tag:bobblandmusic.com,2005:/blogs/getting-started?p=2Getting Started2018-07-07T01:24:25-06:00Bob Blandfalsetag:bobblandmusic.com,2005:Post/38568472015-09-15T23:42:49-06:002022-05-23T02:40:44-06:00Carolyn's Magic Garden concertWhat a great time I had playing the final show of the season at Carolyn's Magic Garden on Sept. 12th!! Carolyn is one of my favorite people, and playing her concert series is always the highlight of my musical year.<br>This year I was joined by Kristin Erickson (Seattle) and Keith Taylor, a local guitar virtuoso and the current Utah State Finger Style guitar champion. They started the night off with beautiful songs, most written by Kristin. The packed audience loved it. I got to finish out the evening with a 90 minute mix of originals and covers, including a fun song I wrote last Spring called "Old Guy" and a brand new love song ... so new I haven't even gotten around to thinking about a title. I had an amazing time, and the audience really got me pumped up!<br>After the show, some people stayed around hoping for more, so I pulled my guitar back out and sat around the fire pit playing sans mic or amp for another half hour or so. I love intimate times like those.<br><br>Next up: I'll be playing at Feldman's Deli this next weekend, always a fun venue, and then heading back to my home town of Virginia Beach, Va. for a 10 day vacation. I'm pretty sure my cats will be stressed and agitated by the time I return. And I bet they will find a way to let me know it. We'll worry about that after I'm back!<br><br>Cheers for now. :)Bob Blandtag:bobblandmusic.com,2005:Post/37119172015-05-23T18:00:55-06:002021-10-09T12:15:29-06:00It's Been A While!!Well, it's been a while since I updated this site, and some fun things have happened.<br><br>In February I got to play the Brewin' Bistro, for SLCC TV, along with Mary Tebbs and her band Yes Ma'am! That was a fun time. Here is the YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afyI1W1PQco<br>The video is pretty long, but my part begins just before the 7:00 minute mark, and goes for about 25 minutes. When the individual video clips are available I will add them to the site.<br><br>I have also started up a 2nd weekly open mic. This one is on Wednesdays from 6:30 - 9:00 at Ditta Caffe, located on 3300 S and approximately 1500 E. It used to be a nursery, and there is a big green plastic dome. We play inside and the acoustics are really cool! I'll post some photos from the 1st open mic soon.<br><br>This year I revised Rum Runner to be more streamlined and got it down to about 4:20. I entered that song and Love Will Always Find A Way to the Susanne Millsaps songwriting competition this year. Preliminary judging to determine the 10 finalists who will play at the Utah Arts Festival is almost complete. Wish me luck!<br><br>Next Friday is the State Fingerstyle Championships, at the Ogden Music Festival. I'm planning to play again this year, which means I have to stop bouldering until after the contest to preserve my nails. I still have not decided which two tunes I'm going to play, but I have a new instrumental which could make it into the mix. Andrea's Dream is fun to play, and when I get a good recording I'll add it to the site.<br><br>Speaking of climbing, I'm still at it. I caught some big air a few nights ago at the climbing gym when my arms flamed out at the very top of the wall. But my belayer did a great job of catching my fall, and I did a great job of pulling her 15 feet off the ground in the process! Not to be deterred, though ... we climbed for another 2 hours after that.<br><br>I have a fun new song, tentatively called Old Guy, that is a hoot to play. Again, when I have a good recording it will be added to the site.<br><br>Happy Memorial Day weekend to all!! Be safe out there.Bob Blandtag:bobblandmusic.com,2005:Post/34512902015-01-04T12:17:44-07:002022-01-06T00:46:54-07:00Post Holiday Weight Gain BluesHappy New Year!! I hope the holidays have been good to you. They were good to me, maybe too good as I am up about 5 lbs since Thanksgiving!! But that weight will be coming back off as soon as I get past a nagging ankle injury and back to the climbing gym.<br>I'm working on some new music, and hopefully I'll have some scratch recording for you soon. In the meantime, I'm starting off the new year with a gig at Ditta Caffe, close to my home, at 1560 East 3300 South. It's a neat space with a neat vibe.<br><br>HAVE A GREAT NEW YEAR! 2015 will be the best year yet.<br>Cheers! Bob Blandtag:bobblandmusic.com,2005:Post/33437752014-11-30T11:38:14-07:002021-09-10T09:35:41-06:00ThanksgivingI hope you all had a very wonderful Thanksgiving celebration. My day was great! While I missed my boys, who were out of town, I got to play orphan and hang out with my good friends Paul and Kim Fritzler, and other musician friends. It was a full day of awesome food, friendship and music. For dessert we watched Life Of Brian. So funny!<br><br>The weekend was good too. I got in a great 4 hour hike up Neff's Canyon on Friday, 2 1/2 hours uphill through slush, ice and snow, and 1 1/2 hours back. Beautifiul day. Today is going to be a music/climbing/social day.<br><br>I hope you all have had a great weekend, and are invigorated for the week ahead. Cheers!<br> Bob Blandtag:bobblandmusic.com,2005:Post/32791552014-11-12T14:57:29-07:002022-04-13T04:50:40-06:00video of Rum Runner live<iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="DTqbBUxq9ug" data-video-thumb-url="http://img.youtube.com/vi/DTqbBUxq9ug/0.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DTqbBUxq9ug?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="400" width="640" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe><br>Here is a video of me playing Rum Runner from my Storm On The Mountain CD. This was last night at the Alchemy Coffee open mic that I host every Tuesday. It was recorded on my phone, so the quality isn't great, but it is good enough to merit a listen. Enjoy!Bob Blandtag:bobblandmusic.com,2005:Post/32773102014-11-11T15:21:10-07:002022-04-10T05:24:36-06:00more music at Caputo's Market in Holladay<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37176/8cc26412a0843918b9128a83574d7814cb6c75a1/original/bob-bland-midway-poster.jpg?1408431017" class="size_l justify_center border_" />Caputo's in Holladay has aske me to come back again this Saturday to provide music for their patrons! I'm really looking forward to this, last Saturday was a hoot and a good time was had by all. The food will be good, the music will be good, the venue is fun. Come join us! See you there. :)Bob Blandtag:bobblandmusic.com,2005:Post/32737702014-11-09T12:12:10-07:002022-05-18T00:42:52-06:00Caputo's DeliI had a wonderful time playing at Caputo's Deli in Holladay. Everything was great, several tables stayed to listen for most of the night, and the staff told me a lot of them requested that I be brought back next week! Sold some CD's, too. Met some new friends, shared some stories. It was terrific all around!<br><br>Now I get to relax on this fine Sunday by going rock climbing outside. It's a beautiful day!<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37176/75ddf060ef3192280786c053321dd637fb4520ab/original/storm-mountain-cd-face.bmp?1408431472" class="size_l justify_center border_" />Bob Blandtag:bobblandmusic.com,2005:Post/32725812014-11-07T23:18:10-07:002021-10-07T02:17:03-06:00Bleu Bistro reprisedAfter playing at Bleu Bistro last night, the owner asked me to come back and play again tonight, and next week. Last night was good, but tonight was even better! The audience was engaged and getting into the music, and I got to meet and talk with a bunch of new friends and music fans. It was a totally fun night. I forgot the time, I was cooking along so well, and ended up playing almost an hour past my scheduled time. Great vibes!Bob Blandtag:bobblandmusic.com,2005:Post/32708302014-11-06T23:13:47-07:002021-08-07T12:52:00-06:00Bleu Bistro<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37176/8d7c7166596c9308929d4abb27c0c9d2210b09dd/original/dsc-0546.jpg?1396649008" class="size_l justify_center border_" />Bleu Bistro was fun tonight. I guess I must have sounded okay, because they asked me to come back again tomorrow night and again next week! Bonus: the salmon dinner was outstanding! I'm looking forward to exploring all the different menu choices. :)<br>Cheers!Bob Blandtag:bobblandmusic.com,2005:Post/32688272014-11-05T20:45:45-07:002021-11-03T13:41:12-06:00Facebook music pageWell, I finally got around to creating a Facebook music page! I'm not sure everything is right yet, but it's started, so that's progress. Just in time for 2 gigs this week, too. Wednesday I decided to get out and start marketing myself to new venues. I visited about 10 places and had some pretty good results. While 2 or 3 places were no longer doing live music, I got 2 gigs lined up this week. Thursday I'm playing at the Bleu Bistro, and Saturday at Caputo's Deli. YAY! I'm excited to break into some new locations. I've been told I will also be playing at the Wild Grape Bistro soon. And there are 2 more locations that sound like they are pretty interested.<br><br>I have another 10 locations in SLC to visit, and 20 in the Park City/Heber/Midway vicinity. So I'm hopeful that I can get enough gigs lined up to avoid the dreaded, mind numbing type of work that I used to do. Fingers crossed!<br><br>Hope you all had a great Halloween. I did! But that's another story...Bob Blandtag:bobblandmusic.com,2005:Post/32350722014-10-15T23:33:22-06:002021-11-01T14:24:52-06:00New music business cards!<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37176/77bf7772b6eee9f6c3fd1def9eb11626dbf58c7f/medium/bob-music-card.jpg?1413437341" class="size_m justify_center border_none" alt="" /><br>I got new business cards to help in promoting my music. What do you think? I kinda like them. :)Bob Blandtag:bobblandmusic.com,2005:Post/32207202014-10-06T23:52:23-06:002017-01-14T14:19:04-07:00Climbing, and an upcoming performance<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37176/8d7c7166596c9308929d4abb27c0c9d2210b09dd/original/dsc-0546.jpg?1396649008" class="size_l justify_center border_" />Ok, it's been a few weeks since I posted. I've been very busy practicing and hitting the climbing gym hard. Yes, the climbing gym. I know, it doesn't seem like a good fit for a finger style guitarist, but I love them both, and I'm not willing to give up either. I'm excited to announce an upcoming performance at the October IAMA Hosted Coffeehouse. The date is Oct. 24th (Friday), and I will be sharing the stage with a bunch of other very talented musicians: Peter Ramirez, Mark Neihart, Sarah DeGraw, Paul Boruff, and the Nathan Spenser Revue. I'm excited to be included in this stellar group! Check out my events page for details.Bob Blandtag:bobblandmusic.com,2005:Post/31899742014-09-16T15:30:09-06:002014-09-16T15:30:09-06:00Going to have some music fun this weekend!Since I was unable to make the trip to Winfield, KS and the Walnut Valley music festival to back up my good friend Chris Storbeck, I will be providing music at Vertical Diner on Friday, 9/19. This will be the first time I play at this outstanding vegetarian restaurant, and I'm looking forward to it!<br><br>I will also be opening a house concert for my good friends Pat and Roy on Saturday. I'm honored that they asked me to open for them. This is going to be fun too!!<br><br>I've climbed pretty hard the past few days and I'm climbing again tomorrow, so I guess I'd better get the old fingers loosened up, eh?Bob Blandtag:bobblandmusic.com,2005:Post/31703822014-09-03T19:05:19-06:002017-01-14T14:19:03-07:00Cafe Galleria, Murray - food and fun<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37176/8cc26412a0843918b9128a83574d7814cb6c75a1/medium/bob-bland-midway-poster.jpg?1408431017" class="size_m justify_left border_none" alt="" /><span class="font_large">It's getting late in the year for outdoor restaurant gigs, but I'll be playing Friday and Saturday (9/5 and 9/6) at Cafe Galleria in Murray. It's the same great food, good tunes, and good times. This is one of my favorite gigs, I always have a good time with the customers and staff. Music goes from 6:00 til 9:00. Come on over and join me!</span>Bob Blandtag:bobblandmusic.com,2005:Post/31608962014-08-28T13:04:01-06:002014-08-28T13:04:01-06:00Benefit for disabled veteransI will be providing sound for a private benefit for disabled veterans this Friday, 8/29. The event will be held in Carolyn's Magic Garden, also known as the back yard of my good friend Carolyn Turkanis. The featured performers will be Emily Potter and Bill Klinger, and yours truly may add a few tunes during the intermission. This event was organized by Bill and Emily, along with Jim Huber.<br><br>I'm looking forward to this opportunity to give something back to the veterans community.Bob Blandtag:bobblandmusic.com,2005:Post/31529282014-08-24T12:09:45-06:002017-01-14T14:19:03-07:00climbin' and pickin'<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37176/290614d20feafb32252843218357520fe81b3c97/medium/climbing-hands.jpg?1408903222" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><span class="font_large">Well, I felt compelled to go get some exercise at the climbing gym again yesterday...before my gig at Cafe Galleria in Murray, UT. As you can see, the hands had a rough day. But it's all good, and I love climbing too much to give it up, so I just deal with it. Despite the manglement, I played a good 3 hour gig. The music was good, patrons seemed to like it, and I even sold a few CD's!<br><br>I'm thinking I may give my fingers a rest from climbing today though. Or not, if Daelon decides he wants to hit the rock gym later on. Hey, your children come first, you know? Sometimes you just have to make sacrifices...<br><br>:)</span>Bob Blandtag:bobblandmusic.com,2005:Post/31495852014-08-22T00:25:37-06:002014-08-22T03:46:07-06:00Local News: Alchemy Coffee open micAlchemy has changed their hours to closing at 9:00pm, including Tuesday nights. The staff works hard, so let's all work together to keep this the best open mic in the valley. I'm going to change the start time from 7:00 to 6:30, with signups at 6:15. We'll finish music by 9:00, which gives us slots for 10 performers. It might be a little confusing at first, but we'll all adjust, like the creative and talented people we are. As always, a BIG shout out to Alchemy for providing the venue, and to Andrea for putting up with us and working so hard behind the counter to take care of everyone.<br><br>Cheers, BOBBob Blandtag:bobblandmusic.com,2005:Post/31495842014-08-22T00:19:09-06:002017-01-14T14:19:03-07:00things are moving right along!It's been a good year musically so far. I completed an anti-discrimination song I am proud of, Love Will Always Find A Way. Over the summer I was selected as a finalist in the Susanne Millsaps national songwriting contest. I played this song and my signature Rum Runner during the finals competition held at the Utah Arts Festival. I also competed in the Utah State Finger Style guitar championships, held at the Ogden Music Festival. I was very happy with my performance in both contests!<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37176/dbbdb46251ad93b3acd1e466d54f6c0f1a9eb2fb/original/2014-utah-fingerstyle-contest.jpg?1408430903" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>This summer I had a concert at Carolyn's Magic Garden concert series, in mid-July. This is my favorite house/garden concert venue ever, and Carolyn is a wonderful person whom I am proud to call a very close friend. She also happens to have taught both of my boys in 6th grade. I never would have started playing out in public if she hadn't pushed me onto the stage at the Alchemy Open Mic four years ago. I found that I like playing for an audience so much that I am now coming up on three years of hosting that same weekly open mic, and a year ago I completed my first CD, Storm On The Mountain. A second CD is in the works.<br><br>Earlier this month I had the opportunity to open at Ricochet House Concert's for Caroline Aiken, who has toured nationally for many years. What a treat! Ricochet is hosted by another good friend of the music community (and a songwriter herself), Ruthie Naccarato.<br><br>This summer I got to spend time learning more about the song writing craft from a couple of acoustic music luminaries, John McCutcheon and Salt Lake's own Kate MacLeod.<br><br>Last weekend I played in the <em>last ever</em> Acoustic All Stars. What a great time, and so much wonderful talent on hand! A big shout out to Fat's Grill for once again hosting the event.<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37176/7abf2440744e92c2a1970359c00ade1129338f23/original/acoustic-all-stars-5-2014.jpg?1408684741" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>Finally, I've started playing regular gigs at Cafe Galleria, in both the Midway and Murray locations. This has been a great opportunity for me, and along the way I met a couple of new friends who were on vacation all the way from PA, Michael and Deborah Shaw. Michael even made a video of me playing John Denver's "Country Roads" to his wife. This was the first song I ever learned, way back in Greenville, NC during my college years. It's been posted to YouTube, and I have added it to this website. So very cool!<br><br><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="MZyOrHK_I6E" data-video-thumb-url="http://img.youtube.com/vi/MZyOrHK_I6E/0.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MZyOrHK_I6E?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="200" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe><br><br>It's been a great year in other ways as well. I've gotten reconnected with my youngest son, and we've been gym climbing on a regular basis. He has gotten so good! I always knew he would climb beyond my abilities at some point, he's always been a natural, but now I can't even get on the climbs he's doing. But, I've been working hard at it, getting stronger, losing some weight, building up my finger and forearm endurance, and it's starting to show. If you were to look at my hands after a climbing session you might say it is painfully obvious. Emphasis on the "painfully". But it's never as bad as it looks, and I love it too much too stop, so I've just had to find ways to make the rock climbing and finger picking worlds live together.<br><br>Alaska. I finally gave in to the travel bug I've always had and spent two weeks in that wild and beautiful place. I want to go back! But...numero uno on my hit list has always been New Zealand. Now I have to find a way to make it happen. Let me know if you have some good ideas!!<br><br>Thanks, all for now. I'll have a new post soon.<br><br>BOB<br><br><br> Bob Bland