Train ticket to the city: $31.50
MetroCard: $10
Pork-filled Dumplings: $8.66
Tip: $2.34
Breaking a glass and knocking someone else's wine down my pants while talking to the professional activities coordinator for the Songwriters Hall of Fame: Priceless
There are some things may help your career. For everything else, there's Steve Schultz.
Yes, it's true. I went to the city yesterday for the first SongHall Open Mic at Tom & Toon, just north of Times Square. It was nice to hang out, have some food, and listen to some aspiring songwriters. The stand-out performers to me (whose names I can remember) were Sandra Small, Draped in Green, and Adam Shenk. It was a very laid-back event, and toward the end of the evening I played "My Original Sin" and "The Hands of Angels" (a song that I had never played live before). At the end of the night, I was having a conversation with Peter Bliss, the professional acitivites coordinator for the Songwriters HOF. He had literally just finished telling me how my performance was the best he's ever heard me...when seconds later I knocked over a glass of wine belonging to Sally Morgan. The glass ended up broken on the floor, the wine down my leg. Seriously? I mean, seriously? Yeah. Seriously. But honestly, I've known Peter for almost a year, so I can't imagine any real damage was done. Just to my ego. ...Though as I write this blog, I'm realizing that I never offered to buy Sally another glass of wine. Oh, man. *slaps forehead* *sigh* This is why I hate Sundays.
Add to this the fact that I had to spend the rest of the night with a red wine stain on my jeans, and it was a perfect Costanza moment. Rock. On!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Some Commets On Today's Weather
Friday, February 18, 2011
Keegan Ales
I can never get over how much fun I have when I play a Thursday night at Keegan Ales in Kingston. The crowd is great, the food is great, the beer is great, and the people who run the place are great. I have been playing there for years, as have my friends the BIG Shoe, so we know the proprietors fairly well. If you've never been, you have to go, and Thursdays are different from any other night in terms of craziness. Let give you some highlights from last night:
-I always like to take requests from the crowd whenever I play, and it's always great when I can pull out a choice request that really makes someone's night. Last night there were two: "Smoke," by Ben Folds Five, and then "Kodachrome," by Paul Simon (which I had never played before).
-During the 2nd set, my g-string broke....on my guitar. So, I had to switch things around and play the rest of the set on the keyboard. I broke out "Time After Time," by Cyndi Lauper, and I got through about 98% of the song without major incident when I looked up and noticed that a guy was holding a cell phone up to me. I immediately got confused and abruptly stopped playing in the middle of the last piano riff. He smiled, closed his phone, and walked away. I guess someone he knows must love that song, so when I started playing it he pulled out his phone and made a call so the person could listen. Didn't I feel like rock star?
-I got an amazing Cuban sandwich.
-Toward the end of the 3rd set, I played "Fuck You," by Cee Lo Green, and I prefaced it by saying if the crowd didn't sing along I may never be booked at Keegan again. They were game, and every time we got to the "fuck you" lyric the crowd did the work. There's something magical in being able to get a crowd of people to scream "fuck you" over, and over, and over again.
-Having the crowd ask for two more songs after I finished. Enough said.
I can't wait to get back there.
-I always like to take requests from the crowd whenever I play, and it's always great when I can pull out a choice request that really makes someone's night. Last night there were two: "Smoke," by Ben Folds Five, and then "Kodachrome," by Paul Simon (which I had never played before).
-During the 2nd set, my g-string broke....on my guitar. So, I had to switch things around and play the rest of the set on the keyboard. I broke out "Time After Time," by Cyndi Lauper, and I got through about 98% of the song without major incident when I looked up and noticed that a guy was holding a cell phone up to me. I immediately got confused and abruptly stopped playing in the middle of the last piano riff. He smiled, closed his phone, and walked away. I guess someone he knows must love that song, so when I started playing it he pulled out his phone and made a call so the person could listen. Didn't I feel like rock star?
-I got an amazing Cuban sandwich.
-Toward the end of the 3rd set, I played "Fuck You," by Cee Lo Green, and I prefaced it by saying if the crowd didn't sing along I may never be booked at Keegan again. They were game, and every time we got to the "fuck you" lyric the crowd did the work. There's something magical in being able to get a crowd of people to scream "fuck you" over, and over, and over again.
-Having the crowd ask for two more songs after I finished. Enough said.
I can't wait to get back there.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Lady Gaga va. Madonna
I was driving to the studio early yesterday afternoon to what turned out to be a 13-hour recording session, tired, hungover, and hungry. I had just grabbed some food at Dunkin Donuts when on the radio came what I've heard is going to be one of the best songs of the decade - "Born This Way," by Lady Gaga. Now, I'm not a "Gagite" by any means, but I think she's a talented performer who works with exceedingly skilled songwriters and producers (though the whole "eccentric genius" thing is pure marketing and nothing else), and I think a lot of her music is pretty catchy.
So, there it was on the radio for me to listen. And as I listened, something odd happened: I started thinking of a song by another famous female artist. And I thought, "Wow, it's not often that a song makes me specifically think of another song. They really sound similar." As I went through my day and my hangover subsided, I noticed that people were posting on Facebook about hearing the same similarity between the songs. Then yesterday morning I turned on the TV and guess what they're talking about? That's right.
Now, making homages to other influential and respected artists is something that has been done for years. For example, The Beatles paid homage to the Beach Boys with "Back in the USSR." The difference, however, is that you don't hear "Back in the USSR" and think of "California Girls." When I heard "Born This Way," I thought of "Express Yourself", by Madonna (with a little "Vogue" thrown in for good measure). Is this a copyright violation? Well, I'm not a lawyer, and I know that it's a hard thing to prove, but I think a very strong case could be made. I cannot imagine this song was released without someone in the chain noticing and bringing up the similarities. So was the decision made from the beginning to make the songs sound similar regardless of the consequences, or to simply release the song in hopes that no one would notice? I actually just heard that Madonna (or a rep for her) contacted Lady Gaga to give her support. Whatever. Either way I won't be buying the CD.
"Are people really only now catching up to the fact that Lady Gaga is doing Madonna? Oh right, her pointy bullet tits have sparklers." - Bill Maher on Twitter
So, there it was on the radio for me to listen. And as I listened, something odd happened: I started thinking of a song by another famous female artist. And I thought, "Wow, it's not often that a song makes me specifically think of another song. They really sound similar." As I went through my day and my hangover subsided, I noticed that people were posting on Facebook about hearing the same similarity between the songs. Then yesterday morning I turned on the TV and guess what they're talking about? That's right.
Now, making homages to other influential and respected artists is something that has been done for years. For example, The Beatles paid homage to the Beach Boys with "Back in the USSR." The difference, however, is that you don't hear "Back in the USSR" and think of "California Girls." When I heard "Born This Way," I thought of "Express Yourself", by Madonna (with a little "Vogue" thrown in for good measure). Is this a copyright violation? Well, I'm not a lawyer, and I know that it's a hard thing to prove, but I think a very strong case could be made. I cannot imagine this song was released without someone in the chain noticing and bringing up the similarities. So was the decision made from the beginning to make the songs sound similar regardless of the consequences, or to simply release the song in hopes that no one would notice? I actually just heard that Madonna (or a rep for her) contacted Lady Gaga to give her support. Whatever. Either way I won't be buying the CD.
"Are people really only now catching up to the fact that Lady Gaga is doing Madonna? Oh right, her pointy bullet tits have sparklers." - Bill Maher on Twitter
Monday, February 7, 2011
A Diner In Name Only?
When I was in high school (and during my time home during college), the favorite hangout for my friends and me was the diner. Specifically, The Palace Diner. Sure, there are others in the area, but The Palace was ours. Any day of the week, any time of the day, you could probably catch us there. Sometimes we would even be there more than once in a 24-hour period, and I still don't understand how I acquired all the money that I sunk there. It still baffles my mind. But the Palace always fit the criteria for being called a diner: open all day, every day; a menu that contained everything and was available all day, every day; and a retro feel.
Around 1:30AM Sunday morning, a friend and I ended up at The Eveready Diner. Now, I've been to the Eveready numerous times before, the food is good, and it's been featured on the Food Network's "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives." But it doesn't quite fit the definition of a diner in my mind. Retro feel? Check. Extensive menu available at all hours? Check. But it's only open 24/7 on the weekends; during the week it's closed from 1AM-5AM. Sure, the word "diner" is in the name, but is it a diner in name only? Are you automatically a diner if you just call yourself one? Where do we draw the line between a diner and a restaurant? The fate of the western world depends on the answer to this question.
Around 1:30AM Sunday morning, a friend and I ended up at The Eveready Diner. Now, I've been to the Eveready numerous times before, the food is good, and it's been featured on the Food Network's "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives." But it doesn't quite fit the definition of a diner in my mind. Retro feel? Check. Extensive menu available at all hours? Check. But it's only open 24/7 on the weekends; during the week it's closed from 1AM-5AM. Sure, the word "diner" is in the name, but is it a diner in name only? Are you automatically a diner if you just call yourself one? Where do we draw the line between a diner and a restaurant? The fate of the western world depends on the answer to this question.
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