Last show of the BDB tonight for quite some time! Engel's in Edmonds WA, 9 p.m. to midnight. In August of 2021 we played our first gig in the Seattle area (pictured), and 22 shows later I feel great about what we accomplished. Wow. But there always comes a time to make tough choices. So I'm going to be honest with you about where my head is at tonight. For a band like ours, you have to decide whether you are going for larger markets and bigger stages or whether you're just trying to have some local fun. I'm not gonna lie--I'd like more people to hear our music and I think more people might like it, but I came to understand how much work and sacrifice is required to make that happen, especially when you get started later in life with a family, career, etc. It's not magic. I do indeed see a path for a second chapter of this band, a BDB2, but it would look like a larger team of people who believe in the music. For the next step, there would need to be someone who is out booking gigs and building venue relationships around Washington, Oregon, Idaho and beyond. There would need to be someone helping with promotion and social media, videos, photos, etc. My work in the band is writing as good a songs as I can possibly write, working hard to become a better musician, trying to be a good band leader and work with the musicians involved, organizing practices and set lists and shows so that they are more meaningful than the sum of their parts, performing on stage, managing and mixing many recording projects (which have piled up). The music and its performance is the core product, it's all I can do, and that core product needs a lot more attention--not enough new songs have been written in the last two years. So for me, it became a choice. I found my limits. For the BDB to make further progress, the team would need to be bigger. I'm guessing most bands never cross that bridge to the bigger team--talented, qualified people who have options need to believe in you and your music to make that jump. The BDB may not cross it. But if you want us to cross it, perhaps we will. I believe in the power of these collective dreams. There is nothing about any of this whole experience that ever should have happened at my age, but it did anyway. And whether it's this or some other musical endeavor, I'm not done. Tonight is the end of a chapter, but the book is not written.