Last July, the Carr Fire burned almost 400 square miles and forced nearly forty thousand residents of Redding, CA, including myself, to evacuate. The center of it was Whiskeytown Lake, about ten miles from my abode, and five months later there are wide swathes of landscape that look as if World War I passed over …
If you don’t know Dan Tyack, get to know Dan Tyack and his music. This is one of the greats you can afford to see around town. Impress your date, by taking them to show where you actually get to hang out with The Stars of the night. You might catch Dan at Rhythm & Rye. It’s …
This melody came to me in the closing minutes of Christmas. A little gift from the universe? Or is this somebody else’s song? It sounds too perfect. Like an old pentonic blues riff; how could only little ol’ me have been the first to do this with these notes? Is it mine? “This fire won’t …
Merry Christmas. Whether you’re off brand, or on brand, remember that this all only means a damn if we’re good to each other. Lets pause and remember how we can do this life by next year even better. The road is uncertain and we do need each other. Enjoy the moment, and this strange vortex …
Sam Smith has released “Fire On Fire,” a song he co-wrote with GRAMMY® and BRIT award winning producer/songwriter Steve Mac for the forthcoming adaptation of the classic Richard Adams’ novel, Watership Down. “Fire On Fire” will serve as the theme to the animated mini-series. Smith recorded the track with the BBC Concert Orchestra at London’s …
A big theme for me that I keep thinking about is this: I don’t want to waste people’s time. Time is a treasure beyond measure. We don’t know how much of it we have left. People are willing to give it if they don’t feel it is going to be squandered and unappreciated, and that …
Fun story about my Dad, a DNA test and my British rock band Sherlock Soul. One of the reasons my Dad is really giving me a DNA test for Christmas is because he is hoping myself and his brother come up German. He thought we had this German blood. We were supposed to be related …
The tragic passing of my friend Dakota Nelson‘s lovely wife Ream Alameel Nelson has been on my weighing on my mind for sometime. This touching local news video featuring Dakota and his kids being surprised by new cameras with a check is really touching. What Emeri TeAroha and others have done to help raise money for our dear friend is …
I have been fighting myself not to start writing a new song everyday. A real accomplishment would be finishing a song week. But tonight I lost that War. The motto of Carpe Diem has fascinated me since I first learned the Latin phrase, which translates to “seize the day.” I just came back from a …
I pulled off losing all that weight since March. Now it’s time to get that muscle back. Hearing your song on Jamaican pop radio and shaking hands with David Rodigan at a BBC television taping has a way of making you want to come back and shock Jamaica. I haven’t even played there LIVE yet, …
How to conquer Puerto Rico. Go back to Puerto Rico, go on TV and suit up. Sing a medley of my cousin Daniel Santos’ hits with local musicians. Allow me to paint us both a picture of this stop on the march to promote ‘Free Your Mind’. You tell the hosts and the audience at …
The Buzzcocks’ Pete Shelley, dead at 63. While I appreciated the Buzzcocks’s brief initial splash — and often mention that bands who wouldn’t be bands without The Buzzcocks are now getting into the Hall of Fame — I enjoyed Pete Shelley’s and Howard Devoto’s solo/post Buzzcocks careers much more. With amazingly crafted albums that boasted …
Before I am 50, I want to have an orchestra perform a symphony I wrote. The melodies and themes, and chord structures will be a breeze. I can lay that out now. But to arrange the music with the brushes available to Beethoven, that’s the hard part. I am really good at the skeleton of …
I want to better understand where free speech begins, ends, lives, and ultimately dies. There are billions of people on this website, and some people go to jail and get shot on bridges for what you and I have said on here without giving this a second thought. Yet if our political climate shifts, or …
My wife Joyce and I are personally saddened by the passing of one of the most honorable and decent men our country ever had serve as its President. I had the honor of performing at his 1989 Inaugural concert Joyce co-produced ‘The Celebration for Young Americans’, his and Barbara’s 50th wedding anniversary celebration, where The …
Behold the world you have created… This will become the country-hop “Jolene” for the smartphone generation. “Nothing Breaks Like A Heart” was co-written by Ronson with Miley Cyrus, along with Ilsey Juber, Thomas Brenneck, The Picard Brothers, and Conor Rayne Syzmanski. The track was produced by Ronson and co-produced by the Picard Brothers, with additional …
LAND OF A 1000 Hooks: I am working with Adam Kutchman on a new track. It’s been an exciting challenge to connect with different producers and friends on developing singles I intend to reproduce on stage. Some of these songs…they sound like hits. I am used to playing a song for years before I even have a …
What a photo of Justin Smith and I at possibly the last Staxx Brothers show in Seattle. This was not long before I stripped down to my boxers and made deep precious love to that hammond like the sexy and consensual piece of furniture she is. Yesterday a customer came in the shop and said “wait, you’re …
Seattle – Green Lake – Nov. 2018 Photos by Holly Homan, all rights reserved.
I finally wrote a song about The Mongols. I was on the way to work listening to Persian history and the Mongol King Tamerlane comes up. What a name. I wrote this wondering wanting to sing about The Golden Horde of Mongols that ruled Russia up until Ivan The Terrible. Well it turns out the …
Oh this is dumb. But I want to know how dumb it is. Can you water proof regular cordless headphones? Probably not. I am betting 3 to 1 odds against me. None of the headphones for swimming are really suitable for a myriad of reasons, including the fact that bluetooth is trash when it comes …
I replied to my old and dear friend Richard Mockler just moments ago, upon encountering in my FB feed this latest evidence of his audacious creativity and legendary Montana charisma. Ahem, “Richard, to describe this exemplary feat of communicative compression as a Masterpiece would be to undersell, I think, its many charms! I for one …
Things that fascinate me #137 about this Brave New World today: What if I did pass out 5000 fliers? It used to be the normal thing. Now you trust an algorithm. And now thanks to algorithms Donald Trump is President, and America is a fascist state the world genuinely enjoys laughing at – with every …
Yeah, I am never getting past the House of Representatives, even when I’m 80. Thank you Justin Smith for pausing from your duties on keyboards to capture this Golden moment, moments after a fan said, “You said you would” And I said I said, “A f☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ck I did.” …and then I realized I was wearing the undergarments …
Recently as life’s challenges have seemed unsurmountable, like climbing a frosty ass glacier in just my adidas warm ups, I have managed to overcome that sense of helplessness and improbability, because of one secret. Sly Dunbar wants ‘Free Your Mind’ to be a hit, he loves the video, and is happy to tell people about …
My word. I rushed out of the house this morning to work out at Body By Impulse which I am excited to tell you all about, but knowing I wear the electric super hero suit there, I left in my pajamas, clinging to my work clothes in a bag. But at some point I stopped clinging to …
I have ten killer recordings to put on The Staxx Brothers‘ last record. I am not sure if they will all make it. But these are outstanding songs that just took a little more time. I note where we recorded basic tracks. Most of these songs could have been on Hot Chocolate. But that album had …
Ah a day off. Stingshark Sting invited me to his studio to work on vocals for my collaboration with Hold in Fyah, ‘Going South’. It’s this exciting new direction for me, where I bring a song to a band that I know will knock it out the park, and we cut it with the crew backing me up …
I am lucky that for the last three years I have worked with Chris Mcfann & Erin Mikkelsen on an annual Staxx Brothers weekend at der Hinterhof. Leavenworth is a magical little place. We actually picked one of the slower weekends between seasons to bring more business and original live music to the community. Chris is a visionary. He and …
Over summer I moved and downsized, so vegetable produce was limited. Luckily it was a bonus year for squash. At Fall parties gardeners brought their abundance of winter squash to share. Winter squash is the United Nations of vegetable in a wide variety of colors, shapes and sizes. Winter squash have many health benefits from …