East/West

There is nothing quite like a sunset over the Pacific.  I get to see a lot of them these days and I never get tired of them.  When I was a kid, we lived in a house on a rise above an aqueduct and my bedroom window faced West.  I used to dream of California and how the sunset would look over the Pacific.  Now I get to see it every night as I continue my East/West commute for coming up on a year now.  I knew that someday this dream would come true, I just didn’t know how…

The California dream continues to unfold as we navigate our way up and down the West Coast, through the hills of Hollywood and through the Malibu and Topanga canyons.  The work out west has revealed how old friends and acquaintances converge with a lifetime of experience on both coasts and abroad.  As I look for the way “in” for the music of the van Gogh Brothers and my writing, the twists and turns bring unexpected surprises as one thing leads to another and the obvious turns out to be something completely different from what I might expect.  I’m learning to live in the moment and to keep my mind open and clear.  This in itself is a gift and the “direct route” has become a series of side trips into several aspects of the creative process, all circling “up” in the world of film, television and music.  I feel extremely fortunate to have come to a point in my life where this is possible both practically and spiritually.  In one instance where I thought I was helping others, I was told “music first” and I became the recipient of helping hands.  Unknown, undefined and uncertain territory; a little scary, but fun!

The van Gogh Brothers returned to the studio in January and recorded two new tracks, “Man Enough” and “Fire & Light”.  Clayton Young, our longstanding bass player and dear friend co-wrote both of these songs with me and I think the strength of the songs shows how important collaboration can be in the writing process.  I think these are the two “biggest” songs we’ve produced yet.  In due course these tracks will be available on iTunes with a possible video for one or both of these selections.

I will make a trip to Nashville sometime in February with my free Southwest tickets to stir the pot there as well.  It’s been a long time since we’ve been to Nashville and the town has changed in important ways.  We still have good friends in Music City and “Man Enough” is a clear choice for country music.  It’s a great town for live music and it’s high time the van Gogh Brothers returned to re-claim our position in Alt-Country/Roots-rock.  We shall see…

We recently returned to Toad in Cambridge for our first gig of 2012.  It was good to shake out the Holiday cobwebs and our late-night Toad set included rarities like “This Love of Ours” and “The Waiting is Over”.  I love the quiet late-night sets and pulling out songs we generally don’t perform live.  We also debuted “Man Enough” and “Fire & Light” and both were strong and set well in a live environment.  This is always a good sign!   We play Vincent’s in Worcester on Saturday, February 4th.

Well, I’ve gotta get packing again… Check out our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/johncatemusic for my pictorial and video histories of our West Coast trips, and for other current news.

Hope to see you all soon- Happy Super Bowl, Groundhog and Valentine’s Day!

Love,

John