PatBlogahan.com

I’ve been very family lately so I have kind of been away but please except my deepest thank you for the wonderful life you’ve given me and my family. Train fans and friends are kind and thoughtful and so what I’m trying to be more of.
I hope that we get many more years of sharing life moments and having a good laugh and cry together.
I’m always working on getting better at what I do and who I am because I feel like that is truly the best way to show appreciation.
I hope you’re all having great times with the ones you care the most about and before you know it we’ll be together again singing and mosh pitting ….or ya know something like that.

Love, Pat

Autumn is probably my favorite time of year. The colors mean everything to me. I’ve always felt like autumn inside. Leaves, which are green and unnoticed for much of their life spans, become vibrant and filled with personality and reason to pay attention.
Its a reminder that you can’t ever expect anyone to know your potential. Only you know your potential. Only you know what your capable of and what your boundaries and limitations are. Like Doug Stanhope says, “Your body is your property. No one should be able to tell you what to and not to do with it.” Makes sense.
So, as the leaves all change before they fall, I long for those familiar sounds of football, the wet streets with trick or treaters, the excuse to eat pumpkin pie and family. I’m missing my brothers and sisters, my older children, whom I’ll see very soon, and my dad. Usually we have Thanksgiving. There will be some missing pieces this year. My dad will stay in PA and my friend Connie will be joining us this year in spirit. It will be a great time to really be grateful this year. So much to appreciate. As I expand in age, I am seeing so much that I need to reflect on more. For instance, I haven’t exercised because I have an injury. Man, I’m grateful for times without pain. My wife and I have a new baby guy named Rock(not a music reference). He’s sweet and healthy and beautiful. And what I really am learning to love is time. Time to be. Time to rest. Time to remember and time to forget. Time will come and go as we will but people and the beasts will always have these fleeting moments to choose all of these amazing choices in this weird world. I suppose I will just want to look back one day and be grateful for how I chose to spend my spare moments. I will be taking that more seriously in these years to come. These spare moments have gotten to be few and far. And so I love this season. It is Northern California’s most beautiful as well as it’s warmest time of year.
So much to be grateful for. Yes!

I just read all of the letters that I received in Erie. Thank you, everyone. You are so kind and when I do get to actually see you and talk to you all, I am always so excited that you are even more wonderful in person. I hope you will continue to send love and good energy during our recording time, which begins this weekend. Hoping to have new music out right after the new year. We’ll see. There’s so much to do and we definitely want to be evolving in a positive direction.

Lastly for now, I’ve been reading the same book for 5 months now. 353 pages. I read about a page a week. Ha. What a joke. Does everyone do this kind of shit? I feel like a dummy. I know people that read a book a week. Oh and yes I do hate them. Jokes.
Okay, I’m on a plane to LA with Pergo. He and Moose are really getting famous among you guys. I think I know why…they’re weird and fun to watch cause weird is fun to watch. Right? I know they aren’t hot! Okay, well not super hot anyway.

Love you guys. Thanks for always looking out for one another. So good to see on this planet right now.

Pat

I have no idea what to write. I feel as if I’m late for an appointment and I don’t know what its for so I just keep hurrying in hopes that by the time I get there I’ll remember what the hell I’m there for.
Nothing yet…hmm…okay, I’ll ad lib cause that’s what I’m hoping to be someday, an ad lib master.
Uuuhh oh okay, here, I’m outside a grocery store with my sleeping 3 year old and Daryl Hall is on Sirius 2 Blend. I’ve been hoping to catch more Howard Stern but I’m not sure that Autumn would enjoy sleeping to incredible comedy without sensor. Okay, Howard’s on now. She seems to love it as much as I do.
This is some good parenting..I hope. I would have thanked my dad.
Other news, as if I’ve said anything worthy of being news, is that we will start to record our next record soon. So excited. We’ll work in LA, SF, Seattle and I’m trying to get a day or two in Hawaii or on the moon.
Also, we still plan on doing the listening party in SF for a couple hundred fans. I figure we should do a vote. You can’t vote for yourself or you won’t be invited. I thought YOU should be the ones to decide. You can vote for people and say why. Not yet, but in January probably.
Hope you like that idea.
We have some pretty good music right now too. I’m trying to hone in on how to complete the album vibe. Been listening to a lot of Van Morrison and The Band. Then I went through itunes to hear all the greatest songs ever, like Lover You Should’ve Come Over. Buckley is missed. Radio Head had some great songs back in their start. Fake Plastic Trees is wow. James Taylor. Carol King! She wrote a thousand hits.
Anyway, I’m eating more. Softening up for the big Thanksgiving feast. Oh yea, and I’m gonna take a lot of kid’s candy this Halloween too. I think I’m gonna be te new “Round Rocker”. We’ll see.

Miss you guys!
See some of you in Erie(may be my final show as a skinny).

Love, Pat

I would like to point out 20 reasons Train fans are the best!
1.T-fans are actually kind people
2.You have a great sense of yourselves
3.You are open to things
4.You have a great sense of humor
5.You care about your fellow friends and other fans of Train and other music
6.You’re really attractive
7.You think we’re awesome, therefore YOU are awesome
8.You have formed a loving community among yourselves and its growing stronger and more beautiful
9.You don’t say things like, “Pat looks great…for his age”
10.You don’t hand me shirts from other bands and ask me to sign them
11.You’re great cooks
12.You love football and your fantasy teams have our song titles in their names
13.You don’t sit in the front row of our concerts and act completely uninterested in the other bands/artists
14.T-fans have great asses
15.You believe in a universal truth and that truth is always the best policy
16.You think you’re Virginia(some of you) and that’s sweet
17.You don’t take this life too seriously but you are serious about living right
18.Your kids, parents, friends love Train and that makes you all really smart
19.You have great taste in music
20.You are truly wonderful people and we appreciate you all so much for all you do for us and with us

I’d like to finish by saying how much fun we’re having on tour with M5. Its the home stretch for us before we record our next record and start all over again.
Also, I love Matt Nathanson! He is an amazing artist, friend and overall dude. Please get to know him and his music. I’m such a huge fan of his. He is making this tour even more incredible.
Lastly, there was a little girl(trainette) on stage tonight in Georgia. She was wonderful. She’s pretty sick and that didn’t stop her from being the most beautiful energy I’ve ever seen. Let’s all send love and healing energy to her and get her better. The world needs her. Thank you.

Love, Pat

Years ago I had a great therapist. Her name is Judi. She is a really special person and she was the start of a large transformation for me. I am forever indebted to her. I should call her more often to thank her and give her my love. Anyway, I mention her because I’ve been wondering why people behave the way they do. Why do we treat one another the way we do? Why do some relationships work and others don’t? Why do I entertain the way I do? Why do managers manage the way that they do? I then remember the process that Judi helped me go through and I’m going to share it. It really opened my eyes. Maybe you will find something interesting in her theory(that I claim as my own when I think I can get away with it).
Here goes…
A few years ago I often wondered why I was so unhappy. I felt as though I was draining every ounce of ‘try’ and ‘love’ from myself to give to others and it was getting me absolutely nowhere. Why, Judi, why??
Her response, as best as I can remember was, “We give others what we want in return. The problem with this is that just because its what we want, it doesn’t mean that its what the person we’re giving it to wants.” This made a jygundous impression on me.
Of course! There it is, the answer to all things human. Why are we who we are? Because we know, for the most part, what it is that we want and that conditions us to give what we want. We attract like minded others and eventually we grow more alike or more different.
**********this next part is NOT a judgement*******************
I became sober during this time and it had been so long since I wasn’t getting hi or drunk that I never really knew who I was or what it was that I wanted. My addictions just turned into other addictions after that, like work and running, etc. All much better for you, I’m told.
So, there it is! The answer to “us”. We are what we eat and we want what we do. Huh? It kinda makes all the sense in the world, doesn’t it? The Universe is ingenious.
I’m a hundred percent sure that this theory has as many holes in it as a colander but at least its a damn theory. And its really frickin late, so that’s what ya get for late…and free. Ha. Good night.

Love, Pat

I don’t usually talk much about tragedies like the one in Indianapolis Saturday night and I can’t imagine I’ll ever let myself watch any video clips of it ever either. But I feel like simply adding these people to my thoughts isn’t quite enough. This is a very close to home topic for me/us and the fact that we’re headed to Indy for a show this week makes it extra close. It could have been any of us, band, crew or bystander. So, I wanted to send some thoughts out there.
I have always been under the impression that the “things happen for a reason” theory somehow played a role in everything but these stages going down, I really don’t know what kind of reasons could be connected to the heartache that comes with it. I’m not one to tell the Universe how to behave but I can certainly ask humans to care more about the stages that they are providing at these festivals and fairs. I know that weather has been a factor in all 3 of these events but please let’s be conscious of one another’s well being and care less about making sure the checks can get cashed.
If these items had nothing to do with this tragedy, I apologize for the accusations and I am also very surprised because money plays a role in all that we do these days.
I am so sad for these people that were injured or worse by this absolutely awful collapse and I am thinking of you all constantly and sending love. We hope to be there in a few days and we hope to bring love and a few moments of good cheer and smiles to an amazing state/city with people who are filled with the heart of this country.
317 is the shit and will continue to be.
Thanks for listening to my rant and let’s take better care of each other, okay?

Love, Pat

I’m really not one to be macho. In fact, when I’m not on stage, I’d probably rather hang back. Yeah, I get on a story tangent or jokes roll here and there but when I’m not among friends or people I’m close to and I’m not at meet and greets, I like to observe rather than take the spot light.
With that said, how could I resist? It was as if it was the worlds biggest challenge and the prize was bigger than what my imagination could drum up. Losing this proposition meant nothing. What I mean is, not succeeding would mean everything I would do would equal nothing or at least feel like that.
I’m not sure when it happened. It may have been in Sedona. Maybe in San Francisco. It actually could have happened in Erie when I was a child. I remember crying a lot at night as a kid. Not because I was scared or needy, I cried because I felt this hopelessness that I couldn’t fix everyone’s sadness. It was horrifying to think that the people I loved would one day leave me, at least physically. I wasn’t scared for me. I was scared for them. I felt like I should have been able to prevent it and learning that I couldn’t made me feel this deep sorrow that I never shared with anyone.
What does all this mean? I think it means this: music came to me then. Like some sort of answer. Like a response from the Universe for my hopelessness. And as I learned how to use it and control it and ask for things directly related, I started to feel overwhelming moments of joy. I felt like a huge impenetrable line of people shifted slightly to make room for me to pass. I feel like when I passed through I was wondering in the dark for years, unable to know what it was I was looking for or doing or learning or supposed to do. It felt like I traded in my youth at that very moment for a huge assignment card that I couldn’t read.
As time moved and I kept searching, things went well. Then times went dark. Then they went great. Then very dark. And now I am here. As I look back, I realize that what I chose in those days was the slow road to self awareness. I chose the big stuff. The heaviest bowling ball. And as I gave it my best go, it went down a never ending lane at a snails pace and has slowly and surely been picking up momentum for all this time as though the lane had a slight down hill pitch to it.
I learned not so long ago that I was given this choice and these gifts because that’s what I asked for. Maybe not as directly as, “Please let me sing well” but I definitely asked for a vehicle to board to possibly do something for someone. When I see people smile, when I have Trainettes of all shapes and ages dance and sing, when people cry with me and we remember our loved ones that were lost or found, it all fills me with a love that I get to store and spread at the next place and the cycle continues from one day to the next. For even just one brief moment, to see a person light up because of something I have done or said or had someone else say or do, I feel like the ball picks up more momentum to spread love and togetherness. I was just the one who pulled it from the rack. You are the ones who make it roll.
Thank you for helping me spread this love from town to town in so many countries. I am so grateful.

Love, Pat

Okay typically I don’t do this but I really have to say this. I was not prepared for the bigness in San Diego last week.
I will be so prepared next time that it will be ridiculous.
Thank you all who came to that show and I promise that the next one will be worth the wait. I love San Diego and all the people who live there.
Now I have to get back to working on being prepared.
Love, Pat

On the other side of a street I knew
Stood a girl that looked like you
This must be deja vu
But I thought this can’t be true
Cause you moved to west LA or New York or Sante Fe
Or where ever to get away from me

Oh but that one night
Was more than just right
I didn’t leave you cause I was all through
Oh I was overwhelmed and frankly scared as hell
Because I really fell for you

Oh I swear to ya
I’ll be there for ya
This is not a drive by y y y y
Just a shy guy looking for a 2 ply
Hefty bag to hold my y y y y y y love
When you move me everything is groovy
They don’t like it sue me
The way you do me
Oh I swear to ya
I’ll be there for ya
This is not a drive by y y y y

On the other side of a downward spiral
My love for you went viral
And I loved you every mile you drove away
But now here you are again
So let’s skip the “how you been”
And get down to the “more than friends” at last

Oh but that one night
Is still the highlight
I didn’t leave you until I came to
Oh I was overwhelmed and frankly scared as hell
Because I really fell for you

Oh I swear to ya
I’ll be there for ya
This is not a drive by y y y y
Just a shy guy looking for a 2 ply
Hefty bag to hold my y y y y y y love
When you move me everything is groovy
They don’t like it sue me
The way you do me
Oh I swear to ya
I’ll be there for ya
This is not a drive by y y y y

Please believe that when I leave
There’s nothing up my sleeve but love for you
And a little time to get my head together too

On the other side of a street I knew
Stood a girl that looked like you
This must be deja vu
But I thought this can’t be true
Cause

Oh I swear to ya
I’ll be there for ya
This is not a drive by y y y y
Just a shy guy looking for a 2 ply
Hefty bag to hold my y y y y y y love
When you move me everything is groovy
They don’t like it sue me
The way you do me
Oh I swear to ya
I’ll be there for ya
This is not a drive by y y y y

Convince someone to want to be here on earth?
Make someone feel essential?
Love someone enough to change how they feel about themselves?
Delay or prevent family/friends heartache?
Talk someone into life?
Talk someone out of giving up?

Do you feel like once someone makes a decision to be gone, that’s it? I’ve always thought that people who leave early due to their own choice couldn’t be helped. In my life experience, the ones I’ve lost this way surprised everyone. Whether they were never happy or depressed or suffering or hopeless, they never let anyone know.
Convincing someone to be happy seems as likely as convincing someone to fly. It’s easy to help someone carry something but so crazy hard to ask someone to carry on.
The thought of taking my own life came and went once or twice as a teenager but was instantly met with all sorts of reasons to stay and search for answers and joy.
Some people claim to have never been happy. I wish I could wipe away the darkness that some people live in.
Humans are so delicate, so awful, so beautiful, so broken and so perfect. Oh how I wish there was a way to bring joy to everyone, even just everyone in my small circle of life.
And so I will wait. I will hope. I will pray my own kind of prayer. I will love and want all good things for all of us and let the universe take who she needs and leave the rest to clean up and move on and grow and teach and cry and remember and still after all that not know one thing about how to have done any of it differently.

Pat