Back to the grind.

I showed up at the Austin airport this morning just like I always do... about an hour before my flight. MISTAKE!!!!!!

I am not sure that I have ever attempted to leave Austin on the morning after SxSW that also coincides with the end of Spring Rockin' Break! The airport was a mess!!!!!

Luckily I am only gone for two days this time so I had no bags to check (just my computer bag and my guitar (I am going to two different cities in two days so I won't see the same person twice and you know my rule about that right?))... if I had had to check anything I would have definitely been SOL!

I did notice one very cool thing though... usually I am at the airport early in the morning on the day of my departure and I only run into people that look very much NOT like other people who do roughly the same sort of thing that I do for a living. This morning was an exception to that! I looked around and through my sleep deprived eyes I couldn't help but notice a thousand other dudes carrying guitars and girls with guitars and people that looked like they probably did EXACTLY the same thing I did. It was very comforting. I took a moment to look at all the OTHER people in the airport and smiled... amused. I took another moment to look at one of the guys in a tie as if to say- "I wonder why he looks like THAT!" It was a simple pleasure and very much needed amidst the chaos!

I'm not sure how everybody else fared waiting in all of the tremendously long lines that did not seem to be moving. I'm not sure if anybody else trying to get out of Austin this morning actually did. I wish them luck. I am now sitting in the airport in Washington, D.C. waiting on my connection to Norfolk, VA and realizing that it is indeed Monday morning after a week of Spring Vacation and I, while lucky to be doing it, am back to the grind! I play music for free... I get paid to travel.

K O K O...

Jack

ADDICTION!

Twitter alert!

I have not gotten into anything like this in a long time! I am officially addicted to this Twitter. I tweet!

You've got to come on there and be a "follower" of me... not in the way you are thinking like in high school you were either a follower or a leader... get over that... I'm still trying too! but in a way that means that I can figure out who you are and I can communicate with you directly... I'm not talking about just giving you tour dates (come see me on the road) or asking you to call your favorite radio station and request my song (which you should!!!!) or that I have a new album coming out soon called " Big Dreams and High Hopes " and you should get a lot of copies, some for yourself and others for people that need to have a copy (which I do and you should) BUT because it is really something that I am enjoying being a part of and it IS a great way to actually COMMUNICATE with people from my point of view! I am on there constantly updating what I am doing all day long and talking about music... usually not mine although I do like that subject as well. Seriously... it's Friday night and Mary's looking fancy and I'm on this blog talking about some new website called Twitter!

So do not pass go... go to Twitter.com and join up and then say that you want to follow "jackingrammusic" or @jackingrammusic... I don't normally recommend this kind of stuff... but what can I say... in the words of Radney Foster yet in a totally different kind of way... "I'm In"!

KOKO...
Jack

Twitter- Follow Me...

Hey-
Ok, so I've been really getting into this new way of communicating with people called Twitter. I know that everybody is into Facebook right now and so am I BUT twittering is so easy to do from the road and I can access it and send messages from my phone while I'm walking through the airport or the woods or while I'm walking to the stage... from ANYWHERE! I send messages out continuously throughout the day and well into the night. I dig it.

If you're not familiar with Twitter- it is very easy to check out AND IT'S FREE! Just go to Twitter.com and click where it asks you to set up a new account. That part's real easy. Once you have your account set up just click on the "Find People" icon at the top of the page. My account is: jackingrammusic. Just type that in your search window and it will pop up. Click that you want to "follow" jackingrammusic and WE WILL BE CONNECTED! It's that simple! I should explain what being a "follower" means but I bet you already know... I've never really been a follower myself but I'm adapting to it very well... and, as you already know, I love to have followers so this part of it is going to work out nicely for all of us!

Here's the deal... I was watching Ellen on television (you must know that I'm a big fan of hers) and she was saying that she just found out about Twitter yesterday and signed up. She started with 9 followers yesterday and in one day already has 36,000! You might have read about Lance Armstrong and Barack Obama Tweeting (that's what it's called as an ACTION verb when you actually use Twitter to send a message!) from their various campaigns. They have 300,000 followers on Twitter!!!

I want to talk to you... but you need to sign up. I want to see how many people we can get going on this in the next few days. I have 312 people following me on Twitter as I write this this morning. I want to see how many people sign up by the end of the day. You sign up and if you know anybody that cares about what I'm up to then tell them about it and tell them to sign up too!

Unlike ALL of the other communication networks, Twitter is something that is real easy for me to do and I don't have to be sitting still to do it which makes it possible for me to stay in contact with everyone that follows me throughout the day.

Well, here we go.

KOKO...

Jack

What's in your ipod?

As a lot of you know, I do a ton of interviews to promote upcoming shows, records, whims and/or otherwise! It seems like every time and interview gets a bit stalled out the guy/girl asks me "so, what's in your ipod?". That question always seems to stump me as my ipod is not there at the moment and I can NEVER seem to remember EXACTLY what is the last thing I was playing on my ipod when I took my headphones off not to mention the fact that the actual answer to the question is that "everything I ever owned, bought, stole or was given to me is on that damn thing because I have one of the big ones with 1 million gigs on it" so... well, you get my point! My point is this- with a little time to think about it mixed with the fact that I am home today, I have my ipod right here in front of me and I would like to answer the question posed with just a little bit of truth and not JUST rely on names that, during an interview, I think will add some cachet to my status in this world!! :)

Here's a few that I've been listening to lately...

Mike Farris- Salvation In Lights

This thing is FANTASTIC! This guy used to be (may still be) the singer for a band called The Screaming Cheetah Wheelies. I don't know anything about that band or about Mike BUT... this gospel cd is enough to make you never say that you "hate gospel music" again!!!!

Jason Isbell- And The 400 Unit

I first saw Jason when he was playing guitar in The Drive By Truckers. He looked like somebody's younger brother that got to sit in with the band. I remember thinking to myself that he looked like some dude that just kissed somebody else's girlfriend because the girl was drunk and mistakenly thought that he was her girlfriend... you know... that guy!

TURNS OUT I WAS WRONG!!! This guy is a BAD ASS! His songs are knowing, solid, melodic, tight and the list could go on and on. Jason Isbell is not the guy I thought he was... and makes me re-think what I thought I was! (that's a long story anyway and I am in therapy!) Get this cd.



I am interested in what you are listening to! Who's your favorite singer? Is it Tim McGraw? Keith Urban? Todd Snider? Pat Green? Tom Waits? Who?????????

If you want to start a dialogue with me... tell me who your favorite singer is. Go to iplaycountrymusic@gmail.com and give me your thoughts. It's my email that I just set up this evening because I'm interested in who you dig. I'm a fan of music and I want to know.

I look forward to talking with you.

K-O-K-O

Jack