11.12.11 Milan, Italy

Whoa. WTF am I doing here? Life has been a whirlwind lately and it's really hard to process all that's happened over the course of the last few months. From LA to Phoenix, Aspen to Nashville, Munich to Prague to Italy, travel and adventure have been the primary words to describe life lately. I'm not sure I mentally or physically prepared myself for what has transpired, but sometimes learning as you go is the best way to do it.

So, I'm writing this from a hotel a few meters from a giant church square in Milan... we just went out and walked around a bit, and honestly, I've never seen so many people occupy such a large space... ever! People everywhere, like a sea of Italians wading in, around, over, and through each other. I've always heard of Italian pride, but until tonight, I never realized how obvious it would be. These are proud people. From their clothes to their stature to their beautiful language, they seem to be very intent in representing and maintaining their history. Of course, I've only been here for a total of 2 hours in my life, but this is my initial impression.

I am traveling with my girl friend, Savanna, and we have been asked to set up an art show for a movie premiere all over Europe. So far, we've been to Munich, Vienna, Prague, Innsbruck, and now Milan. The movie is called "The Art of Flight," which our good friend from Wyoming, Travis Rice, and friends from Brain Farm Cinema made over the last few years. It is truly a beautiful film made to capture Travis and friends pushing the sport of snowboarding to new levels... both physically and artistically. You can check it out at www.artofflightmovie.com

Like any big budget endeavor, people have responded with both acclaim, and criticism, though no one can really deny the absolute beauty and epic performances in the film. We are honored to be involved, and also excited to see places we've always dreamed of seeing. The art we are selling and promoting is truly inspirational in it's beauty and professionalism.

It has also been very educating for me as an aspiring professional musician to watch Travis, who has become an international snowboarding name, work and interact with his fans, business partners, and fellow snow boarders, to see how someone at the top of their game can do it with class and the utmost professionalism. It has always amazed me that when people have achieved such success, it is rarely based on talent alone, but also the willingness to work harder and longer than anyone else. People who have come to this have usually not done so by taking advantage of their talent or using the means they've come by to drift into self pleasure or comfort. I am taking these lessons to heart.

Before we were asked to be a part of this tour, I was also lucky enough to be involved in another exciting adventure... NBC's The Sing Off. Some of my musician friends in Nashville were asked to put together an A Cappella group to compete on the show, and when a few of the first members dropped out, I was asked to be the last member of the group. We put together an audition video and were accepted to compete against 16 other groups from around the states. We had a great time and made some fantastic relationships along the way. Although we were eliminated in 8th place, The Collective (our group name) has hopes to continue the adventure as long as we can.

So, that's it for now. I will post some pictures soon... much love, Ciao from Italy :-)