This blogger is doing something original: Off to DC for the Rally to Restore Sanity!

Miles From Nowhere, I guess I'll take my time

"Miles from nowhere/ I guess I'll take my time/ Oh yeah, to reach there. Look up at the mountain/ I have to climb/ Oh yeah, to reach there... Lord my body has been a good friend/ But I won't need it when I reach the end... Miles from nowhere/ Guess I'll take my time/ Oh yeah, to reach there... I love everything/ So don't it make you feel sad/ 'cause I'll drink to you, my baby/ I'll think to that, I'll think to that... Miles from nowhere/ Not a soul in sight/ Oh yeah, but it's alright...

"I have my freedom/ I can make my own rules/ Oh yeah, the ones that I choose... Lord my body has been a good friend/ But I won't need it when I reach the end...

"Miles from nowhere/ Guess I'll take my time/ Oh yeah, to reach there."

-Cat Stevens

But Why, Sir? New Album from Parple

Forgive my shameless self promotion, but my excitement can't be contained as I share the outcome of several months of hard work. Earlier this summer, I joined a new band with some old friends out of South Jersey and New York City called Parple. Since then, we've been working furiously on our debut album, "But Why, Sir?" to be released this December.

I've played many live shows as a lead guitarist in my relatively short career so far with bands promoting their own albums and original music and have always enjoyed it. But I've never had the privilege and honor of working in a recording studio on an album, and even have my own creative input utilized. It's a tedious process, but a thrilling one at that. Its remarkably exciting to watch a piece of music slowly unfold before your ears.

I have to also say that the band, featuring a lineup of old high school buddies, one of which I was formerly in a band with, is a fantastic collection of some of the greatest musical minds I have personally known and worked with. Collaborating on this music with them has challenged my own skills and made me a better musician. The music on the album is a collection that piano player Todd Selby wrote on his own as well as with best friend and drummer Alex Terruso, after previous stints in a band called the Claques. Entering college, the band, and the friendship, crumbled over petty issues. But alas, reconciliation achieved, the duo returned to song writing and decided to expand their field of creative input and invited the remarkably talented bassist, Steve Conroy, and myself on guitar, before entering the studio to cut their debut album under the new name, Parple.

The band, as a stroke of fortune, all happens to live in New York City after meeting in high school in South Jersey, and as such looks forward to playing shows there once the album is released. It is my great privilege to introduce the first sample of the album, "But There Will Be Free T-Shirts," available now on the Facebook page.

Also, coming soon, the new website, parple.net

Robert Randolph and the Family Band prove that dueling slide solos are the coolest thing ever.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes. A must see if ever in your area.

"Breathe chicken breathe... Chickens don't get no life after death" -the Felice Brothers rocking the accordian

Whiskey in my Whiskey:

Day two of the festival: Diane Birch stole my heart.