From Fillmore East To The Moon: Chats with ABB’s Jaimoe, CPD’s Steve Perry, POTM’s Sam & Barry Shear and Cris Cab…Plus!

A Conversation with Phases Of The Moon's Sam & Barry Shear

Mike Ragogna: Sam and Barry, what inspired you to form a "Phases Of The Moon" festival? What's the history?

Sam Shear: I was attending college in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. For my Bachelors of Fine Art, I found myself completely immersed in the art community and always learning about new visual artists. At the same time my school had a class dedicated to going to Burning Man Festival every other year. Although I never took the opportunity to go, I studied some amazing visual artists as well as participating in the class, building my own Geo-Dome, learning about the culture. At the same time, I have always had a passion for music, in particular The Grateful Dead, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, old school rock. After graduating and coming back to Chicago, I wanted to infuse my passions into one. That's when Phases of the Moon was born.

Barry Shear: When Sam first approached me with the idea of putting together a music festival I was intrigued. We worked together on a business plan and researched successful festivals and felt that there was an opportunity to build and develop a new festival, incorporating and expanding the best elements of other iconic festivals. We held several focus groups to understand what festival goers liked and did not like about their festival experience. We worked hard to use that input as a "road map" in building Phases of the Moon. We spent months locating the venue. At Kennekuk County Park in Danville, Illinois we found the right combination. Beautiful venue, centrally located to several large cities and universities and strong community support.

MR: Not having been in entertainment previously, did you initially find putting on the event a little daunting? What is some of the minutia?

SS: Although Barry and myself have not been in the entertainment business before; we have an outstanding team working behind us to make Phases of the Moon a reality. From Barry's 30+ years in finance to my love for music and art, I feel we are working to create something really special for everyone attending. Minutia-Logistics!!!

BS: To put together a large festival together is indeed a daunting task. We have put together a very strong and experienced team, which is key to dealing with all the complicated logistics. Many of the major elements include security, medical staffing, lighting staging, art installations, parking, the list is endless. There is also the minutia of such things as color of wristbands, merchandise design, shirts for volunteers, artist scheduling, etc, etc.

MR: Who will be performing at the POTM this year and how do you see its future?

SS: We have tons of amazing musical acts from headliners such as Widespread Panic for 2 nights, The String Cheese Incident for 2 nights, Leon Russell, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Gov't Mule, Jackie Greene, Chris Robinson Brotherhood to some smaller acts like Anders Osborne, Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers, California Honeydrops, The Revivalists, all the way down to local bands like James Jones trio, Flatland Harmey Experiment even the local state representative Chad Hays and the Boat Drink Caucus will join us for a night. Musical artists are just one facet of many performing acts throughout the 4 day weekend. We also have a slate of Performance Artists such as Quixotic, Tammy Firefly, Astral Gypsies and tons more! There should be something fun and entertaining going on for everyone!!

BS: We have a stellar line up of music, performing artists and visual arts. As we grow over the next few years we want to continue to bring to POTM exciting and diverse artists.

MR: What advice do you have for new artists?

SS: All I could say to an up-and-coming artist or any artist for that matter... I would say continue to be true to their craft and continue to do what it is they do that makes their fans love them so much! From crazy collaborations to out of sight improvisations to amazing stage presence to simply creating that connection with your fans, these are the reasons I became so attached to music.

BS: My advice to new artist would be to continue to develop their craft and their own personality and try to get exposure at POTM.

MR: Will you now be diving head first into the music business, how will you not want to create a label and management and publishing divisions?

SS: I think you could say that. Our goal right now is to have a successful first year with Phases of the Moon the hopefully expand our ideas and themes into another event. Maybe county/bluegrass...

BS: I would say in the foreseeable future we will have our hands full building POTM into a major music and art festival. Our long term goal would be to develop one more annual festival., with no current thoughts of moving into other areas of the music industry.




A Conversation with The Allman Brothers' Jaimoe

Mike Ragogna: Let's talk about The Allman Brothers' jillion-disc reissue of The 1971 Fillmore East Recordings. I'm guessing you know how big an impact these concerts made on the rock culture of that era. What are your impressions of that?

Jaimoe: John Coltrane.

Mike: John Coltrane?

Jaimoe: Somebody was having a conversation with Duane [Allman] and Butch Trucks was an atheist; right now he can't make up his mind whether he is or not. Duane said, "What we do is like a religion, we're like Jesus Christ, we just play music and He spreads the word." So to say John Coltrane or to say Miles Davis or whatever is not absurd or out of my mind or whatever, because in our circles, we've done as much as Coltrane or Miles did in terms of the contemporary music scene, musically and financially.

Mike: Let me ask you about that. When those two names come up, improvisation is the first thing you think of. When you think of The Allman Brothers, your jams--which, to me, falls under the "improv" category--are legendary. And so many bands have been influenced by The Allman Brothers. What was that creative spark among you guys that over the years enabled you to improve as smoothly as you have?

Jaimoe: We're carrying on the lineage. We're just disciples of the music and whatever you prepare yourself for, then you get the information. It doesn't matter what it is, whether it's racing cars, lawyering, doctoring, counting money, whatever. When your mind is physically as up as anything can be on that, you get information that other people don't get because their minds are not there to get it. They're not qualified to get it. I'm not trying to make it sound like it's so simple or anything. It is, but you have to work at it. Anything you can do to be good at, you have to work at it, as an individual, about your instrument. In our case, it's about teamwork more than anything. Two people have to think as one. You can think as Einstein as much as you want, but when you come in contact with another person as a work unit of some kind, you have to think as one. You have to figure out all the things that you've studied and that your mind is telling you and then you have to figure out how to make it work as one or you have a broken down team.

Mike: What is a rehearsal like with The Allman Brothers?

Jaimoe: You go in, and it's "Hey man, I've got this song, let's try it here. I heard it on the radio the other day and it goes similar to this." [hums tune] You relate to that like bouncing a ball against the wall. The ball comes back, but it's not going to come straight back at you unless you've figured out how to actively make it come straight back at you. So you're responding to sound. You learn what the map is and you may play it the way that you heard it or you may choose to take out a couple of verses or whatever. But the kind of band rehearsals that I would have in my band, Jaimoe's Jasssz Band, there's a little map. The map tells us how to get from Brooklyn over to Manhattan. From Brooklyn over to Manhattan, a lot of things can happen. That's the improv.

Mike: You've had your career on the side and done your own things, what it is about The Allman Brothers that keeps you as family after all these years?

Jaimoe: The music, and the love for each other. People say, "You call that love? They're fighting all the time, this and that." Who's not fighting all the time? It's just normal life within a group of musicians. Whether Keith and Mick speak or not--they don't need to speak, they've been together fifty years. They speak with their instruments. After a while, you're around people. I'm getting ready to go out the door and Lamar [Williams] says to me, "Hey man, would you pick me up a carton of milk on your way back?" I didn't need to say I was going to the store or what. A lot of telepathy.

Mike: Was that bond always there?

Jaimoe: Yeah.

Mike: What do you think of The Allman Brothers' legacy at this point?

Jaimoe: There are a lot of things that go on with the band, and when you think about it, how do you deal with that? You just do. Once you figure out what it is you're doing and are supposed to be doing, you have to be careful with that because it can get in your way. If you get off in some zone and don't know how to handle it, it can be a dangerous thing. Ask Mike Tyson. When you reach a kind of a level like that, it's a very powerful place to be. To know that and to understand it is well and good. To know that and not understand it and how to deal with a lot of things is pretty dangerous territory.

Mike: It seems like you guys are handle it well.

Jaimoe: Yeah, we do. We screw up just like everybody else does. I'm talking about life. The music, going to the grocery store, whatever.

Mike: What is creating music like for you these days?

Jaimoe: It's great, because I'm at the edge of getting out of my way and enjoying some of the things that are being allowed to come through us.

Mike: What is your advice for new artists?

Jaimoe: Whatever it is you do, practice your art, practice your trade. Learn as much as you can about what it is you're doing and apply that as much as you can, because the application of it is what is going to mostly get you where you think you want to be. And some other places. When you apply yourself there will be things that you will learn and pick up that you didn't hear anyone do or say. That's because you're studying about what it is that you're doing. There are so many things that I learned and I used to wonder, when I'd hear someone else doing something similar, "Boy, that sounds like me." I finally realized through the years and application of that we weren't the only ones who figured out how to build cars. We weren't the only ones that picked up a can, put a piece of string in it and figured out that you could hear the vibration in the distance. When Bell discovered that, there was somebody else who discovered that, too. It's because they applied themselves. They studied a lot of the same things. When you prepare, when the wheel is spinning and it throws off little crumbs and stuff, you get some of them because you're qualified to have it.

Mike: "Qualified to have it." That's beautiful.

Jaimoe: It is. That's just a fact. One year, '69 or '70, we were in New York during the December holidays. I think we might have played the Fillmore. We had about a week off or something and we had to be back in New York. We decided, "Let's spend Christmas and New Years in the Big Apple!" So we did, because it didn't make sense to drive to Georgia, turn around, and come back. So we stayed in the city. We went to The Village Vanguard and Rahsaan Roland Kirk was playing there. He's not with us any longer, but he played three or four instruments at one time. We're sitting there listening and Rahsaan says, "Yeah, you show me somebody that can do what I'm about to do here anybody in the world and I'll show you Jesus Christ." And he proceeded to just amaze everyone.

Well, this one guy was so blown away, Twiggs Lyndon, who was the road manager for our band and a dear, dear, dear friend of mine. I could not believe that a person could do what this man was doing. Twiggs was a genius, he was always coming up with incredible stuff. Twiggs gave Rahsaan his submarine ring--he graduated from submarine school and that's the ring you get--this was a very special ring, more special than that Superbowl ring. They became real tight friends, real tight friends. At the same time, Butch and I are sitting right next to each other and Butch elbows me in my ribs out of nowhere and he says, "Man, that f**king guy sounds just like you!" And I went, "Yeah, tell me about it." I'm sitting here just blown away.

Alphonse Mouzon was a musician from Charleston, South Carolina. Alphonse Mouzon did a lot of things that I did. He played in the high school band, he played with this rhythm and blues person, that rhythm and blues person, and he loves to play jazz. The information that was thrown out, I got a piece of it, Al got a piece of it, and some more. There are a number of musicians that are in some brotherhood, not through anything other than the application of whatever it is they were doing. Being influenced by a certain kind of people. You say, "Man, you sound just like so and so and so and so and so and so," that reason being that's a very high level of information. It would be surprising if you didn't sound like that. [laughs]

Mike: That's awesome, I never thought of it like that.

Jaimoe: That's basically what it is. And who does it belong to? "What them white boys doing playing our music?" Whose music? The music belong to the universe, and we should be happy, very happy that we were chose to have it, and for us to serve you a plate of it. [laughs]

Mike: Jaimoe, when you listen to the Fillmore concerts now, is there anything revelatory for you? Anything you're just noticing after all this time?

Jaimoe: I may have "had it." Fifty-fifty the chances are ninety-nine and three quarters to one. The level that you're playing at when you start--as they say, "shedding"--you eventually get smart and get yourself a tape recorder, and when you begin to start rehearsing, you turn the tape recorder on. Now at a certain level, there are very few things where you stop in the middle of it and start trying to analyze it. When you're practicing and you hear what you just played, say we're at bar twenty-one, what you've just heard was in bar twelve, you're thinking in the past because your mind is moving so fast.

When you're so qualified in whatever it is you do, you go back and you analyze that later on because you do not want to stop the flow of what's going on. That's not the object of the game. Like I said, I got a tape recorder, and when you're practicing, you can go back and listen to that because when you're at that level, there's probably twenty tunes in a matter of eight bars, idea to idea. People improvise differently. It doesn't mean that Stevie Wonder or Bobby Bland or Boy George don't improvise. People do things at different levels. That doesn't make it less intense. [laughs] Don't ever be fooled by that. That don't make it any less intense than what you're doing at your high level.

Transcribed by Galen Hawthorne



photo courtesy of Cherry Poppin' Daddies

A Conversation with Cherry Poppin' Daddies' Steve Perry

Mike Ragogna: Steve, your wife Yvette has had colorectal cancer and you and she have decided to go public about it. Please can you go over the history or her ordeal and why you decided to share this with the press?

Steve Perry: Well this all happened quite suddenly over the summer. My wife, who is 41 years old, began feeling like something was wrong with her. I had just had my 1st colorectal screening at 50, and my wife said to me, "I am not sure, but I think I am the one that needs the colonoscopy". Because she is comparatively young we would have had to pay out of pocket for the procedure. She has health insurance thanks to the ACA. She had a "pre-existing condition" in that she has a mild case of asthma, but now thanks to the ACA insurance companies cannot deny her coverage. It was an ordeal getting the doctors to approve a colonoscopy before the suggested age, but we pressed on.

Sure enough, my wife had not only pre-cancerous polyps, but full blown cancer! Fortunately, the tumor was small, but unfortunately the cancer cells went all the way down to the bottom of the biopsy, so it was impossible to tell what stage her cancer was without an additional excision surgery, which had to be scheduled after she had healed. The two month long waiting period was excruciating on her and the family, and this is when we educated ourselves on colorectal cancer and shot the video for "Fly Me To The Moon."

The Cherry Poppin' Daddies and our label Space Age Bachelor Pad Records is a family business and Yvette is my business partner. There is a lot of sacrificing that goes on when one partner is busy with composing, recording and touring. Our struggles are one in the same. Yvette and I hope that sharing our story through social media will inspire a few people to get screened for colorectal cancer and educate themselves on the symptoms as well as their own family history of disease.

MR: This may seem too personal but why wasn't it caught when it was at an earlier stage like as polyps?

SP: Because the protocol for getting a colonoscopy is to wait until you are 50 years old, unless you have a family history of someone getting it early. My wife is 41. Her doctor advised her to just wait, but my wife, was convinced there was something wrong. Her family doesn't share these things, so she didn't know her history- it required a great deal of coaxing and sleuthing, thankfully, made easier by social media. She found that several members of her family including her father had polyps removed at a young age, and that her great grandmother actually had the disease. It was only because of this history that the GI protocols were met and we were even able to schedule a procedure. Once she was able to prove a family history they allowed her to schedule a colonoscopy. No doubt she unwittingly had polyps for years.

I'm no expert, but it seems obvious that some government agency has done a cost benefit analysis and determined that the tens of thousands of lives lost by setting the suggested screening age at 50 is acceptable.

MR: What was Yvette's treatment like?

SP: Her second surgery was a difficult excision of the tumor that they managed to do with laparoscopic tools. This saved my wife from having a bowel resection, which is considerably more damaging to the organs. The surgeon also burns around the site in an effort to kill any remaining cancer cells. Thankfully, that surgery ended up showing no sign of any more cancer, so when we got the call from the lab, there were tears of relief and celebrating.

MR: Does it seem like in the US, there isn't enough emphasis on preventative measures and if so, what kinds of changes might you and Yvette suggest?

SP: I am guessing that the high protein/ high fat diet here in the US can't be all that helpful. My family eats primarily fruits and vegetables, and exercises all the time, just like you are supposed to, but my wife still got cancer. The best preventative measure is to be your own advocate and trust your instincts about your body. Doctors have their protocols but you must understand that to them you are just one of a zillion faces. Researching your family history is one key. Sometimes families don't communicate on colorectal cancer because the booty is taboo, that being said, even though there is a genetic component to colorectal cancer, it is also a random mutagenic event. You can just get it for no reason. The fact that my wife hunted down her family history not only saved her life, it potentially staves off problems that our kids no doubt will inherit. You can learn about symptoms and coping strategies from http://fightcolorectalcancer.org and particularly their very helpful Facebook page.

MR: You have a new album and its video for "Fly Me To The Moon" features Yvette playing Morticia Addams. How did you react to discovering that Carolyn Jones, the original Morticia Addams from the TV show The Addams Family, died of colorectal cancer?

SP: That was a strange realization. We chose to do the video for "Fly Me to the Moon" as an Addams Family send up because we really liked the idea of the passionate Gomez (played by me) and Morticia (played by my wife) relationship. Even though the Addams' are a family of creeps, their familial love is strong. It's them against the world. We can relate to that on a family as well as a musical level.

We started watching the original series to get ideas and in the course of doing the research my wife came across the Wikipedia page of Caroyln Jones- the actress who initially played Morticia. It detailed her struggle and subsequent death by colorectal cancer at age 53. That added a creepy resonance to the proceedings that was in hindsight kind of appropriate. The shoot and editing ended up being very emotional for both Yvette and I. We barely got through it to be honest. All I could think of when I was editing was "please don't let me lose her."

MR: After this line of discussion, it's hard to bring in questions about the new album but I did want to ask you about it as well. Please Return The Evening pays tribute to The Rat Pack and covers many of their signature songs. What are your personal memories regarding some of the songs on this project?

SP: In some ways the Rat Pack era, lets call it 1958-1962, is kind of the high water mark of the swing era. It's the Kennedy/Camelot years. It's the can do, confident American century at its cocksure apex. America today is much more uncertain. The swagger is gone. We are kind of grumpy and divided as a nation and unsure about the future. To re-contextualize "Come Fly With Me," and "I'm Gonna Live Before I Die" in an era where many of us sit at home on the internet and grouse all day long behind some carefully curated avatar is funny, like jamming a donkey into an ill fitting suit. Not funny ha-ha, but funny uncanny. You can really feel the loss that has accrued over the past 50 years.

I have always loved Frank, Sammy and Dean and it was a challenge to our craft to make recordings in our tiny studio with our 8 piece band that had the richness of those early recordings, recordings that were done with huge studio orchestras. We ended up recording mostly live and tried to get as far apart from each other as possible to get that combination of lushness and grit that those 20th century recordings have.

MR: You realize that this era--and the era Cherry Poppin' Daddies gives a nod to--wasn't exactly known for its health consciousness. After having such a crisis hit home with Yvette's health, does this maybe change the way you look at that period of time? Like if you could go back in time, would you warn these guys to at least slow down a little so they wouldn't be such poster children of smoking, drinking, etc.?

SP: When I was young and stupid I "lived it up" too. My feeling is that the way to health is moderation, but sometimes you've got to take a flying leap or life is not worth living. Here is the thing though, when you grow up you realize that the best thing in your life is to give to somebody else, not to just get "experiences" for yourself. In fact, you feel sorry for everyone who doesn't realize this yet. I wanted to clean up every phase of my act so that I can be there for my daughters and my wife, when they need me. I'm sure that all those Rat Pack fellas felt the same as they got older

MR: What is your advice for new artists?

SP: Work on songwriting. Think about an artful and poetic way to say what you want to say. Say something interesting or that you feel needs to be said. Study the classics, in all genres. Get smarter. Don't get wrapped up in "music scenes" or "being famous." Be a writer because you are into music as an art form. Find out what this means. If you aren't into it because you have to be then please reexamine your life for the good of everybody who will have to listen to your future half assed efforts.

MR: With Yvette's complete remission and the Cherry Poppin' Daddies having this new album, what are the plans for the future?

SP: I am beginning work on new music. My plan is to do a Psychobilly/Zappa/American Idiot/R. Crumb type record that paints a picture of the American socio political scene circa 2014. I want to use genres like rockabilly and psychobilly because of the creepy reverb washed echoes into our nations hillbilly past, I'm hoping that will paint the recording with a cartoonish quality. I picture a buffoon burlesque of a record...but hopefully subtle about how ridiculous everything is. But you know, fun and danceable too.




SKYLAR GUDASZ'S "CAR SONG"


Photo by Marie Killen

According to Skylar Gudasz...

"When you're on the road you often find yourself alone in some strange new town's venue or theater before the show, trying to get yourself in order after the travelling of the day and before you go out to play. For this video we got to explore the beautiful, old Carolina Theatre and found this ballroom behind the stage with giant windows overlooking the flashing lights of the marquis and the cars going up and down the street. It's all glitz and solitude at the same time.

"Distance is one of the physical realities of the world we have to live with, no matter how close you want to be to a person. Maybe it's a tragic flaw, the way we so often inevitably miss each other, but it's also so human."






A Conversation with Cris Cab

Mike Ragogna: Cris, your new single "Liar Liar" features probably the hottest guest vocalist on the planet, Pharrell Williams. How did you pull this off and just "Happy" are you about that?

Cris Cab: Hahaa... I see what you did there. Yeah, I'm thrilled to have my friend Pharrell Williams on this song. I've known Pharrell since I was 15 as he was the first guy in the music industry that I met and gave me so much valuable advice right from day one. We started working together a couple of years later so I'm glad that my first single from my debut album has Pharrell attached to it. That fact that he just so happens to be one of the hottest things in music right now certainly doesn't hurt either.

MR: Your US debut album Where I Belong will be dropping in September on the Island imprint. We need a little history lesson right about now, like who inspired you, what's your international musical history and how and when did you get signed to a label?

CC: Well, as far as inspiration goes, I've definitely pulled from a lot of the artists I look up to and have been listening to since I was a kid--Bob Marley, Bill Withers, Sting, Pharrell, Wyclef. There are a bunch of them. Once I started doing covers and posting them on Youtube, I wound up getting some buzz which is what lead to me getting singed to a label when I was 18. Since then, I've been releasing music through mix tapes and EPs but I've been holding on to the best songs for my debut album. So I'm pretty fired up that's its finally coming out here in the states. The single "Liar Liar" started exploding over in Europe so I've been spending a lot of time over there and it's really paid off. It's such a bug out to see crowds of 15,000, 20,000 even 25,000 people singing along to my songs. So to say that I've been fortunate to have success overseas is a bit of an understatement. And now I'm looking to make that happen on my home turf.

MR: Take us on a tour new album, like how the tracks came together both in the writing and recording processes.

CC: It really depends on who I'm working with as everyone has their own way of working. When I'm in the studio with a guy like Wyclef--he did the song "Ticket." He's the kind of guy who likes to put a whole bunch of sounds together to get what he's looking for. There's a lot of figuring out what works together in sessions like that. Pharrell on the other hand likes to concentrate on just a few sounds and keep it simple. So he'll start on the keys and I'll start on the guitar and we'll just sort of build from there. Some of the songs, I did with just my production partner PJ McGinnis. Those usually start with me writing something on the guitar, I bring it to the studio and PJ starts adding his touch and layering sounds over what I wrote. It really just depends on who I'm working with. But I appreciate the opportunity to work with all of the guys I have because I get to learn a little something different from each of them. They all really helped me shape the sound of this album and I couldn't be more proud of it.

MR: Are there any songs on the new album that you feel represents Cris Cab the most?

CC: To be honest, this album has been a work in progress over the course of the last few years. I've been saving the best of the batch for this album, so I think the whole album really represents me. You'll notice that a lot of the lyrics deal with self discovery, coming into your own, the benefits and downfalls of relationships... It's all topics that someone my age could understand because these are things I've actually dealt with in the last few years.

MR: "Loves Me Not" is another track from the album and it has a new video. How did the video come together?

CC: Once we saw the success we had with the "Liar Liar" video, we knew we wanted to work with the same guys for "Loves Me Not." They are a production team out of NY called Aggressive. We had them submit a treatment and just like last time, they nailed the vibe we were going for. So we put the logistics together, brought them down to Miami and shot it all in one day.

MR: You have a lot of contemporaries out there who are battling you for US awareness. What do you think are your strongest musical assets and what do you think separates your music from the pack?

CC: I'll let everybody else decide what separates me. I don't really worry about everybody else or what they are doing. I just do what I do. One thing that's important to me in all aspects of my career is that my voice and vision come through. I either write or co-write every song I put out. I produce a lot as well. And play a number of instruments. I make sure my videos have the artistic direction I'm going for. The merch I sell at shows have the look I want. Basically, everything I do has my touch on it so I know it all represents me well. As for the music, I'm not looking to follow any trends or copy anyone else. I'm really focused on just creating my own lane so the songs stand the test of time.

MR: Who are some other artists that you would like to duet with?

CC: I've been blessed to work with some of my favorite artists already, like Pharrell and Wyclef. But one guy I'd love to collaborate with is Lenny Kravitz. I really respect what he does. The guy plays all kinds of instruments, produces, writes, has a unique voice and on top of it all, is also very conscious about the visual side of his brand as well. His fashion choices, his album artwork, his photo shoots... The guy is just a total artist.

MR: What advice do you have for new artists?

CC: The best advice I can give is the same thing Pharrell told me...there's no substitute for hard work. If you really want to make it in this business, you've got to give it all of your time. Its definitely not a part time kind of business. You've really got to make a commitment to it every day. If you're only gonna work half as hard as the next guy, don't expect to get more than half way as far as him.

MR: What's the best advice that you ever received?

CC: Pretty sure I just answered that.

MR: How do envision your future, personally and creatively?

CC: Personally, I can see getting a house somewhere outside of the US to live part time for a bit. I really enjoy being over in Europe so I could see maybe having some kind of residence out in Italy or something like that. But I'd still be doing what I do now... making music and touring. Creatively speaking, I can see not only focusing on my own career and continuing to build that, but one day producing and writing for some other artists as well. There are times now that I feel like I've got something great but it may not fit in line with what I'm trying to put out there for myself. But for somebody else, it could work well. So I could see that being a part of my career down the road for sure. I'd also love to write a movie at some point and see that come to life.