January 2012
1 post
an open letter to washington about SOPA (from me...
We, the undersigned, are musicians, actors, directors, authors, and producers. We make our livelihoods with the artistic works we create. We are also Internet users. We are writing to express our serious concerns regarding the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). As creative professionals, we experience copyright infringement on a very personal level. Commercial...
December 2011
1 post
happy holidays and f*ck you! anti-holiday...
to watch simply point your browser here at 6pm ET, Sunday, Dec 18, 2011. participate on twitter with #CFAHS. if you miss the live feed, the archive will be available shortly after. howdy folks! i’m writing to you from a bus, speeding along the dark highways of america. aah, the magic of the tubes! speaking of… it’s that time of year again! yes, it’s time to marry...
November 2011
2 posts
why'd you ruin christmas??
last week, i put out a new album. maybe you’ve had a chance to hear it by now. i conceived, wrote, recorded, and marketed it in about 4 months. it felt urgent because we are fast approaching my least favorite time of the year: christmas. beginning with thanksgiving and ending on new year’s eve, i am pretty much miserable. why? you might ask, because for most people it’s the most...
July 2011
2 posts
read on...
i’ve been lucky to have a relatively quiet summer. songwriting, recording, and playing on my local softball team… and reading. here’s what i’ve dug into lately: the baseball codes- fantastic read about the unwritten rules of baseball such as: dont swing on a 3-0 pitch in the late innings if you’re leading by at least 8. dont showboat. how to throw at someone in...
June 2011
2 posts
professional crastination
i’m procrastinating. not like when i was in college and i had a big paper due. not like when there’s a package that needs to go to the post office, but i just keep finding reasons not to send it. this is different. tomorrow, i have set up a one day recording session to put a foot forward on a new record. i dont have any motivation other than to see what happens when i try to play my...
May 2011
2 posts
the end of days
if the world is gonna end, then i think i’m in pretty good shape. i’ve been in a bubble recently. my lefty-leaning, rural life, tiny cottage bubble. i’m writing a new album. and finally feeling like i’m getting somewhere. i’m remembering i know how to do this (it has after all been almost 20 years i’ve been at making up songs). i’m building a little...
thepijeanshow asked: Hi! Just wanted to say that I saw you playing Persephone with Anais Mitchell's Hadetown Orchestra last night in Shelburne Falls. Well done! The whole show was great, and it looked like you all were having a super time.
Cheers,
PiJ
Cheers,
PiJ
April 2011
3 posts
dear tom's of maine...
dear tom’s of maine.
you may not realize it, but your recent decision to switch to plastic laminate tubes has stopped Art in its tracks.
for the last 8 years, i have been carefully collecting your aluminum tubes and creating what i consider to be my masterpiece, in the most radical of all gallery spaces, my bathroom. i have personally used every inch of paste in all those tubes. and, i...
first time, long time
alright, let’s go to erin in western mass. hello erin, go ahead, you’re on the air. “hey guys, what’s up? first time, long time. i listen to your show almost everyday, really appreciate what you do. thanks. i wanted to call in today to talk about kobe bryant. you know, a lot of folks are saying that the fine from the NBA is excessive, or they’re saying that...
On Behalf of The Rockstars…
we say...
March 2011
7 posts
How to Say My Name
almost every day someone asks...
newsletter: amazing april touring!
Howdy Web Denizens, i’ve been laying low at home these last few months (mostly), deep into the writing of a new record. a friend of mine said songwriting is like going fishing. you put your line in and wait. so, i’m going fishing very diligently every day and hoping to catch some new songs for you. however, i’ll be taking a short break from that this april to head out for a...
bracket-ology
honestly… i’m not much for college basketball. i get interested this week, after having spent most of the season looking the other way. when i was in highschool, though, i was all ACC basketball, all the time. i even wanted to go UNC because they had the best teams then. dante calabria!
i have only slighty more interest in the NBA, though i do really love their playoff system. how do...
35%
this article first appeared here. and it was crafted with the help of my friends at the Future of Music Coalition.
The most important piece of furniture in the living room of my cabin in western Massachusetts isn’t a comfy chair or functional table, it’s a vintage radio and record player from the early 1920’s. Almost as big as a modern refrigerator, it’s a monument to a...
tears of a clown
last night i watched a fantasic movie about bill withers, “still bill”. besides his music being deep as all get out and more than standing the test of time, it was amazing to watch a man who is truly in touch with the humanity around him and his own feelings. and he is totally able to show it. or, really, he is unable to hide it, stuff it, or mask it like so much of...
February 2011
2 posts
ain't nothing neutral in how i feel
it’s late, here in grenada MS. i’m out on tour, and i’m just getting to the hotel after my 7th show in a row. 3 more to go before a day off monday in austin. so you can see why i have been behind a bit in my po-litical work. let’s catch up….
there’s some important net neutrality stuff happening this week. house republicans succeeded today in attaching an...
January 2011
1 post
the times they are new orleans
i’ve got a routine like anyone else in the northeast: work and snow. but i’m just getting back from breaking that routine and visiting a place that continues to be a touchpoint for every important conversation going on in our country. i’ve been to new orleans now 8 times, 5 before and 3 after. i’ve been to play shows, to write, and to record an album. i’ve passed...
December 2010
2 posts
reading rainbow- 2010 wrap-up edition
it’s been too long since i took the time to write a blog. i am always so full of ideas, and less full of execution. who out there in the tubes can relate? i usually try to do some kind of year end wrap-up on the blog. 2010 was a highly varied year for me… i began it with a grueling super DIY european tour (read: lots of trains, dragging around lots of stuff), and i ended it with...
the fight for net neutrality
if you’ve been following the news lately (or me for awhile), you’ll know that on 21st DEC the FCC will be ruling on “net neutrality” (the ability to access legal, online content without interference, gate-keeping, or tolls from your internet service provider). i’ve worked on this issue for some time, from my cabin fever series to my latest “distillation...
November 2010
2 posts
the final inning + last free download
the last download of this project is a live version of “the little cowboy” from our show on 8 OCT in Portland ME. it features the awesome slide playing of “distillation” producer dave chalfant. thanks to everyone who came out to the shows, watched the webcast, and took home some anniversary schwag!
as i wrap up the anniversary project, i’ve been thinking that being a musician is a little...
go west, young man + free download
as i head to the west coast, this week’s download is “love in 2 parts”, which ends the album “distillation” and opens the anniversary shows. it is most definitely one song and describes a relationship i was in that was… shall we say, manic. it also mentions the incredible burden of rent in the bay area!
…………….
looking back on the early years of my career, i’m surprised at the kind of...
October 2010
2 posts
philly works!
philly works. it’s that simple. my experience as a musician playing in the city of brotherly love has been the model of what’s supposed to happen, when it’s supposed to happen, how it’s supposed to happen. early on, i got hooked up with my friend jesse lundy, who was promoting with the awesome rich kardon at the point. they believed in me when i was still a wee pup figuring out my show. they...
WFUV and making it in the Cit-Tay
this week’s download is “la petite mort” (or “the oh estelle” song), from the original versionof Distillation. it tells the story of a wedding day gone wrong!
……
i went to school in providence RI, a medium-sized city with a gritty arts scene and a surrealist bent to its public art. living in a city was a new experience for me. i had grown up in a small town in virginia, and, at the time,...
September 2010
5 posts
light up the series of tubes + be a virtual...
this week’s download is “queen of quiet (fancy radio mix)” – a remix from an EP of the same title. the original song appeared as the first track on “distillation”
……….
last summer, i had an idea: why not broadcast over the internet a series of concerts from my rural cabin and use them as a fundraiser for my next album? cabin fever seemed like a pretty simple and clever way to raise...
download of “easy baby” + remembering my first gig...
this week’s download is “easy baby”- recorded from the stage of club passim, cambridge MA on 7 december, 1997 and broadcast live on boston’s WERS. it’s part of “small deviant things, vol.1 1997-99″, my handmade archival series. …….. in exactly a week, i’ll be heading over to boston to do a radio appearance on WERS and play a gig at club passim as part of the Anniversary tour. i feel...
Asheville NC + the story of the dress
it’s finally here! today i head to asheville NC to start the “distillation” anniversary tour. i’ll be performing the record in sequence for the first time, solo, for an intimate audience in a tiny theater. pressure? i’ll let you know. i don’t remember the first time i played asheville, but i know i’ve been going there regularly since “distillation” came out, and it’s a town i have always...
June 2010
1 post
cast
all photos by kristin angel. copywrite 2010 the august company.
i’ve been keeping a secret these last three months. no, i’m not pregnant. no, i’m not ill. no, my secret is, i’ve become an actor. like a baby found in a cave and then raised by wolves as one of their own, i joined the august company, a local theater ensemble, and acted in their latest show. ever since...
February 2010
1 post
the drinking clock
howdy web deizens! i am spending a day in my house for the first time in… well since ireland, uk, italy, france, pennsylvania, ohio, indiana, and michigan. whew! last night i played a benefit for haiti at UMASS-amherst. i got to sing with the young@heart chorus, hang with my old friend martin sexton, listen to lenelle moise’s amazing new poem about michael jackson, and meet an...
January 2010
8 posts
the thaw
i was writing about dancing yesterday. it’s been on my mind lately, how i use my body to react to music. sometimes i get frustrated that i have an instrument hanging on my neck so often. my favorite moments on stage are ones where i can put down whatever it is i am holding and move unfettered.i wrapped up cultureweek2010 last night with a night of dancing to new orleans bands. perhaps...
just.fucking.dance.
every time i set about writing today, i find myself distracted. i was never the kid who put off writing the paper. i was the cranker who turned it out in one sitting two or three days ahead of time and then coasted into the due date. i dont want to think about my blog as homework, but i am starting to feel that way. i felt the same way the other day when i had to write up a set of comments ...
elevate.escalate.remember
i got home last night from a friend’s birthday party in the far away land of the Upper West Side, and was too tired to type. a contributing factor i am sure was the pounds of italian food i ate at gennaro. squid-blackened risotto, kale salad, truffle salad, more gnocchi, octopus salad, fettuchini bolognase, then mousse, flan, and tiramisu. happy birthday jane!
i finished up...
intermission
i spent the day stuck in front of my computer and on the phone dealing with Real Life. no worries, after a day of nose to the digital grindstone, i think i got done almost everything i needed. i did go out to dinner in manhatten at frankies 17. there is one in brooklyn too. amazing italian food. we had beets and meatballs with raisins and tiramisu and cheesecake. i was joined by my friend, the...
translations from the good book
i woke up today feeling hungover and tired from all the stuff i have been pouring into my days. besides my cultural diet, i am also gorging on old friends and long catch-ups. so i took today easy, kind of. when my friend c.Love and i had coffee this morning, i asked her if she was doing anything interesting tonight. “yes, trans, dolly, gospel.” that’s really all i heard,...
the spirituality of subtraction
what happens when we take things away? i’ve been thinking a lot about that recently. perhaps part of it is because of the new year, and many resolutions involve giving something up. but i am thinking of subtraction as something even more fundamental and lasting than a new years diet. what happens when we abstain? what happens when we set limits for ourselves around consumption and ...
time waits for no woman
i couldnt sleep last night. not because of being in a new place, or even the clatter of the F tracks outside my window, no, i couldnt sleep because i was reading “zeitoun” until the wee hours. I Could Not Put It Down. a gift, that book is. i mean, we all know whats gonna happen. a hurricane is coming, then a devastating flood. so what could be the hook? real lives painted in ...
culture week 2010
for my vacation this year, i didnt choose to go to an island, someplace sunny, or even someplace warm. i chose instead to come to brooklyn for a week and pack in as much music, theater, art, and food as possible.i have a friend who lives in carrol gardens. she has a fabulous little apartment not far from the F Train, where i’ve often stayed when i come to town. she’s currently...
December 2009
1 post
top 11 moments of 2009
in an effort to clear my decks and raise a metaphorical glass to the 365 days gone by, here’s my listy of mem’ries from 09. by the way, i didn’t think twice at the approach, but, um, the decade is over. wierd. Andrew Bird @ Carnegie Hall sometimes you are just rooting for people. i have been an andrew bird fan since i was 19 and got turned onto him the summer i lived in...
November 2009
4 posts
the lady of the house
i am a reader, always have been. i can and do read anywhere: the car, on airplanes, at gigs, outside, inside, morning, noon, or especially at night. my idea of perfection is to climb into bed and read until the early hours of the morning. i read some fiction, some poetry, but i am mostly a non-fiction junkie, especially biographies. some of my very favorites include my multiple judy garland...
po-political adventures in the nation's...
this is an edited excerpt from a much longer piece i am working on… i think there is a mistaken air of rarification and mystery that surrounds capital hill and our senators and congress-people. it is a common misperception that somehow there are giant hurdles put in place to stop us from communicating directly with the people who are supposed to be representing us. we see them on TV,...
fresh tracks
isn’t this new music world overwhelming? there is so much to listen to! as a rule, i don’t read music magazines or look at taste-maker blogs. for me, they’re a recipe for a disasterous bout of jealousy. since i work in the music industry, i prefer to hear about new music from non-industry types. ahem erin, you say, you’ve painted yourself into a metaphorical corner. ok,...
east coast / west coast feud
i’m always a little sad when the van turns east and starts to head home. today, at 530am, we left los angeles to bang out a drive to denver in one day. i grew up in virginia and have spent the last 10 years between rhode island and massachusetts, so i’m pretty firmly east coast. i’ve been touring since i was 17 (i’m 24 now)(just kidding, i’m 32), and i’ve ...