A really great genre-blending singer/songwriter named Chris Whitley died last weekend. He was someone whose music I really dug. His record Dirt Floor was a catalyst for a lot of the things I've been doing on the dulcimer lately. I was even considering his tune Indian Summer for the next record.
One of the things I found rather depressing is the picture that develops if you read between the lines. Not always the cleanest living rock star, he seemed to avoid, or negotiate most of the trappings of rock startdom. His was still a young man of 45, with much more to say. Whitley died in the home of a close friend, stopped mid-tour by the penultimate stages of lung cancer. The family speaks highly and lovingly of his voyage into the next world, and the angels down here that made his final days bearable. They put I nice face on it, but it occurs to me the guy died there because he probably didn't have medical insurance.
so you wanna be a rock in roll star...
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Monday, November 14, 2005
CD update
Ms. Burns and I have finished the remainder of the tracks. Adding some vocally stuff and adding a guitar to Driving Forces (turns out my chart is basically unreadable if you actually can read music). Dan wants to add some djembe on like two tracks, then we sequence and mix. Will it be done for Christmas? well, we'll see. Christie is down there this week doing some fieldwork for school, and I will encourage her to put a fire under that boy.
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
A little something for the road.
John Lennon once said that "Life is what happens when you're making other plans", it's so good that I refuse to believe he said it. :-) For you dear reader my other plans have included writing this blog and updating my life to you all. I believe the last post was in reference to the recording. maybe that's a good place to start...
The basic recording has been done and we've been playing email tag with Dan as he sends us mixes and whatnot. Our new buddy Hussian was gonna lay down some bass on "driving forces" but he's mostly in Japan and couldn't make sense of the chart I made for him (this is not surprising) his schedule being so demanding, we may have our buddy Tim do it instead. Anyway, once we get it done then we have to get it out the door. we've pretty much decided on a name, and we're calling it "two birds one".
Being that we're still in school, Christie and I were apart for the month of August. She in LA doing an internship and me in Indiana. I didn't really have that much fun up there in the Hoosier state, but then dummy me never realized just how close I was to Shipshewana or Dennis DenHartog's place in Ft. Wayne. Coulda played some gigs, coulda met some folks. Ah well, that what I get for taking my eyes off the prize. I did however play the Kentucky Homefront radio show with the legendary Homer Ledford. I have to say it went very, very well.
The basic recording has been done and we've been playing email tag with Dan as he sends us mixes and whatnot. Our new buddy Hussian was gonna lay down some bass on "driving forces" but he's mostly in Japan and couldn't make sense of the chart I made for him (this is not surprising) his schedule being so demanding, we may have our buddy Tim do it instead. Anyway, once we get it done then we have to get it out the door. we've pretty much decided on a name, and we're calling it "two birds one".
Being that we're still in school, Christie and I were apart for the month of August. She in LA doing an internship and me in Indiana. I didn't really have that much fun up there in the Hoosier state, but then dummy me never realized just how close I was to Shipshewana or Dennis DenHartog's place in Ft. Wayne. Coulda played some gigs, coulda met some folks. Ah well, that what I get for taking my eyes off the prize. I did however play the Kentucky Homefront radio show with the legendary Homer Ledford. I have to say it went very, very well.
Monday, September 19, 2005
Back from Winfield
I think somewhere in here should be a post about the rest of the recording process. Well, I'll get to that in a minute. I slept most of the day yesterday and awoke sore and achy, but it was worth it. a good deep sleep was something I was sorely missing.
I went to Winfield without Ms. Burns, to the chagrin of the No Strings boys, the managing staff of Sing Out! and former winner David Mahler, but it's the fall semseter and since we've reinvented the term overextended we had to choose our battles.
Anyways, I got into the second round but botched the Bach piece, the other folks play flawlessly. Same 12 tunes as always but with skill and precision which is really the whole ball game there.
I went to do what I went to do, and I would have liked to have been more lucid (and maybe won one of those giant trophies) but you do what you do. I don't think I'll be competing anymore
On the other side of things, Tyler Grant my driving partner in this came in second in the flatpicking competition which is no small feat. Good for you Tyler!
and I saw the Wilders from kansas City, MO one of teh best live bands I've ever seen, period! hey were so good, first as a mainstage closer then in their really messed up 2AM set on the anarchy-run stage 5
In the end I am so glad I went, whether it's Philly, Falcon Ridge or Winfield I need a big major festival in my year. Winfield is 12 hours away (and it was cheaper fly actually) but as long as I'm out herre I might as well go. To my it's like philly Folk except all the drunken idiots have been replaced with drunken pickers.
It's not a bad trade.
Recording:
we slammed through nearly 9 or ten tracks in three days, including overdubs and preliminary mixes. Chose not to record "hangman's reel" because we had "boatsman" then we dropped "boatsman" and now wonder why we never recorded "hangman's" ah, well its a starting point for number two I guess. We're hoping that the incredible Hussian Jeffreys will lay some bass on "Driving Forces" and then we will talk about simple percussion and mastering with Dan. When will this be out, not sure. But at least this time I know beter than to try and guess.
I went to Winfield without Ms. Burns, to the chagrin of the No Strings boys, the managing staff of Sing Out! and former winner David Mahler, but it's the fall semseter and since we've reinvented the term overextended we had to choose our battles.
Anyways, I got into the second round but botched the Bach piece, the other folks play flawlessly. Same 12 tunes as always but with skill and precision which is really the whole ball game there.
I went to do what I went to do, and I would have liked to have been more lucid (and maybe won one of those giant trophies) but you do what you do. I don't think I'll be competing anymore
On the other side of things, Tyler Grant my driving partner in this came in second in the flatpicking competition which is no small feat. Good for you Tyler!
and I saw the Wilders from kansas City, MO one of teh best live bands I've ever seen, period! hey were so good, first as a mainstage closer then in their really messed up 2AM set on the anarchy-run stage 5
In the end I am so glad I went, whether it's Philly, Falcon Ridge or Winfield I need a big major festival in my year. Winfield is 12 hours away (and it was cheaper fly actually) but as long as I'm out herre I might as well go. To my it's like philly Folk except all the drunken idiots have been replaced with drunken pickers.
It's not a bad trade.
Recording:
we slammed through nearly 9 or ten tracks in three days, including overdubs and preliminary mixes. Chose not to record "hangman's reel" because we had "boatsman" then we dropped "boatsman" and now wonder why we never recorded "hangman's" ah, well its a starting point for number two I guess. We're hoping that the incredible Hussian Jeffreys will lay some bass on "Driving Forces" and then we will talk about simple percussion and mastering with Dan. When will this be out, not sure. But at least this time I know beter than to try and guess.
Monday, July 18, 2005
Recording in Chattanooga, Day 1
Today completes day one of the recording sessions that Christie and I working on. Originally this was planned to be a solo record for Christie but the more we talked about it, the more we decided it was a better idea for a duo album. This was Christie's idea mostly, The Moonshiner's Atlas is still brand new and I'm happy to go an play gigs in support of that record, but as much as Christie and I play together, we have never made a decent recording of us. Our friend Dan Landrum is recording us and for the third time this month, we are in Chattanooga.
You spend the first day setting up mics of course but we still managed to bang out three tunes today. Tomorrow we should be well settled in and hopefully getting more done. It sounds great so far.
You spend the first day setting up mics of course but we still managed to bang out three tunes today. Tomorrow we should be well settled in and hopefully getting more done. It sounds great so far.
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Greetings from Beyond the Walled City.
I am literally one week in town this summer, this one. And it's high on my to-do list to get to this blog updated. Typically the more fun I have the less time to write about it. Just as well, I think in many cases it's perceived as bragging. And maybe that's as it should be.
Still, I feel compelled to write to keep you in the loop, I get back to the northeast so infrequently these days, and there are a handful of you who still care what it is I'm doing. Out here, beyond the walled city, in America.
That's how I feel, how I felt when we first moved to Bowling Green, after getting over the initial shock and realization that Jesus is really bigger than Elvis here (and more alive), I was reminded of how initially I initially was at the east coast's godlessness (but crop circles those are real).I learned to ply my stock and trade with snarky-ness and sarcasm, my best lyrics are "zingers", my stage banter all Adam Brodsky meets Dennis Miller, in the dirty town of illadelph, the town I sometimes still call home this worked (or rather gave the appearance of working).
But now I'm on the outside, the middle, the south whatever you want to call it. People are genuine and nice. Sure, they'll lie to you face with the broadest smile you've ever seen, but in general, they're happy to see you. And even if that isn't the case, there's no good reason to not be polite.
Makes it tough to be a smart mouth, don't it?
Anyway, this all adds water (and manure) to a seed planted by my dad years ago, who said that the problem with comedy was that it was all based on the idea that you were better than someone else. He was right, it is as true now as then. In fact it's endemic. All comedy, Cops and shows of that ilk, those stupid Home Video shows, reality TV? we can watch them all and say look how much better we are. People (including my mom, sadly) love Judge Judy cause she tells those so-called "plaintiffs" what she really thinks, Dr. Phil, same thing. And we, who are spineless, or henpecked, who brown-nose our bosses out of fear of losing our job, or from the ever-diminishing hope of advancement, we who are cowards in our own home can watch and live vicariously as others say the things we will never have the guts to say.
And it's a perfectly useful model if don't like yourself, but want to feel better about yourself. But eventually, you're gonna get tired of it, if you base your self-image on intellectual superiority, you're gonna be really lonely, cuz there's a lot of "dumb" people out there. Most of whom are a lot of fun. If i am wise beyond my years it's because I decided a long time ago to believe that we are all truly equal. Sure, I can play a couple of instruments, and I'm pretty good at making things rhyme. and I can be entertaining when I feel I'm in a space where I am supposed to be entertaining. So what? I don't make anything, I don't build anything. I'm a singer/songwriter who plays dulcimer. I can make you feel good for a while but Doctors, Teachers, Leaders, especially Leaders, we really could use a few more of those.
So as I endeavor to make myself a more livable being I find it harder to be snarky. Especially since I am now meeting more and more people from outside my old paradigm, some who are older, all who are friendlier than those with whom I wasted countless hours in cafes sipping organic soy latté whatevers and complaining about the homogenization of America via Starbucks.
By the way, there are days when I would kill for a Starbucks now. There are only three in Ohio, and I know where they all are. In the land of plenty it's easy to complain about too much. It's in the desert, where nobody complains about the water being "tap".
There are a lot of you who are discovering me for the first time, as a dulcimer player, and are wondering what the rest of this is all about. It's a long story, most of it though is here and here. And quite possibly will someday be on a CD of stuff I started and never finished (technically, "the Moonshiner's Atlas" is my 4th record)
So I will be spending less time in the Walled City, for the first time in eight years I am not going to Falcon Ridge. I am going to Chicago for a friend's wedding. Not just any friend, Ted was a personal chauffeur for Christie and I at our first date in Minneapolis, we stayed at his home, his mom fed us, he had never met me, and this was only his third time meeting Christie.
I was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
And I'm not being sarcastic.
Still, I feel compelled to write to keep you in the loop, I get back to the northeast so infrequently these days, and there are a handful of you who still care what it is I'm doing. Out here, beyond the walled city, in America.
That's how I feel, how I felt when we first moved to Bowling Green, after getting over the initial shock and realization that Jesus is really bigger than Elvis here (and more alive), I was reminded of how initially I initially was at the east coast's godlessness (but crop circles those are real).I learned to ply my stock and trade with snarky-ness and sarcasm, my best lyrics are "zingers", my stage banter all Adam Brodsky meets Dennis Miller, in the dirty town of illadelph, the town I sometimes still call home this worked (or rather gave the appearance of working).
But now I'm on the outside, the middle, the south whatever you want to call it. People are genuine and nice. Sure, they'll lie to you face with the broadest smile you've ever seen, but in general, they're happy to see you. And even if that isn't the case, there's no good reason to not be polite.
Makes it tough to be a smart mouth, don't it?
Anyway, this all adds water (and manure) to a seed planted by my dad years ago, who said that the problem with comedy was that it was all based on the idea that you were better than someone else. He was right, it is as true now as then. In fact it's endemic. All comedy, Cops and shows of that ilk, those stupid Home Video shows, reality TV? we can watch them all and say look how much better we are. People (including my mom, sadly) love Judge Judy cause she tells those so-called "plaintiffs" what she really thinks, Dr. Phil, same thing. And we, who are spineless, or henpecked, who brown-nose our bosses out of fear of losing our job, or from the ever-diminishing hope of advancement, we who are cowards in our own home can watch and live vicariously as others say the things we will never have the guts to say.
And it's a perfectly useful model if don't like yourself, but want to feel better about yourself. But eventually, you're gonna get tired of it, if you base your self-image on intellectual superiority, you're gonna be really lonely, cuz there's a lot of "dumb" people out there. Most of whom are a lot of fun. If i am wise beyond my years it's because I decided a long time ago to believe that we are all truly equal. Sure, I can play a couple of instruments, and I'm pretty good at making things rhyme. and I can be entertaining when I feel I'm in a space where I am supposed to be entertaining. So what? I don't make anything, I don't build anything. I'm a singer/songwriter who plays dulcimer. I can make you feel good for a while but Doctors, Teachers, Leaders, especially Leaders, we really could use a few more of those.
So as I endeavor to make myself a more livable being I find it harder to be snarky. Especially since I am now meeting more and more people from outside my old paradigm, some who are older, all who are friendlier than those with whom I wasted countless hours in cafes sipping organic soy latté whatevers and complaining about the homogenization of America via Starbucks.
By the way, there are days when I would kill for a Starbucks now. There are only three in Ohio, and I know where they all are. In the land of plenty it's easy to complain about too much. It's in the desert, where nobody complains about the water being "tap".
There are a lot of you who are discovering me for the first time, as a dulcimer player, and are wondering what the rest of this is all about. It's a long story, most of it though is here and here. And quite possibly will someday be on a CD of stuff I started and never finished (technically, "the Moonshiner's Atlas" is my 4th record)
So I will be spending less time in the Walled City, for the first time in eight years I am not going to Falcon Ridge. I am going to Chicago for a friend's wedding. Not just any friend, Ted was a personal chauffeur for Christie and I at our first date in Minneapolis, we stayed at his home, his mom fed us, he had never met me, and this was only his third time meeting Christie.
I was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
And I'm not being sarcastic.
Friday, April 01, 2005
The Road that was.
Well settled back into an Irish day here in BG. Yesterday was around 70 degrees and gorgeous, so I convinced everyone in the department to eschew the weekly happy hour at the sports bar come down to the house and do cookout on the back porch. Spring is the time to do, I suspect that with all the perennially damp rocks of the back of the porch that soon the misquotes will soon be unbearable.
Adult are fun, they bring stuff when they come to your house, there was as much food as there was beer, conversation and laughter. And everybody cleaned up before they left.
But I'm digressing here (and honestly this shouldn't have come as such a surprise) I wanted to talk about the tour. It's good to be home, back with mrs. and that renewed sense of vigor that comes anytime to ridiculously enamored people spend time apart. But it also felt SO GOOD to be back on the road, there were moments of pure euphoria that hit me in the most mundane spots 2AM approaching the Delaware Water Gap, on 95 north, or the Garden State Parkway. I just love it, the alone time, and when it ends with a successful gig so much the better.
Tuesday
The story begins Tuesday I suppose, drove up to Trenton to Jimmy and Maggie's to run through stuff with Maggie, LisaBeth Weber and Antje. The thinking was this: since we all know each other's music we would work out vocal parts and stuff and play together on it. So weeks ago we traded CDs and did some homework. Not surprisingly, for songwriters that is, both girls had new tunes that they wanted to do. Antje had to be out early the next day for a lunch date with Gene Shay so we only had the night and a couple of hours the next day to get it together. In that time we managed to work out 18 songs!
Wednesday
Of course, being a gig day, it rained and rained and rained. Still turnout was good and Kyler England -our opener- was great. It was good to Jesse again. Gene Shay and his wife came to teh show along with Patti Shea, Deirdre Flint, and Larry Goldfarb. we stumbled on some stuff of course, but I think there was great value in not practicing too much. Were we to do it again (and we might) I wouldn't change a thing.
Here's the Set list: (the author is in italics)
Everygreens LisaBeth
Fly Around myself
Pearls Antje
Moonshiner myself
Homegoing LisaBeth
Paper Fleet Antje
52 Vincent myself
Oyster LisaBeth
Judas Antje
Lousy Boy myself
Biko/Geronimo LisaBeth/Antje
Dublin Boys Antje
Murderer Antje
Folksongs myself
Oh My My LisaBeth
the Landlady Song Antje
Joan's Ark myself
Hard Times myself
encore
Front Porch LisaBeth
Thursday
I jokingly posted to a Folk List a few weeks ago that to be a singer/songwriter is to know the sound of one hand clapping. But in Providence, no hands were clapping. It was a houses concert and no one was there. I'm not really surprised, I've never been to Providence for anything, ever. And as I learned there was an awful lot going on. I decided, rather than just plow through some pointless semblance of a show, to just get everyone to sit in a circle and play songs. Well, I am SO GLAD I did, everyone was great, even Joe. the guys who was there to sell CDs and collect at the door, had wonderful songs that I would have never ever heard if there had even been two people there.
I'm chagrinned to say this, but it's been a long, long time since I've heard good songwriting in person. thank you Greg, Chuck and Joe.
And special thanks to Greg and Debbie for putting me up in their beautiful home.
Friday
The Minstrel is consistently one of my favorite places to play. ANd why not, they have a well developed crowd of regulars, 30 years of history, consistently great acts, and the coolest door policy anywhere. This time Mike Agranoff the booker, and musician in his own right, set me up with the Canadian band Tanglefoot, they were GREAT! the places was packed, literally standing room only. and for good reason, Tangelfoot play traditional Canadian folk music, but the rock like Metallica with killer 5 part harmonies. totally worth it just to see 'em play. That I had a great show on top of it is just gravy.
Afterwards drove out to the Poconos to see my sister-I-never-had Carolyn (we share the same birthday) arrived late, like 2AM sat up till like 5AM listening to CDs and talking. One of the great things about touring is seeing dear friends, whose lives are as busy as mine and thus making getting together harder and harder.
Well I'm on the topic I am thrilled that I got the chance to catch up with Dani, Mary, Renee, James, Kelly, Patti, Deirdre, and the Front Porch-ers even if it was just for dinner, drinks or even less.
Saturday
Talk to me for like four seconds and I'll tell you that the Postcrypt is my favorite place to play. Still is, still is, good times got to see Matt and Fabian, some old friends and some folks who've been on this list a long time and are just now getting to see a show, That, is especially rewarding. In bed a 2am and up again at 6am for the 13hour drive back to Kentucky. Am I nuts? probably. Do it again? yes. today.
Thanks to all of you who made this such a wonderful experience for me.
cy-a out there soon enough.
-Br
Adult are fun, they bring stuff when they come to your house, there was as much food as there was beer, conversation and laughter. And everybody cleaned up before they left.
But I'm digressing here (and honestly this shouldn't have come as such a surprise) I wanted to talk about the tour. It's good to be home, back with mrs. and that renewed sense of vigor that comes anytime to ridiculously enamored people spend time apart. But it also felt SO GOOD to be back on the road, there were moments of pure euphoria that hit me in the most mundane spots 2AM approaching the Delaware Water Gap, on 95 north, or the Garden State Parkway. I just love it, the alone time, and when it ends with a successful gig so much the better.
Tuesday
The story begins Tuesday I suppose, drove up to Trenton to Jimmy and Maggie's to run through stuff with Maggie, LisaBeth Weber and Antje. The thinking was this: since we all know each other's music we would work out vocal parts and stuff and play together on it. So weeks ago we traded CDs and did some homework. Not surprisingly, for songwriters that is, both girls had new tunes that they wanted to do. Antje had to be out early the next day for a lunch date with Gene Shay so we only had the night and a couple of hours the next day to get it together. In that time we managed to work out 18 songs!
Wednesday
Of course, being a gig day, it rained and rained and rained. Still turnout was good and Kyler England -our opener- was great. It was good to Jesse again. Gene Shay and his wife came to teh show along with Patti Shea, Deirdre Flint, and Larry Goldfarb. we stumbled on some stuff of course, but I think there was great value in not practicing too much. Were we to do it again (and we might) I wouldn't change a thing.
Here's the Set list: (the author is in italics)
Everygreens LisaBeth
Fly Around myself
Pearls Antje
Moonshiner myself
Homegoing LisaBeth
Paper Fleet Antje
52 Vincent myself
Oyster LisaBeth
Judas Antje
Lousy Boy myself
Biko/Geronimo LisaBeth/Antje
Dublin Boys Antje
Murderer Antje
Folksongs myself
Oh My My LisaBeth
the Landlady Song Antje
Joan's Ark myself
Hard Times myself
encore
Front Porch LisaBeth
Thursday
I jokingly posted to a Folk List a few weeks ago that to be a singer/songwriter is to know the sound of one hand clapping. But in Providence, no hands were clapping. It was a houses concert and no one was there. I'm not really surprised, I've never been to Providence for anything, ever. And as I learned there was an awful lot going on. I decided, rather than just plow through some pointless semblance of a show, to just get everyone to sit in a circle and play songs. Well, I am SO GLAD I did, everyone was great, even Joe. the guys who was there to sell CDs and collect at the door, had wonderful songs that I would have never ever heard if there had even been two people there.
I'm chagrinned to say this, but it's been a long, long time since I've heard good songwriting in person. thank you Greg, Chuck and Joe.
And special thanks to Greg and Debbie for putting me up in their beautiful home.
Friday
The Minstrel is consistently one of my favorite places to play. ANd why not, they have a well developed crowd of regulars, 30 years of history, consistently great acts, and the coolest door policy anywhere. This time Mike Agranoff the booker, and musician in his own right, set me up with the Canadian band Tanglefoot, they were GREAT! the places was packed, literally standing room only. and for good reason, Tangelfoot play traditional Canadian folk music, but the rock like Metallica with killer 5 part harmonies. totally worth it just to see 'em play. That I had a great show on top of it is just gravy.
Afterwards drove out to the Poconos to see my sister-I-never-had Carolyn (we share the same birthday) arrived late, like 2AM sat up till like 5AM listening to CDs and talking. One of the great things about touring is seeing dear friends, whose lives are as busy as mine and thus making getting together harder and harder.
Well I'm on the topic I am thrilled that I got the chance to catch up with Dani, Mary, Renee, James, Kelly, Patti, Deirdre, and the Front Porch-ers even if it was just for dinner, drinks or even less.
Saturday
Talk to me for like four seconds and I'll tell you that the Postcrypt is my favorite place to play. Still is, still is, good times got to see Matt and Fabian, some old friends and some folks who've been on this list a long time and are just now getting to see a show, That, is especially rewarding. In bed a 2am and up again at 6am for the 13hour drive back to Kentucky. Am I nuts? probably. Do it again? yes. today.
Thanks to all of you who made this such a wonderful experience for me.
cy-a out there soon enough.
-Br
Friday, March 04, 2005
Regrooving the Dream Part 2
I'm writing you from Bowling Green, Kentucky, that's right not Pennsyltucky. I'm a graduate student in the Department of Folk Studies and Anthropology at Western Kentucky University, I'm engaged to be married, I play the mountain dulcimer, me and my future Mrs. rent a cute little bungalow on quiet street. We ride our bikes; play old-time music on Saturdays and -being grad students- read and read and read.
This email to you in fact is me putting off studying for a mid-term.
I was all set to write you all a big maudlin email about how you can check off this list if you want to, how it's been a long loooong time since you heard from me, or of me even. And it's all about momentum, which would appear to be seriously lacking here. But I'm feeling a little energized about an IM conversation I just had with my ex-roommate Adam Brodsky. We were comparing crappy gigs of our past, and the times we've "quit". Well actually, I quit -a couple of times- while he's been prudently plugging away. He has a world record; I'm in grad school. I've played the more humiliating gigs, but he's traveled an entire continent to play his crappiest. Who wins depends on where you stand in the room.
So how did I get here?
Let's backtrack a couple of years, back to perhaps the last time I wrote plugging a gig. I was playing a gig in Philly. It was a good venue: fair to the performers (fed 'em, paid 'em off the bar), built-in crowd, I had people coming too. In short, anything you could really want out of a workaday gig. And as I was parking the car it occurred to me this is ALL WRONG. I decided that night to change the way I things were run at Butch Ross, Inc.
Of course the girl had a lot to do with it too. Some of you already know what I mean by this, but when you meet the person you want to share your life with, you need to have a life to share. Semi-professional folksinger with cluttered apartment in a once-hip part of town and no real equity just wasn't good enough anymore. I needed to find a new way of doing business
NOW! Christie, for the record, loved my life as it was, and was happy to be a part of it. Still is thank God.
So the first thing that happened, I came up with the idea for a one-man show. It was modestly successful. There was some stuff that happened in the middle that kinda knocked the wind out of me, and I sadly regret never properly documenting it, but I am very happy with how it turned out. I built it. You came. But in the middle of all this, in Ireland, comes Robert Force. Robert is a dulcimer player; he wrote a book about dulcimers in the 70¹s it sold thousands of copies. He owns a label. He plays standing up his one half-nutty professor and one half "Freedom Rock" hippy still. He saw me playing the dulcimer all upside down and backwards as I do and said, "if you record a dulcimer album, I'll produce it and put it out on my label". Of course I was all in the middle of constructing "Gas:Food:Longing", 3,000 miles from home and learning about grown-up heartbreak for the first time. Besides, I had my burgeoning folk career to think about. That said, sometimes a sign is a robin on your front lawn; sometimes it's a big green billboard that says, "TURN HERE!"
And what about the dulcimer? I recognized the potential in that thing from the get go, especially in terms of standing out from the endless pool of Singer/Songwriters that seem to ooze from every pore of the northeast. Like stand-up comedians in the 80's, in the 90's "urban folkies" were ubiquitous, most looking for a backdoor to pop stardom, and many with little or nothing to say (including me from time to time) manila folders against and eggshell backdrop, the only ones who stood out were different, who had a gimmick. I didn't want to do the dulcimer as my gimmick. I really wanted to stand my music, and what I had to say (and what the hell was I trying to say then anyway?) But playing the dulcimer was a joyous experience, the enjoyment of music that I really hadn't felt since I first started to play guitar years and years ago. And I was good, or even if I wasn't good, the instrument made people excited, and that more than anything else is what matters. And then Robert came along, and the river turned.
I did not do this immediately (of course not). I waited, finished the show, did a Christmas CD to get my feet wet, and then last April headed out to Port Townsend, Washington to record what will become "the Moonshiner's Atlas". I didn't have a lot of original material for the dulcimer, so I did what I did when I was learning to play guitar. I took traditional tunes that spoke to me, and played 'em like Peter Mulvey would. Or I took contemporary tunes that sound like they'd work on the dulcimer and I figured it out. I made a bunch of mp3s and sent them to Robert, who yea'd or nay'd 'em based on what he thought was My Brave Face. And then out there in the middle of a stunning nowhere, separated in what were basically two glorified outhouses, that guy managed to coax great performances out of me. The end result is a mellower, more somber album than the last one (or the other two unreleased attempts) But with an uplift to it, a walk through a long dark tunnel to the sunlight. Okay that's the kind of stuff that Robert says "Dark Ray of Sunshine" stuff like that. Told you mad scientist, old hippie. The point is that this record is closer to what I¹m trying to say than anything I've done before.
So where is this new CD?
Well it's been (as my friend Dan Landrum so elegantly puts it) like a flea giving birth to an elephant. It didn't help that I was overseas for most of the summer, or that I was flat broke, it didn't help that I'm grad school. Finally land on my feet here in KY and get the ball rolling again, and everybody else's world goes to hell. I don't and I can't blame anyone for the delays in putting this out, everyone has been waylaid by serious real-life crap. I am grateful for all the efforts they've put into this so far. Chris Martin, Ed McKenna and Kelly Becerra have been responding to my gentle tugs of 'um "you know when you can get to it" by coming through for me in the midst of their own personal dramas (and mostly for free). These things, they happen for a reason, always, always, always. I never know why, but in the end it's for the best.
I have jinxed this CD several times already by saying "tomorrow" or later this week. So if you are reading this its because somewhere, your future coaster is being pressed in a plant somewhere in Canada and being printed on recycled cardboard with environmentally safe inks in Portland, OR all to eventually be assembled by me probably hours before the next show.
I was serious about signing off the list too. Some of you have been here forever. Some of you like what I do, what I write, what I sing, that's why you stuck around. Others were you know, polite. And since then it's been delete-without-opening. I know. I do it too. But your not gonna hurt my feelings if you go, you just add value to those who stay on. Go, you may
unsubscribe with impunity.
There is a new web site to look at. And shows, oh
I got shows. I am working on T-shirts and all that business too, but I am also in grad schools as a "non-traditional" student, which means I'm getting my ass handed to me on a weekly basis.
Got a midterm tomorrow, wish me luck.
See you out there.
-Br
This email to you in fact is me putting off studying for a mid-term.
I was all set to write you all a big maudlin email about how you can check off this list if you want to, how it's been a long loooong time since you heard from me, or of me even. And it's all about momentum, which would appear to be seriously lacking here. But I'm feeling a little energized about an IM conversation I just had with my ex-roommate Adam Brodsky. We were comparing crappy gigs of our past, and the times we've "quit". Well actually, I quit -a couple of times- while he's been prudently plugging away. He has a world record; I'm in grad school. I've played the more humiliating gigs, but he's traveled an entire continent to play his crappiest. Who wins depends on where you stand in the room.
So how did I get here?
Let's backtrack a couple of years, back to perhaps the last time I wrote plugging a gig. I was playing a gig in Philly. It was a good venue: fair to the performers (fed 'em, paid 'em off the bar), built-in crowd, I had people coming too. In short, anything you could really want out of a workaday gig. And as I was parking the car it occurred to me this is ALL WRONG. I decided that night to change the way I things were run at Butch Ross, Inc.
Of course the girl had a lot to do with it too. Some of you already know what I mean by this, but when you meet the person you want to share your life with, you need to have a life to share. Semi-professional folksinger with cluttered apartment in a once-hip part of town and no real equity just wasn't good enough anymore. I needed to find a new way of doing business
NOW! Christie, for the record, loved my life as it was, and was happy to be a part of it. Still is thank God.
So the first thing that happened, I came up with the idea for a one-man show. It was modestly successful. There was some stuff that happened in the middle that kinda knocked the wind out of me, and I sadly regret never properly documenting it, but I am very happy with how it turned out. I built it. You came. But in the middle of all this, in Ireland, comes Robert Force. Robert is a dulcimer player; he wrote a book about dulcimers in the 70¹s it sold thousands of copies. He owns a label. He plays standing up his one half-nutty professor and one half "Freedom Rock" hippy still. He saw me playing the dulcimer all upside down and backwards as I do and said, "if you record a dulcimer album, I'll produce it and put it out on my label". Of course I was all in the middle of constructing "Gas:Food:Longing", 3,000 miles from home and learning about grown-up heartbreak for the first time. Besides, I had my burgeoning folk career to think about. That said, sometimes a sign is a robin on your front lawn; sometimes it's a big green billboard that says, "TURN HERE!"
And what about the dulcimer? I recognized the potential in that thing from the get go, especially in terms of standing out from the endless pool of Singer/Songwriters that seem to ooze from every pore of the northeast. Like stand-up comedians in the 80's, in the 90's "urban folkies" were ubiquitous, most looking for a backdoor to pop stardom, and many with little or nothing to say (including me from time to time) manila folders against and eggshell backdrop, the only ones who stood out were different, who had a gimmick. I didn't want to do the dulcimer as my gimmick. I really wanted to stand my music, and what I had to say (and what the hell was I trying to say then anyway?) But playing the dulcimer was a joyous experience, the enjoyment of music that I really hadn't felt since I first started to play guitar years and years ago. And I was good, or even if I wasn't good, the instrument made people excited, and that more than anything else is what matters. And then Robert came along, and the river turned.
I did not do this immediately (of course not). I waited, finished the show, did a Christmas CD to get my feet wet, and then last April headed out to Port Townsend, Washington to record what will become "the Moonshiner's Atlas". I didn't have a lot of original material for the dulcimer, so I did what I did when I was learning to play guitar. I took traditional tunes that spoke to me, and played 'em like Peter Mulvey would. Or I took contemporary tunes that sound like they'd work on the dulcimer and I figured it out. I made a bunch of mp3s and sent them to Robert, who yea'd or nay'd 'em based on what he thought was My Brave Face. And then out there in the middle of a stunning nowhere, separated in what were basically two glorified outhouses, that guy managed to coax great performances out of me. The end result is a mellower, more somber album than the last one (or the other two unreleased attempts) But with an uplift to it, a walk through a long dark tunnel to the sunlight. Okay that's the kind of stuff that Robert says "Dark Ray of Sunshine" stuff like that. Told you mad scientist, old hippie. The point is that this record is closer to what I¹m trying to say than anything I've done before.
So where is this new CD?
Well it's been (as my friend Dan Landrum so elegantly puts it) like a flea giving birth to an elephant. It didn't help that I was overseas for most of the summer, or that I was flat broke, it didn't help that I'm grad school. Finally land on my feet here in KY and get the ball rolling again, and everybody else's world goes to hell. I don't and I can't blame anyone for the delays in putting this out, everyone has been waylaid by serious real-life crap. I am grateful for all the efforts they've put into this so far. Chris Martin, Ed McKenna and Kelly Becerra have been responding to my gentle tugs of 'um "you know when you can get to it" by coming through for me in the midst of their own personal dramas (and mostly for free). These things, they happen for a reason, always, always, always. I never know why, but in the end it's for the best.
I have jinxed this CD several times already by saying "tomorrow" or later this week. So if you are reading this its because somewhere, your future coaster is being pressed in a plant somewhere in Canada and being printed on recycled cardboard with environmentally safe inks in Portland, OR all to eventually be assembled by me probably hours before the next show.
I was serious about signing off the list too. Some of you have been here forever. Some of you like what I do, what I write, what I sing, that's why you stuck around. Others were you know, polite. And since then it's been delete-without-opening. I know. I do it too. But your not gonna hurt my feelings if you go, you just add value to those who stay on. Go, you may
unsubscribe with impunity.
There is a new web site to look at. And shows, oh
I got shows. I am working on T-shirts and all that business too, but I am also in grad schools as a "non-traditional" student, which means I'm getting my ass handed to me on a weekly basis.
Got a midterm tomorrow, wish me luck.
See you out there.
-Br
Saturday, January 15, 2005
Regrooving the Dream Part 1
Regrooving the dream – Patty Larkin
I admit I ought to be discussing Red=Luck or even the guitar thing she's doing now. Hell the record is 5 years old. But after years of ownership, I was finally moved by it. So I thought I’d write.
I admit, I wasn’t that impressed with his record when it came out; I saw it as a lesser version of her seminal Stranger’s World. It lacked the "hits", the full on Rock in Roll of Johnny was a Pyro, the ubiquitous duet with Bruce Cockburn Don’t Explain or the infectious Dear Diary. This record was none of that: it was moody, brooding. If Stranger's was pounding the steering wheel on a hot august day, this Dream was a last walk on an October beach, long after you've closed the house for the winter.
But I was a kid then too, perpetually 23 with an eyes on the oh-so-distant future, and my head squarely up my own bottom. It wasn't until middle age snuck up on me and stopped me dead in my tracks that Patty started to make sense. Regrooving the dream is a woman taking a good hard look at where she is out here in the middle. It’s the epiphany that maybe “I’m hard to live with” isn’t just a wry joke any more, and a sense that maybe if you had seen this coming, you would’ve done things differently. It’s the culmination of that moment when you realize you are pretty much alone in the world, and that you really always were.
We all come to this place sooner or later, I’ve seen it happen to so many others; I tried to walk around it, sidestep it, or accept it gracefully. Doesn’t matter what you do; it’s always a kick in the groin. God’s own private joke, the one only he gets. But with all this comes the revelation that we are okay alone. Its not what we’d prefer, we are by design a communal animal, but we can make our beds and cook our own supper. You may have lost the joie de vivre of youth a long time ago, or you may still hang desperately onto it, blowing the dying coals in the hope of one last gasp of flame, it doesn’t matter. The world keeps turning, the sun comes up, and you either accept that or you don’t. Regrooving the Dream then is about acceptance, not just tolerance but a true embrace of the Now; life gives us a lot of time between adolescence and old age, if we want it. It too is a Good Thing, better because we now know what really matters. Patty Larkin knows this too.
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