Here we go again- another Memorial Day Weekend, and that means the start of another World Tour. This year's tour covers many different regions of the world (2 really), but focuses primarily on the "Steamer" region of the east coast. It wraps up with a short jaunt over to Italy for the big "end of tour celebration concert". Click here if you're having a tough time reading the text on the back and you need to read the tour dates more clearly.

The the design incorporates the huge Crepe Myrtle tree behind the spot where I play at Steamer every night. If you've walked by where I'm playing music, this is a familiar profile... Oh yeah, and this year's shirt is made by American Apparel, so it's quality stuff.

Click on over to the "Buy Stuff" page to buy one over the internets with PayPal, or just stop by Steamer when I'm playing and I'll have them for sale at my gigs.

If you've heard me play at Steamer, you know that looping is a huge part of my live performances. I started looping with a Boomerang back in 98 (hard to believe that this technology has been around that long) and I swear by how well built and how intuitive Boomerang Phrase Samplers are to operate in a musical setting.

Over the years, I've become friends with the inventor/owner of Boomerang, Mike Nelson. Last year, Mike asked me if I wanted to be a "Beta Tester" for the new Boomerang III and I just about fell over myself to accept his offer.

I've been one of the two Beta testers for this new Rang III since about July of last year, and it is the most amazing piece of gear that I've ever owned. I've wanted to write something about the Rang III for a long time, but Mike asked me to keep this on the "DL" until it was ready for a full production release. It's been really cool to be able to contribute ideas to the development of this product and help find bugs in each firmware update. You can't imagine how complicated and how many possible simultaneous operations this new looper can perform. Mike Nelson is a very, very smart guy...

Boomerang is now offering a "Pre-Production Offer" to professional musicians. Trust me, if you're a musican- you need one of these. Not only is it the best performance tool around, but it is also an amazing songwriting tool.

I've been using my Rang III every night at gigs since about Feburary of this year. Everything about looping is more musical with this rang and songs can breath and grow in a way that is way more fun to play and to listen to. This new Boomerang III takes looping to a whole different level...

I just revised the details of my 2009 schedule at Steamer (this is revised from 1/23). I've decided that I'm going back to the schedule that I've had for most of the years I've been at Steamer- working 6 nights a week with Tuesdays off. If it ain't broke...

The "6 nights a week" schedule is only from Memorial Day through Labor Day. It builds up to the 6 nights gradually (2 nights in Feb, 4 in March, 5 in April), and then tapers back down after Labor Day. I've also decided to not accept weddings or private party gigs that would force me to hire a sub at Steamer.

Click through the months on the Calendar page to see more info about times and dates.

Despite all of the economic doom and gloom in the world, Steamer had a good year. As a way of saying thanks to his staff, Dale Augenstein (who owns Steamer) shut down Steamer and took all of us on an all expenses paid, 5 night cruise to the Bahamas. I know- a thank you and a christmas card would have been all you would have gotten from most bosses, but that's not Dale's style. I'm certainly not complaining.

The trip was absolutely amazing... It's really cool to work with people that you actually get along with. These people have become my family over the last 11 years.

I know that I can speak for the entire staff when I say "Dale- thanks for the trip".

What? Your boss doesn't take you and your staff for cruises to the Bahamas???

Some guitarists spend their lives looking for their perfect guitar. You can chase the guitar tone ghost around forever trying different builders, body shapes, tone woods, pickups- there really is a lot to know and experiment with. If you have the time and $$$ to find the guitar that you identify as having "your voice", more power to you...

I've never really been into trying out lots of guitars. I bought my Larrivee C-09 when I was just out of high school and I've played every gig of my life on this guitar. I've just gotten used the sound of this guitar- I haven't really been critical of it's tone, but recently it hasn't been playing well. It's been buzzing, having intonation problems, and generally sounding dead, so I took it to my buddy Damon from Benedetto who does guitar repairs and he gave me the diagnosis.

It wasn't good. Loose braces (from beating on the top- I should learn that a guitar is not a drum), endpins that are not seated correctly (from changing strings 3 times a week for 15 years), a neck that needs to be reset (from taking it out of an air conditioned room and on to a 110 degree 100% humidity deck at Steamer), and - my favorite- MOLD growing on the inside of the guitar (again, from the humidity) all add up to repairs that would cost more than the guitar is worth. This guitar bought my house (no exaggeration)- it's the one thing I'd grab if my house was burning down (after Meghan and Pooch of course), but it's time to put it out to pasture.

This new guitar that I'm replacing my Larrivee with is spectacular. It's made by a company called Rainsong out of Washington and it's 100% graphite and carbon fiber. No amount of humidity, temperature, or abuse (within reason) can damage this guitar, but more importantly it sounds and plays better than any guitar I've ever owned. I know it's an insane concept- a carbon guitar- but it really sounds great. Come check it out...

There's a new band of metal on my left hand that feels like it should have been there all along. I'm a lucky man to have Meghan in my life...

I love Hilton Head- it's such a cool place to live. For the last 6 years, I've lived in a condo and riden my skateboard 1/4 mile down the bike path of South Forest Beach to play guitar at Steamers every night. It's been a pretty sweet set up- I'm not gonna lie.

But lately, I've been wanting some space. Some privacy, trees, quiet, a yard for my dog- a change of scenery. South Forest Beach is definitely where the action is, but honestly, the action is pretty noisy.

So my fiance, our dog, and I moved out to the country. Nothing is changing with my gig at Steamer- I'll still be playing there every night. I traded noisy, condo living with a 5 minute skateboard commute to work for quiet, country living with a 25 minute commute.

I'll take it...