The whole Holiday season is crazy busy, but I love it. Really been in the mood this year (as always I guess). I"m trying to learn a bunch -- or I might say "relearn" a bunch -- of Christmas songs. Playing Coco Pazzo in Morris Plains this Saturday night, and I'd love to be able to throw in a bunch of seasonal favorites to make it a special night. If you're in the area this weekend and want a little song and cheer, stop on in. 9pm start.

Meanwhile, I did throw down a  quick video of my acoustic version of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, and launched it up to YouTube @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-SFF15hKdQ

It is nowhere near as good as I wanted it to sound, but I would sit all day and keep improving it if I could. So I just went with the first full take. Sound levels are a little disappointing, with too much white noise... but that's what you get recoring directly into a laptop!!

Anyway, I hope everyone else is enjoying their Holiday Season. 2010 is going to be a very productive and exciting year for me musically. I'm really looking forward to it...

:) B

I'm really excited about going into the City tonight to play with my great friend Dave Hammer. He's going to have a slew of guests. Is that how you spell slew? I'll have to check after this......

I expect to do up to 10 songs. The talented Mike Buckman will be there jamming away, along with a few other special guests. Should be fun.

If you're on/near the Upper East Side, come on out tonight for the big Hammerfest Thanksgiving Show!!! 9pm BAR EAST.

Hammer's going to rock the place as always....

Had a great gig last night @ Coco Pazzo in Morris Plains. I had such a fun time playing, and I'm so happy for everyone who came out to enjoy a night of music, food, drink, etc. It sure was a special night, with good friends like Dave Hammer, Mike Buckman, Michael Laddey, Jason Mills, and Steve Flanagan getting up on stage with me for many songs -- and many sounds.

A couple songs went over better than I thought! And I think I've learned a couple of songs that I should probably DROP from my repertoire. Don't Go Back To Rockville doesn't seem to be going over very well. Not so sure about  my version of What a Fool Believes. But on the flip side, Folsom Prison Blues and a couple of other covers I've added seem to be crowd-pleasers.

And on the original front, people seem to be loving (and asking for) On Three a lot -- the tune I penned with Dave Hammer. So that's cool. Tired today from a late night. Looking forward to the next scheduled gig at the Dublin Pub.... after all the Holidays are over!

Well, The FIFTH round of Experiment 5 is all complete. The last set of lyrics was contributed by Bill Maier -- it was called "Good Enough For You."

...I changed mine to "Great Enough for You."

You can hear my creation -- as well as those by the other 4 Experiment Five members for THIS round and all previous rounds at...  http://www.billgriese.com/fr_x5:experimentfive

I'm attaching my "Great Enough For You" to this blogpost also.

I hope you enjoy it. Experiment Five sure has been a great experience. 20 songs written by 5 people all in about a 6-month period. Awesome.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Dublin Pub in Morristown last week. The gig there was tremendous. It was hands-down the best time I've ever had playing out. The room was packed, the audience was so into it... and thanks to some great guest appearances by my good friends Dave Hammer and Mike Buckman, the roof came down!

Dave Hammer took over for several solo songs, and he and I also did a few numbers together, playing guitars and doing some (passable) harmonies.

Mike Buckman brought his axe and tore the night up through at least 10 songs -- taking my rockaBillity up to a whole new notch.

The highlights were:

Mary Jane's Last Dance
Rockin the Free World
Freebird
and then of course Running On Empty, featuring all three of us.


The Dublin Pub has asked me back -- so I've scheduled 2 gigs with them in advance for 2010. So be sure to come back, or come for the first time when I return there on February 6th!!!

Can't wait....

oh NOOOO, i have neglected my blog. my blog hath been all alone. so sad. i am lame.

okay, time for some updates I guess.....

The new song Dave Hammer and I wrote a month or two ago has been evolving. We simplified it recently, eliminating the bridge of the song, and cutting the length down to about 3:20. He and I are really excited about this one, and have gotten some very positive initial feedback from a music publisher. So we're hoping it goes the way of "On Three."

You can check out the new version in the music "works in progress" section.

or here, i think, i'm going to try to attach it to this blog entry...

Whatever creativity bug got into my system is still there. I'm really excited that I've written 2 brand new songs in the past couple of weeks. They are different from one another, and also pretty different from much of my old material.

One is an alt-country song in the style of Wilco, Whiskeytown, Jayhawks, etc, called "Probably Shoulda Said It." I've actually been doing a weekly jam with some guys in a buddy's basement, and we've started to kick it around. So perhaps in the next week or two I'll throw up a live version of it with the full band.

The second song is a straight blues rock song called "Ain't Been Through" -- and it rocks. Also playing that song with the full band and might could throw it up here for sampling as well.

I love playing these two new songs, in additon to the few others I had written over the past few months. And the good news is another new song will be done by this weekend.... as we are on round 4 of "Experiment Five," a musical experiment with a few songwriting friends whereby one member submits a set of lyrics and the rest of us has to write a full song to it. Mr Dave Hammer just completed his round, and I have about 5 days to get him something. Haven't started it yet, but they usually come quickly.  Check out Experiment Five @ http://www.myspace.com/experimentfive

I'm really excited, as I get the honor of kicking off the 2009 Outdoor Summer Concert Series in Morris Plains on Sunday Evening July 5th.

The concert is free to all, and will take place from 6:30 to 8:30 pm in Robert's Garden (77 Glenbrook Road, Morris Plains NJ). I expect to play a good mix of relaxing cover songs, some fun upbeat things, and several original songs. Bring a blanket, a chair, some friends, etc, and get ready to spend a nice evening together.

I'm really looking forward to this particular show. Hope to see you there!

:) B

Well, I don't know what's in the water, but my frequent co-writer and I have just written another song. It's actually the second one we've done in the past month or so. The first was called "On Three" -- and actually is under contract with a publisher in Nashville. We'll see what happens there.  This new tune is called "The Power of Our Love," and we're very excited about it and quite proud of it. I can't stop singing it. It's much more of an R&B Pop kind of effort. Hoping to get it down and recorded sometime... also to shop to publishing companies.

Take a listen in the Works In Progress Section -- I'd love to know what you think.