I was on ichat with my friend Austin a few minutes ago and I wanted to use a word. The word that means what you can and and can’t say, and also means how to be polite. I wrote “eticate” but I knew that wasn’t right. Then I wrote “edicate”, then “etticate”, “etticite” and I almost had a panic attack.

THANK GOD FOR THE INTERNET.

I googled “edicate” and it said “Did you mean etiquette?”

“YES!” was my quite verbal reply.

Ok, now that I’ve shared that little moment of heart-stopping terror with you I should say that if you’re in Nashville and you’re not going to be watching the season premiere of Lost tomorrow night, you should come see me play.

I’m playing at a place called The Covenant School, which is a private Christian school. I met Danny, one of the teachers there, at a show here in town and he has been telling me about his vision for teaching the parents of his students about art and Jesus and the idea that everything is sacred. It’s pretty invigorating talking to this guy.

So he asked me to come and sing songs and tell stories at a fundraiser for their school. There’s also an art show at this event, featuring local artists like these (1, 2, 3). He’s asked some of these artists to do pieces based on my songs and apparently there will be some of them there. Needless to say, I’m pretty excited to see them.

So, yeah, I’d love it if we could have a good audience for him and his vision.

Also, I’ve updated the tour dates as of this morning. There are some special events coming up here in Nashville in mid-to-late February that you need to check out.

(If you’re reading this on MySpace, some of the tour dates aren’t showing up because Tom won’t stop giving me errors on the March 2 and Feb 7 shows.)

Well, a big, fat thanks to all of you who chipped in with suggestions for songs for the sampler, who voted for t-shirts (and submitted them) and who’ve inquired about helping to fund the free EP. I can’t say how honored I am by you guys. It’s pretty inspiring, to know that somebody out there cares. I’ll stop gushing, but dang, you rule.

After five years with touring as a part of Caedmon’s I’m finally getting my own little section of the show, officially. I’ll get to use the band to back me up, so I’ll be doing my songs within their set. This often happens last minute for me to do one or two tunes, but I’ll probably do three and get to play them full-band. That’s exciting for me.

Actually, though what’s more exciting is that I’ll be able to bring out my own merchandise. This is something I’ve never done before. Hence the need for a t-shirt design. I’ll have those shirts, some coffee mugs, and a bushel of CD’s available. I’m also getting the hang of PhotoShop after this week. I’ll figure out a way to make that stuff all available online as well. It’s going to be fun.

Tomorrow I’m going to go over and play a few new Avalon guitars, an acoustic guitar company I really love and endorse. They’re going to help us out with a new guitar or two for the tour, so I get to go play a bunch and pick them out. Even though I probably won’t be the one using them, it will be fun. I kind of have a thing for guitars.

Todd and I had lunch today at this interesting Cajun/Uruguayan restaurant. Yeah, you read that right. I don’t know how he finds these places, but he does. It was good, but I felt a little, um, different, for a good couple of hours afterwards.

Todd’s beard is looking super awesome right now, as well, I’ll have you know.

Ok, so I’m printing up versions of the Letters EP to give away on the upcoming Caedmon’s tour. I want to add a pair of songs from each of my full-length albums after the EP, as a bit of a sampler. I’ve got these picked so far:

After the Garden (The Morning)
Kara (Photographs)
New Mexico - Bonus Version (Photographs Remastered)
Early in the Morning (The Morning)

It’s not feeling quite right. “After the Garden” seems too much after “Swing Wide” and the other three are all spacious, atmospheric numbers. Which I tend to love the most. Any better ideas? I’ve got three or four hours tops, so if you have an idea leave it as a comment quickly! Thanks!!!

(By the way, in a few days I’ll have a page up where folks can help both chip in financially to give these away and also request some for themselves to give out. If anybody has any suggestions for setting that stuff up, I’ve got ideas but, again, don’t feel they’re quite right. Rock!!!)

Well, I think there were a couple winners in the t-shirt contest. Numbers 1 and 6 seemed to take the cake, and will be printed up shortly. Thanks for sending them in and for voting!

Just think: Very soon you will be able to own your very own piece of interWeb-inspired soft, cotton-y, wearable goodness, all thanks to you and your hard work checking in here every couple of days.

So I’ve been working like mad on a secret project this week. And it’s been fun. I wish I could tell you how fun, but then it wouldn’t be a secret and XXXX would kick me XXX XX XXX XXXX and then I’d never get to tell you about XXX XXXXX and XXX XXXXXXX XXXX XXX. But soon, and very soon, I promise you. And I think you’ll like it. Especially X XXXXX XXXX XX XX XXX. (and XXXX XX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXX.)

(Note: The previous paragraph has been monitored and edited, to keep you safe, by XXXX and XXXX. Our apologies.)

Today I got to do something wonderful. The illustrious Ben Shive came to the studio, and old pal Cason came by a bit later, and I got to play guitar on some of Ben’s songs. I’ve told you, and him, for years that his record will be my favorite record of the year, whatever year it actually gets finished in. I feel like I practice and work and do all the things that aren’t fun so that I get to spend a few days a year working on music this good. It is all worth it.

I pretty much only played through the Leslie today, too, which was super fun. (For those of you who don’t know, the Leslie is the rotating speaker you usually hear an organ through.) There are a lot of pedals and computer plug-ins that simulate this sound, but at Sputnik today we fired up the real one, Coles ribbon mics in stereo on the low horn and a Korby FET on the top and: Shazam! What a glorious sound.

Enough nerd talk.

Actually, enough talk of any sort. I have to go pick up dinner. See you later.

Many choices were given to me, seven are being passed on to you. Leave it as a comment, what’s your favorite? I have a couple I particularly like, but again, I’m leaving it up to you. Let the voting begin…

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

Option 4

Option 5

Option 6

Option 7

Thanks to everybody who sent your ideas in. And if you think have something great, still send it in, we may be able to pick some more a little later. Here we go!

It’s a little known secret that one of the best tools for getting an independent musician out of a jam is to have a contest. And so without further adieu…

A CONTEST!!

I just realized that I need to have designs for t-shirts in the next couple of days so I can have some to sell on the Caedmon’s tour. I have a couple of ideas, but I’m really curious to see what you guys would come up with.

So here’s the deal, and it’s very simple. I want to make the shirts affordable, both for me to buy from the printer and for you to buy at the show, so they’re going to be one color on a colored shirt. Line drawings are perfectly acceptable.

What we want: A shirt that is clever, fun, silly or just a little strange; that reflect something of my music and my website. And that says “www.iLikeAndy.com” on it.

What we don’t want: A shirt that says the name of a different website or artist. That would defeat the purpose.

SO: Send me your drawing of an idea you’d like to have on a shirt. Pen on white paper is fine, scan it or take a picture of it or whatever. I’ll post the best ones (to me) on Monday and then you can vote on which one you like the best. The winner gets a free shirt, obviously, and something else that I’ll think of later. (I’ll ask take suggestions for prizes).

You guys are the greatest and I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Well, I’ve been playing catch-up the past few days. Returning e-mails and phone calls that have piled up over the past month of my sabbatical. I think I’m about done now, or at least am at the point where I just have to wait for the returns to my replies. You know how it goes…

I’ve written a couple songs in the past few days. Two are aimed at an upcoming project that I’ll hopefully get to tell you about really soon, possibly later today. I’m really excited about both of the songs.

I told you last month about that Tom Petty documentary we watched. It has so gotten under my skin and inspired me to keep aiming for simpler, catchier ways of saying things. “Don’t bore us, get to the chorus.” It’s been a good exercise, trimming every unnecessary thing so all you hear are the things about the song you love.

I used to think this kind of stuff was all tricks for dumb, lowest-common-denominator pop music. I’m realizing now that a lot of the great artists I love learned these tools, and it’s what has allowed them to reach so many people. It’s not selling out when Springsteen gets to the chorus quickly or when U2 repeats it eight times. It’s poetry to say the thing you want to say and not clutter it with things that don’t contribute to your point. And this is as much musically as it is lyrically.

I first dabbled with that aspect of songcraft on the Letters EP and I think I learned a lot from it. That’s the first solo project I’ve done that I still consistently listen to, just because I enjoy it. Here’s hoping for more of that in the future.

I love my job.

What did you do today?

I got to be in a movie.

Well, maybe not a movie. Maybe a self-filmed commercial for a friend’s new record. The record’s really good. Amazing, actually. And you should buy it. And you should also watch this. Alison and I did about five times in a row. Cause it’s awesome.

Here’s a recording of Hold the Light from the Imperial Theatre in Augusta, GA. This was the second to last Peterson Christmas show, and it was a really good one.

The band on this tune was Cason on piano, Garett on cajon, Marcus Myers on bass, Andy Gullahorn singing background (along with Cason) and me singing and playing the ol’ Gretsch. Hope you enjoy…

[audio:http://www.andyosenga.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/hold-the-light-live.mp3]

So here we are. The Sabbatical is over. It’s been nice. I feel like I have some new things to talk about. I’m going to ease back in and just give you a few random bullet points of things I’m thinking today. As always, but especially today, I love to read your comments on the awesomeness, absurdity or sheer Clay-Aiken-ness of my writings. Here we go…

- I caught the last 15 minutes of American Gladiators tonight. I’m 100% behind the writers and their strike. (They make 10% per episode on DVD what I get per song on a CD. That’s the bulk of my income, so I understand and support them mightily). BUT. Bringing American Gladiators back is pretty cool. I kind of want to be on it, but it’d be a lot more fun to compete against Cliff or something than some dude named Blayz.

- I’m sitting next to a brand-new Fender Stratocaster. As of two weeks ago I’m now an official Fender endorsee. (Obligatory Link) I’m pretty excited about it. I’ve got a Tele and a Jazzmaster coming, but they’re both backordered right now. People with real jobs can just afford to buy them. People with jobs like mine have to work for the deals. Honestly, though, it’s a huge honor, they’re very selective with who they work with, and it’s great to get to choose the guitar that’s exactly what I need to strive for my own vision. And yes, this means I’ll be selling my old ‘78 soon. I’ll keep you posted.

- Randall took me by a new barbecue place exactly two blocks from my house. This is bad news.

- Randall, and the other guys in my neighborhood, are trying to talk me into running a half marathon with them in May. I’m actually thinking about it. Why?

- Remember how I asked for advice about going to Disney World or SeaWorld? Turned out I didn’t need it. We got there and were handed five-day passes to Disney World! This was awesome. I expected to roll my eyes about it while having fun watching the girls enjoy it. I was sort of right: The girls LOVED it. But so did I. It sounds cheesy, but it really is a pretty magical place. We were really grateful for the time to be there together, something we never could have afforded to do on our own. Here are a few pictures that just make me happy…

- Our TV remote’s On/Off button is very hard to push. This is a good thing most of the time…

- I’m meeting soon with a couple other fellas named Andy to talk about an idea you may like.

Well, that’s going to be it for today. Thanks for your patience and here’s to a great new year!