Dustin Bogue || Official Site

Journal

"it was all about the game"

by db

Apr 14, 2008

so i’m sittin’ in the kitchen pickin out a little diddy on my guitar one night, when my aunt val calls me up. “i wrote a song about brett favre, and i want you to put some music to it music to it!” she said. i suspected she may have had a couple cocktails and almost thought it was gonna be a joke. “then I want you to record it and send it to me so i can show all of my friends!” i stay pretty busy, so… uh… “anything for you aunt val!” she read me the words and i was so moved, i took what she had written over to kelly schoenfeld. kelly is my friend and co-producer of my 2006 album, “proud”. he is not only an incredible talent, but a die hard packer fan. he too loved the song, so we put some spit polish and shine to it. i talked to my talented guitar playing friend, tim teague, and my songwriting/ drummer friend stan saxon and we set to gather at the studio on march 13th. here’s some pictures from the session. i also created a slideshow of some great favre pictures, it is on the “videos” page. i have always admired the way that brett carried himself and the spirit with which he played the game. my first favorite player was tony dorsette, then john elway, then brett favre. i don’t know who it will be now. i do know that I am honored to be a part of such a great project, for such a worthy guy, and i am so proud of how it turned out. the song is called, “it was all about the game” check it out!

ALWAYS MAKING NEW FRIENDS: scott hacker from smokin grapes music publishing has been being really great to me here in the last couple of months. one of my biggest goals especially here in nashville, is to write with the best writers that i can. he had me over to his beautiful office right on music row, and we visited for a while. a couple nights later he took me to a nashville predators hockey game. he has set me up to write with 3 of the writers that work for him, billy ryan, nicole broussard, and david kroll. they are some of the best that i have written with, and i am grapeful, i mean grateful to be hangin’ out with such talented people. take a minute to listen to some of the great music that they are putting out.

I GUESS ALL MY ROWDY FRIENDS HAVEN’T SETTLED DOWN: thursday, march 27th after two writing sessions down on music row, i went to code blue to see kingbilly play. they were incredible as always. i knew that my buddies, stoney larue and the arsenals were coming into town to play a show the next day. turned out they were hangin out next door at a little local joint called, “losers” i tell jesse fritz (bass) and stoney everytime i see them, “it does my heart so much good everytime i see you fellas” not my liver so much, but my heart! we do love to raise hell! not like any of us went to jail or anything. we just overindulged a little, and only got thrown out of one bar. coincidentally the same one that they were playing at the next night. rowdy bastards! i was glad to see that they let us back in the following evening. along with jamey johnson, david nail, and halfway to hazzard they raised a ton of money for st. judes. jamey played his new release “in color” and after the first verse i knew that it was my new favorite song. it is one bad ass country song! go listen, trust me!

A COUPLE OTHER NOTABLES: been doing a lot of writer’s shows lately and loving it. not only getting to play some of my newer stuff out, but hearing some really talented writers do their thing. my dear friend and co-producer of “proud” dave fowler, has had me to two of his writer nights at code blue. i also played a benefit for the “forget-me-not foundation” at the nashville palace on sunday april 6th. that was really cool. billy block was the host of the show, and glenn sweitzer from fresh film and design was on hand to get some video footage. i did a radio interview on 103 WKDF, and heard some great artists, all the while donating to a great cause.

EASTER SUNDAY: i said my first prayer at the dinner table. there has always been someone more qualified than me in attendance, and i have always been glad for it. i felt myself taking a big step as i spoke to the lord on behalf of myself and my loved ones.

-we should never count on anyone but ourselves, to get what we want out of life. the help of others is just a gift.

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March 4, 2008

by db

Mar 4, 2008

once again, it has been a month since my last journal entry. when I started this I said, once a week. then it turned into every couple weeks. I guess “once a month” it is. at least this way I have a fighting chance at keeping them interesting!

been doing a lot of writing. yeah, I know I say that in every journal entry, but more than ever in my life. I feel very blessed to be at a place where I am at liberty to devote this much of my time and energy to creating songs, and writing about the things i think and feel. i don’t know if any of what i write will live in infamy or anything like that, but it is very therapeutic for me. i have finished a couple songs that i am stoked about, and have a couple more in the works with sean patrick mcgraw , j.r. mccoy and my good friend stan saxon. the chemistry i have with each of these fellas is great and unique from one another. i not only feel good about our writing, but i just love their company.

cross canadian ragweed was in nashville on feb. 10th and in birmingham, al. on monday the 11th. my brother cory, donny from kingbilly and i, decided we had better road-trip down to birmingham. we met up with my good buddy kyle bell, and enjoyed one hell of a show. on the way home tuesday, donny and i wrote a killer song. he and I haven’t really written together since we wrote “girls gone wild” 3 or 4 years ago. donny is one of my favorite people, and kingbilly is one of my favorite bands EVER! if you ever watch GAC you might see them on “GAC shortcuts” kingbilly , go listen, love em’, and tell em’ db sent ya!

what else? I celebrated a birthday february 28th. i am 31 years old now. see my blog on myspace, “me, on turning 30” and just add a year to it! lol! we of course had to have a party. i was sort of opposed to it at first, but once all my friends that i hadn’t seen in too long started arriving, i was so glad we did. i have matured an aweful lot, i can tell. i only did two keg-stands, and one beer-bong! we did the usual things we love to do… ate, drank, laughed, picked guitars and sang songs. thank you to all my amazing friends for coming, it was a blast!

on the actual night of my birthday, i was scheduled to play a benefit show at the mercy lounge here in nashville. take a look at the flyer we attached. some amazing artists on hand for this special evening. this congregation of generosity was all in the name of raising money for the red cross, to go to the victims of the recent tornados in tennessee. aaron tippin has always been one of my favorite artists. he proudly stands for god, family, and love of country. he hunts and fishes and writes about the way it really is for good hard workin’ folks like us. he kicked off the show, and sounded amazing. it was so cool to get to meet him in person.

my buddy david kersh was also on hand with his beautiful and talented wife, kerry harvick. we hung out and took in all the great acts that were on hand. (thanks for your help guys!)

i was fortunate enough to have some of my favorite friends join me on stage for my performance. tim teague came out to play lead, dave fowler played bass and kelly schoenfeld sang harmony. they of course did it out of the kindness of their heart’s and i can add it to the ever growing list of things that i owe them for!

when i finished my last song, i was heading off stage and they told me to come back up. then they told everyone that it was my birthday and gave me a big beautiful cake. the whole crowd sang “happy birthday” to me. yeah, that was kind of embarrassing. they also gave me a card that was signed by everyone involved in the benefit. i have put it in my lock box as a keep sake. ya’ll made me feel so special!

it felt really really good to be part of a project that involved so much giving and no taking. you could see it in all the faces that attended. we all talked about how hard it must be for the people that lost everything they own and especially for the ones that lost loved ones.

my very special thanks to: glenn sweitzer (http://dustinboguemusic.com/theteam/) cathryn and paul with nashville hype , john breslin, nixa country, the mercy lounge, and of course all of the incredible artists that donated their time and talent.

this week is CRS (country radio seminar) all of the country radio program directors from all over the country will be in town for some good ol’ nashville tennessee fun. it is one of my favorite times of year. my good friend chris conn will be flying in tomorrow for the week. it has sort of become a tradition for us. we will be out and about all week long havin’ a big ol’ time! i will try to remember to get some good pics for the next journal entry.

please comment this journal entry after you have read it. it’s nice to hear back from ya! plus, we would love to get some more pics of you and I to put in the “friends”

-take a look around at all your belongings, and the people you love. now be grateful!

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January 31, 2008

by db

Feb 12, 2008

-Thursday, January 31, 2008:

howdy howdy friend and family. nearing my favorite time of week here. pickin’ on friday with my buddies at “the second fiddle”. i don’t have a writing appointment today, so I thought I would take this free time to write another journal entry. a lot of fun things goin’ on the last couple weeks to talk about too!

let’s see here… well, i believe i mentioned in the last journal entry, that we are in the first stages of making a music video. this is so exciting for me. i am grateful to be doing this project with “team member" glenn sweitzer. not only is he amazingly talented at all that he does, but he also allows me to have some creative input as we are storyboarding the video. go by his myspace and take a look at some of his videos and photography!

we have chosen to make the video for the song, “it takes a burn to learn” a song that i wrote when I first moved to nashville. it is a song that is basically about regret. living with it, dealing with it, and getting over it. i think the reason that we chose this song, is because it always seems to mean something different to everyone who hears it. i have had so many people tell me that they felt like i wrote the song about them, and how it hit them. then their story is completely different from the next one, or from the one I had in mind when writing it. i have to say, hearing how something I have written has touched someone, is the ultimate compliment. it is like a home-run and a touchdown all wrapped up in one for a writer.

in the video, there will be a girl (of coarse!) we called in our multi-talented pal, kristen kukta to play the part of my love interest. last week we had a photo shoot together and i’ve gotta say, “i have had worse job descriptions!” lol. she is just another addition to this project that is going to make it great. i can’t wait for all of you to see it once it is finished. i will keep you posted on our progress!

i know, i am always talking about writing. in the last two weeks, i think i have written more lyrics than in the last six months. just been on a really good roll. i’ve got a couple new writing partners and that always helps. stan saxon, phil valdez, and mike pruitt . i do believe that on my next record, you will see these names as co-writers.

I also had 3 people come to nashville that i was so glad to see.

-pat saxon, one of my old road band buddies from houston, tx. we played several road shows together and pat has always stayed in touch with me over the years. he had let me know that he would be in town, and he came into the second fiddle. we got him up and he jammed with us for a few tunes and hung out till closing time. it was good to see him again.

-my cousin chris “goose” henson was in town from omaha, ne. for business. goose and i have drank many beers together, floated many midnight river runs, sold snow removal in august, and grown from hellion boys to grown men. I have always thought of chris as more of a brother than a cousin. a lot of stories I could tell about us that are entertaining, including a pretty good one from this weekend, but one pops to mind that I would like to share. (“goose saves the day” story below)

-my cousin pam, also came into town for work. pam came up from huntsville, alabama. she called me saturday and let me know that she would be in town for the weekend. we met up downtown that night, and I showed her all my favorite Nashville honky-tonks, and then I met up with her and her friend, “crazy sarah” on sunday for lunch. during lunch they informed me, that we were going to the circus. ringling bros. barnum and bailey’s circus just happen to be across the street from the restaurant. after much resistance, they swayed me into going. it was actually a lot of fun! people flying through the air, shooting out of cannons, flipping, twirling, risking life and limb, tigers dancing, and all pam and crazy sarah could talk about was the one elephant that had to go number 2.

i am always grateful to see family and friends. it was a nice surprise to have them pop in.

one last thing I wanted to tell ya’ll about. I also sang my very first “demo”. publishers make demo’s of songs to show to artists in hopes that they might like the song, and record it on their next record. it is usually a pretty decent recording that is just straight to the point, and gets the idea across. my ol’ pickin’ pal, lance martin (boogiehousemusic.com) called me up and asked if I would come sing on a song of his. it was a great afternoon, drinkin coffee and hangin out with lance and his dog, “boogie” as well as being a songwriter and a publisher, lance also plays bass for one of my favorite country music legends, john conlee. (“rose colored glasses”, “common man”, “lady lay down”, “I don’t remember lovin’ you”, “back side of thrity”)

that’s all for now. thank you to any of you that took a little time to catch up with me. please feel free to comment and or make suggestions for our ever growing website! got any pictures that you think should be on here? send em on over! god bless to all of you.

-we are all just along for the ride. let us remember to enjoy every precious second, even when the ride is a little rough.

************************************************************************************************

“goose saves the day”

it was the summer of 2006. I was just wrapping up the finishing touches on “proud” (http://cdbaby.com/cd/bogue) immediately following, I had to hit the road, west bound for iowa. we had 3 shows in the Midwest. I had booked them as kind of a little cd release tour. along with making the cd, I had been trying to piece together the travel logistics, figure out who would play the shows, what we were going to use for sound, as well as moving out of my Nashville apartment and still workin full-time. sleep? no, there was none of that going on. when I think of working hard to MAKE something happen, I always go back to this time in my life. I was possessed, and I had taken on the work load of 3 people. that is the only way that I know to get it done.

everything was on a deadline. I had the first 1000 copies of “proud” shipped to iowa, where we would meet up with them the day before the first show. I had 100 copies printed in Nashville, for our cd release party here in town the night before I had to head out. literally… play, pack up the gear, and get on the road.

in my days back in Colorado, I had a van and trailer that we traveled in. we wore that ol van out takin it from Colorado-nevada-utah-new mexico-wyomin-nebraska-iowa-kansas-utah-new mexico and back about a hundered times. it was a good vehicle in it’s day, but it no longer had any business being on the road. none the less, I resurrected the old road horse (in my spare time) to get us, and the gear out there. didn’t much figure on it bringin us back, just so long as it got us there! it did too! Nashville – iowa, picked up my bro, iowa – Nebraska, played a couple shows, Nebraska – iowa….. damn! well about 15 miles from lake view, where our show was the next night, the ol’ girl finally quit. I mean, DONE! there was no problem getting to our show, the problem was, the next night we had another one in Nebraska.

here’s where ol’ goose came in! he of coarse made the treck from Omaha – lake view to be at our big show. when I told him what happened to the van, he got busy. the next morning while the band was still sleepin, he drove to the nearest town that had a u-haul place and rented a trailer for the gear. rented it, brought it back, woke us up, helped us load up the gear, then took it 4 hours down the road and helped us set it up. one of my best friends in the world stevie beach, was right in there doing everything he could to help as always. he let us borrow his mini van to get all the band members there. it was a whole lot of stress, we showed up about 2 hours before showtime, and rushed around to barely start on time. it all came together. goose saved the day!

I bet a lot of you are wondering how he got the name, “goose”….

that’s another story!

I love ya chris!

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January 13, 2008

by db

Jan 14, 2008

hello everybody! i hope this long overdue journal entry finds all of you recovering from the best christmas and new year’s ever! it is a wonderful yet stressful time, isn’t it?

since it has been sooooo long since my last journal entry, i will just recap a couple of the events since the last one.

my good friend and co-producer of “proud” dave fowler, came up with the idea to get some of our buddies together and play a game of flag football. so on a sunday morning, we gathered the troops, footballs, flags, cones, and mouthpieces, and headed out. it started off with a little drizzle and turned into a muddy sloppy downpour. we stuck it out to the 56-48 final. what a great time! oh so very sore for the next week though!

had a meeting in chicago in early december. decided it would be a great opportunity to sneak over to iowa on the way up and see some family. the midwest can be a little less than accommodating this time of year. lots of snow wind and ice! but it was worth braving the weather, we had a wonderful couple days of laughter and lounging. downtown chicago was just a beautiful sight. my room was on the 28th floor, right on “the magnificent mile”. watching huge snowflakes fall down onto the busy city streets from up there was really something else. it was my first time there, other than flying in and out, and I can’t wait to get back. i attached a couple pictures.

christmas was just amazing this year! my mom, step-dad jim, and little sister katie came to nashville from denver. my 18 year old brother cory is already living here, so it was nice to have us all together. we played cards in the evenings, the girls did lots of shopping during the days, we watched some football, watched christmas vacation, we drank a toast with aunt mae’s home-made wine, and we ate like pigs! among all the reasons that make this such a wonderful time of year, it is just a good time to look around and realize what it is really all about. no bills, or work or any of the shit that gets us down year round. it is a good thing to see clearly once again before heading into the new year.

we took this picture of my family’s home in sac city, while on our way to Chicago. we later put it in a frame and gave it to my mom as a christmas present. she of coarse cried. it is a very special place to us, and it holds many thousands of precious memories.

our shows downtown have been pretty slow as far as the amount of people attending. this time of year is not too hoppin. we have used the slow nights to add new songs to our set list and really tighten things up. i look forward to the weekends all week long, i am so fortunate to be playing with some really wonderful people these days. we are gearing up to take our show out and do some road work sometime in the spring. there is nothing I love more than traveling, especially on a musical destination.

today, sarah and I are having a lunch meeting with “team member” glenn. anytime I talk to glenn, he always gets me excited. he really makes me believe that the future is going to bring some amazing things, and that it is just a matter of getting all the pieces in place. today we will be plotting an upcoming video. after the meeting I have a writing appointment.

gonna wrap it up, for now. i got this beautiful new laptop for christmas, so i should do a better job about writing my journal entries more often.

-out with the old, in with the new!

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November 20, 2007

by db

Nov 20, 2007

today is tuesday, november 20th. two days until thanksgiving! it has been nearly two weeks since my last journal entry. i have decided to keep this one short.

not too much out of the ordinary in the last couple weeks. have had some really great shows downtown and been writing an aweful lot. i have got a couple new songs that i am really excited about, and it feels good to be writing so much lately.

the musicians that play here in town have what you might call a brotherhood. on a truly sad note, we lost one of our brothers on monday, november 5th. trevor noble was 24 years old. he played fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and i don't even know what else. it wasn't just his amazing talent that made him so beloved, it was the way that he carried himself. though i did not play any shows with trevor myself, it was hard to see the sadness that his passing brought to so many of my close friends.

trevor was a musician, a hellicopter pilot, and a god loving family man. he will be missed.

with thanksgiving coming up, let us all make a point to enjoy the time we have with our loved ones. let them know how much they mean to you.

happy thanksgiving everybody.

-"if it's important to you, do it now!"

db

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November 7, 2007

by db

Nov 8, 2007

hey all! i hope all of you had a fun, safe and happy halloween. although i didn't get dressed up this year, i did carve a prize winning jack-o-lantern. yes, maybe i had to give myself the prize, but still... i think i may hang up the guitar to be a professional pumpkin carver. i would guess that both jobs put me in the same tax bracket.

thursday - i recently had the idea to start a new section called "the team". it was basicaly inspired by glenn sweitzer. if you haven't already, please go check it out! so.... glenn being the busy man that he is, it is always nice when he makes a little time for me. his friend cliff downs also joined us. we discussed a lot of interesting things, mostly about the music industry. everytime i hang out with glenn, i leave feeling so motivated and positive. this was no exception.

friday - i had been keeping in touch with dave fowler (co-producer of "proud") throughout the week. he is out on the road quite a bit this time of year. we sloted friday for some writing and just general hangin' out. dave was one of the first people to take me in when i got here to town and didn't know a soul. in the last 3 years, he and i have developed a real friendship. we did get around to writing friday afternoon, and that was great. looking back on the day though, i would have to say my favorite parts were, throwing the new football we went and picked up and eating chinese food. it was one of the real high class buffet type joints too! we got into some great conversation about being aware of how many blessings we have, and making a point to take time to count them every single day. by the time we left, we pretty much felt like they should hire us to come up with slogans for their fortune cookies! lol.

of course i played friday night at the second fiddle. it was a lot of fun as usual. sort of a slower friday than the last few weeks, but sometimes those nights are the best.

saturday - the university of iowa hawkeyes 28, northwestern 17. i can't believe that they may actually make it to a bowl game! probably just jinxed em! i got a wild hair that afternoon and we shaved a mohawk into my head. i think it is always good to be spontaneous.

saturday night at legend's corner: this was kind of "one of those nights". like this... no keyboards! (ok, let's get a fill in steel player.) guitar player is out of town! (call my ol buddy phill valdez, he's pretty much incredible.) at least kevin will be there to play drums! oh yeah, on the way downtown he calls to say, "dude my car is broke down." (his room-mate just happens to play drums and has the night off) ok, so there i am standing on a stage with a bunch of dudes and haven't hardly ever played with, the place is packed and we are following a band that just totally rocked the house! just when ya think the ship is gonna sink.... smooth sailin all the way. as if that wasn't enough of a character test, the clock fell back at 2 when we would normally be done, so we had to keep it up for an extra hour! turned out to be one of the best saturdays yet. ya know how sometimes, ya look at a situation and it appears that everything is totally stacked against you? then everything somehow comes together better than you could have ever drawn it up? i just love that! i'm probably way over dramatizing this situation if you can't tell! these players are all amzing musicians and i never had a moments doubt that we would be fine.

sunday - yeah, you guessed it. layed around and watched football all day.

monday - my good buddy andy brasher came down from kentucky to play a show at the world famous "bluebird cafe" i met andy almost 3 years ago now. the first time i heard him sing one of his songs, i knew that he was a guy that i wanted to work with. his profound lyrics, and unique yet powerful delivery is nothing short of incredible! andy and his girlfriend ginny came over monday afternoon. after some visiting and catching up, andy and i emersed ourselves into a marathon writing session in "the man cave" by midnight we had one song completed and we both agree that it is indeed "a good'n" (songwriter lingo) go to his myspace and listen to some of his amazing work, then come back and thank me for turning you on to his homespun brand of song.

thank you to everyone who took the time to read this. it is nice to share these little stories and thoughts with the people that i care about most. remember, this site is new and we are wide open to suggestions. questions are welcome as well.

as i wrote this entry, i didn't have a theme in mind. it sort of developed as i went though. it kept coming around to staying positive and the people that you keep around you. from the way that glenn keeps me believing that i am destined for bigger things and introduces me to people that can help, to knowing the right musicians to call in a pinch. a day in the sun with dave fowler, talking about how good we have got it, in spite of how easy it is to forget. not only do i believe that andy brasher and i will write many hit songs together, but he is a quality person that brings out the best in me. i have learned that the people that you choose to be around, is what makes staying positive possible. even when the forecast doesn't look the brightest. the wrong people around you can also have the complete opposite effect. so...

-"chose your company carefully"

db

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october 29, 2007

by db

Oct 30, 2007

hey everybody! i hope this note finds all of you in good health and good spirits. i also hope it finds you in a patient mood, because this one might get long winded! due to some traveling and just an overall hectic schedule, i fell a little behind. i am writing about the last two weeks this time instead of just one. an eventful two weeks at that!

friday the 19th we played our usual second fiddle show. it was an especially great night. had a really good turn out and all of the regular roster of guys were there to play it. that translates to one hell of a band (tim teague on lead, sean spurr on keys, cliff canteburry on bass and kevin newberry on drums) and a bunch of original music! i love that!

good news bad news thing: good news? my cousin chris henson has found the love of his life and they were set to tie the knot on saturday the 20th. bad news? they were tying the damn thing in omaha, nebraska. after playing till 2:30 and not getting home till 4:00am, i had to be on the airplane at 7:00am. sleeeee-eeeeepy!!! it was all good though. three of my favorite uncles picked me up in omaha at the airport at 11:00, and i had time to watch iowa get pounced by purdue, and take a shower before the wedding! grrrr!

what a beautiful day for a wedding. they told me that it had been raining pretty much non-stop for a couple weeks. god smiled down on chris and melody on their day though. not a cloud in the sky and just the slightest hint of a breeze. we should all be so lucky! not just the weather, but to find someone who makes you as happy as they make each other. welcome to the family melody!

i love wedding receptions! they can be so fun, ya know? everyone all spiffed up, some dj in the corner, some good grub. then the open bar starts gradually having an impact on everyone and they start dancing. suddenly it's okay for grown ups to do the chicken dance and the hokey pokey! well, my family pretty much does the hokey pokey anytime 3 or more of us get together in one place. as always though, it did my heart worlds of good to be with these wondrful people. i got to see my two newborn cousins for the first time, that is always something else. my gramps used to say, "it just amazes me everytime! you see this new little person for the first time, and you are just instantly in love!" i must have shared in 100 hugs or so, and heard "i love you" at least as many times. now THAT, is what it's all about! well, that and the hokey pokey, of course!

sunday the 21st, i rode with my aunt cookie, uncle jim and 3 of my favorite cousins, kacee, cody and jesse from omaha to lake view, iowa. it is about a 3 and 1/2 hour drive, and we enjoyed every second of it. i got to know a little bit more about them, and was reminded how awesome they are!

i arrived in lake view to a warm greeting. my dad and stepmom lori, sister steph and her hubby joe with their two, ayden and myah, and of course my two brothers nick and johnny b. it just so happened that my favorite team, (the dallas cowboys) were playing joe's favorite team (the minnesota vikings) i must say, watching dallas kick the vikings butt, really helped take the sting off of the iowa loss on saturday! we all sat around, eating good home cooked food, drinkin a couple beers, laughing and later there was even some crying. but they were tears of joy. my dad and lori are truly a picture of the way that a marriage is supposed to be. not to say that they have lived a fairy tale life by any stretch of the imagination. on the contrary! it's just that every tough time that came along, they faced it together, and never once thought of doing it any other way. yeah, we should all be so lucky!

monday the 22nd- "the parents" and steph, took the day off of work so we could hang out. we pretty much treated it like a sunday. not in a hurry to do much of anything. we did eventually get up enough motivation to get some bait and some fishin poles rounded up. dad and i went out on the gravel pit that joe and steph live on. after a couple hours nick joined up with us. we probably caught between 50 and 75 bass. the weather was incredible! i can't imagine what heaven feels like, but i would like to think it will be very near to how it felt floatin around with those two.

tuesday the 23rd- i had a radio interview at 92.9 "the moose" in storm lake. i was supposed to be there at 8:45. i was only like 20 minutes late! the interview went well, i talked about everything going on, and sang "proud" the moose was the first station to play my songs on the radio in 2000. later that year they sponsored and promoted my cd release concert in sac city, iowa. i also had a newspaper interview with the pilot tribune at 11:30. my little bro johnny was my taxi for the day. always good to have a little time with "jb" we laughed all day long. that evening, my good friends steve and brenda brought their grandaughter madison over. she likes liccorice!

wednesday the 23rd- brenda drove me from lake view to omaha where uncle blaine was waiting to pick me up. i had intentionally booked my flight to leave later in the day, so we could have some time to do our favorite thing: "ride around in the truck" okay, maybe not our favorite, but damn close! always a good place for me to gather a little perspective. he knows me better that i do in some ways.

thursday the 24th- the last thursday of every month is kind of like a mini holliday for my brother cory and i. why? well it's "kingbilly is your friend" at code blue. some of you might remember, code blue is where we played our showcase. who is kingbilly? i became associated with them through my good friend donnie. he and i met in the nashville star finals in kansas city in '03, and have been friends ever since. he and i wrote "girls gone wild" together. donnie is the lead singer for kingbilly. they are amazing, unique and will soon be a household name, so please go check them out. at "kingbilly is your friend" they have 3 or 4 guests that play 4 or so songs a piece. sarah buxton was one of them on this night. everyone that played really rocked! although, seeing the fellas all dressed up like girls was just a touch disturbing

friday the 25th- probably one of the best nights we have had yet at the second fiddle. a great crowd, the band sounded incredible, and we sold quite a few cd's. oh, and i had so much fun i couldn't hardly stand myself!

saturday the 26th- iowa 34 michigan st. 27 2OT's!!!!!!!! happy.
played that night at legend's corner. another good show. got to rock out with old friends, rich delfavero and phill valdez again. two guys i truly respect and enjoy jammin with.

sunday the 27th- i laid around watching football.

i told ya i was going to get long winded! i am really into this new website. i hope that you all are enjoying reading my journal entries just half as much as i am writing them. thank you again to everyone for helping us get the word out about it. also, thank you for all your votes on "FOX's storyteller's challenge" the top 12 will be announced on november 30th. if you haven't signed up for the emailing list already, then please do!

in closing (finally!) these last two weeks i was blessed to be around a lot of loved ones. they all made me feel so special and let me know that they were proud of me. john elway's dad told him, the most important thing in the whole world, above and beyond anything else, is to "make your family proud" that is why i chose "proud" as the name of my cd. that is why i have come back from this trip feeling confident and believing that good things are coming.

-"it's all about family"

-db

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october 17, 2007

by db

Oct 18, 2007

journal entry #2:

this week was amazing! fun fun fun! i wanna start by telling you about the video shoot that i went to on saturday. for those of you who don't know who glenn sweitzer is, in the next few days ,you can go to our new section titled, "the team" and read about some of what he does, and what we have done together. glenn told me about this shoot that he was doing for an artist named kevin montgomery. it was basicaly just a day out on a ranch in the country. more or less an outdoor picnic/ party, and they were shooting video footage the whole time. glenn is always surrounded by great people, and i always want to do anything i can to help him out, so i invited a bunch of friends to join me. it turned out to be a total blast! we tossed footballs around, ate some fried chicken, met some new friends and got to be in a video!

later saturday night, we played our usual show at "legend's corner". it was a really good night. the crowds are typically better on saturdays, and legend's is just a great atmosphere. i will say that i was about ready to collapse by the end of the show though. gotta love it!

sunday has always been my favorite day. sort of a relax, regroup/ recover from the weekend day. i just love that it's football season again. my favorite team is the cowboys, and until yesterday they were lookin pretty sweet! damn those patriots!

i called up my ol' pal tim meade on tuesday afternoon. he used to play bass with me quite a bit when i first moved to town. he and his wife karla are like friends from back home. they just love to have good company over, cook good food, and talk about life and music. i went to see them, and we spent a few hours visitin and pickin guitars. karla and i even finished up a song that i had started earlier in the day. it is titled "i'll wait" and it is a mighty fine song, if i do say so myself.

friday night is my favorite night of every week. we have been playing the 10-2 slot at "the second fiddle" for about a year or so now. it is a lot like home to me there. i just love all of the people that work there, and so many of the people that come in to hang out and jam with us. congratulations to my friend eric landes and megan on the birth of their daughter panama mckenzie. eric runs sound and bar backs at the the second fiddle. he is also a stellar songwriter and a devout iowa hawkeye fan!

happy birthday to my friend lindsey kayla webb. she turned 14 on thursday. we had a big birthday bash for her saturday night. ive attached a couple pics.

we had a lot of fun this week with the launching of the new website. thank you so much to everyone for all of your suggestions and helping us spread the word. please keep em coming, and if you haven't already signed up to be on the emailing list, please do so.

-"the people that you chose to have around you, make you who you are"

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october 9, 2007

by db

Oct 9, 2007

October 9, 2007
hey everybody!

welcome to journal entry #1. we have decided to make entries once a week to keep everyone in the loop as to the exciting, or maybe not so exciting things going on.

lets see here…..so many things have happened over the last few months that I am not sure where to start. i don't wanna get too long winded, so i will just touch on some of my favorite moments.

the most exciting thing is that I was able to put on my first showcase at the end of august. for those of you that may not know, a showcase is a chance for me to play for some invited record executives, family and friends. it was indeed a very special night, as well as, a huge night for my career. i have attached a blog, taken from my myspace page, i wrote about the night to the bottom of this. plus, go check out some of the pics in the photo section. currently, we are still getting feedback from the 3 record labels that were present. i will be sure to keep ya'll updated on how that turns out!

since then, it’s been business as usual. during the week, most all of my time is spent writing. still playing friday nights at the second fiddle and saturday nights at legends corner.

as for the new website, it is a work in progress. i hope to have the message board up and running by next week, along with a few other tweaks. we have a lot of exciting ideas for the site! please send any comments or suggestions about what we have done so far, what we could do to improve, etc. im definitely excited to see the feedback. oh, be sure to check out the “friends” section of the photos…..cant wait to see what you guys have for those!

in my effort to stay in touch with everyone, please sign up for the email updates. this will notify you of anything new we add to the website, big news, pics, etc.

life is short, love hard

~db

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
my showcase  Current mood: grateful

we played my first showcase last night at code blue here in nashville. for those of you unfamiliar with the term "showcase" i would explain it like this:
there are 3 key elements that you need for a successful showcase. label interest- idealy several labels interest! you invite them to come check out a show. the music-must be the very best it can possibly be. the best musicians, the best venue with the best sound, run by a pro. and lastly people. the label guys want to see that you have a fan base, and that people are diggin what you're doing.
a showcase can make your career take off like a rocket, or send you back home with your tail between your legs. these guys will not sugar coat anything, they don't have the time. if they don't really like you, they will say something like..... "i don't really like you" that may be the scariest part.
label interst- we had 3 different guys from 3 different labels say that they would come out. cool part is, they actually showed up!
music- i cannot say enough about how proud i was to share the stage with this group of guys. it was: kevin newberry-drums, tim teague-lead guitar/vocals, kelly schoenfeld-acoustic/vocals, tim mcdonald-keys/vocals, and cliff canterberry-bass. i have played with some incredible musicians over the years. this group was just amazing! it was an honor to have my music treated so well. we had two rehearsals, and a good long sound check. code blue has got a great sound system and we were lucky enough to have mike fechner with us to run it. he works with many greats, like dolly parton.
people- we definately had the people. starting with 2 cousins that drove from wisconsin, 4 cousins from iowa, and 1 mother that flew in from colorado. add in 3 good buddies down from kentucky, and 1 up from georgia and we're on our way. family is so very important, and having them make such a lenthly trip to be here to support me, means the world to me. it made a special night, all that much more so, having them there to share it with me. thank you bob, craig, val, norm, suzan, and amber. you guys are the best!
we promoted the show mostly by myspace. i want to say thank you to cynthia glenn, john dave, kelly and sarah and all of my other friends that took the time to help us get the word out. nashville is a tough town to get people to come hear your show because it is over saturated with live music. i asked all of my friends to come out and help us make this thing a success, and they didn't let me down. i would guess there was about 120 people or so. i kept saying to everyone, "thank you so much for being here" i didn't know what else to say. it felt so good to have so many people show up on my behalf.
it was a very special evening. don't know just yet what will come of it, but i do know it was a success. i don't really care what comes of it. i am completely satisfied already. we had a gathering of some wonderful people... we played music with passion.... we laughed..... we celebrated. we had fun, and that... is all that really matters. “

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