My only regret is not getting to catch up with more people. I saw faces passing by who had to get home fast, and I wished I could have told them how much it meant that they had come (Lauren and Jake to name a couple). The start of the show was hard- with no green room I was torn between saying hi to people and taking care of last minute arrangements. The best thing is that everyone understood because they know us personally. Please send photos you took to gracewoods(at)gmail.com so I can post them on this site! We had our dearest friends for an audience last night and I can’t imagine a more perfect CD Release. I just wish the DVD player would have worked! Check out our VIDEO page or click Rising Tear Music Video. You can buy a CD and T-shirt in our MUSIC section and please sign up for the e-mail list if you didn’t get to last night. We are very sorry many of you had “standing room” only and we are thankful you watched anyway and stayed till the end! We truly appreciate you hanging out with us on a Sunday night to celebrate! Special thanks of course to Jacob Wolkenhauer, Vanessa Van Spall, Isaac Ho, George Chavez, Curt Yagi, and you for making the night possible. Please leave feedback below on your experience last night. We really want to know how we can improve upon the show and make it a better night for you!

You have e-mailed; you have sent cards, bought T-Shirts, commented on our sites, came to hear us play again and again and exhibited a patience with our communication that goes beyond what the fans of distant radio stars would ever do. Now it’s our chance to reward you for getting personal with us. Now is our chance to give you more than what you expect. I’m going to stand up and sing on various songs, thanks to pianist Isaac Ho. Joe is going to play more than 3 different instruments. Joe and Whitney are also going to do things you have never seen before that they made me promise not to tell you! Curt Yagi is going to play the bass and Vanessa Van Spall (the lovely blonde who opened for us at the Make-Out Room) is going to sing accompanying vocals with Joe. And because you have gotten us this far, we’ve solicited George Chavez on the cello for one special song. If that isn’t enough, we hope you enjoy the music video we intend to play during the break, which probably has you in it. Thanks for helping us make it! Then there’s the fact that my brother Jim bought me a new microphone, Anna’s has a grand piano, and you can bring your 5 year old if you want to. Whitney and I baked cookies with my mom last night to be sent to our graphic designer Miguel in Spain. She just called me this morning to tell me we had left out a cup of butter (which makes a lot of sense in retrospect), but I am going to send them anyway because I like the lite version. So what other details can I put here that would be too long-winded in an e-mail? Well, I could tell you that we plan to play two short sets that night, and that my cousin Ellen and our friend Megan will be at the merch booth and Jacob Wolkenhauer our esteemed album producer will be doing our sound. Most of all we just want to express our gratitude for your support, your well-wishes your “how’s the band doing?” and your persistent presence in our lives. We are very excited to hear your feedback on your favorite songs on the 13 song album! There are little tastes of it in the music section right now! We also welcome your feedback on what things you’d like to see less of and what things we can improve upon to make our entertainment that much more enjoyable! Thanks for keeping music personal and living it with us!

First of all, thanks to Fawad, Jackie, Mark, Scott, Michelle, Jaime, Rachel, Angelina, Carlito, Peter, Ben, Alexandra, Brad, Ron and Jarod! We are so lucky we had such a caring and enthusiastic crowd with which to share new songs! We even played the Thomas Crown Affair theme twice to get it set in our heads, and as usual, the songs we were really worried about were the ones that went extremely well. My bro gave me this vintage mic for X-mas and it sounds super clear and crisp, but I am struggling to see the keys through it as I sing (think old school radio mic). Some mic switches and constant sound adjustments last night threatened our flow, but we handled it perfectly. Joe didn’t skip a beat even though he had to improvise so much. Scotty Rock and Roll showed up and adjusted our sound, thank Allah. We broke out other new elements for the CD Release and I’m dying to tell you how they went and what they were in this post, but you’ll have to ask some of our awesome Hayward friends and just come to Anna’s Jazz Island at 7:45pm on Sunday January 27th to check it out in person!

I’m sorry to hear that the Acalanes Alumni Benefit was cancelled, as I had looked up Jessica Winn the Mezzo-Soprano and was excited about singing with someone with such a full and lovely voice. Till next year then; I know how it is to have acts fall through. I have been playing guitar every night and am frustrated with constant buzzing despite my ease with entire songs now. Whitney, Will McCosker (drummer for Rattail Butler) and I had dinner last night at Zachary’s and I am excited to say he will be doing a guest appearance at our CD Release, along with various musicians you will recognize. Some of our promo-kits are being responded to and I am crossing my fingers to secure our spot in this year’s community events. I’m starting to get very tired of the mailing and e-mailing people who run festivals and farmer’s markets. But cheers to Aimee Mann and others who have come down the DIY road and maintained a level of control and profits with their music. My friend Billy White is taking off for a month to tour with an R & B band to Morocco. I’ve been there of course to various cities, which gives me the right to possibly spell it wrong and not even bother to to look it up. Anyway, I think boredom is a very grave emotion at times and I have finished “Children of the Mind” so I must have something new to read. Any suggestions? And oh yeah, see you at the Bistro tomorrow! Thanks for the message Fawad!