Author: Eric Sommer

Pocket Surprise is Salmon Extravaganza... Huh? Wandering around the intersection of Greensboro and Main Street the other day, I was getting a little hungry, and not sure what exactly I wanted or needed. I had been going to The Open...

The Unexpected Beauty of Perfect Customer Service... So it's Sunday morning. And I am up early, while the beautiful Miss P is lounging away and occasionally stirring. It is hard to leave the comfort of this Ralph Lauren Sleigh Bed...

The Ceiling Squadron The Ceiling Squadron of Abbeville begins here... So there I am, in the center of Abbeville, South Carolina. I am trying to get my bearings for the Genius Music Festival II. It is the re-start of the...

Merch Tables That Work! When I started my musical journey, faithful Reader, merch tables were not on my mind. In fact, Merch Tables that Worked was something I couldn't even imagine.  All I wanted to do was make music. I...

The Cartoonistry of Mark Stafford Dear, dear readers and thinkers, I write to tell you about someone I think is a remarkably talented life form, human and carbon-based, living amongst us on this planet. On one of my many adventures...

Memphis Ghosts and Magic at 4 am I had finished a show in Little Rock, Arkansas at The White Water Tavern and I was heading directly to Nashville that morning which is a few hours away, and I was taking...

Straw Stages bring a natural solution to Tennessee's Buffalo Valley Music Festival in a way that surprised even us! The "Straw stage solution"! It's not like we were genius types who came up with this brilliant idea on our own....

Radio Memphis Keeps Memphis' Heritage Upfront... and personal! If ever there was a musical "bunker", it's where Radio Memphis calls home: located deep in the basement of an undisclosed strip mall in the general area of 4745 Poplar Ave., Suite...

Fame Studios, Muscle Shoals Sound: Three years ago I was playing a series of shows thru Alabama, Nashville, and Mississippi and I had an opportunity to swing through Muscle Shoals, Alabama, do some recording at Tommy York Studios and then...

I first met Pam Keith surrounded by 'gators and vodka martini's: it was on a hot afternoon out on Fripp Island, South Carolina. We were gathering the unwashed and the unrepentant to head over to watch the legendary "Fripp Island...

I met Mike in Memphis at The Memphis Blues Challenge and I had no idea he was such a world-class craftsman for Telecasters & Stratocasters! When I won the Piedmont Blues Challenge in Greensboro, NC I became eligible to compete...

I bought a beautiful white Stratocaster and it was stolen from my house. 40 years later, I got a call out of the blue... Hail, Gentle Reader! A tale of loss, redemption, and fulfillment that is all true, and so...

I've had two near-fatal car accidents: one outside Nashville on Rt. 40 W and one in Indiana 3 Months later. It is truly remarkable that I am alive at all...   6 years ago I was on my way to...

Three songs from the past few records have been in heavy rotation on Radio Tfsć, Stuttgart, GDR and "Europe, Europe" has just been added off Rainy Day Karma 2012! Several years ago a small independent radio station appeared on the...

Strap in, dear, Dear Readers... the Tigers of West Bengal are close at hand... Because I'd like to share with you a true tale about the most terrifying 5 minutes of my life... and the Tigers of West Bengal! After...

Dear Readers… When I was just starting on my musical journey, Vinyl Record Stores were a fairly common sight. There was vinyl readily available, and easy to find. I began in the Northeast, Boston to be exact, where I got...