Gratitude

(This was something I blogged about on another site and I decided to share it here...)

I was sitting and thinking about how blessed I've been to perform music for audiences big and small around the country and around the world. I want to take a little time out and thank a few people:

Kelvin Sholar: Thanks for being one of my best friends and for vouching for me on so many gigs over the years (even when I wasn't ready for some of them). I owe so much of my career (and resume) to you it's not even funny.

Ronnie Cuber: Thanks for hiring me sight unseen (hearing unheard?) after just a phone call (and Kelvin's recommendation). You were the first person to take me out of the country to all parts of Europe (including parts of the UK, and even Russia) with a band that thoroughly kicked my tail night after night. Special thanks to Kelvin and Jonathan Blake for making the hang worthwhile. I learned my road chops the 2 years I did this gig.

Amp Fiddler: Thanks for remembering me! We'd met working with Detroit-based singer-songwriter Inohs Sivad back in 2001 and he would tell me every few years that we were gonna work together. He made the call in early 2005. I kinda refined my road chops with Amp. I learned the art of maintaining dignity while being on a month-long tour from him. Oh, and thanks for my first trips to Japan, Montreal, Paris, Ireland, Scotland and some of the largest audiences I've ever seen from the stage.

Brian O'Neal: Thanks for taking me to Lexington, KY,  Houston, TX (Yao Ming!) Fresno and LA, CA. You taught me the meaning of grassroots. You're going farther than anyone's imagined (and that's pretty far).

Gayelynn McKinney: Thanks for taking me to Connecticut (twice!) and showing me some of the nicest people I've met on the east coast. And how country is found only one hour outside of NYC! =p

Bob James: Thank you for taking me on one of the most eventful, well-organized and downright FUN tours I've ever been on! It was a pleasure to share the stage with one of my earliest musical heroes AND find out he's one of the nicest guys around.

Bujo Kevin Jones: Thanks for taking me seriously when I said I'd stick around and do two gigs with 10th World when a bassist canceled. I've done a handful of gigs and two recordings with the band and it has been a blast. My first two trips to the Caribbean were thanks to Bujo and it's been a great ride.

GoodBrother: Thanks for the most whirlwind, seat-of-your-pants week in London I've ever had. I learned how to move a crowd, make friends, eat on a serious budget. "I'll say!" =p

Kem: Thanks for taking me to the motherland, South Africa, just on word of mouth. We played a song of his (Heaven") two nights in a row and both nights the whole audience sang the WHOLE song lyric-for-lyric. I've never had that experience and it almost took me out of the gig like I wasn't a part of it and I was just witnessing it. Amazing....

Carl Craig: Thanks for putting me on records that will reach parts of the world that I may never see. And for letting me be a part of the Tribe reunion and the Innerzone Orchestra.

There are certain people I've played and recorded with but haven't traveled extensively with (Does Kalamazoo count?) like Shelby Brown and Inohs Sivad but I'm as proud of my work with them as anything else I've done. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to co-write some gems with you. 

I'd also like to thank my parents for providing my first bass guitar when I was 16 (and for SO much more) and Fransisco Mora, Pamela Wise and Althea Rene for giving me my first gigs on the Detroit scene.

=)