Posts from long ago, for posterity’s sake.

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Playing hard to get…

So I was heading down to a local restaurant for a mid-afternoon meetup with a newfound but dear friend.

As it was a beautiful, crisp fall day, I decided to walk it – not too far, and Lord knows I can use the exercise.  So I grabbed my headphones and player, thinking that it’d be a good opportunity to do some writing listening.  (playing a few of the tracks I’m working on while doing something else, for a change.)  In the past, just being with the music in this way, outside of a working environment, has occasionally brought some newfound words or phrases – or just a new take on something.  It’s never been profound, but sometimes a little helpful.

So off I went.  Had a great time with my friend, and after a couple of hours, his wife came – they were staying for dinner, so I said my goodbyes and headed out the door.

Once outside, I put the ‘phones back on and started the trek home – and a remarkable thing happened. Read more

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Don Henley on the industry and downloading…

Back in 2009, I wrote a post called “Honor Art” , that began my online project –  it talks about filesharing and its’ effects on indie musicians, among other things.

Those of you who follow me with any regularity know that I give some of my music away often. I do it voluntarily, and am truly happy when those tracks get shared by others.

Well, there’s  a GREAT interview with Don Henley at Penn State’s “Collegian” , where he talks about filesharing, among other things – and I thought he was so eloquent about it.

“A whole new ethical — or rather unethical — paradigm has emerged in which the illegal downloading of music is looked upon, primarily by those who do it, as a kind of Robin Hood activity.

This is due, to some degree, to the fact that the only face of the music industry that most people ever see, is manifested by wealthy rock, pop, rap and hip-hop stars, flaunting their lifestyles. But behind all that ostentation and glitziness is an entire chain of jobs numbering in the thousands.

We employ 100 people in our touring crew, not counting the local crews that augment ours in every city. There are hundreds of music-related office jobs at record companies, publishing companies, accounting firms and legal firms. Read more

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The cutest “review” I’ve ever gotten…

They were referring to this:

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I quit smoking…

Update to the below: this post was written on 5/19/2010… today, in 2017 – I have been smoke-free for nearly 7 years.

Couldn’t be happier.  🙂

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On 5/19,  I quit smoking.

This might sound like a small deal.  It’s NOT.

I’ve been smoking since I was 13 or so.  For the vast majority of time, a pack a day.

My new alternative?

E-cigarettes.

E-cigs are essentially nicotine delivery devices – with one really important difference – you don’t BURN anything. So you’re not breathing in smoke at all. It’s vapor. They come in a billion different flavors and strengths.

But most importantly – they helped me kick smoking after nearly 35 years. Pretty damned cool.

Ignore the date on this video – I added it after the fact, and totally got it wrong.

You can find out more about e-cigs than you ever thought possible here.

What you’ll need:

1. a starter kit, which comes with the items I show in the video

2. Cartomizers (the tip with the liquid in it.) I’m a fan of the Wowboy carts, but you should experiment and find one you like. There are about 8 BILLION flavors.

3. Someone to give your ashtrays to – you won’t need them anymore.

 

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Lost New Eye pics….

So I was going through some pics for the new site, and came upon these.  You New Eye fans will recognize the scene…but there’s a story behind it.

The story goes like this: Andrew Dark – a dear friend, who is a member of this site, and whom the song “Bye, Andy…” was penned for, used to run a dramatic theatre in Nyack called The Black Cat. Unfortunately, due to circumstances way beyond his control, they had to close the place. So they had a party one night, with dozens of actors, crew and friends, to celebrate the place.

There was no smoking in the theatre, and I was still smoking at that point. So I went out in back to grab a smoke. I had my digital camera with me – which I carry in my bag almost everywhere… and I thought – “hey – this looks like a great place to take a picture!”

I put my camera on a dumpster, and set it for 10-second times, and took these shots. What I didn’t notice until months later was the little sun drawing on the wall to the right of me – which I have loved ever since. I was there in the past 6 months, and it has almost completely faded.