Blues for the New Years Part 1

I have decided to hit the Examiner hard to blow out the year. Since I am a blues writer there I have started a series of previews for blues artist playing the Washington D.C. area for New Year's Eve.

First up is Tom Principato, who is one of the areas best blues guitarists. He will be playing New Year's Eve in Falls Church, Virginia. You can read my preview for more info. It will be off the hook with Jay A. Turner on bass and Tommy Lepson on organ. Both of those artists are worth seeing on their own! Here is Tom in action in 2007:

There is more! In Winchester, Virginia Terry Oates and the Mudcats are getting ready to kick 2011 out of here, ring in 2012 and tear the house down at the George Washington Hotel. You can read my preview here.
Here are the Mudcats covering "Red House" :

New Year Bigger News!

My first two interviews were great. My first one with Jay A. Turner was incredible. He might be a local session player who fortunate enough to tour Europe on a regular bases. However, he was a pro when it came to the interview. He sent everything I needed and was great on the correspondence. Chocolate Thunder was warm and genuine. She was the first face to face interview.

Yngwie Malmsteen well he was my first big name interview. He was a lot of fun. Now it is a new year. How do I follow up a year with those three interviews. Well I have an agreement in place for another interview. The specifics of who in the band I am going to interview remains to be ironed out. However, I am very excited. Yes, they are big names.

The New Year is just getting started but it is so promising. Of course it will have twists and turns. Some good and some bad. However, it is exciting to start it out on a very positive note. As the song goes "the future's so bright I have to wear shades."

300,000 Mile Stone

This week I surpassed 300,000 page views on Associated Content. Not bad considering my first article wasn't published on Associated Content until 7/28/2007.  Of course this year is seeing the most growth in my page views in the spring I went over 200,000 page views.

This year has been a pretty cool year for writing. I started writing poetry again. Alright, they were only Haiku. I knew they wouldn't gather a bunch of page views. However, I was comfortable with my page views to take chances. Writing isn't always about page views and upfront payments. I also published my first two interviews. One with Jay Turner, who has worked on a Grammy Award winning project and toured Europe a few times. I also interviewed a regional blues singer in Chocolate Thunder. I also was able to get my first press pass.

I also have had articles published on Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports Canada, and Yahoo Sports. I hope to finish the year off strong. I am trying to get a big name interview as I have eluded to in my previous posts. I am working on a few more things which might be published on Yahoo.

Press Passes

Today I am going to the Brunswick Music Festival, I have been granted Press Passes for the event. Another first for my writing career. Writing career might be a stretch, but it is heading towards that direction. It has definitely moved up from the hobby stretch, and might just the below the part time job, but right about at the right spot to rescue me from some bill or another.

To me it is not all about the money anyway. I am pretty lucky I do get to write about what I want to for the most part. Sometimes it is about the money and I take an assignment for a bigger payout. This year I am making more money with it, but at the same time I am writing a lot more. It is nice to be named a featured contributor, I was named to three this year. It wasn't cool to be rejected, but it made being named one more special because then I knew they weren't automatic and were more of an achievement. It was a big deal when I interviewed Jay A.Turner. Why? Because it was the first time I had interviewed someone. I was able to write something different. I even wrote some poetry, yes they were short Haiku. However, to me that was getting back to where I started writing a long time ago, when I first was published, a writing I didn't share very much since to me it was more personal.

So yes, I know to most journalist getting press passes to an event is no big deal. It is old hat they get them all the time. However, I don't so it is a big deal even if the artists are more regional. However, it is very diverse group a blues band from South Carolina Chocolate Thunder, some old time music, some blue glass, a regional funky blues band in the Kelly Bell Band. Regardless it should be a fun time, if I can avoid heat stroke and frying in the sun as it suppose to be hot and humid.

My First Interview

My first interview is finally published. Where I was going to originally publish it did not work out. So, after I waited and waited I went to Plan B.  I'd like to thank Jay A. Turner for being a great person to interview. I feel bad it took so long to publish.

Jay A. Turner is a Baltimore, Maryland based musician. He is a bass player who plays a bunch of sessions, tours Europe with Tom Principato, and sits in with bands from time to time. To find out more read my interview here.

I also wrote a review of Jay A. Tuner's latest release "Nine Ladies Dancing" and you can read the review here.

I hope you will read and introduce yourself to his music.