I’ve been reading through my American Songwriter magazine for five days, and just realized I’m IN it! You can find me in the “Tweet Smarts” section of the Letters page. So cool. (God how I love this magazine.)
Photos from my show with Jeff Pianki on the Grand Princess were posted at Livingston Daily. There are some hilarious photos of my in musical stance, hair flying everywhere and guitar pedals being stomped. You can view them here:
I’m in photos 14-32 of the set.
Special thanks to Gillis Benedict from the Daily Press & Argus for capturing the photographs.
Photo by GILLIS BENEDICT/DAILY PRESS & ARGUS
I just finished my song submission for the ForSongSake songwriting competition! This is also my first co-writing session with Natalie! (She came up with the plot of the song after hearing my only line, “If your plane is late, I’ll still be standing at the gate, I’ll still be waiting…” and then joined in the fun of trying to write verses! )
Lyrics:
Late, Gate
Before you left we said some things
That we didn’t mean
By the baggage claim, I placed the blame on you
You placed the blame on me
Then you were gone
And I was here alone
Now your trip is done, and you’re coming home
With more than souvenirs
I’ve got the sound of your voice
Ringing in my ears
Saying, “If my plane is late,
Will you still be standing at the gate
Waiting there for me?”
I will
‘Cos I missed you
From an empty bed
I should have chased you,
You came back instead
Some think love is just a lie for lust
But I learned distance is a trial of trust
If your plane is late,
I’ll still be standing at the gate,
Waiting there for you
I will
* * * Songwriting Notes * * *
GW, the organizer, offered “Late Gate” as the title, and I found this to be quite a challenge! One version I wrote lead to become Tiny Monsters, another version was scrapped. Then, Tuesday, I started to feel the deadline approaching and luckily felt inspired by the opening riff that just happened under my fingers. Natalie and I had a pretty solid construction of the song after a few hours, but we then got stuck on how to weave in the idea that both people in the story were at fault. (The opening verse originally was, “Before you left, I said some things/that I know were mean…) We had at least two or three verses that just weren’t clicking. After an hour of a roadblock, we called it quits for night.
Anyways, I needed a night to let myself return to song with open ears and edit it to a more cohesive piece. 15 minutes of editing was all it took for the song was done on Wednesday!
“The show must go on!” We’ve all heard this phrase as audience members, but now that I’ve joined the ranks as a musician chasing paper, I know what this means: There are no sick days in the show business, just cancellations.
I’ve played three gigs with a pretty deep cut on my index finger. It’s the type of cut that only affects my guitar playing during full bar chords. For the guitar players, you now what I mean. Those chunky F chords (133211). And of course, this was a self-afflicted injury. I was cutting a bagel Wednesday and sliced my finger, clumsily. I tried playing with a bandaid on Thursday, but adhesive tape doesn’t create a nice guitar tone.
So the show must go on, or the money must be returned! Fortunately, I can play a few inversions and just limit those bar chords. For those attending our Tawas show at Mr. Jack’ss Bar tonight, don’t worry if you see a little blood on my Taylor guitar’s headstock. That’s just the signs of dedication.
