James Richard Lane blog

New Denominations Are Here! March 1st at 12 am, I was drunk out of my mind, dancing the night away. It was The BNote Second Series launch party at Gallery 788. We had dj's, free food, free drinks, new local currency denominations, local artwork hung up, and an open tab next store at De Kleine Duivel. This was a very proud moment for me considering I wasn't sure if The BNote would have ever made it past the first series. After lots of devotion and determination it happened. I put my heart into making the local currency relevant again. Since my time back in Baltimore, I recruited several new businesses to accept, distributed supplies to older businesses, I wrote an article in The Charles Villager about it, was interviewed and put on the front cover of The Daily Record, and helped get The BNote on LED Baltimore. We had a superb turnout with lots of gracious supporters. Goodbye HI, Hello CS Concluding my time at the Baltimore hostel, July 1st being my last day. I have decided...

Denver My girlfriend Kim got accepted into a master's program in Denver and Tampa. We wanted to visit Denver to get a feel for the program and the city. This would be my first time back in Denver since 2012 when I worked and lived in Denver for a month campaigning for the presidential elections. Kim and I bought our tickets last minute and got an AirBnB hours before we arrived. We flew from BWI with a short layover in Dallas, Texas turned into a 6 hour layover. After the long and unexpected wait we finally got on our plane and made it to Denver. We walked outside the airport to be surrounded by mountains and a beautiful scenic view. We took an hour bus ride from the airport to down town Denver. We made it our AirBnb in River North Art District to be greeted by our hosts and our room for the next five nights. Immediately we were enthused to explore the neighborhood. We walked around to discover murals of west coast art, hip bars cafes, and an abundant amount of breweries just in...

A Noble Cause This month started off with me getting a phone call from my aunt (a cancer and heart transplant survivor) to tell me a homeless cat she's been feeding is very ill and needed treatment immediately. Knowing that my aunt is poor from her monthly medical bills. She took the initiative to put herself in more debt by getting treatment for the cat. She saved the cat from it's potential life threatening illness and decided to keep the 1 year old kitten. This action came as no surprise to me as she has a history of adopting those that need help. I was adopted by her and she's a true hero to me and those that need support. Eat More Fruit Things The flyer is inspiration for one of my new years resolutions to eat more fruit, I hosted/played yet another fantastic hostel show. This months line up consisted of Kyndal Gehlbach, Pennington, Pelvis Presley, and Sean Michael Wilson Band. The music was much more folk driven than previous shows, which I fondly enjoy be...

Facing adversity and turning it into opportunity. I have faced lots of disappointment this month. This comes as a surprise being last month treated me so well... I've had professional job interviews deny me by responding "I was a close runner up". I also have been denied financial aid again. After submitting appeals on why I deserve to have the support I need to finish my degree. I keep getting panic attacks and lots of anxiety followed with it. I can't seem to get ahead so it seems; however I was wrong. This is all opportunity to succeed in something else. I just need to cut ties with things that have been holding me back for too long and finally fully venture out. I believe that even if you don't have something supporting you like a job or school that can be the best because it can lead to other opportunities and that's exactly what I plan to do. There are plenty of other opportunities out there waiting for me. I have high hopes in my future for 2016. Th...

2016 has started and it has been filled with media, travel, and turtlenecks. The Year Of The Turtlenecks. New Years Eve was an exceptional way to end the year for me. The only words I can fathom to describe the absurdity of this night would be turtlenecks, farming, O'doul's. That basically was the key essentials to make that night what it was. It started off with Kim and I planning where we were going to spend the last night of 2015 together. My close compadre James was in town visiting from Vermont. He invited us to his older cousin Dan's farm, which was way out in the middle of nowhere. We were surrounded by horses, emus, and a pig named Garth Brooks. We were all sitting by the bonfire drinking and chatting away the hours. The countdown started and we were standing in the field waiting for the fireworks. It all went down with a big celebration Dan, James, Kim, and I walked in the house. Dan's nextstore neighbor (the landlard) came over informing us we somehow...

2015 Overview This year has been one huge learning lesson, with a great deal of adventures. I curated a list of goals I wanted to accomplish by the end of the 2015, all of those goals have been conquered. It was a rough year with lots of ups and downs and big decisions to be made. Although, everyday wasn't the best I tried to make the best out of it. I did enjoy a lot of extensive traveling and sight seeing, as well as being able to participate more in the media and entertainment industry. I was fortunate to go to a lot of great shows I wanted to see, and was able to play a lot of great show with my band and my solo act. 2015 was the year of learning and strategizing for me. The highlights of 2015: 1. Busing to Seattle/Portland from Baltimore 2. Driving to Chicago 4th of July week/end 3. Completing the half marathon of the Baltimore Running Festival 4. Seeing We Are Scientists in Philly 5. Hosting/performing awesome Baltimore Hostel shows and having City Paper/BMoreArt s...