I have been so lucky to find such a great band. Jon Neher is a loyal friend and a great musician. He brings intensity and life to everything he does. James P. Daley illustrates the maxim, "still waters run deep"…

I spend a lot of time promoting my band on various calendars, websites, and other Public Relations-y sorta things. You have to write descriptions of the band... over and over. Go to any events or band website and marvel at…

It's no secret that our expectations can affect our outcomes. But it's so obvious that we often forget, and then undermine our own projects. I had some recent reminders of this. Here are two examples.  

I just returned from a…

When you compose music, you might write down chord changes or lyrics. Some people actually write out a score. I do a little of each, but no matter how often I play it, I wanna hear what the finished product…

There's no such thing as an "unknown" band. If you're a band, and you play out, then someone must know you. I've played gigs where it was us and the bartender and two drunk people who left after awhile. So…

Playing in a band is similar to playing on a sports team. Each member has a particular skill. You have a practice schedule. You have gigs/games. At the gig/game, things don't always go the way they did at practice. The…

When making setlists, I imagine each set as a one act play where each song is a character or an event. In this context, a song has a role and a personality. The opening song is vivacious and engaging. The…

I watched a bunch of youtube videos about songwriting. They covered a variety of subjects like how to write a hook, how to write a song, things you should do, things you shouldn't do. I'm not a prolific writer, but…

Once when I was a kid, my brother and I made a lion's mane out of construction paper and taped it to the dog. Then we got a hula hoop and did a lion-tamer circus act. Our mom was unimpressed. 

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Some bands are famous, we all know about them. Some bands are only known in their locality or genre. This second kind interest me more than the famous ones. A few  of these groups actually make a living at it…

I just read an interesting book about the rise and fall of "classic rock", Twilight Of The Gods by Steven Hyden. The author has an amusing writing style and makes a good case for leaving the dinosaurs of rock to…

Two El Borko Shows this week. The first is at Covered Bridge brewing in Cottage Grove TONIGHT! Tue, Sep. 21 7:00PM. Covered Bridge is on the corner of 9th and Main in Cottage Grove. This will be just a trio…

I put a new song on the website music player, down there... at the bottom of the screen... called "The Zoo". I wrote it a few years back with completely different lyrics, which I decided weren't that good. Here is…

Sensible people recognize that we as individuals are insignificant. We hope that we matter to those we care about, but in the big picture we are nothing. 

Nonetheless, this is our life, and it means a lot to us. Not…

I have two shows this weekend, one with Miller Brothers at Friendly gardens Friday night and one with El Borko Surf! at Viking Braggot Brewery Saturday afternoon at 4:00. I say "I hope" because things are shaky here as in…

After I released Surf Monster five months ago, I felt like I had more to say. So I said it by making another El Borko album, Surficana. This new record has seven surfy songs and no singing. These songs explore…

I played two very different shows this past weekend. One was a full electric band at a brew pub and the the other was Sunday brunch solo acoustic music. At both events I saw friends who have been coming to…

I have two shows coming up this weekend: 

This Saturday July 17, 6:00pm — 8:00pm 
El Borko Surf! 
Viking Braggot Brewing Brewery & Taproom, 
520 Commercial St, Unit F, Eugene, OR 
Classic and modern surf including music from their album…

Making and promoting Surf Monster has been a really good experience. I got back into the patterns of practice, promotion, and performance that characterizes the life of a musician. I couldn't stop, I made another surf record which is coming…

Tom Hilton has a small label in the UK. He puts out a regular series of music samplers by indy artists like me. He sent me links to some of these and they are super fun. Lots of great music…