Posts Tagged ‘MP3’
Where Are You Calling From? (Or, Virtual Rock & Roll)
I probably should have known better than to be working on a new album during MTV Video Music Awards season, but here I am, knee deep in “Forever Young” with less than two weeks to go until the channel’s big night. The timing was, of course, to be expected. As my colleague, Rachel, put it,…
Read MoreSomething To Say
It wasn’t until somewhere around Christopher Street that I realized that Thursday night’s Rockwood Music Hall set was littered with references to breaking silence, speaking up and being heard. From “Giving Up The Ghost” (“It’s impossible to argue / It’s impossible to scream”) to “Live Forever” (“There’s nothing left here to say”), “St. Anne (Of…
Read More“A Holiday Benefit, Vol. 3” Release Party Is Tonight!
Twelve hours from now, “A Holiday Benefit, Vol. 3” will be in full swing at Pianos! Which is a good thing; I don’t think I have the energy to do yesterday over. I tucked all sorts of small tasks into my already busy day at The MTV: gathering 826NYC materials, a final email to all…
Read More“A Holiday Benefit, Vol. 3” Single & Track List Revealed
One Indian summer afternoon a few weeks ago, singer/songwriters Casey Shea, Paula Valstein, Emily Easterly, Andy Mac, Martin Rivas, Ruby Rivers, Amber Rubarth, Chris Abad, plus bassist Tony Maceli, drummer Jamie Alegre and I converged on Chris Cubeta’s Galuminum Foil Studios in Brooklyn to conjure up a little bit of Christmas in October. Our cover…
Read MoreHome Is Where Your Friends Are
God bless The Nadas. First they ask me to contribute a song to their “Crystalline” project, a compilation of Authentic Records’ artists covering The Nadas in honor of the band’s fifteenth anniversary. So I recorded a bang-up version of “Feel Like Home” with Chris, Jamie and Tony a few weeks ago which Jon Locker (sustaining…
Read MoreBlack Or White – MP3
From the moment the Michael Jackson story broke Thursday night, just one song has been on my mind. I appreciate that most would cite “Beat It,” “Billie Jean,” or “Thriller” as Michael’s finest pop song, and they may well be right; they’re great songs with great hooks. But it’s Jackson’s 1991 “Dangerous” single, “Black or…
Read MoreSomeday Soon
Not that anyone noticed, but I took Q1 off from rock ‘n roll. Dateline: December 31, 2008. Between my new job description, marathon training, long-delayed documentary, and never-ending aspirations to rock, I figured something had to give. I’m never gonna’ succeed at anything if I don’t focus up. Something had to give. I chose rock…
Read MoreMarch (Going On April)
In February, I traveled to and from California three times in as many weeks (with a break in the middle to run a marathon. At the end of that red eye-inducing run, I decided that I could provide greater value to my colleagues, my wife, and myself right here in New York. So I put…
Read MoreForever & Always
You may recall that one of the “A Holiday Benefit, Vol. II” silent auction items was a “Custom Benjamin Wagner Song.” This was the pitch: “Singer/songwriter will collaborate with YOU on a song. At the end of the process, you’ll get two (2) signed CDs with YOUR song plus original album art. Minimum Bid: $75.”…
Read More“A Holiday Benefit, Vol. II” Takes Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
A few years ago now, I returned to my alma mater, Syracuse University, to speak to students about how to get a job (or, more specifically, how I got my job, and lessons I’ve learned that might be of some valuable to them). It’s a speech I would later give at Emerson College, and have…
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