http://www.bigcontact.com/derekjamesmusic http://www.bigcontact.com/media/channel-default.jpg http://www.bigcontact.com/derekjamesmusic Derekjamesmusic no 60Big Contact Acoustic Derek James One More Day Live Pop Rock Fri, 14 Jul 2006 18:38:28 GMT http://www.bigcontact.com/derekjamesmusic/live-at-92wicb-ithaca---one-more-day-acoustic http://www.bigcontact.com/derekjamesmusic/live-at-92wicb-ithaca---one-more-day-acoustic Derek James live -
By Derek James
Album: Stray
Label: Howling Clue
Genre: Pop/Rock/Acoustic/Alternative/Live
Tags: Acoustic Derek James One More Day Live Pop Rock
Download : MP3 Audio
Buy It

A few months back Oscar (my guitarist extraordinaire) and I did a radio interview at Ithaca College's station 92WICB.  I've posted a live version of "One More Day" from that taping.  I think it's pretty cool.  Hope you enjoy it :)
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Friday, 5:17pm.  Brooklyn, New York.  3rd floor apartment.  Maroon velvet curtains, three windows to the city and a tiny a/c unit humming over my shoulder.  mooo haha.  This is home.  

I found this apartment on craigslist.org ... a life-changing website that has provided me and thousands of others housing, jobs, and then some for the past year or so.  

Fast forward to this week, this hour, this present minute.  I just got back from the Gibson showroom where I snuck in to borrow a beautiful guitar for the weekend's shows.  It's called an L-5 and it's an electic hollow-body that is about as beautiful of a guitar as I could imagine.  Here, have a look...








 













I spent the last week on the road living my dream life, waking up most mornings knowing a show was awaiting me just like gifts under the christmas tree.  Truly a magical feeling knowing your biggest assignment for the day is doing that thing you love so very much.  As much as editing wedding videos jerks my heart, it doesn't quite compete :)  Although life on the road is a new and interesting experience for me.  Unless I change my eating habits my friend and tour manager Chris has told me I will become a whale in less than a month.  Trays full of Roy Rogers should be avoided.  

Had a chance to play in front of a few thousand people in Carbondale, Illinois.  We had 2 50-minute sets plus an encore.  The mullets in the crowd were inspiring and I'm working on my own right now.  About an hour before the show there were 10 kids playing softball in the field in front of the stage.  5 minutes before we started the field was filled with more people than I've ever played to at one time.  Not to mention probably 99% had never heard my music which made things a bit more interesting.  When a crowd of thousands responds you feel it.  By the end of the night I had loosened up quite a bit and started calling on the crowd to make noise .... and "whooooom" like a slow and steady eruption that echoed and trailed off it was a highlight of my life.  

This weekend we'll be hitting the Triumph Brewery in Princeton, NJ tonight, followed by a really big show tomorrow night at the Knitting Factory, with camera crew, dancing elephants, and other cool stuff.  Looking forward to it bigtime!  

Time to pack and shower and go to my computerized wardrobe selector just like in "Clueless."  Green or pink undies?  Pink socks, green thong, leather vest.  Leather chaps, keds, flannel, top hat.  endless fashion magic at my fingertips.]]> Mon, 1 May 2006 13:08:36 GMT http://www.bigcontact.com/derekjamesmusic/7705 http://www.bigcontact.com/derekjamesmusic/7705

New York summer is hot and hazy, colorful and still busy.  I was recently pulled over by the cops for riding a bike on the sidewalk in brooklyn.  Now growing up in a suburb I was often yelled at for riding IN the street.  Isnt' that becuase it's safer on the sidewalk?  Well in New York they throw you in the streets, and last night riding back from the rehearsal studio I felt the wind of a near passing truck swallow my stomach as it passed.   Biking is fun.

I saw mini-michael in the subway the other day.   A 3-foot tall Columbian Michael Jackson impersonating midget was getting down to
beat it when I hoped up the stairs.  He earned his dollar.  He earned a lot of dollars.  In a city where all kinds of musicians swarm the subways for penny handouts... mini-michael gets all the money... and hell, he damn well should.  I thought i was hallucinating.

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Cherry italian ices.  Homeade.   Right across the street at Sal's.  Sugar.  My biggest vice.  You couldn't get more sugar in me if I was hooked up to an iv drip of coke.

Heading out tomorrow morning to play a couple shows in PA and Virginia.  I am smelling the grass and seeing the trees right here from Brooklyn and I'm ready to roll down some hills.  

I like people that feed their kids.  Saw Cinderella Man last night with my sister.  Russell Crowe plays a Father hustling to keep food in his family's tummy during the Depression.  Few things are as inspiring as taking care of the fam.  The little helpless children .. what would they do without their ma and pops?  If you want to change your perspective, if only for a few hours, check out Russell at the cinema.  
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