On Swimming With Sharks Vs. the Music Biz
Thursday, February 28, 2008

OK, this ain't specifically New Heathens related, but it's kinda' cool.

I wrote an article about diving with great white sharks for this month's issue of Budget Travel Magazine.

The editor of the magazine was interviewed on CNN.com today and he talked all about the story.

Here's how it's New Heathens related: I got hooked up with the gig through Butch's wife, Amy, who works at Budget Travel. And thanks again to Tina.

Having done both I can now say with authority that swimming with giant great white sharks is about a million times easier than navigating the music biz.

Here's a YouTube video I made of shark pix I took, set to the Velvet Underground's "White Light/White Heat," just in case you missed it.

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Goodbye To Two Friends (The Hits Just Keep on Comin')
Friday, February 22, 2008

Friends,

A couple tidbits from New Heathenland:

I went to Reno and Las Vegas for my dad's 50th, some trout fishing (not trout catching) and some Sin City shenanigans.

Butch recently went to San Diego for some R&R.

Domenick's seeking sun on a Carribean Cruise as I type this.

Brandy logged some time in Miami.

Eric's been in New Jersey.

There's been lot of great music and a lot of mourning in New Heathenland. Last Sunday was Drew Glackin's memorial show at Southpaw. Brilliant music by dozens of artists all night long. One of my favorites was my friend Chip Robinson playing a 1920s tune called "My Buddy," for Drew.


Chip Robinson at the Drew Glackin memorial show Feb. 17, 2008

Two days later, I lost another friend. Jonathan Maslow, who was my editor when I was a cub reporter covering Paterson, NJ ("Goodnight Paterson" indeed) died from stomach cancer. I said goodbye to him in the hospital last Saturday.

Here's an old pic of Jonathan and Jerry Garcia.


Jerry, Jonathan

And here he is more as I remember him:



Jonathan not only taught me about newspaper reporting (we once swam across the Hudson River together for an article, a story I re-told for his obituary in the Herald News ), but I would also play new songs for him to get his feedback. Jonathan loved good music. One of his favorite songs was Bob Dylan's, "The Changing Of the Guard."

He was a hardcore environmentalist. Read his blog about energy independence here.

There's been a lot of sad things happen so far this year. Playing with the Heathens is a lovely reprieve. We had practice the night after Jonathan died -- burned through a dozen tunes. It's good medicine.

Looking forward to sharing it with you soon! We've got two new gigs to announce: Wednesday, March 19 at the 11th Street Bar and Wednesday, April 2 at Arlene's Grocery with the Apple Brothers.

Speaking of medicinal music, saw one of the best shows in recent memory last night. Will Hoge and Jason Isbell at the Bowery Ballroom. It was so good, I bought the tour t-shirt.


Jason Isbell at the Jason Isbell/Will Hoge show at Bowery Ballroom, Feb. 21, 2008

Tonight it's Tandy at the Lakeside Lounge (happy birthday Mike Ferrio), tomorrow it's Johnny Cash's birthday bash at Southpaw and Sunday it's Larune's Honky-Tonk Hoot.

Gonna' rock these blues away...

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Newville Session, Warren Zevon Pix
Monday, February 4, 2008

My good friend Drina Seay helping me out on a song at the last Newville session at Banjo Jim's.

Newville sessions are fun. The brainchild of my friend Brooke Lunde , Newville showcases singer songwriters playing original music at Banjo Jim's the last Thursday of every month (though it'll move to the first Thursday in the spring). It's a real pleasure to be asked to play, and a good songwriting motivator. Plus the other musicians are just alarmingly talented.

At the last one I met a very cool woman named Kathi Goldmark, a producer on West Coast Live, a radio show based in San Francisco. She put together the Rock Bottom Remainders , the famous band featuring authors like Stephen King, Dave Barry, Amy Tan plus my hero, Warren Zevon.


This is a wonderful photo she e-mailed me of her with WZ.


And this is a hilarious photo of Gloria Gaynor trying to rehearse "I Will Survive" with the Rock Bottom Remainders while Warren Zevon looks on sheepishly.

Cool!

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