This interview of Eric Peters by Infuze is a must read. He really bares his soul and we see the real Eric. I think the honesty that they show in their art is why we love the Pegs and Eric is nothing but honest. I will warn you that the interviewer did a horrible job, but Eric saved the day. You have to sign up at the site to read the interview, but it’s definitely worth it.

If you’ve ever wanted to play like Derek Webb, here’s your chance. Derek is selling some of his gear on Ebay, including a Black American Fender Stratocaster that he used for many years while with Caedmon’s Call, and a Roland XP-30 Synthesizer that both he and his wife Sanrda McCracken have used in and out of the studio.

And if you’ve ever wanted to print like Derek Webb, he’s got something for you as well. Check out this LinkSys USB 4 port print server that he’s selling on Ebay.

These 3 auctions end sometime on Monday evening, July 31st, but Derek will probably be listing a few more things in the near future. You can track all of Derek’s auctions by visiting this link.

Happy Bidding!

The Phantom Tollbooth posted a review of Chris Mason’s Songs One Through Six.

Whether by design or serendipity, Songs One Through Six provide us with a concept project that is remarkably linear. The first three songs illustrate the evolution of a terrestrial relationship. Meanwhile, the second three songs describe similar steps in a relationship with God; early tentative overtures fraught with fear, the warm healing that love brings, and in the end–full submission–because there is no other choice.

You can pick up Songs One Through Six at Chris’ online store.

…we go to Andy Osenga:

So just why is this little girl so happy?

Because she’s going to have a little sister!

That’s right, ladies and gents, my house is turning into a Jane Austen novel. I’ll be living with three ladies, sometime around Dec. 9.

Congratulations to Andy, Allison, and little Ella from all of us here at SquarePegAlliance.net.

If you are tired of reading about reviews of Andy O’s The Morning … too bad. Andy points us to a review of The Morning over at Suite101, and it’s as fawning as the rest:

Speaking of brilliance, the up-tempo rocker “Santa Barbara” burns with Springsteen-like urgency, the B3 simmering beneath the tight groove of the rhythm section. Thundering guitars and hi-hats lay a rich bed for Osenga’s story of young love, with all the élan and power of Bruce at his best. We’ve never seen this side of Osenga before, but it’s as if he was born for it. The seething “Dance Away the City” may be one of the most romantic songs of the decade, deeply satisfying in its quiet groove.

I personally think that there are three ways to Andy O’s heart: the eyes and smiles of the women in his life, his stomach, and telling him that he’s evoking The Boss. When I first met Andy, he would not shut up about Springsteen. He even proposed to Alison with a Springsteen song. So telling Andy that he’s evoking a musical idol? Kevan Breitinger, you probably have a new best friend.

That said: if, for some reason, you haven’t bought this album … I don’t know what to tell you. Wait, I’m lying: check out the bootleg of the Mercy Lounge release show. It’s FREE, people. If you can read all these reviews and listen to that bootleg and still not want to buy the CD … well, there’s just no convincing you, and we’ll give up.

We urged you to pre-order Sandra’s Gravity | Love a couple of weeks ago, but we never dreamed that Sandra would have the discs so quickly. All the folks at last Friday night’s show in Hotlanta reported that Sandra had Gravity | Love for sale at the merch table, so we would presume that pre-orders will be filled ASAP. So go order now!

[Is it still a pre-order if you order before the release date but the artist already has the CDs in hand? If Derek farted after eating a bowl of Bert's Chili at the Waffle House but then immediately left the room, would it still smell? These are the questions that keep us up at night.]

So, maybe you’ve read about that IndieRiver thing. Maybe you took a look at the steps needed to get set up with BitTorrent on your machine and are wondering whether it’s worth the trouble to install all that stuff.

Well, let us give you another reason to give it a try: we’ve put together a page here on SPA.net—one we’ll do our dead-level-best to keep up-to-date—of all the shows available for download on IndieRiver. All the links on that page put you to a page dedicated to each show: metadata about the show [date, venue, etc.], the setlist, any cover art if it’s available, and even links to the shows in MusicBrainz’s database so you can get correct MP3 tags effortlessly. Additionally, if you download a show from here and want to point friends to it, these pages would be a great launching point for them: not only do they have the download link to the show, but they all have the registration link for IR as well. [This would also be wonderful link points for you to use when you talk about the shows on whatever blogs or forums you run...]

Take a moment and give it the onceover. Provide us some feedback if there’s stuff there that you’d like to see that’s not available.

Jill sent me a sneak peak of the promo poster to be used for her tour with Andrew Peterson and Gullahorn this fall. Hit the image to see it full-size:

Keep an eye on Jill’s concert schedule for tour dates. Contact The Breen Agency (info@thebreenagency.com) if you’d like to bring the Square Peg Tour to your town.

If you’ve ever talked to me, or you’ve read any of my inane ramblings on the subject, you know that I’m about social connections when it comes to music. So, with that in mind, let me quote Fred Wilson, a venture capitalist in New York and someone with whom I’ve had some musical connections:

Josh’s band, The Four Fellas, are a far cry from the Rolling Stones, but given the choice, I’d prefer to see The Four Fellas play live every time.

Personal engagement does compensate for a lack of production values. But it’s not one over the other. Robert compares it to cable versus broadcast, and I guess that’s a reasonable way to describe it. Social media will co-exist with produced media, what the ultimate market share of each is a big open question, but I believe they are both important.

– Fred Wilson, Social Media Musings

The Square Pegs are a community of musicians who also happen to really, really like each other. We’re the same way over here at SPA.net. I think that many of you feel the same way: none of us would argue that any of the Pegs are the most talented and aweomse musicians to ever grace the Earth, but they’re all very good and, more importantly, we feel like we have a personal connection to them. That is what draws us to them, whether it’s staying after a show for an hour afterwards to talk about music and theology or whatever or if it’s reading their Weblogs and commenting and knowing that they read what you have to say and get to know who you are. For me, I know that this is why I value the Pegs and spend so much time helping to foster community around them.

How about you?

FreeDerekWebb.com will have DW’s Mockingbird available for download come 1 Sep. derekwebb.com has details. It’s bold, but we like it!