The Prairie Scholars: News

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKj6SJYby5c
Click on this and watch a live performance of C#m @ the Lubbock Legends Concert.

WHY???? Will someone please explain this trend to me? I''m not old. I should be able to understand how the young person's mind works but I can't figure this out. It can't be comfortable can it?

It's not so much the girls because they always wear the tight jeans and stuff but guys... ... .... ... .... I don't know how to explain my perplexedness! Where do you even "stash the treasure"?

Some one please help me! I want to understand, I really do. Please remember those pictures of your parents and how embarassed they are of how they looked. Time makes a fool of the man who lives in the moment!

I'm now officially in the market to buy/rent a house. Since the wife and I (having our 1 year aniversary today) have decided to base out of Lubbock after all for another year. Things are just going too well to pull out now. If you know someone who is renting a house please send them my way.

I am always interested in hearing more about people whocome to my site. Please sign my guest book and let me know who you are and where you are from.

My record is now playing on Californian radio stations. I had a friend call me the other day and tell me to tune in on my computer to this station's website. They played my record along with several other Lubbock artists on Sunday and I think this is going to be a regular thing. sweeeet.


kcss turlock.... all the way Waco and Texas Red

I took some nyQuil last night and I am totally zonked out today.

I wrote a new song called Ordinary Man. I'm pretty stoked about it. It's a folk ballad, which I'm into right now for some reason. Everything I write is very folky right now. I like it. Feels very strong and nostalgic (sp?) to play folk music.

So far this year I have played about 82 shows. That totals out to about 328 hours of music. I have driven something like 6050 miles for gigs. But I don't feel like I've done anything. I don't feel like I've gotten anywhere. When will I arive at that final location? If I do get there, will I know it? I don't think I'll ever be satisfied. That bothers me.

Try this:

when writing try writing the rhyme first.

This will help you get around the song in a new way and take you to places you have never been. Find two rhyming words ie Spring & String.

Now take those words and write them on the paper with a line above each word. This will set you up for a :

A
B
C
B

type rhyme.

then just string together the words with a "connecting line".

Such as:

I am the fringes of winter
Trapped in your jubilee of SPRING
I am the bleeding heart of poetry The final teir on a temple made of STRING

The more unrelated the words get the more interesting your lines will become because you will have to go further for a connection. So practice by picking completely unrelated rhyming words and connecting them. Really do challenge yourself by picking strange ones. The better you get at rhyming the less it will hamper your direction and focus. Rhyming is a tool so use it to your advantage, don't let it dictate to you the direction of your songs.

Go and be creative. Please help save us from the creative drought we, as a generation, are in.

I love my days off.

I get to just enjoy life. I love my life. The shows are fun too when I get a decent crowd who are worth playing to. I get to go back to Bodegas on thursday and I alway love that gig. Good people behind the bar and good people sitting in the crowd. Bodegas is always worth my time.

I haven't played a house party in a while. email me if you are needing some music.

So I got a friend request on the myspace....

from our cat. Our cat "Little Kitty" has a myspace. Now I'm faced with the delima of do I put Little Kitty in my top 8?

I think anyone who lives with you kindof has to be in your top 8 right? But what about cats? Will she know I didn't put her in my 8? Can cats get bitchier?

Try this:

Write a short story in ten words or less.

example: Baby shoes for sale, never used.

This will help you filter out words you don't really need and also will help you learn to really use your words carefully and not just pile them up.

The lyrics are the whole point of writing a song. I know that sounds obvious but how many times have you worried about the music and melody to the point that it hampered the process?

PLEASE: don't write a song if you have nothing to say.

Write the song for you. Play the intrument to support your lyrics. Great songs are songs that are lyric centric.

Go write some short stories and realize that the stories are works of art in themselves.

After sleeping in for a few days I feel back to normal. I think Jess and I are going to start a side project called...

"THE EPPLER FAMILY SIDE PROJECT"

This side project will perform once or twice a year and at that performance no one under the age of 18 will be allowed without a note from thier parents because this band will play all the worst and most horrible songs ever.

We have begun writing songs and will be uploading edited versions onto myspace in the next few months. We are very excited to be working together finally. Too bad it's on something so ... aweful.

Intoxication and Seduction
Andy Eppler 06



Sweet as Californian wine
But only as faithful as California itself
Did you consider me as anything other than a fleeting thrill or so?

Blushing like a cool sip of alcoholic ecstasy
Ignoring my teeth and making love to my tongue
Temping me to feel alive but leaving me with nothing but a bittersweet after taste and such.

Was there reason in our encounter?
My friends tell me,
You exploited me only for the warmth of my blankets or something

I don’t want to suppose such evil could come from such a loveliness
Though I expect the most ornate bottles are on the sale rack
Because quality seldom labels itself
or whatever.

I do take into account, however, the nature of your profession
and must therefore accept the exchange for what it is.
The most succulent sip of Californian wine must ultimately be swallowed or so.

It's so nice to be back home. I think I'm going to take the wife out for a nice dinner before the show tonight. Harrigans maybe... but we have been disappointed there the last few times. We have a gift certificate to that place though so that's probably the real factor. They used to be my favorite place in town but they have really gone down hill the past year or so.

SUGAR BROWNS TONIGHT @ 8:30!!!!


That will be a great show. It will be nice to play to my home crowd which comes out faithfully to Sugar Browns every time I play. My fans (the real ones) are the greatest in the world. Thanks for paying my bills for the past five years or so.

thanks

Wow, I just drove to Crested Butte and back... wow. I drove forever.

Crested Butte Last night, Estes Park tonight, Amarillo, TX tomarrow and the next night I'll be playing in Lubbock.

My mind is completely shot from being lost all day in different towns across Colorado.

I'll be home soon. Come out to Sugar Browns on Saturday to see what's left of me.

My father-in-law is now in town with me. He rode in on his motorcycle from Sweetwater, TX. We're going to go into Ft. Collins today to try and find this place I ate at last time I was here called the Silver Grill.

I'll probably have some pics up later today.

Stay tuned to see if Andy can appear to be a normal human being in front of the in-laws.

Yes, Day twelve.

I had lunch at Boston Market. It was amazing! Why don't we have that in Lubbock, WHY!!!

I played @ the Eagle Grill last noght. we had fun and I booked some more shows for later this year. I am working on two more tours of Colorado and New Mexico for this fall and winter. I have two shows in November here in Colorado. I don't know why I decided that was a good Idea but there it is. It is done, no man can stop it now.

I SLEPT IN!! Awesome! I'm playing @ the Eagle Grill tonight and I am really looking foreward to playing in a bar again. I think I'll feel more at home playing in a bar.

I was @ Starbucks last night and it was nice. The workers were really cool but not thar manny people came out. I remember a time when I would have been thrilled to sell four cds and for anyone to have heared my music. I had to stop myself and remember that the important thing was that someone had enjoyed my music.

Well I'm playing @ a starbucks tonight. I've played in them before, it's not so bad. I'm pretty stoked about it actually. Things have pretty much been shaping up for me here.

I think my father-in-law is thinking about comming up here to hang out while I'm here. He's a pretty good guy and it will be fun to have company... tee hee. I've began booking another tour up here in the winter... because I'm insane.

Blisterin' Barnicles!

The most awesome place I have ever been is Jamestown, Colorado. Big friendly dogs running around everywhere, no town cops, no town judge, just a couple buildings and a cafe. There's a little creek running through the town where poeple throw balls for the dogs to fetch. The entire town comes out to the Jamestown Merc every thurs and sat night for drink and music. Isolated and peaceful, Jamestown is my new favorite spot. I went camping in the park after washing my hair and what not in the creek. I woke up to such a beautiful view I had to take pictures for you guys so go look at them.

I am off today and back in Longmont for a show on saturday. Ths trip is really working out. I have plenty of cash and the gigs are going really well.

Do sign the guest book while you're here. I love to hear from you guys.

So I've been listening to this cd I was given in Boulder by Jenn Cleary and it's pretty great. You can go her site www.JennCleary.com and check her out, really a sweet person.

So I went camping last night. I was driving to Rocky Mntn Nat Frst but on the way I saw a sign for "Jellystone National Park Campgrounds". That's right Yogi Bear and Boo Boo themed camping. How could I resist? Apperantly it's this little family camp where people bring thier kids for birthdays and stuff. So I went into town and got some dinner and a sixer of Coors (tap the Rockies) and set up the tent in an isolated section of the camp. I have no idea why they would want to put a single, greasy, alcohol scented man sporting a camera and a laptop so far away from all the kids and recreation areas?

That's right readers I feel pretty certain that I was picking up a "call Chris Hanson" vibe.

Oh well, it was quiet most of the evening anyway.

Well, I woke up early with the sun again and am now sitting at Starbucks sipping some coffee. I was out with Danny Shafer at a bar called Connor O'niells. If you have never gone to Danny's site go today and listen to his album.

I am off tonight and will continue my search for a truely great place to eat in Colorado.

Well the show was empty last night and I knew it would be. Monday night in a coffee shop, what can you do huh? I met a couple of cool people though named Zack and Sarah with whom I spent most of the evening. I'm stoked about tonight though because I'm playing with a local band @ The Laughing Goat (one of my favorite spots in Boulder). After my part of the show I'm probably going to go hang out with my buddy Danny Shafer where ever he's playing.

Playing down by the UNC campus tonight @7 in Greeley. I don't know what to expect from this show. I've never been to Greeley. It's away from the mountains so it may be more what I'm used to as far as that goes but we are in Colorado and you can never know what kind of people you will meet.

This tour has been a load of fun so far and I'm not even half way done. I got to talk to the wife on the phone yesterday for like an hour and a half so that was nice. I miss her.

I am looking foreward to playing @ Sugar Browns next week, that crowd is always really good to me, but I will be back in the plains... bummer.

I can't find anything spicy in this entire state. No spicy chicken, no spicy pasta, no spicy salsa. WHY!!

Had a really great night in Estes Park last night. I played at the Wapiti bar and grill and the people were really great. The staff was so nice to me and the food was a-mazing.

My friends Bill and Gail O'hair let me sleep in thier spare bedroom. IT WAS SWEET!!! I've been "sleeping" in the car until now. The car is fine but a bed is sooooo much nicer. I probably wont stay here again though because I don't want to be "that guy".

The pictures from Estes Park are sweet. I look like a zombie. Look at my black sunken eyes.

Oh well, I think I'm better now. My gig for tonight got cancelled because the venue decided to start closing @ noon. I'm glad they were so considerate so as to not inform me. I happened to be checking up on venues and dates for the third time and the few people who knew what I was talking about had neglected to tell me of the change or even write my name down. I had confirmed the date with them twice before. How strange. The girl I talked to seemed really nice though, just a mistake, no boycott needed.

I'm going to go hang out in Boulder today.