Bouncing Over A White Cloud - Video
Rockwood was rowdy. I was anxious. And then it all turned.
Chris was on at 8. I was on at 9.
So I left the office at seven o'clock and struck out through a sweltering Times Square with my guitar, computer, camera and a bag of CDs strapped to my back. I jammed onto a crowded F, turned up my iPod, and began worrying.
Suddenly, all of my own songs sounded foreign. Suddenly, rushing through rehearsal seemed imprudent. Worse, I was suddenly at Delancey Street -- one stop too far.
I hopped off the subway, and headed for the ...
The Boys Of Summer
Ah, to be a kid in the summertime.
Remember?
Kick the can. The ice cream man. Wiffle Ball. Zinc oxide. Fireflies.
I have nothing but golden memories of summer vacation.
When I was really young, family loaded into the brown, wood-panelled Cutlass Cruiser station wagon, and travelled 561 miles to Lake Vermillion, Minnesota where we would fish, water ski, swim, and picnic.
Later, as a teenager, summer vacation came to mean Rehoboth Beach, Delaware: boogie boarding, body surfing, and endless hours at the arcade.
Good ...
Into The Arms Of America
Ok, so here's the quandary.
I love New York City, but thirteen years later, the place is killin' me.
I don't just mean the fumes, shadows or concrete. And it's more than the pace, noise, and frenzy. I'm talkin' about politics, aspiration -- the whole ladder climbing thing.
A few weeks ago, a younger friend and I were sipping homemade margaritas from the thirtieth floor sun terrace of Abbi and my building. All of Midtown was splayed out below us. We were a little buzzed.
"Man," he said, "You've made it."
"I dunno' about ...
The Apostle Of Uncool
A recent Rolling Stone cover story characterized Coldplay's Chris Martin as "The Jesus of Uncool." And while I can't relate to the Jesus part, I can the "uncool."
See, I have a long history of uncool. I wasn't in the "cool" crowd in high school, wasn't in the "cool" band in college, and -- while I am surrounded by entire industries that arbitrate (and buy, process, and repair) "cool" here in New York -- I've always been outside of it.
Even at work. Heck, especially at work. I've taken plenty of guff for my taste since stepping ...
Burger, Shot, Beer (Repeat)
Rare is the rehearsal when the band doesn't spend as much time hanging out, drinking beers and talking for as long (or usually longer) than we do playing music. Which, at this point in my musical career, is alright by me.
Thursday night, however, was one for the record books.
Singer/songwriter/guitarist Chris Abad, bassist Tony Maceli, drummer Jamie Alegre and I were, of course, rehearsing for the big "The Invention Of Everything Else" CD release on Wednesday, June 18th at Rockwood Music Hall.
Rehearsal went well enough. I was ...
Ethan’s Fifth Birthday Party
June 14th, 2008
The Re-Invention Of Monday Night
If you asked me to script a better preamble for the release of "The Invention Of Everything Else," I'd be hard pressed.
I dropped the album art (created, like most things, in that three-hour zone of sleeplessness that strikes me most nights) onto Engine Room Audio's FTP, dashed off an email ("Leaving Now!") and raced out the door.
Times Square was sweltering. The JumboTron read 102°. Traffic and pedestrians were moving lugubriously. I had no time to waste, though; Engine Room -- some 60 blocks south -- closed in just 34 ...
It Never Rains In California (It Pours)
True, my life has unfolded differently than I might have planned (or dreamed). Tonight finds me at Universal Studios Hollywood (more Burbank than Hollywood, really), not on the road like my pals The Nadas or Raining Jane.
Fortunately, though, I receive the occasional email from my rock 'n roll pals.
In fact, Raining Jane cellist, guitarist and vocalist Mai Bloomfield and I have been corresponding quite a bit of late.
You'll recall Raining Jane as that terrific LA-based folk/pop quartet with whom I played a bit in Des Moines. ...
Sing To Keep Your Demons At Bay
Good thing Jamie Leonhart told me she taught voice after I roped her into singing a few songs with me for "The Invention Of Everything Else" (due June 18th from Authentic Records!); had I known in advance, I might not have had the nerve to ask.
I first came to know of Miss Leonhart as we prepared last winter's "A Family Holiday" Benefit CD. Her's was the smashing duet with former Undisputed Heavyweight, Mr. Casey Shea, a totally-classic yet thoroughly-modern rendition of "Baby, It's Cold Outside." It was the sound of two greats tossing ...
Rio Grande Vista
The Rio Grande River descends some 13,000 feet over the course of its 1885 miles journey from Southern Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico.
I've crossed this, the third largest river in America, at Interstate 25 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, twice -- on the return leg of my first cross-country road trip in 1990, and on my way home from my post-collegiate vision quest in 1993 -- but never paused on her shores.
And while it wasn't the wide, reed-lined banks that drew me here this some fifteen years later, somehow her patient, lumbering journey ...
