"Epic Rat Tail"

This is my Rat Tail. It was born in the summer of 2011, when my oldest friend Alex gave me my first mohawk.
Now, I know what you're thinking: Mohawk? So played! Well, honestly, really, like most guys, I'd wanted one for years, had actually tried a few half-hearted, disguiseable faux thingies, but knew NOW was the time: I had just so happened, through various social musical and professional failures, to have fallen into a place where I was completely invisible to the world. Nobody cared what I did, or what I looked like. I was scum, and it was, of course, quite liberating.
I'd gone to several barbers, requesting the hawk, but absolutely could NOT get them to commit to actually DOING one! They'd always chicken out and give me this weird high-and-tight thing.
Of course, months pass, nay, years, when everybody and their momma started getsin' the hawk, and me and Alex FINALLY come up with the perfect hawk plan: 1 barbeque, 2 cases of Coors Light and some hair clippers. However, this hawk comes with a conditional RAT TAIL, one that CAN NOT be cut, or even trimmed for the entire duration of the mohawk. I wore that mohawk for 2 years.
As you can imagine, that fucker got hella long. Like, down to center of my back. I started gettin it twisted up in a badass biker braid. I had a small team of people helping me look after and maintain my epic rat tail, with tweaks and tightening every few days. Yes, that Rat Tail had a posse.
When I did take it out the braids, the crimped tail spilled down my back like a gnarly-ass frizzy Kentucky Waterfall mullet. It was truly an awesome and fearsome sight. Certainly not for the faint of heart. I loved it, with a love that, like the Rat Tail, grew with each passing day.
That is, until one day, I got a complaint from some ignorant back-woods asshole at one of my job sites and made the decision to humble myself and cut it, as to not look like a stubborn a-hole myself.
So, that's the story of my "Epic Rat Tail". If you go back in my twitter feed, you can see various gushing love-tweets about my #EpicRatTail.

You may ask yourself, Who cares? Why did I tell you all this?

Well, even as I write this, I'm sitting in my car, in the back parking lot of church, trying to cool off so I don't go back in there and choke out the choir director in front of the whole congregation, although it would probably be met with cheers.

Thanks for listenin...

Tommy Dowwd (Taken at F.A.M.E.)

Everything I need to know I learned from Bob Lefsetz (that well-meaning, yet terribly insecure, E.D.M. dong sukkin, unfortunately too-rich-to-truly-empathize music journalist) and...

Our Set for October 27 Halloween show at Wall Street with Mize & The Drive

[ ] Before I Let Go [ ] Can't go For That [ ] I Like It [ ] Footsteps [ ] SmushFonk [ ] Emily [ ] Hurricane Song [ ] Santa Ana Winds [ ] Aeroplane [ ] House [ ] Zamunda/Badgrass

Autograph Studios/Rehearsal Space/Music Shop THROWDOWN to benefit West Main Mission

For the past few months, we've been rehearsing at this cool little warehouse practice spot out on the edge of Murfeesboro, called Autograph Studios. Run by a couple of music enthusiasts, it's a really great place to hone your sound, with an actual stage, sound AND lights. It's basically like your own private club to rehearse in, and the guys are always adding new features and amenities, while constantly improving their service to the bands. We've been lovin' it, so naturally, when they asked us to play at their Grand Opening event, with proceeds going to benefit the West Main Street Mission, we were delighted and happily accepted.

Another cool thing about this show is that it was a DAY show, which I love. Rockin out at noon instead of midnight? A refreshing change of pace. There were several bands on the bill, but we went on early in the day. Dude, there was barbeque (breakfast of champs) hot dogs and beer, ALL FREE! (See @jamesharrisongs tweet) People were everywhere, checking out the grounds and the FULL-BLOWN MUSIC STORE they had in the front that we'd been completely unaware of this whole time!
It was my kind of party.
Our set went well. Antjuan couldn't make it, so Mr. Badass Will Brooks switched from keys to bass. We just got it like that.

Perhaps the coolest thing about the day, and the reason I decided to blahg about it, was all the other cool bands that were also playing. Covering a variety of styles, there were upbeat classic rock cover bands, and eclectic original indie bands, but all with a home-spun feel that I'm realizing only emerges from lil Outside-the-city towns like Murfreesboro. There was Guilt-free cult, a local unit formed by a native engineer who'd just come home from some years in the studios of upstate New York. I really enjoyed the comraderie and the exchange, not only with the other bands, but with the many musicians who came to check out and support the cause. Many cards were collected, which is good, because often when we book a headlining gig, we run into trouble finding openers. Not anymore, baby!
It's like I looked around and saw a little scene beginning to develop. A scene we could be a part of. Yikes!

It was awesome. Thanks to Autograph Studios for all the fun and support, all the other bands for creating a really positive hang, and Kris for runnin sound.

Rock on!
-J

P.s. That's me & Kev in the pic, Feelin' the day. Wish yall coulda been there..

On Blogging..

I've always loved writing. Like, my favorite school memories were when the teacher'd be like, "Ok, get out your notebooks, we're gonna do some creative writing." It was funny because after those words were spoken, the classroom would erupt into two different sounds: Squeels of Excitement, and Groans of Disgust.

You can guess which sect I belonged to.

I especially liked when there were no particular guidelines (a thing that can freak kid out today: total freedom). Oh man, the roads my imagination would take me down! Fantastic tales of sharks, deserted islands with volcano monsters, surfing ninjas, and machine-gun weilding damsels that weren't so in distress (Yeah, I grew up on 80's R rated action movies).

And obviously, as the world changed and them-there intranets made it's almighty rise to glo-ry, everybody and their 3rd nipple took to the keyboard to flood the virgin pool with their mental excrement. Now here we is, and for the longest time, I felt like all those opinions out there, both mattering and not mattering simultaneously, was compressing my own views, or rather my VIEW of views, into an insignificant, squelched little creature. Of course, all these opinions and pontifications FILL us up with objections, agreements, etc, but also make us feel powerless to contribute.
"I'll be just one more turd in the online toilet"

Then it hit me (and pardon the CRUDEST analogy, but..) :

If everybody else is out there cloggin up the works, why should I sit here, about to burst? My thoughts and feelings are just as relevant, I can be the change I wanna see in the blahgosphere, blah blah, etc. but you catch my drift.

I'm a writer. Time to write.

So, I'm excited to finally have this opportunity, through the Judd Hall website, to stretch my legs and get my blahg on.
Some'll be short, most'll be lengthy, cuz I tend to ramble. There will be typos, not really because of me, but because I will type most of these on the run, from my stupid touch-screen phone that almost ALWAYS insists on throwin out an I when I need an O, and vice verse, etc. There will be profanity, there will be crude analogies and rather vulgar imagery, oddly coupled with sweet visions and heart warming revelations of idealism, often in the same sentence. I'll be usin them high-fallutin' words, then sometimes I'll be sayin it all plain-like. Sometimes i'll be angry, saddened by somethin I see in the world, sometimes i'll be all happy, full of wonder, amazement and gratefulness for the life around me. Sometimes I'll be downright cheesy, sometimes I'll be cooler'n Bob Dylan.
Point is, check your expectations at the door and keep your judgements in your little judgement-box. IF YOU ONLY WANT ONE TYPE OF JAMES, THEN YOU DON'T WANT ANY JAMES AT ALL. As bizarre, hokie and utterly confusing as this blog may seem from time to time, just know that it is but a petty reflection of the craziness that is me in the flesh, and that you should consider yourself luck you only have to READ my words and not deal with me invading the rest of your 5 senses.

Have I sold you? I hope not. Selling sucks.
Now, on with the blahgging!!!
(If you've made it this far, thank you)

BOROSTOCK!

When Big Kev and I started thinkin about forming this band, or what we imagined the band might sound like, jammin out for our fellow Blue Raiders, right away, the first bar that popped into my head was The Boro Bar and Grill.
Maybe because it was located right across from the the Murphy Center, MTSU's arena/concert hall, where superstar acts from Phish to Springsteen might play, or maybe that we'd spent so many nights there watching countless random college bands slug it out, coupled with occasional legends like Roland Gresham (rumored to have tutored Hendrix). Maybe it was the wings, maybe it was just the fact that there was something about the place that simply oozed "We were here first".
Whatever it was, The Boro was and always has been cemented in my mind as THE MTSU college bar, and an absolute rite of passage for a local band, which is weird 'cause they don't even have a sound system!
We'd been trying to get a show there since our inception, and found it surprisingly tough to get in, so you can imagine my excitement when we landed a slot on their annual BOROSTOCK™ festival (yeah I just found the trademark button, and I'm rockin it).
It's a fri-sun event, (P.A., check.) with probably like, 20/30 bands playin. We got a pretty sweet slot: Saturday, 9:00.
When I walked in, I was glad to see that little had changed. It looked good. Dark. Stoic. Timeless.

Yes!

The stage was set: (No pun intended)

See, as I stated earlier, when I think about Murfreesboro music, I think about playin in that bar. In my imagination, it's always goin down, in The Boro.
So we took the stage.

The lighting, the sounds of clinking glass, the smell of the stage, the burning hot stage lights, 8 inches from our faces,..

It was EXACTLY like I'd imagined it!
Awesome.

When we were finished, we got to meet a lot of super-cool people, like Amanda, who'd helped organize and execute the event. She had a real passion for the music. That's crucial.
I really enjoyed just walkin around, talkin to random people, sippin beers. If you're one of them folks I kicked it with, I wanna say thanks for the kind vibe and the good conversation. Yall know who you are.
We really appreciated you coming out and making my imagined mental picture actually HAPPEN, right down to numbers of butts in seats!
And of course, thanks to The Boro Bar and Grill. For the sights, the sounds, the history,
And the shit-ton of free beer.