Happy Halloween. Believe it or not, I carved this pumpkin:

I am going out tonight. Hitting the NYC Village Freak Parade.

Post your costumes!!!

Congratulations, Tina (from Canada)

1 private performance coming up.

Thank you, everyone, for all of the emails. I got hundreds within the first few hours of putting the post up, so if you did not get a personal reply from me, then I just want you to know that I truly felt the love. Thank you. Was up til late last night/this morning. Rehearsed until 4am with the band and had the treat of my producer, Matt Serletic, and Rob Thomas coming down to hang with us while we worked out some new songs.

Talk later.

~r

What’s in a name?

Since I was in high school I have had an extremely clear mind when it came to people’s opinions. I remember hearing the psychology that 1 negative statement is equal to the feeling of 100 positives. I heard that and knew your brain can get the best of you. No matter how many people tell you that you look great, it is the one time you hear the opposite that you cannot shake off. If my younger sister heard someone talking trash about my band, “Stage,” back in school, she would be livid and all I remember telling her to calm her was to think about how many people hate Dave Matthews. I always felt that your success can be measured by how many people don’t like you, because there will always be the true fans who put you in that great place to even have the chance to be hated by many.

The other thing I learned over the last few years was that to judge reveals a great deal about who you are as a person. Look at the state of our country and then think about what our top TV programs are. Every one is about judging someone else. Hell, I was on one. My favorite has to be “My BFF,” by the way. If our economy reflects the all-time low that TV is seeing from that one, then we are all F#$%ked.

Where am I going with all of this? I read a blog this morning about a performance I gave in a conference room last week. I went out of my comfort zone as a performer to give a little show for people who might be able to help get my music out there. I enjoy playing wherever and whenever, but this day I specifically felt something a little stale and straight in the room. Nothing specific, but sometimes you feel the energy and sometimes you don’t and you have to be OK with that.

I played a song called “Breathe,” which some of you have already heard. It is a song that does not get any more real for me as a writer and a performer. In “Breathe’s” short life so far, I have played it for many people in very different circumstances. One, which I will always remember, was at my late manager’s funeral. The song, from then on, has a different meaning for me and I will always see his wife and kids as I sing it. I know it meant a lot to them and continues to mean the world to me that as an artist, I was able to offer my words and music to them in a time like that.

Here is a sample of the blog:

“With the rough-ish confidence of a performer with a share of gigs under his (Urban Outfitters?) belt — in conference rooms and otherwise — he played two songs that will likely appear on his 2009 LP.
The music performed in that situation can only be observed in objective, not subjective, terms — more like watching a salesman’s demonstration that the vacuum can, in fact, suck up the crumbs he’s spilled on the carpet rather than a critique of how well it sucks. My impression of it is one of a paint-by-numbers rock yowl that, while unquestionably earnest, seemed about as genuine as the performer’s name. And by the time the day had ended, the dinner conversation revolved around the concept that a colleague paraphrased from the autobiography of Dean Wareham, frontman of Luna: there are two kinds of people in the music industry, those who live for music, and those who live off music.”

To whoever wrote this or whoever feels the need to judge something they clearly do not know or understand: I do live off of music, the way you live off of oxygen and some live off of love. I live off of the joy it brings me to play for people. I clearly wasted it on you that morning.

Contest closed. Thank you for the overwhelming response.

Have the greatest day.

~r

Hey everyone,

Hope you are well.  I am glad you are all enjoying “Right Now.” Thanks for listening and spreading it around.

Check out the new, updated MySpace look.

See you soon,
~R

I am extremely honored to have been asked to play a few songs at a Barack Obama rally leading up to the final Presidential Debate this Wednesday at Hofstra University, right here in New York. Things kick off around 5pm (Wednesday, October 15th) at The Harry Chapin Theatre at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow. The bill also includes David Crosby & Graham Nash, Push Play, John Hampson (from Nine Days), and others.

No matter how you plan to cast your vote, stay involved and informed. See you there.

I had the pleasure of meeting Sarah Silverman this weekend at a wedding I attended in Austin. In honor of the occasion, I am posting her hysterical take on Floridian Voters. Enjoy…

Watch it here.

WWW.ROCKTHEVOTE.COM

When we were growing up, we heard all about how great our country is and we truly felt like we were the best. I think it is mostly due to being young, innocent, loving every day, and thinking your dad is the strongest man in the world. But we get older. We get informed. We learn Christopher Columbus didn’t discover anything except ways to exploit and damage what was once beautiful. Through this, Dad does still remain the strongest, of course.

Point? Here it is: I am not one to make political statements or take sides, but I know we have all felt deceived and let down from where we started years ago when we were kids, before we knew about the ills of society. A time like this makes us say “why?” and “it doesn’t matter?” and as much as I agree with this, there is something unspoken about inspiration. Inspiration makes things happen. From music to art to a speech or even an idea, these are the things that make change. Martin Luther King Jr. never created a law. He gave some speeches, some words to people to make of it what they wanted. What they wanted, not him, is what made the change.

However you feel about a candidate, I urge you all to vote for this reason: so these fuckers know we are all out there and have not been silenced because of their disrespect for what is pure in this world. We are strong and we need to let them know, by showing up in incredible numbers 30 days from now.

You have to be registered by THIS MONDAY, so just do it!

There is no mystery who will win New York, but I will still be out there to show that we are alive and paying attention. Everyone should do the same.

Thats all. I’ll step down from the soap box now and get back to rehearsals.

Have a great day!

Poll time: