It's been a long winter/spring/summer on this end. Quick summary of the highlights:
Developed some vocal trouble: Turns out I sing ok thanks to years of lessons, but I actually talk wrong. So, I was starting to lose my voice completely and have had to basically re-learn how to speak. Fun stuff!
My wife and I welcomed a baby boy to the household. First name: Bowie. Yup. After that Bowie. I figured he'll either grow up feeling super cool or hate us for that choice his whole life. Either way, we win (even if it is in a "Boy Named Sue" kind of way...)
Did a bunch of work at the day job, went on some vacations, figured out how to juggle two kids, learned a bunch of fingerpicking blues in the wee hours of the mornings
Got serious about home recording and mixing
Set up a project studio for the band
I'll try to write more about all these things later, but it's officially time to get back into performing and releasing music.
So...here's the first couple tracks! These hit Apple Music/Spotify/Etc. later this week, but you can hear it here now:
Hope you all are doing well and looking forward to seeing you at some shows and/or online in the coming months.
You’ve got things to celebrate. Maybe you’re happy it’s no longer 90+ degrees outside. Maybe you’re grateful for family and friends who survived earthquakes and hurricanes. Maybe you’re happy we’re not (yet) in a nuclear war. Maybe you’re glad we’re not gonna strip health care away from millions of people just to prove an empty point (at least this week).
Or maybe you’re worried or mourning. Tons of good reasons for that, too. And we’re gonna play some rock and roll music this Friday at Sylvie’s Lounge at 9:30pm. Some guitars, some drums and bass, some lyrics. Some heart and soul. Some sweat. Some beer. Some cheering. Some being with real people in a real place for a moment to make some art. Some songs: little tunes against the great tides of history. Some hope that somehow things work out. Some gestures against the void.
Won’t you join us?
When: Fri, 9/29 at 9:30pm Where: Sylvie’s Lounge 1902 W. Irving Park Rd Chicago, IL
I just wanted to take a quick minute to say thanks to all of you for coming out to see us at shows, for being cool at an open mic, and generally being part of/supporting a vibrant musical community here in Chicago, Oak Park, and Berwyn. (And for those of you not in the Chicago area, for supporting us/me for all the many years leading up to now.)
As a bit of context, I moved from NYC (Brooklyn, to be exact) to Chicago (Oak Park, to be exact) a few years ago. I loved New York, but was reaching a saturation point with it and my wife and I really wanted to find a better work-life balance (and more living space than the closet we had in NYC). We both had roots and family in Chicago, so it was the obvious choice.
But one of the things I underestimated was just how hard it was to leave the musical community I had been a part of in NYC. I was there for nearly 10 years and, during that time, I built up a really large group of world-class musicians and singer-songwriters that I performed, recorded, and generally hung out with. And because I started in my 20s and it took so long…well, I think I basically kinda took for granted that it would be easy to rebuild that elsewhere. I had just gotten used to having the guys in my band do a show with me at a tiny club and then head off and tour with a critically acclaimed band and then come back and do it all again.
Anyway, I was obviously wrong. It takes years and a lot of love, sweat, and tears to build up a musical community and it’s a harder to do that in my late 30s/early 40s (holy crap!) than in my 20s.
What’s the point of all this?
Well, I finally feel like I’m building/joining/finding a musical community again.
The first part is the band I’ve been lucky enough to put together. With Dave Mendez on guitar, Erik Vaveris on bass, and David Jamison on drums I’ve got a truly world-class set of guys backing me up. Seriously…each of these guys is a total musical badass and, just as importantly, a super nice dude and a really tasteful musician. They make my songs sound dramatic and gorgeous no matter if it’s a ballad or a full-on rocker. For instance, here’s a rehearsal recording of a song that’s not even 2 hours old at the time of recording. (Finished writing it on the way to rehearsal and check out what the guys did with it. The chords couldn’t be simpler, but they transform it in a super cool way. You can see a solo acoustic performance of it here if you’re curious to hear the difference.)
And here’s a video of another new tune from a recent performance at Friendly Tap in Berwyn:
Which brings me to the second part: great venues and good people.
We’ve had the chance to play at some very cool spots like Tonic Room, Friendly Tap, GMan Tavern, and others. And…man!…what a cool bunch of people! It’s not easy working at a bar, booking bands (like herding inebriated cats), running an open mic, and generally making sure there are spaces in which people can create art. In particular, I’ve been having a blast lately at Friendly Tap for the simple reason that it’s right down the street from my house. But they really do have a cool bunch of people showing up there week after week to play music (along with coffee during the day, a music school onsite, cold beer, etc.). Not a bad thing to have basically right in your backyard!
Also, we’re gonna play there (Friendly Tap) on Sat, 8/5…so, that’ll be cool! Show info is here.
So…yeah…feeling pretty lucky these days:
I’ll leave off for now since this is already a long email, but thanks again for listening, for booking us, for playing in the band, and for signing up and reading this message!!
Hope you’re all having a fantastic summer and I’d love to hear about any other musical communities/hotspots anywhere around here (or cool virtual ones)!! Always a good thing to expand the circle!
This is a brand new song that I finished writing about 30 minutes before rehearsal. I showed it to the band and we worked up this version within about 1 hour. Recorded with a Shure Motiv MV88 on an iPhone in our rehearsal space + a vocal overdubbed at home so you can actually hear the words.
There’s pretty much nothing in the world I like better than when a tune comes together so fast like this. Call it the muse or a state of flow or luck or whatever you want, but there’s something otherworldly about it.
Here’s the first full-band performance of a new song, “Doubt”, from our show at Friendly Tap on 3/10/17. Thanks so much to everyone who came out and made it such a great evening!
