Month: October 2003

Happy Halloween! Wednesday was another busy night at the Tree House open mic. A few new performers came out as well. 1. Ben Garvey – I played with a bongo player for the first time in my life. John Shaughnessy brought his bongos and played along to “I Hope I Die on the Moon,” “All…

Yesterday someone posted a comment to my bio page. You were born in Illinois. I was born in Illinois. Your birthday is October 26. My birthday is October 28. You are an accoustic musician. I am an accoustic musician. You play Johnny Cash. I play Johnny Cash. Your name is Ben Garvey. My name is…

If you don’t know about the open mic yet every Wednesday at the Tree House coffee shop from 8:00 – 11:00PM, then you should definitely come out tonight. You can sign up in advance here. If you don’t know what a coffee shop is, it’s a place where people go to hang out, hear music,…

About a week ago I saw some plants for sale at 7-11 that could grow in artificial light and only need watering 6 times a year. They’re called Cyber Plants. I picked one up for my cubicle at work and so far it’s still alive. A few of the leaves have died and fallen off,…

One decision I’ve been toying with for a while is whether I should free up the content on this site with a license agreement. I decided to go with an extremely open license that allows you to pretty much do whatever you want with this site’s content. You are free:* to copy, distribute, display, and…

I was about to go to bed when I read this on Google News. Four kids in Collingswood ages 10-19 were found starving in a foster home.COLLINGSWOOD, N.J., Oct. 26 ? The parents of four boys adopted from New Jersey’s troubled foster care system were arrested Friday, two weeks after the police found that the…

Today was my 25th birthday, which puts me at about 1/3 of the current life expectancy. My 20s are now either half over or half left, and in this case the optimist/pessimist argument seems to agree with itself. The good part is that I’m having a great time these days and I couldn’t be happier.…

Swarthmore College is getting a great reputation on the net for defending civil liberties in the Information Age. Recently, an internal Diebold memo floated around the net admitting security problems in their e-voting machines. The Swarthmore Coalition for the Digital Commons (SCDC) posted the memo to raise awareness that these machines may not be fool…

My mom mentioned she found a few of my old high school gig flyers, so I went to their house and scanned them in. Click on the images to enlarge them. This flyer is for a show I had on Saturday, July 5th 1997 at Coffee World in Marlton. Coffee World went out of business…

Thanks to Keith Lewis for sending this in. Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull is doing something awesome. He wants to be your backing band. Ian Anderson is looking for volunteers to appear as special musical guests on some of the upcoming shows on his USA “Rubbing Elbows” tour. If you are a resident of, or…

Today’s sign that the end is nigh. Elliot Smith commits suicide and Clay Aiken has the number one album in the country. Feel free to add your own signs in the comments.

Wow, I certainly didn’t expect such a great night after two slow weeks. I guess no one cares about baseball anymore. I took a bunch of pictures during the night, too. 1. Ben Garvey – I played “All my Dreams are in Cartoon,” “The Genius of it All,” and Beck’s “Jackass.” 2. The MDs -…

Rodney Anonymous is an insight into the mind of a Dead Milkman. John Shaughnessy introduced me to the site and I’ve been hooked ever since. Today’s “Thoughtless for the Day” is awesome.Some days I just feel like screaming at inanimate objects, or making crank calls, or sticking “I KILL COPS” bumper stickers on the backs…

Come on out to this week’s open mic at the Tree House in Collingswood, NJ. The show starts at 8:00PM and we’ll be hanging out until 11:00PM. You can sign up online here. This week looks like it will be a bit busier than last week as we already have a number of performers signed…

The Philadelphia City Paper has tons of tips and information for local musicians trying to get their music out.You know the most remarkable thing about Beowulf? It?s not the time he ripped off the arm of Grendel, the shadow stalker, stealthy and swift. Nor was it his underwater battle with Grendel?s mom, the wolf of…

For those interested in that sort of thing, my feud with Best Buy ended on Sunday when they gave me a brand new DVD player. I feel like I know everyone in their service department personally. The new unit is pretty cool, as it can play MP3s as well. It also plays VHS tapes, so…

Last night’s show at Marathon on the Square was a blast. Marathon is a pretty swanky place, but not too uppity. The food is good and the staff rocks. Thanks to everyone for coming out and to Susan and Tim for having me. Two hours is a fairly long time for me to play and…

It was kind of a slow night at the Tree House this week, but we had some new artists come out which what I really look forward to. 1. Ben Garvey – I must have played 15 songs throughout the night. That should give me some good practice for Saturday’s gig at Marathon on the…

I just booked a show this Saturday, October 18th, at Marathon on the Square at 19th and Spruce in Philly. I’m playing from 10:00PM to 12:00AM and they have $3 bottle and draft beers, margaritas, and rum & cokes from 9:00PM – 11:00PM. I highly suggest you make it out to the show. 19th and…

Tonight is the time to show off your talents at the Tree House in Collingswood, NJ. The open mic starts at 8:00PM and runs until 11:00PM. You can sign up online ahead of time or take your changes in person. See you there!