Every so often, I Google myself. Now, now, get your mind out of the gutter – it’s nothing that I’d be ashamed to do in public. I’m incredibly vain, and nosy. And I always like to know what the world is saying about me (not that it cares very much, but a man can dream). Read more »

There’s an old saw that goes something like this: once you find a happy relationship, you can’t write good songs because you’re not miserable. And it’s certainly true that my songwriting output has dropped rather precipitously of late. But I can’t attribute that to my delightful spouse, She Who Must Be Taunted, because I’ve written lots of my best songs since I’ve met her – in fact, virtually everything I perform regularly was composed after we got married. So let’s put the last nail in the coffin of this particular old saw. And yet, there’s an element of truth here – it’s just not the element of truth you might think. Read more »

I seem not to be writing these newsletters very often nowadays, mostly because I’ve been conveniently ignoring the gig-booking portion of our program in favor of the suffering-through-the-recording-process portion of our program. Read more »

For those of you who missed our last episode, I’ve been obsessed, for many years now, by the concept of a Gurian cutaway. Although one of my musician friends condemns them because “they’re not shaped like women”, for me, a cutaway guitar, with the bite taken out of the body right below the neck, has always said “rock’n’roll” – play a cutaway, and you’re already cooler than the guy next to you. And the combination of the craftmanship of Michael Gurian, luthier extraordinaire, with rock’n’roll godhood, well – let’s just say the prospect left me inappropriately giddy. And Tall Toad Music, in Petaluma, CA, had one in stock. And I – my, how the coincidences seem to pile up – was on my way to the Bay Area. Read more »

Just in case you were wondering what I do in my spare time… Read more »

A couple weeks ago, I went to see my pals John McAuliffe and Susan Levine (among other notables) at Giuseppe’s in Gloucester. I hadn’t seen Susan in quite a while, and we had a lovely chat, and afterwards, she “liked” me on Facebook, with the accompanying message, “I didn’t know you were on Facebook”. Read more »

A couple days ago I was at the Lizard Lounge open mike, which I’ve raved about on numerous occasions in this here newsletter – just packed with talent, and your gracious host Tom Bianchi is just the bee’s knees, host-wise. Read more »

Many years ago, a splash was made by a small, round troll of a comedian named Sam Kinison. I don’t know whether I ever saw him do a full stand-up routine, but his signature bit was part of the ambient environment at the time, an era which featured, among other things, the latest incarnation of the Ethiopian famine. “You live in a desert!” he bellowed (because bellowing was, apparently, his schtick). “Go where the food is!” Read more »

My pal Rob Siegel wrote a book – a great, great book called “Memoirs of a Hack Mechanic”. You’ll notice that it has nothing to do with music (well, it has a little to do with music, but not much, really) – it turns out that in addition to being a marvelous songwriter, Rob is a car guy, and he’s been writing a column about cars for 25 years. I can’t recommend the book highly enough – it’s charming, deeply engaging, funny, beautifully written. And (I hope you can tell, because of these monthly missives) my standards are pretty damn high. Read more »

A while back, my pal Jon McAuliffe recommended me to the “Local Music Rocks” show on Westford Cable Access Television, hosted by Ike Keltz. For quite a while now, Ike’s been hosting local singer/songwriters in a half-hour format with music and interviews, and I was grateful to have the opportunity to do his show. Read more »