Eric  Ramsey

I'm sure the current president of our country believes this day is about him, him and only him. I mean, have there ever been any other presidents come before? In addition to another day off of school for your kids, another insipid celebration of past leaders (figureheads, totems) of the US makes we wonder what, exactly, we're celebrating.

Doubtless that our country has been led by presidents who did great things - witness the Emancipation Proclamation and the Civil Rights Act. The office certainly carries…

Last year I made a commitment (ill-fated, as it turned out) to learn more music theory. My resolve lasted all of about three weeks - until a friend came to my rescue and showed me a system he developed that actually made working sense to me. Now I have a set of tools to help me work out things I previously found troublesome. But that's not what I'm writing about today. It's this:

I have, in various legal pads, notebooks and on my computer probably 25 songs that I've written in the past couple of years…

Writing songs is a tricky business. Sometimes it's soooo easy it scares me. Sometimes (more often), it's a tortuous, solitary kind of mining, working to unearth that which lies buried. It often seems like those song that come easy and quickly are better - more pure, but I'm not sure this is the case. I find within myself a tendency and willingness to accept a song that that arrives fully formed, when in fact some of the the tunes with which I am most satisfied have been the result of many rewrites, much…

I'm primarily a solo performer these days - it's much easier for me at the moment given family dynamics, high school sports responsibilities and general time management. I am, however, performing more often in a duo format with a good friend and kindred soul (musical and otherwise) and find it to be most gratifying. There's a special thing that happens between musicians onstage when it's right, when two minds, ten fingers and two souls combine - merge - to create something new and different and honest.

In…

Dreams. Remember dreams? We've all had 'em. Some of us still do, and although our dreams at 16 might be different from our dreams at 50 they are still important, still worth pursuing. My dreams are different from yours, no doubt, but are your dreams less valid than mine? Is anyone's dream less valid than yours?

Dreams foster growth. Remember growth?

In this man's humble opinion we should all - every single one of us regardless of color, creed, wealth, skill, ethnicity, education, lineage, genetic…

I've been accused - and rightly so - of not having a clearly defined life path. It's true. And while I used to envy (somewhat) those friends of mine who seemed to know  at a very young age exactly what they wanted to do I came to accept the fact that I was wired differently. I have been fortunate (to my mind, at least) to have worn many different hats. And I'd like to think that I've learned from and grown personally from each unique experience. 

Here's to you all who drift a bit with the stream, who take…

New year, resolutions and paradigm shifts, throwing off of old and embracing new, reluctance (and refusal) to change, fake this, fake that, spin spin and more spin, paradigm shifts, anti-this, anti-that, (who's on first, anyway?) corruption, collusion, abstraction, contusion, mis-management, paradigm shifts, zealots, helots, movers and shakers, Stop!

Hey!

What's That Sound?!

Every Body Look What's Going Down....

We here at the House Of Strays wish you a New Year.

Never Trust This Weary World - from …

We here at the House Of Strays wish you a coming year filled with happiness, health, enlightenment, success and prosperity  (however you define them) and peace.

Thank you ALL for your support in the past year - not just of me but of live music and the venues and outlets that support what we do. We couldn't do what we do without YOU. I hope our collective thanks is expressed to you loudly and often!

Starting in January - tomorrow, I guess! - I'll be offering a free track to download from my website every…

Indeed. This is, purportedly, the Season of Peace, right? Peace on earth good will to men (and women, of course.) That's what the song says. 

Oh well. Peace is far too difficult a goal to achieve, at least with we humans. Far too many trees to piss on for there ever to be any true and lasting accord in our world. One man's opinion. Let's move on, then ... to 

Love? Unfortunately for a lot of us what we love is decided for us by what we see and hear and are told we need. I know, I know, what a bleak…

We the public, the lay folk, the minions, deserve to know the Truth. And I don't mean that "truth" distilled and sieved through the bladders of our bloated, self-important media outlets. The Whole Truth And Nothing But The Truth So Help You (insert diety of choice here) - the oath, I believe that every person testifying in court is made to aver.

So what happened? Why is it OK now for people to lie in court, lie to the public, lie to their constituents? There seems to be little consequence beyond…