Blog Posts

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

Was there ever a time when one didn’t work on, like, fifteen different things simultaneously? I marveled today as I popped from one project to another — MTV News features, tour dates, doctor’s appointment, t-shirt design, CD ecommerce — while still managing to feel like I was making headway. This much I can say: pending…
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At-A-Glance

I’ve kept one of those week-at-a-glance calendars for assignments, deadlines, meetings, birthdays, etc., since college. When I looked at it this morning, Wednesday was completely blank. Of course, there’s plenty to do, my day job at the MTV not withstanding: FedEx-ing the mixes to mastering, scheduling the tour, prepping the artwork, the bonus disc, t-shirts,…
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Sequencing ‘Almost Home’

I have been listening to Almost Home all day, trying to sequence the tracks in an editorially and emotionally meaningful way — not an easy task. So it’s 11:21, I’m all squinty-eyed and tired, and I’ve missed tonight’s last Fed Ex pick up, but I think I’ve figured it out. See, I think a record…
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Tired & Fat

Yeah, so I’m a little bombed. So what? You’d be celebrating too if you’d just finished mixing your brand-new record. We finished ‘Hollywood Arms’ — guitars, vocals, and piano all — within an hour of my arrival at the studio. (Of course, Kevin had it well under way prior to then.) We added one last…
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The New York City Skyline

My brother Christofer and I met on the corner of 57th and Tenth this morning at 5:30, loaded to bear with a DV camera, a tripod, one guitar case, a map of the five boroughs, and plenty of coffee, then pointed the truck east towards a sun that would never rise. The occasion was the…
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On ‘I’ll Be Waiting’

Two falls ago, we were rehearsing at a space on Rivington Street for a month-long residency at Arlene Grocery. It was a gray fall day on Manhattan’s gritty Lower East Side. It was perfect for songwriting. I came equipped with my Rickenbacker, and an A-to-D progression ripped straight from ‘Dear Elizabeth’ played with a healthy…
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