Toadies At The Cain’s Ballroom!

“Make up your mind, decide to walk with me”
-Possum Kingdom

This past Tuesday, I got tickets to see The Toadies in concert and it was very fun. Two bands opened for them that were ok, but I had my ears all ready to hear some of the same tunes I heard live when I was 16. I got a chance to see the The Toadies in Pensacola when I was in high school. They were coming through opening for the band, Bush, back then. When I heard they were on tour after a 10+ hiatus, I thought I had to see them. They did not disappoint. Courtney, Melissa, and I even got to meet them after the show at the table they were signing stuff. As you can see from the above pic (sorry for the bluriness), they were very approachable and cool to get to meet after listening to them for a while. Since I have gone electric with the Eric and the Adams band, I have asked so many electric guitarists questions about their gear and their sound. The front man for the Toadies, gave me some good advice for a big sound (Gibson guitar, tube amps-which I have both, yeah!).

We have been practicing a lot lately as a band and tonight I am going to record some stuff and have you get to meet Angel and Jimmy Adams, the band:).

In other news, I read that the Black Crowes are sueing Gretchen Wilson over copyright infringement. Her song, “Work Hard, Play Harder” totally rips off the melody of their song, “Jealous Again”. I am sure sometimes it is an accident (life works in mysterious ways) but when it is SO close to another song, I would be suprised if her people said they never heard the song. I just hope that someone in her position wouldn’t rip a song of on purpose, who would do that???

Off to go eat some dinner with the boys!
~E

Excuse Me….my Life Is Waiting…

Watching some TV right now and ready to get back to work right now. I am looking forward to getting Sept/Oct booked up for the fall.  Gonna get it done this week. Been reading this book, “Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting” about the Law of Attraction and how to bring good stuff your way by not just thinking about it, but getting to the feeling of having it. Its a very interesting book (thanks, Cas!).

Spoke with a music consultant today about my current state in the business and learned a ton of stuff. Going to be making headway on things like satellite radio, booking, and more! Also, been listening to David Wilcox’s music (especially “Right On Time”). Good stuff.

 Ok,…I think I need some coffee to wake up (and its 6:45pm!!).

~E 

Meet My Music Producer, Tattoo Artist, And Alma Mater!

Meet my Music Producer (from Dark Horse-Resonate) Mike Ofca, my #1 tattoo artist, Tim Sellers, and see me perform at my alma mater, Penn State’s State College Festival of the Arts!

I also included a full song of me, Dan on bass, Erik on drums, and for the first time in a while, my guest electric guitar player/friend, Steve Bentz. Haven’t played with him since I was in college, so pretty cool to share the stage again. and he rocks!

Here we play: IN DEMAND Live! Right at the beginning, my guitar string broke and I said, screw it, and let the band rock it out. They did fantastic and made the song really pop out even more.

Sign up for the mailing list too and get a free cover song of mine every Monday in August!! Check out the bio page to sign up.
OK, back to work I go….high ho, high ho!
~Eric

Feel A Little Better Than I Did Before!

I am here sittting at the Chicago O’Hare airport and I am eating gummy candy saddened by my 50 minute plane delay back to Tulsa.  I have been in airline mode for a few hours now and just ready to go home and be in my own house, with my own dogs, in my own bed.

 This past week was sooo relaxing. After performing for the Newlyweds at Atlanta Pride (and also at the Southern Exposure Music Festival), I was ready to fly to Pittsburgh and hang with my best buddy, Cas. I ended up getting to see some of Greensburg, the town she grew up in (been there many times), and we jaunted over to Steubenville so I could record a few things at the studio. and then over to State College for Arts Fest. I was joined for the gig, by my bassist, Dan Bozek, drummer, Erik Kerr (both from the “Resonate” sessions) and my old friend, Steve Bentz, on electric guitar. Steve was hired a week before the gig and he kicked so my ass, I can’t imagine doing that gig without him there. My friend, Mike Stockdale recorded the show (will have the video up this week) and “In Demand” had to be my favorite song we did that set (I didn’t even have to play guitar on it, just sing my brains out). 

 This coming week is full already and I am not even home. I have some pictures to take with my friend, Liz I. and practicing to do with Adams. We have the big Chicago gig coming up in a few weeks and I want to play a few suprises! Speaking of suprises, I am also giving away a few of those next month too to my mailing list, SOOO if you are not on the mailing list, jump on it NOW. Head to the bio page and it is on the right. Takes two seconds and believe, it is worth it.  This coming weekend will actually be my first weekend off since March (what month is it now?!!). I am spending it right with my artist friend, Stephanie. She makes the best jewelry and even has a line of her own (and a new house to celebrate). I  am also adding new dates too for the Sept/Oct. tour. I need a name for this tour. Any ideas? send em over: erichiman@gmail.com.

Ok, I don’t know how long I can fight off this hunger. The only thing around is McDonalds and I am very happy with them and their support of the LGBT community recently. Check it out while I get a nugget or two: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=68672.

~E

Eric And The Adams!!

Check it out! Our first show poster for Market Days this year. We are headlining the Sat. night spot and I am so thrilled to finally have proof. I will be not only playing acoustic guitar BUT this is my first show playing electric. Very psyched. Jimmy and Angel Adams are ready to rock this show as well and I can’t wait. Check it out:

This Past Week Was Ludacris!

Just got done doing some work here in Pittsburgh, PA where I am at the moment. Spent the entire weekend with Cas in Atlanta and though it was a lot of hard work, it was fun. I arrived on Friday afternoon, hopped in a cab and got to the Wyndham hotel where we were staying. I rushed over to meet Cas at Pride where she was setting up the gay.com booth stuff (they give away so much stuff during pride it takes a team of folks to handle it all). I helped her a bit and then went to my gig over at Front Page News in Midtown, a bar that was quite fun. They were having a music festival there called, Southern Exposure Gay Music Festival. It featured a ton of LGBT acts and I was ended the Friday night showcase. I saw some great bands before me (Jet Black Joy) and even ran into some folks I played with in different cities (Adrianne).  You can check out part of my set at:

I had a good time and thanks to Bruce and everyone at Southern Exposure for having this festival.

Saturday night, I woke up early with Cas. I have been watching what I eat and working out and being on the road these past weekends has been a bit tough (I love so many bad foods for me) but I stayed good. Had some fruit for breakfast and that was good enough for me. Helped Cas most of the day and played that night for the commitment ceremony. It was beautiful to see 60 couples exchanging vows of love to each other under one big tent. I was to perform at end of the service for the reception BUT once the ceremony was over, everyone bolted. I tried not to take it personally since they all had their own agenda when they arrived anyway. I played for a little bit and retired back to hang with my friends, God-des and SHE who I performed on the big stage earlier. They called me up when they got back to their hotel and invited me out to eat at a fancy Atlanta restaurant called, Straits. They knew some people in common with the owner and we were treated very nicely there. It was Singaporean food and it was good. We had an assortment of fish, sake, beef, rice, and even desert. We were stuffed. The owner came down our way to say hi (it was late and there weren’t many people in the place at that time). The owner, you ask?? Rap Star, LUDACRIS. He came over and shook our hands. God-des and SHE gave him some of their work and some merchandise. He was happy to receive it and was totally cool and polite to us. I am not as familiar with his work (where are my female singer-songwriters?!!) but, I did know some of his music and it was cool to meet someone of his stature in the music community.

Afterwards, we all bolted and headed our separate ways. I have to say, God-des and SHE are not only becoming good friends of mine, but I truly love what they are about musically. God-des raps about important issues and SHE’s voice fits in so well with all the amazing bluesy female voices I grew up listening to. Great pair together. We’ve talked about collaborating for quite some time and I am looking forward to when we have the chance soon.

Sunday, was a rainy rainy day. We worked the booth and then got drenched in the rain. When all hope was lost of what the vendores of Pride were going to do, Cas pulled out a box of 250 rubber duckies that all said gay.com on them and I started tossing them in the biggest puddle. Eventually it drew a crowd and I gave them all away in less than 5 minutes.

I was happy to fall into bed that night exhausted from the weekend. We slept for a second and then woke up at 6:30am to catch our plane to Pittsburgh. I read most of the book that I am reading at the moment:
His life is amazing to read as a musician and we have so many simliarites (other than our first names). He even spent some time playing in Tulsa for awhile with local musicians. Very cool. We had dinner in the burgh’ with Cas’s family and for the first time in a while it was nice to relax. Though, I did get to play a ton of guitar hero with her nieces (they are really, really good at just 9 and 11).

I am starting to fade but will do a ton of work tomorrow including some new things that I am psyched about. More to come and more to do….night night!
~Eric