Thanks to the folks @ The Vinyl District blog . . .

Read more here

“Opening for Kingsley Flood is Tom McBride, an angel-voiced Americana folk rock singer-songwriter who is a regular class act in the DC area and a regular IOTA showcase. Tom is from Boston but now calls DC his home—switching places with Naseem Khuri of Kingsley Flood who is from DC and now rocks Boston.

Tom’s second studio album A Brief Head Spin came out in 2011, and The Vinyl District will be giving away a 12″ to one lucky sumumubitch just because we love you, as well as the aforementioned Kingsley Flood Colder Still EP on CD.”

http://www.thevinyldistrict.com/dc/2012/01/tvd-recommends-kingsley-flood-with-tom-mcbride-at-iota-114-plus-giveaway/#more-118441

In the middle of working on some new material this week, I was asked by the kind folks at DC Setlist to submit a DIY song as part of their THE 2011 DC SETLIST HOLIDAY JINGLES. I was happy to remove myself from my own self-imposed, and quite tedious, writing escape and focus on an already well-known beautiful song, “O Holy Night” – which I learned was composed by Frenchman Adolphe Adam back in 1847. I chose “O Holy Night”, because well, its one of my favorites. Enjoy and Happy Holidays.

tom

11.1.11  – Hotel Cafe is tucked-in on North Cahuenga in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, about a block from Sunset Boulevard.  I had a great time playing this intimate venue which I had heard a lot about over the past few years from other friends and musicians who live out West.  It was a pleasure to have some old friends and family in the audience that night, including the artist who helped design A Brief Head Spin as well as the bartender @ Hotel Cafe that night, who I played in a band with in college. Talk about a small world.  I’m looking forward to coming back in early 2012.

My last song of the night, was a new song I’ve been working on and performing live the past few months called “Morning in Glen Burnie“. I posted this up on YouTube yesterday and you can also check it out right here: (Thanks to Katy Abramson for the live photo that night.)

enjoy.

tom

Checking my amp during sound check @ DC9 on Monday night. I love my VOX but man, it’s a bitch to carry. Folks may be right that I should have rolled with the AC15, but I still prefer the bite on my AC30.  Played with the trio (Matt Golden (drums) and Sean McCauley (bass) for a plugged in set.   Amazingly enough, I had folks at the show who had seen my solo acoustic show at Hotel Cafe across the country in Los Angeles, just the week before.

In 2002, a rock band I sang & played rhythm guitar in, opened for Phantom Planet at Vanderbilt University’s Rites of Spring concert in Nashville.   At that time, the drummer for the band was Jason Schwartzman.   Schwartzman (the nephew of Francis Ford Coppola) was more famous than the band at that time, due to his starring performance in the epic Wes Anderson comedy Rushmore (1998).   I wasn’t really excited to see the band and it was more about having “the dude from Rushmore” play after us.   Of course, Phantom Planet ended up having a huge hit “California” which, of course, became the theme song for the O.C. – perhaps the worst television show, I will ever admit to frequently watching. 

I point all this out, because I am about to drive down to Laguna Beach to visit a friend, and this song already popped in my head, without even the slightest attempt to grab for it.   The song will just lay dormant for months, years maybe, and any slight mention of visiting Orange County evokes that damn chorus  . . .that really friggin catchy chorus.   Yes.   Interestingly (to me only perhaps) I read today that the song was HUGE in Europe, reaching #3 in both Austria & Italy, and a top 10 in the UK.

As my show in San Diego fell through, I have a day off tomorrow and was able to get a ticket to go watch Conan tomorrow.   Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the guest.  The musical guest is The Dropkick Murhpy’s.  My Boston accent will undoubtedly become much more prominent during this hour taping and for perhaps the remainder of the day and trip.   Similarly, anyone that cuts me off, or slows me down on the California highways following the show will also be referred to as either a i) Fahking Douche or ii) you motha fahking fuk-stick

Tickets for my show @ Hotel Cafe on Friday night (7 PM) can be purchased here in advance of the show.   Looking forward to it.

Tickets for my show next Friday night in Los Angeles @ Hotel Cafe are now available on-line.    You can go here @ http://www.hotelcafe.com/tickets/ and scroll down.   I’ll also have the new album A Brief Head Spin on vinyl for sale at the show.   Really looking forward to this show and seeing some old friends.

- tom