Please Believe Me

Poor Mix Master Kev. You think I’m burnin’ the candle at both ends? Kevin’s in, like, four bands, plus running the studio, plus the day job, plus he has to put up with me and my sick new addiction. I am addicted to Eggz. Eggz are black plastic egg-shaped purcussion instruments that sound wicked awesome…

Read More

I stopped by Dough’s rehearsal space Saturday night and met the band’s puppy, Queenie who showered me in rough-tongued kisses. Puppys’ll do that: clean or not, dressed up or down, busted and broke, they’ll love you. Unconditionally. My friends are like that too — the tongue notwithstanding — and I have some great ones. Kevin,…

Read More

Dinner At Eight

I’m in the iso booth, headphones on, strumming a second voicing to ‘Long Shot’ on my Martin and I think, ‘Huh, this sounds like a rocknroll record.’ Kev and I spent a few hours in the studio tonight adding some incidental parts to the new record. Here’s the latest news: The title of the record…

Read More

The Fall

The failure of cell technology spelled sushi for one tonight. And while company would have been nice, the relative calm of my Hell’s Kitchen apartment is a welcome refuge. And that’s really all I need for tonight: refuge, rest, and maybe a bowl of ice cream. I’m not dealing with, say, Rwanda size discord. The…

Read More

I am a shitwatcher. I watch shit. I promised Nick “The Reverend Nikoli Volkov” Dedering Smith that I’d title my blog “Shitwatcher” after snubbing his previous post suggestion on “CDs as semi-permenant plastic tatoos.” See, The Smith Family was packing up from yet another performance, this time at Two Boots in (surprise) Brooklyn, when Nick…

Read More

May The Circle Be Unbroken

There were four girls in my homeroom named Jenny: Jenny Clarke, Jenny Rexroat, Jenny D’Lucia, and Jenny Ebert. My first public performance was in fifth grade at the Oliver Wendell Holmes Elementary talent show. I sang the theme from ‘The Greatest American Hero’ (“Believe it or not I’m walking on air / I never thought…

Read More

High Speed Train

I have no idea how fast I was going, officer, but I know exactly where I am. I’m laying on a towel in Sheep’s Meadow beneath a crisp autumn sky. I have just run Greta’s Great Galop Half Marathon in 1:54:22, my second fastest half of the year. I ran with my iPod, accelerating when…

Read More

I was at 8th Street before I realized that I’d jumped the NR the wrong way. Kev was wicked hung over. Seems he’d stayed out late with The Bayou Ramblers. Still, he got a jump on trying to fix ‘New Something.’ Ends up that drummer Tod had missed a beat and sped up the bridge…

Read More

Smokey Junglefrog 101

Smokey Junglefrog formed at Syracuse University in the fall of 1990. I hung a few flyers around campus and two guys replied: bassist Paul Perreault, and guitarist Jamie Dunphy. We recruited drummer Tod Salmonson and performed our first show in the spring of 1991. The band released three albums in three years, performing in New…

Read More

I’m Not Sick, I Just Have Symptoms

My friend Paul used to say, “I’m not sick. I just have symptoms.” I’ve felt better. But it’s been a long day. I struggled to make it into the 9:30 news meeting on time. And I struggled through the day. Coulda’ been my late night watchin’ documentaries and recording strange songs. Coulda’ been getting soaked…

Read More