In the blink of flakeless skies we had yesterday, Erich and I were able to pay a visit to the base of operations of an awesome group of musicians. Go Cat, Go!, The Flea Bops, and a host of other old-school rockabilly groups have called this unassuming house their home.

We spent a good two - hours discussing the wonders of reel-to-reel recording, tape delays, hot-rodded amps and guitars, and placing drum kits at the top of the stairs to get the perfect drum sound.

What a great way to spend yet another snow day. I am beside myself with the excitement of the impending jam sessions that will commence here at BS headquarters.

The snow storm of doom, which has just now begun, is allowing me to stay home from work. Again. I am not complaining, but I also do not want to leave the house in the weather that is coming fast.

I hooked up all my effects pedals last night and found that the BOSS DD-3 delay I've used for years has bought the farm. Dead. Kaput. This is extremely sad as the only effects I really use on the regular are my Wah pedal (which is on the way out of commission too) and my delay.

Musician's Friend. You are my best friend.

On another note, we began serious brainstorming about the layout of the album cover last night. Gary and I have forwarded our brainstorm sheets on to Andy and Erich for further input. Time will go by very fast here. We've got a lot of ground to cover (or album to cover, ha. ha. ha.) at this point to ensure the album meets its May 1 deadline.

It has snown. Again here in the wonderful Washington, DC area. Naturally, 5 inches means our town is shutdown, which means that the epic jam session did not happen today. I am a little bit  bummed, but a new date will be set, and it will hopefully be one that our own Madness, Gary Keefer, will be able to attend.

I went and looked at drum kits yesterday evening before a wonderful Sushi dinner. I'm very torn on whether I want the home studio to have an electronic drum kit, or an acoustic kit. (An analog kit, if you will).

The pros of an electric kit: The model I want will take up much less space
                                               The library of sounds is virtually limitless

The CONS:                           It's an electronic drum kit
                                                WIRES
                                                Will also need to buy a monitor

I had my heart set on a Roland V-Drum kit a few months ago. I am now finding my heart not as solidly set. An Acoustic set would be much cheaper as well. Thoughts? I need peer pressure to help me here...

Gary and I sat down today for a couple hours to look through some old song books, and to start putting our heads together on ideas he has been writing in the past months.

It was nice to take a look ahead in to the future... Gary always has fantastic ideas that lend themselves perfectly to our collaborative writing process. I personally like knowing that we have material to turn to once The Road is finally released and properly promoted and toured.

In our musical journey today, we revisited some material we haven't even seen in 4 1/2  years, but has stuck in both of our heads ever since we wrote it. I remember vividly sitting on a park bench at Gilbert Run park in La Plata, MD, musing on how upset we were about always being told to "turn down."

We were playing in small VFW type venues then... 19-21 year olds with a dream that lives now that we're 25 - 26 year olds. Certainly, we've grown a lot, but boy does this song still ring true. Tonight really felt like the next step in a wonderful trip.

I'm crazy excited for a massive jam session I'm hosting Saturday. It's going to be a blast. Musicians from 3 generations will be in one room, just playing and talking shop. That's my idea of an awesome time! I will be sure to share any music, photos, or insights that come from what is bound to be an amazingly fun weekend.

 Real life is okay... aside from the silly drama at work. On a positive - BOY DO I HAVE MATERIAL TO WRITE ABOUT!!

We spent about 9 hours in the studio today working on the album. Our to-do list has been squashed!! Our next session should focus on mastering. We had a great time with Kieth and Gunther (the dog) in the studio today and are so ready to get this album released.

It's been about six months since I've blogged. Silly me.

Anyhow. Hello all. All 5 that read this I suppose. Maybe it's more!? Website traffic has been waaaaaaaaaaay up.

Thank you. :)

So here we are, at the point where the new album is almost done (finally, whoo), our set of summer shows is winding down, and I can start worrying about booking the winter and new year touring stuff, in support of the album.

I'm excited to get out to new places, new frontiers. We've been blessed with an ever-growing network. So, I'm excited for some big things in November - March.

I'll try to get back to bloggage here. In the meantime, guess what? TWITTER BABY! So, I can be lazy and just type three words. Broken Stigma - search us, find us, tweet us. www.twitter.com/brokenstigma.

Getting ready for West Virginia. Waiting for Erich to get here so we can discuss set things poolside. Rock and roll!

happy new year to everyone! we made it through 2008 officially, for whatever it's worth.

as with every year, i make my silly resolutions. this year, i have a few.

1. no sodas - at all, with the exception of the occasional recreational beverage
2. excersizing daily, even if it's just 50 sit ups. i want to lose 20 pounds (even if I don't REALLY need to...)
3. be a better friend to some people. this should probably be number one....
    i let work, schedules, crazinesses, emotions, a lot of things get in the way of some friendships. 
    i know it seems like i blow some people off, but really, i'd rather stay home a lot of nights when i don't have plans.
4. i want to be able to better deal with my emotions. the extremes are just too intense.

5. upload acoustic videos of all broken glass songs that i can record. this was suggested by my best friend in atlanta. sounds like it might be good.

therefore: I have a YouTube account: www.youtube.com/rydawg1984

get on that shiznit.

BS will spend some much needed time in the studio Saturday afternoon until what will most likely bee the wee hours of Sunday morning.

Fueled by what will hopefully be a copious amount of Jack Daniels and Pizza (great combo by the way), "The Road" will start taking shape. Tomorrow's sessions should push us beyond the point of a majority of tracks recorded.

~J

When my hair starts to get longer, it looks thinner.
When it's shorter, it looks thicker.

But it's all just a big illusion
We all know we're losing
Losing it.

And holding on to our childhoods
Our dreams and our imaginations
Which we all know have long since gone.
Gone away gone away.

Now and always.

So does one hold on to what is left?
A final vestige of youth.
It's far from the truth, but it's all that remains.

It's all an illusion.
Life, love, happiness.
Illusion.