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Ralston & Friends, Meijer Gardens - August 2017 (photo by Taylor Mansen for Local Spins)

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Earthworks Harvest Gathering - September 2017 (photo by Myrna Jacobs)

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Opening for Billy Strings at Mt. Mancelona - November 2017 (Selfie by Sam Porter)

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T-shirt designed by Chelsea Bay Design and modeled by Django

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you are all happy and healthy! It’s been a whole year since I have written you a letter. Here’s what happened in my life in 2017:

In the spring I took a road trip to Knoxville to be on “The Blue Plate Special” live radio show, then to Grand Haven to perform for the kind folks at C3, and then back home again for Tedx Traverse City. My mom started working for the airlines so now we get to travel more, which is something I love to do. So far we have flown to Honolulu, St. Louis, Portland, San Diego, Los Angeles, Miami, and Tampa. Now we are planning a trip to visit my sister in Australia!

My summer gigs started at Nor-Easter Festival and ended with the Tuesday Evening Music Club at Meijer Gardens where I was lucky enough to play with Ralston Bowles & Friends. My other summer shows were at Fountain Point with Joe and Kevin (The True Falsettos), at Festival on the Bay in Petoskey, and back to Fountain Point with the Accidentals & Friends for their Odyssey Album Release Party. I finished that guitar Bruce Davis and I had been working on since January, spent a week at Grass River Natural Area summer camp, another week riding bikes with Norte, and had lots of quality time with my dog Django.

In the fall I started middle school at The Greenspire School. It’s a great school at the TC Commons where we get a lot of outdoor time. I played a benefit concert for Norte with Zachary Watson at the Civic Center and I performed at Earthworks Harvest Gathering for the first time. I turned 12 on Thanksgiving, which means I’m old enough to use the weight room at the YMCA. My brother and I like to work out there. I opened for Billy Strings and his band at Mt Mancelona on Thanksgiving weekend, which has been a lifetime goal for me. I am grateful to Billy, Sam Porter, and to all the people who came out to hear us play in a tent on that cold night in Northern Michigan.

To everyone who has taught, encouraged, and supported me over the last three years, I want to say thank you. I have met so many wonderful people through my music. It has been a life-changing experience. I love performing, but I also have other interests and not enough time to pursue them, which is why I have decided to stop performing for now. One of my current interests is body building, so I want to paraphrase Arnold Schwarzenegger’s speech when he retired from that sport: “(Playing music) has been a beautiful experience for me and I will continue it for the rest of my life. I am only stopping (performing), not (playing).”

Love,
Nik