Traveling down that ROAD!

jeskarper — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 18:52:55 GMT

So i have been on the road, getting bounced and tossed around by the experience, and still feeling like i am just at the beginning of my journey. (because i am) So here's a synopsis of where i've been and how I got here... I was in the US this summer and started the process of pushing my music to the next level. I felt the pull and then the push and decided to head south again. I made a loop down to Belize to carry 4 kayaks on top of a small car. i floated a few rivers and felt the pull to leave these boats with a friend there, and go back up north for another loop. So i hopped up to Cancun and flew across to Florida. There i visited with friends Zach and Andrea, and fam for a bit while i gathered myself and bought a truck and fixed it up for 'the Journey' which had a lot of big question marks then and still does. Where am i going? for how long? how does one go about finding places to play music when they are permanently on the road? So after Playing a few shows as well as, working some construction there, we caught the halloween swell and had several epic sessions of surf, and i felt it was time to move north. I headed up to the Carolinas where I found that the leaves were still doing their fall psychedelic color change and i hadn't seen that show for over 7 years, so it was good to be back even though I felt the cold of winter creeping in. I set up a show in Boone, NC and also with the help of more good friends, I found some work for the week cleaning up a construction site. I was also putting out feelers for other places to play and a place to lined up for me up in Blacksburg, VA. I played for 20+ people in Boone and sold enough CDs to get me up the road to Blacksburg where the people who helped me set up the show there also set me up with some landscaping work. i even met a couple who I had guided down in Belize a year earlier, just ran into them on the street while playing at a farmers market. Things kept working out and after playing in Blacksburg, I moved over to Floyd, VA where I was able to set up a show at the blackwater loft, a cool hang out and jam spot there. I also found friends and a few folks to pass me some work which always helps get me up the road. I made one final loop south to Charlotte for a house concert with good friends who i used to live with in Belize. Then up to celebrate thanksgiving with Aunts uncles and cousins in Raleigh. I then went on to visit Fredericksburg for a few days, i baked some bread and got some running shoes and a warm hat. All things needed to persevere in these cold climates. I then looped back over to Balcksburg for a few more days of Landscaping, and to play the concert in Floyd. It was a great turn out and I got to play for some good friends and also establish some new contacts in that good ol' pickin' town. i really do like the music from them hills! So now i am shivering just looking out of the window from my grandparents house in PA. This is the first blanket of snow I have seen in several years so I am a bit intimidated to go outside. It is good to have made it all the way back up here. It was warmer in august, when i was here last, but I am very grateful to have had safe passage and also to have been guided towards so many great people and contacts who will surely be seeing me again down the road. I am just getting started though, and so I am going to be Playing in Chambersburg, tomorrow (dec. 6th) and in Gettysburg at Emmaus on Saturday (8th) i will then be making my way to Philly and flying out to Portland, OR for a month. So if you are around there I would love to catch up and play for you at Mississippi Pizza Pub on jan.8th at 6PM For anyone who is wondering, the reason that i am traveling like this is because I just made a big investment into my art and polished up the audio and liner notes on my album "Try on Life" I have printed up 1000 copies and I am really hoping to sell them to help fuel my journey and more albums that i am working on recording. Please check out this site and pass it around to your friends: http://cdbaby.com/cd/jeskarper also if you use iTunes : http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=268381806 Ok, so I hope to see you sometime along my journey and keep posted to Myspace for when i am playing shows near you. Take care, Peace, JES

Music in the states, mapping rivers in Belize

jeskarper — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 18:21:20 GMT

Hey folks, I am in the states right now, just up from belize and other Central american travels. I am trying to make it to a next level with my music here, hopefully to make a batch of 1000 cds with liner notes and lyrics etc... this will be a step up from burning Cds by the hundred and making envelopes. i really want to record some of my new stuff, but i would like to have last year's "try on life" album to a finished state before i move on. I would also like to play some gigs around the east coast in september, and in oregon in october moving south in november, so if anyone has any info on places I should look into playing a gig, coffee shop, festival etc... please let me know as i am begining to plan my travels. Aslo in November on maybe a bit later i will be heading back to belize to do some divemaster work, and also start working on my new company called Conservation Adventure Tours. Guiding kayaking and canoe trips on tropical rivers and helping to gather information on environmental impacts and water quality to incorporate into watershed maps of the rivers we float. It will be a way to give back to the ecosystems that you are adventuring in. So stay tuned for more posts as i continue my journey of music and mapping and adventuring. Peace and One Love, JES

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Traveling down that ROAD!

Music in the states, mapping rivers in Belize