arrive without traveling

As much as I love seeing new places and experiencing hotel culture (yeah, I'm one of those weirdos that actually enjoys hotel rooms), I'm not particularly fond of traveling, and I think the main reason can be found in one essential preparatory act: packing.

when I fall between you and the wall

Not too long ago, I received an email from Tom Hachtman that simply said, "I have a title that could use a song: 'I'd Rather See You Than Avatar'"

lower the roof beam, carpenters…salinger’s gone home

You can hate me if you want, but Catcher in the Rye is my least favorite book by J.D. Salinger. In fact, it's not even one of my favorite books by anybody. And yet, oddly enough, Salinger is one of my favorite writers.

awkward

I've known Cameron since high school, when we both were in bands and generally mucking about having fun. He's still playing to this day, though - as something of a man of the cloth - he's now playing Christian Rock and having a blast. I've been a great admirer of his throughout it all, and when he recently asked me to put some music to some of his lyrics, I was more than happy to give it a go.

kicking down the cobblestones

Let's start the new year's gaggle of songs with an instrumental, shall we? Above is a recent one I wrote & recorded for an independent film about an ill-fated Hindu dating service. The film's a comedy, and some of the humor reminded me of those over-the-top sixties films that I love so much (I mean, those colors and miniskirts are outta sight, cat daddy!). In the usual manner of things, I'd recently re-watched "The Party" (1968) starring Peter Sellers, and it seemed a not surprisingly appropriate place to start for a bit of musical inspiration.

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

I love snow. Probably because, growing up in the Deep South, there wasn't a lot of it around. Oh sure, we managed a flurry most years, but accumulation was a rare and meager thing: one inch and the whole town shut down. White Christmas? I didn't know what that song was about until I was a teenager, since having snow on Christmas Day was never even a remote consideration.

is tom hanks giving you a hard time?

Thanksgiving came and went without so much as a burp, if by burp you mean song (and I do). This song was intended to be a song for that holiday, but well you know me and so it's moved along and become probably just what it wanted to be all along: not that at all. Oh there's still some Thanksgiving in it - we haven't finished all of our turkey, after all - but it's mostly Tom Hanks giving you a hard time, not me.

lonesome vampire bill

As the end of this month was drawing nigh and I was finally finding some time to work on this month's song, I decided to do something in the frightful orange spirit of this holiday. I've been catching up on the first season of True Blood (having abandoned it last year as just "not for me" after watching the first episode...vampires don't socialize with humans, after all), and I'm enjoying it now. So what emerged was a True Blood/Velvet Underground mash-up.

twenty-seven angels from the great beyond

When someone tapes your voice, does it sound strange to you when you hear it played back? Mine does, as it does for so many people. The sound I hear myself making from inside my head, from within the acoustical confines of my skull I suppose, is often embarrassingly different from the sound emitting from the tape recorder.

in a beat-up grace kelly car

Truman Capote's speaking voice was an instantly recognizable extension of his appearance and personality, and he was always an entertaining guest when making his myriad talk show appearances throughout the 60's and 70's, often baffling the young me with his curious persona.