open mic odyssey

Berthoud Colorado House Concert & KRFC FM and more.

Hi again. I'm sitting here thinking of the things I have to do this week. Tuesdays always end with a trip to the Rio Grande in Fort Collins likley followed by a walk to Lucky Joe's to say hi to Kev and Mary Beth, possibly the man himself, Joe. My favorite daughter (sorry Tad & Maggie) will graduate from HS this week. There will be a party and people from out of town. We love her very much and are very proud of her accomplishments. Don''t worry, I tell them they are all my favorites. I have a show at Larry's Guitars in Longmont, Colorado on Thursday and a show at the Bellvue Bean in Bellvue, Colorado. That one might be sold out but hop on the website if you are interested. The other thing going on this week is a house conert in Berthoud Colorado. This is going to be fun for me, make the drive and all are welcome. Tomorrow I will do a live radio broadcast from our home grown public radio station here in Fort Collins, Colorado. Check it out at 12:00 noon Rocky Mountain Standard time. I have an interesting plan for that one. 

http://www.krfcfm.org/programming/podcasts/live-at-lunch/

 

Have a great Tuesday!

http://profiles.sonicbids.com/events/index/CaryMorin/3260283

New CD

This week is full of preproduction for a new CD. I have songs that were written on the road in Europe and songs that I have written around Fort Collins over the years that I'm searching for and goofing around with. Today I came across 3 songs that I had totally forgotten about and really glad that I found. The recording process will be the same as my current CD, Sing It Louder. That CD was recorded with 2 microphones in a room. Picture a a pair of ears in front of a couple of guys hearing everything that is going on. That is how it used to be done way back in the day with the big bands, and it still works to this day. What you hear doesn't involve any additional track recordings or fixes. It is what it is. While I was digging around for tunes, I came across some songs that were recorded mostly in my basement and some in an empty office building that a buddy let us use for a month. It's mostly Atoll guys and other friends like Sheela Bringi that performed in our stage prduction, Turtle Island, a few years back. These songs have nothing to do with what I do now, but I thought it might be interesting for you to hear what I was doing 10 years ago so you can compare it to what is happening now. If you don't have the current CD you can come to a show or check it out on Amazon or iTunes. Feel free to snag these tunes if you like them and of course be sure and let me know if you don't like them. That's always good to hear! Thanks!

 

Zio Romolo & Paonia, Colorado

It's been a great couple of days. After moving my Streamline trailer to it's new home in Fort Collins (with LOTS of help from Rich at Shaped Music) I finally got it cleaned up and ready for use as the guest house in Old Town Fort Collins. It's already been used once and if you need a place to stay, give me a shout! I had a show this past Wednesday night at Zio Romolo's Alley Bar in Highlands. It's sort of near the Bronco Stadium if you know where that is in Denver. I played 3 sets with my good friend and traveling companion Peter Knudson. We played a variety of my tunes, Dead tunes, and some of the old country tunes I picked up playing in North Dakota a few weeks back. It was great to be in at Zio's. Rodney, the bartender and Frank, the manager are great people. I also had some time last week to get some work done on a new CD. I did some home recordings of some of the songs that I penned while in Europe a few weeks back and recorded some other stuff just for fun. On Thursday morning we loaded up a car with guitars and made the 5 hour drive to Paonia, Colorado. These two gigs have a conection, neither one of the shows would have happened it if weren't for my friends Better Than Bacon. I'm invited to sit in with them from time to time and I am always happy to be on stage with these great guys. The Paonia show is tomorrow night at the Paradise Theater. We had a great drive from Glenwood Springs, past Red Stone and on to Paonia. This day will be spent doing a little guitar maintanace and then we will try and hook up with the Bacon Boys and see what this town is all about! Saturday night I will open the show and then maybe play a bit with the band too. I feel blessed to be in such a beautiful part of the world with good friends. Next week my youngest graduates from HS and the fun continues. I hope you are well where ever you are and continue to keep us in your thoughts as you are certainly in ours!

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paonia,_Colorado

Guild 12 string

I was gifted an incredible guitar from Music Maker last month. I am so thankful for their support and guidance. I will try and record some tunes at home with this guitar today. I'm doing preproduction on a new CD and things seem to be going pretty well. There will a number of new songs, some ancient Atoll songs, a few covers, all solo acoustic. Thanks Music Maker!! The blues is the answer regardless the question.

 

http://musicmaker.org/

New Town North Dakota

Since my little set at Swallow Hill in Denver, I've been on a little adventure around the region. I took a few days and worked on some cover tunes to play a few 4 set nights at 4 Bears Casino in New Town, North Dakota. Last Wednesday we packed up and headed north to Rapid City, South Dakota. We arrived around 5 pm and decided I would play an open mic night at The Dakota Soda. As it turns out, it is run by an old friend of mine Mike Reardon who has been playing in the region for years. I played my couple of tunes and Mike suggested we walk down the street to Thirsty's. I got up and did a few tunes and jammed with the host and local guitar legend, James Van Nuys. What a great guy and killer guitarist. I hope to make it back up that way and play more with him soon. We said goodnight to my old friend Randy Ross, who always asks me to say hello to my mother for him. Hi Mom, from Randy. The next morning we headed north again through the oil country. There are lots of camps springing up everywhere and oil rigs everywhere you look. I couldn't help but think of the gold rush and how similar it must have been for the locals of the day. That's a different story though. We arrived at 4 Bears and I went through some tunes and set up some gear. It was obvious after the first night that I would need more old timey country tunes, so I worked on that for a pretty good part of the day on Friday. I recalled many of the songs I used to play with my father when I was a child. My folks would often have friends over and the guitar would come out and he would sing. Charley Pride, Merle Haggard and a ton of other cool stuff. Eventually, I got to the point where I could play along and am very greatfull that we had that connection. It's something I have had the chance to do with my children and I'm thankful for that as well. Saturday we got up and headed back to Rapid City where in about 15 minutes of being in town ran into my friend, Mary Rasch. She is a very well known musician in those parts and has traveled around the county playing great music. It's always a pleasure to run into her and her family. We will stay in touch for sure. After dinner we went and listened to another friend from back in the day, Chris Cady. His band Violent Hippie has been a mainstay in the Black Hills for years and he continues to please. We listened to his solo show for a bit, got some rest and headed back to Colorado. I will spend this week doing some home recording and I have 2 shows coming up. One at the Bellvue Bean and a house concert in Berthoud Colorado. Check out the website for details on those shows and as always, thanks for keeping us in your thoughts as you are always in ours.

Violent Hippie : http://m.myspace.com/home.wap?bfd=webnext&isredirected=true#friends.list/profile/49745294 James Van Nuys : http://jamesvannuys.com/music.html New Town Wiki : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Town,_North_Dakota Rapid City North Dakota. : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_City,_South_Dakota Mike Reardon : http://www.mikereardonmusic.com/ Randy Ross : http://www.attatribal.com/about-atta

Swallow Hill

I haven't hit an open mic night in a while so tonight we decIded to drive about an hour south of Fort Collins to Denver, Colorado. Swallow Hill is a legendary music venue and school. They have an open mic night once a month, if you make the cut you are invited to another open mic night where you get to do 20 minutes. After that, I don't really know what happens? The show is hosted by Ed McIlvain, I enjoyed his songs and will likely run into him again becuse acording to google he is a pretty busy guy. My plan for world domination one person at a time is moving a little slower than I would hope. I have 193 likes on my FB music page. Unless I live to be 500 years old, I'll have to come up with a plan B. Tonight there were a lot of players and some pretty cool looking guitars. We normally stick around and listen to the other performers (I was first) but decided since it was early we would head back to Fort Collins and try and get home before dark. Missed it by that much. I'm sitting here eating a bowl of noodles and thinking of my trip next week to South & North Dakota. What happens way up North on Cinco de Mayo? Watch for next week's blog and find out. Thanks for reading and Sing It LOUDER!

http://www.linkedin.com/in/edwardmcilvain

http://swallowhillmusic.org/

 

D Note

I played an hour set at the D Note in Arvada Colorado yesterday. Nice folks, good food. I'm finding that standing while I play puts my right arm to sleep. That's not really a good thing since I sort of use that arm a lot on stage. Spending today at Cary Morin World Headquarters trying to figure out mistakes I have made in some bookings. Not fun. I'm trying to get back to the 3 to 4 hour schedule of playing daily guitar that was my life last summer. In fact I think I'll do that right now. If you think of anyone that needs a guitar player sitting around a party of a function of some sort, give us a shout.

COLORADO!!

As of today I have been home for a week here in Fort Collins, Colorado. The tour in Europe seems like months ago. The feeling of being home and seeing everyone is pure love! There are so many things on my plate right now but I have to take a break and write this and try to recall all that has happened in the last week. Our plane out of Paris was delayed just enough for us to miss our connecting flight home from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Pete and I were lucky enough to get on the next flight and we were only delayed a couple of hours. Once home, I stopped by the Rio for an hour or so and came home and passed out. Sleeping has been a little rough but nothing like the last tour. I feel like I am finally cought up and feel really good. On Thursday, Celeste and I took a little break and went to Broomfield, Colorado to watch Tom Petty kick off his tour. They played a great show, and we had a fun time. Friday night I played at the Pearl Street Pub in Boulder. Bubba and Bobby were behind the bar and since it was 4/20 Pearl Street was packed. It was a beautiful Colorado day and I even bumped into my daughter and her friends. I played 3 sets and felt pretty good about the show. I don't often play that long with out a band or at least Pete, so I was curious to see how it would turn out. It turned out fine. Saturday we visited some friends in the mountains outside of Fort Collins and played music by the fire well into the night. It couldn't have been any more perfect. I'm back at Cary Morin World Headquarters trying to get my act together. The loss of my phone in Paris has created some difficulty contacting people for dates that have been booked. I will eventually figure all this out, maybe? I changed a ton of passwords and can't seem to remember half of them. That is normal for me of course. Can't get my email working on my laptop or my phone but I will keep trying and hopefully not pull out all my hair in the process. Tonight I will drive to Arvada Colorado to play a show at this cool joint called the D Note. Wednesday I will drive to Rapid City to have some dinner and then on to Fargo North Dakota to play a solo show. After that the plan is to drive to New Town North Dakota and play 2 shows at the 4 Bears Casino. I alway have a great time there and look forward to a roadtrip in America! Thanks for reading this and keep me in your thoughts as you are always in mine!

Two Concerts to Go!

By the time this tour is done we will have played 15 concerts, driven 4000 miles, sold out of my CDs and The Trio CDs, and met many wonderful people. Our concert in Spain was the 1st and I can barely remember it. I envy the bands that do this all year long. Maybe someday? The only unfortunate event was I somehow became separated with my phone. I lose something pretty much every tour so I'm not going to let that bother me too much.
My biggest triumph on this tour was standing on stage for all but 2 shows. I know it doesn't sound like much but for me it is huge. I won't bore you with the details of why I havent been on my feet in concert halls but I will be from now on. There it is.
We have 2 shows left and then I will be back home in Fort Collins, Colorado. I will be playing solo shows, working with various bands, working on my solo CD, working on a new CD for The Trio, and rehearsing my new band. I intend to come back to Europe this coming winter and make a go of it as a solo artist for 3 months. Have a great weekend and keep us in your thoughts as you are always in ours!

France spring 2012

I am rolling down an highway in France with the Pura Fe Trio. It was an early morning and today we will travel to the Alps for a concert at a ski resort. Last nights theater sold out and it was a fun crowd. The seating was at a very steep grade and I felt I could see the faces of the people in the top row as well as the folks up front. It was like an big wall of humanity. Somewhere in the middle of the show the power in that part of town went out. It didn't last for long but gave us a moment to get to know the audience a little better. The show seemed a little more relaxed after that.  We had just come off two days off where I stayed at the hotel nearly the whole time. I got a chance to play guitar, rehearse with the band, and visit we folks back home a bit. We are working on a new trio CD and I hope to have a new solo CD out soon too. I will start rehearsing a new band when I get home in a few weeks, the Cary Morin Band. not a very imaginative name I realize but it will do. My new life as an acoustic guy will continue and I am constantly looking for work. My plans to come back to Europe for 3 months are moving along. It will take a lot of planning and if any part of our plans don't work the whole thing will come to pieces. If it does all work out, i will be here after the holidays for solo concerts and then a Cary Morin/Pura Fe Trio tour.  After our last shows in North Carolina I stopped drinking coffee, until this morning! I will continue to keep the coffee to a minimum and I'm trying very hard to eat well and drink lots of water. I feel fortunate to be among friends, playing music and meeting nice folks.  On a previous tour in Europe last month I dropped my guitar case in an airport. Turns out on of my guitars got busted up pretty good. After some time at Spotlight Music Store and a few bucks, it's good as new. I'm extra careful now. We have 14 shows in the next 12 days so I'm not sure how much time I will have to write. I know a few of you read these posts and it always makes me feel good to hear back from you. I'm thinking of you and look forward to being in your company. Track down our schedule at carymorin.com or on Facebook or reverbnation if you are interested in where the concerts are.