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I'll be on the road with Sy Smith and The Foreign Exchange... Hopefully I'll see you in one of these cities.

For ALL future show information click here

April 21 – With The Foreign Exchange @ Triad College Music Festival – Greensboro, NC  BUY TICKETS

May 3 – Zo! + Sy Smith @ DROM – New York City, NY  BUY TICKETS

May 5 – Zo! + Sy Smith @ Apache Café – Atlanta, GA  BUY TICKETS

May 10 – Zo! + Sy Smith @ 2826 Arnetic – Dallas, TX  BUY TICKETS

May 11 – Zo! + Sy Smith @ Fitzgerald’s – Houston, TX  BUY TICKETS

June 3 – With The Foreign Exchange @ The 20th Annual Capital Jazz Fest – Columbia, MD  BUY TICKETS

June 4 – With The Foreign Exchange @ Music Hall of Williamsburg – Brooklyn, NY  BUY TICKETS

June 5 – With The Foreign Exchange @ The Middle East (Downstairs) – Cambridge, MA  BUY TICKETS

June 7 – With The Foreign Exchange @ Shaka’s – Virginia Beach, VA  BUY TICKETS

June 8 – With The Foreign Exchange @ Lincoln Theatre – Raleigh, NC  BUY TICKETS

June 9 - With The Foreign Exchange @ The Emerald Lounge – Asheville, NC  BUY TICKETS

June 13 – Zo! + Sy Smith @ Blues Alley – Washington, DC (1st SHOW – 8:00pm)  BUY TICKETS

Well folks, after you have played a few shows here and there, done some touring with the same brand of equipment and gotten no love from the endorsement side of things after trying repeatedly to contact a Yamaha company that shall remain nameless (oops)... There comes a time for a little something that I like to call "SELF endorsement"...

Endorsing one's self doesn't have to involve anything huge like opening a store or starting your own television channel...hell, you don't even have to involve your ego. Most of the time it simply serves as a brief reminder to folks, corporate and otherwise that, "Hey, us bottom of the barrel musicians who travel the world using nothing but your products are working hard too!" *insert laugh here* With that being said, I'd like to introduce you to a product that was newly delivered to my studio earlier this evening... The "Zotif" Keyboard!

Looks like you may have seen this board before huh? I know, I know... Well, it actually functions verrrry similarly to the Yamaha Motif keyboard, BUT this one is crazy because it actually advertises my logo and new website. *waves index finger and quotes Eddie Murphy's elder Jewish character from 'Coming To America'* "Ahhhckkhaaaa!!!!!" I feel extremely privileged because they don't manufacture too many of these, so I wouldn't even waste my time on eBay or Craig's List looking for one. I have heard the numbers from the manufacturer and they're actually keeping it in the single digits, so I'll be a nice guy and I'll let you steal some views of mine... You may see me on stage at an +FE or a Zo! + Sy Smith show with a Zotif sometime soon - Then again now that I think about it some more, you just never know WHEN it may surface...

*end sarcasm*

The ultra rare "Zotif" keyboard...

Zotif Instagram Link

When I look back on 2001, the first thing that comes to mind is, "DAMN! That was eleven years ago?!" But when I really dig into it and all that occurred that year, I can summarize it by simply stating that it was a year of transition and adjustment. I had just graduated in December of 2000 with a degree in Studio Art (Graphic Design) from Western Kentucky University and was on the hunt for a job in my field - a job hunt that actually continued THROUGH 2001. So I decided to enroll back in school at WKU to start working on an MBA Degree... BUT since I was a Graphic Design major and had little to no business-related courses at all, I had to spend 2001 taking "pre-requisite" courses to even be put on the correct path for an MBA... How fun. Once again looking back on things, hindsight tells me that a course called "Life after college" should probably be required DURING college, because clearly I had NO clue in regards to what the hell I was doing at the time once I got outta there. Baseball, the sport that paid fully for my college education and the sport that I had been playing since age nine ended for me in the summer of 2000 and I was still adjusting to a life without it. After moving to my first off-campus apartment during that same time, I was able to spread out a bit - there was a huge difference from the good ole 10X10 dorm rooms folks lived in while on-campus. This was important because it meant that I was able to find sufficient room for my keyboard and amp. Back then, I was armed with only a Yamaha EX5 (which I still have in the studio) and used its sequencer to program joints I did at the time. I later installed a version of Cubase onto my Mac and used it to record and edit everything via this Tascam mixer I picked up... It's crazy typing this out and realizing that these pieces of equipment represent my first bit of a studio and start as a serious musician. The thing is, even then I wasn't aware how serious it was or may become - SO much has changed since then. If you were to ask me back then what I was doing musically, I would have told you that I was "making beats" rather than "writing compositions." I was content with just a 2, 4, or 8-bar loop.... Alright, that's another beat, *press save*... and let's move on to the next one. By doing this, I was able to fly through music, show it off to friends who would come through the apartment, see their reactions and be motivated to make more of it. Have you ever heard of the kats who brag about making 10-20+ beats in a day? I wanted to be that guy... Make a ton of music that sounded good because I knew I had the work ethic to keep it going (I have since learned that quantity has NOTHING on the quality of your music). In 2001, most of my friends didn't even know that I played an instrument, much less knew that I understood how to put any type of music together... So hearing tracks from ME? Lorenzo the baseball player? ... It was rather odd to some of them. I can remember a group of friends coming through one night, and while they were there I went to load some joints up. At that point, I had about 15-20 beats or so completed and saved to a 3.5" floppy disk.......... and the disk decided it was going to go BAD. I kept attempting to load these joints up but to no avail... and to say the absolute least... I. Was. PISSED. All of that work = Gone forever... There were three things that I learned that night: 1. Back everything up, 2. BACK. EVERY. DAMN. THING. YOU. DO. UP. and 3. It is extremely difficult to capture the original feeling of your music by recreating it on the spot. I ignored the shit ouf of my guests the rest of that night and sat down at the keyboard mad as hell to make the music all over again, from memory. I didn't want to talk with anyone, I wasn't in the mood to crack any jokes... I was in "recovery mode". As crazy as it sounds... THIS episode was actually the beginning of my very first album, Ablyss. I honestly do not remember how many of those 15-20+ tracks I ended up redoing that night from memory, but I do remember that being the incident that jumpstarted my mausicmaking. Pretty hilarious how things work out...

There are TWO cassette tapes of beats that exist prior to the Ablyss recording. I still have copies of them both and there are a couple more that I sent off to friends that may be floating around somewhere... But that's IT. I have another cassette tape with a ton of remakes I did in high school between 1992 and 1996 and there is ONE copy of that. But the work I started doing for Ablyss was a bit different, it even felt different as I was creating it. I was motivated to create something to burn to a CD for the first time and have it serve as an "introduction" to my transition from baseball player to music maker - A difficult task? Absolutely. Impossible? Nah, I didn't think so. Ok, now... Once I have enough joints to fill up an 80 minute CDr, how in the hell to I transfer this music from my sequencer to a disc?! I didn't even know how to do that at the time. After asking around at a local music spot, it was suggested that I pick this up... a Tascam US-428 mixer that would control an early version of Cubase (recording software) already installed on my year old Mac desktop computer. When I opened the box to the brand new mixer and connected it to my computer, I just remembered thinking, "...The hell am I supposed to do NOW?" I would mess with the software, get frustrated and go back to it later to try again. This happened a couple of times before I finally got it to work for me. I was able to connect my keyboard directly into the mixer, record into Cubase, convert the music into a .wav file and burn it onto a CD by using iTunes. Talk about being excited to make some music... Of course, the recording and editing process was much different for me then too - Everything was trial and error. I recorded into Cubase as a two-track (a left and right stereo recording), which means that all of the 'drops' I inserted into the music were done in one take and manually by muting that particular track on the keyboard's sequencer as the song played. I know, I know... I'll be the first to admit that I didn't know what I was doing. BUT, I started to see an album begin to come together and that's what mattered to me the most. At the end of this process, the album contained beats that I assigned numbers to rather than names ("Beat #23" for example), a couple of remakes including Prince's "My Love Is Forever" from his For You album, and two "bonus tracks" that  I did in Atlanta with a good friend of mine and fellow WKU alum, DJ/Producer Jon Doe from the group Prophetix.

Once the final song was recorded and I had burned the very first CD full of my own material... I took it to my truck (then equipped with 2 12" subwoofers in the trunk) popped it in the CD player and rode around Bowling Green, KY for more than two hours BLASTING the finished product all the way through TWICE starting at 3am. I have tried before to come up with a few words to fully explain how good it felt to hear my own music in the car that first time, but I simply cannot. Let's just say I was floating on cloud nine for a couple of hours. After riding around past 5am and burning up some good ole $1.45/gallon gas, I wound up at the Wal-Mart across the street from my apartment... Why? Well, I was so excited about this new creation that I wanted to SHARE it with folks ASAP. So I bought a couple of packs of padded envelopes, went back home to do some quick cover art, printed it on regular paper and then started burning more CDs. I gathered up addresses of the people I was close to and started writing... There ended up being a total of 20 packages sent out the following day. I'm not sure if anyone still HAS an original copy of the album I sent out, but that would be real dope...

Ablyss is the only album that I still have available for purchase now that was created and completed in my college apartment. As an artist, you are always emotionally attached to your works but that first one is special. I mean, I can remember exactly what I was doing and what was going on around me while creating most of the joints on this album. For example, "Beat #20" was done while I was on the phone... and I can still remember who I was talking with. I just feel extremely blessed because the fact that I'm even sharing a story about my first album years later means that I have made it further than even I had initially envisioned. What an excellent feeling. ...And I still can't believe this all officially began 11 years ago.

I was just sent this picture from a young lady in Rio de Janeiro of a brand new tattoo that she got that reads "Don't ever underestimate the power of your mind..." - a quote inspired by "Greatest Weapon Of All Time" from the SunStorm album. The lyrics were written and sung by my a great friend of mine, "tourmate" and sister, Sy Smith... I'm kinda at a loss for words here... but this is real dope - AND on top of all that, the tat looks good!! According to her, "It's a very special song... Like a way of life..." 

Wow... Talk about motivational.

May 8, 2011, Mother's Day...

The +FE crew and I were set to take the short 2-hour and some change drive to Detroit from Cleveland to play our 4th show of the scheduled seven-show tour of Midwest cities. I was up and ready to go this particular morning as we were creeping up on the show date that I was most anticipating. Going back home to perform is always motivational to me because I'm able to catch everyone up on what I have been up to musically  - The same people who saw me making music out of my bedroom in my parents' house in what I used to call "Crowded Room Studios," as there was more music and equipment in that spot than space to move around. To be able to bring new levels of success home to folks who have supported you from day one is truly a blessing... So needless to say, I was a bit anxious for this one. As soon as I found out the show was confirmed, I started to text a couple folks here and there and sent a few DMs via Twitter just to make sure that kats were blocking that date off far in advance because at that time folks kept asking, "When are y'all gonna come to The D?"  ...The thing was, May of 2011 wasn't our first time playing in Detroit. The first +FE show at home was over two years ago in June of 2009 and I remember being hyped up for that one too, but this time was much different. First off, the buzz around the show was crazy and the people who were creating it seemed to be super excited. Secondly, there had been four +FE Music releases since that last show: City Lights 2: Shibuya (Sept. '09), ...just visiting too (Nov. '09),  SunStorm (Jul. '10) and Authenticity (Oct. '10). One thing was starting to become crystal clear to us... Detroit was ready, I just didn't realize how ready.

I'll put it like this, I was so amped up about the Detroit show that thinking back on it, I barely even remember the actual drive from Cleveland... I remember stopping once for gas after Toledo, but that's about it. The next thing I remember is checking in to our hotel and asking, "Ayo, who's coming to the house before soundcheck?" Our bassist, Kush El-Amin and drummer Tim Scott Jr. said that they would roll so we dropped our stuff off in our rooms and proceeded to head out to my parents' house. As soon as we walked in, I as I normally do when I get home, went straight for the refrigerator to grab a water and a Faygo Redpop to take with me. But to my surprise, Moms had baked a damn sweet poe-tay-toe pie for our arrival... Yep, I said Poe. Tay. TOE. So, uhhh... the three of us had some pie. ....And uhhh.... y'all thought I was greedy as hell? The brotha T. Scott had two pieces.

After we left my parents' house, I took the fellas to The Bread Basket for a Rueben and some Better Made chips...  For the record, I am currently salivating just looking at the picture below.

After taking our food to go, we only had enough time to head back to the hotel and pick up the rest of the crew for soundcheck at the Magic Stick. Upon arriving to the venue, I started feeling anxious... At that point I just wanted the show to BEGIN. I hadn't gone home to play in a year and a half, hadn't been home with +FE in two... everyone was sounding all extra excited about the show - I was truly on edge......... A GOOD edge. Plus, the entire crew knew how big this show was for me... With all that said, I still wasn't aware exactly how big.

We headed back to the hotel in order to change and get everything ready to go right back to the venue for the show. I was surprising cool, but I could feel my heart rate noticeably increase before taking the stage. Everybody in the crew was looking at me like, "You ready? Are you ready?" I was ready as hell... Normally, the time that we have backstage usually drags along anyway. But for the hometown show, time seemed to be moving at 120 seconds per minute. .....When we finally took the stage, I was the first to walk out to a sea of Detroit faces. I thought to myself, "This crowd is KILLIN the last one... They're ready." We proceded to start the show and the crowd was with us the entire time. During the set, I saw a ton of familiar faces, which made me feel even more at home... But still once again, I wasn't ready.

Now... for those of you who have ever attended an +FE show, you know that there is a portion set aside during each show where Phonte introduces the entire crew individually... The order is normally: band members, vocalists, and last, of course is Nicolay. Well... for the first time in our touring history, the introduction order was different and to say that it caught me way off guard would be an understatement. Phonte went through and introduced everyone and I noticed that he skipped me... I was thinking, "Ok, he'll probably do it after Jeanne and Sy." Welp! After introducing Jeanne Jolly and Sy Smith.... He introduced Nicolay. *blank stare* I wonder if anyone has pictures of my face during that time, I'd like to see them because in my head it was, "Oh shit! WTF?... I'm going LAST at the CRIB? This is crazy....!" The next thing I knew, Phonte told us to cut the music and proceeded to go into my introduction. I'm sure I was standing there looking silly and lost as hell leading up to....

"Give it up for your own... Lorenzo Ferguson a/k/a Zo! y'all!"