Sharpen The Sword

When I was in Grad School getting my Masters from the best University in Miss.......USM (Go Eagles), one of the first books that I was required to read was Dr. Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Of course, I wouldn't want my blog to be a book review but I will at least say that his writing dramatically influenced the following years of my life. One of Dr. Covey's chapters in his book talked about keeping the sword sharp. In his writing, he described the importance of taking time to retreat from the everyday race to find time to keep yourself sharp mentally, physically and spiritually. According to Covey, when we go too long without devoting time to keeping our swords sharp, we become dull and average in everything that we do.

For me, one of the perfect ways that I have learned to sharpen my sword is to retreat to a quiet place outside and to write music. Thankfully, this weekend gave me a couple of days to do just that. On Friday, I was able to bring my guitars out to my place and I was able to spend some nice quality time writing and enjoying the incredible weather. On Saturday, I played a gig at noon and made it back out before sunset to enjoy some additional quiet time. On both occasions, I stayed until the sun was completely down and it was just awesome. Because of the new album, the promotions, the gigs and all of the webstuff that I have to do, I have not had any time to spend out writing. It was so good to be back in my element and I hope that I can find a few more of those days soon.

On Saturday, I played a solo acoustic gig for the Tangi Book Fest and it was very nice. I met a lot of nice people and enjoyed my time there. I got to play my new Manuel Patterson and that was a treat as I don't usually bring it to our normal gigs. Playing solo was a really cool experience and I enjoyed it. Congrats to all of the organizers of the Book Fest on putting a nice event together.

This week will be very busy as we have to prepare for Ponchatoula's Party In The Pits which will be held this coming Saturday, Oct 16th in downtown Ponchatoula. My Band is the featured entertainment. Prior to Saturday, I have to rework my entire sound setup to re-format our settings. Gonna be a busy week. I hope to get some promotional work done with Louisiana as well. There is just not enough time in the day.

Have a great week!!!!

Gregory

Monumental Moments

For those who have the awesome responsibility of teaching each day, there are moments that occur when you are certainly convinced that the info you are sharing with your students will go immeasurably deeper into their future than you could ever imagine. In those moments, you suddenly realize that you are sharing facts or information with them that they had not yet been exposed to. If you are like me, then you can still remember a lot of those moments when you were in school and teachers shared stories or information with you that still seems fresh in your mind today.

Of course, I have a very unfair advantage over most teachers because I get the priviledge of sharing the greatest, most inpirational medium available........Music. My decision to return to the classroom was in large part due to the fact that I missed those moments and opportunities to share music with students. Today, because of my own music career, I have so much more to share and the opportunities mean even more to me now than they did before. This week offered me some of these aforementioned great opportunities and moments.

This week, in my Music Appreciation Classes, I introduced Jazz and taught about it's birth and history. I had the students explore the jazz combos and we discussed instrumentation extensively. We listened to Miles Davis, Dave Bruebeck, Sara Vaughn and Billie Holiday. With each selection, I realized that my students did not have a clue about any of it. Of course, I stopped and thought, what an honor to be the first person in the world to introduce this group of students to Miles Davis. For an educator, it doesn't get any better than that. I realize that for the rest of their lives they will always look back on the day that they heard Miles for the first time in Mr. Hayden's class. Pretty Awesome!!!

It has been a great week for me in so many ways! I am amazed at how life picks us up and moves us all around so unpredictably. It is all the more reason to live each day to it's fullest and to appreciate it for what it is. We never know or understand but sometimes things just seem to come and go so unexpectantly. Not to get to philosophical on you here but I think this aspect of life intrigues me now more than ever. In many ways, it seems like life is a bunch of short stories that play out in our lives each day. Whether it is our loved ones, jobs, friends or just life in general, Nothing stays the same! I am writing several songs right now on this same topic and I find it to be very Fascinating!

Short week this week so tomorrow, (Thursday) is really Friday for us. LP is out for the Parish Fair Friday. I hope to stop by and visit my Nesom Family Friday with copies of Weightless. I miss them all very much and when you work with a family for four years, it is hard to be away for too long. After that, I will be looking for a quiet spot in the cool fall breeze with my Manuel Patterson Cedar to do some long awaited writing. I am in NOLA Friday Night and playing solo Saturday at the Tangi Book Fest in Hammond where I will promote Weightless. Should be a great weekend!!

Enjoy your Day!

Gregory

A Mulligan Please???

Ok, I need a mulligan on yesterday's missing blog. I know that this week I made a pledge to try and post something each day, but yesterday was absolutely the busiest for me and posting was just not possible. Thanks for the Mulligan!!

I played the Tangi Parish Fair Thursday and it was a great evening to play outside because it was so cool. Ben Husser, a really nice guy, ran sound for us as his company provided sound and lighting for the festival. After playing the gig, I talked with the band and we all agreed that Ben's equipment and mix was one of the best sound mixes that we have had in our three years together. Great Job Ben! Keep up the good work and I hope to work with you again soon.

On Friday, we drove over to Southdown in Folsom for Mike Ortner and Jessica Rigsby's wedding. The house, the property, the lake and the piney woods made the place absolutely beautiful. I played two songs for the ceremony and I played the reception with the band. It was a great evening and the folks there seemed to really know how to have a good time. I had the most fun meeting many of Mike and Jessica's friends on our breaks.

Mike and Jessica Ortner deserve a lot of credit for planning a refreshing and non-traditional wedding that seemed to make perfect sense. I am not a fan of cliche' and it was so nice to be at a wedding that lacked so many of the things that I always see as "silly rituals". It was also most refreshing that no one came up to me and asked me if I played Cupid Shuffle or Sweet Home Alabama. Actually, the music that Mike and Jessica requested to be played on our breaks ranged from Van Morrison to Dave Matthews and all of it was very tasteful. As I played the reception, I noticed that Mike and Jessica were visiting with their friends and family and enjoying the whole occasion. For my money, too many weddings are just filled with rituals that drag the bride and groom around a room throwing things and feeding each other cake. Again, it was just refreshing to see two people actually enjoy the company of each other and their family and friends. I know that Mike and Jessica are due for some much anticipated rest and they would not want to be disturbed, but, if you want to know how to put a wedding together with total class and tastefulness, I would definitely tell you that they are the couple to talk to. Congratulations to Mike and Jessica!!!

This week starts the promotion of my single, "Louisiana". We will be pushing it out to local radio and I will keep you posted on the call numbers and times. We are pushing to Hammond and Baton Rouge first. I will send updates on all of the playlist info as we get it.

Have a great weekend!!!
Gregory

The Elements

So, this week, I have been teaching the Elements of Music to my Enrichment Music classes. Of course, the elements of music are rhythm, harmony, dynamics....etc. I explained to all of my students that all of the elements mix together to make great music but by themselves, they are just individual pieces. To illustrate this point, I shared a story with my classes about my late Grandmother, Louise Trowbridge Hayden and how she cooked so brilliantly for the Hayden family for years and years. I talked about her "World Famous Buttermilk Biscuits" that I sing about in my song on my new album called "The Hill". I described myself, as a college student, sitting in the kitchen trying to record the proper amounts of each ELEMENT that went into her magical recipes. It was always funny and she would just laugh at me because she never knew the exact amounts that went into her dishes. The students enjoyed the story and sharing it just got me thinking about Grandma and how special she was to all of us.

If you had any thoughts of eating at Jesse and Louise's house, well, you would have had to have been there at 6 AM, 12 PM or 6 PM. This was a religious tradition with my Grandmother and if you weren't there, well, you just missed the meal. My Grandmother was very structured with everything she chose to do and you weren't going to drop by and pick her up unannounced to just go somewhere. No, you had to let her know and she had to make plans. It was structured oeveryday but in the world that we live in today, it now seems beautiful. Her devotion and dedication to being the absolute best person in the world and working so hard to make everyne happy was always evident to anyone who spent time with her. I can always remember the many times that she would cook and work her magic while we were loving it, and she would say........."I don't think I made it as well as I have before". She was amazing and I can now see that her purpose in life was being fulfilled each day by serving her family in so many ways. It was an artform that unfortunately seems to be lost today with so many. Most of us are so busy running the races that we couldn't dream of a life as simple as the one that she lived just a little more than ten years ago. It is staggering to think about and the comparison to my own life and how busy I am is incredible.

On that note, I taught a full day, then picked up a set of lights for the gigs this weekend. I have lots of prep work to do tonight to prepare for the performances this weekend. Wow, I sure could use a quiet day with one of those lunches that my Grandmother would fix each day during the summer with fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, peas and a big cold glass of her great Iced Tea. Wow, I sure do miss her!!

Have a great day!!!

Gregory

The Pretender

"I'm going to rent myself a house, in the shade of the freeway,

Gonna pack my lunch in the morning and go to work each day.

And when the evening comes around, I'll go on home and lay my body down.

And when the morning light, comes streaming in, I'll get up and do it again.........Amen!"

The Pretender

Jackson Browne

The preceding excerpt is probably one of my favorite verses in all of music where none other than the great Jackson Browne so accurately describes so many of us each day as we run the race together back and forth to work over and over. Hopefully, you are as fortunate as I am and you love where you work each day, but it should be noted that JB wasn't referring to us hating our jobs, just the fact that we race sometimes frantically for what he describes in his song as "The Legal Tender".

I think this is one of the most brilliant descriptions of what being stuck in middle class peer pressure is all about. Working, running, planning and consuming ourselves with things to keep up with the expectations of so many. Driving the same roads each day, punching the same clocks each afternoon with no thought of adventure or escape other than a pizza and a movie on Friday. Or, if you are one of the religious purple and gold fans, then a party on gamedays with plenty to eat before kick-offs make the rented house in the freeway all worth it. It is certainly a choice that we all make and most of us never stop to ask why. JB gave us a lot of food for thought with his writing of this song and nothing is more telling than the title of it.........The Pretender...............Kind of says it all! Jackson Browne is one of my favorite songwriters and I absolutely wore out my first copy of his greatest hits. If you haven't heard his music, you should treat yourself.

In GH Music News, I have two gigs this weekend, Tangi Fair in Amite - Thursday, 8:00-10:00 P.M. and a Private Party in Folsom on Friday. I should be receiving Radio and TV Promo Packages tomorrow and plans are underway for us to release the Louisiana Video and to start our push to TV and Radio....should be interesting. Cd Sales are going well and my cds can now be purchased at several retail outlets that are listed on my webpage at http://www.greghaydenmusic.com/. All of my songs from Weightless will be added to Itunes, Amazon, Rhapsody and other digital distribution outlets in the next few weeks. I will let you know when the files are put up for purchase.

Ok, I was told and advised to be consistent with my blogs so that I can keep everyone posted, so, I will do better and I will make the time to post something.

I hope you all have a great day!!!

Gregory

Fall Favorites

It is my favorite time of year.....the beginning of the Fall Season. I look forward to so many things in the fall each year. I am a jacket/sweater kind of guy who likes the cooler weather. I also like that all of the grass slows down and when my family ran our golf course for years, the fall was always a welcomed break from cutting acres of grass. I also like the smell in the air when the first cool fronts make their way down to South Louisiana. It is an awesome time of year that I always look forward to.

On the music front, we are currently preparing to mail out large numbers of Radio and TV Promo Packets for Louisiana, the 3rd song on Weightless. I gave the song to one DJ here in Hammond and he has played the song repeatedly on his show each day. We are looking forward to pushing Louisiana out as far as we can.

This coming weekend will be the first in a while that I will be off. I am planning to go hear some friends play in Ponchatoula Friday night and I am hoping to get some writing done Saturday and Sunday. I am eager to get back in my studio to track some demos that I want to get finished. Of course, as I have said many times in my blogs, song writing is the reason that I am in this business so I am eager to get back to work writing. I hear that Sunday may bring one of the cool fronts our way so if I am lucky, I can get the best of both worlds, songwriting in cooler weather.

Hope you have a great day!!!!
Gregory

Full Circle......

So, I have been on a lot of stages in the last four years of this journey. From small rooms with 15 people listening, to big stages in cities like Baton Rouge where folks were spread out down city blocks listening and enjoying the music. I've been lucky enough to play lots of festivals and events that brought large numbers out to hear the music. It has been a journey that already leaves me with hundreds of stories and memories that none could take away. This morning in a conversation with my bass player, I told him that I now realize that this music journey really has little to do with the venues or the crowds that you see, but more to do with the experiences that each bring to you as an artist. If not for the early coffee shop gigs that I played four years ago when I started, I would not be able to stand where I am today. Music Degree or not, legitimate or not, those are doors that every artist worth his or her salt must walk through. For some, that is smoke filled bar rooms, for others, it may be talent shows or charity events but every artist has to walk through those doors. In many ways, those trips through those doors determine whether you have the drive to push on even though you find yourself in places that you may think you are better than. It is a challenge but one that I now realize helped me to get wherever it is that I am now. I have only started the journey and I have a long way to go but I can tell that the experiences have all been very valuable.

Last night, we arrived in NOLA at The Neutral Ground Coffee House about 9. Cary Riche and Clay Wilson made the trip and played the gig with me. We went in to check it out and it was big time retro with a cool vibe that was unlike any place that I had ever played. From beads hanging in doorways to Beatles Posters on the wall, it was all throw-back and very sweet. The walls were solid wood and there were folk instruments hanging all over the room. It is definitely my kind of joint. PA was already set up and the stage area was really nice with most of what you need just to plug up and play. There was a guy singing a Dylan tune when we walked in. Perfect!!!

Across the street from the Neutral Ground was Newman High School where the Manning boys all went and played football. There was a game ending shortly after we got there and lots of traffic around. We had an hour to kill before we went on so we threw my tailgate down where we were parked across the street and pulled out the acoustic guitars and started playing. We were doing a trio acoustic version of Paul Simon's Slip Slidin Away as people walked by and nodded as to say......"Very Nice". It was fun and a great experience all the way around. Our performance turned out great and we loved the place. I have two more performances scheduled there this fall and I am really looking forward to going back. BTW, if you are in the neighborhood, they also make a great Iced Latte.

While my mission to promote my music requires me to play big stages like the many events that we have booked this fall, I have just come home to realize that my favorite is a quiet coffee shop where people are zoned in on every lyric to your music as opposed to raising a toast to a great guitar riff or a good drum beat. There is a purity and an innocence about playing your songs on your acoustic in a setting like The Neutral Ground. When I started this journey, I did not know how special those settings were but after walking through the doors that I have, I really enjoy and appreciate it now more than ever. I have shows like the Neutral Ground booked in Ashville, North Carolina in November and I am really looking forward to playing them.

Having said all of that, we just got a call confirming that we will be the featured band at the Ponchatoula Chamber of Commerce's Party In The Pits this fall on October 16th. We also recently got named as the Featured Band at the Dutch Battle Memorial Ride and Gumbo Cook-off which will be held this fall in downtown Hammond. Both of these are big events with lots of promotion and exactly the opposite of last night's Neutral Ground booking.

Last night inspired my bass player, Cary, and he phoned me this morning with an idea that I really think he stole from me to start an Original Music Night somewhere in the Hammond, La area for singer/songwriters to play their songs. We would like to find a nice place to build a venue and a community of singer/songwriters and fans of singer/songwriters to come out on a monthly basis to enjoy great original music. We are developing the idea but I really like it and when I get the Weightless Release behind me, I will start working on this idea.

Ok, lengthy today but I had a lot to say. Hopefully you read it all!!! Our Release has been scheduled for next Saturday, Sept 11th, with Budweiser and LaCarreta of Hammond as our sponsors. I will blog in more detail about this event as the week progresses.

Have a terrific day!

Gregory