Miraculously we found a babysitter on a Tuesday night, and were able to take a much-needed break from the kids. After a nice dinner at the Sonoma Grille, Heather and I headed over to the Town Ballroom to take in the Five For Fighting show Star put on.

As you may have read in an earlier post, we booked John Ondrasik for a solo performance at Starry Night In The Garden in the Spring, and I got a chance to interview him then, and hang with him a bit after the show. He was a very cool guy, very down to earth, and surprisingly normal, considering how famous he is. The reason, he said, is because his motivation is his family.

It isn’t often that I meet someone in the public eye who I could see myself hanging with socially, mainly because they always seem so caught up in their own celebrity; but John seems so normal, by comparison. He’s serious about his craft, he’s on the road a lot, but still makes time for his family.

At Tuesday’s show, for example, he mentioned that he was heading back home to California on the weekend to take his children trick-or-treating, because he promised them. He also said his new single “The Riddle” was inspired by his five year old.

And really, what platinum recording artist takes the time to call radio program directors and thank them personally for playing their song? When “The Riddle” hit Top 10, John called me up and did just that. (I can count on NO hands the times that’s ever happened to me before!)

Anyway, the show was tremendous. Far different from John solo on piano, the full Five For Fighting band experience was even better than the CD. These guys are very proficient, and they played the hits to a very appreciative audience, genuinely rocking the house at times, and interacting with the crowd throughout the evening. JO got the biggest applause when he said he picked the Sabres to win the Stanley Cup!

But the highlight for me was when they played “Easy Tonight,” and had everyone singing along – including some drunk and nearly disorderly guys off to the left of the stage, who were belting it out louder than anyone. John came over and high-fived them after the tune.

If you get the chance to see them in your town, don’t hesitate. The new CD is “Two Lights,” I would recommend it; and I wouldn’t be surprised if the songs stick in your head forever, too.

–Brian

In the early 90s, one of the artists who truly inspired me, and who I had the good fortune to see “live” on more than one occasion, was David Wilcox.

The album “How Did You Find Me Here” was one great acoustic song after another, sung in an earnest, introspective style that spoke to me immediately. He was singing about MY LIFE at the time, it seemed, so I bought the next 4 of his CDs.

He, like me, got married in the mid 90s, and it was then that his music changed..and I stopped listening to it.

There is a phenomenon I have noticed in myself, my wife, and others, that appears to be universal: we are all much more creative when we’re single, lonely, and semi-depressed. What is it about unrequited love, thoughts of what might have been, and sheer loneliness that inspires our art? When I got married, I stopped writing songs. When Wilcox got married, his songs started to suck!

In the waning days of my bachelorhood I was writing a song every week, and some were actually quite good. I was writing poetry, regularly corresponding with friends in delightful prose, making astute observations about life, love, and how it all relates. I even had time to play tennis, golf, and basketball semi-regularly. Yes, I was lonely and unhappy much of that time, but I think that was the fuel for my art. Now, I’m lucky to have time to spell-check a cryptic email before I send it.

The point of this diatribe is that I rediscovered the early David Wilcox on an old mix tape I made long ago. I hadn’t heard it in so long that it immediately took me back to those days, when I had too much spare time, and I was dreaming of…well….the life I have now, I guess. All the old feelings came flooding back, all the remembered tears made me want to play my piano again, strum my guitar, and write a song or two.

But when I pulled into my garage, and my children ran out to greet me, nothing but pure smiles and childish excitement, I realized the trade-off; taking the time to feed the singer/songwriter in me would mean less time with my son, daughter, and wife.

Not only that, but the songs I write now would probably suck….like David’s now do (sorry, Dave!) I’m just not in that place anymore, and neither, I think, is he. Loneliness can be beautiful, I guess.

So please, if you can find them, pick up “How Did You Find Me Here,” “Home Again,” “Big Horizon,” and even “East Asheville Hardware.” Early David Wilcox is an artist worth discovering, or in my case tonight, rediscovering:

“When I get lonely
that’s only a sign
Some room is empty
That room is there by design
If I feel hollow
That’s just my proof that there’s more for me to follow
That’s what the lonely is for”

(“That’s what the lonely is for” – David Wilcox, 1996)

–Brian

I am one of the lucky ones. Despite a freak Lake Effect snow storm, the biggest October snow storm in history, my house did not lose power, or water; unlike some 300,000 of my fellow Buffalonians.

The previous record for snow in October here was 6 inches, but by the time the snow had more or less ended on Friday morning, more than 24 inches of wet, heavy snow had devastated the area. At first, it was interesting to watch the thick heavy flakes come down, then when it continued on and on, it quickly became a catastrophe.

It is now estimated that up to 90% of the beautiful oak, maple, and ash trees in the city of Buffalo have been damaged. Their full green leaves caught the weight of the snow – certainly not what nature intended – and if their heavy laden limbs didn’t break off, many trees’ trunks split in half. When I drove to work Friday morning, it looked like a bomb had gone off. Today, most of the snow is melted, but the arboreal damage will be felt for years.

Thankfully, the generator at the radio farm in Amherst kicked in this time, and none of our stations were off the air.

Still, with only half the complex powered up, it was eerie to be doing the show in the dimly lit surroundings.

In desperate situations like these, when power is out and all people have is radio for information, the importance of my career becomes clear. It’s not about the music anymore, it’s about helping people, making neighbors feel connected, being a friendly, calm voice in the midst of chaos.

It’s a nutty career, but again, after 24 years, I can’t imagine doing anything else.

–Brian

A couple of things I wrote about recently turned around for the better.

Groundbreaking began on the Hamburg Wind Farm project, the one which looked like it would be derailed by environmental interests concerned about disturbing the dirt at the site of an old Bethlehem Steel factory. Thankfully that turned out to be the nonsense I thought it was, and groundbreaking began on the project at last.

The other development, which was a pleasant surprise, was an agreement reached between the Seneca nation and the city of Buffalo regarding the proposed $125 million Buffalo Creek Casino. It appeared the deal was dead, and there were angry words exchanged on both sides, which at its height culminated in the Senecas promising to build no more than a 5000 square foot trailer of a casino, basically to spite Mayor Byron Brown’s administration. Thankfully agreements were reached, and the disputed Fulton Street was sold to the Senecas so their plan could move forward.

Of course there are people who think a run down part of downtown Buffalo is better than a multi-million dollar hotel and casino complex. You can reach your own conclusions, but I see the fruits of the Seneca’s disputed Niagara Falls casino finally coming to fruition, with millions of dollars in revenues going toward renovating and revitalizing a city that desperately needs the money, and probably wouldn’t be getting the money otherwise.

So all in all, I’m happy with what’s transpired here this week. Now if we can just get Bass Pro to stop dragging its feet and come downtown near HSBC Arena, things will really start happening!

–Brian

My children love to dance. I often have the radio on, generally to my station, and last night my son had finished dinner and was dancing around the dining room. Darcy was in her high chair, watching Connor, when she said to me:

“I wanna get down. I gotta dance!”

Who am I to refuse a request like that?

–Brian

Look! I’ve figured out how to post pics. Now I know these aren’t perfect. In fact the originals are a little bit brighter and bigger, but you can copy them and brighten them up as you wish. The Black Pearl looks much smaller than you would think.