After a summer spent rebuilding, rehearsing, restructuring, and preparing, Emma & James are officially getting the Arizona music scene back into action. October brings a full calendar of Arizona shows, new original music, returning collaborators, upcoming releases, and a few unexpected reminders of why we started doing this in the first place.

October feels a little like the start of basketball season to me.

For most of the summer, Emma and I were stuck in what felt like preseason.

There was conditioning. There were drills. There was repetition, and a lot of work happened behind the scenes without much visible payoff.

July felt like clearing away everything that was slowing us down. August was rebuilding. September finally gave us some signs that things were growing again.

October feels different.

Now we have the schedule.

We have gigs lined up almost every weekend, more dates filling in for November and beyond, and that familiar little excited feeling you get when all the preparation finally has somewhere to go.

The preseason is ending.

It is time to play.

October Is Filling Up With Arizona Live Music

The calendar has filled faster than we expected.

Our next full-band show is October 10 at Arizona BBQ Shack in Scottsdale.

The night starts at 6:00 PM with Dave and Sarah, a couple we originally met through the Casa Grande open mic. We had not seen them for quite a while until reconnecting this summer and discovering they had moved to Mesa, not far from us.

Our friend Vincent Braun, who we met through the Tempe Center for the Arts open mic, will follow from 6:30 to 7:00 PM.

Then Emma & James take over from 7:00 to 9:00 PM.

We will have PA Dave on trombone, violinist Tim Sadow, and a very special guest behind the drum kit.

Chef Joe, one of the owners of Arizona BBQ Shack, is going to play drums with us.

Joe has jumped in during our songs at the Wednesday open mic before, and it is always one of those moments where the energy changes immediately.

He has been dealing with some health challenges recently, but whenever he sits behind the drums, you can see the music light him up. His energy and smile are contagious, and we are genuinely happy to have him be part of the show.

Then two songwriter showcase opportunities appeared almost back-to-back.

On October 17 at 3:00 PM, we will perform a 45-minute songwriter set at North Mountain Brewing.

The following night, October 18 at 7:00 PM, we will perform another songwriter showcase at Pho Cao.

What makes those invitations especially meaningful is that they came, at least in part, because people wanted to hear our original music.

We play covers and enjoy doing them, but there is something different about someone saying, essentially, "We want to hear the songs you wrote."

That feels like a win.

Desert Vibe Started the Month With a Full House

October actually kicked off on October 3 with the Desert Vibe Podcast event at North Mountain Brewing.

It went even better than we expected.

The room was full, musicians from Season One performed throughout the event, and Walt Richardson closed out the afternoon.

We also heard a lot of positive feedback from people who regularly listen to Desert Vibe. It was encouraging to hear that people are noticing and enjoying the direction the podcast has been taking.

One of the unexpected hits was our prize wheel.

Emma built an interactive spin-the-wheel game using the same website and app-development skills she has been putting into several of our projects. Almost everyone participated, and we handed out Desert Vibe merchandise as prizes.

It worked so well that Emma has now built another version for our own Emma & James performances.

We are already thinking about ways to use it for giveaways and audience interaction at future shows.

I will not go too deep into the Desert Vibe party here because we are putting together a separate article specifically about that event.

But it was a great way to start the month.

One of Our Favorite Musicians Is Back

One of the biggest behind-the-scenes developments has nothing to do with a new venue.

Our favorite drummer we have ever worked with has resurfaced.

Stokes came over for dinner recently, and it turned out he had spent much of his summer going through his own version of the restructuring process Emma and I had been experiencing.

By the end of the night, it became pretty clear that there are several ways we can start working together again.

Emma and I can help him develop some of his music-business ideas, including websites and some of the interactive tools she has learned to build.

Stokes can help us with production on our originals.

And, best of all, we should get to have him behind the drums for some Emma & James full-band performances again.

We absolutely love playing with Stokes.

Unfortunately for us, a lot of other musicians love playing with Stokes too.

He is one of those drummers who does more than keep time. He brings personality and creativity into the song without taking it away from the people around him.

We are grateful that he enjoys playing our music enough to keep coming back to it.

I have a feeling he is going to be one of those musicians we talk about years from now and say, "Remember when Stokes used to play with us?"

If everything lines up, you should be able to hear him with us during the October 18 songwriter showcase at Pho Cao.

New Original Music Is Moving Into the Starting Lineup

A completely unexpected original song also appeared this month.

It is called Criminal.

Sometimes songs take weeks of work.

Others seem to show up and tell you what they want to be.

Criminal was more like that.

We have already tested it several times at open mics and recently performed it at the Desert Vibe party.

Every audience reaction has been strong.

So this one has officially earned a spot in the starting lineup.

We are planning for Criminal to become one of the singles we record.

Never Look Down is still moving forward too.

We have played it a few times now, and we know we want to keep it. It just needs a little more polishing before we consider it ready.

The other new songs are still sitting on the bench waiting for their opportunity.

They will get there.

We have learned not to rush that process.

Sometimes hearing a song in a room full of people tells you more than rehearsing it at home ever could.

More Emma & James Music Is Headed for Release

We also have several existing songs moving closer to release.

Falling for You has already been released, and the official music video is being edited and will be released very soon.

Leopard in a Cage is being prepared for release on Spotify, with another music video in development.

I Need Another Hero is getting some final production work with Stokes, including adding PA Dave's trombone.

That song has had an interesting journey.

It was our first original, and at one point we nearly gave up on it.

Then the band got involved and completely changed how we heard it.

Now it is moving toward an official release.

That is a pretty good reminder not to judge a song too early.

The Open Mic Articles Have Taken on a Life of Their Own

Something else we didn't necessarily expect is the response to our open mic articles for Desert Vibe.

People actually read them.

A lot of people.

And, more surprisingly, they go out of their way to tell me they find them useful.

I have never considered myself a writer in the traditional sense. I never went to school for it or took writing classes.

Back when Emma and I were actors, I wrote live theatrical shows, but writing a scripted performance is very different from sitting down and reviewing an open mic.

Maybe the reason the articles connect with people is that they come from actually being there.

We are not collecting some venue information from the internet and pretending we understand the room.

We load in, sign up, perform, and talk to the musicians.

We listen to the sound, figure out where to park, and notice whether a first-time performer would feel comfortable walking in.

Then I write about what actually happened.

The feedback has made us want to keep exploring more of the Arizona music scene, because every new venue seems to introduce us to another group of musicians and another list of places we did not know existed.

A Dishwasher Repair Gave Us a Pretty Great Reminder

One of my favorite things that happened recently had absolutely nothing to do with a gig.

Our dishwasher broke.

The local repair technicians were unavailable, so the company sent someone up from Tucson.

He worked on it, ordered the parts he needed, and left.

A little while later, he texted us.

He said he had been embarrassed to ask while he was standing in our house, but he thought his 12-year-old daughter watched our music on YouTube.

It turns out she has a playlist of music videos she likes to put on the television on Sundays.

Our Soul Flame music video is on it.

He had apparently seen the video so many times that, while working in our house, he kept looking at us and thinking, "Are these the people from that video?"

He told us his daughter would flip out when she found out he had met us.

When he came back to finish the repair, Emma gave him her own autographed Soul Flame T-shirt to take home to his daughter.

Soul Flame came out in 2021.

We have not made another full-scale music video like that since.

That little interaction felt like a sign that maybe it is time.

Star Wars May Have Added Fuel to That Fire

There may also be another reason music videos are suddenly back on our minds.

At the end of most nights, Emma and I crawl into bed, open the laptop, and watch something before going to sleep.

Lately we have been on a massive Star Wars binge.

The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, The Book of Boba Fett, Rebels, and now The Clone Wars.

No, we did not watch everything in the correct order.

We are figuring it out.

Like a lot of people, we got attached to Hera and Kanan's relationship in Rebels.

After we finished the series, Emma woke up one morning with an idea.

She created an image of the two of us as Hera and Kanan.

And strangely enough, we look pretty convincing.

Then we realized something else.

If you know our original song As the Sun Goes Down, and you know the story of Hera and Kanan, you can probably see exactly where our brains went next.

With our acting background and the dramatic style we used in Soul Flame, a cinematic concept built around that relationship and As the Sun Goes Down would fit almost too well.

Obviously, something involving actual Star Wars characters would require the proper licensing before becoming a real commercial music video.

For now, it is firmly in the creative-idea category.

But the picture has become Emma's computer screensaver, so the idea is not disappearing quietly.

Another Unexpected Road Is Opening Outside the Music

The businesses behind Emma & James continue to evolve too.

One development we did not plan for has been the amount of interest Emma is getting in her website and app-building skills.

Between Emma & James Music, Emma Mattison Fitness, ASOC, Walt Richardson's site, Desert Vibe, and interactive tools like the prize wheel, she has built a surprisingly large portfolio.

Now musicians, fitness businesses, and other entrepreneurs are beginning to ask if she can build things for them too.

That was not really part of the original plan.

But one of the lessons of this year has been that plans change.

One project Emma is especially excited about is a new app called Ask Kiki, which she hopes to have ready for beta testing this month.

Kiki is designed as a personal style assistant covering everything from clothing and hair to skin and overall appearance.

Emma has already been using it herself.

If you have noticed the recent return of her natural curls after years of straightening her hair, Kiki deserves at least some of the credit.

Apparently I am next.

My tired eyes and the bags forming under them have officially been volunteered for testing.

If you are interested in being one of the early beta testers for Kiki, let us know.

Back Into Action

Right now, we feel optimistic.

Doors seem to keep opening, but not always the doors we expected.

Some opportunities go nowhere.

Others appear because of a conversation at an open mic, a podcast event, a drummer coming over for dinner, someone hearing an original song, or even a guy showing up to fix the dishwasher.

That may be the biggest lesson October is reinforcing for us.

Life is always changing whether you like it or not.

You can work with it or fight it, but you cannot stop it.

So sometimes the best thing you can do is listen, adjust, and enjoy the ride.

After spending most of the summer preparing, we finally feel like we are back in action.

And this time, we have a schedule.