DeBlois Milledge Band: LETTERS

Here is the tale of the tune:
the sun went down over the Northern rocks of Guionnes and there I still was making a little music on the beach ( Susan would often interject ¨talking to a boy¨ here) when I decided to walk home it was not quite dark but getting there fast enough that I could see the stars exposing themselves in the sky like so many exhibitionists. Over said boy´s profuse offers to walk me home I decided to go it alone. The trail back is high grass, then a stand of trees, into a high canopy forest with not much undergrowth but plenty of antpiles and crabs, snakes?
Yesterday Susan and I walked the trail by my old house; the Reserve by the boca del Rio Montana, and we decided to walk silently for a few minutes. I could see her ahead of me walking in and out of the high grass and patchy sunlight...it was like a movie with Scary place playing in the background.

costa rica is so beautiful.

see you at home.
d

Hey everybody in Florida, VOTE TOMORROW. If you don't vote then you can't complain!!!!!

Also, Lizzie and I went on a shake down cruise in the Element to see Xavier Rudd in concert with Mishka opening.... SUPER. Check them out on u tube, and when they come to your town go! you won't be dissapointed.

love
deblois'

Lizzie and I are hitting the road again. Rosie and Lucky are currently accepting signatures on their petition to be allowed along, to vote for them call Lucky's personal assistant, Dempsey.

We will leave on March 10th and travel by ELEMENT to Austin for the festival and then on to Dallas, Little Rock, Memphis, Nashville, Asheville, Atlanta, Jax Beach, and home to Miami. It is a bit of a whirlwind tour with about 2 days in each place, and hopefully a place to play in every town.
I hope this letter finds you well and if you have been to SXSW call to tell me about your experience.
Thanks!

When my Dad was in college, younger than I am now, he bought with a group of buddies a place West of Lake Okeechobee, a little peice of land accessable only by canoe, or john boat, or now in the new millenium, by Swamp Buggy. They built a little cabin, two rooms, a kitchen and a porch. Outside they made a fire circle, dug a well, built an outhouse. From the time that I was six months old and continuing through last weekend I have had the great opportunity to learn to love the swamp, alligators, blue herons, and beautiful spanish moss on the trees. It is a place that allows you to realize the importance of silence, it is a master Zen lesson, just by being there.

There are some great photos from our last trip there...

Thanks Dad for not buying a car, or a surfboard, or a trip to Europe all those years ago, Fisheating Creek is priceless.

Such a lovely little cabin tucked away, far away.....

oh it is so beautiful there.

I'll tell you about it sometime.

love Deblois

My friends Jim and Nancy Fant are living on their sailboat in Key West. We met when I was teaching surfing in Costa Rica, and Nancy and I used to paddle out together quite a bit. Of an evening Jim and I would pick the guitars, everybody swilling back Imperial; the Tico beer.... These are obviously the indistructable building blocks for a life long friendship. So when they heard that I had relocated to the states and was making music full time and in their town on tour, of course we reconnected. Nancy has picked up Kite Surfing and in typical fashion (she is a badass; ex: we went spearfishing, and before I even had my mask and fins on she was tossing hog fish in the boat)) she is teaching now for a company in Key West. So she managed to get me along for a pretty good day winds at 20, beautiful crystal clear on the sand bar. She set me up with a 10 meter kite, got all my lines worked out for me and we spent most of the day learning how to fly the kite. How to change directions, how to launch (get started) how to stop (I mean besides crashing) To fly with one arm, then the other arm, how to get on my board, that the kite comes first, you can go get your board later.....
wow, information overload. But she was patient and kind and I had sooo much fun it was like learning to surf only it doesn't take ten years. It does however take more than one day. I'll let you know how I progress....

At the end of Christmas Dempsey, cousin Cameron and I all went up to Austin to stay with Pat and Connie (and Gumbo, who is Lucky's friend). They have a great place walking distance from downtown... so of course we went out. We saw a show at the Saxxon Pub, a girl called Carolyn Wonderland. She was a blues artist, she played the heck out of a telecaster electric guitar. She had a keyboard player and a drummer with her, she took all the leads, holy macaroni! plus her voice was amazing, her original compositions were great..... I loved it.

The next day we went for a LONG walk all around the river. Gumbo went swimming, even though it was cold out. Back at the house we were preparing for a house party. Pat and Connie have some great friends and Pat and I played John Prine tunes till the wee hours.
It was a lovely trip and I hope to get back to Austin for South by Southwest!!!!

Dempsey and Lulu and Chris (Lu's husband) and I all flew out to San Antonio for Christmas with our family. My Grandfather Vernon (my mother's father) is the ultimate patriarch, he rules over a very eclectic nest of folks:
here is a rundown of the cast of characters,
Aunt Sarah, my mother's sister and the queen bee. It is her and my Uncle Bryan's house where we all crashed for 3 days of family fun.
Their kids: Cameron, the ranching Cowboy who lives in Montana, literally on a mule. He has some of the best back country songs and stories.
Erin, an artist and a dancer, beautiful singing voice too.
My Uncle Johnny, the sweethearted Doctor who is very hip, he had already downloaded my new cd from iTunes.
His kids MaryAlice, Vernon and Rebecca, Mary Alice's husband Bob, Vernon's wife Susan.... Aunt Vicki's kids Travis and Tracy plus her two adorable little kids, Cousin Megan, the absolute coolest, even when you count her brother Blake who spends all his time with rockstars....you might be getting the idea, there are about 20 of us, all 21 or older and not telling how much older because we are young at heart!!!!!! We have such a good time being all together. Everyone should be so lucky to have a family like mine. We take all kinds, no questions asked!

So the most beautiful time of the year has arrived, holidays and cold fronts and christmas trees....
I am trying to stay home, or at least near Miami so I can work on some things in the "big picture" folder, like satellite radio airplay, and selling digital tracks directly from my website, and designing my custom tour bus (ha ha)
Anyway, this is my plan and I am bravely ignoring the fact that I have very few gigs lined up, hoping that people will want me for their holiday parties.

if so call me
305.310.2163

hope everyone had a great thanksgiving,
I am thankful for all of you who read these little letters, and thankful for the chance to make music every day.

God bless,
Deblois

I am ever so slightly nostalgic packing to go to Nosara, I can't wait to see all my friends and surf good warm waves. Dempsey is coming with me and Lulu is taking care of Lucky and company.
We'll see you when we get back.

So Lizzie, Brendan O'Hara, Will "the Thrill" and I made up a somewhat motely crew, but we networked our litle buts off and had a pile of fun watching all the bands. Brendan and I were done with our showcases by 3pm so we had all day and night to wander around backstage and oogle at all the rockstars with their funky hairdo's. We gave out our cd's to everyone we thought might help us one day, and to a few people who probably won't ever, and you know I hardly Ever give cd's away, I even make Dempsey buy copies for her friends, but I decided to embrace the "investing in the future" mentality and managed to get a copy to the singer from ALO, Zach, (who is incedentally the keys player for Jack Johnson, Me'shell Ndegeochello, and her lovely guitarist Oren who was such fun to talk to, the promoter of the festival Joe Fletcher. I also got to talk to Colby Calliat, and Brandi Carlile, who are both young female singer songwriters sort of like me, but with more money and fans, and finally and ironically most important or at least most immediately fruitful; I gave a CD to Patty who was the bartender at the beer booth by the stage, which ended up landing me a gig at a new venue, Monterey Live....
see you just never know.
Anyway it was all very lovely and Brendan and I wrote a song at Julie's house about accountability.... Its called "It's not my job",
or "that's how nothing gets done" or whatever Brendan the brilliant comes up with to name it.
There are some major fires happening in So Cal right now so send your thoughts and prayers to all that lose their homes. I am in San Fransisco where my gigs keep getting cancelled but I am of an iron heart and disposition, and I'll find some more gigs....or I'll do like my Dad just reccomended and find a park and write a new song, he said you know its not so bad to have a day off.....

love to all
Deblois

So Pooh and Kenny and I got in the water at the jetty at OB for little while before our gig, which went amazing. We played for 3 hours and played 3 cover songs.... and the management loved us!!! Go figure?
I am trying to decide if I should take a train? rent a car? find a magic carpet? hitchhike? take a plane? to Monterey from San Diego at 4am tomorrow morning so that I am in time for my big 20 minute showcase at the Monterey Music Summit, did I tell you who else is playing???? (Jimminy Crickets!!!!!) Cake, The Roots, Micheal Franti, Me'shell Ndgechello.... oh my.
but as always I'll work it out, and don't worry worriers I won't really hitchhike.

check us out on the Hog Cam... we're getting pretty good now. The Hog's Breath is so fun, what a place to play. I am gradually earning the respect and favor of a very nice bunch of locals who are making up the core of my friend group down here. It has been raining a little so we haven't got on the water very much, but Nancy, (a friend from where else? Costa Rica) wants to teach me to kite surf... Yes Please.

I surfed just about every day I was there, and although it was never epic it was fun most days. The wind was out of the West for a few days giving us great conditions. The best I had it was with my friends Jim and Matt Skiba at Masenboro Island... I don't know if that's how you spell that (all the locals just call it Mase).
It was maybe waist high but fun little rippers, breaking fast and shallow, South Beach style.
I also had a fun long board expression session at Wrightsville Beach on a big homemade long board of Mikey (my bass player)'s making. The waves were so little but perfect shape. Lenny and I took the boat out a couple of mornings hoping for the dawn patrol score but mostly just ended up with a quick workout and a cup of coffee, worth it in every way, one more example of how its not what you surf but who you surf with that counts.
Another morning Skiba, Grady, and Mikey (with a broken rib, what a trooper!) and I went to Mase and had some decent little lines, its always more fun when you are playing hooky to surf with your pals! This is the only time I have ever surfed with these guys when we weren't in Costa!

My friend Kim and her girls Lacie and Hagan and I took out the boat all by ourselves (Kim is a badass) and we went clam catching, which I have never done and it was so fun and some hard work!!!! In the end we had about 80 clams and 2 mysterious mollusks (you can see Lacie holding one in a picture, does anyone know what this is????) We took em home and steamed em up and ate like Kings, or more accurately Queens!

so beautiful here....
we had a house concert at our friends Marty and Bryan's house; excellent food, nice crowd, tons of cds sold!!!! Their little boy Andy knew all the words to Don't Blink, just about melted my heart. Hoping to go surfing today with all my little friends (Hagan Lacie, maybe Charlotte and Andy) and I have the first rehearsal with the band tonight at Mikey's.... its all coming together for the weekend..
love to all wherever you are.
d

Here is a haiku for my friend Kevin, who is a lifegaurd at South Beach, where the waves are very very fickle and either you're on it or you're not..

when there are waves you call me.
dawn break or sunset.
thank you for being my friend.

at least I think thats how a haiku goes...
Aloha Kev!!!

I have been reading a ton, and I thought I might share with some of you some of the great books I have been into...
Mile's Davis' Autobiography is super interesting, he takes you from his youth in St Louis to NY and all the way through his fame and women and drugs...
The best part of the book is when he is still coming up under the tutalage of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gilespi, the NY scene during that be-bop time must have been a dream on the order of Alice's looking glass, very surreal.

I also got into a book called Hyperspace a very readable disertation on quantum physics and space-time. He says that there are ten dimensions and that even though this is hard to imagine the laws of physics actually become simpler and more complete in the context of ten dimensions... I swear you can read it and understand it; this from me who begged my sister Sarah to pass highschool math and chemistry for me, needless to say, I never even got close to a physics class or higher mathematics.
I loved this book because it explains some of the theories that science fiction is based on like time travel through tesseracts, and the art of Picasso and Leonardo Davinchi, painting as if from the fouth dimension...
very cool stuff.

I also read a book about a doctor who has a clinic in Haiti. Doctor Farmer's endless struggle to fight for better conditions for the poor is an inspiration, and his accomplishments are staggering. This is a human interest story that will humble even those of us who regularly volunteer at soup kitchens, or in big brother programs...

And last but not least I am reading the final Harry Potter!!! I love these books I think the plot is intense and engaging and I wish I could do magic and go to Hogwarts and fight Voldemort... if only real life were so clearly divided into good and evil.

SO while I was gone Dempsey and Carl conspired to get a new kitten. His name is Velveteen (according to Dempsey) and Carl Junior (C.J.) according to Carl. He is all gray and very cute I have to admit. Lucky is nonplussed about the whole thing and steadily growing rather rotund on her new diet of kitten chow. The best thing about the new kitten is that he commutes to work with Dempsey and Lucky. Every morning the whole crew makes the trip to the big house and Teeny just chills! No box, no freak outs.
He's crazy, but we're glad to have him....

Tory lives on a house boat, which is maybe a wee bit glamorous of a
word (and nowhere near cool enough of one) to describe the one room
wooden cabin anchored in the slow moving river near the organic farm
she works on. The farm is called the Food Bank Farm and is a
collaborative effort between the Food Bank and Micheal Doctor and his
team of apprentices to create produce that is organic and delicious.
50% of the food goes to the Food Bank to be ditributed to shelters
and soup kitchens in the community, and 50% goes to share-holders in
the farm. It is beautiful concept, backed by the hard labor of Tory
and others like her.... I think I've tried to tell you guys how
amazing it is to be around Tory, she is the gentelest reminder that
we can all do just the slightest bit more to help the world be a
better place, without ever actually saying anything at all, she's
like my Dad like that. The first night I slept aboard I was awakened
at around 8:30 by a screaming hawk. Tory had long since gone to plow
the fields or pick the peppers, I looked out the window and saw a
heron, one canoe, and nothing else, just water and sky and trees. I
convinced myself to take a swim across the river and back, bathed in
the chilly water and canoed to shore to begin the hike to the farm.
I pretty much just ate all day, understandable when everwhere you
look are the most delicious zuchini muffins, home made tomato soup,
greens of every kind with local fresh made dressing, fruit, ice
cream, fresh churned butter and toasty bread.... amazing. By the
time Tory and I got back to the house boat for our evening with a
giant box of even more food and a big plan to cook out I wasn't
hungry... at all. So we played guitar and watched a beaver swimming,
he slapped his tail at us! We caught up about old times and new times
and I taught her some of the music theory that Bill has taught me,
(some people don't know this but Tory was in the first band I was
ever in along with Chris Lindseth, Dad said we should call ourselves
the Blond Bombers...surely we didn't agree to that, but I can't
remember what we did decide on.)Anyway it was a magical night with my
best friend.
Today it has rained all day, affording me at long last the
opportunity to write all of you. I am sitting on the perifery of a
meeting for a Non-profit organization called Arise for Social
Justice.
Arise for Social Justice is a low-income rights, anti-oppression
membership organization in western Massachusetts. Arise was started
in 1985 by four women on Welfare who met around a kitchen table and
decided to organize and advocate for their Rights. Arise has grown
over the years. To get involved (ie send money... they really need
it.) email arise@riseup.net or torylf@hotmail.com
You'll probably communicate with Michaelann, or Tory; they are both
amazing!
I can't wait to get home to my roomates: Dempsey, Lucky, and a
suspicious new arrival who is reported to be grey and fluffy and
named Junior or Snoopy or something... (more on that later) and my
sweet little house that I never seem to sleep in. I am hopeful about
the coming months, looking for good weather, waves, the opportunity to
help out where I can in my own little way, and the chance to sing for
lots of you.

Cape Cod:
I jumped the ferry the next day to Hyannis where Greg met me in his
giant cargo van, (can't wait to tour in that thing) and we spent a
little time catching up, seeing Rosie, and putting down all my gear
before running around Cliff Pond. It's about a 3 mile run and very
all terrain and beautiful, but I have been swimming and not running
all summer so I paid a heavy price for this workout. That night we
played at Joe's Bar and Grill, and we were a smash, we had such fun
and I sold a bunch of CDs, G even got a raise.... we must be doing
something right. The next day was the crown jewel, we hiked to a
place called High Dune, and if it sounds like something out of a C.S.
Lewis novel, you are on the right track towards imagining how
beautiful this is... A gently sloping upward hike of about 2 miles
ending at a dune 120 feet high. You look down at the pristine ocean
before bounding down the steep sandy side of the dune to the beach
below. Naturally Rosie brought her hula-hoops along for the day,
which turn out to be the most fun in the world. (don't knock it till
you try it). We hung out there hula-hooping and daring each other to
body surf the chilly water, before hiking back up the dune (ouch) and
down the trail and all the way to a small fresh water pond, which we
swam across for the fun of it and to rinse off the salt and the sand.
That night we played a show in Wellfleet at The Juice. It is an
outdoor venue with a great vibe and a cool stage made of brick in the
shape of a whale. Wellfleet is an amazing community; one example of
this is the striking way they have rallied around one of their young
people who was involved in a skateboarding accident so severe they
did not expect him to live. Through the prayers and money raised by
the community the whole town remains hopeful for his full recovery.
You can read more about this incredible story and add your well
wishes to theirs at this link:
http://www.calebpotter.com That show went amazing; I love Wellfleet, and it had the added bonus
of reuniting me with Brandino, a long time friend who taught surfing
at Corky Caroll's with me in Costa Rica back in the day. We were so
revved up that we decided to hit another bar after our show was
finished (a critical tactical error), this bar is called the
Bombshelter or the Bombshell or something but loclas call it the
Bommy, and the next morning I was acutely aware of why. I managed to
pull through and make an appearance at the local Cape Cod sand castle
contest in which Rosie's family won 3rd place for their castle, an "i
Cod" very cool stuff, her younger brother Bozie was particularly
stoked. My last night in the company of Greg and Rose we went to a
house party and had a great time making music and eating lobster,
little necks, grilled chicken and veggies. They had the biggest
cooler I have ever seen filled to bustin' with Cold Coors Lights!!!!!
I was so happy my hangover went away immediately. Greg and I sang
every duet that we know and a few songs by request that we don't
know... we sure had a lovely time. The next day I had to leave and
we all shed a little tear, it was a great visit and wonderful to
connect with some of my favorite peeps.

Nantucket:
The next day I went to Nantucket and into John and Susan's care.
Dinner followed by a jam session and a game of Murder in the Dark.
John's family is one after my own heart; game players and story
tellers and singers and peach-schnaaps makers....Murder in the Dark
is not for the faint of heart and so I loved every minute of it. The
next day there were waves (yipeee!) and so we all surfed and hung out
and later that night we went to a Tango party held by John's aunt. I
finally found the moment to wear this fabulous green dress I bought
in Atlanta with Rebekah, and tangoed my little heart out. Turns out
I am much better at Swing and Salsa, thanks to the tutalage of Olie,
and Pio and my other friends down in Costa, and even still I am not
exactly thinking of trying out for "so you think you can dance". But
it was still a blast. The next day Rockwell and John (sources of
endless thought provoking conversations on Democracy, Capitalism, Art
and the tar-baby effect of the system in place) had to leave for the
big city leaving Susan and I alone to talk about what we like to talk
about (shoes and boys) just kidding. But we did engage in our all time
favorite activities (next to surfing) walking Hrairoo (her dog,
roughly the same age and disposition as Lucky, meaning ancient and
sage) and Creative Time, she with paints and pens, and I with my
guitar. Picture it: 2 cups of hot tea steaming, the North Atlantic
with a light west wind laid out before us, me with every layer of
clothing I own on... and a severe case of writer's block that has
been getting me down for months. I finally interupted Sue to beg for
her help and we ended up writing a new song together..
Crazy about Me (not just crazy)
Maybe you'll get to hear it soon.

So...NYC....
on Sept 1st I flew to NYC and went to Susan's apartment (another in
the long list of fabulous green rooms that I am so lucky to have
spread out across the country courtesy of my amazing network of
friends) and had a shower and a nap before hitting the coffee shop,
Gizzi's, in the West Village where I played that evening. Nick, the
fellow who played just before me turned out to be the most positive
creature on the planet, a surfer from Long Island, he has a great
song kind of hip-hop-esque "LI to Harlem". Nick and all of Nick's
rowdy buddies stuck around for my show and so we had a blast hand
clapping and singing together.
There was a great turn out of people in my tribe, my brother Luis and
his girlfriend Krissa were there, my aunt Glenn Ellen and cousin
Megan, Tory, Ray, Deb, my friend Art from Costa Rica, my friend
Charles and his crew who I know from college in Ga. Sandra's friend
Justin and his girlfriend, Becky, her boyfriend, and her mom.....The
very best was that most of this giant and somewhat random crew all
went out for a beer just after the show and it was so fun to
introduce all these folks and explain the somewhat tenuous
connections....soon abandoning this in favor of five excellent
conversations.

Hey ya, I am up visiting my cuz Blake in Asheville listening to music on my couple of nights off. I'll head back down for Carl's birthday in Atlanta and Buffalo is flying in to meet us on Friday. We start a marathon of gigs then, and I am looking forward to playing with my favorite homies again.

I am working hard, although not as hard as Lizzie on a tour to California and coming up with nothing so if any one knows how I can get some flipping gigs out there please let us know....I have a place to stay, a free plane ticket and band all lined up to play with me, a new record to sell,

and no gigs....
but never losing heart and keeping my chin up I am off to email a few more people asking for a chance.

lots of love and luck to you wherever you are,
Deblois

I am on my way to Atlanta for Rebekah's wedding(my college roomate) and I stopped in at Cocoa Beach where my friend Lee is having the last hoorah of the summer with her kids. Lee and I were thouroughly entertained by knee high windchop and sandcastle building. (the kids had fun too)

Once I am in Atlanta I have bridesmaids responsibilities, I told Bekah that my strengths lie in light construction and beer buying, rather than fashion consulting and women's lunches.... lucky for me she totaly understands this.
Additionally Ihave several gigs in the ATL, mostly at Marlow's Tavern which another college buddy Gabriel hooked me up with.
I am trying to convince Carlo to come and join me for his birthday and three shows next weekend, maybe we can even tuck Buffalo in the trunk, and tada! I'll have my band of choice!
Well anyway here's hoping.....
send your friends to me in Atlanta.
xo
Deblois