Have not been writing here tho much to write about.
On Monday May 13 met up with Eric and Rob. Long story short we agreed to part ways, ending my four year amazing trip with ETB. It was time. I'm moving on to focus more on my own project Ocean of Stars, and Eric and Rob are carrying on Eric Tessmer Band to the next level.
I love Eric and Rob and we all wish each other the best. And the door is never closed...
Here's the official video:
The May 17th farewell show at Saxon was amazing. One of the funnest shows I've ever played, and a packed house of friends and fans. I believe a live recording will be available via dejeset.com, I'll find a real link to it. Just, wow. Still recovering from that one 3 days later \m/,
Photo courtesy Lisa:
Crowd walk:
Ripping my strings off. Photo by Brenda:
Setlist, with my blood on it:
Went to the bathroom after the show and pulled a 1/4" length of string wrap from my index finger. It was that kind of night!!! \m/,
I feel really good right now, and have been for the past week.
My summer is already filling up, so not all that worried about money right now, considering I just walked away from my full time job..!
Dead Oak is hiring me on for two months so they can get ready to play a few dates at the end of month 2. Also talking to Rick Hornyak about a 4-week run for all of July through Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and a few points between.
So far my calendar has no gigs on it until the Rick Hornyak run starts at the end of June. Wow. I think the last time I had this long of a break from gigging was when I toured with King's X as a tech back in 2009. My body feels very happy and grateful for the time off!
Ocean of Stars will start moving forward now, as I can configure my calendar to allow time for it, rather than trying to fit OoS into the cracks and gaps of a full gigging schedule. Ric Furley and Derek Rodriguez are sounding really fucking good on drums and saxophone respectively. Have been talking to Trevor Nealon from Band of Heathens about playing B3 organ, he is interested and I'll leave it at that for now.
Just need to find a bass player in the meantime. Have some people I will be getting in touch with. Ready for progress.
Much also to recap, as the past few weeks/weekends have definitely been blog-worthy. Like this particular weekend with ETB in Northeast Texas:
That, and ETB's crazy Austin/Amarillo/Austin weekend. And CRETAINLY have to recap the Adrian and the Sickness "Hot Nights" theater gig.
Yeah. I will do my best to get to that. All stories worth telling!
