Mission Man: News

I've spent a lot of time recently analyzing my life. It's been quite chaotic. I started Miami University at 16, and finished at 23 with my first Bachelor's. I'm now 28 and working on a second. I've slept in a closet (for 4 months), in a van (8 days or so out of 17 on tour), on one of those little foam mattresses that look like egg cartons, on many many floors, in a Mustang (when the low was 75 degrees during my very brief homeless stint - ironically enough I had two jobs while I was homeless), and of course on an airport floor. I worked full time while going to school full time. I've performed in Vermont, New York City, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, 9 cities in Ohio, Jacksonville (FL), and many places in between. Most recently, I tried to open my own business. It was an LLC with a partner. When our primary location fell through (along with many other obstacles), my business sense said it was too risky and we should wait until next summer. When I told my partner I was pulling out, he threatened to sue me. I won't get into any more details than that, but I cannot go into business with someone who threatens to sue me even before we have funding. I seriously thought about moving to Chicago if the business were to not open. It's still there as a possibility, but right now I really just want to have a normal life for a while. I'm learning to cook, and I'm trying to keep enough free time to play video games, record music, perform, and date. I'm much more available than I was before, and with every major source of stress now gone, I am tranquil. The pond is no longer being bombarded by rocks of varying sizes. The ripples now are of my own design again. I have started recording again. I recorded the bass and piano for "Ugly Child" yesterday, and hopefully I will get my electric drumset back tonight so I can record the drums for it as well. I'm very happy with the song so far, and will post it for listening once it's ready. I won't be throwing myself completely at making music my career. For now, I'm going to perform locally, and gradually expand again. I'm hoping to perform in Oxford, Dayton, Cincinnati, Columbus, Indianapolis, Athens (OH), Toledo, and Chicago this fall.

It's very nice to be back. It's much sooner than I expected, but I've found what I've needed to find, and now that I feel peaceful I can get back to being myself completely. See you soon.
With love and tranquility,
Gary

Last night, June 9th, in Toledo, was my last show for a while. There's an outside chance I'll play NYC at the end of July, but other than that, I don't see any upcoming performances any time soon, except the occasional open mic in Oxford. I'm opening my own business, and I'll be heavily focused on that. Don't worry, I'm not done. I just need a different approach. I need something fresh because delivering pizzas while making music has not worked. I'm done trying to make music my career (at least for the next two years or so) but I am not done making it, and I believe I will tour again. Thank you all for the memories. January of 2005 at the Hole in The Wall will live in infamy in my mind. So will February 4, 2005 when I made my New York City debut, and my Jacksonville, FL debut. The 16 days in a minivan was one of the best experiences of my life, even if I barely made it home after being overdrawn by $350. There are countless people that I'm so happy I met, all over the country. I can't name names because I'd need to list hundreds of people that have been absolutely wonderful. Thank you all so much. In the meantime, enjoy my music.

I have made "Intro To My Mind," "Indiependent," "Out of the Shadows" and "A Different Kid" just $5 each when you buy any two of them from CDBaby.com. It's my "see ya later" gift to you.

I'm running a new contest, and I'm trying to sell 100 CDs in 30 days (by May 15th, 2007). I'll take a large portion of the sales and buy prizes to give away, including t-shirts, CD, stickers, hats, and anything else you come up with. Full details are at myspace.com/missionman.

I'm going through probably the most personally trying time of my life. It's made it basically impossible to book shows, but I'll get through it. I'll be stronger when I come out of the other side, and I will make music that's been buried so deep inside of me that I haven't been ready for it before. I don't know when this will all go down, but I can feel the dormant passion ready to explode and overwhelm me.

In the meantime, my last confirmed performance is at Casa Cantina's open mic on Wednesday, April 4th. After that, we'll see. I promise to give even more passion and energy on stage than before when my metamorphosis is complete.

I found out last night that Stadium's open mic will not exist on February 21st, 28th, or March 7th, so that they can have Battle of the Bands. I've tried to be a part of BOTB there in the past, but since I'm a solo artist, not a band, they wouldn't let me compete. So, that means next Wednesday, February 14th, will be my last Stadium open mic until March 21st. Hope to see you there.

I've added a frequently asked questions page. I'll try to keep it updated with new questions as much as possible, and will make it easier to get to from the navigation. I hope to see you at open mic, or hopefully a full show, soon.

So, 2007 is here, and I haven't had a full show yet this year, nor do I have one scheduled. I will, though, and soon. Also, there's only one grad school I'm very likely to be applying to, and that's Miami U. What can I say? I like Oxford. What that means is that I'll be pursuing music for at least another 16 months, because I will continue to pursue it during grad school if I'm in Oxford, and if I'm not in grad school I'll definitely be pursuing it. I plan on having a lot of fun, and I hope you have it with me. I'll be giving away tons of demos, and playing a bunch of open mics, and hopefully a decent amount of full shows.

Let me know if there's anything you'd like to see from me, such as t-shirts, where to play, video, etc. What do you want? Just email missionman @ missionman.net and let me know.

My show in Cincy went really well last night, so I will be coming back, and I'll be coming on strong. I'll be giving away at least 1,000 demos in the coming months, to bring people out to shows and get my career going. If you have a demo, burn it for your friends. Help spread the word anyway you can. Also, I'll be getting some new video up on YouTube soon, so keep an eye out for that.

Thank you Cincinnati!

My Toledo and Chicago shows were successful, and I'm going back to Toledo on Thursday, Dec. 28th. My (last?) Cincy show is confirmed for Tuesday, Dec. 26th. I need a strong turnout for this one, or my days playing in the Nati will be over. I'm applying to grad schools for the fall, and I need to find places to be successful musically so I can continue the dream, instead of going to school. Cincy hasn't brought me much turnout (a combined draw of 10 people over the last 5 shows there), so this is my last chance to shine there. I think 20 people is the magic number. If 20 of you make it to my Cincy show at the Mad Frog the day after Christmas, then I should be able to book the Mad Frog again, and put some serious effort and energy into building up Cincy to be a wonderful place to play.

To all of my fans, I love you. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season, whether it's Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, or anything else I don't know about. The New Year will bring great things, I believe, for myself, and for all of you. Keep living your life, and being yourself.

The Cincinnati date has been changed, and is tentatively Dec. 27th, thought it may change to Dec 26th. The "tentative" will be removed when the date is confirmed.

I got back from tour about a week ago, and will be back in Cincy, Michigan, and Chicago next week. The whole trip was an unbelievable experience, and very soon I'll have details. I kept a notebook of my daily events, and I think it will be a very educational experience for all of you to share the journey.

I hate to do this, but I have to cancel my Cleveland show. I bought a 97 Olds Cutlass 12 days ago, and the transmission went out on it last night on the way home from Cincinnati. I am now carless, and the financial results of tonight's show at Balcony were not strong enough to make renting a car to go to Cleveland possible. I don't expect to cancel any other shows, but this one was falling apart already, as my opening band had their drummer quit a few weeks ago.

The tour is starting to come along a bit more. Cleveland, Dayton, and Columbus Ohio are booked. As are Chicago and Boston! I am performing with the very talented singer Cassandra Kubinski on November 9th at the Sky Bar in Boston.

All of the artwork for "Indiependent" has been submitted, and the proofs are approved. I will receive the audio master tomorrow and will likely approve it tomorrow as well. I am incredibly happy with the way it sounds, and am very excited about the release!

This is a real rarity because this site is all things Mission Man, but Kevin Smith movies have been a huge part of my life, and Clerks 2 is no exception. The movie is incredible! I had to work opening night, but I saw it the next day, and the day after that (yesterday). I'll likely see it again tonight, and I'll definitely buy the DVD the day it comes out. The biggest connection this movie makes with me is that you should do what makes you happy. That's how I live my life. That's why I make music; it's what I'm passionate about. It's what I love. I don't want to get some corporate job and make a bunch of money doing something I don't believe in. Happiness is worth much more than $50,000 a year. I put up a blog about this at myspace.com/missionman. Feel free to reply there. The movie is also in my top 16 friends, so you can easily find their myspace page.

Thank you Kevin Smith, for maintaining your creative freedom and making such an incredible film.

MissionMan.net has undergone a major renovation. If you haven't seen this site since July 5th or so, it should look amazingly different. The latest news entry will show up on the main page now, as will the basic show date details. I'm working on improving my myspace page to be quicker and easier to use with an automatically updated calendar as I book shows through onlinegigs.com. I'm working on booking my national tour, and so far I have Cleveland, Dayton, and Columbus, Ohio booked. I'm working on states ranging from Minnesota to Florida to Vermont. Let me know if you want me to come to your town, and where I should play.

"Indiependent" is now up to 32 minutes on 7 songs, and I am still very happy with every song. My latest song, "When I Find You" is my first love song in 7 or 8 years (since "Delve Deeper" I believe), and will probably be my last love song, so I really laid it all out there. I've listened to it probably 15 times in the last 12 hours (8 of those hours were spent sleeping). It's up at http://www.myspace.com/missionman The CD is still slated for a 10-10 release date.

I'm very excited about my birthday this Thursday as well, with a 30-40 minute set at the Balcony in Oxford at 10 pm, and a preshow party at Dave & Buster's near the Tri-County mall from 4-8 pm.

The Complete Mission Man Collection will be given away on Bearcast Radio Monday, January 9th, 2006 from 10 pm - midnight. You can listen online at http://www.bearcast.uc.edu/

I just finished recording "Straight-Edged" yesterday for the upcoming album "Indiependent." You can currently hear Straight-Edged as well as My Heroes and Ready For Tomorrow at myspace.com/missionman.

I released the Complete Mission Man Collection on Monday, November 7th, 2005. 121 mp3s and more for just $16 at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/missionman4/

I quit my job and now make music full-time!

Playing For a Cure raised $250 for the American Cancer Society!

I'm quitting my job to make music. Deep breath. It's scary because it might not work, but I need to take that big risk now. October 19th will be my last day at Papa John's, and I want to keep it that way. Thank you everyone for giving me the confidence to make this leap. I have to disbelieve in gravity or I'll certainly fall trying. There are a ton of reasons why the timing is right. The biggest is that I should be able to make it a month without working if I am careful with my money, even if I don't make anything from music.

The next biggest is that I have a show in Dayton on October 20th. I'm really going to try to fill that weekend with a Friday show in Cincinnati/Athens and a Saturday show in Oxford/Athens. Wish me luck and pray that gravity is suspended that day.

Playing For a Cure is September 17th at Balcony in Oxford from 4 pm - 10 pm. Yes, I'm saying it over and over again. It's the most important event of the year for me because of the tremendous personal meaning involved. Last year's event was held on the 10 year anniversary of when my mom passed away. This year is the 2nd annual event. Details can be found at missionman.net/PlayingForACure/2005.htm

I'm still planning on touring a lot more in the fall, and hopefully going on a national tour in December or January.

I've won on UC Bearcast Radio's Local Combat Zone 4 weeks in a row, and tonight, August 2nd, 2005, I'll be there live to answer questions and unveil the new song, "Ready For Tomorrow."

Thank you all so much for everything. If you're reading this, then you're a big fan, and I really appreciate your support.

Oh, one last thing, this month, CDBaby is having a contest to get onto a sampler CD. The top 100 artists get put onto 5,000 CDs. Numbers 1-10 as a track playable in any CD player. 11-100 as mp3s for people to listen to on their computers, IPods, etc. If you've ever thought about buying a Mission Man CD for $5, this would be the month to do it.

There is now a calendar summary embedded in the homepage, so you can quickly see if/when I'm coming to your city. You can get full details on the calendar page, but I wanted to make things quick and convenient for you.

I've given up on the guestbook. It became a haven for anonymous haters. Hopefully they'll find something more productive to do with their time. I may bring it back someday, but not for a while. For now, you can interact with me at myspace.com/missionman. I have some blogs there, and if you are a "friend" you can post comments.

I have posted the story and lyrics to "There Was A Man" on April 8th. Also, I put a new song up called "I Need The Mic" and have a couple of songs currently available exclusively to mailing list members, "My Heroes" and "Glimpse of a Dream." I'll be performing all of them during my nearly three hour show at Hole in the Wall tomorrow.

Thank you for making my life wonderful lately. I love having a good time with you guys at my shows. Download my music and give it away. Seriously, I want it out there. :)

I've cleaned up and cleaned out the guestbook. It has a few filters on it now which will cut down on the disgusting and profane comments. So, start using it and turn it into a fan forum.

Also, I've added a music link to the top of the main page to make it quicker and easier to get to the free downloads you want.