The fund raiser for Pioneer Ranch Camps at the Royal Oak Victory Church was a success! What were the numbers like? Maybe somebody can fill me in...

Oh, and for the record... I'm the good-looking one! ;)

Thanks for coming to check out the show on Saturday!

The Halloween show at The House was a blast! If you didn't make it out, you can at least drink it in with these photos (but it's not the same as being there!).

Special thanks to my band, Lucas Chaisson, and Miss Y!

Thank you all for coming out to the show last night! A special thanks to those who signed up for my free newsletter. ;)

It was a pleasure performing with my friend Christopher Connelly again. It's been a long time since I actually accompanied him on lead guitar.

Hey all!

I just wanted to remind you about tomorrow's concert at the Good Earth Café (1502 11 St. SW). The performance will begin at 10:30 AM and will go until 1:30 PM. I have lots of covers and new material prepared, so come on out and support local business.

You can read the press release here.

This year I've been doing a fair bit of performing at Steeps - The Urban Teahouse (with Elijah Lucian and Emily Lamb). Elijah and Emily were out of country, so I invited Joal Kamps to come and play a set, and everyone really enjoyed his unique vocal styling and guitar playing. He even filled in for me when I broke a guitar string and had to stop the show to replace it.

Since my panic attack in late February I haven't been in the best of spirits, but I find performing to be both therapeutic and engrossing. I feel like God is preparing me for something bigger (my band will be going on a mini tour in May), and I'm learning to be at peace in every situation.

Steeps - The Urban Teahouse I don't feel like I was in the best place mentally, physically, or emotionally when I played at Steeps on March 30, but I believe that my condition will improve. I hope everyone had a good time, and I'm looking forward to performing with Joal again.

On October 26, 2007 Elijah Lucian and I made our return to The House Coffee & Sanctuary. Our last performance together at The House was in late September, and we played to a small audience. On October 26, however, we had a lot of friends and onlookers that came and went and we had a very lively audience.

I had coworker and friend Josh Durdle back me up on acoustic guitar and bass, and that helped to fill out the sound on my set. It's the first time in awhile that I've had someone backing me up, and Josh had his own spin on everything and contributed in ways that only he could.

After our sets, we dove into a bit of jamming, which turned into a free-for-all. Emily Lamb played a few of her songs, we rehashed some of Elijah's songs, and I played "Old Apartment" as well as "If You" by Harem Scarem, one of my favorite bands.

Elijah was giving out some free sample compilation CDs, and if you were lucky enough to get one, then you've had the chance to hear some of my songs in Electronic form. Don't worry if you missed it though, because there's an entire album on the way.

September 28 marked my return to The House. Over the summer I was so busy with so many things I didn't really get around to performing a whole lot. Generally speaking, summer is a slow time for musicians anyway, unless you're booked in for major summer events (like the Stampede, or other outdoor concert events).

In any case, I decided it was time to start performing again, and I wrapped up my concert schedule for the week at The House. On Tuesday I performed at the Airdrie Public Library, and on Thursday I performed outside Music Centre Canada for Airdrie Family Services' Anniversary. I believe this marks the first time I've performed 3 times in a week, which is very exciting.

The overall mood at The House was relaxed. Elijah Lucian kicked things off with a handful of his own songs, and his friend Jocelyn Rodrigues followed up with a song of her own. I then went on to play my short 19 song set (I know it sounds long, but it's not) with a break in the middle. I think the most fun we had was the jamming we did at the end of the set, something that would be impossible to do if I was performing alone.

Despite being a Calgary resident for roughly 10 years, I don't seem to recall ever visiting Riley Park prior to the Music in the Park event on July 15. It was an honor to be asked to perform at this outdoor event and share the stage with a lot of great talent.

As I look back on the event, one of the things that occurred to me about being an unaccompanied solo artist is that it has its ups and downs when it comes to performing in a larger venue, and therefore a larger audience. Of course, some of you know I've spent the last two years developing my chops on acoustic guitar and improving my voice, but an intimate coffee house setting is completely different from a large outdoor stage. You try to move around, make your set as interesting as possible, but for the most part you're limited to the general vicinity of a microphone if you're singing. There are those of us that are blessed with incredible charisma, and there are those that are blessed with incredible musical talent. But there are very few people that possess both.

Bottom line, there are many factors that can affect a live performance. Among other things, the overwhelming heat was one of the factors the musicians had to contend with at Riley Park. Unless you're a singer you may not realize the impact something as simple as temperature can have on your voice. I sympathize with anyone that struggled with their voice on stage.

Of course, I was one of those musicians whose set didn't go exactly as I had hoped. But as I said earlier, it was an honor to be there and to be performing, and I had a lot of fun. It just got me thinking about a lot of things.

In any case, I hope that it will be a yearly event and that each year it will grow in size. I want to thank all of you that were in attendance - for your support - the staff from The House, and the musicians who volunteered their time. Thanks again.

On June 1 & 2, I had the chance to play lead guitar for Jo Hikk at the Brooks Hotel. Jo Hikk is a full-time country band that performs across Alberta on a regular basis. Guitarist Kenny Sitter could not be there for the aforementioned dates, so I agreed to fill in for him.

I spent a great deal of time practicing and learning the country style for this gig. It wasn't the first time I've played country, but I learned a lot more this time around. I learned that the country guitar style is one of the most aggressive styles (even more so than rock or metal). I learned a lot of country licks, and I managed to make it a part of my playing.

In any case, the drive out to Brooks was a leisurely one. The highways are very straight in Alberta, with very little scenery except for the monotonous and ever stretching fields.

It was a particularly hot weekend out in Brooks. When we hit the stage on Friday night, we were all sweating bullets. The hot weather, combined with the hot lights, combined with performing usually results in extreme perspiration. Anyway, I guess you don't really need to know about the sweating. All you need to know is that it was very hot.

With each set, the crowd grew. By the last set, we were playing to a packed out room. An enthusiastic crowd danced, drank, and generally just had a lot of fun. We had fun.

Saturday was also a good day. I had the chance to drive around Brooks and see the town. I stopped for lunch at Subway. I noticed that Brooks had a lot of parks. I also dropped by The Fox radio station to see if they got my CD, but it was the weekend and it looked like no one was there. Oh well.

In the afternoon, the band was to host the jam. It was essentially a matinee because there wasn't really anyone there to jam. We played the four sets in the evening again, and packed up and headed out afterwards. I made a brief stop at MacDonald's on the way out.

All in all, it was a very valuable experience for me. I learned a lot about playing country music, and live performance in general. If I have the opportunity to play at the Brooks Hotel again, I'm sure I would.

I used to perform at The House Coffee & Sanctuary practically every month. Surprisingly, I haven't been back since January. The House has quickly become a "happening" live venue in Calgary. In order to book for April, it was necessary for me to book two months in advance. It's really amazing how far The House has come as a live venue.

I remember the days when I used to come in and play with the band (Lightly Toasted Touché), and oftentimes our only audience was the staff. Nowadays you're almost guaranteed an audience at The House on the weekends. I think it's awesome that The House is getting so established.

As for the show on the 20th, it went really well. Onlookers were treated to a cover of "Breakfast at Tiffany's", various revisions of some new and old songs, and of course, my old standbys like "Six Sides", "Wonderfully Dysfunctional", and "Too Weak". I'm looking forward to performing at The House again.