots of people are talking almost as loud as your music, especially when your songs are the kind of songs I write... not that I'm arrogant and demand to be heard... you get what I'm saying.
Anyway, in spite of that, Lakeland was fun... Adam and his friends took me to a really great new york style pizza place. Great stuff.
Then, last weekend, I left immediately after church and drove by myself up to Roanoke, VA to play at a church of there. A couple of friends of mine (Pete and Ryan) are on staff there and they invited me up as part of a coffeehouse (there's that word again!) series of concerts they've been doing. It was just really great... they had a good turnout, everyone listened, I think I only offended about half of them with "church of the future" and yeah... it was good times. I spent the night with a really cool family (thanks Smiths!) and was able to grab breakfast with Pete before I left town. Pete is someone I admire a lot... getting to spend some time with him at his home church only deepened that admiration.
I think I played a pretty decent show too... I'm really starting to get used to playing alone as opposed to with a band or even a sideman... part of me is starting to prefer that... it certainly is easier, but from an "audience connection" standpoint, it just feels more natural... one guy telling stories. But of course, playing with a band is a lot of fun too.
Anyway, not much else going on. I've been recording some home demos of some new songs... nothing fancy, just guitar and vocals (both very, very rough) but it's been months since I've recorded anything. I probably have about 20 songs that I don't have any recording of and I need to get at least a rough home demo of them before I forget them. Of those 20, maybe 10 are okay and 4 or 5 are for sure keepers. The other 10... well... those are for the archives. I'll probably post a few of these demos for you sometime in the next couple of weeks in the MP3 vault.
That's about it. If any of you want the Bluegrass Service CD, they're available. I've surprisingly sold a grand total of ONE CD through the website (thanks Sharon!). I didn't expect it to sell like gangbusters, but this was a surprise. The good news is, people at church have been buying them as fast as I can make them so that's good... we're getting close to breaking even on the project which is all I was hoping for. I really think you guys would like it... I posted some sound clips on the "music" page so give it a listen...
Also, at www.jonathanrundman.com on his main page, Jonathan gives the CD a shoutout. he really liked our recording of his song "Forgiveness Waltz". It was cool to have the writer of the song enjoy our humble cover version.
Anyway, I'm gonna watch a couple of episodes of Alias on DVD and go to bed so... hasta la pasta.
- Greg
But first, let me tell you about my last two shows. about 3 weeks ago, I played at Black and Brew Coffee in Lakeland, FL. My friend Adam Mayfield who is part of a really cool church plant down there set the whole thing up and made it happen... all I had to do was basically show up and play which was really, really nice. A couple of people from his church played a few songs too and that was really great.
This coffeehouse was kind of unique... they served wine in addition to coffee so the crowd was... well... sophisticated. I'd say about a third of the place was listening and into what I was doing... about 2/3rds was totally doing their own thing but hey... that's a coffeehouse show for you. And that's why I dream of the day when I'll never have to play another one, but for now, it's all I got, and that's alright. It's just hard to play when lots of people are talking almost as loud as your music, especially when your songs are the kind of songs I write... not that I'm arrogant and demand to be heard... you get what I'm saying.
Anyway, in spite of that, Lakeland was fun... Adam and his friends took me to a really great new york style pizza place. Great stuff.
Then, last weekend, I left immediately after church and drove by myself up to Roanoke, VA to play at a church of there. A couple of friends of mine (Pete and Ryan) are on staff there and they invited me up as part of a coffeehouse (there's that word again!) series of concerts they've been doing. It was just really great... they had a good turnout, everyone listened, I think I only offended about half of them with "church of the future" and yeah... it was good times. I spent the night with a really cool family (thanks Smiths!) and was able to grab breakfast with Pete before I left town. Pete is someone I admire a lot... getting to spend some time with him at his home church only deepened that admiration.
I think I played a pretty decent show too... I'm really starting to get used to playing alone as opposed to with a band or even a sideman... part of me is starting to prefer that... it certainly is easier, but from an "audience connection" standpoint, it just feels more natural... one guy telling stories. But of course, playing with a band is a lot of fun too.
Anyway, not much else going on. I've been recording some home demos of some new songs... nothing fancy, just guitar and vocals (both very, very rough) but it's been months since I've recorded anything. I probably have about 20 songs that I don't have any recording of and I need to get at least a rough home demo of them before I forget them. Of those 20, maybe 10 are okay and 4 or 5 are for sure keepers. The other 10... well... those are for the archives. I'll probably post a few of these demos for you sometime in the next couple of weeks in the MP3 vault.
That's about it. If any of you want the Bluegrass Service CD, they're available. I've surprisingly sold a grand total of ONE CD through the website (thanks Sharon!). I didn't expect it to sell like gangbusters, but this was a surprise. The good news is, people at church have been buying them as fast as I can make them so that's good... we're getting close to breaking even on the project which is all I was hoping for. I really think you guys would like it... I posted some sound clips on the "music" page so give it a listen...
Also, at www.jonathanrundman.com on his main page, Jonathan gives the CD a shoutout. he really liked our recording of his song "Forgiveness Waltz". It was cool to have the writer of the song enjoy our humble cover version.
Anyway, I'm gonna watch a couple of episodes of Alias on DVD and go to bed so... hasta la pasta.
- Greg
