I am (more than) a bit delinquent in updating the website but I am playing at the “home base” at the Gig Harbor Taproom of Locust Cider on Saturday, April 25, 2026. After a very, very busy spring so far, I am looking forward to the summer and a lighter load professionally so I can focus on music. I hope to have more updates soon!
Blog
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Gig Summary – Deep Draft Brewery (2/13/26)
I’m not really superstitious so I figured I’d tempt fate and play a show on Friday, the 13th. Thankfully, nothing bad happened and I had a good time. I filmed part of my set and, as soon as I have time, I will post some video. I had a nice little corner of the taproom and I tried not to disturb the patrons. I really like these small, intimate settings. I hope to play there again in the not-too-distant future and, once the weather is nice, I hope to play in the outdoor space they have. It’s really a great place and I highly recommend it. In addition to the nice beer garden in good weather, they have great beers most of which are the German-style that I prefer and they have GREAT BBQ food as well. I hope to see you there sometime!
The setlist is similar to the last few test gigs that I have played although I am working on some new songs. I have been diving into the catalogs of my favorite bands this year (DCFC in January, The Shins in February) and that has inspired me to add songs from those catalogs that fit the set. I am also working on a music blog feature of the website to write about these catalog dives so look for that soon if you are interested. More importantly, though, I also have about a half dozen new original tunes that I plan to work on. My goal is, by the summer, to have a 30-song set with about six carefully selected covers (depending on the gig). We’ll see how that goes.
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Gig Summary – Locust Cider (12/6/25)
The December gig, the second where I performed a primarily LowLightRoom setlist was fun. The Harborcade at Locust Cider was full of people on a Saturday night. There was a large group celebrating a birthday (and, of course, we sang “Happy Birthday”) and a few other friends and locals.
The setlist (above) was essentially the same setlist from November with the songs shuffled around a bit. As I continue to build the live performance, the setlist will include all of the LowLightRoom songs plus a few covers.
The covers on these early set lists are mostly songs that I already know and did not need to spend time learning. As we transition into the New Year, though, I plan to swap out some of these covers and replace them with originals and new covers, mostly deep cuts, from bands that I like. I only play covers for two reasons (1) to fill a set, and (2) because I like the song (not necessarily because anyone knows it).
I hope to see you at a future show!
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Gig Summary – Locust Cider (11/1/25)
I’m a huge sports fan and baseball is probably my favorite sport and, as it turned out, November 1, 2025, was the night of Game 7 of the 2025 World Series between the Dodgers and the Blue Jays. As a result, there were very few people at the Locust Cider Harborcade that evening and, those who were there, were watching the game projected on the screen behind me. I don’t blame them–I was primarily interested in the game myself. (BTW, as a Mariners fan, I was happy to see the Blue Jays lose.)
The lack of an audience did not bother me, though, as this was the first time that I tried to play a LowLightRoom set. I played all of the LLR songs plus a few cover songs to fill the set. It was still fun and it was good practice for future shows.
My plan is to add more original songs and build out the set further. This set, with stops, covers almost exactly two hours. By the late spring and early summer, I hope to have a three hour set which will still include all of the LLR songs, plus some new songs, and a few covers that fit into the vibe of the set.
I hope to see you at a future show!
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Story of the Song: Five Zero Yankee
This is is about a material possession: a Cessna 172 with the registration number N1350Y. A pilot flying this aircraft would communicate with Air Traffic Control by referencing the last three digits of the N number using the NATO phonetic alphabet would be “Five Zero Yankee.”
Physical possessions are just things but there are certain physical possessions that are so intertwined with memory that having, using, or interacting with them is attached to certain feelings and memories. Art can have this impact such as viewing a painting that makes you think and feel something. Otherwise unimportant physical objects can also create this emotional reaction. The object itself is just a thing but it may be connected to an emotion or memory.
This is a deeply personal song that evokes all of these ideas. My father was in the aviation industry for his entire professional life and I inherited from him, and my son from me, an interest in aviation. The image of the aircraft flying into the sunset will forever be a memory I have of saying goodbye to him.
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Story of the Song: Permafrost
(Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon) Most songs for me start with an image but this song is an exception because it started with the title. For some reason the word stuck in my head and then the mental image followed.
This song explores the idea of leaving things behind and going off into the distance to the unknown. The mental image that I have when I wrote, and when I perform, this song is of two people walking in single file in a great expanse, leaving everything behind and not knowing where they are going.
The term “permafrost” refers to soil or sediment that remains below freezing. So, it’s not ice but ground that is frozen which which I think offers an interesting metaphor. While the two fictional people in the mental image for this song are walking along this permanently frozen ground into the unknown, the ground beneath them (and everything they know) is “melting beneath their weary feet” which is often how I feel about the world we live in these days.
One other aspect of this song is the strum pattern for the main riffs which is intended to represent the strides of the characters in the song. It kind of reminds me of taking long strides in an intentional effort to move forward and away from what was in the past.