Ricky Fitzpatrick: Journal

Just wanted to publicly say thanks to everyone who has gone out of their way to make today a great day. It's been a fantastic day! Cretia, thank you for my All-stars...awesome! Hope to see everyone soon! RF

In case you haven't heard "Emma's Song" yet, please go on over to the music page and check it out. We have some new material coming down the pike, very much like this. Hope you all relax and enjoy it while it plays as much as I enjoyed recording it. One of my fave pieces so far.

Just a quick post to let you guys know that I am not dead. In fact, I am very much alive and kicking and still playing and singing. Touring has been temporarily suspended due to personal reasons, and some of the release and recording plans have chnged, but fear not, new music will be coming. Thanks for your continued support! More to come...

Ricky

I approach the idea of doing an entire night of covers anyway. I mean, I want to sing my own stuff. Everybody knows that. But James...well...it James, you know? He's such an influence on me and such an icon in music and songwriting. It's actually quite an honor to be able to do these songs.

I hope people will respond well to the set. I know a lot of JT, but there are a lot of pretty mainstream ones that I don't know. Hope I can pull this one off. I think it will be good though...the songs have their own legs. And people already know and love them. I'll just be the brush that delivers the paint on the canvas.

Looking forward to Saturday night!

Just posting a quick update as to the current state of mind, following the Shawn Mullins concert. Yeah.

Stoked. Totally stoked.

Great show. I mean, great. Really boosted my inspiration level. And I sure needed a kick in the ass.

Shawn was a great performer and a perfect gentleman. Hung out to sign autos and snap pix after the show (see the pictures page). Had Cretia, and the kids there too, and they all enjoyed it. Emma's first concert, and I'm so glad it got to be someone worthy of the honor :).

Can't wait to do this again.

Ricky

A huge thanks to Ashley Bates at The Times for the wonderful artist profile they ran today. Lots of great stuff about "Highway 98"! click the link below to read it!

The Highway 98 votes are at 726 as of this morning. Wow! Things are booming! Thanks to everyone who has voted so far. Be sure and spread the word, and let's meet our goal of 1000 YESES by Jan 1.

Sending out a quick post about Songwriter’s Universe, a super online resource for Songwriters of all genres. SU is a totally respected source in the music community, and they run a monthly contest called…um…Song of the Month Contest. I have two songs entered for the month of July. Mississippi Moonshine and Ballad of Billy the Kid. Cross your fingers. Prizes include one million dollars!...ok…prizes include bragging rights and lots of cool stuff. No bucks. Hope for the best!!! Peace…Ricky

Once again, things are booming. Hwy 98 is garnering rave reviews from all over. And votes are pouring in. As of today, we are at almost 500, and climbing.

And let's not forget the Peckerhead Tees. THey are available, but not for much longer. Supplies are getting lower so get your order in right away.

On a personal note...wrote three new songs Tuesday and Wed. Listening to a lot of Croce lately and that inspires me. Also working in as much Prine as possible. Also checked out the new Phil Vassar CD (Thanks Donna!). Awesome. This guy is a hit machine. Really gives me something to aspire to.

That's all today. Later.

Ricky

What a beautiful weekend! Went Friday night to see my youngest son, Caleb, in a VBS program. He did such a great job! Then Saturday night, played at the Melting Point. Awesome! What a venue. We all had a great time…can’t wait to go back. And then Sunday, we got in some time at the pool, got some tanning going, got Emma in the pool. She loved the water. We all enjoyed our weekend. Then only way it could’ve been better is if there had been lots more of it.

As of today, we are officially taking credit and debit cards both on line and on site at all live shows! I’m really excited about adding the card feature because so many people come to shows and either don’t have cash on them or don’t have enough. I’ll bet I’ve been asked a hundred times if I take cards. Well now, the answer will forever be “yes”!

Fans can buy CDs, t-shirts and even leave tips on their cards. Just as easy…if not EASIER than cash. And for online purchases, it’s as easy as sending me an email with what you want. I’ll reply with what I need. And then you send it back. I mail your stuff out. And we’re both smiling.

Went back to the studio last night at Radium. Ah. It was nice. I get nervous and relaxed all at the same time, going in to record. Cretia was there with me, making me laugh and snapping pix (watch for those soon). She got some really good shots of the grand piano there in the small room where I recorded. I can’t wait til you guys see that shot! We finally got Ballad of Billy the Kid and Emma’s Song down on tape. Down n dirty…pretty much straight takes. Unusual for me, but that’s definitely the way I like it. I didn’t want to tweak these too much because I want people to know what it’s like to hear me…mmm…undoctored. I think we succeeded in these. Check out the clips on the MUSIC page and make sure to get your copy of Peckerhead, which will have them in their entirety. Later…R.

Headed down to Radium Recording tonight for a short session with Chris Bishop. Working on some of the Peckerhead material and finalizing that so we can have it shelf ready, on time. I always enjoy working with Chris. And tonight will be even nicer, having Cretia there in the studio with me. She’s relaxing and just having her there is a great support. Keep an eye skinned here for notes on how things went.

Cretia, Emma and I went out with friend and photographer extraordinaire, Taresa Sibcy for a very cool photo session today. On a side note, keep an eye out here for a link to her upcoming web site. She is awesome.

We started out on the other side of Gillsville on some secluded RR tracks. Taresa got some very cool shots of me playing the guitar and walking the tracks, playing, smoking a cigarette. Can’t wait to see those. It was a little unnerving, having so many pictures taken. But Taresa was a pro all the way and did a great job at making me feel relaxed.

Next we headed to Hall County, off of Whitehall Road to an old grist mill. Turns out, the mill was fenced in, but the area was just awesome. Taresa had an old chair that we put down on the creek bank. I propped up in it right on the water, playing and posing. Then a few shots on the bridge. And finally we got a lot of shots of me playing/singing on the porch of some old adjacent house, there on the site…bandana on-head. That was the most relaxed I’d been all day.

As fate would have it, a truck drove by and we met Hugh and Delaine Quinn. Turns out they used to live in the house right there by the mill. Very cool. Hugh told us about shooting snakes under the bridge…of course AFTER we had tramped all around there. They were really nice folks. Gave them a CD.

So now we’re waiting for another weekend to do a few more shots with maybe an old barn, an old truck/tractor and a few head shots. Things like that. So if anyone knows of a spot, let me know. I’ll go check it out.

Til next time…

A while back, I started exploring the world of House Concerts. Huh? Yeah…that’s what I said. But apparently, this is something that is growing in popularity as people are attending fewer live shows (dealing with the noise, the smoke, the drunks…), but they still crave the live experience that you just can’t get on a CD.

House Concerts are basically, a fan (or fans) that host a show at their house, either in their living room, garage, shop, backyard, etc. It’s just like having a party or a cook out, only everyone comes with the idea of maybe bringing a dish or drinks and the center of the event is a live performance by a musician that the fans set up to come. Guests either pay a per head admission or understand that they leave a donation to the artist…which is usually expected to be somewhere around $10-20 per guest.

And they can buy CDs, t-shirts, etc. It’s a pretty cool concept, and the guests get a private concert, that is very intimate. Most house concerts run around 10-50 people, tops. So it’s a unique opportunity for fans and artist to really interact without the pressures of a bar or club atmosphere.

Anyway, I say this because, I want to encourage you to step up and give the house concert thing a try. It isn’t any harder than asking a few friends over for dinner. It will be a brand new experience that most of your friends have never had before, and one that they’ll probably remember for years to come. You’ll be a social hero .

Email me if you’re interested in this cool chance to be a part of our local music scene.

Thanks for reading. See you all soon!

Ricky

The dreaded hate site is finally gone. As everyone will notice, I removed the link to the site and deleted all the posts on the board about it. As far as I care, it never existed, because it sure made life a lot more interesting than I wanted it to be. I would say thanks to the person who created it, for removing it, but I won’t. I’m sure they’ll continue to do little things here and there to nit pick, but it isn’t that important. For everyone’s FYI, my ex-wife and I agreed together that the site was a detriment to both of us and to our kids, so she requested that the site be taken down, and I guess the person behind it must’ve finally agreed.

Also, just to be up front about everything with everyone…and because of the recent fiasco…Hostbaby, who hosts my site, has implemented a tracking device of sorts, that helps me monitor in detail, the traffic coming into the site, posting on the board…all that. It isn’t used for “watching” you. But only for security and pulling data, if needed, in case we get some meathead coming to the site. Then we can trace them back, report them and take action if we have to. The tracker is invisible and won’t affect the site operation at all.

Now…we can all get back to life as we know it, playing music, booking shows, studio time, CDs…all that.

BTW, thank you to everyone who was so supportive of me during this and thank you for your positive comments and things you posted in my defense. I would like to ask, please, that no one post anything negative about anyone. Please. Not my ex, Cretia’s ex. None of them. We really want to put that behind us. All of us. And the best way to do that is to let everything heal by leaving it alone.

So once again, thanks! Everyone has been wonderful. See you out there.

We spent the day this past Saturday with my brother and his family. Loved being up in the mountains. It really is beautiful up there. And the ride up was just as enjoyable. Many of you may remember that he has been logging flight hours, so we went up for a short flight with him. Incredible. And I even got to pilot for a few minutes. It was a great day and a great night. And we slept half the day Sunday, catching up on some missed sleep. Worked on a few new songs that I’ve been tinkering on, some alternate tunings, a couple of lyrical ideas. Maybe I’ll have the chance to share some of them at the next gig. Til next time…

You know you hate to acknowledge something, trivial. But sometimes, I guess you just have to. As you may notice, I have a link on the Home Page and in the Links Page to a nifty site I found…the I Hate Ricky Fitzpatrick site.

My first hate site, I have to say. What a left-handed honor :) But not exactly what I would’ve done. The graphics are a little sucky but I know that just comes from the Geocities page builder software. And it’s pretty anonymous. Yahoo! is very anonymous with their members, so the chances of ever knowing who the web master is for this site, are slim to none.

At any rate, I wanted to link to it because even though I didn’t care for it, it actually is funny. But also a sad reflection of someone who really needs a hobby. I mean…other than bashing me. Maybe they could get a job. Or be a parent. Or something that grown people do besides slander other people.

But…I encourage you to check it out. Go to the link I have, browse around and leave them a comment on their board. I think it’s worth a comment. Or leave a comment for me on my board. And if you have any questions about anything you see there, please ask me. Like I’ve said, I’ll gladly give you a straight answer or politely tell you that it’s private. I think that’s fair.

Thanks so much for everyone's support and the trust that each of my fans have extended to me from the very start. And thanks in advance for your openmindedness.

Until next time, hope everyone has a great day. Hope to see you all soon.

Ricky

I wanted to let everyone know what is going on with ‘Highway 98’…

I just got off the phone with Rep Tom McCall’s office with the GA House of Representatives. He is one of the reps for Madison County. As it turns out, road dedications are done quite frequently. And given the nature of everything, he may can present a House Resolution in the upcoming session to have “Highway 98” dedicated as the “Official Song of GA Hwy 98”. Wow. Wouldn’t that be awesome? I would love for all of us to be a part of doing something that will be a permanent addition to our history. Something that we can tell our kids and grandkids “I helped with that”.

The next session isn’t until the second week of January, so we have time to prepare. But in the meanwhile I’ll be gathering emails, letters, signatures, asking for help putting out flyers, calling radio stations, etc…for support for the resolution. We’ll try to coordinate everything so it will have the most impact. And, the more local support this resolution gets, the better. The House will need a reason to pass it…so let’s give it to them.

More to come as I get information. And thanks for all your support!!!

Howdy all. Hope you like the new digs...I really do. The new site is much cleaner, much neater than the previous one. We've changed a few things and still kept some of your fave stuff. So make yourself at home, leave me a message, listen to some of the new music and keep an eye on the calendar for a show near you.

Speaking of...our latest is June 18th (yes, Father's Day) at Borders in Athens (Beechwood). Come check it out. All unplugged, acoustic. New songs. Lots of coffee. See you there!