October 2011
2 posts
so cool!,Bestbuy mailed my giftcard so fast! http://apps.facebook.com/bestbuyprizes/ for Tumblr mems ONLY
hey people i’m doing awesome-I’ve officially dropped 5 Lbs my 1st wk with http://apps.facebook.com/hcgslim/ Facebook sponsored product, Has anyone else tried it? If not, I highly recommend!!
June 2010
2 posts
2 tags
Wednesdays at 4 pm
It’s my favorite time of the week. Because that’s when there’s a voice lesson taught across the hall from my office.
The vocal warm-ups are the best. They basically sound like asian porn on trampolines. Trust me, they do. And I don’t mean that in a hot way (if you’re into that sorta thing).
These 30 mins could not go by any slower. Yeesh.
Good morning, Tumblr...
What have you for me this morning?
Hmm…more dogs…let’s see…some vintage comics (those are cool)…some artsy-fartsy photos with inspirational quotes like “Don’t be a douche.”
Ah, what is this? Tom Waits live in Paris? Now we’re talking…
May 2010
2 posts
1 tag
“The enemy of creativity is hesitation.”
– Me
April 2010
9 posts
FYI
thedisgruntledgradstudent:
tlbb:
Every time somebody says “I don’t drink coffee” Jesus sheds a tear, part of Nancy dies, and a kitten is orphaned.
I’ve made Jesus cry many times apparently. And I guess I am to blame for all those orphaned kittens. But I have no idea who Nancy is.
Tom Waits Chats With Mr. Bob Dylan →
amnesiacr:
tomwaits:
(pic by Simon Godley)
The idea of Tom Waits guesting on Bob Dylan’s “Theme Time Radio Hour” is almost too amazing to imagine for fans of good music and unique cultural commentary….
SO. AWESOME.
“I remember one time - it might have been a couple times - at the Fillmore East...”
– Miles Davis (via amatterofrecord) (via jazzchannel) (via musichistory) (via amnesiacr)
Everybody wants to be recommended
I’d settle for just a handful more followers. I ain’t greedy.
How You Can Tell if You're Uncool
You yell “Freebird” at a live show.
Seriously? Are you aware of what you’re doing? You’re basically telling everyone present that you have no life, no brain, and no sense of humor. To think that that will generate laughs is in itself laughable. You sound like a tool. Don’t do it ever again. Not ever.
March 2010
9 posts
1 tag
4 tags
The Breakup Post or: Everybody's Got to Learn...
“I should be in love with you,” she said puzzled, as if working out a math problem in her head.
Yes, you should, I thought. I shifted in my seat, preparing for the end like a blindfolded man before a firing squad.
I was falling for her. What wonderful timing.
I listened cautiously as she explained her reservations, fears, and problems that she had to deal with. We all have them, I...
2 tags
A Love Letter to tumblr.
Dear tumblr.,
You came into my life in the summer of 2009. Don’t you remember? I confessed to you over a glass of sun-warmed wine about how I had been in a rut. I hadn’t written anything significant in a long time, musically or otherwise. I wanted to create again.
You listened intently as I rambled. You were always a good listener.
I told you about that blog I had a few years ago. I...
2 tags
I’m standing in the deli section of the grocery store in a bit of a daze, when all of a sudden I hear Paul McCartney scream “One, two, three, four!” out of the speakers above.
Instantly, I’m wide awake and start bopping around like a child at a birthday party. How could I not? “I Saw Her Standing There” still kicks ass after nearly fifty years. Unbelievable.
...
12 tags
Playlist for the Brokenhearted
She left you. For a woman.
He had mommy issues. With your mommy.
It’s over. Done. Kaput.
It’s time to drown your sorrow and soothe the anger that burns inside you with the heat of a thousand suns.
Booze. Drugs. Xbox. Knitting. Insert the addiction of your choice. They all seem like good ideas right now, but they’ll only leave you with a crushing hangover and carpal tunnel.
...
5 tags
Song Negotiations
I had been working on a little cage of song, limited in scope and rigid in its boundaries. A song with four verses, three lines each, and a two line bridge. The last line of each verse is the same, and the rhyme scheme is unchanged throughout. The verses still needed work. I wasn’t done. I needed to escape this cage.
Before too long, I felt like MacGyver, locked in this cage with only a...
3 tags
“And all at once I was ready. Ready to love her without a net. Ready to love her...”
– My own embellishment inspired by true events, born of a nostalgic romance and a plaintive sense of what if.
(And I publish it here despite knowing that the person who inspired it may read it.)
Oh, Blog. How full of contradictions you are! So publicly private, so generously narcissistic.
Those who...
15 tags
October Mourn
My grandfather passed away on October 26, 2009 at the age of 87. After serving as a sergeant in the army during World War II, he met my grandmother, Lillian. Together they founded a family of five children and thirteen grandchildren, of whom I am the eldest.
My grandfather’s love for his family could only be matched by his intelligence and his frugality—a trait that allowed him to put...
February 2010
2 posts
“Life gets better when I pick up my guitar.”
– Me
14 tags
The Greatest Show on Earth
I cannot, I repeat, can NOT get enough of “Spectacle: Elvis Costello with” on the Sundance channel. Seriously. Some of the greatest artists and songwriters of the past one hundred years talking about what gets them off? Who inspires them? How they write? Why they write? What makes them get up everyday and pour themselves out onto everything from lined paper to cocktail napkins to old...
December 2009
1 post
2 tags
On Writer's Block
I’m sitting on my bed listening to Steely Dan’s Royal Scam.
This is the part when I’d go into further discussion of its sophisticated arrangements, astro-chord progressions, and sardonic lyrics. Or perhaps the wild neurosis of its creators, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker (arrogant bastards that they are).
The problem though is I have writer’s block. I’ve had it...
August 2009
5 posts
4 tags
Workin' Man No More
My dad retires today. For nearly 40 years he has worked for the phone company. Technically, it’s Verizon. Before that it had been called Nynex, Bell Atlantic, New York Telephone, and I’m sure other things. But to me, it’s simply been “The Phone Company.”
He’s the guy who climbs the poles and makes housecalls to fix your phone. For 40 years. 40 years!
He sought...
“How’s a guy supposed to fail
With someone like you around?”
– Ron Sexsmith, “Hard Bargain”
I had the most random opportunity to jam with Ron Sexsmith at a New Hampshire folk festival in the summer of 2006. A group of musicians from all across the country gathered around and swapped cover songs. Ron was at the piano and he and Anais Mitchell and...
Becoming Our Parents
I know this blog was going to be mostly devoted to music, but I recently attended two weddings, one on each side of my family. They reminded me of something I wrote a few years back after having attended the first wedding in my family of someone of my generation. Since the righthand column of this blog includes the word “connection”, I figure this qualifies…
written August 18,...
Under the Weather...
….and will hopefully get things up and runnin’ again soon…
July 2009
11 posts
“Up here in the city
Feels like things are closing in
The sunset’s just...”
– Ryan Adams, “Oh My Sweet Carolina”
In my opinion, it’s the best song he’s written. It’s certainly my favorite - one I’ve listened to over and over again as I tried to learn from his simplicity and sparseness. Ryan has a rare knack for writing catchy choruses...
“The rain sounds like a round of applause”
– Tom Waits, “Time”
I’m still on a Rain Dogs kick, having listened to the entire album again tonight. Thanks to a good friend, I now own the original vinyl and long for a record player. The meloncholy images in “Time” like “the band is going home” and...
2 tags
I Am a Rain Dog Too
The audience is transfixed. Their gazes tied to the five men on the stage, doing their best to bring to life one of the most seminal and unheard records of the 1980s: Tom Waits’ Rain Dogs.
Each musician adopted the persona and spirit of those who conspired with Tom to commit such wonderfully criminal acts of music. It was an honorable performance of material that few dare touch.
The...
“Trouble in transit, got through the roadblock
We blended in with the crowd
We...”
– Talking Heads, “Life During Wartime”
The entirety of “Life During Wartime” is disturbing, funny, and clever. I guess it’s pretty characteristic of anything David Byrne creates.
“I’m a live wire
I’m a shortwave radio
Do you copy?”
– Anais Mitchell, “Cosmic American”
I’ve noticed I’ve been pretty male-centric with my lyrics so far so I’m trying to fix that. Check out Anais. I mean, she wrote a folk opera. How cool is that?
“One lonely Beastie I be
All by myself without nobody
The sun is beating down...”
– The Beastie Boys, “Paul Revere”
In honor of the Beasties, one of whom (Adam Yauch, aka MCA) was recently diagnosed with cancer. Thankfully, the word is it’s treatable.
Licensed to Ill was one of those albums I wasn’t allowed to listen to as a child of 9. I had to steal...
“You think you’re so smart but I’ve seen you naked
I’ll...”
– Barenaked Ladies, “Blame It On Me”
Come on, these can’t all be deep and meaningful. :-P
“Any minute now my ship is coming in
I’ll keep checking the horizon
And...”
– Colin Hay, “Waiting for My Real Life to Begin”
Some days I feel like I’m on the verge of something big. Like something is about to happen. Today is one such day.
“There’s no love song finer
but how strange the change from major to...”
– Cole Porter, “Every Time We Say Goodbye”
This Lyric of the Day popped in my head as I was fiddling on the piano in a Cole Porter mood. The first time I heard “strange the change from major to minor” I tilted my head like a dog with a dumb and wistful expression on my face.
The Lyric of the Day
Each day, more words that mean something. Enjoy….
5 tags
Rare and Sublime
The Fall of 2005. New York City. Across from the Dakota in Central Park, there lies a path leading into Strawberry Fields where rests the Imagine circle. It is a perfect autumn Saturday. A man on a bench with an acoustic guitar is playing Beatles tunes. Ironically, he plays mostly McCartney tunes. And well enough for the surroundings. There is a sincerity and tenderness in his unremarkable...