june 8, 2008

hello heros,

i have reveived a few note asking what's going on, and that i haven't posted a blog in the last bit. so here it is:

well it is, or just was, that time of year where a bunch of good folks decend down upon (or up onto) this fair (and sometimes unfair) city of nashville. i avoided the low spots for the most part, which is ashame cause i know that a bunch of you were in town and it would have most certainly been nice to see you all.

i did venture out to the pancake pantry, where i got to meet up with bill and pat. (two eggs over medium, asked for sausage and got bacon instead (oh well) and substituted 2 blueberry pancakes for the buttermilk ones). where we got to catch up. without the travelings, there some folks i get to see only once a year.

when i asked them what they were doing after breakfast, they got kinda quite and tried to change the subject. when i asked again, they said they were going to gary's fan club party. (by the way...i put up a couple of photos from the younger days). i toyed with the idea of crashing the party. so i could say hello to those of you who were there, but i decided against it. but i did tell pat and bill to tell those i know i said howdy hi.

at this point i realized that allan tomkins must be in town; he's always there for the fan club party. however he hadn't called, so i tracked him down.

so wednesday night, i wandered over to the sheriton where allan was holding his tomkins guitar showcase. it was great visiting with allan and barbara and i sat in a little to jam with some of austrialia's finer bands. i heard that kandy from texas got her new tomkins guitar. i saw the pictures, but i didn't get to see it in person though.

and at that point, i made plans to return on friday with some friends including steel guitar virtuoso mike fried. but some of my other friends couldn't make it, so we switched it to last night (saturday) instead.

one of the friends i was with was chad harvey. chad is an americana country-rock singer/guitarist who is on the cusp of releasing his first cd (you will look him up won't you?).

i met chad a while back as he was passing though nashville, and met up with him again at a friend’s wedding. recently, chad moved to nashville (thanks for not asking me to help you move, chad, that is the sign of a true friend), and asked if i would join his band.

sadly, it was too late to play on his record. happily, not too late to start doing some traviling around these great 50 or so states.

allan tomkins was nice enough to call chad up to the stage to sing last night, and i followed in tow. it was the first time chad and i played together live, so i guess you could call it the world premier.

i had invited bill and pat over to the tomkins showcase, so we got a little extra hang time. they both took some cool photos of chad and i on stage. they promised to email them to me, so when i get them i'll post them here and at the humble jake kelly myspace page.

who knows what the future is going to offer up in the next bit, I’m optimistic.

so, i hope y'all had a great week as well. looking forward to hearing your stories, sorted thought they may be.

live large, live well,

jake

p.s. chad havery can be found at either www.chadharvey.com or directly to his myspace page (click here)
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april 30, 2008

death of an old friend and one i wish i knew.

yesterday's l.a. times ran an orbituary for chris gaffney almost a whole page, which is impressive for a bar musician. every piece of music i hear of his was cool. amoung the coolest stuff i heard. i didn't know him, but i knew of him and i know people he worked with.

if you're interested in real music, check out his hacienda brothers stuff.

since it's a time of passing, i thought i post here a column published in singer & musician magazine (www.ilivetoplay.net) last august. cheers...

today america witnessed the death rattle of the cd, the once savior of the music industry.

though not unexpected, the demise of this medium comes as a shock not only to the millions who bought into to format, but also to those who depended on it's status as a revenue source, a source of employment and those stock holders who thought the good times would never end.

able to rise up through auspicious beginnings, the cd struggled to find it's way in the beginning. while being heralded as "the next big thing", it was priced way over the head of common man. only those who were most affluent could afford to buy the discs, and the players that were needed to play them were priced somewhere in the realm of top-loading vcrs (and sony's beta players).

but with the advent of the microchip, and cheap labor in china, the players soon came down in price. the people embraced the technology. after all, who wouldn't want music that sounded better, never fluttered, and would withstand scratch that had horrid effects on it's predecessors, even if it's price never lowered in the market place.

in fact, at the point that cds became cheaper to produce than the common cassette (1970-1990), when manufacturing costs became cheaper, the price of a cd never fluttered, even though the disc did.

yes, it is sad to report that just as the cd disc resembled the lps from days of yore in shape, they were also susceptible to the same rough handling. the scratches looked the same, and had the same effect. Although the scratches sounded different, they were equally annoying.

but there were larger hurdles for the cd to cross: the promise of high sound quality.

while being capable of recording (even at the early days low bit rate) at much broader bandwidth than lps and cassettes, the virtues of cd's archiving ability over-shadowed what the discs were initially meant to be: a higher standard of sound reproduction. in other words, direct copies of the original mastered recordings were used as the standard.

the only problem was that mastered recordings were compensated to make up for the loss of high-end that happened in the manufacturing of vinyl lps. the end result: cds sounded harsh and trebly (yes, that is a word).

but like so many adolescents that were able to overcome the troubles of their youth, the difficult ones that held so much potential, the cd rose to take the crown both on the shelf and on end caps in both record stores and big box outlets alike.

and the masses rejoiced. no longer was audiophile quality something for the more affluent. even if the price didn't drop, the most meager could afford to plop down 18 bucks for the new jon bon jovi or john mellencamp (or was it cougar back then?) cd when it hit the racks.

no one could see the dark cloud forming on the horizon.

ironic is the fact that same technology that made music sound better was the same technology that allows exact duplicates to be made without the sound derogation. The sound derogation that happens when sound is transferred its archaic predecessor, analog, to another analog medium. worse yet, was the advent of the mp3: digital compression. it takes up less zeros and ones on your computers hard drive, and no one seems to mind the lesser sound quality (some think it sounds better!).

but what at first seemed was a dark cloud, was in fact a storm. the internet came along, and no longer was sharing a new album just something you might do with your friends, but something you might do with the entire on-line world.

and an empire crumbled in the aftermath. records stores crumbled (good-bye tower records). record labels crumbled (r.i.p.).

where once stood shelves of brilliantly colored phonograph albums, then small smaller, equally proportionately sized cds. and now, there stands a single ipod.

this might as well be the obituary for album art, and the album cut for that matter.

what is to become of the beautiful, intriguing, and sometimes thought-provoking art that was once 12" by12", which was then reduced to 5" by 5" for the cd? is it now to be a mere afterthought? art placed on the downloading site for the few that care?

and what about the album cuts, where the real art takes place?

when they are no longer subsidized by the hits, as it bound to happen with this sad day of the cd's demise, will they still be produced? will they still exist to hold their place of virtue in an industry that almost has none? can recording artist still call themselves artists without them? should we just call them hitmakers? it might as well be tupperware.

kudos to the small and mighty: those that realize that the small run (those that allow artist to sell their wares at the gig) is the small woolly mammal in the time of dinosaurs. They recognize that the cd is merely a transfer device. so when an artists sells an album at a show it might actually makes it to the listener's mp3 player. relying on a guest who saw your performance to actually log onto your website is akin to a starving songwriter winning the lottery. perhaps slightly better, but who says if they even log in, will they'll buy. better to get them when there guard is down, you know…when they have been drinking. a hand in the bush…

don't blame yourselves. and don't blame the ipod. Like the edison cylinder, 78, recording wire, the 45, the lp, the reel to reel, and the cassette, its time has passed. it cannot be helped. george harrison once said, "all things must pass." haven't heard it? let me email it over to you.

so, in closing…farewell, my plastic friend that served me well and took up approximately 25% of my meager musician's income. today we place you in the ground, and in about 25,000 years you'll be nothing more than the minerals and petroleum products of which you were born. i thank you for the good times.

jake

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mar. 24, 2008

hello heroes and hero worshippers alike,

so, i was out shooting rabbits yesterday morning. i couldn't sleep from saturday night's semi-toxic semi-potable experimentation (did you know that there's something legal what wasn't for a long time, but now is again), pull out the .22 and sat out on the deck until my eyes adjusted to the darkness.

then i could make out small shapes moving about the vegetable garden (veggies just starting to sprout) and the flower beds. i had lost my night scope to one of the more sticky hands in the tour bus days, so all i could tell was there was movement...not what it was.

the horizon started turning a pinker shade of blue and i stared to notice more movement than i previously had. and then wow...

in my neighbor's yard to the east was about the second biggest rabbit i had ever seen. i had to rub my eyes (very tired eyes, and the drink i had was suppose to be halicigenic...so i wasn't sure) to see if what i was seeing was real. but seeing those two huge ears had me thinking rabbit, coyote, or a damn big fox.

i like foxes (oh, do i), and coyote's do perform a public service (depending on your veiw of smaller domestic animals), but rabbits eat the best (how do they know?) of the garden, and the flowers...

so i carefully take aim. now, i know...you never cut another man's lawn, and you don't hunt in another man's pasture, but this big ass rabbit down on all fours, started -- swear it -- to climb the fence and waving in a very threatening manner a huge paw.

now, i started to get gripped with fear. a rabbit the size of a doberman pincher working it's way over then fence. now, i'm thinking danger...i take aim again.

suddenly i'm distracted, in my neighbor's window a woman in a bathrobe and two kids are waving to me with a horrified look on their faces...they have seen the beast, too, and they're encouraging me to kill it.

the reminates of alcohol in my body turns to adenine. now, it's not just me against this beast, but a whole other family i'm protecting. i take heart, i take aim a third time.

now, i don't believe in ghosts or spirits, but somehow this animal knew my name and could communicate to me without speaking. without any feature on it's face moving it said, "jake, please don't shoot."

and, then as if it had insight into my psyche, "you've been drinking."

just then, the church bell down the way began ringing, my finger tensed on the trigger, and the sun rose across my neighbors yard straight down the barrel of my .22 rifle.

the bullet flew out of the gun before i even realized what i had done. the recoil knocked me off the two rear legs on the chair i leaning back on the way semi-intoxicated people do and i hit my head against the wall of the house behind me. an it was only later i found out what actually happened.

my bullet missed the intended target and instead sailed across the town, and pierced the pitcher of sunrise service wine, which was fortunate because the priest's robe was on fire from a hand warmer incident that went array. the wine spilled out and put out the fire that had started on his gown.

after i knocked myself unconscious, i fell off the balcony onto a cougar that was stocking my neighbor dressed up like, of all things...the easter bunny. (no, really, who knew it was easter?).

so, apparently, miracles do happen. the night before i was given a fortune cookie that said i would witness a miracle. i believe.

hope you had a great day, too!

jake
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mar. 5, 2008

oh, just see it for yourself...

buenas noches, mi compardres,

i just fixed myself the first drink that i have had in a long time...jeeze, it must be close to 20 some hours. i had a hard day at work, and thought it might be time to relax and put some chill on.

last night i was hanging out with chad (one of my friends...you should check out his page...great singer...emerging artist in his own right), and we were pulling some guitars out of the cases that i haven't been using in the last bit. the guitars...they were like poor orphan children..."oh, please, sir, won't you play me a little..."

one of my favorites (and you'd think that i'd been playing it if it was one of my favorite)(wait...they're all my favorites!), is the gold epiphone that i used so much on the "bitter...party of one...you're table is ready" cd and the "i run with scissors" cd. it sounds great and looks like a million bucks.

i'll have to post a picture...but not now.

anyway, in the wee hours of the morning when the sun started to rise, the bottles were empty and chad crawled home, for some reason i started to think of this song i wrote way too long ago. i had high hope it would make an album someday...and it might be my next one.

and pulling out my headphones, and picking up my gold epiphone guitar out of the chair, i pulled off an impromptu version of "see it for yourself".

now, i want you to be a little forgiving when you listen to this...i was playing in the style of chet atkins, but my chops may have gotten a little rusty. i haven't done fingerpicking in a while (i'm almost grateful) but rather concentrating on writing what not. but still, i thought the gold epiphone had a beautiful voice...i just wished...

i had poperly warmed up. so this is the next best thing that you might have waking up next to me.

so, in short, "see it for yourself" is what i thought might be a little gem from the past. but, in truth, i guess you get to decide that for yourself...

yours in the brotherhood of the grape,

jake

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feb. 25, 2008

good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

i have to admit, while i don't like watching the cma's, the acm's, and the grammies, except to see who's lip synching and the occassional faux pas, i do enjoy watching the oscars and the golden globes.

i love golden globes, or rather the golden globes. i love that they have champaign and wine (and other spirits i assume), and the effect that it has on the tongues of the actors and actresses (and those that wish they really were). i saw jack nicholson bend over and make like he was talking out his ass. that is good t.v.

i also like the golden glodes because they mix both the t.v. actors (and those that wish they were) with the movie actors (and those that wish they were). i'm not really in the mind that they are two different kind of animals, thought a fair amount of movie people seem to think they are -- until the checks stop coming in, then they'll do anything. even dancing with the stars (and no, i don't watch that).

and some of the t.v. folk would give their eye-teeth to get into the movie side of things. go figure.

the oscars are a bigger deal, though the idea of the industry giving itself awards is slightly asinine and equally slightly arogent. but everyone loves a parade, beautiful people (of which is a prerequisite for most acting gigs), and a little competition. so...let the good times roll.

plus...

they give awards for music. soundtracks can make a film (well, some), break a film (for me anyways), good film better (again some), and i'm sure by now you are getting the idea.

there was a nice little performance of the song "falling slowly" from the film "once" (seen it? never even heard of it!) but i did enjoy the song. apparently, the song was written by glen hansard and marketa irglova.

and, lo and behold, the oscar goes to...glen hansard and marketa irglova for falling slowly.

they both get little golden statues (that are very heavy, which is why you can only carry two at a time), glen gives his speach...ending it with a hardy cheer "make art, make art!" which i thought was a beautiful way to end a speach,

then when marketa go to the mic, the music was qued and she gracefully backed away without even being able to say thank you. and the show broke away to a commercial. heartbreaking.

but on the return of the show, jon stewart (and apparently the producer gil cates of the oscars) brought her back so she could give her speach in its entirity...and it was one of my favorite speaches ever:

"Hi everyone. I just want to thank you so much.

This is such a big deal, not only for us, but for all other independent musicians and artists that spend most of their time struggling, and this, the fact that we're standing here tonight, the fact that we're able to hold this, it's just to prove no matter how far out your dreams are, it's possible.

And, you know, fair play to those who dare to dream and don't give up.

And this song was written from a perspective of hope, and hope at the end of the day connects us all, no matter how different we are.

And so thank you so much, who helped us along the way. Thank you."

--Marketa Irglova

so with that, i'm going to say goodnight irene. keep dreaming fine americans and good people of the world.

jake

p.s. you know i could not leave well enough alone, but before i go i'd like to personally reflect on my second favorite award show moment. it's the cma's where faith hill pulls a zoolander moment. she at first thinks she wins, then can't believe that she didn't. she screams "what?" from the side of the stage so loud it was audible from the presenter's mic and storms off. of course, it wasn't until the next day her p.r. people said it was just a joke.

here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyZRiEJnIag

i do also have to say, if i had just performed the song right before the award was being given, i would have been fairly certain that i was going to be the winner...especially if i had the tallent that faith hill has. but still, this is a good watch.

jake

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feb 12, 2008

hello fine americans.

as i enjoy my white russian and read though some of the notes and letters y'all had written, i thought this might be a good time let you know what's what.

about a year and some change ago, i perchanced to meet nancy apple. not to mix fruits and vegetables un-wittingly, we got along like carrots and peas. her wit, her sense o' style, her twang, and her taste in outerware had me believing that we were seperated at birth.

not too surprising should it be then, that she felt the same way...except for her, it was peas and carrots.

we talked some that day, and i recorded her playing a song about the day johnny cash died (which is sublime and i listen to it now and then and again). we had our picture taken, talked about mutual friends...a one mr. mike fried had recorded with nancy...yucked it up and said good bye there in the convention hall in the great city generally referred to as memphis, but commonly known as the brithplace of rock 'n' roll.

we lost touch for a bit, until i was forced to recall from the back recesses of what once was my mind someone who lives in memphis who could take a photograph of a music store out that way for the cover of a magazine that i write for.

nancy should have been wearing a cape for the hero feat she pulled off. working under deadline (i wouldn't have it any other way), she came up with several photo of which one did in fact make the cover.

i know many of you are asked to pull off impossible feats at work, and this wasn't one of those for me...but still i (meaning nancy) was able to do something good for my job, and i (meaning her) saved the day.

anyway..this put the two of us back in contact with each other and nancy, who never heard my stuff, ask if i'd send her a cd. which i did.

but, she must be used to people saying they'd do something and then never do it, because she wrote me an email saying something along the lines of (if not verbatum) "wow, you actually sent the cd."

she also said something aloing the lines of (if not verbatum), "this isn't what i expected but i really like it."

not too long after that, she shot me an email telling about a t.v. pilot she was taping and asking if i wanted to come play on it with her and the incredible phil lee (actually, i think it is the mighty king of love phil lee) to which i readily agreed.

and it was at that point, she sent me her cds, including "shoulda lied about that" which contains the song "my boyfriend". which is a song that brought the house down at the t.v. taping.

knowing a good thing when i see it (or hear it), and keeping with a country music tradition (for those of you who have the n-r-g, look up "wild side of life" and "it wasn't god who made honky tonk angeles") i wrote the answer to her song.

so in short (guess it's really too late for that now) "my girlfriend" is the answer to her "my boyfriend" which can be found right here (or there) on miss nancy apple's myspace page. it's very worthy of a listen. (http://www.myspace.com/nancyapple)

so there, there's the story. nancy and i are not engaged, as a couple of you might have thought, we just happen to have the same taste in western wear, music, lyrics, and what not.

i'm going to play a show with nancy this weekend, and i'm sure "my boyfriend" and "my girlfriend" will be served together like....like...carrots and peas.

or peas and carrots.

hope your evening is going down as smoothly as mine.

jake

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jan. 29, 2008

my fellow americans,

with is with deep sadness in my heart and drink in my hand that i write this: the official end to the "jake in oh eight" presidential campaign. severe lack of funds, support, and motivation has caused what i believe is a travesty to the amaerican people.

perhaps, it was because i couldn't get my message out:

shorter work week.
reduced loan rates for working teachers.
cheaper beer.
lower concert ticket prices.
world peace.
yada, yada.

can't say it wasn't great while it lasted, i'd personally like to that everyone who worked so hard to what happened happen. it was a great run.

i'm personally undecided if i'll run again in 2012. (sure as hell, jake in '12)

now...my the best man win!

jake
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jan. 22, 2008

aloha,

i trust the new year is treating you right. i figured while i have the chance and an internet connection i'd said a note telling y'all about the progress of the new cd. there's quite a bit of focus going into writing and re-writing some songs, and making some demos of them to pass onto the musicians.

it appears there's going to be a little change up on the musicians for this recording sessions. mike fried will be making a return, of course, a finer player one would be hard pressed to find. bass and drums will be handled by the husband and wife time of kenny and ruth griffen. back in the day, i played in a band with kenny and ruth backing the incredibly talented tracy huffman. i have always loved their feel when laying down a groove, and now i get to record with them. how cool is that?

if you want to make use of that guitar you have stashed away, and learn to play the guitar in a fun easy way, check out www.easymusiclessons.com. these are video guitar lessons that you can either learn sitting at your computer or take guitar lessons on dvd. save gas, save frustration, and make yourself a better person.

hope y'all are safe and warm...i am...

be good, do good things.

jake
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dec 31, 2007

happy happy last day o' the year.

is it just me, or did this last year seem to take forever. no mind, however as we are currently counting down the hours. ten...nine...eight...seven...six...cinco,,.

although i have had better years (i open a bottle of 1962 cab that was muy bueno), i have to say i was not disappointed with this current one. my life as black sheep of the familia remains intact, even as my brother vie to hold the title by acting unruly in public situations, speaking a little too loudly in socially sensitive situations, sitting in standing room only situations, and making situations out of a situation that had no desire of becoming a situation.

still, i am king. or the black sheep among off-white sheep. it's so cute. they try. but don't get me wrong, i like my brothers (in small doses) and i'm sure they like me (to a smaller degree). and the holidays have been filled with fun and just just about all that i need to last me through the next year.

and you?

how was your holiday?

i'm not sure i would know, my guestbook has been suffering from a large amount of spam. sadly, it gets filled up daily with offers to make me larger (not in a career way, or at least, the path that i have chosen), opportunities to me new people (you know, the kind i'd really like to met), or "self improvement" (like i could get any better---in that way). so every now and now and now and then i get a note from someone who wants to leave me a message that actually knows me. still, if you make the effort and get through, let me say mucho gracias. i must say i was blessed to go out on the road and meet so many great people and i'm glad we were, have been and will continue to stay in touch.

miss nancy apple perchanced (not really a word i'm told) called to say the video tape shot a millennium ago (it seems) apparently looks real good, save for the airbrushing they had to do to even out my complexion, sounds good, and might even have enough footage for two shows.

i'm not too surprised seeing the talent i was working with. nancy is great, as is the great mighty king of love, phil lee. in fact, phil sang on the show a yet-to-be-released song called "lovers everywhere" that is the best song i've heard since luke reed played me "one step at a time". a song that someone i know turned down and george strait went on to record and had a number one hit with.

"lovers everywhere" might actually be my most favorite song ever...and i know the songwriter!!

and nancy has game, too. the last song i wrote is actually inspired by, or i really should say co-written with the apple of my eye.

and you can look for it on the next jake kelly album (cd, record, tape or whatever you want to call it), which i am currently looking to schedule for recording this january. exciting stuff i have instore for 2008. the cards look good, the crystal ball says so, the gypsy looks fine in silk.

do what you need to do, do want you want, make this year your year. who knows how much longer we are going to have to take advantage of what we have. don't be one who said, "i should have...", but the one who said, "wow!"

happy new year! this white russian is for you!

jake
(in the last few hours of the year that will never be again, 2007)

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dec 23, 2007

merry christmas and happy holidays to all,

yes, to all. even to the sorry guy that borrowed my amp without my say so. i hope the drink you bought satisfied your thirst or better yet, you were able to put some bread on the table and some bacon in the pan. if you were drawn to do such a thing i would guess that it was desperation. if you're someone i know, wow, i don't know if i'm more insulted that you did this, or didn't come to me for assistance.

anyway, in the spirit of el holidias...all is forgiven. i would still like the amp back, of course, and i hope it finds it's way to me. so when i sit on santa's lap, or the lap of ones of his cute little helpers at the mall shooting pictures (you know who you are, you're wearing red and green fingernail polish), i know exactly what to ask for.

so, what is on your list for x-mas this year? new bike, new love, new job (or is it yob -- soft "j"), new car, slippers, wii, walkie talkies, cd, dvd, hdtv, set of drums, bottle of rum, new doggy pup, new set of cups, sailboat, johnboat, candle floats, kiddy pool, disco old school, new hat, tiger-striped cat, spice rack, rosemary and thyme, dictionary that rhymes, laptop computer, becoming a telecommuter, cell phone with bluetooth, bottle of gin and vermouth, gift card for amount that you choose, tin toys, subscription to playboy, playmates, playtime, games to play, gambling party, party with friends, party that never ends, deck of cards, new swimming pool, friend who think you're cool, xm radio, leather jacket, boots to match, low-rise pants, the end of this rant...

okay fine, i forgive you too.

i must say i am somewhat disappointed that i did not get one fruitcake this year. i never had a fruitcake that i liked, but rumor has it that fruitcake is rum soaked, so it might have some redeeming quality that i have previously been unable to palette. i have just heard that the top layer of a british traditional wedding cake is fruit cake, rum soaked, of course, that they eat upon the birth of their first child. whew, they might need.

there is a full moon tonight. so we should all turn and howl. and it is mark's birthday which we celebrated a day early (and a day before the full moon). mark lives on a hill over the beach. when we met all those years ago, those around us thought we had been friends since we were born. everyone should have someone so forgiving and so understanding in their lives. happy birthday, marco.

the new year is quickly approaching, just about ten days away which is fairly close. chances are if we blink, it'll be here.

the new year always has us re-evaluating our options and i'm happy to say i'm optimistic about what lies on the horizon. the t.v. show i did with miss nancy apple will be airing shortly, there's actual jake kelly shows that i'll be playing, a new cd and some surprises...

but we can go into all of that later...i'm going to sign off now, but...

remember, times are not what they were a few years ago. so there's more out there that need your consideration. i hope santa finds you, but things are tough at the north pole as well. addresses are not always easy to find. between the toy shortage, the big storm that happened at the pole this year and the goblins breaking into the storeroom, there's a chance you might not get what you wanted this year. but hold onto hope. things will bet better.

that's my wish for the new year. all the best to you and yours. merry christmas,

jake
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oct. 22, 2007

hello all, hope the world is going your way.

i, myself, had a fairly killer weekend. actually, the whole week rocked. in preparing for the weekend taping of nancy apple's song slinger showdown, i got together for coffee (actually coffee and beer) with phil lee. phil...what can i say...writes great songs and you know he is serious.

serious in a sometimes funny way. what a good hang.

anyway, while we were running through some songs, i couldn't help but reach over and turn on the recorder to capture the moment. the little comments between the verses were small pearls amongst diamonds. and the comments between songs were filled with humor and insight. and a voice as cool as f..., as f....., as factory air can be. great guitar style, too.

and he left me with his discs (the mighty king of love, you should have known me then) which happen to be produced by my favorite producer, richard bennett.

i ran down to the post office the day after i got together with phil, open my box and found an envelope with some cds that rounds out my nancy apple collection.

so during the rest of the week i absorbed myself in the preparation for the show, listening to all this great material. also, though, in the back of my mind, i started thinking "what songs am i going to play?"

i was going to need my best songs, and a little practice as well. i was going up against some pretty big guns.

by friday i felt like i was in pretty good shape, so i had an early dinner, a walk around the neighborhood, skipped my usual friday night cocktail, and went to bed early so i'd be well rested and refreshed for the big day.

when the sun came up saturday morning, i rose, too. was shocked to realize i had left my powder blue tux at the cleaners (which isn't open on saturday), so i had to opt for whatever clothes i had left, that were clean. i chose a pair of 501, t-shirt, western button down, and a pair of black boots. with that down, i came to choosing which vehicle i would drive to the home of both stax and sun records. wanting to arrive in style, i wanted to take the '57 ford t-bird. unfortunately, it doesn't exist. i chose the pickup truck instead.

after a leisurely pleasant drive on a sunny autumn day through western tennessee, i was soon rolling up to the famous luxurious peabody hotel. i thought the hotel i was staying at share parking facilities with the peabody, but i was wrong. in fact my hotel was yet a couple of blocks north. no problem, i still had plenty of time.

arriving at the club, i shaw the t.v. crew chewing the fat out front. the building was built in the late 1800's, right near a spur of a railway line that was used as far back as the civil war. in fact, a corner of the building was sliced away because of the rail spur. the joint was funky, with all the history one would expect in a 100+ year old building.

the owner of the place, steve, started kudzus' in 1990, it would be a perfect honky tonk if it had a stage. but for our purpose we didn't need a stage. with he focus being on songwriters, we just needed three chairs set in a circle near the center of the club.

as the sound system was being set up, guitars were pulled out and turned, harmonicas galore (all three of us play harmonica) were set on the triangular table set in the middle of the chairs, microphones (thanks to ryan smith and SHURE microphones) checked, and set sheets were placed discretely out of sights of the three t.v. cameras.

with all that in place, we simply kicked back as the bar opened and folks came in, drank the drink, eat the food (great burgers), and waited for the show to begin.

nancy kicked off the show by introducing phil and myself, and singing a song. phil played next, then myself and around it went till for an hour or so, and then we took a short break so the t.v. crew could change tape and we could replenish our drinks.

boom, we were back at it again.

of course, nancy's and phil's songs were great and well received. while this was the first time that the show was taped for t.v., nancy has been holding these song slinger showdowns for some time. and phil has been a regular guest on the show. and many of the crowd regularly attend these events. this was my first time, and i was playing my songs for quite a few people for the first time.

the proof will be on the tape, but i believe i did well. seated directly behind me was nancy's sister cindy, and when i finished playing a song (or most songs) i could hear her say "wow", or "great song". it was like having a lover coo in your ear.

i should also mention that phil and nancy are quick at the wit, and the banter between songs was one that you'd want to be on your toes to participate in. i think i held my own, but if not, i'm sure that careful editing in the t.v. studio should help.

after our final round of songs we said good night, ordered some cheeseburgers, signed some cds, mingled with crowd. the cheeseburgers devoured, the crowd exited the club by twos, i said good night, grabbed my guitar and headed back to the hotel.

sleep came easily, the dreams were pleasant and the morning came too soon.

the drive back to nashville was as equally pleasant as the one to memphis. by the way, having your mp3 player (i have the zen creative video. love it.) with the radio unit that allows you to play your mp3s over the car radio is the deal. i was able to listen anything in my fairly extensive music collection as my fancy desires. that, plus the radio game show, "wait, wait, don't tell me", is available as podcast. the hours melt away.

all told, a great event. when broadcast information is available, you hear it here. perhaps a dvd release as well.

i hope you weekend was equally enjoyable. do good work.

jake

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september 8, 2007

good morning fair friends,

the sun, that giver of life, is creeping up and smiling at me through the window. this is only just a minor hindrance to looking into the computer screen to write this. the monitor on my laptop is not super bright, just ordinary bright. obviously, my window faces the east, and obviously it is early in the day--not even eight yet--and i'm two cups of java into it.

this is part of the day that i don't usually see (sorry to all that see it on a regular basis) when i'm "living like a rock star" playing clubs and bars, then making my way home when the moon is the ruler of the sky

there's a little bit of a creative spark simmering down inside my soul, and some up it has been trickling up my arm, causing spasms of movement in my wrist, which in turn causes ink to flow from the pen that i'm holding onto the paper directly beneath it . i do declare that when i'm writing the way that i really enjoy writing, it is almost involuntary.

of my own personal favorite songs that i have written (starting tomorrow, today sucks, but no you, to name a few) most of them have been written in under 20 minutes. some under 10. its not to say that there wasn't a little tweaking that needed to be done afterwards, but there certainly wasn't the anguish and struggle of trying to craft a message, a story, or the right rhyming words.

while i personally don't have anything against rhymes, i do think that they are over-rated. i much rather the lines feel right than rhyme. and i don't want to be boxed in to use specially (or rather specifically) chosen words. let's face it, if it must rhymne, there is only a limited number of words you get to chose from.

anyway, when you write, or when i'm writiting how i like to write, it should feel like magic is happening, and i'm happy to say i haven't lost that loving feeling.

according to the los angeles times, the cd turned 25 years old this week. the last issue of singer&musician magazine published my obituary of the compact disc. with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek, i wrote a brief essay on the medium and its effect on the music industry.

charlie crow, former long-time guitarist for brooks and dunn, was nice enough to write and tell me he enjoyed the story after finding a copy of the magazine at a music store in nashville. and i would suppose that those of you who are in the proximity of nashville that have the desire to do so can find the magazine at guitar center, sam ash, corner music, world music, s.i.r. studios, and guitar centers and sam ash stores in l.a. detroit, cleveland, chicago, etc. those of you savvy enough might find it on the web., i have not published it on my website yet, but i have placed it in one of the internet community sites.

fairly soon, it will come up on www.ilivetoplay.net, which is where you can find pervious back issues of the magazine. my regularly appearing column in on the back page of the magazine, just for easy reference.

i saw a posting from steve who is in iraq (so sorry) who wrote that his finance (yes, i know...but i just watched raising arizona again, and that what she said.) thought she saw me with my former employer on sept. 3. no, i wasn't there, but i do appreciate that you keep me in mind.

i do miss playing on the big stage and traveling to the cities where i can visit with y'all. but, i also get a thrill playing my green gretsch guitar through an amp (my standel), singing and playing country music in a honky tonk the way it was intended to be. and a bigger thrill still, is when one or two of y'all wander into the bar that i'm playing.

there has been some experimentation with a video camera happening in my world, too. these are primitive first tries, so be forgiving when you view them. it's early yet, but i believe i'm going to document the recording of material that will be my next...what? cd? digital release? multi-media experience?

well, i guess i'll let you get to your day, i'm going to get getting to mine.

all the best of the best!

jake

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august 18, 2007

hello one, hello all,

by my count, june 17 to august 18 is just over two months. my absence from website, or at least posting news, hasn't escaped me. sorry i was gone so long. you, the reader, get to guess why from one of the three possibilities.

1. i am just coming out of my amnesia, and coming to recognize the faces around me. i had bumped my head when jumping out of an airplane while on a special ops operation for the u.s. government in a new world, third world, country that is anti-american and a major oil producer. missing my target by a couple of hundred miles (government work), i landed in the desolate hills where the unknown takes refuge. while trying to recover i was taken in by a group of indigenous women who live in the jungle, nursed me back to health (!) and performed anti-government operations of their own (!). they are also masters of archery, and of the ways of love. needless to say my recovery was anything but speedy. i never would have returned, except for our military's policy of never leaving a man behind, even if he wanted to be left.

2. out of great concern for our environment, i gave up my presidential campaign (no jake in 2008), donned my hudson bay blanket coat, felt cowboy hat, ear muffs, thermolite lined cowboy boots, pennelton shirt, union suit, rag wool socks, 501's, denim jacket, and packed up my antique iroquois snow shoes, surplus army tent, a few dead men, bow and arrows, some buffalo jerky and pemmican, laptop computer with satellite link, pencils and notebook, iconic gibson guitar, and charted a bush pilot to take me to the north pole so that i might monitor the melting of the ice caps (and hoping that no one noticed the fact that a few glass sized chunks were chipped away in my efforts to keep myself from freezing by drinking a potent potable, but also having it chilled as to lower my body temperature to match those of my surroundings), while...all the while...reporting my findings back to the u.n. commission on global warming, and writing songs for the next jake kelly cd, “songs from the north.”

3. American idol makeover. simon cowell called me for fear that america might actually start buying what they are selling. "pop is dead as dead as, well, the skunk in the road that roger miller was talking about."

"wow!" i exclaimed, "you know who roger miller is!"

"seriously, jake," he says, continuing, " i do know SOMETHING!"

"that is a jim stafford song." i reply stiffly.

"let's not get off the point. great singers do sell songs, no doubt, but shouldn't we be looking at the songs first? after all, even on my show, where we're seeking great natural talent, they are not writing their own material, just regurgitating hits the public already loves. and, in nashville, don't most of the singers there cover material by other writers? who is writing this fluff, ah, stuff anyway, i mean?"

"there are artists writing their own material"

"pointless...are you going to help us or not?"

"well, what are we talking about?"

"art"

"no, i mean in money."

there you have it. which is it going to be?

1, 2 or 3?
none of the above.

the truth is...i am a juvenile delinquent. i hadn't always been that way, but i think i might be going though my second childhood.

nope...that's not it either.

it has been the vicarious combination of being busy and being creative. more busy than creative, i'm afraid, but still the creative element is there. a greater awareness have i of those who are trying their best to write the great american novel (or novella), the poem that enlightens mankind, the screenplay that hollywood will embrace, the band that would rock your face off given the opportunity, the one who acts so believable that people ask what you have gone through, paint like a photographer, paint and people ask "what is that?", make photos like a painter, lead like a Shepherd, debate with the truth on your side, aim with dead aim, run the good race, set the pace for others to follow, make the trend, break the trend, make amends, say amen!

let me here you say "amen!"

the job job that i have is a great job. i get to write, be published, work from whatever local i happen to be (one that benefits my employer as much as myself), and do such extra-curricular activities, such as attend the folk alliance convention in memphis, do podcasts and webcasts on whatever it is that i do.

but still, there are things, aspects, of work that are work. and at the end of the day, you're tired. and creating that great piece of art, the treatise of life in america, and the campaign to run the country seem just a little less important.

luckily for me that hasn't happened.

i still fight the good fight, when necessary, live to see another day, drink another beer and more importantly, write the song, sing the song, ring a gong. sometimes record it, get it pitched to where it needs to be pitched, and hear the occasional word of encouragement when that doesn’t happen.

however, if i’m not writing here, it doesn't mean that i have forgotten you.

but i would be forsaken here if i didn't say thank you to those of you who have taken the time to write me and tell me that you're wondering what is happening and why nothing has been posted in the last bit. a smile crosses my face when i read such letters. why? i'll get to that in a bit.

but, i have been writing. writing a few good songs. some not so much. and playing. playing is good. i have gotten back chops that i haven't used in years, and developed some new ones....some freedom of expression that is granted to me by the constitution of these united states. got to play without something stuck in my ears (there are those of you who know how good that is), played my gretsch guitar (always good), and got back to luckenbach texas.

and i started to make some small films. crude though they are (roma wasn’t build in a dia) they are fun and another outlet of my expression. it is interesting to get a look at yourself how people view you (or so you think).

still, i haven’t been writing...so, in a word...sorry.

and...thanks.

and here’s the get to it later part. my music has always been my music. there are those who get what i do(and those who don‘t). and i wanted to say thanks. and i also wanted to say thanks for keeping in touch. i’m going to “keep on, keeping on” but your reaching out hasn’t gone by unnoticed.

but most of all, what i want to say is...hats off to all the weekend warriors: the artisans at their typewriters and canvases, the debaters and students, and those who hit the field and play ball. having a job doesn’t mean giving up on your dreams, but it does make them more of a challenge. fight the good fight.

i am standing there beside you,

jake

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june 17, 2007

happy father's day to all you fathers out there, and to all the mothers that have to be fathers, too. and a special happy father's day to those that are not with their families today (or at least the one that aren't home against their will), may your travels be safe and the trip home uneventful and soon.

as i write this and drink this coffee, i'm sitting in nashville. the weather today is toasty warm. the humidity is low, but the temperature is going to be about 95 degrees. which means drinking hot coffee in the morning is something you do cause you have to (a musician's morning starts at 11:00), and not because you want to. it has been said that this fabulous elixir not only clears the cobwebs from one's mind, but also helps protect your liver if you happen to be one who consumes alcohol.

i might of had one or three drinks last night.

it was good to see those that i did see during fanfair. i hope those of you who made it out had a fab time.

down on lower broad, i was sweating and a-grinning play with jim hampton along with mike fried at one of those smoky honky tonks thank believes air conditioning is optional (or hot customers drink more.) jim has a great voice, is tall as the day is long, and has the chiseled good looks of screen acting cowboy.

a while back we wrote a song together called "the ballad of josephine bell." we have been known to play that live with the band.

jim was nice enough to come in a sing it when i did my little jake kelly solo acoustic show over at the hotel preston just out of town, albeit, the single guitar, harmonica and big voice version of it.

i have to say, i loved doing that acoustic show. some of these song have very intimate lyrics and sometimes i think a whole band production in the live situation can be hard to contain--not unlike trying to hold jello together with rubber bands. but when it just you (meaning me) and a guitar (meaning guitars and harmonica) and perhaps one other (meaning mike fried). it is a whole lot easier.

it was cool to play a couple songs i know the audience hadn't heard before, and to have a chance to tell the story behind some of the songs, and the opportunity to change up some of the lyrics to make them more prevalent to what is going on in my life these days and events of the recent past. and tell a joke or two...and learn a couple of jokes when it was all over.

i had primed myself for the nashville show by doing one in memphis. the memphis songwriters association had asked me if i was come speak to their group and play my set. so they set up a like gig for me at Memphis Originals, a very hip coffee house/art gallery across from the university.

now, my take on songwriting is a little different than most and i told them so, but there was a slight look of disgust on one woman's face when i happened to use a swear word in my 1st amendment rights protected freedom of speech song "today sucks". then i gave her the universal advice every songwriter gives aspiring songwriters, "you got to write what you know." i think she might of been even slightly more offended after that, but as ricky nelson told me at a garden party, "you can't please everyone so you got to please yourself."

in the wee hours of the morning before i went to sleep, i was giving a listen to the new john lennon tribube record. some of the artist that contributed to this really seemed to be channeling the spirit of john. the production and experimentation of instruments and sounds are compelling.

i have placing so much emphasis on playing and performing, and basically trying to get better at the guitar, that i have largely left my recording gear untouched. but i have the songs, and now i'm starting to get the desire to start digging in and see what i can do for cd #6. i wonder where i'll land?

once again it was good see you all. thanks for all of you who wrote notes saying how you wished you could have been there. fear not (or fear) there will be more.

as an extra added treat, if you click on the link below, you can hear a demo "the ballad of josephine bell". that's jim hampton on the vocals, mike fried on the dobro guitar, and humble jake kelly playing everything else.

live large, love large,

jake

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may 13, 2007

hello long lost,

i'd like to invite any of you who happen to be making the trip to nashville for fanfair, those in nashville for some other reason, those that live in the greater nashville area, or those looking for a good excuse to come to nashville to a show...
the jake kelly solo acoustic show at the Preston Hotel on june 7, 2007 at 8:00 p.m.

immediate following will be jim hampton and the hayseeds featuring jake kelly on guitar and mike fried on pedal steel.

cost of admission: free!

cost of parking: free!

cost of a drink: depends on what you're drinking

value of the night: priceless

seriously, y'all have supported me through the years, and i wanted to repay the favor (in part, anyway). come hear some songs, a little beat poetry, and a story or two. bring a friend, tell a friend or two, the more the merrier.

the Preston Hotel is located at interstate 40 and Briley parkway near the airport. big building, big dreams. meet you at the bar.

hope to see you there. no r.s.v.p. necessary.

jake

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april 8, 2007

happy easter!

it is amazing how quickly time is passing. the truth is, i fell like i have been on a long vacation. i see to it that i pick up the guitar daily to play and sing. the magazine writing and other what not keeps me busy and i find i'm logging long hours that only seem like a few minutes. the coffee is good, there's a happy hour every day, and the commute is vary tolerable, working at home and all.

this internet thing is most amazing. not only can i work from home, but i can pitch songs to various folks looking for music by just pressing my fingers to a couple of keys. it is done one of two ways; i either attach a mp3 to an email, or send an email that has a link to my publishing company's website. no trees have to give up their life, and my letters show up nearly at the speed of light.

turn out, that the speed of light is no longer the universe's speed limit. electrons, those little tiny things that zip around the nucleus of an atom, act kind of like twins. i'm sure y'all have heard one of the stories about a twin that was sure something was wrong with their sibling, placed a phone call or such and the twin was rescued from some disaster, perhaps saved from drowning. well, electrons have the same kind of inter-connectivity (and yes, that is a word). if one spins, the other one spins at exactly the same time, regardless of the amount of distance between them.

or so i read. and this is quite different than what einstein said would happen. the rules of the universe is not unlike one of those funny children books: the one where if you flip the book over, you get another story. there's one set of rules for the big things: stars, planets, black holes, space ships, man. and then, a whole new set of rules for the smallest things: neutrons, protons, electrons, quarks they have a word of their own. quantum physics.

for those of you wondering where i read this, it's called "a short history of nearly everything" by bill bryson.

anyway, back to the internet...

there's a couple of tracks on "blacksheep" that were helped by the miracle of the internet. the piano on "now it's really time to cry" was record when mike webb was on the road, and the emailed back to me. same with the steel guitar on "bad childhood".

music done in this manner is kind of cool, because the musician can record whenever he feels inspired to record, whether it be one in the afternoon, or two in the morning. schedules don't need to coincide.

of course, you need musicians you trust. they are working unsupervised, and their vision of what the song should be, or their role in it, might be different than what you'd expect. that was not a concern of mine as the players on this disc are more like brothers to me than my own brothers are. perhaps, they're the black sheeps of their family as well, and we...ahem...tend to flock together.

but then again, there is no substitute for when musicians play together. there's an energy there, an electricity, perhaps quantum physics at work.

i know you all have felt the magic when the music is working, and that is what i'm talking about. sure, there's nights, or shows, where the musicians are playing by rote. they have the look in their eyes that they'd rather be someplace else, as oppose to the look in their eye when the music is happening. the look that they are in some other place. i'm longing for that feeling.

i'm headed back to nashville, and i'm going to put my playing jacket on. in addition to hitting honky tonks, i'm thinking about coffee houses and house concerts.

thanks to all that wrote in expressing interest in holding a house concert. y'all will be getting an email from me shortly that will explain it all a little bit more. perhaps we, together, can get this in motion.

till then, enjoy the ham and relish the company of family. spring is here. april is national poetry month, so perhaps your pencil should touch the pad. see what flows from the tip o' the pen. if you come up with anything exciting, let me know.

be good, and be good to one another. look for me on the highway.

jake

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march 6, 2007

cd is now in the store!

buenos noches!

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march 1, 2007

good morning good citizens,

after a few weeks in the shop my trustworthy standel amplifier (turquoise and cream, like a '57 chevy bel aire, or even better like a '61 ford f100 pickup) is back up and running with sneakers. i had to play a few gig with one of my back-up amps. not all together a bad, kinda a different tone. but, when i got the standel put back together, plugged in and turned on, a smile did cross my face.

last weekend i headed to memphis and spent some time in the land o' elvis, b.b.king, sun studios, and stax records for the national folk alliance convention. i loaded up my piece of truck with a couple guitars (one leather covered. thanks again tom hartley!) some recording equipment, and a change of clothes with the idea of recording some of the artists the converged on the city.

if you're thinking folk music is peter, paul and mary or "a mighty wind" you might be right. but this convention is so much more. how much more? swing, bluegrass, country, jazz, string quartets, electrified jug bands, a capella, acoustic rock, and even mariachi!

i was lucky enough to record a pretty fair cross section of artists in the convention hall for iradio, the internet radio station of singer&musician magazine and www.ilivetoplay.net, which the more astute might recognize as the magazine that i write for.

i also pass off a copy of "black sheep" to my boss, who also happens to program iradio. now, i don't know if i'm going to get airplay, but i wouldn't be surprised.

speaking of "black sheep", i have got word that the dics are stocked in a warehouse in portland, oregon and is currently being uploaded to the store's website. meaning, the disc could be available any moment. now, buying this cd doesn't assure you passage way into heaven, but it is 35 minutes of safe haven.

okay, i'd like to write more, but i have to coffee up and get myself rolling to one of the carolinas. jim hampton and i have a gig out that way . it's a benefit for jim's brother who's business burnt to the ground. i'll let you know how it goes. it'll already be good...i'm playing through a standel.

peace in our time.

jake

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feb. 15, 2007

good afternoon fair people of the world.

nothing makes the end of the day more satisfying than being able to watch the sunset with a cool drink of your own personal persuasion, knowing than you have done a good days work for fair wages. that's where i'm in my day right now.

i was lucky enough to turn on the television and catch "bound for glory" a kind of cheesey film on the life of one woody guthrie. love the fact that david carridine is play a gibson guitar as he mugs his way through the film. as chance would have it, last night i was goofing around on the computer last night the computer matched my face with david carridine.

funny, i was always told that i looked like robert carridine. his revenge of the nerds movie made me a very popular guy among cheerleaders back in the day. what's even more fun, is just now randy quaid came on the screen (a very young randy quaid), and he so very much reminds me of my friend charles otis.

got to see charles the ottra day, eat some fine cuisine from south of the border and talk about the state of the state of country music. i'm still waiting to do my televised broadcast. the concessions is we could use a man like buck owens again. and jimmie rodgers, and ole' woody guthrie.

but time changes, things change, best not to dwell (one of only three words that start with the letters "dw") on el paso.

if you're reading this, and it's highly likely that you are, you might of clicked on the homepage first and noticed a photo with a particularly fine looking guitar in it. if it looks different from any other guitar you've seen you'd be wrong. and you'd be right, too.

back in the louisianna hayride days there was this young guy, former truck driver who found his jake nitche' in life. his name was elvis arron presley, hey, but you can just call him the king. he played a guitar (his was one of those of the martin variety) that was covered with tooled leather.

well...a good friend of mine, tom hartley, out of the goodness of his very large heart, tooled a piece of leather for months and months and then spent countless winter nights stitching into the form of my gibson (finest kind) j-45 in the same manner as elvis presley, buddy holly, ricky nelson and waylon jennings.

i love being a member of this club along with tom. the artists, their covered guitars and the men and women who made them. and i believe that when we are all together a great debate will ensue on who's cover is best. i know i've won, but those other guys are legends. i'll let them feel good about themselves. but, i know i've won. tom won. my guitar looks the best out of all of 'em.

and, another perk: i'm still alive. for now anyway.

que singing choir..."we are the champion my friends".

someone wrote in to ask about what the cover did to the guitar sound wise. just drapping your arm over the guitar to strum it changes the way it sounds, so it's fair game asking what a big old piece of leather will do. it changes up the sound and gives the guitar a kind of low-fi effect. think of "across the universe" by the beatles. or, maybe, "that's alright mama" by the afore mentioned elvis presley.

it helps if you start with a great sounding guitar (gibsons are my favorite), than it's almost impossible to make them sound bad (playing excluded), you're more just changing the tone. that guitar with the cover on it sounds exceptional either way. oh, the cover can be removed in ten seconds. can't beat that.

i am currently sitting on a box of "black sheep" cds. i don't know why, but i have delayed in sending out to the merch people. the basis for this reluctance is beyond my grasp. it's done and it looks pretty, and thanks to efforts of all the fine friends/musicians that played on it, it sounds mighty fine, too. One or two copies might have escaped my grasp. oops.

anyway, i'll make a point of getting them to the place where you can get them. perhaps a record release party and the band playing some of the cuts live wouldn't be a bad thing.

i was in a music store the day before yesterday and happened run into seth rausch, and caught up with his going ons. apparently time off the road doesn't disagree with him. studio work came knocking on his door and his altruistic side started to shine through as well.

well, the glass is nearly empty, which means i'm going to have to find someone run to the store for me. still, before i leave, i hope y'all had a fine valentine's day filled with all those great things that happen on valentine's day: flowers, chocolate, music, lingerie, and love, love, love.

and if not, well, there's always next year. and next week. why wait?

okay, i go box those cds up and send them out.

be good, be good to others.

jake

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dec. 25, 2006

happy christmas!

dec. 22, 2006

hola amigos,

out here in the greater southern california area, in leau of snow we are using frost. amazingly enough, it is colder in el lay than it is in nashville. gasp!

cold enough that ice has formed on my mother's koi pond, and i have to scratch ice off the windsheild of my beat to sh*t suv (my beat to sh*t truck lives in "music city, usa").

the scrapping off the ice is my own fault. i should of known one of the gifts i was going to get my boys was going to be the hottest item of the holidays, and i've been waking early to be there when the doors open. i've been doing this for several days now as kind of a climax for weeks of searching.

all of this goes against my nature. hell, just rising early goes against my entire being as a musician.

and, sadly, it's been to no avail. actually, it's been frustraiting. i walked into a store yesterday afternoon to find i was about one minute too late.

arriving back to my humble abode, i found my boys out playing in the shed. i told them (they already had a good idea that they were going to get that hard to find) that the search has been unfruitful...and that i was letting them know so they wouldn't be disappointed.

my oldest son simply said, "don't worry dad, we're not that way."

i don't what i've done to deserve such good children.

nor do i know what i've done to have so many good friends that have shown so much support during the years. not just during the good times, but also in the valleys of the sine wave of this honky tonk life.

so in short, let me say thank you.

in it's longer form, let me say thank you, and at some time i hope to be able to return the favor.

let the warmth of the holidays wrap around you like a hudson bay blanket. enjoy the family, the friends, the food, the drink and the music. be safe, be careful and be grateful for not only what you get, and what you got, but that you able to give.

cheers! happy chanukah, happy christmas!!

jake
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dec. 16, 2006

happy christmas,

well, actually, happy christmas, happy chanukah, happy kwanza, and happy new year (premature). i hope this finds y’all well. once again, i’m a little delinquent in posting on this here site. but, with all the holiday parties, gift shopping and general malaise, where is one to find the time.

one full day of mine this last week was spent with boozest bassist jeff jackson. some of you might know jeff from another job that provides a mostly steady paycheck (an assumption on my part) for him. other might know jeff from his fine bass playing ability on jake kelly cds from the days of yore.

proximity and scheduling have kept jefe’ and myself apart for too long. even in my foray into lost wages, oops, i mean las vegas, time constrictions kept us from catching up with each other. but a dip in his itinerary and bleep in mine had dos amigos in the same greater southern california area. and luckily, out here, liquor is cheap. and, time is money.

the end result was, we had some good hang time, but i had to pay him two hundred dollars.

i didn’t, but truth be known, i do owe him money. don’t tell.

so just a short drive away here was one of my best friends. what could i do?? i cancelled all appointments, and drove over the hills and through the woods.

if memory serves me correctly, they last time i saw sir jackson was when we were tracking the bass parts for my new cd...and much material had been recorded, mixed, and mastered since then. so the jefferater (tell me when this gets tired) hadn’t heard the completed project.

did i tell you it was done??

anyway, i opened the bar, warmed up the tubes, pre-chilled the glasses, cooked wearing nothing put an apron, baked a cake, cleaned the pipes, lowered the lights, lite some candles, showered, shaved and put on some perfume, dressed in something sexy, lowered my voice and walked casually back into the living room and gave jeff the preview of his life.

or at least, i played him the new cd.

after the paramedics left, jeff said he was worn out and needed to get back to his hotel for some r & r, but before the taxi arrived, i had a chance to ask what he thought of the music. in between breaths he muttered “(something unintellageable) (profanity)”.

if you are anything like me, you take this as a compliment.

actually we hung into the not-so-wee hours of the night, but still we were able to make a serious dent in government cheese, water crackers, sam’s club beer, a slightly diluted bottle of vodka, beef stew, corn muffins, and animal cookies....the pink and white ones with sprinkles. have to tell you, though the beer cold, the drinks strong, the stew hardy, the cheese spunky, crackers crumbly, the muffins crumbly too, and cookies sweet, the sweetest part was jeff’s response to the music. he seemed happy.

guess at this point i might tell you that i have changed the title of the yet-to-be released album: what was going to be “me and my guitar” is now “black sheep”.

my oldest son pointed out that “me and my guitar” was bad grammar. of course, this didn’t prevent me from putting out “me and my guitar” acoustic cd. i would guess it would depend on how you used the words.

right??

would you say, “there was no one in the club aside except for me and my guitar.”

but i like the title “blacksheep”. hell, i wrote a song called “blacksheep”, so why wouldn’t i like it for the title of an album?

but back to jeff-a-roo.

with the jeff-man back out on the road, i was able to turn my focus back to the artwork for the album. initially, i wasn’t happy with my son’s photographs. but then i realized that it was digital photography and my mind’s eye that was the problem.

see, in my head i look like brad pitt and sing like otis redding.

but then i realized that i don’t look like brad pitt.

damn.

still, i wasn’t willing to give up on my son’s photography brilliance. nor computer technology. so i took a second look at what was done, and those that friends and family liked...

then taking another friend’s advice, i took another look at some classic record covers...in particular bobby d’s world gone wrong cover.

then tapping the resource of my niece, who recently graduated from school with a degree in design (why she didn’t design the cover i don’t know. wait! i do know...i can’t afford her), i worked reworded and revised the work that i reworoked and came up with the cd cover pictured here:

okay, you can’t see it here. but check back and you’ll see the cover and one or two other teasers here soon. the music is done, the artwork is done, the typesetting is done. i should send this stuff to the shop. are you ready to listen to it??

i must get back to the city sidewalks, busy sidewalks dressed in holiday style.

may the holidays treat you well. i hope you get what all that you want, and you’re able to find what you want to give to others. i hope the holiday spirit find you, but be careful consuming holiday spirits.

celebrate, forgive and love!

as john said: happy christmas!! and love, love, love...

jake
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dec. 9, 2006,

hello wayfaring strangers,

i started writng this on monday: boy, does time fly...

too much idle times on my hand had me reaching for the throttle. why idle when you can drive. the highway had been calling me for some time anyways, so when i had the opportunity and enough spare change from playing street corners in westwood (just kidding) to fill the tank, you couldn’t color me more gone.

and what better place to go than viva las vegas, baby.

my editor lives in sin city, and his invite was, well, inviting. business in vegas aside, it turns out that some other friends were in town, either to play a show or watch one, as well.

so social hour was called. i was able to spend at least an hour or so at the different casinos i visited. must say, it was good seeing some of my compodres again.

living in southern california, my proximity to vegas is such that one can drive. this fared well for me as i don’t enjoy flying as much as one would think one who has a gyspy bone would. so, i loaded my six-string and six pack, some beans and balogna, a notebook and a nebulizer into my p.o.s. s.u.v. and headed off into the dry dessert air. east, with the sunset behind me.

i did not have to go too far before a song title enter my head, and within ten minutes (like most of my best songs) another creation was created. i love it when this happens, and my trip, if for no other reason, was already a success.

and now, it’s saturday...

i forgot to tell how the singer i’ve been working with in nashville paid a visit to my humble adobe out on the prairie, the fact that my radio is tuned to pick up radio stations from the past, how my good friend, tom hartley has finished a handcrafted gift for me, and sunspots are cauing not just interference with the television, but giving me glimpse into what looks like a glorious future and it looks like satin being waved in front of flash bulbs. you should be here now!

another song has relieved itself from my pen tonight. the beer is cold, the patio still warm from the afternoon’s heat, the forecasted rain never materialized, and all seems to be right in the world. the computer that was misbehaving like an adolescent child, and... i gotta go.

i’ll write more, now that i’m connected and all.

live life to it’s fullest, and if not let me fight for you.

jake
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november 28, 2006

boy, oh boy, does the time fly when you are away. far too much time has past since i have written last. i hope that y’all haven’t given up on me.

the sand that has passed though the hour glass since this scribe last scribbled has not been for naught. much work has been done and mulled over. much prodigious productivity and prosperous prodding, such as the doctor prescribed, has been pondered upon and perpetuated.

which is to say: i called the musicians and forced them into indentured servitude and they responded with great affection and effect.

in other words: i called upon my friends and they responded in the way that loving friends will and recorded kick-ass parts.

i’m happpy to say the tracking for the next lastest and greatest is finished, and i didn’t have to go to finland to get it done. though, it did feel like i had to pull some icelandia to get get it done.

on top of old smokey, the mixing is finished as well. and the mastering...well, i think i can put the nail in that coffin too.

in short, i think that all is well on the western front, which (not ironically) is where the last great battle to get this whale landed ended.

but enough about me. how are you?

i know that it has been far too long since i’ve last posted on this spot. please forgive me. and let me give thanks to those who were thoughtful enough (and missed me so much) as to write and say “jake, what’s going on?? please post an update.” never one to leave the masses (or the few, the strong, the vocal) waiting (longer than necessary) i am picking up on my long lost pledge.

thanksgiving has come and gone, as has halloween.

for those that care: argh, i was a pirate, with my first mate roy by my side. out on the pacific coast we wave our swords and pillaged and plundered the likes of our neighborhood. alas, we walked away with nothing but candy, but left some wenches shivering in our wake. eye, i t was a good night.

after talking to the local authorities the next day to clear our name, we re-assumed our roles as musician and elementary school student the next day. and things sailed along smoothly for the next month.

i hail-tailed it back to nashville to work on the long-delayed project and roy worked the city school system approximation of a coal mine. not to brag, but i think i got the better end of the deal.

anyway, after the afore mentioned toiling and begging player to work on my project, i was able to turn off the recorder for what i thought would be the final time. with the master tapes under my arms, i boarded a winged carriage and flew back to the golden west only to find that my golden ears did not quite match up to that of the sun setting on the ocean.

i was bottom heavy, and i not referring to the sugar-laden bounty of our plunger on halloween. there was to much low end in the end result. but fear not fair friends. the beauty of of today’s recording technology lies in it’s zero and ones and the computer ability to sort through them at close to the speed of light.

in leau of tape, today’s records are made on computers and computer-based equipement. truth be know, if you can read this, it is highly likely that you could have s studio quality recorder in your living room (or wherever your computer happens to be).

so by the same j.r.r. tolkien, i had the same mastering tools in my west coast base as i do in my nashville one. so with a few clicks (actually more than a few, and a little latency time to boot, plus boot up time, and waiting for the other shoe to drop) the problemo was corrected.

tapes are circling to a few trusted friends for review (“you can take it with you”), and a few friends are receiving previews (“let me play something for you”), just i can be sure.

i’m trying my best to make this something we can all be proud of.

thanksgiving has come.

hope yours was filled with all the food and family you could stomach. the weather turn a bit cooler, as is nice for the holidays. good excuse to wear the flannel. and i don’t mind a clingy sweaters either, when properly displayed. heavy food also comes into vogue. turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes...is there any wonder why it’s my favorite holiday?

the only way it could get better is if you dressed as pirates for thanksgiving.

christmas is around the corner, and it’ll be time to load up the plates again.

okay...i guess i’m going to have to run. know this: the recording is done. i’m moving on to artwork for the cd jacket while enjoying the eggnog. roy is going to be my photographer, i think. marketing is on my mind, and i’d love to reach out further so i can set up a touring schedule. i want to make my way back to y’all. it’s been too long.

it’s time to light the bar-b-que and get the meat on the grill, the buns in the oven. hope you are doing well and enjoying what life has to offer.

yours,

jake

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october 29,2006

good morning fine folk everywhere,

daylight savings time is over, and now when the sun decides to call it a day, night is going to fall fast. if your body clock is set to the sun, say if you were a farmer, you’d still rise with the sun and work until it sets. this is still a shorter day during the fall and winter, especially in the north, but it makes up for the real long ones in the summer.

the best part about the end of daylight saving time (for me, anyways) is that when halloween night comes, it’s already dark and the spirits come out just a little earlier. naw, who am i fooling, the spirits come out of the liquor cabinet when ever i summons them to.

my son’s school halloween carnival was last night, and it had the currently popular pirate theme. in place of the usual haunted house, there was a haunted pirate ship. my son volunteered to work on the haunted ship and actually got to be the captain, steering the ship to it’s doom. i have to say, i am a proud father.

out here in so-cal, fall is season you plant a new lawn or re-seed the old one. most areas in the country the grass is dying off and preparing for a long winter’s nap. winter is our wet season, rarely does it rain during the summer. so this is the time you want to give your yard the good running start to help it pull through the long dry bummer of a summer.

i re-seeded, and spread forty bags of steer manure around the yard. i have to say, boy, does that smell good. and the flies like it, too!

yesterday i noticed some alfred hitchcock type activity going on in the back yard. this morning it ways even worse. birds.

the one’s from yesterday apparently went out and told all their buddies that we were laying out the feed bag. funny how they liked the back yard and not the front.
why would that be??

well the front yard is decorated for halloween, and there’s a ghost and a scarecrow. i’m guessing that it was the scarecrow that was keeping our fine feathered friends from feasting on the seed in the front and deciding to curb their appetite a little farther away from the curb.

now, the first thought that stuck my mind was taking the scarecrow from the front yard and putting it in the back. luckily, i decided first to have a cup of coffee and clear the halloween-type cobwebs from my mind.

sometime into my second cup i figured out what you are already thinking. without a scarecrow in the front, i’d just gave the birds a change of venue. so i went off to my closet and pulled out some of my hardly worn, the unwanted portions of the sunday times, my old straw hat, a microphone stand and a burlap sack.
fisher-price my first scarecrow. country music doesn’t mean i grew up on a farm, it just means i play country music.

well, since my scarecrow has been hanging (yes, i hung him, poor guy. i figured a little bit of movement wouldn’t hurt {me, not him}) and keep the birds at bay. guess i was right, as i peer out my window i see very little in terms of aviary activity.
i do feel bad, however, ‘cause there’s a new member of my family without a name. i’m thinking "joe", as in "scarecrow joe, stylist mo-fo". whatever that means. i do like his sense of style.

aside from the daily sit and strum sessions in my wood-paneled den, i can’t say i have been doing too much in the terms of music, but that will be changing in the later part of this week when i return to music city, usa. the longer i’m away from this current project, the more i’m itching to get it done.

i’m also missing the stage somewhat and ready to hit the bars and pick and grin and see how many of the old country standards i still can recall.

when i get the cd a little nearer to completion, i’ll send out a mailing to those on my email list to give clues to where you can listen to samples hidden on my website. those that own my previous cds will have the upper hand, but all will be able to look and see what they can find.

if i don’t write again before then, happy halloween to all y’all. be safe and don’t scare me.

jake

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ctober 22, 2006

good Sunday, good church going people, and the rest of us.

I was part of the early to bed, early to rise crowd last night. i’m writing this to you from sunny and warm southern california where yesterday the temperature peaked at (you wait while I look it up) 91 degrees. take that northeasterners. I laugh in the face of snow. at least I do when i’m in so-cal slathering up my body with suntan lotion so I can achieve that bronze look favored by paris hilton and britney spears.

when i’m hanging out with them, I don’t want to pale in comparison.

from what I understand, I can actually get “misted”, which I believe is also called a spray on tan. those of you who know me best know that I have close to zero concern about being tan. close to zero, you ask?

yes, that’s right. other than my face, neck and arms I don’t care. farmer’s tan. hard to maintain if you take your shirt off. there was a time i’d lay in the tanning bed with my clothes on j