I don't think I could ever be a professional writer; (1) I don't have the consistency or the self-discipline it takes to write every day, and (2) I rarely have the creativity to turn life's ordinary events into compelling narratives. But when the moment hits (if it hits at all), I can regurgitate meaningless trivia like it's cool. So, without further ado, allow me to reflect on the last 12 months and share some of the things I've lived through and learned about.
2025 was a great year for Patch of Gravity -- business was pretty consistent throughout the year. We still didn't play as much or as often as we'd like, but we really have no room to complain. We were invited back to play at some of our old favorite places (Wild West Social, Taylor's, Vail Lake KOA), and we had the opportunity to play at some great new places (Sports Lounge, The Bobber, the Carnival, Black Plague, and Pechanga)! We met some great people along the way, and made some lasting connections. We stood (and are standing) with the local music community through the ongoing drama with the Old Town noise ordinance.
Our acoustic project was really well-received wherever we've played, whether it's the 2-person or 3-person version. We played in beautiful bars, cozy coffeehouses, a magnificent meadery, and a wonderful winery -- from Old Town to Lake Elsinore! What started out as an acoustic side-project is beginning to show its potential, and we're looking forward to seeing what this year brings!

Wow -- it seems like we're never quite as busy as we'd like to be. But when new opportunities come up, we drive ourselves crazy getting ready for them! I can honestly say that we're staying pretty busy regardless of how many shows are on the calendar! We're rehearsing. We're learning new material. We're working hard to bring our audience a better, more fun experience when you come see us!
Last weekend, we played at Black Plague Brewing in Oceanside. That was a big deal for us -- we got out of Riverside County and got to play in north San Diego county! Hopefully it was just the start, and we'll be playing there more often!
September is bringing some cool stuff as well; we'll be playing at the Wild West Social Summer Jam with a few other local bands in the lineup -- this is a fun chance to hang out with other musicians and build our sense of community. We'll be taking the acoustic act to The Public House in Old Town Temecula; a place we've been wanting to play for at least a year! And we're doing the acoustic duo (just Jody & Bob) at Crush & Brew -- our Old Town favorite!
Then in October, we'll be at the North Bar at Pechanga! We'll round out the year (as of right now) with more shows at Wild West Social, Taylor's and Pechanga!
So we've got plenty of stuff on our schedule. We've also got time to do all of the prep work.
​See you soon!

Yup, life is full of challenges -- some small; some big. The key to getting through some challenges is, quite often, finding support.
It seems like our most recent challenge involves the local sound ordinance. Now, I'm not going to pretend like I know everything about what's going on; I can only speak from my personal perspective. The live music at one local club has been cancelled indefinitely for non-compliance with the ordinance. Every club in the local music district is painstakingly conscious of their decibel levels, to the point that one club will even stop the band before code enforcement makes their usual visit. We've had two gigs cancelled; other bands have seen the same thing happen to them. It's like club owners live under the constant threat of the city's code enforcement. Does local government really think it's a good idea to continue the beatings until morale improves?
​We're getting together with some other local musicians and our awesome supporters to try and make some changes. There's got to be a mutually beneficial solution to this challenge, whether it's quieter stage setups or a more defined dB measurement standard. But the problem isn't going to solve itself. We have to take care of our local live music community, and that's probably the absolute last thing a lot of us wanted to do. But if it helps our community in the future, sign me up!
It looks like the people who just wanted to be left alone have to get involved now.

Okay, so the most important thing today is -- you guessed it -- Mother's Day! We want to wish a very happy Mother's Day to all the moms, moms-to-be, dog and cat moms, and all other moms -- we love you very much!
​It's been a pretty crazy weekend for us -- we played shows Friday and Saturday night, which we don't do very often (yet...!). Friday was a lot of fun, but the audience was pretty small. Fun, but small. No sweat; we've played to empty rooms before, and we probably will again... We made some new friends, and got some really positive response & encouragement!
Saturday night was a completely different story! We'd never played at The Bobber before (btw, if you haven't been there, go now!); it's a great, fun, family-friendly restaurant & bar in Lake Elsinore. Wow. Just wow. Beautiful friendly people. Wonderful, fun, talented kids & young adults. And we were fortunate enough to be a part of it.
​I got to see a different perspective last night. It wasn't about us -- it was about the friendship, the fun, the happiness of being together with a group of great people! We were just the soundtrack. Yeah, for a few hours, we were part of something bigger than us -- way bigger! We were part of the party. Part of the family. It was kind of an epiphany for me: we weren't playing a show for the crowd; we were playing a show with the crowd. And, believe it or not, that makes all the difference!
Again, much love to all the moms out there on this special day! And a special shoutout to Simon, Niko and little Kori -- thank you; more than you realize!

Paths, roads and routes are pretty unique things. On the one hand, there’s only a finite number of ways to get from Point A to Point B. But there's about a bazillion different combinations when you add a stop at Point C, or when you just want to take your time, or when you want to take the 'scenic' route, or when you run into something you didn’t expect…
Even if we share a common destination, our personal paths are going to be different from person to person. Maybe we got a late start, or maybe there was a traffic jam.
Or maybe we’re all just different people with different goals, different baggage, and different perspectives.
Life is a unique adventure for each of us. No two people live the same life the same way, and I’m sooo thankful for that! Sure, some of us have similar experiences along the way; we develop similar interests and passions that help us find commonality with others. But each one of us is as different and unique as our own fingerprints.
Sometimes I start to wonder how other people “succeed” (air quotes totally intended) while I “struggle.” It can be pretty tough to watch other bands and other performers get great gigs that I just can’t seem to get. And sometimes it gets me jealous; I freely admit that. But then — thankfully — I’ll snap out of it! That ugly, green, petty envy monster is destroyed when I remember that I’m not on the same journey as other people. They’ve got their path, and I’ve got mine. And those other bands and other performers are my friends; they’re my community! I'm happy for them -- I get excited when they succeed — I want us all to succeed!
But you've got to be real. Don’t let other people define what ‘success’ means to you. Don’t compare yourself to others in order to determine what your ’success’ should look like. When you do that, you always fail. If you want to measure success, try comparing the ‘old’ you to the current you.
Succeed. And do it your way.

Mike got hurt yesterday at work. It's not life-threatening, but he mangled his ankle pretty bad.
It's funny how life occasionally throws a spike strip right in front of you -- makes you slow down and think for a minute: you can try to plow through it and take the risk of hurting yourself really bad; or you can stop, assess the situation, and move on when it's safe. Sure, it would've been a lot of fun to play today -- St. Patrick's Day weekend -- but we were sidelined. It's not the end of the world, though...
Now we have a little bit of time (maybe a week or two) to play catch-up on all the things we've been meaning to do but haven't been able to fully wrap our arms around. Making merch. Designing new merch. Learning new songs. Going to more open-mic events. Seeing other bands and networking with other local musicians. Looking for new gigs.
You can't let an injury be an excuse to set you back. Be flexible; bounce around to whatever else needs your attention. By the time you're back to 100%, you'll be ahead of the game.

It's hardly surprising that people who share the same interests seem to gravitate towards each other. Wine aficionados probably start to see a lot of familiar faces after a few trips to the wineries. Dog lovers seem to meet the same people whenever they're out for a walk. That's what our little micro-communities do -- they bring us together in a common experience.
It's the same thing with the local music community. Whenever we can, we come out and support each other. We come to each other's shows; we meet at open mic nights; we talk amongst ourselves and find that we have other common interests; we help each other out if we can; we share information with each other; and sometimes, if it's needed, we'll even play in each other's bands!
Sure, it's kind of like a big social club. But I think it's a little more than that. In my little circle, I think that most of us realize we're not going to be rock stars -- we just love to play, and we want to keep doing it.
And we want our friends to keep doing it, too. That's what community is all about.

Some pretty cool things happened in January with our performances as well as behind the scenes.
We got to play at Crush & Brew in Old Town Temecula with our acoustic project, and it was a ton of fun! In addition to having a lot of high visibility and foot traffic in the middle of Old Town on a Saturday night, it's a beautiful bar with some of the funnest staff members I've ever seen!
We were invited back to play at Wild West Social. I was really looking forward to playing on their big stage outside, but this time we played indoors at the bar. I thought the big stage was fun, but Whoa Nellie! The bar was packed with a party crowd, and we had a GREAT time!
Behind the scenes, we got a pair of subwoofers to add to our onstage sound. They bring a lot more punch to the low end of our sound -- you can feel the bass & drums more, and they just round out our sound more fully. Come see us and you'll hear what I mean!
We're excited about what the rest of 2025 is going to bring, and we hope you'll be right there with us!

Well, that was quick -- move over 2024; make room for 2025!
Looking back, 2024 was EPIC! Not everything went our way along the journey, but the places we went and the people we met were unforgettable!
In January, we started building some great relationships with Jorge Sanchez and Robert Rankin Walker. These guys are not only great musicians; they're awesome human beings as well! We got to know the American Patriot Band and Sons of SoCal. We started doing open-mic nights every once in a while, and continued to meet other great people!
We met Mike 'Magoo' Davis in February -- such an awesome guy, and a genuine pleasure to be around! We also got more involved with the American Patriot Music Project, learning to build guitars. We also met Pat and Christina Dooley, who are those forever-friend kind of people! We were supposed to play at Baily's, but it got rescheduled (the first time).
In March, we met Rex at O'Hara's, who gave the band our first 'real' paying gig. 
April: we played at O'Hara's, and it was a great gig! People dug what we were doing, and we seemed to go over really well. We did our first guitar build with the American Patriots and met some really great people with the most beautiful hearts you could imagine -- Didi, Fernanda, Tee, Charlotte, I'm talking about you! We reconnected with Marie, which was a high point for us. We also played at Bastards, where a lot of other bands would have loved to play but never got the chance.
In May, we played at Teakwoods for the first time. This is one of our favorite, most cozy places to play. We also played at Baily's in Old Town Temecula as our acoustic project, Unplug Betsey. We reconnected with Mike in May -- we hadn't played with Mike since the previous November or December, and we thought he'd fit in well with our acoustic project.
In June, we got fired from O'Hara's. C'est la vie, right? We said goodbye to James and brought in Mike as our full-time drummer. We rounded out the month doing another 3-day Patriot guitar build in Big Bear, spending time with great friends!
We rehearsed in July. Not much more than that. Now that Mike was in the band, we wanted to re-tool our repertoire -- keeping some songs; losing other songs; adding new songs that fit our new dynamic.
The maiden voyage of our new lineup was in August. We played at Teakwoods and had an awesome time! We had our first test-drive with a lot of new equipment -- new mixer; new speakers; new wireless systems. Thankfully, Jorge was there with us so everything went nice and smooth! We also played a private party for a friend's birthday and rehearsed some more.
In September, we finally got to play at Taylor's! We had to cancel our July gig there, and we were ecstatic that Mike invited us again; Taylor's is a really fun bar with some great people, and we can't wait to get back there next February! To make September even better, we met some truly beautiful people -- Jeanine from Rockaholix hosted an all-day music fest at Wild West Social, where local bands played and showed some great support for each other within our small musical community. We also got to know Gary, Sean, Derek and Mark from My Dad's Band.
October was absolutely phenomenal! We played on Wild West Social's huge raised stage, Baily's amazing courtyard, and on Halloween weekend we got to party at Pepe's!
We returned to Teakwoods and Pepe's in November, and had a great time playing for fun party crowds!
December capped off the year with a really fun private party with some great Marine friends at Camp Pendleton, and an unbelievably incredible Christmas-weekend show at Vail Lake KOA -- what a way to end the year!
2024 was a really fun, busy year for Patch of Gravity; I wouldn't trade it for the world. But you know what? 2025 says, 'hold my beer.'

Wow -- this weekend was one of those don't-blink-or-you'll-miss-it weekends!
We had just loaded our gear into the vehicle to leave for a gig on Friday when I got the phone call -- another band had a last-minute cancellation, and we suddenly got a golden opportunity to play Saturday night at a venue we'd been trying to get into for months! Was this really happening? Could this be our very own Christmas miracle? 
Friday's gig was a private Christmas party with some great Marine buddies. We got to catch up with old friends, make new friends, and just have a good time playing music and hanging out. It was going to be our last show before we'd finally be able to catch our breath and get ready for Christmas -- this was the last weekend before Christmas. Hold that thought -- the last weekend before Christmas. Christmas weekend, you might say.
Saturday's gig (which quite literally fell into our laps) was at the KOA Campground. A family-friendly, always-fun place where there's always a great crowd of party people and their kids. On Christmas weekend. One of the, if not THE absolute best, most awesome family party times and places you could imagine!
I still can't believe we were given such an awesome unexpected opportunity! Christmas weekend. Outside. Party people. Kids being kids. We gave away so much merch that I completely lost track -- beanies, coozies, ball caps, shirts, mugs, tumblers, and especially stickers! I can honestly tell you that this show was one of the most memorable ones I've ever played. I don't know if it was the Christmas spirit, or the fact that most of the kids thought I was Santa Claus, or what -- but I saw some real magic this weekend!
But there's a back story here. At first, I had doubts about taking Saturday's gig because of all the personal stuff I had going on -- another Christmas party with friends; last-minute shopping to do; getting the house cleaned up for family Christmas. Sure, I missed out on some fun with friends. But I almost allowed excuses and changing plans to talk me out of a great experience that showed up out of the blue.
The lesson for me in all of this is pretty clear. When a great opportunity shows up on your doorstep, do whatever you have to do to make it work out. Your future self will thank you.