Karen Dalton and the beauty

My better half gifted me with a lovely re-release of a lost gem -- In My Own Time by Karen Dalton. Billie Holiday-influenced folk blues complete with three fingers of whiskey in the vocals. All covers -- just more evidence pointing toward the Grand Unified "it's the singer, not the song" Theory of Reality.

It turns out there's a YouTube of a Dalton track. It's so beautiful, soooo beautiful, I had to share it. Prepare for the beauty. OK, ready? Alright then.

Here it is.

Welcome to Your (Doom of Clowns)

Earlier in the month I promised to deliver this here clown song, based on a line gifted to me by my son. "Welcome to your doom of clowns," he said. Really.

Until a few days ago I thought this was an acoustic number -- a vaguely Robert-Frippy 2/3 (or is it 4/6?) song about clowns. That was until I got some drum software (Fruity Loops -- highly recommended). And then my electric guitar came back from the shop. I hadn't played it in ages and -- well, you know how that goes.

So...the song is still about clowns. But acoustic, not so much. I'm hoping to get around to recording the acoustic version one of these days soon, but until then, please: play it loud.

time: 1:59 seconds; specs: 1.9 mb (creeping toward two full minutes I am....)
Press Play to play.

Update: The original vocal track was kinda messy and driving me nuts, so I replaced it this morn. New cleaned up version now posted, as of 10:22 am PST....

My One-Word Review of the Beatles New CD "Love"

Effortless.






(as in: far as I can tell, no actual effort went into the making of this thing.)

just fyi

I am the just fy
the optional information
the only information

you do not need
to act on me.

Have no fear old friend.

No change no motion
no response
required.

Remain as you were
more or less

absorb me and
roll on.

Things I fear my six-year-old secretly likes to do

and really might well do if I left him alone in the house for twenty minutes, a partial list:

• turn on the burner, light things on fire.
• shave off all his hair, put it in the sink to clog it up. a trick that's not funny, never been funny, never will be funny.
• put physical pressure on the cat -- just put both his hands on the side of the cat and sort of gently press in until the cat says "meew."

Anything you fear he might do?

Great-grandpa's advice

Steer clear of the drunk barber. His
blade sways. He shaves shapes

in the air.

Peter Boyle, R.I.P.

Putting on the ritz everlasting.
Broad headed. Forever young.
Frankenstein.

A Thing I Like to Do

It's been a little while since I've written a new song, but I've been playing a bit more of late and -- hey presto -- two ditties appear. Fun to get back to recording after a little break. Today's tune is A Thing I Like to Do, the musical version of a post from a few weeks ago, now with vocals, keyboards, and a light dusting of guitar. It's unusual among the original tunes on my virtual lp in that it's nearly two (2!) minutes long.

Coming pretty soon: "Welcome to Your Doom of Clowns," based on a line my 6-year-old delivered a few months back -- a line I realized just this past week is one of the best song titles I'm ever gonna run into.

time: 1:53 seconds; specs: 1.7 mb
Press Play to play.

The Wilmot's Open Mic Cometh: This Saturday, 7 pm

Hi,
Just a reminder that the next Wilmot's Old-Fashioned Mic-Less Mic is just three thin days away. Drop me a line if you'd like to have your name added to the list ahead o' time. And leap o'er here for all the detailed info. We have a great buncha readers lined up, plus fab wine courtesy of Blacksmith Cellars. Should be a swell time.

Here's a painting we recently commissioned showing some of the fun from the first go around. The really hard part was getting everyone to stand still for 2 hours. Believe me, we won't be trying *that* again!

See ya Saturday...
-Cecil

UPDATE: Thanks to all who came out. Amazingly, drizzle and all, we got a packed house. 16 readers and somewhere between 35-40 people in the house. Great words chosen with care. World-class wine. And we even ended on time. Thanks to Mary and Tim of Wilmot's Books for hosting and to Blacksmith Cellars for the excellent grape. Next reading's in March -- hope to see you there.

My One-Word-Review of the New Bond Flick

Retro-soundtrack-ular.

The Bands-I've-Seen Project

Most of the press requests I get nowadays have to do with my ongoing "Bands-I've-Seen Project." I'm sure you've stumbled on coverage of it while clicking past Entertainment Tonight, or read articles about it in The New Yorker. Well, everything you've seen, or read, or perhaps first saw as letters and then subsequently read -- it's all true.

"The Bands-I've-Seen Project" is a three-phase effort to paralyze time by recalling bands that I've seen and then focusing on those shows with both my eyes closed.

The first phase was taking a crack at compiling this list for myself. That was the part that got all the press interest.

The second phase has just kicked in -- earlier today I posted a draft of the list as a stripe down the left side of the site. I'm leaving out opening acts that angered me, but including shameful moments from my youth because why have shameful moments in your youth if you can't display them in public later in life?

The third phase is the really innovative piece, and as such I'm sure it will be completely ignored by the mainstream media. In this stage, you are an active participant. Here's how it works:

If you and I have seen one or more shows together, please give the list a skim. Then, if you spot anything missing, drop me an email or post a comment here. For example: what was the name of that choral robe-flowing band that opened for Bowie? UPDATE: Thank you e! ("Polyphonic Spree")

Once I have what looks like a complete list, I will return to focusing on these shows with both my eyes closed. And if I'm successful, we may well stop time, at least for a moment. Although what it would mean to stop time for a period of time I'm not quite sure.

Good luck to us all!