I seldom have a eureka moment where I feel as though, that’s it! I’ve written a really great melody and song! I do get psyched about writing new songs but it’s not like, this is it! It takes time, living with what you’ve made to get to know it and since I write frequently I’ve often moved on to the next new fascination without taking real stock in last weeks song. My brother-in-law recently said that he felt a song I wrote a couple of months ago was my best (entitled ‘Your Love to The Battle’). I was flattered (he’s a poet) and a little taken aback, as though this alien notion had landed smack dab in the middle of my brain. I’m not accustomed to thinking of my songs as successful. I think of them as whether I like them or not and which ones other people like. This is something I’ve probably got to change in order to effectively promote myself and the album. I think the world weighs things in terms of what’s ‘successful’. In the western world success generally means how many ‘likes’ you get, how many people click on your link, how much money you’ve made as a result of your efforts, how ubiquitous you’ve become and basically how popular. This doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with quality. The popularity contest has come from high school to adult life aided by television shows which promote the judgement of performers based on a scale built of commercial viability. This leaves little to no room for the truly exceptional, wildly unusual, amazingly inventive, and joyously expressive. I digress. James and I have been listening through and tweaking (not twerking) mixes for the album in order to get them on par with each other before going into the studio with a mastering engineer to hear them in a more pristine environment. James had seen me play a couple of weeks ago at an Irish pub on East 15th St., Shades of Green and liked a new tune, ‘Burn’, which he feels is as good as ‘Your Love To The Battle’ which surprised me. So now we have a decision to make, do we try to record this one for the album (not until after our first pass at mixing is over) or go with what we have? They sound great so far! Sometimes it takes outside opinions from people whose ears and aesthetics I respect to let the eureka sink in. I had a bizarre feeling a couple of weeks ago while listening to some of the mixes that …we made this, this is real….it was as though after having been continually writing and performing song after song after song….they have started coming back to me. A strange feeling to be sure! Also James plays bass, keys, leads, and drums on a lot of the tracks so the shape of the tunes is more supported than the lone guitar and voice of open mic land.

Thanks, as always, for reading people! Have great listens!

oh also, recent recommendations: ‘Wrecked Again’ – Michael Chapman, ‘The Third Eye Centre’ – Belle and Sebastian, ‘Stiches’ – Califone, and ‘Defend Yourself’ – Sebadoh

oh, and I’ll next be playing at The Way Station in Prospect Heights 683 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn on September 23rd @ 7PM, come by after work!