Washington, DC 9/26/2011

Well, this most recent New England run has just been wrapped up.  For the most part we had great weather, great shows, and a great turnout.

We had quite the week in New York City.  On Monday, we played at this great place in the East Village called Kenny's Castaways.  This was one of the coolest rooms I've played in a while.  The place was an old brothel, and according to the internet, you can still see pictures of different sized women and arrows pointing to their respective, uh, showrooms.  I looked around but couldn't find them.  We were the only band in there on a Monday night, so the crowd was sparse, but they seemed appreciative and got some good feedback.  Next time we're up in the city, we're looking forward to playing there again.

Tuesday we played at All Asia Bar in Cambridge, MA.  Another good turnout, and another bill that consisted of us and only us.  We had some old friends come out, and the walk-in crowd was pretty nice, and the gig on a whole totally could have been worse given that it was a Tuesday night.

Wednesday we were back in the big apple to play at Parkside Lounge.  Interestingly, the bar was not connected to the listening room, so the crowd wasn't as big as we had hoped, but we had some walk-ins, sold some CDs, and made some friends.

Thursday we were back at Boston's of Plymouth.  Another great acoustic set of beer, food, and interesting fiddle licks!

Friday night, Greg and I went over to the city and had a great night out with one of my best friends from childhood, Mike.  He works in the financial industry up in New York, and knows more about baseball than anyone else I have ever, or ever will, meet.  Eventually we met up with one of the finest trombone players and singers in New York City, my buddy Aaron, who was my first roomate on cruise ships.  If you know me, you know about a certain plane flight I had to make from Cork, Ireland to Nashville.  Aaron was with me on the first two legs of that flight.  He will also whoop your butt in Scrabble.

Saturday we played at the Jalopy Theater and School of Music for Brooklyn City Limits, an event put on by www.brooklyncountry.com.   Despite the L Train being out of service, Greg and I were able to watch Tennessee lose to Florida, Ohio State lose to Miami, and make the show on time.  We played with the Newton Gang, among others.  All in all it wrapped up a great week in New York City.

The next show we played was at the Lucky Dog Music Hall in Worcester, MA.  This was a really cool theater, and they managed to spell "Burroughs" right, something that I did not previously feel was super difficult, but with every place we go, I'm proven more and more incorrect.

Finally, we wrapped it all up at Mardi Gras Multi Club in Cranston, RI.  Some old friends, the DiRicos, came out, and it was great to see them again.  This place was packed, and was a fantastic place to finish out a great month in the northeast.

10/19/2011 Cincinnati, OH

Well hey there everybody.  Sorry it's been so long.  September and October have proven to be busy months.

We wrapped up a run in the northeast, and opened up a new club in Nashville, the National Underground.  It's right there on Broadway, and their burgers make the trip down the street worth it.  You can't do much in the way of food down there, but this place changes the game completely!

From there we headed back down to Lyons, GA to play at Kerrigan's Country for the week.  Turns out the Lovell Sisters, one of my favorite bands, has an offshoot called Larkin Poe, and they were playing at the barbeque festival down there that week!  I couldn't catch the show due to our own, but the BBQ was fantastic.  Needless to say, Chandler was in a great mood.  His weeklong quest for curry paste was squelched only by the free barbeque we scored after the "pro" division BBQ competition.

Believe it or not, we do do things other than eat.  After a solid Ohio State Buckeyes win, we headed up to Columbus, OH to play there for the first time.  What a beautiful fall day by one of the prettiest campuses in the country!

Next week we have a four day swing starting at the University of the South in Monteagle, TN, going through Raleigh and onto the campus of Elon, and finishing up with an afternoon set at Boxerstock in Marietta, GA, which is not too far where I grew up.  I actually don't get to play in the Atlanta area very often, so I'm really looking forward to playing on these great fairgrounds to support a great cause.

Sorry for the sparse check ins, I'll update you from the road (and the brand new van) later this week!

9/11/2011 - Boston, MA

Well it's been a while...sorry about that!  I left my laptop in Boston while we went up to Vermont for the week.  Despite horror stories of road conditions and outrageous estimates of how long it would take us to get up there,  we managed to not get too far out of the way and have a manageable drive up north to Rutland.

That being said, the remnants of the not-too-distant Hurricane Irene were very apparent as we made our way up off of the interstate through the back roads.  The town of Springfield had its iconic river rushing right up next to a warehouse, and the bridge that used to cross it was destroyed.  Newly created floodplains and trees downed by the fury of the hurricane made for quite the landscape.  The area of Rutland we played in seemed okay, but from what we were told, it was lucky.  Other areas were completely cut off, and the effects of the storm on the state fair's attendance at the fair were blatantly obvious.  Still, Saturday night we played a good set to a sparse, but enthusiastic, crowd.  A lot of the people came up to us after and bought CDs and filled us in on the weather situation.  One guy said we sounded a lot like Poco, which made my week, and prompted everyone else in the band to ask, "Who's Poco?"

The rest of the week we played at CJ's Sud's South.  These people really know how to party, and gave us a great week up there.  Thanks to everyone who came out, talked to us, and made us feel right at home.  I ran into an old friend of mine from cruise ships up there; her mom was an act at the fair, just like us.  Small world.  We're looking forward to getting back up there and doing it all again, Rutland-style.

There are some fantastic restaurants in Rutland as well.  In addition to a great farmer's market (ironically in the Wal-Mart parking lot), there are some great delis...most notably Clem's, which has the most ridiculously enormous wraps you'll ever get, and the Yellow Deli, which has great sandwiches and probably the best veggie burger you'll ever eat (and if you plan on spending any time in Vermont, you're gonna need to get used to Veggie burgers).  There's also Gill's deli, which has been there for like a thousand years, and a bunch of great pizza places.

We're in New York a few times this week.  On that note, with today being the 10 year anniversary of 9/11,  I feel like it's appropriate to take a little time to reflect on 10 years ago, and how we've all changed since the attacks.

10 years ago, today, I was in my first period class as a freshman at North Springs High School.  It was English, with Ms. Cloud.  Lily Arfa, Laura Gilmore, and Evan Neal are the 3 names I can think of off the top of my head that were in that class with me.  Someone knocked on the door, and whispered something into Ms. Cloud's ear, and my teacher, somewhat shocked, said, "Guys, the World Trade Center and the Pentagon have both been bombed by terrorists."  I think the second tower had either just fallen or was right about to fall.  Looking back now, she was probably my age at the time...I can't imagine processing that, and telling 20 14 year olds what had just happened.  The rest of the day was kind of a blur...only my French teacher made us do work, and my crew team practice was cancelled for the afternoon.

Living through it in Atlanta was kind of weird.  You may have known somebody who knew somebody who knew somebody who was in one of the towers, Pentagon, or planes, but watching it unfold over the next few days, weeks, and years was almost like watching a drama on TV.  Not that I didn't feel affected, but I hadn't even been to Manhattan before.  Yet that event set the tone on politics and national attitude that still stands in effect today.  The skies were quiet over the next few days, and 25 miles down the road from my house, officials at Hartsfield airport (in 2001, it wasn't Hartsfield-Jackson yet) scrambled to find a place to put everyone stranded in what was at the time the world's busiest airport.  I remember my orthodontist was stuck in California, so I couldn't get my braces removed.  Which for a freshman in high school is a big deal.

For me, personally, coming of age creatively during that time saw its effects from the attacks in many ways.  My hero, Bruce Springsteen, released his first studio album in my lifetime, and I listened to the whole thing front to back.  The Rising tour was the first time I went to a Springsteen concert hanging on every single word.  My political opinions, which will stay far away from this blog, were shaped and affected, encouraged and frustrated with reactions to the world which was changing from the effects of the attacks.  Like everyone at that age, I thought I knew everything.  In a world where everything related to national news could easily be related to 9/11, I was growing up.

Since then I've graduated high school and college, moved away from home, moved away from where I moved to, had my first job, had what I thought were several dream jobs, been in and out of relationships, and have traveled all over the world.  I've seen the Pyramids, Jerusalem, Alaska, Hawaii, been to 48 out of our 50 states, and had extreme highs and extreme lows.  I have walked the very deserts that became emblazoned into our minds once the attacks took the public perception of the Middle East to an entirely different level. If you had told me 10 years ago that in 10 years, I'd be a professional musician, I would have looked you in the eye and said, "you're damn right I will be."

That seems like enough for now.  Remember 9/11 in your own way...and of course I speak for the band when I say our thoughts and prayers go out especially to those who were affected, and whose memorials may be a little harder to go through than others.

On a lighter note, football has started.  Go Falcons.

Fantasy Football

Just wanted to let the multitude of fans that read the blog...if you want to play Fantasy Football this year, we have a few spots open in the league. Leave your name and email in the comments below and I'll add you until we fill up. No cost to play, and the winner only gets bragging rights.

8/27/2011 Raleigh, NC

Well, after after a week of Mother Nature taking out its wrath on the East Coast of the good ol' USA in the form of an earthquake, which my mom, sister, and sister's godmother narrowly avoided (check out their blog @ www.marykingsley.wordpress.com), we drive right into the think of it to the Carolina's to see what Hurricane Irene would dump our way.

Before that, we played in Johnson City, TN at the Acoustic Coffeehouse. What a cool place. The inside is a typical hippie/hipster/alternative coffee place with all kinds of beer. The outside has a giant mural of John Hartford (which in my book always raises a place many, many notches), with campfires and people jamming and playing pretty much whatever. The scene plays to mostly old-time string bands, which is fine with me...it felt good to hear "Angeline the Baker" and smell a campfire at the same time.

The next gig was in Greensboro, NC at the Greensboro Grasshoppers game. We played in the left field bar area where people were, not suprisingly, not paying attention to the Single A affiliate of the Florida Marlins. Little did any of us know that it was a record-breaking 19 innings. Read the full story here. We did a promotion where anyone who signed up for our email mailing list got a CD for free. The response was great, and with dollar beer night, we had a great time. And this wasn't your daddy's dollar beer night either...usually at these things, dollar beers mean a miniscule dixie cup full of watered down Bud Light. But on this night, it was any beer on draft! We enjoyed a few pints of the local brew, Buckshot.

Greg sang the national anthem, but nobody really cares cause he's a diva. What's really important was I was named honorary manager for the Greensboro Grasshoppers. I served my team well by escorting the real manager to home plate at the beginning of the game for the exchange of the lineup card. I can't tell you exactly what was said between the opposing managers and umpires, but I promise that it wasn't about the attractiveness of the ball girls of their respective teams, and which member of each team had a romantic interest in said ball girls. No, nothing like that at all.

Tonight, we played at Deep South, a cool venue in Raleigh. With most hotel rooms full because of people leaving the coast due to Hurricane Irene, we weren't sure what the turnout would be, but for a last minute show it was alright. The club was great, the owner was really cool, we got 4 free PBR or Tecate, and the sound guy knew what he was doing. You can't really ask for much else.

Everyone on the east coast please stay safe this week. We go up to Boston soon and are pumped for it. I personally haven't been up in that area in a few years and am looking forward to seeing some familiar faces.

8/26/2011 Brian Mullen Word of the Day

Take notes, kiddies...today's vocabulicious lesson will be a good one.

Swaggerjack

verb

1. To blatantly copy or imitate another person's clothing or style

Context:

"Yo guy, quit clownin'. I've been reppin' that sick B's alt jersey for like 3 weeks, and you just scooped one at Olympia Sports at the Pru. Quit Swaggerjackin' my swag. Wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww."

Translation:

"Hello good sir, please cease to participate in such Tom Foolery. I have been clothed in this Boston Bruins alternative sweater, which apparently isn't feeling very well at the time, for a period of about 21 days, and you just purchased one (and possibly did not compensate the establishment) at Olympia Sports in the Prudential Center. Please quit blatantly copying my clothing and accessories. Wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww."

8/21/2011 - Nashville, TN

We had quite the weekend.

First order of business was securing a bass player, which is harder than you may think in a town like this. But finally, we stumbled upon the one and only Chandler Kellogg, who came out with us for the weekend and did a fantastic job, and we look forward to working with him again.

Anyway, on to our glory days in Kentucky this weekend. After loading into the Escape Bar and Grill in Shepherdsville, we decided that we were hungry and wanted to get some food. This bar had food but let's just say we went down that road last time, and were ready to explore other options.

The beauty about this day and age is that good food is only a tap of a smartphone away. Chandler, the bass player and new guy, really stepped up as a new guy and pretty much demanded we go get some barbeque. And he found a place on his phone that, as he put it, "had a 5 star Yelp review." Well, you can't argue with Yelp I guess, so we google mapped the address and it took us to...Bearno's Pizza. Not Barbeque. Chandler was ready to reconsider his work arrangements for the weekend when we convinced him that we were starving, had to play soon, and didn't want to go 10 miles for barbueque when this pizz

a place would fit the bill just fine, but he finally relented and we went in.

This place was awesome. If you're ever in Shepherdsville, for whatever reason, check it out. The beer was cold, the pizza was hot, the waitresses were efficient...everything you want and nothing you expect from a restaurant before you have to play a gig. We had this barbeque chicken pizza (Greg's idea, seconded by Chandler) that was awesome.

The gig on Friday was good...went more or less as planned. Greg and a friend he met at the bar got absolutely schooled in beer pong during a set break...but to be fair, this bar did have some strange rules, and the table was most definitely not regulation size.

After we finished up at Escape, we went to the hotel which was a bit of a hike. But lucky, the place we played at, or thought we were playing at, was close by.

The next morning, we do the traditional Greg Burroughs Band Louisville Lunch, also known as the Red Robin Bar. Yummmmmmm. After which we do the traditional Greg Burroughs Band Find a Sports Memorabilia Store and Make Fun of Each Other's Teams For Having Stupid Crap To Sell. That takes a long time to say, so we'll just call it being ourselves.

We finally get to River Bottom Inn, the bar (read: lean-to) that will be hosting us for the evening's festivities. This time though, everything wasn't as normal. Another band was set up and ready to rock. And hang out for about 7 hours until they were supposed to play (they were from 15 minutes down the road). After much deliberation on part of the bar staff (all 2 of them there), they decided to keep the

other band (they had set up their sweet Marshall half stack already...would hate to have to put that back in the van...after all, what else was supposed to literally shake the entire block of houses (again, lean-tos)?) Since we had passed up more lucrative opportunities to honor our commitment here, we went outside to negotiate terms...a buy-out if you will. The other band, and the owner, offered several options:

1. We could stay and party for free, shower in the owner's mom's camper, and stay in the room upstairs (literally right above the bar.)

2. We could stay and party for free, not shower in the owner's mom's camper, and stay in the room upstairs.

3. We don't have to stay and party, but we can just stay in the owner's mom's camper and build a campfire down by the river. Showering was not a part of this buyout package.

4. We can just leave.

5. The owner and the other band can furiously rack their brains and try and figure out another bar in the area that just so happens to need a band.

Option 5 was pretty much decided for us. The owner, the other band, and a few locals really tried to brainstorm other performance opportunities for us and finally came up with one that they were sure needed a band tonight. How, you ask, were they sure? Because last night, at the bar the guitar player's friend was at, the owner of the other bar's girlfriend (or something) was heard saying that the band that was going to be at her bar had backed out. Jackpot!! We furiously tried to iPhone this place. A number popped up and....bam, disconnected. Tried 411....no listing. Found a similar sounding listing and what do you know...an 11 digit phone number. Weird. Just as we're about to cash in our chips and leave, the guitar player runs out telling us he has a perfect gig booked at the Dew Drop Inn, right down the road in Flaherty, Ky.

He began by telling us he could give us "good-ass" directions to the place as to where we could "find it for sure." We simply told him an address would suffice, since between us, we had plenty of resources (aka phones) to get to where we needed to go. Turns out this pl

ace is unlisted, too. But all we had to do was to find the bar with the "upside down Jap bike." He must have said that about 25 times. Lo and behold:

We had found it. The Dew Drop Inn!!

As we load in, a helpful from cook from the bar offered to give us a hand. Appreciating his genuine offer to help, we discussed pertinent topics such as why the hell were we there, where the hell we were, what the hell were we doing there, and why the hell where we there, again. After he realized we were kinda there by accident, he was telling us about all the business the bar had to offer.

It sounded like the pitch any bar offers...Happy hour was from 6 to 9, and beers were $1.50 instead of $1.75. This all sounded normal, until I realized that he was not talking about 6 to 9 pm...happy hour is at SIX O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dear sweet Jesus.

After we load in, my several Diet Mountain Dews from the trip over had made their way through my body and it was time to use the facilities. I found many, many interesting tidbits in this bathroom, such as:

Apparently, the Freemasons built this bathroom.

And they are very clearly concerned about sanitation...

Mary, how are your headlights? Do you need help changing a bulb? Hmm, something tells me that they're not referring to car parts.

I can't complete the blog post without some pictures of the backyard of the bar. Yes, the bar had a backyard.

This is clearly the place for this car.

Look carefully and you will see some Flaherty, KY ingenuity. If you need a sun umbrella for a picnic table and don't have one, but have a short telephone pole, and a giant spare satellite dish laying around, then you're all set!!!

Oh, and one more from the bathroom:

Just in case you got thirsty in there.

Thanks again for reading...seems like Brian Mullen's family is all over it...thanks guys!!! See you soon.

8/17/2011 - Brian Mullen Word of the Day

Today's lesson in vocabulary, East Milton style:

Sag

noun (slang)

1. Gasoline

Context:

Mullish:

"Yo guy, I cached the sag on the Jersey Turnpike, so the finn whip was storminated.'"

English:

"Hello good sir, I erroneously depleted my supply of petroleum on the internet, so my Crown Victoria became stranded."

Note:

This rare form of slang came about by reversing the spelling of simple words (gas...sag...get it?). The same logic can be applied to other words, such as doof (food) and the man, the mith, the legend himself, Llum (Mull).

8/16/2011 Nashville, TN

So, here I am, in Nashville, at the apartment, spending the second consecutive night here for the first time in what seems like forever. Between working on the boat (more on that later) and being out playing so much, its nice to be able to sleep in a room that's not owned by a hotel for a change.

The second Manassas show went great, and we met some fantastic people and made some new friends from the University of Maryland. Go Terps, right? We're probably gonna be back up in that area in November, so if you're from the area (all 2 of you reading this), look for us up around that way, as we try to wrap some more dates around Manassas.

And I know this is a subject killed to death, but I think God made Virginia so pretty so people who drive through it on I-81 don't kill themselves of boredom. That has to be the longest segment of any drive I've ever been on. You don't realize how huge the state of Virginia is until you have to drive through it. And forget trying to stop to get something to eat...there's literally miles and miles between exits with anything somewhat resembling a Subway.

Greg and I have been working on some new stuff you probably haven't heard before, or at least in a while. If you go back to the old Cardinal Crossing days, you're gonna enjoy some of the stuff we're pulling out in the shows to come. You'll dig it, I promise. Come on out.

And, since you've all bought The Lucky Ones EP, in order to keep from wearing it out, since I know you all have it on repeat all day every day, if (and only if) you want to preserve the CD from playing it too much and really really want to listen to something different, go pop in "Gold" by Ryan Adams. In a day and age where people don't really make complete albums anywhere, this record (even though its like 10 years old by now) is really fantastic. Just check it out. But then go back to listening to The Lucky Ones.

We're also gearing up for a long Northeast run that will take us back to our Boston roots. We're going to be playing anywhere and everywhere up there, so stay tuned. New York, Worcester, Vermont, Maryland...watch out, we're coming for you.

Again, thanks for reading as always. Somebody leave a comment or something so I know somebody is actually reading this.

8/12/2011 - Manassas, VA

I'm sitting in the hotel room in Manassas, VA before night 2 of a 2 night stand here in Manassas. Last night was a good show; the club wasn't packed, but the crowd was receptive and we sold some CDs. Nice little bar, too.

Today Greg and I got up "early," grabbed some lunch at Uno's Pizza with some of his family who lives around here. After that, we went to the Manassas Battlefield National Park and took a self-guided driving tour. It wasn't as great as some of the other ones I've taken, but it was still moving being in the place where the Civil War essentially started. This job can be grueling at times, with all the gear hauling, driving, crashing in the backseat of a car while you try to find a place to stop in between Roanoke and Winchester (very few and far between), but it's amazing to be able to see all these historical spots that are literally right beneath our feet. I had been to the battlefields before, but I was a little kid.

Speaking of food, one of the funny things I find about being on the road is being able to tell where you are by the types of restaurants that are around. Uno's is a northeast thing, and I guess they've made their way down to the DC area now. If you wake up and there's a Taco John's outside your window, you know you're out west. And if you are pulling into a Chick fil A at 7 am to eat breakfast (or dinner), you know you're almost home (and it's not a Sunday).

Preseason football started last night. Good to have it back. Go Falcons.

Brian Mullen Word of the Day

Every so often, I'll be posting a segment I just named "Brian Mullen Word of the Day." Brian Mullen is our drummer, and he's from East Milton, MA, where they have words that don't exist anywhere else in the known universe/space-time continuum/whatever. In order to help others understand what Brian has to say, I'll be posting definitions to what he says periodically. It won't be every day, despite the title. If that really bugs you, then get a life after you're done suing me.

So, without further ado.........

Today's Brian Mullen word of the day is "Finn."

Finn

noun

1. Police Officer

Context:

Mullish:

"Yo guy, there's mad finn on that street."

English:

"Hello good sir, there are quite a few police officers out this way.:

"The Lucky Ones" EP Available Now on iTunes/Welcome to the blog!

Hey Everyone,

Welcome to the blog. My job here will be to try and provide you with some insight into what it's like to work with the biggest, most self-centered diva of all time. Just kidding.

Seriously, I'll try and keep this updated every few days and keep you guys clued in as to what life is like in the Greg Burroughs Band. Things have really been picking up since I got back from the Dirty Dawn Princess (yes I used to work on ships), and we're moving more and more forward every day. Right now, Greg and I are hanging out in Myrtle Beach, swimming, playing tennis, and listening to my grandpa tell Navy stories. I've seen some family I haven't seen in forever, including my brother, who I haven't seen in over a year!

After these few days, we head up to Manassas, VA for two shows at Ed Addie's. It will be our first time playing up there in the land of my birth, so I'm looking forward to it. Plus we're staying right by the Civil War battlefields, which will be awesome to see.

And now the shameless: Our new EP, "The Lucky Ones EP," is now on iTunes, among many other outlets, such as CD Baby and Amazon. But for real, who goes to CD Baby or Amazon? Just go to iTunes, or come to a show and buy the record. Also, sign up for the mailing list on the official site, www.gregburroughs.com.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and feel free to leave comments with any questions or comments you may have. I really look forward to keeping in touch with fans and friends!

-John