The album, she is basically done. Everything is mixed, and it all sounds fantastic (and I mean all of it – I’ll fight you, I will!), and the cover art is ready (also fantastic) and Doug Kwartler has mastered the first song, and I’m hoping I’ll get the rest of it soon. And then I will release it into the ether, where it will live forever in Spotify, amen.
I’ve been working on this album since before the pandemic. Dave and I spent a ton of time working out drum parts, and then the pandemic hit, and then, when I finally got into the studio, it took two and a half years from the first session to the last, and I just added up how much I’ve spent on it and, yeesh, the number is a bit embarrassing and I’m not going to tell you. In other words, it’s been an enormous part of my life for most of the Biden administration. But life goes on, and I will no longer have this time sink to preoccupy me. So, now what?
Since I started this album, the music scene has, well, changed. Some of you may be aware that, for decades now, I’ve maintained a list of open mikes in the Boston area on my Web site. It is woefully out of date, because the pandemic blew a hole in it, and at this point I should either scrap it or completely redo it, and I can’t decide which. I’d like to be playing and performing more; but there is no longer a steady diet of open mike features to partake of, and a lot of music promotion and networking seems to have moved to social media, which, well, you kids get off my lawn.
And the songwriting – do not forget the songwriting. I tend not to write while I’m recording, and at this point, the last thing I wrote that I’m happy with was a couple years ago. Last night, at the Chelmsford open mike, Doug and Susan Levine each played two new tunes, and I was so very jealous. I’ve started to sink my teeth into it again, but oh my, the crap you can write when you haven’t written for a while. So I’m doomed to write some mediocre tunes, and, what’s worse, I’m doomed to know, in advance, that they’re going to be mediocre. But the good ones are hiding behind them, like the products in Market Basket after they front the shelves.
So woe is me, there is no way out but through. I want things to be easy, and, like the rest of the world, I’m going to be disappointed. But the fact this, this year has been pretty good. I’ve learned some new vocal techniques (I can hit a G above middle C on a good day, now, which I’ll never, ever use but makes me feel more competent), I finished a fantastic album (remember, I’ll fight you), I opened for Joe Jencks at the Linden Tree, I hosted two deeply enjoyable evenings at the Somerville Songwriter Sessions, I started playing a bit of piano again and accompanied my friend Bill Zolli. Frankly, I’ve had worse years. So maybe, if I stop whining, next year will be better.
Happy new year, everybody. Thanks, as always, for reading.