Upcoming KNAPSACKHEROES! shows

My band, KNAPSACKHEROES!, has several dates coming up and we're adding more regularly. I'd love to see you there. If you have ideas of where we could play, let me know.

The Return of Sixpence

Got to see Sixpence None the Richer for the first time in several years last night at 3rd and Lindsley. They broke up in 2004 and announced their return earlier this year in a blog on Leigh Nash's MySpace.

It was the first time Daphne and I had seen the band as a married couple so it really took us back to the many, many dates we spent at Sixpence shows.

They did several of my favorites including "A Million Parachutes", written by Matt Slocum with Sam Ashworth, who happened to accompany the band on acoustic guitar. I was also happy that Kate York sang background vocals on a couple songs.

There is new music at Sixpence's MySpace and Leigh told me last night their new EP will release next month. Expect to not see me for a few days after it drops as I crawl under something and disappear into the new songs.

CENTERFEST 07 IS COMING!

September 8 at Grace UMC in Mt Juliet (that's 20 minutes from downtown Nashville, kids) we're holding the second annual Centerfest and I am stoked. It's going to be a great day of music! Check it out...

Concerts Monday Night

MONDAY NIGHT AT THE ANCHOR (ALL AGES AND NON-SMOKING)

If you've never seen my band, this is a good time to do it! We could use all the support we can get for this concert. We'll be at The Anchor in Nashville on Monday night at 7 PM with several other bands. The Anchor is at 629 3rd Avenue S, Nashville, Tennessee 37210.

GMA Week and KNAPSACKHEROES!

Well, it's Gospel Music Association week - the few days in April when Christian music professionals from across the globe gather in Nashville for training, fellowship, tons of concerts, and free swag. GMA Week culminates with The GMA Awards (better known as The Dove Awards).

My band, KNAPSACKHEROES!, will be a part of the experience this week and I'd love for you to come out to see us.

We'll be in concert at the Back to the Music Showcase at 12th and
Porter on Monday night at 9 PM and will be followed by Rush of Fools (EMI/CMG /
Midas Records). This show is free to everyone. There will be great music all evening before and after us.

Tuesday night KNAPSACKHEROES! will be in concert at The Rutledge with dcTalk's
Kevin Max and Sarah Macintosh (former lead singer of Chasing Furies). That show is $7 to the public and free to GMA registrants.

For more information on these concerts, visit
myspace.com/knapsackheroes.

I'd love to see you there!

Concerts I saw at Starwood...

I will miss Starwood. Although it was really hard to see from the grass seats and the tickets went up so high...so I haven't gone for the past couple years...I really loved the concerts I was able to see there. Here are the ones I can remember...

Sting, Annie Lennox, Beach Boys, Sarah McLachlan, Sixpence, Dave Matthews, James Taylor, Cypress Hill, 311, Vince Gill, Culture Club, George Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars, Sheryl Crow, Steve Miller Band, Natalie Merchant, The Pretenders, Erykah Badu, Audio AdrenalineWynonna, Bonnie Raitt, Howard Jones, Barenaked Ladies, Human League, Indigo Girls, Michael W. Smith, Me'Shell Ndegeocello, Victoria Williams, Chris Rice, Third Day, Mercy Me...

There are still more. I just have a terrible memory.

Leave comments and tell us what you saw there?

Music City?

Starwood Ampitheatre is closing. No more. Caput.

Nashville is a strange town for music now. And yet we're known as "Music City".

Big concerts don't come to Nashville because there isn't a big venue for them except Gaylord downtown. Most cities that have an NFL stadium open it during the off season (and sometimes during the season) to large tours. Not us.

And now, with the demise of Dancin' In the District and Starwood's closing, there is no large outdoor concert venue for Nashville. So let's hope someone steps up because we're missing out on big tours.

It's ironic that Bonnaroo is so close. They have announced that newly reunited The Police will headline at this year's festival.

Mute Math

I've seen hundreds of concerts over the past 15-20 years and quite honestly I have never, ever seen a better concert than Mute Math. Seriously. Ever.

I've seen them twice and I said that after the first concert I saw by them. Somehow they put on an even better show that night.

Check them out this Friday night on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live.

You can also see videos at their YouTube and hear music at their MySpace.

Caffe, where have you gone?

Whilst driving home today from yon church in Mt Juliet (take that, Google!), I smelled--with car windows up--a distinct waft of garlic bread floating through Hermitage. They say smell is the sense that most strongly conjures up memory. It took me a moment to figure out where I associated that particular smell.

And then it hit me...Caffe Milano. What the heck happened to that place? For years it won The Nashville Scene's best sounding room and hosted some amazing concerts. Then, seemingly our of nowhere, it shut down. Gibson purchased it and re-opened it for a minute and then they shut it down too.

I saw so many great artists there: Over the Rhine, Sixpence, Patty Griffin, Caedmon's Call, Vigilantes of Love and others I can't remember at the moment (but I'm sure Jennifer will comment with some...please?).

Anyway, I miss that place and its food. Now I have to figure out where that smell on Lebanon Road was coming from.

Knapsack weekend

This weekend was a good one for my band, KNAPSACKHEROES! We played New Vision Ministry Center in Louisville. That church has better staging, sound and lighting than most clubs in Nashville. It was great.

Saturday night was Lyrix in Nashville on the corner of 1st and Peabody. Small but really nice smoke-free bar with a beautiful view of the river and Coliseum downtown.

Monday we enjoyed the labor at Kingdom Quest Festival at the Greene County Fairgrounds past Knoxville in Greeneville, TN. The people were so hospitable and we got to hear Alathea.

CENTERFEST 2006

Finally, middle Tennessee has an outdoor Christian music festival.

Sunday, July 30. 8 bands. 7 bucks. $5 for groups of 20 or more.

Go to the CENTERFEST website for more info.

Ichthus 2006

And the good news keeps on coming.

On Friday, June 16, KNAPSACKHEROES! will play the 37th Annual Ichthus Music Festival. Ichthus is the oldest festival in the history of contemporary Christian music and was started in 1970 in response to Woodstock.

There are so many other great artists that will be there this year it would take up half this page to list them but for starters, they include:


Audio Adrenaline, Relient K, David Crowder Band, TobyMac, Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, Deliriou5?, Cool Hand Luke, Casting Crowns, Seventh Day Slumber, John Reuben, Pillar, Hawk Nelson, KJ-52, Jeremy Camp, Superchic[k], Sanctus Real, Kevin Max...and the list goes on and on.

For more information (this is a great summer trip for your youth or 20something group), go to www.ichthus.org/festival.

And Just Like That, The Last Second Show Went Kaput.

Yes, I was asked Friday to do a show on Monday at Springwater. Then today, Sunday, I was told it was cancelled. Oh well. I do have a bunch of shows with Knapsack Heroes coming up.

Last Second Show

I have a gig this Monday, August 1 at Springwater in Nashville. I was just asked to play today. So...please come out and show your support. I'll be opening for Alston, Massachusetts band Junius. I listened to them at MySpace and they sound pretty cool... kind of a Bloc Party meets The Cure sound.

It will be a Knapsack Heroes / Eric Coomer solo hybrid concert. I think it's at 9 and that's all I know. I'll let you know more as soon as I know.

Nichole Nordeman, Methomergents, and Nap Time

So, I have been lame today. I haven't attended a single seminar today and I'm sitting at home 20 minutes from downtown (a different 20 minutes than Jay. Everything is 20 minutes from Nashville).

I got to see Nichole Nordeman do four songs at the NPC. Man is she good. I wish her albums were more stripped down because she's always at her best when it's just her and a piano... The sound very Nashville (well, not the first one. It's pretty much perfect). She also had a guitarist with her who was great. If I wasn't married and she wasn't married with child, I'd chase her around the country and beg her to be mine. For those of you worried about Daphne... her guy is Derek Webb (and he's married too).

I then participated in an impromptu Methodist get together (oh and a Methocast!) with Jay, Gavin, Jonathon, and Jenny. The Methomergents as it were. Everyone just sort of arrived at the same place and same time. Very cool. Bill where were you? Betsy Hall could have participated but she elected to walk by and scribble on my hand with a pen. Crazy Betsy.

So, now it's nap time and I've been blogging and haven't even eaten lunch yet. Do I have time to nap? Of course I do. That is what the CDs of the seminars are for after all.

Justin Dillon and Matt Slocum

Livingston

I did a concert in Livingston, TN (continuing my First UMC tour) last night and had the most fun I've had on stage in years. The kids were really rowdy but also very affirming! My friend Lorin is the associate pastor and youth pastor at this church.

I wish I had pictures of the facilities at The Edge, their youth building. Very cool indeed. Cafe; kiosk with PS2, XBOX, etc; Internet bar; awesome stage and sound system. Man. I will hopefully come back soon, maybe with Knapsack Heroes.

Oh and that reminds me... I did a Knapsack song! The whole thing. Including the rap. I was told I sounded like Mat Kearney. It was me, a guitar, drum loop, and my voice. I did Adversity. You can hear the original without me at the Knapsack Heroes MySpace. You can hear the new version with me in concert. I don't know if I will do it again by myself (although it went quite well if I do say so myself, and the kids went nuts) but you'll definitely hear it at the Knapsack shows.

I'll continue my First UMC tour in June with Smyrna First. I'm doing a retreat for them that Lorin just may be at too.

Don't forget about the Caffeine show on Saturday the 22nd. Check out ericcoomer.com for more info.

Tullahoma

I was in Tullahoma tonight to play for the Tullahoma First UMC senior banquet. They were very kind and gracious. I learned that of the seniors graduating they'll be going to schools as diverse as MTSU, Harvard, Vanderbilt, University of Tennessee, Alabama, Lambuth, and Murfreesboro Tech. It was a definite blessing to play at Mark and Jenny Youngman's church and marks my first visit to Tullahoma. I hope it's not my last.

Musically I wasn't really on my mark tonight. A little rusty I suppose. I think I'll be back on target tomorrow night when I'll continue the First United Methodist Church tour with Livingston First.

Ichthus 2005

Daphne and I have survived another Ichthus. The weather this year was even worse than last year. Tornado warnings, lightning, thunder, squall lines, rain, sleet, snow, wind, wind, WIND.

The music was good - about five too many emo bands - but good. Despite the fact we only heard a few minutes of their set, the highlight was definitely Mute Math.

Next year we're done with Ichthus (unless I play it), in favor of Cornerstone.

We left early... Saturday morning. Didn't hear a single band that day. But we're warm and dry and I can feel my hands again.