I wrote an email to one of my favorite singer/songwriters yesterday, and it feels appropriate, given the upcoming holiday, to share it with you. Stephen Kellogg & The Sixers' album Glassjaw Boxer was one of those rays of light that we sometimes see (or hear) at exactly the right time. He's honest in his dealings with family and the pursuit of fame, with his questions, doubts, and hopes. In his song Father's Day, he sings to his daughter about the closeness of their family, as well as the distance created by his perennial absence. "You're like your mom, little girl/ and believe me that's the best thing in the world," followed by "I will always always love you, no matter what you do/ and when you're growing up without me I will always be with you." Even though I don't have any kids, these themes cut right in. And I think it's because...

What is the one thing you wish you had done differently which you learned by experience? This is an excellent question, and a very difficult one. My answer may end up sounding a bit touchy-feely for your tastes, but it's my answer nonetheless. I wish this: that I had asked myself "What do I want?" more often. I wish I had started asking earlier, "What EXACTLY do I want? Is THIS what I want? How close is this thing I'm doing right now to what I've dreamed of, hoped for?" And I wish I'd developed the courage to believe in my answers to those questions earlier on. In other words, I wish I'd started to trust my intuition earlier. Asking "Where am I going, and what do I really want?" is a powerful question, because it prevents you from getting swept along by others' plans for you in the hopes that they have your...

The world changes. We were at the House of Blues this week. We had a great show with the full band, Chris Giambelluca on bass and Nadim Shehab on drums. Well, I say "great," because it was fun and light and memorable. Perhaps not so great because my voice started to lose itself and jump to other notes I did not want it to go to. Like I was 13 again. "Sing, sing, squaaaawk, sing, sing." Anyway. Fun show. Playing with our friends, the Nikhil Korula Band. We walked in and they were sound-checking, we waved hello and set our gear down. We've played with them three times before, they're great guys and we like to pal around; so naturally I felt like a jerkstore when I realized I'd forgotten the saxophone player's name. I turn to Nadim: "Hey, dude, can you do me a favor?" "Sure." "Over the course of the evening, can you figure...

I'm at the kitchen table, rocking the laptop, calling A-list band managers while my younger brother is busy making calls to get a late-summer job. He's looking for work in chemistry, or perhaps as a pharmacy tech. Meanwhile I'm going through the metaphorical Rolodex calling music industry bad aces to get them to chat for a few minutes on the phone, or *gasp* come see us play live. And even though we're clearly on different career paths, the story is pretty much the same. What he hears: "Yeah, we're not hiring right now... uh... I don't think any of our locations are hiring. I think we're laying people off... yeah... crap." At which point I overhear my brother say, "Yeah... that's ok... good luck keeping your job," He regroups, and makes another call. "It's a learning experience," I say. "Yeah, I learned nobody is hiring." No one has money right now, I think. And...

Hello friends, old and new! I've been quiet for a long time. And you may, along with news correspondents and pundits everywhere be wondering: Why write now? For what critically important reason is Cameron Hood choosing to break his bloggish-silence? Since I'm sure you where losing sleep over it, I will now reveal my answer: I'm writing to congratulate myself. I've done it! I've completed the task set out before me. This was not a task assigned to me by anyone other than me. It was a harrowing path that I alone chose to walk. It's been difficult. It's involved a lot of traveling, a lot of shows, a lot of training, a lot of skillful finger-performance. And it's involved a lot of Redken Rough Paste Hair Styler. The earth-shattering subject I'm addressing is not my involvement in Ryanhood's massively successful Spring tour, though it was the stage upon which my heroics were...

Well. I must confess that I collapsed under the pressure of keeping the blog up to date on the tour. It would be a lot easier if we had someone else to do the driving! I’m writing this one on a 13 hour drive from Ohio to Oklahoma. We have internet in the car now though, which is a treat (providing we have a cell phone tower nearby). We’ve played in 24 states on this tour. It’ll be 25 after our shows in CA later this month. But the pace has slowed considerably in these last few weeks. It’s nice to have some time to breathe again.

I just wanted to say hi, let you know we are alive and well, and give a big thanks to the people who have cheered us on along the way. Thanks for believing in us.
See you again before you know it
Ryan

Hi Friends,

I though that we’d have seen it all by week 7 of the tour, but no….

This is the WORLD’S LARGEST SNOW-WOMAN!
Check out the little snowmen next to it for perspective

We’d seen this place on the map, but only dreamed of the day when we’d actually get to drive through it….

AND FINALLY

We’ve seen A LOT of hotel rooms in our day, but never before had we walked into a room to find this….

Where’s the rest of the toilet?

Oh, here it is…IN THE CORNER!

Exactly whose pants are on Cameron’s bed?

And since when do hotel rooms come with complimentary bread and beer?

Ah the fun of life on the road. Catch up with you soon!
Cheers
Ryan

Ok, so I just couldn’t keep up the pace of getting these things updated weekly…so for this installment we’ll have a GREATEST HITS photos of the last few weeks. YES we have been continuing to rock the country, and here are the photos to prove it…

this is me

this is cameron

this is a nature-made ice sculpture

this picture is not doctored

this is our first house concert

this is our windshield cracking

these are some tie-wearing friends from NACA

this is a pretty rockin photo from New York the other night

ok, now you’re all caught up
See you soon!
Ryan

Hey Guys, Sorry for the late update (I'm aiming to get these up every Sunday, but ran a couple of days late this time around). We ate at a lot of uniquely-local restaurants on in Michigan..I think that will be this week's thematic-link. Show 9 - Allendale, MI (Grand Valley State University) We were welcomed by snow as soon as we got to Michigan. But better yet we were once again welcome by students in neckties. Special thanks to them for making us feel at home during the first of our 5 shows in Michigan. Show 10 - Adrian, MI (Siena Heights University) Adrian is a tiny little town, but we still managed to schedule two nights in a row there. We also found a pretty cool Mexican Restaurant called El Chapulin (the grasshopper...who knew!?) Don't forget dessert :-) Oh yeah... the show... Everyone was very kind to us, and bought lots of CDs...thank you! And just when we...