Tour Bash at the Nectar

Wow, where should I begin? I had the idea for about 5 months and first I thought about a typical three band bill but then I realized I wanted to achieve something different. I want to built community, so I invited about 16 songwriters to play their best couple of songs with me and my band, thinking that probably only about 8 will say yes - well, everybody said yes and on top of that Blaine, my friend and “Events Manager” invited more to make it a really cool community event. First I was totally overwhelmed due to the fact that I just had arrived in Seattle after a 4000 mile West Coast tour and here I am having only about 10 days to prepare the biggest event I ever did since I’m in the US, while playing 4 other shows and giving a day long workshop. At times I felt it slipping out of my hands but I got a grip on it and pulled through in some 16 to 18 hour days. The Band (Chris on drums, Eric on keys, percussion, accordion and backing vocals and Jon on the bass) had not a single rehearsal and yet we succeeded in playing about 40 songs with totally different artists and do it well.

I was so proud of everybody and the crow just loved it. So many familiar faces that smiled and expressed pure joy and something like “yes, that’s the way it should be.” India and Steven helped a great bit in taking on some responsibilities and everybody was supportive and thankful for a moment of harmony and the feeling of not being alone in this world, sharing the love for music and community. I knew there would be surprises but I had no clue what exactly to expect. I was a little confused when a Pedal Steel player introduced himself to me after carrying all his stuff in and putting it in front of the stage. I never met this person before and he introduced himself as Dan Tyack - well I was not wiser than a second before but kept open to the idea. He told me that he had played with a lot of the songwriters that were about to take the stage and that Blaine had invited him. So now that you are here, how about getting on stage and setting up. First I planned having him only play a couple of songs but after I heard the first notes I knew that I won’t let him of the stage until the end of the evening. What a player!!!
A lot of people showed up and were taken by the level of musicianship and dedication that started with and insane guitar set of Danny Godinez.

Then I played a couple of songs with the band before we started getting Songwriter after Songwriter on stage. I love events like that and it flows very nicely.

The short interludes between sets become their own entity - James Whiton get up and does a bass solo, well it’s more like an orchestral piece and leaves everybody with a dropped down jaw.

The second is going really well and my personal highlight is playing bass with my friend Kym Tuvim - beautiful songs and personality. The next interlude starts with Geoffrey Castle and a violin solo, another Blaine invite. What a great mix of talent, I don’t know where to start, all the songwriters were just amazing and gave all their best which made it an incredible special evening that will always be a highlight in my life. Those are the moments where everything makes sense and I exactly know that there is a purpose.
We ended the night with “Here comes the sun” and a lot of people came up on stage to play and sing again wow - I almost lost the lyrics just by being emotionally overwhelmed. After it was over I realized that the band and me were on stage pretty much from 9 pm to 1:30 am straight with only a couple of 5-10 minute breaks. By 3 am I had the car packed with all my gear and realized that I hadn’t schlepped so much stuff for years, several guitars, bass, amps and CDs and and and...
I’m beat but completely satisfied and happy. When I get home I’m still wired - well, what did I expect, so it takes another hour before I finally crawl into bed. I still can’t believe how wonderful that evening was as well as I can’t believe that I’m leaving Seattle again in 8 hours from now. I got to sleep - I got to sleep -I got to sleep - got to sleep - got to sleep - to sleep - to sleep - sleep - sleep - sl.......psss.