These pics sum up the year / decade / life pretty well, and get me excited for 2020 & beyond. I think of:

SURRENDER: I had no idea how intense it would be at the base of the falls, naked, the cold & crashing of the water & air pretty literally taking my breath away. There was nothing to do but feel it. I know that I have little or no control over just about everything, except my reaction to everything. Whether I'm thinking about the state of the world, or money & aging & all the material things that don't matter but also really matter, or what happened before, or whatever comes next, or the mystery of moods & feelings... the only choice I've got is how I respond. Such a simple and obvious lesson, and a life's work to really feel it in my body & come from that pure place.

THE PHYSICAL, NON-HUMAN WORLD: Those eels are practically prehistoric. They live to 100ish, and travel thousands of miles on their internal GPS. I've always loved playing & moving my body, and being with non-human animals. As our interaction & identity gets less analog & more digital, I'm increasingly interested in being outside & unfiltered, nowhere near machines. As cities get more homogenous & crowded, I think about wild spaces without too many human animals around. I'm pretty sure the arc will keep bending in that direction.

TOGETHERNESS: I've known for a long time that I'm not for most people & most people aren't for me. That's been sad for me sometimes. Lately, it's liberating. I feel lucky to be connected with a sweet handful of creatures who want to be in the tenderwild with me. Whether at home or on tour, whether personally or 'professionally', I keep being taught to trust myself, be who I am, and see who sticks around. Again, wayyy easier said than done. I look forward to lots more learning that lesson in 2020, and for the rest of my life.

For anyone reading this, in this particular IDEAS place where we've chosen to be, just know that the support & kindness that you've shown me, all the shows & hellos that led to you reading this here on my weird little website (or in yr inbox)... you're the kind of togetherness I want around the music & ideas, you're the way I want to communicate, you're what I choose. I have mountains of songs & shows & thoughts from the past & future to share. I'll see you there.

Love,

Jonah

Gonna take my time on this one...

I just made a simple and game-changing adjustment to the postage part of the Yard Sale. From now on, you won't be charged for shipping when you order. Instead, I'll write to you before I send yr stuff, and we'll make sure you get charged the right amount for where you are and what you ordered (pro tip: multi-item orders minimize postage costs). It'll be nice to say hi & thanks, too. The calculators have been screwing it up for years, either by overcharging you, or losing me money. Also, now people can pay for stuff at shows that much more easily, just by using the site right at the merch table. As usual, direct & personal saves the day.

Slowly settling into home after back-to-back overseas adventures. I'm sad the Australia shows got canceled, and also feeling lucky I get to go to New Zealand to sing for sweet people getting married, and then to have some actual free time in that unbelievably beautiful place. And then in December it's time for shows in the Western US to finish out the year. 

I'm especially excited about the first couple shows, cos I get to sing a song that I just made with a new heavy band called Fake Figures. I've known some of them for over 20 years now. I love what we made together. The album is available now from on War Against Records with some sweet vinyl options, Brooklyn Vegan just premiered it, and I just added it to the Lately playlist in Psongs.

I also added several more full shows from the last coupla tours, recorded DIY-style right from the stage, and a show from June in Redding that someone in the audience took the time to preserve and organize well. That sort of interaction is so appreciated. One wonderful problem that I have is that there is so much material I want to make available to you, just labeling it all properly takes tons of work. Anyone who wants to help catalog stuff etc, lemme know. I love doing this together.

Oh! A cool little label in Germany has made some great vinyl reissues of the Gratitude album and Water & Solutions. The Gratitude stuff has never been on vinyl, and the last repress of Water & Solutions was terrible. This looks & sounds way better. Both come with bonus flexidiscs featuring unreleased stuff. They've promised me a handful of copies for the Yard Sale. I'll let you know when that's happening. For now, please order direct from them. They're good people working hard to keep the music in the world.

Those of you who aren't part of IDEAS yet will notice that you won't be able to see & hear some of the stuff I'm talking about unless you sign up. I'm not doing it to make you feel left out, I'm doing it to invite you in. I'm working really hard to build a little world worth spending yr time & money on. It feels amazing to have a place without algorithms filtering posts & messages, without trolls, without manilpulative clickbait, without our conversations being mined for data. It feels alive. 

There are 100-ish people there already. I keep having this dream of 333 people. 3 is just a number I enjoy, and also I think if we get to 333, there will be a great balance of natural intimacy & energy that will fuel conversations, custom album/merch ideas, tours & more. If it ever gets bigger than that, I'm sure we'll be fine, but my goal isn't to have the whole world there. I just want to keep making a living making stuff for & with you, and do it in ways that feel fair / fun / possible for all.

All that said, whatever ways you want to support me & the music (or not) is very okay with me. I'm working out some fun deals with people who would rather support IDEAS with a yearly contribution, so if you're curious about that, say hi anytime. Beyond that, everything is still sliding-scale for anyone, whether they sign up for IDEAS at whatever level or not. Happy to be in touch.

Okay, I need a shower. Enjoy yr time, whenever & wherever you are.

Love,

Jonah

I always thought of Skittles as a candy, or more recently & horribly as maybe the last thing Trayvon Martin ate before being murdered. Turns out it’s a really old game, though, kinda like bowling. Anyway, I played in a skittle alley last night, and it was really fun. Wackiest show in a while. The guy who put is on is an incredibly nice creature called Craig. I stayed at his place after as well, had a great chat about life with him & his dad this morning. They’ve had a lot of sorrow in the past year, and it seems the show really gave them a lift. I’m being reminded again & again this tour about the power of the personal parts of this. Such love. 

JONAH MILBORNE PORT SOCIAL CLUB 26

I always feel lucky to start a tour in a familiar and friendly place. Kettering is both of those as much as any place has ever been for me. There are always sweet people, and the room is perfect. I could feel my voice and body settling into the tour as the set went on, and it was fun to have other musicians onstage but still essentially be playing acoustic. Always room for new adventures. Enjoy.. 

Such good times. That is all I can think when I think of last night in Allston. A classic Boston bar filled with old friends, rocking as the Yankees got eliminated from postseason play. Perfect night. 

Just put up a bunch of tunes in Psongs and some fun stuff in Cinema, enjoy!