Tuesday, November 23, 2004

artest or artiste

how do everybody? been an odd couple of weeks....well a couple of things first....Got a call from new york the other day from some woman at ASCAP( which is a, uh..well they look after tracking songs on radio/tv/movies/bars etc) anyway....apparently they and heinken( good beer) have a grant for helping songwriters and apparently of a gazillion songs....they picked " Dance With Me" as the winner of best pop/rock song and i won a check and will get some good publicity from it as well....I never win anything....so it came as quite a shock....

i believe its almost official that " Ashes " will be out in many parts of Europe on Blue-Rose records....pretty exciting.....

Christmas season coming up and though i'm am thrilled with the number of orders...we made it so cheap so you guys would be able to give em out as presents for the season....i'm grateful and honored by your continued support but not seeing as many new names as we would like....so order BTA for other people they wont know how much it costs and we'll send it to them and if you want us to put a note in it we will....gotta start shaking things up and get a new groundswell going....like the republicans....sorry bad joke

the bodeans gig was fun...beautiful theatre....funny moment i was soundchecking and i was playing " One way to go " on piano and Sammy came out of the shadows on stage right and though i wasn't singing he started singing " Murder on Her Lips" but he was changing the words around and it was pretty funny...but the lyrics he was using i can't really repeat.

Ron Artest is insane.

Don't forget to vote on Wxpn's albums of the year....pretty please??
XRT's will be coming up shortly too....

...was nice to watch endless hours of JFK shows considering the anniversary of his death./...wanted to see the movie " JFK" but was suprised not to find it anywhere on tv.

Have a GREAT THANKSGIVING everybody...i'm so thankful your here reading this...i'm honored...i'm humbled....God bless you !

slainte
m

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

11/16

didn't even realize today was the day the record was going to be available....
sorry about the mix-up with the ordering and pricing...i was not made aware of these things until after the fact...so again sorry about the confusion...but in the long run i think 8 bucks for BTA is a pretty amazing deal...( one i never would have agreed to if i was kept abreast of these kinds of things)...first batch is going out tomorrow...so i will eagerly await hearing what you guys think of it.

Got show with the Bodeans friday...so looking forward to that....cant' believe they are charging 40-50 dollars a ticket and it sold out....good for them...just seems like alot....

well happy release day...hope everybody is happy....seem to be in a bit of a malaise still, myself...autumn fog of sorts...anyway....God Bless....

m

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Tis Bitter Cold...

cancelled the Cali trip...without going into the details.... and i've been a bit sick at heart....decided to stay home and write and record a song everyday....did this once before and ended up with 6 mediocre songs and
" My Own Little World"...so it was worth it i guess....
did a benefit at the abbey pub on sunday....was fun to play with Tj and Jack and Fitzy and Angelo again...was a great time...to help the Jeffery Pride Foundation....pediatric cancer...

was asked to remind you guys to vote on the Wxpn website for best show or album or song for me....course if you really feel its worthy of your vote....i would appreciate it....

Beneath the Ashes is almost ready....can't wait for it to be done already....soon my friends...so soon.

well back to the dungeon....

m

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

Aeschylus

He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep , pain cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, come wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.

Thursday, November 04, 2004

swimmin pools....movie stars

so i noticed that the new dates were listed on the tour page so this may not be much of a suprise but....doing a show at the rialto with the bodeans...a band i had toured with back in 91'....also did a private show with them in chicago ...and spoke with sammy in my dressing room while kurt proceeded to finish the encore without sammy,,,sammy didn't care,....in fact seemed amused by it....last time i played rialto square theatre was in 92 i think with richard thompson and was the last time i saw mike jordan alive....we went out after the show to have some drinks and he said he just wrote a tune...and leaned over in the crowded bar we were at and proceeded to recite the lyrics./.." there's just a little place around the corner...its called the watering hole...my credit's good with the bartender...etc...one more whiskey and water" i said..."man that sounds like a great song..."
was asked to do a quick set for minnie driver and peter himmelman...at double door at the end of november..only doing a 25 minute set so it'll be short and sweet...should be interesting...
and new years eve with big head todd and robert randolph...at navy pier ballroom...i'm practically a regular there...
a couple other things that aren't quite official so i have learned my lesson about crowing too soon....so thats all the official news as of now...My partner Bobby and I are heading to san fran a week from today( next thurs) to meet with KFOG...so i might hit some of you up the week following to start putting in some phone calls...yeah i mean you too South !...
doing a benefit at the abbey pub on sunday..this sunday...the jeffery pride foundation...gonna do a couple tunes and playin with fitz and the celts...i think it starts at 6 pm....

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

Gimme Shelter

hey everybody.......over the past few months i have received several emails regarding peoples displeasure with me speaking on anything political....i'm sure some of it stemmed from where they sat politically... and today i have received a few phone calls from people making sure i hadn't killed myself....well i'm sure those of you who authored those emails must be happy.... i said on stage that night at martyrs...i just hope to God the right guy is elected...whoever that may be.....time will tell....
another thought that comes to mind is...God has a strange sense of humor...anyway...i did cut out alot of the political slants to my blogs...cuz i don't mean to offend anyone...but i do want to say...i don't live in a vacum...and nor do you so it seems silly not to have a discourse about whats going on in the world...right? was it Thoreau that said, A wise man keeps his mouth shut on the topics of politics and God " truer words never spoke....but i'm not wise...nor claim to be....but really....my apologies to anyone who took offense to what i'd written...but cant' we talk.?..can't we communicate?...i know i'm just a song and dance man...but ain't we friends too?....republicans, democrats, socialists, communists,vegatarians, pacifist, libertarians, unionists, loyalists, alienist,yellow people, brown people, tall man, short man, fat man, skinny lady.....they are all just words to me....hey man...i'm a humanist....thats all...When i kneel at the foot of my bed tonight...i WILL say a prayer for George Bush...cuz we got him...and i hope he knows what he's doing....for your sake, and for mine....NOW on to other news...cuz there is alot of it....ah hell...i'm too tired from that much....will tell y'all about it tomorrow...God bless us all...God bless all his children....Be kind....its gonna be one hell of ride.....