April 5, 2010
Greetings Music Lovers and friends,
I hope everyone is shaking off the winter and getting ready to get your Spring on. Though one may not know it by my lack of blogs, there has been a lot of music being made. I have been playing guitar with Paul Collins who I have toured with recently in Europe. We just finished an album in Detroit produced by Jim Diamond. It is a great deal of fun to return to my Power Pop roots and re live my youth: musically speaking. The record is coming out in September and will be on Alive records.
When I first moved to Austin I started an Open Mic at the Austin Outhouse. A storied and historic Austin Juke Joint. Chuck Lamb who was forced to leave during the tech boom had to turn over the keys when his lease was up and someone offered 3 times the rent for his wonderful local bar. The good news he is having a reunion of all of us Outhouse Alumni for lack of a better word this week. April, 9,10, 11 and Giddy Up's in Austin.
I will be kicking off the festivities at 2 P.M. on Friday. That's right 2 P.M. so quit your day job and come by.
After that I will probably not be doing many of my own shows as i will be out promoting the album with Paul playing really, really loud guitar. There are tours in the the South, East Coast and West Coast through the end of the year. I will post them as they firm up.
OK, that's all for now.
Peace,
Eric
November 10, 2009
Fall has been canceled until further notice! That's right, nary a cold day since last February. Now I must confess my bandmates nicknamed me Polar Bear, or Osito de Polar (I think) in Spain. No one wanted to share a room with me because they said I snored, which we all know I don't. It was because I like the windows open. I argued for the window and lost. Then I get home, pop on Chuck Prophet's new CD and he has a song called Leave the Window Open, so I am not the only one. OK, I regress, or was that digress?
Holiday Shows:
Austin has the Cherrywood Arts Festival which is quite a lovely Holiday Arts Fair. It is Dec. 12th and 13th. And they have music too! I will be playing on Sunday, Dec. 13th at 1:00 PM. My house in Texas is in the middle of nowhere but my closest neighbor happens to be a musician and low and behold his band is playing too. So, we'll go green and carpool, I guess I better let him know. Here is the link: http://www.cherrywoodartfair.org/
Check out local artists, suport...well you know.
I was going to do a tour blog of Spain and Italy, but Paul Collin's does a far better job, so when he posts it I will pass it along.
More soon...Peace, Eric
P.S. We posted a video on You Tube. Here is the link. Twas just a wee bit of a boy then! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZvsVXYhMTI
September 16, 2009
Hey Everyone,
Well, we nearly set a record for heat and drought in Texas this summer. I like making records however this kind of record is not one of them. I confess I spent most of my summer in San Francisco so to speak. The climate is indeed more agreeable. I did not have any flowers in my hair but there was the odd leaf as well as other debris.
Guitar, Guitar, Guitar...
I am heading to Europe for a tour which is a bit of a mixed bag of tour dates, I'll try to explain.
I am filling in on guitar for Paul Collins' regular guitarist, Manolo Espinosa on the below Paul Collins' Beat dates. Manolo will then catch up with the van on the "Power Pop Kings" tour dates. Power Pop Kings you ask?
These shows are the brainchild of Paul's bassist, manager and friend Juancho Lopez. John Wicks of the Records. Paul and I will be performing in what is going to be a Power Pop review of sorts. Paul and John being major players in the genre as well as founding fathers so to speak. They will be doing what they have always done great, playing their catchy Pop songs and hits. I will be going as far back as 1980 to my first full album (Eric Blakely and the Blame)that was actually a record,(vinyl and everything) and performing songs from it as well as other of my "poppier" songs and some cool covers as well. I may even sneak in a new song.
There are rumors that some France dates and a Rotterdam date are possible. To my French and Dutch friends (you know who you are) I'll keep you posted. I know I have been threatening a new CD since the turn of the century, and I have been working with my longtime friend and "Still Life" album partner in crime Burt winn. He happened to be playing bass and singing on the Blame album now that I think of it. We have been working on new songs when we can and hope to be hunkered down in the studio by years end.
P.S. I have not posted any of my songs from my pre Texas albums, I will probably do so soon. If you are interested shoot me an e mail and I will send you an MP3. This is entirely at your own risk of course. Also, all typos, misspellings and punctuation errors are entirely intentional and therefore not mistakes!
I hope this note has found everybody well and in good humor.
May the Peace be with you.
Eric
PAUL COLLINS BEAT 2nd EUROPEAN TOUR 2009
September 29 Lio Bar Brescia, Italy
September 30 Lazzaretto Bologna, Italy
October 1 Mads Roma, Italy
October 2 Spazio 21 Torino, Italy
October 3 Madly Pub Piacenza, Italy
October 4 Oste live Domodossola (VB), Italy
POWER POP KINGS - EUROPEAN TOUR 2009
John Wicks - Paul Collins Beat - Eric Blakely
October9 Lavaca Ponferrada, Spain
October 10 Teatro Viveiro, Spain
October 14 Heartbreak Hotel Albacete,Spain
October 15 El balcon de Lola Bilbao, Spain
October 16 El Sol Madrid, Spain
October 17 Varadero Gandia ( Valencia ), Spain
More dates TBA
Links:
www.paulcollinsbeat.com
www.johnwicksandtherecords.com
June 8, 2009
Hey Everyone,
I hope everyone's Spring is going well. I have been in a pretty good creative space. Just spent the last week at my studio in Texas and have posted a track.
I have always wanted to do an album where I play all the instruments, more to see if it could be done. The track is called Naugahyde. It's on the top of my web page after you enter. This tune was written around my favorite 1983 Fender Telecaster.
I plan on writing songs with several guitars as they all have their own personality. Each one inspires me to play differently. On this one, imagine yourself on a hot and humid summer afternoon blowing down the road, your legs sticking to the Naugahyde car seat cover. Oh, and it's around 1974!
Peace, Eric
February 3, 2009
Greetings and Salutations!
I wanted to remind those of you in the Dallas area I will be in your neck of the woods this
Saturday. Here is the link with all the details. It will be a solo acoustic evening in a very nice
venue.
http://www.flowermoundcoffeehouse.com/
We are doing some housekeeping and up dating to the website. Out with some old and in
with some new...
Stay tuned.
Peace, Eric
December 5, 2008 - Happy Endings
Hello everyone,
First I hope 2008 ends with the future wide open. Best wishes for what I know will be an exciting ride into 2009.
Shows: I will be at the Flower Mound Coffee House on Feb. 7th. That is a Texas show and the website is listed below.
www.flowermoundcoffeehouse.com
There is some talk of a small Spain tour again in Feb. as well. I'll post that as the info firms up.
Ch ch change.... I had been exploring a relocation to Chicago but have decided to go back to Berkeley, California as my final answer. I will still have roots here in Texas though. I will be firmly planted in Berkeley after the first of the year. I will have more on that as I announce more up coming shows.
Have a great Christmas or whatever your choice of gathering is. Most importantly gather. Let's surround ourselves with those we love and a few folks who might need a little love. I have loaded John Lennon's "So This Is Christmas" on my iPod. It never loses its power for me.
Lastly there are a lot of non-perishable food collection sites out there. They are run County by County serving members of our respective communities. They could sure use our help. I read they are really having trouble keeping up with demand under theses very difficult times. I would just like to encourage everyone to chip in.
OK, enough preachin.
Peace Out
Eric