Trying to decide if I should take piano lessons again.  I spent my whole childhood until I left for college learning classical and I love it but it keeps me in a certain space. I got a Dr. John video as a gift.  It is t00 hard to follow.  I think the way they set [...]

I rushed my set again last night.  I keep doing this.  It used to be about not having the set get cut, fitting as many songs as possible, filling up the “alotted time.”  I practically made my songs go from languid love ballad to Ramones short and punk.
I still had that mentality at the benefit [...]

Continued fixation on the state of some of my single friends trying to find someone.  I read this piece on the Paradox of Choice as relates to the music industry, and it could easily be applied to the dating scene in New York.

I just came across this found and just released Elliott Smith track from circa ‘97.
More on his other brilliant albums can be found at Sweet Adeline.

I do spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to navigate the state of the music biz, such as it is or isn’t. My problem then is I get bogged down in all the chatter and don’t do much because I don’t know where to begin.  Jon Pareles’ post today on the [...]

Trying to market my songs has always been daunting.  Friends say, “you have an advantage because you do PR,” but it’s hard to do my own PR.  Each year, more and more sites “help” artists. It’s great in theory but overwhelming.  More musicians can clutter the internet and more startups to help musicians mean spending [...]

I was stuck in traffic a few nights before Christmas some years ago. I was stresed and annoyed and flipped around on the radio stations in exasperation until a bell chime and a held note caught my ear.  It was magical and beautiful.  I was introduced to Mahalia Jackson’s take on Silent Night.  It is [...]

Last week, I was privileged to take part in a cabaret performance at Don’t Tell Mama which featured songs from the Great Depression or that are related to the era in some way.  The overall message was that in hard times, people can and should look to music, and that things will get better with [...]

Cute things to do when you first start dating:  trade iPods for a week (unless you are iPhone’d).  My friend and her new boo did that as part of their courting and it didn’t seem to scare either one away.
Indeed we all know one can learn a lot about a person from reviewing one’s music [...]

Sometimes the songs come quickly, sometimes they come in parts. Even something jotted down a long time ago can become a song today or tomorrow.   I don’t always pursue or persist if they don’t come easily. Sometimes, I do try to go back to the melody lines or great lyrics and try to see [...]