I wasn't born to be a skeleton.

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."

- From Semisonic's "Closing Time"

We were sitting in a bar in downtown Nashville when that line really hit me for the first time.

The song mentioned above has been one of my favorites of all-time for years now,

but I suppose it just really takes some perspective for certain lines to really hit you.

The funny thing though, is that the line doesn't pertain to me at all right now.

It instead involves two of my closest friends (which is the "We" I referred to earlier).

But that's all I'll say about that subject, if by chance either of them read this I just hope they know that they'll both be alright, no matter how much their mind fucks with them and tells them they won't be. I love you both, and think you both have grown from what you shared over the last couple of years. And to be honest, I think it's going to make you both even more amazing human beings with time.

So anyways.

I ended up alone at The Weakerthans concert in Nashville last night.

And actually, I wasn't sour about being alone at all, despite what my company with me thought as they left. There was really no reason for either of them to say sorry to me, if there's one person that understands the complexity of human relationships and personal needs, it's me.

But yeah, so here's what happened...

I'm standing there in the Exit/In with my 16oz "Champagne of Beer" listening to the open band.

They finish, and I for some reason I felt the need to wash my hands.

So I go to the restroom and do so.

(Keep in mind, that at this point in time I'm a tad bit drunk)

And then I decide to go outside (for what reason, i have no idea)...

and I start walking for a second, and have a sudden realization...

I look down at my hand (where at the beginning of the night the cool doorman gave me a stamp as he took my ticket to get into the show) and sure enough, my dumbass had accidentally washed it off completely.

I hated myself for a minute, decided I was too drunk to stay and wait for The Weakerthans to go on anyway, and headed off to my car.

Ha. So that's my story about how I didn't see The Weakerthans last night.

It's now my favorite, I was a drunk dumbass one time, story.

And here's to many more :)

Anyways.

It's almost April now.

The weather's getting warmer and the Earth is getting brighter again.

It's going to be a great Spring.

(I think it may be time for me to do some laundry.)

It took about a week's worth of listening,

but I finally really really really like the new Panic At The Disco album.

So if you went out and bought it, and didn't like it at first,

please give it a chance, because yeah it's weird not hearing every song be a fast distorted pop song... but once you get over that and just listen to it for what it is you'll realize it's a great album.

And I just have to mention the fact that Counting Crows' new album "Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings" is my favorite of the year so far. I love it.

Business talk?

Yeah, I've got some business talk now. 

I've finally started making the marketing plans for BG, as well as promotional and street team ideas. I've also been trying to come up with some really interesting contests as well for the new album.

So far I've got a lot of ideas and I'm just filtering through them all now to figure which are good and which are definitely not.

I've also gotten some more work for my book done as well and if you've been keeping up with that on myspace or chadsugg.com then you'll be seeing a ton of new info, previews, and other stuff on that this week.

I'm pretty sure that this April is going to be the busiest month of my life thus far...

and I couldn't be more excited about that.

By the way, in case you didn't know...

I have a daily "blog" now that you can find and follow at chadsblog.tumblr.com

And that is now my newest obsession, and I definitely suggest you get one at Tumblr.com

- Chad

P.S. - By the way...

(Here's the newest BG poster, available now HERE)

The rest will come when it comes along.

Well well well...

so as you may (or may not) know,

this past weekend I played my first shows of 2008.

The first was in Memphis,

I now officially love that town and the people in it.

That was a fucking great show to kick off a year full of shows with.

A big thanks goes out to Won't Look Back Booking, Taylor and Ryan, you guys 'effing rock.

I'm definitely looking forward to heading back down there on tour later this year.

The second was in my hometown, Clarksville....

and it was a house show where I saw a ton of old friends and made some awesome new ones.

A little note to the music industry...

Hi, sorry but music isn't dead, over the weekend I played in two completely different settings in which every person was there simply because they love a little thing called music.

If you think that independent music is dead, then you had better open your eyes, because it's alive as it's ever been and I can assure you that it's all growing in every aspect no matter what your damn internet headlines read.

So to all of you that are skeptic about the state of the music industry today all I have to say is this...

Music is a living and breathing thing,

the people making it are the heart,

the people singing along are the lungs,

we're all still alive and well in perfect harmony and it's a beautiful thing.

So if you think it's all in a decline, then you need to take a step outside of your bedroom door and open your ears, because I'm here to tell you that there are concert halls and living room walls singing louder than they ever have right now.

Ha, hopefully that doesn't sound too bitter,

I'm just tired of hearing so many people say that the future of music is fucked,...

when in all reality it's not fucked, it's just that the people saying that aren't doing it right (or even for the right reasons for that matter).

So, anywayssssssss!

This week I will be completely wrapping up all work on Dressed Up Like Dreams!

I've still got a bit of post production work to do on some songs and a good bit of the artwork to finish, but after Wednesday it will all be done, and then it will be time to get this baby pressed and ready for your eyes and ears :)

Tomorrow a photographer will be coming to my apartment for a quick photoshoot to go along with a feature interview that's going to be in a Nashville paper that I thought I would never ever ever ever ever be featured in, so I'm excited beyond belief to say the least.

Let's see,...What else?

I don't think I have anything that's actually cool to talk about right this second...

but I'll be posting another blog on here later this week, because I'll finally have a bunch of stuff about the new album to share with you all....

so this blog might actually get a bit interesting this week ;)

Au Revior,

Chad

But trust me on the sunscreen.

Wow.

It's already March 11th?

Where have the first two months of this year gone to?

The weather here in TN is finally starting to lean toward the warmer side,...

thank fucking goodness for that!

I've gotten in a good habit of cleaning my room and keeping it clean over the last week or so,

hopefully I can keep that up, because usually (especially when I'm recording like I am now) my floor is covered with microphone cables, guitar picks, headphones, mic stands, amps, assorted instruments, and of course... more and more cables.

I've started really practicing for my live shows coming up (I've got a big gig in Memphis on Friday and then on Sunday I'm playing a little house show in my hometown)...

and things feel different...

I don't know how to explain it, but I think after being locked up recording for the last four months with no shows I've grown really really comfortable with just the overall aspect of my music and the guitar and my own voice and just everything involving BG in the musical sense.

That probably doesn't make sense, but let's just say that I think the upcoming tours are going to be quite interesting, because I'm pretty sure I've finally figured out how to let the music lead the way instead of me leading it. So basically, I'm just ready to play some fucking shows and do my best to blow your damn minds (now, whether or not I will succeed in blowing your minds is still to be determined, ha)... and I'm not saying I'm some amazing new person/musician, I'm still the same in that sense, but I'm just really ready to do my best to make sure everyone in the room at my shows feels as alive as ever while I'm on stage.

Speaking of tours,

seriously, get ready for a ton of shows all over the US, I know I keep putting off the Spring Tour announcement, but that's simply because it's not ready yet, when it's ready you will literally see weeks and weeks worth of tour dates all over :)

And speaking of that Memphis show I mentioned above...

my set is going to be right before Kris Roe's of The Ataris.

It hit me at the weirdest time last night, all of sudden I was just in my bedroom watching tv and realized, "Holy shit, I'm playing a show with Kris Roe in a few days, wow!"

I mean, I listened to "So Long, Astoria" on repeat for months while I was in high school.

I dunno, it's just weird when I actualy realize I'm playing shows with people I've looked up to for years. Weird Weird Weird. I mean, it's awesome, it blows my mind!... but it's just weird :)

Sorry this is such a short entry, and not to mention that there are no photos or little extras I can share with you... I've had a busy week and the coming weeks are only going to get busier...

BUT the coming weeks also mean I'm going to be able to share a lot more videos, songs, art and more from Dressed Up Like Dreams with you :)

And to wrap this one up I'll leave you with a little snippet of lyrics from a song "The Future Is A Masterpiece" off of the upcoming album :)

"The Future Is A Masterpiece"

Fuck love, I'm gonna keep my day job.

Celebrate the life that I've already got.

With a bottle of something that'll make this day less relevant.

Fuck life, I'm gonna put up a fight.

From what I hear the trend is that we're all gonna die.

So if I'm gonna fuck it up then I might as well fuck it up right.

Until next week,

Chad

P.S. - Go listen to a song called "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)"... and really listen to the lyrics, they're life changing.

Color and Hue.

This week is weird.

It's Spring Break for the college here, so the town is pretty much desolate.

The parking lot at the apartments I live at is the saddest thing you'll see right now.

The cars look so lonely when there are tons of empty spaces around them (usually the lot is full).

And I don't know why, but it feels like it's just the slowest week ever.

I feel like I'm not getting anything done at all, but I look down at my "To-Do" notebook and I have even more things scratched out and done already than usual.

(Me, in full blog typing form)

I'm still trying to get used to wearing these glasses, it's still kind of weird for the first few minutes of putting them on.... but it is quite nice to be able to see whenever I'm reading.

Now, let's see, what all has happened in the last week?...

Well, there's now a big pile of letters and packages (for the thing where you can write me and get your name included in my new album's artwork) in my floor that's been growing steadily since last week. I've read through about maybe a third or fourth of them so far (I'd say there's about maybe three or four hundred right now).

Also, the presale for my new album started too, and I've been freaking out (in a very very good way) because it's already pre-sold 3/4 as many copies in just 4 days than of all of my other albums did in their whole time being available for pre-order. So I'm very very excited about that.

I've also finally taken some more steps toward getting my book released. I'm finally getting the final drafts of the poems together, and also decided to maybe put a small bit of artwork in it as well.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot.

I was reading an email the other day a fan had sent, I definitely realized that my show on March 14th in Memphis, is just a week away. And I thought about for a second and also realized that not only will it be my first show of 2008, but it's also the first show I've played since November of 2007. And to be honest, I didn't notice until then how long I've been "behind the scenes" working on new music without actually playing live.... and wow, I couldn't be more excited to get back on the road. Fuck, really, I can't wait to be able to actually sing to you all face to face again! And I can assure you, for those of you that have been asking, that my Spring tour dates ARE being worked on and as soon as they're all ready I'll be announcing them in one big lovely batch :)

Other than that, nothing too exciting has happened.

My tattoo started itching like a whore a couple of days ago, but that finally subsided.

And I still love it as much as ever,...ha, I kind of just lay in bed and stare at it when I'm falling asleep.

And one more thing, a note to the weather of Tennessee:

Please go back to the way it was yesterday and bring Spring here soon,

I didn't realize how much I missed the sunny warm weather until that preview you brought Sunday and Monday.

That's all for now.

Au Revior,

Chad

P.S. - Here's a small preview of lyrics from a new song from Dressed Up Like Dreams

"Calico Kitten"

If my life had a soundtrack it would be acoustic.

With songs about the way I laugh at my ability to love things that I can't have.

If my life were a movie.

It would be black and white with still-frames in color and hue.

The credits would say a simple phrase,

like "You aren't what you say or what you do, so don't worry so much, just get on with a life that you love."