Sidetracked

On the livestream yesterday, my friend Bobby asked which of the songs I have written is my favorite. That’s nearly impossible to answer, but “Sidetracked” is special to me for a number of reasons. The lyrics are a painful and personal revelation, and I believe I wrote about it with honesty and the correct amount of triumph and indignation.

I have been enjoying these online concerts, but the inherent limitations of them struck me after I signed off yesterday. We have all been sidetracked here, haven’t we? Our attempts to carry on are admirable, but we are a social species. Screens and spotty wireless internet are not gonna cut it. The analog experience of sound waves bouncing around a room is irreplaceable. Vocal chords vibrating and ear drums responding. The bizarre and mysterious energy of other human beings, sharing a space, making noises and breathing together.

Perhaps I have also been in a bit of denial about how this global pandemic and economic crisis are going to affect Freedom Tour 2020. I thought my timing was fortuitous because I wasn’t planning to leave until the end of May, but cancellations have begun and it’s all very wait and see at the moment. I remain obstinate about this fact: I’m going on a long bike tour across the country this year, with or without gigs. And I will post about it here on my all new blog. #blog

Yesterday’s show is dedicated to my friend Janet, who took her own life last week in Arkansas. The person who told me put it this way: “I’m not sure why she decided it was time, but she has always had a hard time with this world and her life. She was a raging fire of a soul and chose her own path.” When I hear about a suicide, my first thought is that it must have been really bad. Janet must’ve been in a lot of pain to choose to end her journey in that way. I feel no judgement — only sadness and empathy. She got sidetracked and she didn’t make it through the detour.

But we are still here. We are earth, fire, water, and wind. We’ll always end and begin — over and over again. We’ll get through this, all together and all alone.

Monday Online Residency // 4.6.20 To Live Is To Fly (Townes Van Zandt cover) / Sidetracked / Hellbound, Bent, and Heaven-sent / Closer To There / Out in the Branches / Alone Together / The War On Cars / Back Where I Was / Eulogy / The National Anthem / At The End of the Year

Gratitude

Well, I have not succeeded in abandoning my phone at 5pm every evening…but I’m making progress. Since my last blog post (I started a blog), I have left it plugged in at my desk almost every night before dinner. Slow but sure progress. I can share with you that not bringing phone energy into the bedroom has been a very positive development.

The music making in this strange time continues. Last weekend, I was a part of two online festivals on Sunday — one based in Los Angeles and the other in Maine! The magic of the internet. First off was “Cover Your Friends,” an event that my friend Connor Garvey put together. The idea was to play songs written by friends. It was so fun and inspiring to learn and re-learn these beautiful songs by these exceptional artists I am fortunate to call friends:

“Cover Your Friends” // 3.29.20 Why Would I Lie? (Tyler Jordan cover) / Beggars & Mules (Danny Schmidt cover) / Ok Ok Ok (Robert Sarazin Blake cover) / Are You Still In Love With The World? (Raina Rose cover) / Skyway Drive-In (Shane Alexander cover)

Then it was onto “Shelter in Place Fest 2020,” an event that Joel Eckels and Clare Means put together from the Los Angeles songwriter community. Though I live in San Francisco now, I moved to Los Angeles during pre-9/11 2001 in my early twenties with a pile of dreams. It was quite moving for me to see and hear so many friends from those days play their songs again. I love indulging nostalgia and I was swimming in it:

“Social Distance Fest 2020” // 3.29.20 I Have Been Defeated / Musical Chairs / All My Friends Are In The Valley / The End / Rose Colored Sky

Monday was the 2nd installment of my online residency. I got some wonderful deep cut requests as the week progressed and wrote them down as they came in so the set was mostly those. It really is special for me to have people ask for old songs, play through them, and discover that I still know — and like — them. Please keep the requests coming (I already have a list developing for next week).

Monday Online Residency // 3.30.20 Mississippi (Bob Dylan cover) / Minnesota / Yin & Yang Collector / End of Summer Cigarettes / When I Make My Home / I Love Austin / Daylight Saving / The Greatest Ever / Teenager in Love / Stars & Bars / Crash the Party / Time To Be Here Now / I’m Awake Now

Word is that the San Francisco Shelter in Place order will be extended to May 1st so the Monday Online Residency will continue through April at least: 4/6, 4/13, 4/20, 4/27.

“Gratitude” may seem like a bizarre sentiment for this moment in time, but that is really the overwhelming feeling I am experiencing. I am grateful for this opportunity to play songs for you in a new and different way. These shows are free to all, but many people have taken advantage of the digital tip jars and I am deeply grateful for that as well. It is a uncertain financial moment for many, myself included.

Finally, the latest installment of Audiodes was released yesterday. This is a special one because it features special guest contributions from friends and listeners. Audiodes is a podcast-esque audio collage that I release sometimes monthly (I did the math and I have averaged 5.333 Audiodes per year since 2014). Patrons support Audiodes via Patreon and I am grateful for that piece of the patchwork income tapestry as well. Gratitude really is the theme this week, isn’t it? It is also the title of Audiode Thirty Three. Thank you for listening.

Sheltered in Place

“Blog” is a hilarious word. During The Great Recession, my friend Ricky in Los Angeles told me that it is short for “Weblog.” While that is far more elegant to my ear, I’m going to go with “Blog.”

The Freedom Tour is on! The current plan is still to leave St. Louis at the end of May, but I am open to amending that as events unfold. We are all taking a crash course in Improv this spring. Or, as the great Raina Rose says, “God laughs when we make plans.”

Whenever the tour does begin, I will be blogging daily. The idea is to have the majority of content related to the tour here on my website as opposed to on social media. Digital boundaries! Yesterday, I decided to plug my phone in and leave it at my desk every night at 5pm. It was wonderful. We lit candles and cooked dinner and read books and Twitter was not a part of the evening. So why does it feel so difficult to commit to that decision? Why do I feel compelled to add a caveat here: we’ll see how long it lasts…

An unforeseen result of this strange global plot twist has been an explosion of music. I have already played two online shows from my living room. It feels wonderful to sing for you and connect with you again. People from Germany, Norway, Sweden, and all over the United States were at the same show yesterday!

It started last weekend with an event called Pandemica Online that my friend Avi Vinocur (of the band Goodnight, Texas) put together. It was a joyous celebration and an incredible array of artists, mostly Bay Area affiliated, participated. Here is my setlist and a link to the video:

Pandemica Online Festival // 3.21.20 Poopy Poopy Poopy In My Butt (co-write with my niece Josie) / Praying for Time (George Michael cover) / Concerning the Lincoln and Douglas Debates or Love Found Lost / If You See Something, Say Something / The War on Cars

The first in a series of weekly online shows was yesterday. Every Monday at 11am Pacific (2pm Eastern/afternoon and evening in Europe), I will be steaming live on Facebook (www.facebook.com/johnelliottishere) and Instagram (@johnelliottgram). The videos will be saved on my Facebook page after the broadcast so you can watch whenever. I’ll be taking requests and playing covers and digging into my catalog for some deep cuts. I’ll post a link to each video and the setlist here on the blog. BLOG. Like this:

Monday Online Residency // 3.23.20 The American West / Feet to the Fire / The Heads of the State / I Think I Found a New Friend / Over a Year / Friends Back East / Grandpa / It’s Okay to be Alone / The Heart of the Matter (Don Henley cover) / The New Place / Daylight Saving / It Gets Bad, But It Gets Better

I started a blog. I hope you are all as well as you can be out there. I have been going on long, daily, socially distanced bike rides and they are saving my mental and physical health. Even if you haven’t ridden a bike since you were a kid, I urge you to consider it. It’s like flying. You can time travel and go back to junior high with none of the bad stuff.

Take care of yourself and each other. See you next Monday online at 11am Pacific.

(PS: For those who are not on social media — I understand. I’m also exploring the possibility of doing some shows on YouTube. I have been told I need to develop my YouTube channel. Is that true? “Need”?)