the best songwriting you've never heard
thursday night (october 6, 2016) marks the official cd-release party for “up, up, and away.” i will be performing the entire album live, accompanying the feature length film i made, at the historic Grand Illusion cinema in north Seattle (7pm).
“up, up, and away” is an old-fashioned concept album that describes the experience of a manic episode i endured back in 1999, a side effect of anti-depressants. Continue reading “cd release: “up, up, and away””
i’ve just completed the final edit of my feature-length video, “up, up, and away.” this project has been in the planning stages since 2011, and i’ve been actively working on it for most of the past year. i’m really excited about the results.
the film captures the various emotional states that accompanied a manic episode i suffered back in 1999, after being mistakenly prescribed anti-depressants.
Continue reading “final edit: “up, up, and away” – full movie”
this week i’m wearing my influences on my sleeve. i started out with the beatles-esque chorus, which came to me while walking the dog one morning last week. the IV-I-V-I chord sequence also steals from my own “love song,” but the more simplistic melody reminds me of the mccartney throwaway “all together now.”
i’ve been hankering to do an old-time song since i started up again. i sat down with my daughter’s ukelele while i was watching the olympics and sang the opening phrase first thing.
i didn’t realize this was an 00m song until i was recording the harmonies. i started doing the “oo’s” over the bridge and it struck me i could put an ‘m’ on the end. at that moment i realized the whole song shared the 00m atmosphere, with a protagonist struggling with mental health issues and outsider-ness, with a core – if tragic – “happy ending” of acceptance, in this case, forced.
Continue reading “monday song #105: “time machine” (00m #2)”
happy halloween!
an early 70s prozac vocal as the main character wrestles with some difficult insights and an attempt at feeling.
not entirely certain what he thinks he “should” do. my guess is that a few drinks will undo the softness…
a similar theme to last week’s entry. preparation for some kind of a journey, though not sure whether it is an inner or outer journey. a tidying up before moving on, perhaps.
with the first few, i’m not setting a high bar, just want to get back in the habit of having an unfinished tune in my head all week. ultimately i have a pair of musicals i want to create songs for. but first, some stretching and warming up.
i wanted to get back to the ongoing cycle of songwriting, so here is the official monday song number 101.
i’ll be releasing the full length “up, up, and away” next monday. in the meantime, here’s something i put together for npr’s “tiny desk” competition. the folks who’ve seen it have said they liked it so i figured i’d share a bit more widely.
the performance was done live in front of a green screen to allow for some fun editing in final cut pro.