This constitutes Part II in the “Bus 152″ post from about a year ago….

For the past year I (a.k.a., the publishing company I hired) tried to pitch (i.e., sell) my song “Bus 152″ (Land of the Living) to be a part of the film score for the new movie based on Jon Krakauer’s 1996 book, Into The Wild. The movie, directed by Sean Penn, premieres in theaters 9/21/07. My song did not make it on the score/soundtrack (yes, I am bummed) but I am glad this true story was made into a movie, regardless. It deserves it. Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam) did the score and I think it includes songs from a couple of other artists whose names currently escape me. I suppose I’ll need to channel Mr. Vedder next time…

A petite history:
For those of you who may be late to the game, a few years back I wrote this little harmonica-accompanied song called “Bus 152″ that was based on this good book retelling the story and retracing the steps of Christopher McCandless, at the time a brand new college graduate who became weary of society and thus sought to live some portion of the rest of his life in solitude. That is exactly what he did. Christopher changed his name to Alex and forged his way to the middle-of-nowhere Alaska where he set up house in an old, abandoned bus used by hikers and hunters as a refuge. Christopher was not well prepared for the weather - he had brought very few possessions along - and was found frozen and starved-to-death a few months later by folks passing through the area. Krakauer, in his typically thorough and exhaustively researching way, recounts Christopher’s journey across America into the wild. It is both beautiful and devastating to read. Ideals clash with reality. Fathers alienate sons. Wisdom seems to forgo knowledge. Life, death, gain, loss.

In the least self-aggrandizing way I know how, I wish to point those of you who may not have my 2001 album, Land of the Living, to my myspace page where you can listen to the song in its entirety, and, if you’re willing and able, to purchase a copy of LOTL. You can also purchase the song or whole album on iTunes, if that’s your druthers. Either way, thank you for staying tuned in and interested in the highs and lows of it all as I try to get back in the swing of the information age.

I need your help. The booking agency who has been working to book some shows for the fall tour with myself, Andrew Peterson, Andrew Osenga and Jeremy Casella has found little to no fertile soil thus far in the inglorious process. October, the month we’re aiming to book the shows, is not that far off and we hate the thought of abandoning the idea altogether if nothing comes through, so I’m enlisting your help… as fans, friends, church staff, college students, hooligans, whatever…

If your church or your school (or other venue) might be interested in booking a show, please email The Breen Agency soon to find out details needed to pull it off. Heck, if nothing else, email me to discuss it. We four Square Pegs were enthralled with the idea when it was first presented to us and we would love the opportunity to play in your town.

Thanks for letting this be a forum where I can plead for help and mercy. Thank you and carry on.

If you’re interested, I just posted a new unreleased song/demo on my myspace page. The song is called “Bedlam and the Fuse”.

An old Louisiana buddy who’s currently @ MTSU studying music production asked me about a year ago if I’d be willing to be the subject of his semester-long school project: produce and record an original, non-cover song. I had just finished writing this song and, since my wife was pregnant at the time w/ our firstborn, I didn’t see myself recording any new albums anytime in the near future. It sounded like a fun idea. So my friend, Jon Bufkin, came over to my house one afternoon about this time last year, set up his computer, mics and cables and I played him the song so he could have a rough recorded sketch to pass along to the musicians who would later play on it. Jon rounded up all the players, helped me arrange the song to fit a specific time-length he had to adhere to, and before I knew it, I was standing in the great studio workshops @ MTSU very impressed by the gear the students had available to them on a daily basis. We tracked the instruments mostly in one very long night session amid coffee and pizza. I made a return trip a couple of months later to record vocals. My voice was shot that night, I remember, so I wound up going over to Jon’s house a week or two after that - sometime just before Thanksgiving - to re-sing the song. I’m glad we did; the result sounds much better. I don’t remember all the players’ names (forgive me), but they all did a good job and worked very hard to aid Jon in his project. I hope he got an “A”. The song is unmastered, but is more than presentable in this setting. I hope you enjoy it.

A note about the song itself:
It arose from my distress over the world’s seemingly willing plunge into further chaos and disorder over the course of the past few years (war, 9/11, suicide bombings, deep hatred, religious fanaticism, political divide, etc.). I had just finished reading Life of Pi (Yann Martel) and was struck not only by such an invigorating tale of survival, but also at the power of story-telling itself, whether it’s true or not, and how it somehow mysteriously manages to invoke peace in the one who tells it. Some things in this world are too horrible to remember; people cope as best they can in an effort to either forget the thing ever happened, or they grant narrative - their own narrative - the power to weave the story as a means of surviving and coping with such traumatic events. We’re human and we’re not as strong as we think we are. We’re human but we’re stronger than we think we are.