www.williams-ryan.com

Just wanted to share some things with you, for those who may not know.

The “Media” page has a handful of songs from various places that you can listen to, and they’ll be changed every now and again so be sure to check back!

Also in the Media section is a link to a a page I designed for the Shortfilm EP. You can read about the EP, it’s creation, some of the influence of it, and even listen to/download the whole thing right from my site (free!), so get on that if you STILL haven’t, kids. I always enjoy hearing the stories behind musician’s songs and such, so I figure you guys will like that as well.

Speaking of musician’s songs, Allow me to momentarily mount the soapbox on behalf of all the amazing musicians in the city of Philadelphia and it’s surrounding regions — It’s not something that you might think of often, but there’s so much great, great music in the city, so try not to forget that when you’re bored or don’t have plans. Pick up a City Paper or Philadelphia Weekly and you’ll find lots of local musicians in the listings who could use support/fans/groupies/etc., so get adventurous and check ‘em out. Even if you don’t live in the region, go find some local music where you live. Remember, most of those bands selling out places like WorldCafe or the Tower started off like myself and so many others in the city, bouncing our voices off the walls of coffee houses, bars and taverns in the hope that we can get the sound to stick to somebody’s soul.

Back off the box now, thanks. :-)

For those remote local music supporters, Check out the Ourstage.com competition! Ourstage is a pretty nifty site where you listen to two songs (at least 15 seconds of each) and then pick which you think is the better song. The songs get ranked, and each month’s winners get all sorts of crazy fun prizes, from cash, to gear, to studio time–in fact, one of the prizes is a slot at Bumbershoot in Seattle, so head over to www.ourstage.com , sign up (free!) and get voting!!! I have a trio of songs in the running right now, but you can’t cheat the machine, you just have to vote, so make your voice heard!

If you’ve been out, or at the least, if you’ve seen the flyers for most or all of the shows I’ve had this year, You’ll notice Sean McNellis plays with me pretty frequently. Sean and I have known eachother for years and have had musical interactions on and off for the last three years. But I think 2007 marks our unofficial beginning, if you will, as a duoship. Sean’s been playing electric and acoustic guitars for over a decade, and has participated in several original and cover bands. When he’s not playing one of the thousands of guitars he has (I’m not kidding.. well.. maybe exaggerating, but not kidding!), he’s likely honing his mandolin or violin skills. But his most amazing feat, of course, is dealing with me, so I congratulate him for that! Stay tuned for some live recordings of the two of us, and get ready, because we’re working on TWO albums right now, with the first coming in October.

I’m very happy to be teamed up with such an accomplished musician and great friend, and what he brings to the table is a perfect compliment to things. Sean and I are always on the lookout for bass, drum, and perhaps (as yet undecided) keyboard players, so if you think you might be a good fit, hit me up!

It’s summer, kids, and you know what that means, right? You got it, We have shows coming up! Somehow I’m sure that has something to do with it being summer. (cheeeeeeeeese!)

Thursday, July 19th you can catch Sean and I at Coffeeworks Roastery and Cafe in Voorhees, NJ. We’ll be playing from 7:30-9:30, so feel free to stop in any time, listen to tunes, bring friends, drink coffee, and eat awesome food. This show is ALL AGES, and FREE, and since it’s summer, I know you younger fans have better curfews, so come on out! I’ll give you a prize of some kind if you’re 18 or under, I promise.

For those of you who are 21 and over, you know all too well the joys that alcohol can bring, so why not enjoy alcohol and Ryan at the same time? ;-) You can find Sean McNellis and I at The Lickety Split on Wednesday, July 25th. If you don’t know, Lickety is on South Street in Philly, right on the northwest corner of 4th and South Streets. They have ungodly huge, delicious, inexpensive slices of pizza, lots and lots of beer, and all sort of liquor. Pizza and Beer — what more could you ask for? And uh, I know there are teachers in my friends, so since I know you don’t have work on the 25 OR the 26th, I’ll be looking for you, and your scores and scores of teacher-friends. It could be like a mixer, just think.

This show is also free, and Sean and I are thrilled as all get-out to share the bill with Marc Silver, one of those great, great local Philly musicians I mentioned earlier. Come fly with us at the Lickety Split, friends!

Cheers, all! Thanks for listening, for coming out, for buying things, for being a pal, telling your friends, anything you do that helps us out means more to me that you’ll ever know.