An Update for April

Well, spring seems to have finally arrived, albeit in fits and spurts, with oppressively hot and humid summer-like days (manic Monday!) and cold, damp winter-like days (depressive Tuesday). So, while yesterday, every window in the house was open and I went running without a shirt, today finds me roasting golden beets and Brussels sprouts, binge-watching The OA on Netflix, and periodically blowing on my hands to warm them.

That said, in the next day or two I’ll send another artist recommendation that I really hope you’ll check out. But today I just wanted to send a hello to anyone and everyone who’s ever paid me attention and give you an update on my musical endeavors.

I’m already one week back from the SS Cape May singer-songwriter conference. What a blast that was! I played The Other Room at Carney’s and, despite forgetting to bring my own camcorder, got some good footage courtesy of artist Maureen Ritzel and her partner in crime, Justin. I’ve posted one of the numbers I was particularly happy with and will post the other two in days to come. (Here’s that evening’s rendition of “These Are Trying Times.”) The conference offered some informative seminars on topics such as copyrighting, publishing, and promotion which I hope to put to good use with upcoming work. But most importantly was the opportunity to spend time with some really great people who just happen to be songwriters and performers like myself. Because of the geography of Cape May — it’s basically a walkable beach town — the setting felt a lot more personal than some other conferences where geography can provide some obstacles to interaction.

The other important news for me is that Paul Galiszewski and I hit the studio last week for a day to record drums and vocals over piano tracks, which eventually will mean a bunch of new recordings to release over the next year! We got drums for thirteen songs and vocals for FIFTEEN! Granted, a number of them were older songs that I wished to redo the vocals and/or add live drums and bass to. From the MANWHORE album, there was “Three Rings,” “Happy to Be Your Whore” (for which we also will be releasing a “clean” version entitled “Happy to Be Your Hit and Run” that we recorded), “Patty Cakes,” and “Hip Little City.” For “Whore/Hit and Run” and “Hip Little City,” we will also eventually be adding live horns! From ENDLESS STREET, we did work on the title track, “Postcards,” “No One Gets Out of Here Alive,” and “Slipping Through Your Hands.” I also re-recorded vocals for the ABBA cover “When All is Said and Done,” including a Spanish version (“No Hay a Queen Culpar”)! And then we recorded a bunch of brand new songs for the upcoming JABBERWALRUS project. So stay tuned, and you’ll be catching those songs one at a time as they are released (or re-released in some cases).

So that’s it. I’m sorry if I’ve rambled. I was just so excited to share last week’s endeavours as well as to thank Paul for being a guitar god and Steve Jankowski for being so patient and instructive in the studio!

Meanwhile, for those of you without Spotify, here’s a YouTube playlist I made for our “Halcyon Daze,” which we released last November. This playlist is identical to the one on Spotify, but anybody can access it! (Also, it turns out the royalties from YouTube, while still only fractions of pennies per play, are still several times those that Spotify pays out… So please share it around!)