Hey Everyone -
We going to be playing in New York City at the Parkside Lounge. I think we're all looking forward to going back to the city. The Parkside seems like a fun place to hang out and hear live music, and it's in a part of town that still really feels like New York!
Come check it out. Preferably on November 18 at 9:00 and be sure to say hi.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
catching up
Hey
We haven't been great about keeping up with all the business of being a musician these days. It demands much more time spent at the computer keyboard than an actual keyboard. Some exciting stuff is happening. We'll be a PASTE Magazine Recommended Artist this September which we are really excited about because we love their magazine and really appreciate their support. Of course we'll accept support from any magazine (Guns and Ammo, Horse and Hound) but it feels good when it's one you actually read.
We've also had our music picked up by a few film and tv licensing companies that could create some great visibility for our songs. All of this is made possible by sitting at the computer and reaching out to people that would otherwise be unreachable. But you really realize how much you look like a zombie when you catch your dog staring at you - trying to figure out why you've been silently staring at a light for 3 hours. After all we could be outside meeting new people and smelling things.
But it's important. Because even though it feels like the most disconnected thing you do it actually connects you to a lot of people - like hopefully the people reading this now. So we promise to be better about keeping up with this post and all the other internet business of music even as we're getting really busy - writing and rehearsing and getting our new songs together for our next recording.
We haven't been great about keeping up with all the business of being a musician these days. It demands much more time spent at the computer keyboard than an actual keyboard. Some exciting stuff is happening. We'll be a PASTE Magazine Recommended Artist this September which we are really excited about because we love their magazine and really appreciate their support. Of course we'll accept support from any magazine (Guns and Ammo, Horse and Hound) but it feels good when it's one you actually read.
We've also had our music picked up by a few film and tv licensing companies that could create some great visibility for our songs. All of this is made possible by sitting at the computer and reaching out to people that would otherwise be unreachable. But you really realize how much you look like a zombie when you catch your dog staring at you - trying to figure out why you've been silently staring at a light for 3 hours. After all we could be outside meeting new people and smelling things.
But it's important. Because even though it feels like the most disconnected thing you do it actually connects you to a lot of people - like hopefully the people reading this now. So we promise to be better about keeping up with this post and all the other internet business of music even as we're getting really busy - writing and rehearsing and getting our new songs together for our next recording.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
songwriting
We grew up always hearing our dad had a wrote a song when he was young. Before he shipped out to serve in World War 2. Before he took advantage of the GI Bill to go to college. Our parents would occasionally yell out at the radio, listen kids - it’s your Dad’s song. We never gave it much thought.
We would hear him tell us how he plunked out the melody on the piano and wrote out the lyrics and how when a music magazine ran an ad for a song contest, he sent his in. A few years later, he’s sitting in a movie theatre and is thrilled to hear his song playing in the movie. He runs home, excited to tell his mom, where she explainsthat his song has, in effect, been stolen. Probably not an uncommon practice in the early days of the music industry. There wasn’t much a teenager from Cleveland could do about it. It wasn’t long after that he joined the Navy and went on to earn a Purple Heart. He never wrote music again.
As we got a little older and started writing and performing music, we began to realize that this story we grew up hearing had a lot more to do with our lives than we first thought. We got into music thinking we didn’t really come from a musical family. Our excessive interest in it was kind of unique in our family. Although our Dad would always be quick to point out a strong lyric or melody.
But here’s the thing. This little song our dad wrote turned out to be a bit of a classic. It’s been recorded by some of the greatest singers of our time. There’s around 150 entries for it if you search on itunes. It was played in a major motion picture again last year. Now, it’s not as big as Over the Rainbow but, we realize now as songwriters, it’s done pretty well for a first effort. Now we can appreciate the simple perfection of that song in a way we couldn’t as kids. And we realize we are standing in someone’s musical shadow and following in his musical footsteps.
We’re not sure who stole the song although we do know who took writing credit. Who knows? They surely did a lot of arrangement work on it. Maybe that person never even knew it had originally been written by a kid in Cleveland. But we know who wrote it. Turns out it’s not so weird that we got into music after all.
When we record the full length follow up to our current cd, our Dad’s song will be on it.
Stay tuned. This song’s story isn’t over yet.
We would hear him tell us how he plunked out the melody on the piano and wrote out the lyrics and how when a music magazine ran an ad for a song contest, he sent his in. A few years later, he’s sitting in a movie theatre and is thrilled to hear his song playing in the movie. He runs home, excited to tell his mom, where she explainsthat his song has, in effect, been stolen. Probably not an uncommon practice in the early days of the music industry. There wasn’t much a teenager from Cleveland could do about it. It wasn’t long after that he joined the Navy and went on to earn a Purple Heart. He never wrote music again.
As we got a little older and started writing and performing music, we began to realize that this story we grew up hearing had a lot more to do with our lives than we first thought. We got into music thinking we didn’t really come from a musical family. Our excessive interest in it was kind of unique in our family. Although our Dad would always be quick to point out a strong lyric or melody.
But here’s the thing. This little song our dad wrote turned out to be a bit of a classic. It’s been recorded by some of the greatest singers of our time. There’s around 150 entries for it if you search on itunes. It was played in a major motion picture again last year. Now, it’s not as big as Over the Rainbow but, we realize now as songwriters, it’s done pretty well for a first effort. Now we can appreciate the simple perfection of that song in a way we couldn’t as kids. And we realize we are standing in someone’s musical shadow and following in his musical footsteps.
We’re not sure who stole the song although we do know who took writing credit. Who knows? They surely did a lot of arrangement work on it. Maybe that person never even knew it had originally been written by a kid in Cleveland. But we know who wrote it. Turns out it’s not so weird that we got into music after all.
When we record the full length follow up to our current cd, our Dad’s song will be on it.
Stay tuned. This song’s story isn’t over yet.
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