Over the years, we have done reasonably well in various songwriting contests, picking up a semi-finalist nod here or an honourable mention there -- enough encouragement that I keep entering, anyway.

Well, I checked the mail after returning from a trip to London to find an unusual package, postmarked from Oklahoma. I opened it to find the Billboard World Song Contest awarded 'Perfect' an honourable mention as one of the top 500 songs entered. I'm not sure that's an accomplishment to trumpet about, but I did receive a Major Award as part of the deal.

Here I am wearing the Major Award. That's right folks, those are genuine BluBlockers.

Exciting, I know. Though I was really hoping for a bowling alley. Or at least a nice lamp...

According to Facebook, The Balcony, where we put in countless hours cutting our teeth on the stage, will be torn down following its last night of business on November 14^th, 2009.

I remember hand-delivering our first press kit to Nes, who as The Balcony booking agent was quite an imposing figure for my 19-year old self. A few persistent follow-ups, and Nes booked us for a Wednesday night, where we met the inimitable Doug Patton, self-described “little ol’ sound man from Oxford,” who delivered our best piece of advice…“you guys need to get some tuners.” Fast forward a few months and we graduated to Saturday nights, playing four-hour shows that started with an acoustic set, followed by two electric sets, and finished with some kind of improvised, we-ran-out-songs-thirty-minutes-ago encore.

Artists from Buddy Miles to Kings of Leon played The Balcony, as well as countless local acts. After becoming friendly with the staff, I got to hear many of them for free, standing at the soundboard with a Jack & Coke in a plastic cup. But, one of my favorite memories was playing acoustic happy hour on Fridays, where a few friends would stop in, the sunshine would stream through the windows, and we would play for $50 and a belly-full of Ozzie’s food.

A few photos…

nikkos posted some great video of a track he's working on called 'Song To The Morning', live from his apartment, affectionately known as the Mancave.

I am into the idea of posting work-in-progress. It's sort of like a mixtape for us acoustic dudes. Yet again, John Mayer leads the way by completely turning his website into a 'mid-action report' on the making of his next album, 'Battle Studies'.