Reasons I Miss the States - Music Culture

[Indulge me, for a moment, in a couple shameless plugs for a couple friends back home...]

A couple of my friends back home launched some exciting, long-coming projects today.

Josh Auer just released his Dear You EP on iTunes. You can hear his song tonight on One Tree Hill (yeah, he's that big of a deal.)

In the past, Josh has been involved with some of my favorite musical acts (Namely, Jesse McCartney...)

Two years ago, this month, he, his wife Amanda, and I started up a concert venue back in California. theVault lived to be a ripe old age of 1 and a half.

Through theVault, Josh was able to meet and produce some stellar acts from the OC scene.
(Thanks to him, you can now find Sun From Shadow and Taylor Warren on iTunes)

theVault was definitely some of the most fun I've had with some of the coolest dudes ever.

[Shameless Plug #1: Buy Josh's new EP here: ]

Running theVault with Josh and Amanda gave me the chance to meet some awesome people.

One of those is a good dude named Nick Greenwood. Over an Islands Burger one day, Nick shared with me his dream to create a support system for bands on the road. He called it the RYFO Network. Nick's a man with big dreams: after 5 years of dreaming, they're taking form.

Today, he launched his RYFO Network. The team he is building is already prepared to offer touring musicians more than they've ever had: free beds, and warm meals; trips to a chiropractor, and trips to a crisis counselor; extra hands, and anything else a band might need but normally doesn't receive while on the road. Nonprofits have aligned themselves with RYFO's vision and are sponsoring tours. It's clear his vision is contagious.

[Shameless Plug #2: Check out RYFO.org and tell your friends about it, while you're at it.]




My time in Taiwan has been excellent, but this was the dynamic, music-saturated culture I was intricately involved with back home in California. And it's one more reason I miss my life in the States.