May 27, 2007,  Ok so this blog has been a long time coming…sorry for that.  I’ve been really busy the last couple months or so with school ending for the summer and everything.  So for the news:

All of May I’ve been on the road with this tour thing I do every summer.  This has been a great chance to play some of my favorite venues and get back to see friends I only see a few times a year.  So here are the shows…

Charlotte:  Played Jackson’s Java.  Nice little place, good college crowd, but was in a strip mall.  Interesting.

Davidson:  Summit Coffee is one of my favorite places to play in the Charlotte area, they have an awesome upstairs room for music overlooking Main St.  Got to catch up with some old friends and family too.  Cameron Cook sat in and played some awesome sax and MoLe improvised very quickly on the drums.  

Thomas went to the vet.  Weighs 118 and doc wants him back at 115.  Had a yeast infection in his ear….ewww.  Otherwise good, especially vision.

Chapel Hill:  Great to catch up with my friends Patrick Turner and Robert Joines.  Patrick and I played Chapel’s one and only Cave bar on Thurs then after a little practice hit Four Corners on Franklin on Friday night.  Thanks to Patrick for his couch and to Lowes Foods for Oranges, Teddy Grahams and HI-C.  We have since formed a trio called the Three Wise Men and hope to play some more places around NC soon.

Southport:  Next stop was Southport/Oak Island.  I connected with my friend Jenny Beaver for our “acoustic mayhem” show as a benefit for the Cape Fear Yacht Club’s Lukemia Cup.  Fun (cold) night with some great BBQ.  Mad props to Ken Perrin and Circle Entertainment for setting this up.  Following morning I played the Flying Pig in Oak Island, an old favorite and first coffee shop I ever played.

Pasta is good but Old Chicago is better and Taco Bell beats them all at the desk where nothing happens.  Happy graduation Mycoal and Rob.  16 wonderful hours, you pressed 1 didn’t you?

Wilmington:  Jenny and I continued the acoustic mayhem into Wilmington playing both Front Street Brewery and the Rusty Nail.  Again a great chance to play some of my favorite venues and see some good friends.   Thanks Jay and Carter for the roof and excellent food.

Columbia:  Got here Sat in time for a great family reunion.  Been hanging around Lexington for a few days now and playing New Brookland Tavern tonight.  My cousin Caleb is sitting in on drums…should be a fun show.   More to come…

March 24, 2008.  Review from Winter in Monroe, NC.  Thanks!

It was a gorgeous, sunny afternoon in downtown Monroe, NC. It was the kind of day when you’d have to be crazy not to get out there and enjoy it! I Couldn’t resist the opportunity to take a walk down to the local coffee house, "Alice Jules" and grab an iced coffee.

    The coffee is good at Alice- don’t get me wrong- but that’s not what really got me to get up off the comfy livingroom sofa and walk a mile down the street. The real motivator came from a friend request I’d gotten on Myspace two days before.

    It was from a guy named Jake Melnyk, an up and coming musician from Wilmington. I checked out his music, and I liked it, so I looked to see if he would be around here soon. Sure enough, he was playing at Alice this week! I messaged him, letting him know I liked his sound, and I’d try to make it to his show.

   Thursday found me walking down the busy road in late afternoon, looking forward to seeing this guy live. When I finally reached the parking lot at Alice, I could already hear the acoustic melody floating out through the open doors. As I stepped inside, I was greeted with smiles and great service (which can be expected at Alice), and grabbed my vanilla flavored iced coffee. I mentioned that I was here to see this Jake Melnyk guy, and the girls smiled and told me to make myself comfortable in the next room, where he was set up.

   At Alice Jules, the atmosphere is already like a big livingroom, with sofas and chairs everywhere, a few tables along the edge of the room, and they have the coolest artwork up on the walls. I entered the room just as a fresh breeze gently blew in through the doorway across from me, and on that breeze carried the perfectly married sound of Jake Melnyk and his acoustic guitar.

    I chose a comfy seat on the sofa directly in front of him, and made myself at home. I couldn’t help but note his equipment: pretty much all he had with him was his mic and a small amplifier. I thought it was perfect; after all, I’d read that he performed in coffee shops and bars, so that’s really all the equipment he needed!

   When he finished the song, I applauded, and said, "It sounds better live than it does on Myspace!" His face kind of lit up in realization, and he said, "Oh, you’re the one from Myspace? Hey, I’m glad you could make it! Thanks for coming out."

    So I sat and listened to him play and sing for the next fifty minutes, chatting with him between songs. I was impressed; he was a college guy, who, in his spare time, travelled around the state playing little shows like this. He got his start playing praise music with youth. He’s been playing about eight years, the same as me. The difference is, he sounds way better!

    I really enjoyed not only the music, but the man behind the music. He’s the kind of guy that really gives a soul to the lyrics he sings and the melodies he strums. He makes the songs real, cuz he feels the words; he’s not just up there to sing and play and move on. It’s about feeling it... that’s Jake Melnyk.

All of this started with Spring Break and a trip up to central NC for a few days.  I started by driving up with my drummer Sam to Elon to see my friend Ryan's band Spotlight Effect open for Triangle-based Future Kings of Nowhere.  Spotlight rocked as usual and then Ryan and I headed to Greensboro for the Spring Youth Conference overnight.  This is definitely gonna be a rockin' conference and it was cool to have the college crew back togeher...Elizabeth's Pizza...need I say more?  Also caught up with Sam Hensley on the phone, talking about some new speakers which the Summit desperately needs.

So next stop was Raleigh to catch up with family and see our slowly-being-remodeled kitchen...hey paper plates.  Did the musician taxes (thanks Lorraine!) and took a few nights to get some decent sleep.  While in the Triangle I also caught up with Robert Joines, frontman of Asheville-based 20 Hours, who I've shared some shows with in the past and we conquered Sam Ash Music for an afternoon.  Also had half-awake breakfast/church with Kathryn which was awesome.

After a night back in Wilmington to relax, we packed up and headed to NYC with ECM.  Took Amtrak all the way from Rocky Mount.  This was a fun trip, I have just begun to feel my feet again this week as we walked all over Manhattan.  Lots of fun stuff including our "funky" chelsea hotel, finding our way to the Bitter End at midnight, Spanish-Italian-French food, and lots of random video footage. 

Sunday night after I arrived back, I played a show with Sam in the Landing. It was a little cold but a nice crowd showed up for some of Aramark's finest hot chocolate and brownies.  Thanks Jon Capell and UNCWeekends for putting this on and not making me set up my sound system out there.  This past Friday, played a show at West End Tavern..a new-to-me venue in Burgaw, NC about 20 mins up the road.  This was a great place, nice crowd and we hope to come back soon.  Coming up this week is Alice Jules in Monroe followed by break (once again) in Charlotte.  Peace, Jake.

February 18, 2008.  Hey everyone, hope stuff has been going well for all of you.  Lots of news to report this time, so here it goes.  February has definitely been a month of music and travel thus far..it's nice to actually be home for a few days.  I started off the month by heading to the Summit to lead music for Winter Seniors Conference, Diocese of NC.  This was my first conference in a year or so, and it was great to see all the friends out there.  A slightly awkward sound arragnement was reached between my amp and the historic Summit speakers, but overall it was a great weekend playing some of my favorite music. 

Next weekend was the Rusty Nail...still one of my favorite places to play in Dubtown.  As karma would have it, they have a brand NEW house PA, which worked well for our crowd at the bar.  I look forward to sharing some more shows with friends there next month.  This past weekend I was at the National Cathedral in Washington DC with Episcopal Campus Ministry of the Diocese of East Carolina.  It was a nice change of scenery as well as some real winter weather.  We stayed in Harry Potter's castle (College of Preachers) which made for some fun late-night exploring.  All in all a very relaxing weekend and a chance to meet some good new friends.

Coming up this week I've got a couple shows.  The first is at the Underground (new venue to me) which is a sandwich shop/brewpub located under Market St & Front downtown.  Saturday night I'll be sharing the stage with Jenny Beaver at Front Street Brewery.  Jenny is doing a set of acoustic covers of some classic pop/rock favorites and I'm excited to be appearing as her guitarist.  I will also do a smaller set of my songs as well.  Thanks everyone for keeping in touch and for all the support, it's fun to write these.

In other random news...
-Almost got signed to a fake record label scam on MySpace...if you ever hear of Dreamtrax Records (stay away)!
-Summer tour booking is underway...this year a dip into SC as well as NC and working on some BIG shows towards the end of it.
-Currently reading "The Story"...a new spin on the NIV Bible that makes scripture read like a thriller novel.
-Spring break is less than two weeks awaaaaay!

January 22, 2008.  Annnd we're back...to school that is.  I'm a week and a half back into classes and getting started for the spring.  Taking 13 hours which makes life a lot easier, more time for work and only a few deadlines a week instead of 10 a day.  Shows have been going well.  To mention so far, Tate Street in Greensboro which is always fun to play.  The have an excellent built-in crowd from UNCG and it was great to catch up with some of my friends from central NC that afternoon and evening.  Then played the Rusty Nail this past Friday...definitely my most fun show there to date. Good sized crowd and I had several friends come out as well, it was cool shooting pool and relaxing on break between the four-hour set. 

This weekend I got about 14 hours of sleep Sat night so I'm set for the week...and it's a short week too.  Shows coming up this weekend at Rusty Nail again and then Front Street Brewery for my very first time.  After that will be Winter Seniors conference at the Summit which I'm really looking forward to.  Haven't led music there since 2006 so it should be a great experience, especially since 1) they've decided not to sell the land adjacent to the Summit so Haw River Park will still be created and 2) everything including the little motel rooms where we stay has been renovated. 

Between the weekend shows I'm staying busy as ever with school work.  I am taking a lot of more objective (or subjective?) courses this semester...more thought-based than answer-based which is good for a change...although I do find myself pausing to reflect at random intervals quite often.  Looking forward to February which will be a lot of travel with good friends...New York City and Washington DC all in the same month with ECM as well as WSC.  So my laundry just buzzed...I guess I'll leave it here.  Thanks for tuning in and keeping up with what I'm up to.  Peace, Love, Harmony and all that stuff.  -Jake.