The conversation went like this:

"Bonjour, bienvenue." = Hello and welcome!
"Bonjour, merci, Je m'appelle Napoléon" = Hello, thank you ... My name is Napoleon.
"D'où venez-vous?" = Where are you from?
"Etats-Unis" = USA
"Oui! mais quel ville?" = Yes I know, but what city?
"oh! .. Yes Cincinnati ... I live in Cincinnati !!!"
"Tu connais Cincinnati?" = Do you know Cincinnati?
"Non, Juste le nom" .. = No just the name ...

I have this exchange often ...They don't know what state it's in ... but they are confident that they know the name. One French guy even asked me directly, "why is this town Cincinnati so popular?" I replied, "Is it? ... A lot of people don't even know Cincinnati exists."  He rebutted, "oh! ... pfffffff !!! people know about Cincinnati ...they know !!!"

That got me thinking, what DO people know about the Nati ??? Could it be they heard the name so many times over the years in bizarre news stories? Is it that WE are the NOTORIOUS C.I.N. ??? Another person (in Europe) did in fact say to me recently, "ah ouais, you are from where the people voted for Bush." I had to break it down for him ... "everybody in the city didn't vote for Bush back in 2004, in actuality, there were major problems and scandals about the voting machines." Then to drive my point home, I said with pride, "Cincinnati led the
way to making Ohio a blue state for President Obama during the last presidential elections !!!"

A lot of things about Cincinnati's double personality astonish people. I think this duality might be the reason why the name sticks. The same town that has the National Underground Freedom Center was known for the KKK cross on Fountain Square and race riots. We can share another entire blog RE: the historic Yin/Yang personality of this area. The ironic thing is, the coolest stuff about this city doesn't usually make the international news. I have fun telling the WHOLE story in conversations and interviews. Representin !!!

Midpoint Music Festival...Bootsy Collins living here and being involved in the community...Shake-It Records and their ability to survive the new anti-retail music industry...that's good stuff !!! And recently, I've been hooking up with old friends and meeting other good folk that are doing great things right here in the Nati...(ie. music, media, art, fashion, etc.):

-The shop downtown on Main Street called OTR (Original Thought Required)
 and designer Bob Tengen.
-Jai Washington with her Cincinnati Conscience radio show on WVQC
-The provocative, progressive Nathan Ive on WIZF and WBDZ talk radio ...
-PMO Music, which is about to hold their second annual Urban Music Conference downtown Cinci in July ...that's MORE good stuff !!!

All of this is REALLY happening right here in Cincinnati !!! As an artist, isn't it better for me to let them know about the real Cincinnati, rather than just the number of homicides in the city, meth-labs in the burbs, and the often confusing local politics ???

So ... as I speak of the things that are worthwhile in Cincy, I hope I can rock hard enough to make my city proud!!!

It's time to start the ISWHAT?! tour for June/July and I am still shaking my head from the May tour. In May:

-I went to Morocco, flew into Casablanca and spent a week in the capital city, Rabat.
-played a HUGE festival called Mawazine with Cuban pianist, Omar Sosa & Moroccan Rapper, Don Bigg  (fest program included - Elton John, Sting, Harry Connick Jr., BB King, Carlos Santana, Al Jarreau, Seun Kuti, to name a few)
-met Gil Scot-Heron in Brussels, Belgium
-did yet another new collaboration with Archie Shepp for a really hip festival in Montreuil, a suburb of Paris
-met Cheick Tidiane Seck .. (legend in modern African music)
-recorded 2 new tracks in Paris with a dope French Hip-hop band La Canaille

The more I tour, the more I respect the people that have been touring decades before I was a flutter in my mother's heart or a twinkle in my father's eye. When my friends hear about the people I meet, places I go to perform and the journeys in between, they often say things that let me know they don't quite understand. I know they are imagining the exotic people, landmarks and food. That's all a part of it yes, but the reality remains that this is a job!!!

I am at work when I tour. This is not a complaint. I'm so grateful for being able to live my dreams and but it comes with responsibility. I guess responsibility is what my father was talking about when I was a teenager and he gave me the speech, "you know nothing about the music business." The thing is ... the only way i could ever really learn the stuff I have learned is be out here doing it.

For sure I am learning more about music, recording and how to become a total entertainer/performer, but that is just a fraction of my new-schooling.

I have become a better business student. Refining the understanding I've had for some time, that business is not about money. Business is about relationships and money can be one of the end results of a profitable relationship.

I've had to study myself. Why do I do the things I do? How does that effect the people I work with on the road? How do I make sure that the only baggage I bring on my trip will either be checked under the plane or fit in the overhead? LOL .. you dig? (no need for personal baggage on the road) .. Touring truly comes with burdens of its own.

"Patience is a virtue" really is a cliche that undersells the value of this attribute. At least a couple dozen times patience and compassion have saved me from what would have been a career ending catastrophe. The road is a blacksmith, beating, shaping and sharpening me into a wise and thoughtful man.

When I am away for weeks and months at a time, I always come back with a new appreciation for home. Although the venues are crowded with fans, they are most often just friendly strangers. I am always happy to meet someone that has ISWHAT?! CDs or heard other music projects that I am a part of, but after a while I want to see and talk with people I know.

Paris really is as beautiful and romantic as legend tells; with its lights, architecture, and monuments to art and culture of old Europe. Milano really is a couture metropolis, with stilettos to make almost any man drool. Tallinn is dope with Skype (an Estonian invention) and free-wifi everywhere. I didn't try the marijuana in in in in.... uhm... Amsterdam, but loved all the bikes and flowers.

Awesome experiences on the road, but my heart is back home in the streets of the Nati, where the people make me laugh and cry. Where I will be proud and disappointed in the same day by local news, because it's home.

This is where I am not a visitor, but an investor with all my studies and dreams at stake.