howboutno asked: Yeah! You’re going on tour! As you gear up for hitting the road, what would be your mix you’d put together to keep your spirits high on those long drives?

VE: I restocked my iPhone for the trip.  Some noteworthy additions:

Notice I’m still listening to full albums.  Am I the only one left?  Plus, one of the great things about traveling with other people is that they turn you on to stuff you’ve missed, so I’m excited about that.

saukdee asked: You’re website looks amazing! Nice upgrade. :) You’re one of my favorites. Love that voice of yours… and Secondhand Serenade’s John Vesely recommended you to his fans back when myspace was the cool “social networking” site. I’ve been a fan of yours for awhile now. :) Best regards.

VE: I’m glad you like my website, though it hasn’t been redesigned in about two years.  I caught you not visiting.  Glad you’re back.  Thanks for the kind words.  I appreciate it!

Anonymous asked: Hey Val!!! I’m in your mother’s language arts class, and ever since she taught my older brother I’ve been a HUGE fan!! I don’t think it is apropriate to be cursing on a website. What if kids like me come on the website? I love your new album, but i can’t find it anywhere! I guess I’ll ask your mom if she has any copies. Bye for now! ~D

VE: Hi there.  My new album is available on iTunes and Amazon and the best place to find out info about that stuff is always my website valemmich.com.  There are direct links to purchase the album. About profanity, I appreciate your comment but I value honesty and I trust those reading this know my intentions.  There are curses in my songs.  Curses are part of every language, part of expression.  They are often overused but when used with some skill they are exactly what’s needed.  I don’t curse in public around children (or try really hard not to).  That’s my choice.  But I don’t think cursing has anything to do with morality.  I think humans innately know what is right and wrong.  When a dog is kicked, it yelps.  Any child can sense its pain.  It’s primal.  When a kid hears a curse, he doesn’t know it’s wrong unless someone tells him so (or when he sees the adult’s reaction).  Profanity is subjective.  It’s a gray area.  And no one dies from it.  This is my little world here.  I don’t force anyone to read this.  With all due respect, if cursing bothers you, it’s best not to read this blog.  P.S. I hope you love my mother.

Anonymous asked: Would you ever consider doing video response to the questions you recieve on here?

VE: I have thought about it and several times I’ve been close to doing it.  We shall see.

howboutno asked: This question has a build up, so Amber finally watched Team America and we’ve made it a priority to say Matt Damon pretty much any where. She told me about this video of a guy at the Invictus premiere who had Matt Damon in front of him and he kept taunting him with just saying that line from Team America - it ended up being something this guy could cross off his bucket list. So - if you were to have a bucket list, what are a few things you would include on your list?

VE: Hard question.  I don’t have a bucket list and doubt I ever will.  I want to do everything.  Literally, if a thought comes into my head, I want to do it and I get down when I realize I might not be able to because I don’t have the ability, the money, the time, or whatever.  I’m a curious person and so my list grows and grows.  I think I’m learning that I have to stop doing certain things in order to have time to start doing other things.  Anyway, sorry for the vague answer.  I realize now that I’m sort of embarrassed to share some of the things I’d like to do.  I’d much rather do things than talk about doing them.  Hope my answer didn’t disappoint you.

am13er asked: I was looking through some of my old pictures I’ve taken of you at shows I’ve been to and I just realized the lack of you wearing your ‘beat up vest’. Did you finally retire your vest?

VE: I’ve got many vests and I don’t see any of them being removed from my closet anytime soon.