Ryan Adams

You should defenitiley start listening to more! Conor's known as one of the greatest songwriters of our generation. You should listen to this. :]

'think I should finally start reading Lisey's tommorow, for surezZzZz
But considering it's a bargain, I think you should jsut go for it. I

LordsOfDogTown<5:

Conor of Bright Eyes would be my favorite artist, lyrically.

yea.

LordsOfDogTown<5:

You should defenitiley start listening to more! Conor's known as one of the greatest songwriters of our generation. You should listen to this. :]

damn right, he is THE greatest songwriter that ever existed!
im dead serious, i just had to laugh at the "damn right"

Damn right

Oh man. This picture is like "genious overload"

I read the first chapter of Lisey's. It's really good so far
Usually, I toss a book if the first chapter or 20 pages fail to intrege me

LordsOfDogTown<5:

Damn right

Oh man. This picture is like "genious overload"

I have a second one of both of them...
I'll check my folder.

Jesus, Ryan was so fucked up then. You can see it in his eyes.

The show last night was AMAZING. I'll post the pics that came out good in a minute.

From 1st row Orchestra Right


From my seat (7th row Orchestra Right)

Setlist:
Cobwebs
Crossed-Out Name
Everybody Knows
Fix It
Off-Broadway
Go Easy
Sink Ships
Come Pick Me Up
I Taught Myself How to Grow Old
Natural Ghost
Two
Magick

Come Pick Me Up was worth the price of admission, it is so powerful live. The crowd sucked -- they were yelling "WHERE'S OASIS" and shit like that the whole time. Ryan was really a trooper about it (as opposed to the old days), and made a bunch of jokes about how he wanted to see Oasis too and how half the audience was probably experiencing their first trip to the "alt-country rock dentist."

That's a really good setlist.
I could've seen him a couple weeks ago at the Staples Center but damn, I should've paid more attention to his tour dates.
And Ryan shouldn't be opening for Oasis. It should be the other way around!

It was an awesome set -- I would've liked more old stuff (Cold Roses!!!), but the new stuff sounds great live.

I'll try to post tour dates up here if you want. I get their emails.

I think they should've co-headlined. Oasis were surprisingly good.

I bought this shirt:



And I got 3 (and 3 only) comments saying that the guy on the shirt looks like Billie Joe.
How depressing....which, I know, is a pretty ironic thing to say on a Green Day forum

That shirt is so freaking sick. I love it. Whoa. I hardly see a resemblance to Billie Joe at all... maybe just in that picture because his head is down? I dunno.

Here's my concert shirt:

I love that one.

I think it's the dark hair and the whole "american" idiot" thing with the american flag that throws people off into thinking it's billie joe.

LordsOfDogTown<5:

I think it's the dark hair and the whole "american" idiot" thing with the american flag that throws people off into thinking it's billie joe.

Point taken.

Ryan just quit the Cardinals.

me- 34-a non smoker and happy, for the first time in my life.. i am excited to finish this wonderful time i have had with the cardinals and whatever new adventures may come after march. atlanta will be my last venture with the band and i am grateful for the time we have had and maybe someday we will have more stories to tell together. i am however ready for quieter times as i think it is very evident i am struggling with some balance and hearing issues.

also, no drama or anything but i am okay to step back from all of this right now and i think i did enough manic blogging when i felt alone and isolated during the last few years of travel. these last few years were the hardest i can remember and the most rewarding but i have loved ones to care for now and i am lucky i have been given a chance to turn around and see just what i am capable of as a friend and as someone who is not gone forever every year- it rendered me incapable of things i needed to be to myself and others- and my schedule sometimes never ended when the shows did- and some of that was my doing. and i lost someone i loved, and i lost myself.

that changed. i got to know just who i am in this little spell of time here recently. and change is the nature of the world and i naturally embrace that.

i won’t be blogging here anymore either- but not for effect- it just is not being kind to myself- i need a life that is mine- i need to grow up and grow in to who i have subtly been working back towards since i stopped all that nonsense and i know also no matter what i choose to do in the music world, because i chose to do things my way and never lie i will always be viewed as an “asshole” ( i hear and have seen things in the past) and i am not, and i know the truth and i know who i am.

also it is kind of ridiculous to blog as i am a musician and anything i say here just gets reprinted at some point out of context. i say NOT FAIR but it doesn’t matter what i say anymore or what is fair anymore really does it- the 21st century media has it’s own rules about what is true and what is not. it is not a life- not one i want to live anyway and i don’t really care to participate in narcissistic over-indulgent behavior anymore- that was never my intention- i just wanted to fight for my right to make music and to be given the benefit of the doubt. now, because i have stood up for myself and fought for myself i am labeled all kinds of awful things. well, i will walk away now and it will not matter what anyone say’s. there are other things i can do in this life, other ways to be creative and to try and help others and be expressive without being demonized for attempting to gain the same things any other human being desires- love- friendship- understanding- and being able to express yourself without constant fear of being mistreated for speaking up

i have friends to make, brand new books coming (two of em’ not counting that one already printed and on it’s way out there and i LOVE writing….yay!) and a whole lot of living and learning to do.

i am excited to step away. i lost more than anyone will ever know (hearing, someone i loved, my sense of dignity, a never ending losing battle with stage fright and now my hearing and balance due to an inner ear issue- people accusing me of not being sober when i am suffering tremendous pain and nausea from my inner ear symptoms- people accusing me of theft (THEFT- ….awful) and this is not much of a life, not glamorous like those ridiculous video’s a long time ago television played and no it is not monetarily as rewarding as people would like you to believe and yes, it is soul destroying. especially when you spend your life trying to write about the really difficult stuff and you stand there losing your way and people yell at you like you were in a circus. when it was your dream to matter and you realize one day, it never mattered- i mean, i am a punch-line and a footnote in what is worse to yell at someone besides “free-bird”. i mean, i lost. and it’s okay because i seriously snuck some pretty neat idea’s in there in the work when i was making those mistakes or they were being made by others. this business is no science.

andf you know, whatever this is- it’s not my dream. and it is a punishing thing to endure when you are getting worse and worse- it’s not my dream, my dream was to try and tap into that energy i saw watching Minutemen vcr tapes when i was just a little shit in NC of mike watt’s crazy shaking leg and his electric fingers- or how sonic youth droned into beautiful clouds those guitars shaking, kim and steve rattling the pulsing lines into feverish thudding imaginary subway cars racing through my heart- and how it felt to just let go and static up a riff and find the sweet spot- but getting yelled at for just being a songwriter- to be called so many horrid things because i chose to love music so much, and also to look for peace and balance in my life- that is not kindness and just not my thing. at least not now.

and i loved somebody. and i let others decided if that was okay and that was wrong and i was wrong and no one should deny themselves or others love or understanding because people don’t get it. that was an awful mistake. i always make big mistakes. it’s like i let myself learn that because that was a role, a niche’ i filled that make sense to a loud voice of strangers who would never really play a real part in my life.

never become that if you choose this path- if you go this route with your art. never listen to those loud dissatisfied bystanders who only want to see you fail because that will be entertaining for that moment. hold fast to your dreams, hold faster to your heart and never step out of the light of that love that made you whole. i did. and i know better now. and better late than never i suppose.

but i am okay now. i see a peaceful way to better days now. i am healing. and most importantly i feel loved and i have learned to treat myself with that same curiosity and lover that i have been lucky enough to feel and to learn to let guide my life. love is the great teacher and i am happy to be learning now. happy to be listening to that over this never ending painful ringing. this is the great lesson of my life. for once i want to be dignified in my study and in one place long enough to hear and understand without my pride or my lack of faith in myself leading me further away from things i need to know once and for all.

this is the real work now. the rest is something else entirely.

quitting smoking was a good step and i am happy i also am just now beginning to understand how important it is i take better care of myself in every way right now. hell i am even beginning to sleep a little and i can feel the things good and bad that i did not have time to feel when i was running towards a new oblivion of work, hoping somehow someday what i did would be accepted and maybe that would make me feel loved. how foolish.

that is not love. love is being accepted for who you are. love is taking care of yourself and caring for others and dreaming out loud when it matters. not chasing rainbows. not hoping for some eventual collective sigh of approval which will never come. how did i ever think in those terms? i always knew better. thank goodness i know now how to be honest with myself.

anyway, enjoy these shows ( i will enjoy them immensely and i will miss them just as much) and know that i am not abandoning anyone, not the cardinals and not the fans, this is just something i need to do now, and that i loved playing music in the cardinals and hell, even before i was in a place to try and learn to be well, music was my life source- and cardinals was such a heavy crush and a real dream…i honor it too much to have any regrets right now, i am just proud.

maybe we will play again sometime and maybe i will work my way back into some kind of music situation but this is the time for me to step back now, to reel it in and i wish everyone peace and happiness and if music is your dream, or if just dreaming is your dream, may you find your way through the rough patch with ease and i hope you let go and it takes you all the way there-

loving kindness to all.

R

good for him.
i'm really excited about his 2 up-and-coming books

So since he quit the Cardinals and hopefully (i strongly believe) when he makes his comeback, what the hell is he going to do? I mean didn't he say that the idea of making another solo album would make him want to gauge his eyes out?