Here’s a clip of me daring to loop vocals live. I’ve hesitated to loop my vocals (even though I’ve been doing live looping for the past year) because of all the feedback possibilities. I finally figured out some of the main culprits of the feedback and gave my audience at Paddy’s in Stafford, VA a taste of what I’ve been working on. Hope to see you at the next show!
I’ve struggled my whole musical career to know the answer to the following question…
However, I recently spent five days straight playing on the streets of Fredericksburg, Virginia. My wife and kids were visiting grandma and I had time to myself. So of course I figured out a way to get battery power to a small amp and my guitar pedal board! After those five days I finally feel confident I have an answer to how much I charge to perform.
While I played on the streets people tipped me a lot. I came to know how much people are willing to freely give me based on my talent and their perception of my value...
I’ve lined up a number of great shows for the next few months that I’m really looking forward to. I played for the first time at a great Irish pub in Stafford last month called Paddy’s and they’ve asked me back and I couldn’t be more excited to spend time with the great people at that venue again. I’m going to be in Stafford, Culpeper, and Fredericksburg Virginia in the month of November. But I’m most excited that I’M GOING HOME to Hawaii in December!!
In 2012 I left Hawaii and essentially “broke up the band” when I left my band Upstanding Youth without a singer/guitar player...
Why did I make the Defend Liberty t-shirt?
On the 4th of July my wife usually lets our kids paint some t-shirts to celebrate the holiday. This year, I decided to join in and tried to think of a design that would represent my love of country and dedication to defending the values that make the U.S. great. Along that train of thought, I came up with the logo on this shirt.
Made from freezer paper, an exacto knife, a sponge brush, and black paint.
I used canva.com to design my original idea, printed it out, placed the print out under some freezer paper, traced it with an exacto knife, ironed the stencil into place on the t-shirt, painted it with a sponge brush, and then smiled at the result...
That cool dude in the sunglasses, that’s Spencer Oscarson on tour with Upstanding Youth in 2007 – like a boss.
Last year I offered to write an original song for anyone who donated $100 or more to my Kickstarter project. A lot has happened since completing that goal and so I’ve sadly been behind completing all the rewards. I’m all caught up now except for the songs I owe to some very special people.
Today I’m writing my newest song – She Gives Me Light. I wrote this song for a really good friend, Spencer Oscarson, who has been a huge supporter and fan of my music for a very long time. At one point he came with my band Upstanding Youth on tour in 2007 and helped out in so many ways...
I’ll be opening for my friends Swamp Trash at their new CD release party this Saturday, 24 Jan 2015. I go on at 8pm. See all the details HERE.
When we moved to Stafford, VA I felt like I lost my address book because we moved into a place where I didn’t know anyone! I used to know all the mechanics in town, musicians, cops, and cooks. In Hawaii, I knew all the venues where I could play with my band, I knew all the managers, I knew all the other bands on the island, and I felt like I had a really good finger on the pulse of the music scene. And then we moved. It’s taken a lot of hustle to even begin getting to know bands and venues in the area, but luckily I stumbled across the band Swamp Trash.
Swamp Trash says that they are “all military veterans, have raised families, travele...
Seth Godin, a popular author and blogger, recently wrote, “Just about every successful initiative and project starts from a place of replication. The chances of being fundamentally out of the box over the top omg original are close to being zero.” This reminded me of four things that seem unrelated, but I promise they are: John Locke’s definition of private property; my family trip to Palmyra, New York; the Foo Fighters newest album; and Sting’s new Broadway production. They’ve all taught me that being original isn’t about creating something from nothing, it has something to do with what John Lock said about private property many years ago.
John Locke in his Second Treatise defines private property at length...
This Tuesday @ 6PM I’ll be performing at The Georgetown Professionals Happy Hour held at the Ritz-Carlton Urban Gardens in Washington, DC.
This group does a monthly event and previously I performed at a venue where they were also meeting. I got to meet one of their organizers after my performance and was asked to play at one of their upcoming events – so here it is! Here’s a chance to catch me performing in DC and connect with other professionals in the area.
The Georgetown Professional Happy Hour group is dedicated to connecting professionals working in the Georgetown/DC area. Firms currently associated with this event include:
Foley & Lardner LLP; Carlton Fields Jorden Burt LLC Shalom Baranes and Associates; HOK; Jamestown LP; EastBanc; R2L; Fox Architects; Robert Silman Associate...
We heard the street crowds are really good in Fredericksburg, VA during First Fridays. So we got a babysitter and headed out to the streets not knowing what to expect.
I’ve played on the streets of Waikiki for years as a teenager by myself, but my wife had never done it until last night – and she was a champ!
When we first started playing last night I did my usual looping stuff and had fun with that, but no one really gave us any attention. Once the wife and I started singing a bunch of cover songs together, groups of people would stop, stick around for awhile, and throw money in my hat. We made a bunch of great new friends this way and here’s a picture of one of the groups that hung out with us.
Thanks so much to the people who generously took money out of their own pockets to show...
There was an event this past Saturday in Fredericksburg, VA that was part of the Day To Serve. People made pillow cases deployed military personnel, wrote them letters, collected food for those in need, and a lot of other activities intended to serve others in need. As part of that, my wife and I were asked to perform during a portion of the day – because we’ve started a band and we’re 
calling ourselves You & M.E. (Marc and Echo). While we’ve done a few living room performances or private shows, this was our first live gig and it was awesome. But since we only have about 5 songs under our belts that we can perform, I had to take up a portion of our slot doing solo work before my cute wife joined me to close out our set...