Brian Vander Ark has a contest where every month, he picks a video of an artist covering one of his songs from a pool of entrants to be the be that month’s winner and get a chance to compete for the grand prize.  This month, it was me!  Here’s my video:

http://shoutout.wix.com/so/26071c7e-90cd-4f95-a750-856e7fbfb603#/main

I’m pretty excited…I was a huge Verve Pipe fan in high school, and Brian has continued to be a fabulous songwriter all his life, so to be honored by someone I admire is fulfilling.

This is due to weather…the staff was on top of this one and let me know so I didn’t have to drive out. So if you read this, it’ll be the one time I ask you NOT to go to one of my shows! We’ve rescheduled for May 20th, so I hope to see you there instead. Be safe and well.

Hey, my music’s in a movie! The film’s called “Ten Miles Back”, directed by Matthew Douglas Grzeszak, and I’m heading to see it at Celebration Woodland in a couple of hours. I obviously don’t know anything about the film itself, but I’m still super-excited. I’ll let you know how it all shakes down; the songs in it are going to be “House On Fire” and “Murder Ballads.”

My poor car, Spaceboy, met a tragic end this week.  I was rear-ended at high speed on my way to a gig at Stormcloud up in Frankfort this Saturday and…well, you be the judge.

I was knocked unconscious and don’t remember the accident at all.  Miraculously, I escaped anything remotely approaching serious injury.  Dr. Livingstone, the guitar I’ve had since I was a teenager and upon which I’ve composed nearly all of my songs, unfortunately, was not so lucky.

It’s going to be hard going on without him, but I’m determined to keep playing my music.  I will carry on in the memory of Spaceboy, Dr. Livingstone, and never forget how lucky I am to be alive.

Just wanted to say the album release is finally coming up! October 23rd at Tip-Top Bar & Grill. Eric and I will be appearing on John Sinkevics’ morning show tomorrow at 11am to get the word out. We’ll also sitting in for Ars Nova’s appearance on GR Live at HOME at the BOB Thursday the 20th to a couple songs, as we’re doing the CD release together and they were kind enough to invite us. I’ll be putting the album up on Bandcamp when it gets a little closer to time.

Just checking in to say I’m not dead…I’ve just been playing a lot of shows. Gots to pay them bills somehow. Some friends and I have been working on an album; we laid down some tracks at Atelier Studios in Ada last month and have been polishing things up; we’re going to finish it up home-style and put it out sometime later this year, most likely.

Hey all…I’m going to be talking and singing on the Local Spins Live portion of John Sinkevics’ radio show this Wednesday at 11am. 1340 AM WJRW. So give a listen! It’ll also be archived at localspins.com.

Hey all. These are the shows I’ve got going on in the next couple of months. Unencumbered by the burden of gainful employment as I am, I’m going to be hitting the phones even harder, so there’ll be more to come. Fingers crossed. Anyhoo…

December 18, Elk Brewing (Grand Rapids), 8-11
January 24, The Hideout (Grand Rapids), 8:30-10:3
January 30, Right Brain Brewery (Traverse City), 7-9
February 28, Saugatuck Brewing Co. (Saugatuck), 6:30-10:3
March 13, Michigan By the Bottle (Shelby), 7-9:30

I have a Twitter account now, so you know Twitter has officially peaked! Anyhow, it’s https://twitter.com/DaleWicksMusic, and I’ll be talking about my various gigs and recording projects…kind of like here, but in 140 characters or less.
I also put a few new tracks up in the music section from Real Still Life. I’ve outgrown the recordings, cringeworthily so, but the songs are still good, so you may listen if you do not judge. Those are at https://dalewicks.bandcamp.com/album/real-still-life. There are more songs on there, but I thought I’d start with these five, so as to not appear too clownish.