My Take On Last Night's Show at 3rd & Lindsley...

First of all, I couldn't even think of continuing without saying a HUGE "THANK YOU!!!!!" to the great crowd that showed up last night. I was happy, excited, and relieved that so many of you showed up - whew! It's VERY good to know that I've still got such incredible fans and friends out there. Again, thank you to all!!

I'm going to post a few pics up here soon, as soon as my buddy, Sean, gets them over to me. He was gracious enough to take a few shots at the show. Remember, if you like what you see, he's for hire! Check him out in my Top 8 on MySpace...













Now onto the show...

It felt so damn good to get back onstage. Even just having the band setting up their gear and doing a soundcheck felt like going back to my childhood home and taking a long look around. When the downbeat hit, it took a few minutes to adjust to the sound - for some reason, soundcheck and the show don't always sound exactly the same thru the monitors! I'm sure there's some scientific explanation - and it's most likely my own distorted perception, perhaps vibed up thru adrenaline or pheromones or Allegra - but it's quite a phenomenon. But again, once we hit those first few notes, we were cruising. No, we weren't perfect; the turnarounds and the solo's were a bit disorganized, there was a funky ending to "Storybook Love", and my microphone stand lost its erection more than once. But hey, we hadn't played for 6 months! Can't be too hard on ourselves, right? ;)

It was great to get some new songs out there too! Anytime that Force or Lauren have to learn new parts, it's definitely a new song. We had 6 new items and 2 that needed reviewing...it was like a whole new show to everyone and that felt great too. Even if our last appearance was 6 months ago, if we played too much that we played last time, I would've felt like I ripped y'all off. "Gimme something I haven't heard before, dammit! But make sure you play my favorites, dammit!" Ha! I think we pulled it off. My apologies to those who had requests that we were able to cover...but in my book, that's a good thing! Here's the setlist, in case you're wondering:

Last Time I Let You Down (Mason solo)
My Wild Heart
Damn Your Eyes (Etta James cover)
That's A Life
Call Me When You Need A Man
Storybook Love
Would You Stand
If You'd Have Called Yesterday (Cory Batten solo)
Hesitate
Road Goes On Forever (Robert Earl Keen cover)

I'll try to provide the setlists as long as I can. Can't guarantee it but I'll try...

So anyway, I really had a great time last night. Thanks again to all the fans and friends, to the all superstars that were there, and to everyone for putting up with the general loudness. You guys rock, seriously. Thanks for rockin' with me! See you out there next time...

Mason

Rarer than a 478-carat diamond: a full-band M.D. show tomorrow night!!!

What a very good, good, good, good feeling to say "We're back!" I've been waiting and it's finally time. So here it is:

We're back!!

Tomorrow night, Sept 23rd, at 3rd & Lindsley (in Nashville), 6:00 PM, it happens. We've got the full band, new songs from the upcoming new album (news on that finally to come, too) as well as some of the songs we can't live without, a few special guests, and always our fair share of surprises.

The damage is only $5 so come down and grab a seat and help us kick off this next segment of the ride…it comes with my personal music-back guarantee that you'll be glad you did.

Rock on and thanks for listening…

Mason

Review of the new Listening Room show last night...

Remember, band show next Tuesday (9/23) at 3rd & Lindsley at 6:00 PM!!

About last night...the long and short of it: we had a blast! The new place kicks some major butt so you'll definitely have to check it out when you can. My next appearance there is on Friday 10/10 so mark that down to get your fix on...

It didn't hurt last night that we had some crazysexycool talent onstage - Cory Batten, Shelby Merchant, and Craig Monday (and myself, of course) were prepped and ready for our usual shananigans. In between a slight mishap of a falling curtain rod (and subsequent curtain), things started off quite quickly with Cory knocking out "For The Girls" first thing. Now this is almost like Billy Joel opening a show with "Piano Man" but it was strongly requested so, hey, why the heck not. We also got to hear his Blake Shelton cut "She Wouldn't Be Gone" and some "Get A Hero Home" action.

Craig brought up the sophomore position with his incredible voice and soft-spoken demeanor which usually ends up being the most powerful energy in the room by the end of the night. Speak soft and carry and stick as big as Craig Monday's and you'll get along just fine. Craig got all the ladies wiggling with "Mama Was Right", "Stuff Like That" and the fan favorite "Elephino", to name a few. Love that stuff, if I do say so...make sure you request "Slept Right Thru It All" the next time you're at a Craig Monday show.

Shelby took us on a little trip to his neck of the woods with his distiguished style of awesomeness. If you're anywhere near the internet, check out www.ShelbyMerchant.com to see what I'm talking about. Shelby's got a couple of albums out there that I know you'll dig if you give them a listen. We got a little taste of them last night with "It Ain't The Preachin'", "Lonely", and everybody's #1 request, "Slow Row". Vivo El Hunky Tonks.

I tried to switch things up a little...I put a brand new one out there that Cory and I finished a few weeks ago called "Would You Stand". Maybe I'll get a guitar/vocal down and post it - we'll definitely be doing it again at the band show next week so check it out. Also did some "Goodbye Woman", "My Wild Heart", and a trecherous version of "Big Bad Wolf" that was in some serious need of lead guitar rehearsal. But we survived...

And we had a great time. The venue is GREAT - make sure you check it out ASAP. The food is still right on par and they've even added some menu items...the view is pretty sweet with the cityscape behind the stage...a great beer and wine selection...an incomparable atmosphere (candles by the stage!). It was just cool - I hope to see you down at the next one! 10/10! Rock on...

Mason

Virgins, new shows, and Daniel LaRusso's gonna fight...

Is it September already?! Holy crap, that was fast. Ah, but here we are and with some very cool things to show for it. I've had some pretty awesome past couple of weeks...been hanging out at the pool a bit, did some boating, been enjoying some Tennessee Fat Tire, hit a few Titans games, wrote some songs. One of the coolest things I did was go camping out in the Middle-Of-Freakin'-Nowhere, TN, otherwise known as Virgin Falls. It's just southeast of Crossville (once you actually find the area and get parked) and is a good 5 or 6 mile hike into the wilderness to find the falls. We hiked in about 2.5 miles, set up camp next to a HUGE cave and falls, and then made our way back to the actual Virgin Falls. Truly amazing site - if you're up for some remote camping, this is an undeniable spot.


Virgin Falls flowing in winter...


I also went out to L.A. for a few days for both pleasure and business. I saw my best friend that I've known since 2nd grade, Brian, out there and our buddy, Mark, who drove in from Vegas to add to the excitement, and one of my best friends, Sam, who I haven't seen in literally 5 years. The unavoidable geeky side of me LOVES movie locations and pop culture locations so we spent a good part of Friday seeing some pretty cool stuff...the Scrubs hospital, a bunch of Karate Kid sites, some Back To The Future sites, the original Michael Myers house from Halloween, etc. Yes, that's the geeky side of me...get over it! You've got one too.


The LaRusso residence in Reseda...


"Roads? Where we're going, we don't need 'roads'..."


Incredible view coming over the mountains into Malibu...


Me being super-geeky in front of Sacred Heart from Scrubs...


The Cobra Kai dojo, now a dance studio...


The original Michael Myers house from Halloween...


The E.T. house...


Aaaaand not a bad moment to be in...



Speaking of good moments, I also spent my Sunday in L.A. with the family over at Rural Rhythm, where we talked about the upcoming project and started fine-tuning some plans. I'm still not ballsey enough to put any time-frames on anything but I did leave pretty excited, provided a few minor planetoids align. We could be underway sooner than later so I'll just leave it at that for now. The music biz is a tempting mistress who loves to make a man wait...for example, RR just released Carrie Hasslers new CD which debuted at #3 on Billboard Bluegrass aaaaaand have a billion other projects in the queue that were started before ol' Mason Douglas ever came along. So I hurry up and wait until they call my number, simple as that.



In the meantime, the good news is that I'm "putting the band back together" for a show at 3rd & Lindsley on Sept 23rd, 6 pm. There'll be some new material, lots of the old stuff, and a few of the surprises you've come to know and love. So put it on your calendar and rock me like a hurricane.



Other upcoming shows inclued The Listening Room (new location!), The Bluebird Cafe, and the Tennessee State Fair. Check out http://www.masondouglasmusic.com/ and click on "Shows" for more info!!



I'm also appearing on a radio show in a Writer's Night with a bunch of my songwriting buddies: Vince Melamed ("Walk Away Joe", "What Mattered Most"), Craig Monday ("Got A Little Crazy"), Ray Sisk, Joshua Rush, and Cheley Tackett. The show is on Monday, Sept 8 at 8:00 PM EST on Dudley, MA 97.5 WNRC. Check out http://www.masondouglasmusic.com/ for more info!



Some final news pieces - Cory's (and Jen Adan's) song, "She Wouldn't Be Gone", recorded by Blake Shelton, was released to radio last week so make sure you request it wherever and whenever you can.



More to come soon...thanks for listening!



Mason