JULY 24, 2009

It's been a year since I wrote in this Journal.  Just been too busy.
The biggest thing recently was the show at the Enormous Room.  It was truly Enormous.  Ryan Jackson opened up with a great duo set that established a beautiful vibe.  I played the second set and was excited to see so many folks who came out to hear some newer songs, arrangements and covers.  Michael Crawford (The man who organized the whole event) had the whole room singing along with his unforgettable originals.  David Ladon rocked the house one man jam band style and Sonny Jim Clifford played us out with his own inimitable brand of blues magic.

Norman Lang of Lang Productions was awesome enough to video my set and he got great footage.  There's a link on the home page to his album of all the videos.  The place was packed all night and by the end there was dancing and an impromptu encore featuring me and Sonny Jim's drummer playing Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears.  Fortunately this didn't make it to video so we can all remember it as even more epic than it really was.

At that point, awesome bartender/manager/woman-in-charge of the whole place Annie Olson treated the crowd to a round of shots.  I guess they earned it.  Thanks to everyone who came out.  It was truly a night to remember and I can't wait to do it all over again.

July 20, 2009

I've been playing in the duo format more these days.  Just did a gig in Cape Cod with Gary Lamb at Clancy's in Dennisport.  Acoustic Guitar and Drums the whole time.  It was a blast.  Highlight for me was acoustic version of AC/DC's You Shook Me All Night Long.  They said it couldn't be done.  Maybe it still hasn't.   The gig was a blast.

Also rehearsing a band with drummer Spencer McGinnis.  Check him out at spencermcginnis.com.  We worked on some arrangements for classic tunes as well as some originals.  Check out the Workshop page for my sketches of some of them.  Look forward to fully recording them and performing them.

In other news, my sister Sabrina and I wrote three tunes and my best friend from high school Justin just visited and we reformed our first band (Master Platypus) in order to create the new single 'Pistachio Ice Cream."  Rough drafts of these tunes are on the Workshop page.  I tested Pistachio on my little cousins from California and it was a big hit.  By hit I mean that Andy was headbanging so hard that he almost took his sister Ellie's eye out right at the line "just hit my eyebeam."  Hopefully the trauma has faded and they will be able to enjoy the song without reservation in the future.  They sure can sing it well.  The tunes with Sabrina will eventually become a musical about trying to make it in the big city but not making it so writing a musical about making it then discovering someone has already written a musical about that so trying to write a musical about not writing a musical about writing a musical in time etc. etc.  I'm sure you'll agree that it has great potential and can accomodate many sequels.

Stay tuned.  Peace.

June 16, 2009

Okay.  Website pretty much up and running.  The proverbial lemonade stand on a cul-de-sac.  Hope to hear from you with feedback.  I'll keep a running log with comments on gigs and ideas for the next recording, etc.

This is a team effort.  So if you have an idea for a show or lyrics or a song or a cover you'd like to hear please email me and we'll see what we can work out.  If you want me to play near you let me know what the venues are and my promotion department will leap into action.  While working on my website I was touched to find my lyrics on one bulletin board and another post suggesting me for a dream band with Kurt Cobain on vocals and Slash on the other guitar.  Those are the kind of ideas I'm looking for.

Buy 'based on actual events.'  Buy lots of copies.  If you don't like the music use them as coasters or non-returning boomerangs.  One dollar from each copy will go to ONE - The Campaign to Make Poverty History.  It seems like a decent charity to me.  If you know better let me know.   Matt Damon likes them.  He was good in "The Talented Mr. Ripley."

I might add a "workshop" page to post sound files of stuff I'm working on.

Anyway, that's all for now.  Thanks for checking out the site.

My best,

Skot