Zarb Brothers Annual Street Concert

This was the 6th Annual Street Concert and it was as fantastic as ever.  When Nathan Emmans and I were in the band Soapbox Symphony we had the great honor of playing the street concert three years on a row.  We were able to play with so many amazing musicians; people such as Tommy Emmanual, Matt Zarb, Pauly Zarb, Matt DeSpain, Chris Bradley, the list could go on for pages.  This year was not any different.  

This year there were 6 acts that played.  I will have to update this later when I get all the names but one amazing act was Nikki Gillis.  (She has a single at number 6 out in Australia).  Her manager is one of the Zarb Brothers so they were able to do some coordinating and bring her out for the street concert.  She plays a bit of mandolin and has a slight country edge to her music.  

Another musician that just blows my mind is Chris Bradley.  He is just a good old Kentucky boy that can play the electric guitar amazingly well.  As far as I know he does not do that much writing, though he does play with Pauly.  He has written one song that in my mind could very easily be a number 1 on the country charts.  The song is called "What a Wonderful Life" and it is beautiful.  I am going to try and get a copy of the song some how.  As far as I know he has never recorded the song.  If I can get it I will be sure to share the song with as many people as possible.  

Well the computer is about to die so I will have to continue this post later...

Kyle Ray

Bardstown, KY

We are finally here in Bardstown and preparations for the Bardstown Street Concert are well under way.  Today Nathan, Pauly, Pete (pauly's drummer) and I went over to a radio station in Louisville to do a short interview to help promote the street concert.  Pauly did the talking but we did get to jam on Flagstaff and one of Pauly's songs (my mind is going blank on which song).  After the interview, we came home got some food and we are now beginning rehearsals for the show tomorrow.  So far Pauly and his band are kicking some tail.  As always.  This show is going to be amazing.  If you happen to be in the area of Bardstown, KY, I would highly recommend coming out to the show which starts tomorrow (Saturday) at 6:00 PM until Midnight.  

Kyle Ray

Lost Baggage

After flying all night and sleeping about two hours,  (The guy sitting next to me was on his computer all night which felt like a flashlight in my face not letting me sleep), I finally landed in Louisville, KY.  I was ready to grab my bag and go get some food and then go to sleep, but my bag was nowhere to be found.  So I went over to the baggage counter, was tired enough to mistake United with US but eventually got a claim filled out and was on my way.  Not really worrying about my bag because they deliver my lost bag to where I am staying I went about my day.  On the way to a radio interview I got a call from the delivery driver.  "Did I give you the wrong bag?" I had to explain to him that when he dropped it off I wasn't there so I was I going to know.  Then I also gave him the idea of looking at the bag he had in the car, if it was mine then he hadn't given me mine.  Turns out that  he had dropped off the wrong bag, but all is well I have my suit case back and nothing is missing.

Kyle Ray 

P.S. If any of this doesn't make sense, I am still working on only a couple hours sleep.

Big Texan Steakhouse

So Texas is pretty fun. Shortly after getting into Amarillo, we went out to Big Texan Steakhouse; which, apparently, is "famous for steaks." They say if you can eat a 72 ounce steak along with all its' accouterments (baked potato, four breaded shrimp, side salad and a roll) inside an hour, it's free. Otherwise it'll run you $72. So Dave (Jess' Dad) told me if I didn't try it I was "all hat and no cattle." He's always saying strange things like that. A couple of kids from Sacramento were trying it when we were getting ready to leave. They had about fifteen minutes left and it looked like they hadn't even started. The normal sized steak I had was awesome though. Hope all is well with ya'll (a little Texas slipping in you know). We're playing a hip little club called The 806 tonight. I'll tell you how it went later.

Peace, hope and love- Nathan J. Emmans

Texas Somewhere

We’re somewhere in Texas, just over the border of New Mexico. The wind is pushing our RV around the road like it thinks we’re a tumble weed (can’t talk about Texas and not add a tumble weed reference). Our RV is literally falling apart around us. This is only day four and already twice that many things have busted around our “affordable” ride. We’ve affectionately named it Bertha the Whistling Whale Guppy (BWWG); which, to be honest, I really don’t know why except for the obvious fact that it whistles. That, and the fact that it gives one the distinct impression of driving in some kind of strange hybrid between a piece of Tupperware and one of those cheap particle board book shelves you get from K-mart and build yourself.

Our show at Wildwood Sounds in Southern Colorado had to be canceled (Which was a huge bummer ‘cause we absolutely love playing their. In fact, it’s one of my favorite venues our here). But we managed to call our buddies Scott and Angie out at San Luis Valley Brewing Company, in Alamosa Colorado and they hooked us up with a show last night. It was a great show.

We met some friends of a friend as well. Special thanks to John and Sandy Varner who let us park BWWG on their farm last night. John even let me take his truck into town so we didn’t have to try and find a parking spot for the BWWG. Good people the Varners are. Ok, I’d better go. I’m starting to sound like Yoda. Peace, hope and love- Nate

On the Road

Nathan and Jess have started the first leg of the tour. They took off yesterday and plans have changed already. You may have noticed that our show at Wild Wood Sounds was cancelled. Bit of a shame as it is a very cool venue run by very cool people, but some thing aren't meant to work out. They have been able to pick up another show on Saturday at the San Luis Valley Brewing Company. They will be starting around 8:30 pm and rocking till the around 11:00 pm. If you live in the area go check them out!

A Little Tour... Open Mic

Some of you may know that we are going to be gone the next few weeks playing some shows around the country. We are super excited about getting back to the midwest and seeing some dear friends. Nathan and Jess will be driving out starting tomorrow morning, of course we wish them the best of travel mercies. I (kyle) will be flying out in about a week.

As excited as we are this means that we will be missing out on the weekly open mic night at Basement Wines. We will miss the good times, but do not think that the good time and good music will stop. The next few weeks will be covered by Rich from Lucky Lei (and probably more members will make the journey) and Adrienne (sorry if I misspelled that) and Joelle of Silver Service will also be covering a week. Thanks to the people covering for us in our absence and I hope that you all go out and support the music while we are gone.

Be sure to check back here as we will be blogging about our adventures on tour.

Kyle Ray

New Photos

I just wanted to let all you peoples know that I just put up a bunch of new photos over on our flickr account. They are of the Basement Wines Open Mic that we host. Which is tomorrow, by the way. So if you don't have any plans or you are looking for a way to spend the night, come out and enjoy the show or play a couple of tunes yourself. We look forward to seeing you there!

Kyle Ray