Opened for Amos Lee (07.27.07)

Amos Lee invited me to open 4 shows with him up in the Pacific NW. (Portland, Eugene, Vancouver, Spokane) I even tagged along to Willie Nelsons July 4th bash with the crew down at The Gorge in WA state. What an experience!

Thanks Amos, Fred, Jaron, Mike, and Dana for making the run so memorable and amazing. You are such fantastic people and one of the BEST bands around. A real pleasure indeed.

July Tour (06.07.07)

Tell your friends, spread the word, tell them to do the same! I'll be hitting the road for the official B.O.S. label release of Flying Boy ! It will be a solo tour spread throughout the country during the month of July. I look forward to the massive road trip and hope to meet as many of you as possible. Thanks for all the support and I'll see you soon!

Opening for Avett Brothers (05.12.07)

Last night I got to open the Avett Bros, Langhorne Slim show at the Trocadero in Philly. The room was packed and the energy was magic. Thanks Jesse, Sean, Scott and Seth, and of course PHILADELPHIA!

Bird Tour (03.27.07)

My first time at the famous SXSW fest that takes place every year in Austin, TX, and i was completely blown away. What an amazing turnout. The show was early on St Patties day. It was a showcase for B.O.S. Music at Maggie Maes along with the Nadas and my good friends Hoots and Hellmouth. What a great time. Cant wait to go back next year.

Before hand, I played 3 nights in Nashville on my way to Austin. First time in Nashville too and man, i fell in love with the place. Thanks Mare and Nomad for being such gracious hosts! Tootsies, BBQ, Merle Haggard . . .

Lost in Czech Republic (08.29.06)

By random choice (actually, I think everything is steered toward a direction one way or another) I chose to venture north, by bus, to a small town in the Czech Republic called Terezin to see the prison turned concentration camp during WWII. Little did I know what was in store.

After the long, dirty busride (hour and a half) up the Czech country side heading toward Poland, I arrived in Terezin, a small town that no one else on the bus had any intention of visiting. What a place. I saw a real concentration camp. Cellars, tunnels, walls, showers, and hundreds of small rooms where Jews were held 60 to room forced to sleep standing up and die due to lack of air, disease, and execution. This was not a death camp however, like Auschwitz, but a place Jews were held before being transported to such places. Many Jews did however die here, young and old men and women. The place was a prison, cold, damp and dusty and very large. The few memorials scattered throughout the fortress were simple and powerful. One was a steel plate full of ashes lit by a simple light behind a pane of glass.

After I left I felt ashamed of all the stuff I take for granted. So called "hardships" of my own life, I have not one. This was a nightmare for these innocent people and I complain when there isn't enough gravy on the turkey. I pondered the age old question of how something like this was able to happen for as long as it did. Not just this persecution of Jews during the Holocaust, but slavery as well. How anyone or anything could act so harsh, below the level of the most wretched of animals. I sat outside the walls and reflected for a while looking over the roses atop the mass graves. I decide to catch the next bus to Prague.

When I broke free of my "trance" so to speak, I realized I was in a very small town in the North Czech republic population 1 maybe 200 farmers, and I was the only one who spoke a lick of English. It was getting late and the stop where the bus dropped me off was nothing more than a dilapidated road sign. I found a small woman walking her dog and with some slow talking, a map, and some charades, i managed to ask the lady where to catch the next bus to Prague. She pointed on the map to another town more than 3 miles away. I thanked her, cursed my situation, and started walking. About 10 minutes in, i stepped in a puddle about 8in deep, soaking my shoe through my sock so I was reduced to my bare feet. Here I was, on a back road in the Czech country side with a small bag a half bottle of water, no food and very little money. I walked for an hour scared to death about where i was, the situation i was in. I did realize I was, in fact, just a dumb kid touring Europe... it's not like i was in a concentration camp, that's a real dilemma.

I came around a bend which split 2 small mountains and on the other side I saw something wonderful. Behind the hills, the land opened up to field of sunflowers as far and wide as the Atlantic. I mean huge sunflowers, 6 ft high, millions of them, yellow haloed black face sun babies all watching they're mama rise and set (please don't take the love don't steal it....) It was truly a site to see.

Things were looking up but my feet were killing me. I arrived in the town 2 hours later. I noticed a pilsner sign above an old door and went in, bare foot, to a small corner pub. Inside were several, heavy weathered faced Czechs, all looking right at me as if I were a fool. I said, very timidly, "english?" they all looked at me like I was fuckin nuts. The Czech language is like a cross between German and chewing on glass, and that's all they knew. The bartender, a younger guy of about 27-28, was able to let me know I missed the last bus to Prague. My heart sank like a steel turd. Here I was, lost in the depths of the Czech Republic, no phone, no food, barely any money, and no knowledge of how to communicate with anyone. What I would have given for a simple "hello mate" or even a set of those heavenly golden McDonalds arches. (Something about seeing a McDonalds in a strange place is awkwardly comforting) But there was neither.

The men in the bar picked up on the fact that I was extremely distressed, maybe it was my bare feet, maybe because i didn't leave, maybe because I looked like I was praying silently to a travel god who had forsaken me. One of them came over to me. It turned out he was able to set up a cab ride. Alleluia! I explained I had no money, about 1000Kc (round 50$) He called the cab, bought me a Pilsner and there I was. Picture me, bare feet, stained shirt, half dead, having a beer with some old Czech farmers in thier local pub, nervously smiling and trying to hold myself together.

In 30 minutes (the longest 30 min of my life) a cab came, an old Russian type car with the word "taxi" stenciled on the hood. The cost for the hour and half ride back to Prague was 1000Kc (50$) do you believe it! I was never so happy to pay up. I got in the back of the car and the song the old car radio was coming trough faintly... "Obla dee obla daa life goes on"... how appropriate. I made it back to my hostel in one piece.

I tell you, I've been on some adventures before but this one takes the cake. Moral of the story? always have a way home.