Moving On My Way & Doing My Thing With No Regrets At All

I am finally going to drop this bomb here for you all to read.

Many of you are aware that I have been going through a lot over the last few months.  Sometimes I would drop hints here on my posts about things being tough but I never really was comfortable on making my personal life public.

I am now.

I am just about through the final stages of getting a divorce after being married for just over two years.

I am not going to sit here and type out complete details as I do respect the privacy of the other party also known as the ex.  We remain friendly at this time and I hope to build on that friendship for years to come.  She is a special person to me and always will be.

We got married thinking it was a good idea obviously.  After all we were madly in love with one another and it just made sense.  We were happy in the beginning of the legal courtship but as time passed it was apparent that it just was not working.  It killed both of us emotionally because we love each other very much to this day.  The truth is no matter how much we loved one another we were not meant to be husband and wife.

I came to terms with this before summer but held off on getting legal action done until the leaves changed color because we wanted to see if maybe we separated for a period of time we could make things work but it only became harder for the both of us. It became clear on what needed to be done.

After many conversations we decided to find a lawyer and get this taken care of so we could both go on with our lives.  It still is tough to this day and will be hard on us for quite possibly the rest of our lives.

For anyone who knew us we were best friends and complimented one another so well.  That of course was prior to the wedding.

As time moved on we started drifting apart from one another and it was just getting to be stressful.  Neither of us were happy about the current situation.  We wanted to make it work and we tried to make it work but it was something that would never work and neither of us wanted to come to terms with the truth.

I have no regrets from being married.  I learned more about myself and the opposite sex from this experience that without a doubt will assist me in paving future paths in life.  I will always love her and cherish the good memories we made together.

This divorce is unique in that neither of us hate each other.  It was something that had to be done to help each other live our own happy lives.  If we would have stayed together we would have just become more miserable everyday and a time bomb may very well have gone off.

I don’t want pity from anyone.  I for the most part am happy as is she.  We have been going on with our lives since summertime and we both are both contempt with the change even if not completely.  Sure we are bummed that it could not work and wish things were different but the fact of the matter is that things happen for a reason.

While going through the hardship I relied on some of my best friends in the world to help me though the pain I felt.  I owe a huge thank you for all of the love and support my friends and family provided at the difficult time. I could not ask for better people in my life.

I am sorry if I did not tell some of you out there including family, but I was not ready to tell the world about this.  I never wanted a divorce.  I wanted to make this work but it was something that needed to be done to ensure a better life for both involved.

I don’t want comments here, or on Facebook, or anywhere saying you are sorry to hear what happened.  I want everyone to know that this is what has been going on in my personal life.  My life is essentially a public life because of this site as well as whatever else I decide to throw in the internet.  I am ok now with everyone knowing about what happened.

Really, I am ok.  Respect me and be happy for me and her.  There are no fingers to be pointed and no one to be held at fault.

I am moving on with my life.

Thank you for reading.

Contest: “Tweet” New Found Glory

Punk pop rockers New Found Glory (NFG) are asking fans for help in finding local opening acts for their small club headline shows the are playing in the upcoming months.  They will be touring in support of their new album they released this past Spring called Not Without A Fight.

So how can you help you ask?  Excellent question.

All you have to do is send a “Tweet”  to @xchadballx and @steveisdareason on the popular mini-blog site Twitter the local band you think should open for them. They will pick the bands based upon the number of local requests they get.

What a novel idea…   The dates for their headlining tour (they will also be touring with Dashboard Confessional this Fall too but this contest does not apply to those shows) are listed below.  If you know of a local band you think should open for NFG then I suggest you tweet them a little message.

I have a couple local favorites in mind I will be tweeting them about…  I suggest you do the same.  Hell, even if you are in a band it could not hurt to tell them from perhaps a friend’s Twitter account how awesome your band is.  You never know, they may ask you to open for them!

The above was reshaped and manipulated from a message from Chad Gilbert of NFG. Here’s his take on the whole idea as well as some other words:

Support Your Local Scene!

Before NFG head out on tour with Dashboard Confessional this fall we will be doing a limited amount of smaller intimate club shows. For the past few years NFG have not been able to hook up local bands due to a full traveling line up. We know how important it is to support local bands and local music scenes. That is how NFG got our start. We use to open locally in South Florida for bands like MxPx, the Get Up Kids, Unwritten Law,Bane etc. Playing those shows helped build our band and build our local scene. This tour will give us an opportunity to finally help out a little.

We ask you to “Tweet” @xchadballx and @steveisdareason some suggestions for local bands to open up the NFG show in their town. Please check http://www.myspace.com/newfoundglory for all the tour dates. Make sure you request bands only for our own headline shows, Not the shows we will be playing with Dashboard Confessional.

We do not want to piss any one off or discourage any bands so NFG will not be picking the specific band. We are just compiling a list of bands that we get the most requests for and submitting it to the local promoter to pick.

Also on all of these shows will be a fellow Floridian band called Fallen From The Sky and Pennsylvania’s TITLE FIGHT!

thanks so much and we hope to see you all this fall!

DONT LET HER PULL YOU DOWN the movie coming soon!

your friend always
@XchadballX

Tour Dates (for their headlining shows only)
Oct 18 2009 – Toads Place (Headline Show) – New Haven, Connecticut
Oct 19 2009 – Chameleon Club (Headline Show) – Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Oct 21 2009 – The Chance (Headline Show) – Poughkeepsie, New York
Oct 22 2009 – Northern Lights (Headline Show) – Clifton Park, New York
Oct 24 2009 – Eleanor Rigby’s (Headline Show) – Jermyn, Pennsylvania
Oct 25 2009 – Higher Ground (Headline Show) – Burlington, Vermont
Oct 27 2009 – The Intersection (Headline Show) – Grand Rapids, Michigan
Oct 28 2009 – Peabody’s Downunder (Headline Show) – Cleveland, Ohio
Oct 30 2009 – Southgate House (Headline Show) – Newport, Kentucky
Oct 31 2009 – The Rave (Headline Show) – Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Nov 1 2009 – People’s Court (Headline Show) – Des Moines, Iowa
Nov 2 2009 – Slowdown (Headline Show) – Omaha, Nebraska
Nov 3 2009 – Station 4 (Headline Show) – Saint Paul, Minnesota
Nov 5 2009 – New Daisy (Headline Show) – Memphis, Tennessee
Nov 6 2009 – Emerson Theater (Headline Show) – Indianapolis, Indiana
Nov 7 2009 – Pop’s (Headline Show) – Sauget, Illinois
Nov 23 2009 – Cine El Ray (Headline Show) – Mcallen, Texas
Dec 1 2009 – Cat’s Cradle (Headline Show) – Carrboro, North Carolina
Dec 2 2009 – Recher Theatre (Headline show) – Towson, Maryland

Cool Dude: Justin Towne Earle

Have any of you heard of Justin Towne Earle?  Does the last name sound familiar?  Well he is indeed the son of Steve Earle but also is an amazing Americana/Country/Folk artist from Nashville who captured my attention at Bonnaroo this year.

This Bloodshot Records artist thankfully kept going after he was fired from playing in his father’s band due to bad habits and overcame them.  I may have mentioned him before here on the BHP site but today I was killing some time today and came across the video for “Midnight At The Movies” and was reminded of how much I really love this guy…

Honestly I feel like this guy is a modern day Hank Williams.

I recently found out that Justin Towne Earle will be coming to Cleveland for a December show with Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys) and his protege Jessica Lea Mayfield.  You can bet your you know what I will be there that night.  That is going to be an amazing show to end the year with.

Until then I have my copy of Midnight At The Movies I will continue to spin here and there as well as the internet to watch countless videos and live performances.

I also found some downloads from his Daytrotter session.  I adore his cover of The Replacements‘ “Can’t Hardly Wait”.  Click HERE to check it out for yourself as well as a few other great tracks.

Here are a couple videos I found lately that I enjoy…

Father and son:

His politeness and well-mannerisms kill me…

The Suck: Poison The Well’s Van & Gear Stolen

Further proof that some people out there just SUCK.

Miami’s Poison The Well have just announced that after the first night of their US tour w/ Canadian rock act Billy Talent, in support of their new album The Tropic Rot (out now on Ferret Music), the band has been robbed of both their touring van and all of their instruments and personal belongings.

The band had this to say about what happened:

So this morning we woke up at our delightful Marriott Courtyard hotel (priceline, get into it) and walked outside to get in the van to head to Chicago for our second show of the tour. Only problem, it isn’t there. Either someone is pulling some Merlin shit on us and just waiting for the perfect moment to unveil it and calm our shot nerves, or a talented scumbag stole our van and trailer with literally everything we own inside. Needless to say, we’re crushed. Our most beloved instruments are gone, and trust me, we’re gear nerds.

After a great deal of scrambling and deliberation, we found a way to stay on tour, after a few days off to get some gear and a rental van together. Having something like this happen is the worst thing that can happen to any band short of someone dying, and we’re incredibly stoked to finish this tour with Billy Talent and play every night doing what we love.

Our most sincere thanks to everyone who offered to help us in any way, our friends mean the world to us and everyone who has reached out today is absolutely mind blowing. Huge huge ups to the entire Ferret Records Family (Carl cause hes got the cash and Rick cause he calls the shots), Issac and the entire Indie Merch and Jakprints family, Tour Dog Leasing and Rental (thanks for driving to detroit to come get us), Jimmy and First Act Guitars, Russel Blair and Orange Amps, Derek at Ernie Ball, Tyme Rogers and Tech 21, Evan Obrien and Korg, Scott Uchida and Jim Dunlop, Jon “Shabba on the spot” Linton, John “Badge” Chidley. Some of these people have always helped us out and are further making our lives better. Some of these people barely know us and have helped us this with this shit time.

If you want to help out, we’ll have a limited edition shirt online sometime soon that makes fun of our situation and is awesome, and all proceeds from that will go to wiping away our tears and some new tumbleweeds for the insides of our wallets.

See you in a couple days. Pissed about our gear and passionate about this band as ever.

Love,
PTW

Good luck guys.

Poison The Well – Exist Underground

Thanks to Solid PR for the heads up.