A Band is Born

I've been wanting to put together a band for quite a while now. The last time I had a regular group of players with me was 2002 or so. Last summer I started working with the most excellent bassist, Todd Silas. Turns out that Montana's loss has worked out extremely well for me. Todd is a great guy and as solid a bass player as you'll ever find. Sometimes I can even talk him into bringing out his stand up bass, too. I didn't have to look far for a drummer. Gerald Gates is the frequent beat spinner on Sunday mornings at Unity Fort Collins. After playing together a few times, it appears that we now have a band, Wide Open Heart. We just had our first gig together last Saturday at High Hops. This Saturday, June 22nd we'll be playing from 3-7 at the Derby Grille in Berthoud. I'd love to see you there.

So now it goes without saying that we would love to play for your event. We have both cover songs and original music to offer. Our selection of cover songs includes hits from the 50s to the present and run the gamut of classic rock and country to folk, blues, bluegrass and jazz. If you'd like to book us, please get in touch with me at franklintaggart@gmail.com. We'll look forward to seeing you at one of our next gigs!

Wide Open Heart: Franklin Taggart, Gerald Gates, Todd Silas

Beer Town

One of my latest songs is called Beer Town, in honor of the thriving Northern Colorado craft brewing community. As anyone who's followed my music for the past year and a half might tell you, much of my music playing since moving from DC has taken place in these breweries. The other day a friend of mine asked me if I had any favorites. After giving it some thought I figured I'd write a few of them down for you in case you'll be visiting soon. I'll also write down dates of upcoming musical appearances for each brewery so you can choose to join me or avoid me at your whim.(Stay tuned for upcoming news about the release of the song, Beer Town!)

• Grimm Brothers Brewhouse, 623 Denver Ave., Loveland, CO -- This was the first brewery that I played for here in Loveland. Grimm Brothers has been around for just a few years but they've quickly become a very popular presence in the local beer world. They're particularly known for their German style of brewing. My absolute favorite Grimm Brothers beer was a seasonal they released last year called Big Bad Wolf(Their beers are named for characters in fairy tales). You can still find this flavor in bottles in a few Loveland liquor stores, but otherwise it won't be around again for a while. My second choices at Grimm Brothers are based on mood, but I really like both Little Red Cap, an altbier, and Snow Drop, a Kottbusser ale. Both are pretty hoppy, but just sweet enough. I'll be there playing on May 23rd.
• City Star Brewing, 321 Mountain Ave., Berthoud, CO -- Located right on Mountain Avenue in downtown Berthoud, City Star is getting ready to celebrate their first anniversary. I love the rustic feel of the place, and owners John Way and Whitney Taylor have created not only a fantastic selection of beers, but a great environment to just have a good time. It's been hard to pick a favorite here until recently. Last time I played there Emily served me a pint of their Revolver IPA. I have liked IPAs for a good while now, but I have to say that Revolver is at the top of the list now. It is hoppy, but the hops are more flowery than most, so it's a very fragrant beer. It's the one I recommend first if you're an IPA fan. But the good news is there are even more favorites to choose from...Red Necktar is a fine American Red Ale, Bandit Brown is a very mellow beer that reminds me a lot of some of the English beers I've tried, and Six Shooter is another excellent IPA. I'll be playing at City Star on May 2nd, July 18th and August 15th.
• Loveland Aleworks, 118 W. 4th St. Loveland, CO -- Another relative newcomer, Loveland Aleworks is a small batch brewery that is also making a great name for itself in the community. Brewer Nick Callaway is probably best known for the variety of beers that he brews, with a constantly changing menu. My favorite Loveland Aleworks beer is the Imperial Stout. I'm not usually a stout beer fan, but this one has really changed that. It's a full flavor beer that I just want to sip on slowly for the whole evening. Other recent beers I've enjoyed here are the Cherry Saison and the Raspberry Sour. Again, I'm not usually geared to order such things, but I did find these two most pleasant. I'll be back to Loveland Aleworks on May 21st for my birthday party from 5-8PM. You are invited and I'd love to see you there! I'll also be there on July 16th.
• High Hops Brewery, 6461 HWY 392, Windsor, CO -- High Hops started out as a home brewing shop and hops farm owned by the Weakland family in Windsor. Dad, Pat shared his love and skill as a brewer with son, Zach, and last Fall they opened up High Hops Brewery adjacent to mom Mandy's greenhouse and nursery. In the months since, they've become a top choice destination for craft beer fans and brewery tour buses that are starting to frequent the area on weekends. High Hops is known for their hop shots, a unique experience that involves pressing fresh hops(many from their own field) in a coffee press and then adding that mash to one of their tapped beers, or to a taster flight of all of their flagship beers. It's an intriguing and satisfying experience that I would encourage any beer lover to try. As far as favorites go, at High Hops I've been partial to the series that Pat has brewed called Dr. Pat's. It's a pretty brassy but flavorful IPA, each one subtly different from the previous batch. I also really like their Honey Brown, a sweet and smooth ale. I'll be out to High Hops to play on their brand new, Front Range facing patio on June 15th. The view and the beer are both spectacular!

Here are a few other favorites that I'll mention. I'll give more detailed reviews after I've had a chance to get booked again :)

• Oskar Blues -- Deviant Dale's, big flavor double IPA.
• Odells -- Red, seasonal red ale.
• New Belgium -- Most often Ranger IPA, but recently they released a great ale called Rampant.
• Left Hand Brewing -- Was there for the first time last week and left with my favorite being the Stranger, American Pale Ale.
• Fort Collins Brewery -- Rocky Mountain Pale Ale.
• Coopersmiths -- Imperial Ale

There are so many more to try, but I just have to get on the phone and get some booking going on...stay tuned!

The Busy Season Is Upon Us

April is here and Spring and Summer are going to be amazing. Please check the gig page for all the upcoming dates. I want to mention a couple that you might want to get on your calendar now. FoCoMX5 is coming up April 19th and 20th. This five year old festival is an excellent way to see all of your favorite local artists all in close proximity to each other. Over 200 local music groups will be playing in over 20 venues. Shuttles are available to take you from one side of town to the other so that you can hear all of your favorites. I'll be playing at Bizarre Bazaar on Saturday, the 20th at 7:15. I'll be followed there by the always great Elyse Miller, and Leelah. I'd encourage you to get wristbands early so that you can save some money. Buy them before April 7th and you can save $10.00 each, plus they'll be giving away t-shirts and coozies while they have them. If you want to save the cost of the whole ticket, sign up to volunteer. This festival is entirely volunteer run.

I'd also like to invite you all to come out to Loveland Aleworks on May 21st to celebrate my birthday with me. Casey the taproom manager has promised to bake a cake. Music will start at 5, and I hope that you'll all be able to stop by for at least a great beer and to say hello.

This Summer I'll be playing a handful of dates around Fort Collins as a part of Beet Street's Streetmosphere series. This is an amazing program that brings artists and musicians into the streets to entertain and provide community members a chance to participate in the creativity. I'll post dates as they are available. Please consider signing up for my mailing list so that you'll receive my monthly newsletter.

One last quick announcement. I'm excited to let you know I'll be enlisting the talents of John Magnie of Subdudes and Three Twins fame to produce some recordings of my newer songs this Summer. I'm going to be releasing them digitally as they are finished and then if there are enough to create a finished CD, I'll be releasing a new collection. For those of you who have asked about Falling All The Way, I'll be running a second pressing special edition version of the album also later this Summer. You can still listen and purchase downloads on the "Music" tab of this website.

I hope to see you soon at a venue near you. Thanks for supporting my music!

Craving Some Structure...But Not For Me

Those of you who know me well might be surprised to hear me say that. I'm usually a 'go with the flow' kinda guy, taking whatever comes and dealing with it the best way that I can. Well my go with the flow days have met their match. Bodhi's charter school didn't open this year as we'd planned. We received word in late July that the lease that had been signed had fallen through and that our school would not be open until Fall of 2013. We were lucky in that there were several other families who were willing to go in together and pay the teacher to go ahead and take the class for a couple of days per week and then we'd home school the rest of the time.

If you ever meet anyone that has chosen to home school their kids, I'd like you to take them out for lunch or a few beers because those people have been working harder than you know. And then, go to any school and pick any teacher and take them out for a few beers or dinner, too because they have been working harder than you know. Even providing a simple schedule of good, balanced learning activities for one kid is exhausting. To anyone who does this five days a week for seven hours a day, I will forever salute you.

In the mean time most of the ideas I had set out to pursue this year have been put on hold or completely ignored. I am slowly getting my coaching practice started again and I'm playing music a handful of evenings each month, but the creative things I love to do have been almost completely pushed aside. Songwriting, recording projects, learning my new video editing software and some of my community volunteering have had to drop off my to do list, and I feel a little like a drifting sailboat.

I don't know about you, but I'm a person who needs loads of uninterrupted solitude to feel any satisfaction with my creative process. Before Monica and I got married, I would have about 10 hours every day of unstructured creative time. These were the years that I wrote songs, recorded my CD, played sessions, worked with other songwriters and read whole books. I'd teach guitar lessons for about 30 hours a week to pay the bills, but the rest of my time was all mine. I miss that.

That's not to say that I don't absolutely adore Monica and Bodhi, but it's not an easy thing for me to share my life. With anyone. And especially now, when Monica and I take turns holding the school structure for Bodhi as both his parents and his part time teachers, I'm looking forward to a time when someone who is both highly gifted and dedicated will take up that mantle. I'm tired. Monica's tired. And I think even Bodhi's tired.

The two days of the week that he is in school with his teacher are days that he really enjoys. And most of those days I get the luxury of spending in Old Town Fort Collins, going to the library to write and think, meeting friends and clients for coffee or lunch at Cafe Ardour or one of the many restaurants in Old Town. But even with those two days each week I still feel like I only have enough time to get started, only to find that the interim period between starting and continuing the work puts some distance between me and the moment of inspiration that started the ball rolling. Enough distance that I have scrapped a whole bunch of projects and commitments because I have forgotten why they were important enough for me to begin working on in the first place.

So my big learnings here are that going with the flow is easier when the river is contained within its banks. Even if the structure that I need is for every one else to have structure so that I can have the freedom and time to wind my way through, it's good for me to have some predictable space and time to be tinkering alone in the basement. Here's hoping that will be right around the next bend...

From Me At 50 To Me At 20

Dear Me At 20,

Here are a few suggestions for your next 30 years:

1. Show up. Learn how to be completely present here and now. Give your presence to people. That will allow you to have amazing friendships and relationships.
2. Pay attention. You'll be amazed to know how powerful your attention is. Learn how to use it. Meditate, concentrate, let it expand and contract. Learn how to sense beyond what you can see, hear, taste, touch and smell. Your attention is a core power in this world. At some point see if you can discover where your attention arises from. It might blow your mind.
3. Participate. Your temperament tends to put you in a more observational role, but that also sometimes leaves you feeling left out of things that you really want to be a part of. Go ahead and join whatever party is going on. Have at least one good conversation before you go home.
4. Eat real food. You don't notice it now because you're still young but the fast food, the soft drinks and the junk food are killing you slowly. You're making yourself sick. Buy locally grown, fresh and nutritious food and cook for yourself as often as possible. And don't feel like you have to eat everything on your plate. Leftovers are OK.
5. Exercise every day. You have a propensity toward laziness. Get off your ass and get in the habit of moving your body and maintaining your strength. Swim, walk, water ballet...whatever. If you make it a habit, you'll miss it when you can't find time.
6. Don't confuse attraction for love. Love at first sight is exciting, thrilling, stimulating and fun. Trouble is, most of the time it's not really love, it's attraction. There is a difference. Love happens as you really get to know someone and let them know you. The real you. Attraction also isn't a sufficient basis for a relationship. It can leave just as quickly as it appeared. Then what? Love takes willingness, communication, effort and persistence. It has to see you through some not so easy times. It's also worth pursuing.
7. Always have health and dental insurance. Even if you have to choose between taxes and insurance, choose insurance. The government will take installments. As you get older you'll need to have it. A health crisis can happen to anyone at any time. If you don't have insurance it will almost certainly ruin your finances and place limits on your ability to work from that point on. Even though it's a racket, it's expensive and you don't like it, pay for it anyway.
8. Do what you love for the love of it. If you can make a living at it without losing your love of it, great! If it's not sustainable, don't try to make it so. You love music? Great! Join a rock band and go for it. Go for it now before you decide to settle down and have a family. If you're going to do what you love for a living, you need to know all that you can about running a business, because that's what it is. You need to know about profit and loss, business planning, contracts, collaborating, entrepreneurship, and so much more. Not even a business degree can prepare you. Find people who are successful in business and ask them to be your guides and mentors. And learn when to ask for help. DIY is a one way ticket to burnout. If you would rather spend your time creating rather than bookkeeping, hire a bookkeeper.
9. Discover your gift. You already know what it is, but you don't realize just how special it is. You take it for granted because it comes so easily for you. It's not something you've learned how to do, nor is it a special aptitude or talent. Your gift is who you are in the world, not so much what you do. You'll know what it is because people come to you for this all the time. In every conversation your gift just seems to happen. Your gift is also what you're here to share. People need it, want it and value it. When you're looking for a career, a job, an opportunity, or a way to serve, always start with your gift. It's self energizing and you will both deliver and gain much joy just in sharing it.
10. Learn a new skill every year. Knitting, graphic design, computer programming, photography, acting, public speaking, stand up comedy, creative writing, recording, film making, video editing, auto mechanics. These are more than just hobbies. They are things that will enrich and inform every other aspect of your life. They'll help make you an interesting person to know, and they'll help you meet people you otherwise wouldn't.
11. Don't spend too much time alone. I know you're an introvert, but going for several days without human contact is going to mess you up in a number of ways. Social life matters, as does just being a part of the community that surrounds you. Community is where you'll find everything you need to thrive. Isolation keeps you in poverty.
12. Identify your specific desires and learn how to ask for their fulfillment. Overcome your fear of rejection by opening your mouth and asking for exactly what you want. 'No' is not a problem. Silence is. Your silence is your guarantee that your need will most likely go unmet. Your resources are abundant and available for the asking.
13. Trust your intuition implicitly. Your hunches can be counted on. Gut feelings are there to help you make decisions in real time. Don't second guess them.
14. Use your imagination every day. Envision your desired life as exactly as you can. Imagine every outcome exactly as you'd like it to unfold. Imagine every aspect of how it feels to have the life you want in vivid multi-dimensional technicolor.
15. Let your passion help you direct your energy. Serve the people and things that you genuinely, deeply care about. Your passion and your gift together help you to understand the purpose of your life, and that understanding is the the beginning of a very meaningful path for you. 
16. Once a month or more, identify one person that you'd really like to know and invite them to lunch. Prepare for the lunch by doing some research about them so that you can actually ask them questions that mean something. Write down your questions if you need to, but be very thoughtful about each one. End the conversation by asking if there is anything you can do to help the person. You just never know.
17. Your family deserves your best. Don't hesitate to give it to them. Even when you are exhausted, angry, hungry or needing to be alone. 
18. Be nice. This one isn't always easy for you. Sometimes you can be a real bear, and not in the teddy sense. Your arrogance doesn't help much either. You really don't know as much as you think you do, and you will never stop learning. I'm not saying you have to be phony about it, but at the very least you can manage to have decent manners. Your mother has made sure that you know what they are. Use them.
19. Complaining about the system without working to change things is a cop out. If you're not going to do something about it, shut up. Otherwise get involved and make something good happen.
20. Screw the golden rule. Treat other people how they want to be treated. That requires that you actually find out what they want first. Try it.

I'm sure there are more, but 20 is a nice round number to stop at. These aren't commandments, just suggestions. But they may help your life be a little more easy, sweet and meaningful. Take care,

Love,

Me At 50

Hello 2013!

2013 is off to a rolling start. Bodhi's back to school, Monica and I are working whenever we can get a block of time to work, insurance deductables turned over at the first of the year, the thyroid is still acting up, I'm reviving my coaching practice, I'm playing some cool gigs, I'm doing some volunteering and I had a cold. The stuff of life.

Take a look up at the top of the site and notice that there are a couple of new tabs. Heart Driven Work is the coaching program I recently revived that sees much of the work I started in Maryland a few years ago come into a more complete vision. It's all about work, folks, same as it ever was, but with some new insights and the tools that are arising from them so that we can wiggle ourselves into the work that we really showed up here to do. I've just started putting the site together for that project. You can go over to heartdrivenwork.com to see how it's taking shape. I'm very excited to get started in this direction again.

You'll also notice a tab for Live & Local on KRFC. I'm going to be hosting this show starting on Wednesday, January 30. It features live recordings of Colorado bands and performers playing in Colorado venues. I'm very excited to be doing this in addition to continuing being one of the Concert Calendar announcers. KRFC is a gem in our community and I feel very lucky to be a part of it. You can find out more bout Live & Local on that page. Don't forget to listen in at www.krfcfm.org on Wednesday nights from 7-8 MST.

I'll be writing another post later on that goes in depth on the next topic, but I wanted to again express my deep appreciation for the fine folks at Beet Street. I've been very fortunate to have been a part of their ambitious Arts Incubator of the Rockies(AIR) project both as a volunteer and as a participant in their pilot programs for AIR SHIFT and AIR EVOLVE. This is a monumental project that will be primarily serving the 10 Inter-mountain West states as a portal to connect, educate, and facilitate collaboration between creatives and their communities. Beth Flowers, Executive Director of Beet Street, and Kari Munson, Beet Street's Project Manager have worked to bring together amazing teams of people from the participating states and from the Northern Colorado arts community to make this happen. I would like to encourage all of my creative friends to check out the AIR website and join now. There are both free and paid memberships available and a wealth of resources that are only beginning to grow. If you visit the Knowledge Center, that's the part of the project I've been volunteering to help with.

In addition to Beth and Kari, I want to say thanks to Kerry Miller, the wizard of Beet Street's office who left in January to jump into her own creative path. Best of all things to you, Kerry. You'll be missed. And welcome to Mary Beth Polce, Beet Street's new Development Director. Mary Beth comes to Fort Collins from Chicago where she worked for the Art Institute of Chicago on the development team for their new Modern Wing. Very exciting times for Beet Street and AIR.

It's good to be busy. Please spread the word about these and other happenings. I hope to be seeing you all in the weeks and months ahead...

Happy New Year?

The passing of one year to another has frequently been a melancholy season for me. This season has been particularly so. I look back on 2012 and realize that there have been many blessed opportunities on my path. New friendships formed, new audiences for my music, excellent learning and volunteering experiences have all enriched my life, a loving family surrounds me and my community here is starting to take form, yet there is still an ache for unfulfilled desired to find satisfaction, more and better chances to serve, and continuing anxiety about making ends meet. I'm also struck by the events of the past year in terms of politics, tragic storms, shootings, war and other human maladies. My depression carries with it a feeling of powerlessness in the face of all of it.

I've come to see these melancholic seasons as times to activate my imagination. It's time to imagine new possibilities that fulfill these yearnings. I can picture and sense myself in any situation that I desire. I'm seeing myself in front of people in a couple of different roles that are linked by intention to encourage my community. I'll still be the troubador, pointing toward the heart of any matter that appears, playing for any audience who will listen. I'll fill the space between us with sound that connects us, soul to soul. I'll also step into a place of helping, leading people to discover their unique gift, purpose and path. Encouraging everyone to engage their creative will to serve people, places and things that they deeply and genuinely care about.

But I've also decided that it's time to steal my attention from politics, business, and news as usual. I'm not going to energize what is. I'm going to imagine and create what can be. AND I'm going to seek opportunities to co-create an amazing new reality that makes arguments over rights and responsibilities obsolete. I can imagine a world in which everyone is encouraged to serve people by doing what they love. A world in which all good work is valued. A world in which creativity and collaboration are rewarded on at least an equal level as cunning and competition. I'm working for a world in which arguments over whether guns should be controlled or not are made obsolete because self protection and defense will be unnecessary.

Write me off as an idealist. But also know that in effect we are already imagining and creating the world we inhabit. Every social structure, law, norm, rule, political movement, social problem, and religion have emerged from our own imagination. We've created the whole mess. AND we have the power to imagine and create better for ourselves. But do we have the will?

I'm opening my mind. I'm allowing my imagination to shape new possibilities that have little to do with the past, and everything to do with what is that next best step. I'm opening my heart. I'm lowering my cynicism and letting go of the impulsive judgments that I heap on myself and others that keep me isolated and disengaged. Instead, I'll exercise my unique giftedness and open myself to giving and receiving service, celebration, and love in my community. And I'm opening my will. The fears that I've allowed to dominate my ability to choose are being pushed aside by new perceptions and beliefs that are empowered by capital Love.

So, instead of a happy new year, I'm wishing you a transformation that will last for eons. Carry on...