New jam venue: The Langford, Sundays at 7

Hi Friends,
Sorry to have been silent so long. A hard drive crash didn't exactly catch me unprepared, but some of my programs (such as WorldCast, my emailer) had to be re-registered, address lists had to be retrieved from backup, etc. Anyway, I'm mostly back in the saddle.

So, you've heard me talking about Langford Sound & Stage in Roswell. It's two doors to the left of Ken Stanton Music, in the corner of the shopping center between Eckerd and Dollar Tree. The map websites don't show it very well at all, but here's the best. If you have Google Earth (and you should) just copy & paste these coordinates:
34.03363372008272,-84.34430625917679
and you'll fly right down to a hi-res rooftop view. (I know, I could just include the .kmz placemark file in this email, but many among you won't even open emails with attachments)

Anyway, The Langford is hosting jam sessions every Sunday at 7PM. What makes this jam special? Many things!
1. It's at a real stage venue, not a corner of some bar's floor.
2. Family-friendly: no smoke, no alcohol, early hours.
3. Pro sound, and some audio & video recording abilities. I wouldn't be surprised to see them offer CDs and DVDs of performances at some point in the future. And if you musicians want to do real audio/video recordings, they're not just a nice stage, they have a full studio next door.

Since they're not a full-service bar/restaurant (except at catered events), they do need to charge $2 admission but most of us can afford that.

In addition, I ran into jazz guitarist Skip Runte the other day, and when he mentioned how our mutual jazz mentor Howard Roberts started the Monday night jazz jams in Hollywood, I whipped out my phone and introduced him to Tony Langford. We may have a nice Monday jazz jam of our own soon.

Anyway, things are just getting started up on the jam front there. If you're a player or singer, c'mon down tonight and let's make music!

In other news, literally, Marlyn Campbell and I were shown briefly on Fox 5's news yesterday as part of a story about how merchants on Decatur's square are nearly bankrupted by all the MARTA construction there. It seems people aren't drawn to a neighborhood blighted with dirt piles and cyclone fence, as opposed to the park/plaza atmosphere that area normally had, and business is waaay down. Marlyn & I were playing a benefit "battle of the bands" at Birdi's when the camera guy came in. His camera seemed close enough to be checking out her earwax, but her looks withstand scrutiny. He also took various shots of the packed audience, the warzone construction site, etc. After all that we were only onscreen for a couple seconds. It's amazing how much stuff gets tossed out at a news shoot; he was probably onsite for 90 minutes to get 60 seconds of story. Anyway, I urge you to patronize Birdi's and the other merchants in that area, or they might not be there when the construction's done.
Birdi's On The Square
115 Sycamore St. Decatur 30030 404-371-9906
web: http://www.birdisonthesquare.com
map: http://tinyurl.com/dvcg6

The Tuesday jams at Nik's Place are still rockin', and in this summer weather the deck outside has been heavenly. Come check out the good music and nearly-full moon this week, try a nice meal & drink under the stars.
Nik's Place (10PM-2AM)
645 Whitlock Av. (aka Hwy GA-120)
about 1 mile west of Marietta Square
across the street from Waffle House
Marietta GA 30064 770-792-6666
free wi-fi, good food
web: http://www.niksplace.com
map: http://tinyurl.com/b3gql

Wednesdays, Andrew Black and I are doing a duo act at Tavern On The Bridge. With Andrew's versatility and vast song library, and my digital guitar system's ability to imitate any guitar & amp, it's a pretty impressive show.
Tavern On The Bridge
9775 Medlock Bridge Rd., Suite A.
Duluth, 30097 770-232-1210
Nice room, good food.
Southeast corner of State Bridge Rd. and Medlock Bridge (Hwy 141)
One door south of Stony River.
web: http://www.tavernonthebridge.com
map: http://tinyurl.com/8lp8g

That's it for now. If you have any questions, please feel free to call or write me.

Remember that Twilight Zone movie where the guy says "Wanna see something REALLY scary?" Check this out:
http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdpenny.htm
How the !@#! do you run up $70 BILLION in debt last week alone?
Who's to blame, and what should we do?