Seth's Road Journal...

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12:20 a.m.
Thursday, April 8, 2004; MILWAUKEE, WI -- I am about to leave for Chicago to kick off the Spring Tour!! Yeehaw, y'all... I am itching to play again. Completing the recording and mixing all last month was a totally engrossing experience, and through it all, I realized that I need to get my road chops back! So this past evening I performed at the Linneman's Tavern open mic here in Milwaukee, and the place is just kickass... I am hoping to stop there again before the summer is out. .....my past few days I have spent here in the city, where I've never really done anything before, and it's been startling to explore. Milwaukee reminds me immensely of my hometown, Buffalo, but in a strange way: it's as if Milwaukee actually IS Buffalo in an alternate dimension, where history has been altered, and where the place actually turned out okay! Bittersweet, but I have had a great time here. :) ....A big part of the good time I've had is Stacey Olson. Stacey is my brand new COLLEGE BOOKING AGENT, and she rocks. She is based out of Milwaukee, and has taken me in on my days off between the last NACA conference and my tour kickoff. We have been having a great time, and I'm sure she'll be making some appearances at various shows throughout the rest of the year when they coincide with her travels. Be warned... she is WAY more fun than me! ;) ..... ....Alrighty then. This weekend includes Chicago, Indianapolis, and Louisville KY! Let us, as we say in Reno, Bring the Rock. -Seth

11:34 a.m.
Sunday, March 28, 2004; RENO, NV -- This weekend has been out of CONTROL... Thursday night I went and saw David Wilcox in concert in a small hall that held about 200 people, way past fire code. The word "charisma" does not even begin to describe the influence that man has over his fans. Wow. He's just a master performer, and I enjoyed myself beyond description. An added thrill was that a friend of mine, fellow national touring musician PAUL SPRAWL was in town as the opening act, and so we got to hang out and catch up a bit. It's a small, small world: I was originally turned on to Paul's music by fellow solo bassist Jud Duncan, and I ended up on the same bill with Paul at a show in San Diego about two months later. About a week and a half after meeting Paul, we were at an open mic in LA together, and lo and behold, who do we meet that night but the ambidextrous wunderkind, Rodney Branigan. When I think about all the musicians I know, and the connections that introduced me to them, and about how those musicians are now connected, I aspire to be the Kevin Bacon of the indie songwriting world. ........oh. Wait. He's actually ON the indie songwriting circuit, isn't he? Okay... I should re-think that statement... you know what I mean, though, right?.... ....anyway, then on Friday night I went to Reno's hip coffeehouse, Walden's, to catch some friends of mine performing. Kate Cotter (who was on tour with Rodney, Sol'Jibe, Robert Gilmer and I last fall) opened the show, and I got to hear a couple of her new tunes, which were REALLY nice... what I WASN'T expecting though, was the amazing transformation of James Cavanaugh & Co., the headliners. James has been on the Reno scene for a bit, and apparently he used to be a big cover song guy, only playing his originals on the side. I got to share a bill with him last summer when I was here, and was impressed with his trio. Not a year later, in this little coffeehouse, they blew my freakin' HEAD off. They have become a tight, fun, acoustic jam machine with seriously good material, and they need to get their asses out of the Biggest Little City and out on the ROAD. James, you listening? :) .........and then, top it all off, last night I saw the kickoff show of the new tour by one of my all time idols: PRINCE. I know now that all the inspiration I've been feeling these past few weeks had nothing to do with me: apparently the Purple One has been in Reno for the past TWO WEEKS, rehearsing in preparation for the tour kickoff. People have seen him everywhere! He's been showing up to clubs to jam and stuff, too! And I've been HOLED UP IN THE STUDIO!!!! ARRRRRGGGHH! =( .......but anyway, the show was phenomenal. The sound SUCKED for the first 3/4 of the night, but hey; it was the opening gig.... it was still badass, and I am fired up to get back on the road now. ...................Okay. Conduit Conduit Conduit Conduit Conduit Conduit Conduit Conduit....... -Seth :]

11:15 a.m.
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2004; RENO, NV -- THE HOME STRETCH. Except for the inevitable mistakes that slip through the cracks and rear their heads at the last minute, the new album is finished being recorded! Robert Gilmer and I breathed a sigh of relief (?) and he got to work on starting the mixing process yesterday. Happiness. Contentment. Momentum. Then we got word that a song we had finished very early on in the process was back from a test mastering job. How exciting! This would be the first taste of what the FINAL RECORD would sound like; a very important step... we would get to hear a sneak preview of the final product; validation for all our efforts. We hurriedly put the master CD into the drive and pressed "play", and listened, on pins and needles, to take in the glory.... ...................and it SUCKED! Man, are we glad we sent out a test mix first. I mean, the master was clean; it had all the depth and polish of a professional job... but it brought out all the nuances of my singing and playing, and I was like, "Ohhhhh nOOOOOOOOO....." It makes sense; the song we sent was the first one we ever finished, way back last summer. Hearing it back, it just didn't hold a candle to anything else we've created since then, and so we stopped the mixing process last night, and went and RE-DID about 60% of "Understatement". Many of you know that tune (the "Albuquerque song"), and believe me; you wouldn't have liked it the way we had it before... So now it's finally complete, and I am uber-ecstatic! =) ..........SO. Here's something to think about: To celebrate the release of "Conduit" (the new album), we're offering a bonus CD to the first people to pre-Order the album. The bonus CD is going to be a collection of LIVE tracks, recorded over the last half year or so, and though it will feature songs from "Notwithstanding" and "...this is the session." (and maybe a few other treats), they'll be the versions you all know and love from the shows you've attended. I hate to sound like an infomercial, but this live CD will not be sold in stores: the only way you'll be able to get it is if you place a pre-order for "Conduit" on the Benchmark Records website. Whoa; hold up. You can't do it yet! Just whetting your appetite. :) BUT! I would love some feedback as to what songs people would like to hear on the live record. I'm going through hours and hours and hours and hours of recordings, and of course I know what I like, but shoot; I can listen to me whenever I want. I want to know what YOU would like, so if you were at a show any time between July 2003 and January 2004 and remember thinking something was cool; let me know!! I'm starting a new thread on the Bulletin Board for people to offer suggestions, so feel free to post if you think of anything; I'll be checking it periodically to see what the People want. Looking forward to it, y'all..... - Seth :]

05:06 p.m.
Thursday, March 11th, 2004; RENO -- I have been back in Sequoia now for about a week and a half, and I am fired up once again about finishing this album! It had been so long since last summer's sessions I had forgotten how good this thing is!! =) .....check the "Conduit" page soon, and I'll update the details, but suffice to say, the project is in capable hands; Robert Gilmer is steering this thing towards genius. In spite of me. :) ...I don't get out a whole lot while I'm here working, but this month is so cool, I can't help myself. It seems I picked a good time to be in Reno... this month I got to play my own little show last weekend (more on that in a minute; I haven't been that nervous in YEARS...), I got to watch my friends in SolJibe win the acoustic guitar competition at Harrahs Casino, and I'll get to see both DAVID WILCOX and PRINCE in concert. (No; not at the same show. Can you imagine?...) ...I'm telling you; this town ROCKS. People have no idea about Reno, but the place is wicked cool. Not that you can't spend a half hour in a casino and come out thirty bucks poorer (ummm....), but the scenery is gorgeous, the scene is happening, and the people are awesome. I've made some good friends here, and as Tim Snider from SolJibe reminded me, it's the people that make the place.... ....But I digress: my show at the Great Basin Brewing Company last weekend. It being a Sunday night, I wasn't expecting hordes and hordes of people; it was probably the smallest audience I've played to in Reno since my first time here, actually. That was okay though, because I played almost entirely new material, much of which I'd never done in front of people before, and I was terribly afraid of failing miserably at it.... ....I was worried that because of the darker tone of a lot of the new tunes, people might not respond well, but through false starts and stops, tuning issues, loop pedal glitches, etc... you folks that were there were SOOO supportive, and afterwards I couldn't believe how nice you all were! Thank you for making me as comfortable as I could be. The new songs I did that night, that I'd never done solo, with the loop pedal, before, were "Home", "Sunset", and "...Catch." In addition, I played "Understatement", "Pretending To Heal", "Ripening Time", and a song that I believe will finally be titled "Explanation" (used to be "Dark", but that is a DIPPY name for a song). Fearing a riot if I didn't do some comfortable, older songs, I also snuck "Something Pretty", "Keep To Myself", and "Words" in the set, along with some of the cover song favorites, and the folks who'd never seen me before got the requisite dosage of tappity-slappity-ness. ;) .....all in all, a satisfying evening. .....stay tuned; more updates to come... -- Seth :]

02:35 a.m.
Sunday, February 29th, 2004; INDIANAPOLIS -- Okay... it's two thirty in the morning, and I just left the Birdy's show. What an awesome evening! Probably my best Indianapolis show ever... and considering I played what I'd consider my WORST Indianapolis show ever LAST year at Birdy's, I am A) thankful I was able to come back and make amends, and B) all fired up about trying to come back again and play in April... ...I'd played with them before, so I knew I'd be enthralled by the Malcontents, the headlining uber-ska-though-we-dress-like-unassuming-caterers band, and they rocked as expected (and beyond!), but I was blown out of the frigging water by Indianapolis legends The Fuglees. Holy CRAP, that was a good time. They are pure FUN. And they sing and play the hell out of their voices/instruments. And they wear matching flourescent orange jumpsuits. And they're the funniest fucking lyricists I've heard in ages... think about a very heavy, very potty-mouthed and dirty minded version of the Beach Boys. And they're apparently talking about doing shows in Albuquerque. awwwwwwwwww, yeahhh...... ....anyway, I'm on a plane to Reno today. I shall update you all soon from the spacious sanctuary of Sequoia Studios! - Seth :)

04:10 p.m.
Wednesday, February 25th; INDIANAPOLIS – So I have been in Indianapolis now for a WEEK now. That’s half as long as I’ve spent anywhere these past two years… so that must be why I’m feeling the “I gotta get on the ROAD-jitters”… …my time here has been productive, though. I have been working out the details of all the business stuff at the offices of Benchmark Records. It’s been kind of like what most people consider “real life”… I wake up, go to an office, get online, do research and communications, have meetings, get coffee… only I’m staying on my friend Nora’s couch, and I’m not getting a paycheck… …well, sort of… ….anyway, it’s been good to hunker down and take care of some booking, which I haven’t gotten to do in AGES, so one bit of good news is that I will be back on the road later this spring. Another bit of news is that two weekends ago I went to my first ever NACA convention… ( that’s the National Association of Campus Activities…) ….and I was able to do so because I am now working with a real, live, official COLLEGE BOOKING AGENT. (crowd: “oooohhhhhhhhh”….) It has been difficult at best to try and coordinate booking college gigs while I’m actually ON the road, and I’ve been doing less of it, and that’s bad… …so I’m happy to announce that I’ve joined the roster of artists at the Olson Entertainment Group, based out of Milwaukee Wisconsin. Stacey Olson is an awesome lady, and will be instrumental in helping me put together a fall tour schedule that is insanity-free. That will be different for me, but I’m sure I’ll manage… ...I’m gearing up to head back to Reno next week to finish the new album, and I will post more news about that once I’m there. …Oh!... …one more thing: I’m doing a last minute show here in Indy on Saturday night at BIRDY’S; 21 and over; I play at 9:30… if you’re around, come on down! :) -Seth