I made a vlog from my trip up to Boston with Yoda and Chewbacca.

Your favorite yankee is coming to town. I am in the car now. As a last minute outing, I am playing a college festival this afternoon.

Hynes Convention Center
900 Boyleston St.
1pm sharp

See you there

R

Click the audio player on the sidebar to listen to the song. (Make sure pop-ups aren’t blocked).

Tonight, I am playing an early opening set at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC supporting my longtime friends, “Ours”. If you have never heard of them, they are incredible and the show will probably sell out.

Although I will be solo tonight, I have been quiet here on the blogs because I have been rehearsing every day with my band to get ready to start touring. See you soon and I am sure I will get some video blogs up to show you how it is all going.

Video by West Egg Productions.

Secret shows. Text RYAN to 50505.

Coming soon…

His watch reads 11:54 pm and Ryan Star, sitting tall, wearing a black hoodie that covers his messy brown hair and a few days growth of a beard, sits in coach of yet another New York to Los Angeles red eye. The emergency lights are flashing as passengers around him are living their greatest fear. Crying and screaming are what he hears as he puts his headphones on to change the sounds to the soothing baritone voice of Leonard Cohen singing, “If It Be Your Will.”

He opens a leather bound journal where he writes his words. Pictures of New York City at night, mountains covered in snow, and a young pretty girl fall out. He passes through the pages of some of the songs from the album he has been working on for months and is about to wrap up. He glances at the last entry and the words are ringing in his head, repeating themselves like a mantra, uncertain if it will be possible to see the idea through.

“This could be the year, this could be the moment. You’ve been waiting your whole life to show the world the cards you’re holding.”

He puts the tooth-marked airline pen to his paper and starts to write on the last blank page.

“By the time you read this entry, you will know if these are my last words or not. Either way, I am writing as if they are. I have been waiting my whole life for this moment to come. Not the moment up here, thousands of feet above the earth, but this instant where I am on the verge of progress. I have been in training for it a long time. I started at 14 years old, playing weekly at CBGB’s with my band of brothers and took the show on the road. I performed in front of millions on an international television show and have recorded countless songs in studios, always trying to get closer to the passion that comes across in a live set in front of warm bodies. All of this—to bring me here and now. Sitting here shaking in the sky, I could say it was all a waste and that I should have done what all of my friends that I grew up with have. I would probably own a house in the suburbs by now and not be an “almost rock and roll cliché.” But then of course, I would not be here learning what I am right now.

As I write these words, I realize that I have not been training, I have been living. To think that it was all going to start when I finished the album with a big time producer and a giant record label is bullshit! That is not what music is. It is not what life is. I have heard it a million times, late at night on the self-help infomercials—“start living now.” I saw “Fight Club,” read “Brave New World,” and have always known that we are all high on “soma.” Not until now, in my last minute, do I get to really understand it all.

My name is Ryan Star. My whole life I have been getting ready for a moment that might never come. I never slowed down to understand who I really am or what life means to me beyond music and beyond performance. The lyrics I have written since I was a kid have all been trying to tell me what I am just realizing. Life is RIGHT NOW. We are in it already. Make every moment count.”

He kisses the journal and holds the pictures to his chest.

The clock reads 11:59

First time?

To all of those who came out to the show, thank you so much for making it an incredible kick-off to what is to come. The overwhelming response and incredible energy made a night to remember.

I want to especially thank those who made the trip from Canada and anywhere else that required packing a bag!

I can’t stress enough to those of you who did not get in how sorry I am. One of the best parts about Rockwood is the intimacy. I will surely play again soon and in a bigger venue for everyone. It really meant a lot that you came out. See you next time for sure.

This inspired me to keep track of all the shows from here on out, so soon I will add a kind of tour diary… keeping track of setlists, thoughts on all the shows, etc. Stay tuned.

Ryan and Justin Parker (Stage, Cortez the Killer) at Rockwood, Aug. 29.
Photo by Zsolt Sarvary-Bene

Below is a blog a friend found for me and thought those who couldn’t make it would appreciate. Coming to a town near you soon!!!!

Something last night was DIFFERENT. ELEVATED. Like he broke through to yet another level of greatness. Using every cell in his body to give the greatest performance of his life. It was as if he was reaching out to everyone in the audience to personally hand over his heart and his soul.

I felt so lucky to be able to experience this joyful performance. It’s clear that Ryan loved performing and sharing his new material with us. I believe he is eager to tour and get out there and share what he has to give with everyone out there waiting for him. I assure you, your patience will be handsomely rewarded when he comes to your town.

The Rockwood is a great venue, but Ryan is going to need bigger performance spaces. The line to get in went down the block. Word is out. I want to enjoy these these incredible musical experiences that are on such an intimate scale now because it is absolutely inevitable that once the album is out there and promoted, the ears of the world will be focused on Ryan and we will have to share. Then again, I can’t imagine the future of music without him in the forefront. It’s just a matter of time.

Solo Acoustic show at Rockwood Music Hall, NYC this Friday night at 10pm. Come hear some new songs. See you there!

photo by Zsolt Sarvary-Bene

The show is on the Emerging Artist Spotlight (Stage 18 - see this map from last year) at the New York State Fair. My set is at 8pm.

More information will be available on my MySpace page.