Hey everybody wassup??!!!  Well, I’m finally back home for a week and I’m busy getting into the back to school routine.  I got home early after the Black Crowes had to cancel those shows in Cali and its just been beautiful here in Boston. The farmers market is in full effect and we’ve been grilling up a storm. Corn, baby eggplant, radicchio, fingerling potatoes, beets, oysters, brusselsprouts, the list goes on, anything you can cook. I can grill. Damn that’s good.

And while it’s cooking you know I’ve got my guitar by my side. It was nice to do some jamming off the stage after the summer tour. I couldn’t help it…I started writing a song the first time I picked it up. It’s a good jam too, “Undertow”.  Lyrically it’s all about losing control--the story of my life. It seems like no matter how much I plan things out, life and music have a way of going exactly the way they want to go. Which oftentimes is not exactly where you planned on them going. That’s just the way it is for me. Make no mistake I’m going to keep on making my plans and putting in the work to get it done. I guess you’ve got to go with the flow. You can’t fight the undertow--swim with it until it let’s you go. Just don’t drown! That’s it. Make plans, work hard, and go with the flow. A new mantra for you to absorb.

So, I was thinking on these issues and along came this song “speed limit” and “undertow” then I woke up this morning and my drummer the Houseman sent me the following words of wisdom from some of the wisest to have ever walked this earth. Enjoy! Thanks Houseman. These quotes are right on time.

See you all at Austin City Limits.  Make sure to get your tix for our late show Friday night at La Zona Rosa after the fest.

Keep the party going. G

THIS WEEK’S THOUGHTS FOR CHIEF PHILOSOPHICAL OFFICERS:

“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be.”
Douglas Adams

“If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s.”
Joseph Campbell

“One recognizes one’s course by discovering the paths that stray from it.”
Albert Camus

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Towering genius disdains a beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto unexplored.”
Abraham Lincoln

“How do you expect to arrive at the end of your own journey if you take the road to another man’s city?”
Thomas Merton

“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.”
Beverly Sills

“Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.
Henry David Thoreau

“We can’t reach old age by another man’s road.”
Mark Twain

“All in the dark we grope along and if we go amiss we learn at least which path is wrong,
and there is gain in this.”
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Awwwww man! I was all geared up for my two last shows in Cali. I was on the sick bill with the infamous Black Crowes. I got the call from my manager today. “Bad news…The Black Crowe shows are cancelled”. What?!!?! It turns out there was some health issues within the band and they had to cancel all their touring for the rest of the year.

I understand...kind of. You all know I have suffered a hemorrhage on my vocal chord in July and August and my doctor and my manager wanted me to cancel the whole tour. I wouldn’t do it. Call me stupid or irresponsible, but I powered through it with caution and I made it through.  I’ve got to get a surgery in November to get my vocal chords fixed.  Either way I thought, “I have 2 more shows and then…Bam!” The BC’s have to cancel for an injury. Like I said I understand, but I’m bummed on so many levels. 

I want all of our peeps to know that I wish I could’ve played these shows for you and I want to jam the new record in Cali. And make no mistake; I’m not mad at the Crowes. I love them and their music, and I, of all people, know what they are going through. I am going through it right now as well. Hopefully, we can make this up and reschedule this bill.

Anyways, big shots out to all the peeps that came and rocked with me in Chicago and Minnie for my two acoustic performances. These two shows were the last shows of the summer tour! What a vibe. Last night in Chicago was ill.  I didn’t think it could get better, but tonight in Minneapolis crushed it. The Hard Rock Cafe was over capacity and the crowd was awesome. I love rocking with the Sauce, but there’s nothing like solo acoustic. That’s my roots man!

Thanks to my whole crew, Chris D, Philly Frank, Goldenboy, Big Skrimp, Mark Boyce, Jimmy Jazz, Houseman, JB, AP, JJ, Chuck, Megan, Chris, Mario, James, the JBT and Tristan Prettyman all the bands and crews for a great summer. Thanks to all of our fans coast to coast for supporting the record and the tour.

We love you all!

Peace- G

To our fans,

We sincerely regret to inform you that the following dates are being cancelled due to an unexpected illness within the Black Crowes band:

9/17 Los Angeles, CA
9/19 Santa Barbara, CA

Despite our efforts, it is not possible to reschedule the canceled shows at this time.  However, efforts are being made by the Black Crowes to reschedule these markets in early 2009.

Fans are encouraged to obtain refunds from their original place of purchase.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this situation may cause our fans, are greatly appreciate of your understanding and look forward to seeing you soon.

This election is sure getting everyone heated up and I think it’s a good thing. It’s a good thing to get everyone thinking about where this country is headed. It’s a good thing to think about where this world is headed. Recently, a couple of my close friends and family who were Democrats and Republicans were debating about the election and the following words were written about the importance of the election. Whether you’re a democrat or a republican I think these words are important (and well written)
Check it out:

My Republican friend sent this:

A Father / Daughter Talk:

A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat, and among other liberal ideals was very much in favor of higher taxes to Support more government programs, in other words redistribution of wealth. She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch Republican, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his. 

One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the need for more government programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father. He responded by asking how she was doing in school.  Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn’t even have time for a boyfriend, and didn’t really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.

Her father listened and then asked, ‘How is your friend Audrey doing?’ Again caught off guard she replied, ‘Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies, and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She’s so popular on campus that college for her is a blast. She’s always invited to all the parties and lots of times she doesn’t even show up for classes because she’s too hung over.

Her wise father asked his daughter, ‘Why don’t you go to the Dean’s office and ask him to deduct 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA.’ The daughter, visibly shocked by her father’s suggestion, angrily fired back, ‘That’s crazy, anyway how would that be fair! I’ve worked really hard for my grades! I’ve invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!’ The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, ‘Welcome to the Republican party.’

If anyone has a better explanation of the difference between Republican and Democrat I’m all ears.

My Democratic friend replied:

“…You know I love you but you are so wrong about this.  This election is about so much more than redistribution of wealth (if you want to call it that).  This is about freedom, civil liberties, this is about rebuilding our world standing, this is about not lying to the American public, this is about taking the direction of this country out of the hands of those with enough money to have their causes overshadow those without.  Frankly all of us are the top 1% in this county, do you really believe that our security, wealth and sense of living is going to be adjusted that greatly?  I am truly serious? 

This election is about so much more than our personal wealth.  I am not about to concede the direction of my country to the conservative right wing of our country so they can dictate to me what my values are, all based on the shaky premise that I am afraid of helping out some people who have had less of a chance than me.  This is such misdirection of the greater issues…”

G sez:

That’s what I’m saying. There’s a lot more at stake right now than money. This election is values based.

Follow your heart

G

Salt Lake City--the wind howled, the rain came. The wind howled the rain left. The rainbow filled the sky as Tristan Prettyman sang her heart out and the show rocked! Beginning to end the vibe was tight.  Big shouts to all the crews in Salt Lake City for the sold out show. 

Now, now, now that wind is still howling and it feels like Mr. Fall blowing in saying, “G, you better finish that summer tour cause summer is over!” I’m like, “Damn Mr. Fall! Just give me two more nights of summer and I will be on my way!”

Well, I’m on my way to Red Rocks for our last show of this amazing tour. It was 6 weeks long and it’s hard to believe we only have Colorado left.  Crazy! Mountain High. I will wake up today at The Red Rocks. Can you feel it? Oh yeah. It’s on.

Peace

G

Wassup yaaaaalllllllll!

Well, I just got off stage at the beautiful Britt Pavilion in Jacksonville, Ore. What a crowd, what a night, what a show.  The vibes were nice. I felt stronger than ever. I’m back.

After a couple amazing days off in San Fran, We hit Vancouver and despite the terrible border crossing (why is the border always a huge pain in the ass???!!! Aaaaahh), we had a nice show at the Malkin Bowl. BC and the Pacific Northwest is just perfect. What a place to live.  I got to hang with two of my best homies from Philly Towne--Jonny Valentine and Earl.  Great to catch up and hear my two Northwest Philly liberals rail Rep Vice President Nominee Sarah Palin. We bought some Alaskan Salmon and they went off! “Palin Salmon” with the slogan “petroleum coated fish”, “we won’t stop till we catch every last Palin Salmon in the sea!!”

Anyways, I’m back in Portland tomorrow and we are basically working our way to the big finale of the tour in Morrison, CO.  The famous Red Rocks! Oh yeah. It’s on! 

See you there

G

Hey y’all. Wassup Fam?!?  Yesterday we played the sunny slopes of Ft Mason Park in beautiful San Francisco. With the Golden Gate Bridge in the background it was a majestic day to get our jam on.  The gig was an afternoon affair and I headed out to the waterfront for a run before the show. The San Francisco bay was perfect and Alcatraz was even looking inviting out on the island. Seeing Alcatraz (the famous “inescapable prison") reminded me of a good story.

On a tour a number of years ago we had the day off in SF and I asked Chad one of the singers from Brodeeva if he and Earl would wanna go to peep out Alcatraz to which he kindly replied, “Yo G, I ain’t going to jail on my day off!” Too funny. Shouts to Brodeeva! SoCal’s finest singers!

So, back to the point of this post which is to tell you about this Gibson J-45 guitar that I’ve been toting around for sometime now. Years ago at the X games I had the opportunity to interview and jam a song with Slash from Guns and Roses. I had never asked for too many autographs but I couldn’t pass this opportunity up. So, I asked him to sign it. That was the start of it all and now that guitar is tagged up crazy. Here is a list of the autographs I’ve gotten so far-

Bo Diddley, Junior Wells, John Hammond, Family Man, MCA, Mike D, Big Daddy Kane, Jack Johnson, Jackson Browne, DJ Red Alert, Wilt Chamberlin, Slim Kid Tre, Donavon Frankenreiter, Kelly Slater, Jimmy Buffett, Matt Costa, Mason Jennings, Charlie Musselwhite, John Butler, Ben Harper, Slash, Merlo, Ozomatli, Conan O’Brien, Steve Jones, Clyde Stubblefield, Warren Haynes, Grace Potter and last night I was honored to get Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead on there as well. Siiiiick!
What can I say, the guitar looks sick and what a blessing to be touched by such amazing artists. I’m a fan yall!

Peace, Love and Happiness,

G