Click on the picture to listen to this new song!
Read More2012 Y'all!
So here we are, in the midst (and mists) of what promises to be a most spontaneous, fulfilling, and magical new year. With a side dish of doom of course. Nah- I think we'll be here next year, but I can sense that we are all facing some challenges that range from global to personal levels. With all of the floods, revolutions, and televised frivolity, it's almost as if now I can sense and feel impeding events very deeply before they even happen. My B.S. meter is sharper than ever, and I feel as if I can sense the depth relevance of things more quickly. My gut tells me that things will intensify in the spring....after a somewhat mellower and more plodding winter.
What I also sense is the immediacy of great expansion for my music and my life at this point, despite the growing pains. Recently, NYC Rock named "Night Escape" #27 (after Rihanna of all people) for 100 Best Albums of 2011! Pretty amazing! More bragging- he also called my album "the surprise of the year." This mention, among some others, was to me a great confirmation of many things. First, that hard work and dedication to one's art and craft will be rewarded. Secondly, I feel that my desire to break to new ground with a distinctive new sound and vision is slowly beginning to manifest and become ever more clear. To a large extent my album, and my songwriting in general aims to explore, reveal, and thrill. However, despite a bit of recognition, the greatest confirmation of my work always comes with the urgency and excitement of a live audience.
And from here, it's about some enrichment, enhancement, and blasting through some roadblocks. All majestic highways and paths can be blazed, however, sometimes a bit of crude TNT is needed to blast some rock out of the way (OK, I'm generally more environmentally friendly than that). Recently, I have a hawk's eye out for laziness, fear of reaching out, and good ideas that go forgotten. I also want to look into making some videos and work with other artists of all kinds. These details are slowly being fleshed out, but there are times when I can feel the reality of future performances and I am shocked by their closeness. It's almost as if I am reaching into a deep pond that displays these hopes, and once I touch the surface to find the world, it all disappears with ripples. For now.
Of course, there are more shows brewing. I just played a cool show at Sidewalk Cafe with Danny Leonard and Pete O'Neill. 2012 seems to be a reckoning to many- that we discover our true callings and move towards them. With general instability and destruction of paradigms, it feels more welcoming than ever to walk into whatever world we wish to create for ourselves. And as I sit watching this rosy Brooklyn sunset, an airborne plastic bag/trash drifts merrily on by. 2012 Y'all!!!
Show at Pete's Candy Store!
Hello Everyone!
(Drawing - A. Curnock) (Picasso) Rubber Plant
I am writing to you from within the depths of a full-blown Halloween s(n)ow(ck) -it-to-me. As I awoke, I was stunned to see 2 inches of snow all over my deck. But, since it's been just two months since I found myself in the midst of raging flood due to Hurricane Irene, my shock threshold is quite high and healthy. Biped transportation today proved futile- in an earlier voyage my feet skidded everywhere in a full slushy shuffle all over the sidewalk. No matter though- today I have been staying indoors, having whimsical visions of sled dog transportation this winter, and re-energizing for my show at Pete's Candy Store , this Tuesday November 1st at 10:30 PM!
(October Snow)
For those who are less familiar, Pete's Candy Store is a famous staple of the Williamsberg music scene, and I am pretty honored to be playing there. (For futher notice all mentions of Williamsburg relate to the neighborhood in Brooklyn, not the colonial town in VA (god those tours were boring!)). The venue and performance space is neatly modeled after the inside of a train car, and this is just a cool place to hang out in the neighborhood in a very relaxing, low key way. So if anyone is out in the area in the evening, you should definitely come out! I can't wait to deliver a a cool show in this intimate and unique venue in NYC.
And I have some further musings- it's funny- because in other years, an October snowstorm would have felt even more shocking- but truth be told, after seeing my mom's house being ripped apart by a flood, and the months of subsequent repair, a mere snowstorm looks like good, trivial fun. Recently, I've almost come to expect the most extreme possible outcome when it comes to the weather, social upheaval, technological advancements. Doesn't anyone else sense the escalation of dramatic events? While so many of these things seem to be overwhelming, unprecedented, and wild, all of these things, I feel, are happening to allow us to move on from older paradigms and elevate us into a more graceful existence on this planet. I can't say exactly where we are headed, but all I can say is that if people want change, wild occurrences should be expected as the agent of change. Grand statements, I know.
But, here I sit at least making some attempt to contextualize the world I live in. It's so much easier to dissociate from the world and resign from one's heartbeat in this seeming madness, but I feel like I want to make an effort to constantly view myself and those around me in a tangible, historical context. I want to emotionally feel a sense of urgency- a sense that we matter and that the reality of our lives, choices, and inclination make palpable, long term effects for the better. For me, in in throes of a cultural bewilderment and conflict, music can be an excellent grounding to gain this fresh and vital perspective. But this perspective can require a voluntary effort- and a drive to create focus and order- and to allow the storms to play out through my music. So for now, I can't help but feel I am in for some excitement- for my music and from all kinds of whacky events. The possibilities right now feel larger than ever....and we are on the brink of something....
And you ain't seen nothing yet.....
-Forever