Yesterday American Songwriter magazine premiered a new song by Dion called, "Song for Same Cooke (Here in America)." Everyone knows Dion DiMucci. He is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but the song was co-written with my uncle, Mike Aquilina. Mike has been a huge supporter of The Deep Roots. He has sat in the rain several times to hear us play.
For me, being featured in American Songwriter is the Noble Prize for songwriters. They cover the serious songwriters. Songwriters who should be studied in college classes - or teach college classes for that matter. I am so excited for Mike. I just couldn't let that go.
Part II
Today is my mom's birthday. Happy Birthday Mom! Kicking off this web-site reminded me of the first time my family saw one of my bands play. It was the spring of my junior year in college. Durty Nelly was playing outside on the back of a tractor trailer for some kind of block party. It was freezing cold. The wind was blowing in our faces. In the picture, we are all bundled up. I had only been playing guitar for a little over a year, so I remember my fingers being really, really stiff. After our set, my parents and sister came up to congratulate us and tell us how good we sounded. They said, "You sounded great. Really. We aren't lying. We would have lied. We had a meeting in the car, and we all agreed that no matter what it sounded like we would say that you sounded great and that we are proud of you. But we didn't have to lie. You were really great."
When I bought my first guitar my goal was to learn to play well enough that someday I would be good enough to play a song on a stage with a band at some point in my life. Here we go. I'm in a band that has web-site with original songs that are well recorded. It has been a dream for me for a long time. I'm very grateful to everyone who has encouraged me on the way.