Perfect Day
I wrote this the last day of 2009. Still working on it. It feels natural, waking up in Ireland. Like I was born in the wrong place, and now I'm home. And my life has felt more real since the first...
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Adding Songwriting to the Creative Mix
Every year I spend some time in February mixing with the folks over at February Album Writing Month. Every year, I notice that stretching to do more creative work makes me even more creative. It fires...
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Do I have to enjoy it?
An excerpt from my coming-of-age novel which just might see the light of day before I’m too old to remember how to write. “Jacob, are you even listening to me?” His mom always seemed to think he was...
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Adding Music to the Mix
It’s time for me to start making and sharing good quality recordings of my music. This year, the first post each month will focus on music rather than mysteries. I hope that’s okay with you. If not,...
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New Song: Every Happy Love Song
Every 3 months, I set aside time to write 3 songs. I wrote this one last Sunday. http://songs.tunehenge.com/333/201611/Every+Happy+Love+Song.mp3 seems like every happy love song sounds the same them...
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And Now, Something Without Words
Last February Adam Young started posting what he calls a “score” at his website. His other website. His primary website, in case you don’t recognize his name, is where Owl City lives because Adam Young...
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Greenback Blues
http://songs.tunehenge.com/GreenbackBlues.mp3 You should have married Andrew Jackson I know that you think more of him than me I’ll bet Ben Franklin would be fine with you and that’s fine with me as...
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My Music Website
After more than a decade writing music, I’m slowly putting all my demos online. There are more than 2 dozen already live at http://tunehenge.com (that’s out of 30 I wrote in February of this year,...
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blow, wind!
blow, wind! shatter leaves from the trees and slash them through my dream pour them onto the road I cannot travel smear them across the windows I cannot see blow, wind! tear the rain from the air and...
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February Album Writing Month #13
Every February since 2006 I’ve participated in February Album Writing Month. (I joined up during FAWM’s 3rd year.) While I do sometimes write songs during other months, the bulk of my nearly 200 songs...
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15-Minute Song
That’s not 15 minutes long, it’s 15 minutes to write. Last Saturday we played some of my songs for a bunch of friends in our living room. During the show, folks scribbled notes on slips of paper and...
View Article2 Happy Songs and 2 Long Drives
Tucson Our little one visits her sister in Tucson every month. She usually stays 3 nights. They have a studio so while the little one and her sister are up all night singing and laughing and making...
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More Songs, Including My Daughters
I’ve written another handful: Three (so far) instrumental improvisations A silly sailing song A sad song about loss, and another sad song about loss. but the real treat is that my two girls...
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A Winter of Sorts
You can tell when the conversation is running dry because the talk is all about the weather. Turned the heater on this morning for the first time since a 4-day stretch in December. It was 63º inside...
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Three Applauses
I’ve noticed something about an audience’s reaction to live music: how the applause happens. Obviously, there’s applause at the end. And at the beginning, there’s applause—twice. Some people recognize...
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The Stranger on the Road
Ever since he’d set the barn up as a recording studio, he’d wanted a window so he could see his farm while he played. Windows not being inherently sound-deadening, it was a complication, but over time...
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Arthritis Finger
I’ve had some flexible squishy tape wrapped around the last joint of my left index finger for over 5 weeks. The doctor is treating a symptom of the severe arthritis in that joint. On the surface, that...
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A Month into Winter
Not that the Phoenix valley has much of a winter, but this year was more wintery than the past two; December’s highest temp was 73º but the previous two years it was in the low 80s. For the first time...
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02022020
Palindromes fascinate me, even palindromic dates. Here’s a video about what made yesterday (missed it by that much!) not only unusual, but unique in the Gregorian dating system. Music! Laughs! Bad...
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Meta-Limerick
For 7 years I participated in February Album Writing Month. Short version: a bunch of loonies (over 10,000 last year) get together online and write a whole album of music. Each. That’s 14 songs in 28...
View Articlebeautiful carelessly sultry: the song with no nouns
My buddy Charlie Cheney stuffs his songs full of nouns. Every time I’d send him a set of lyrics and say hey, wanna put this to music? he’d respond “Where are all the nouns?” Yes, I tend to write...
View ArticleGreenback Blues
While many of my songs are about Best Beloved, this one is not. Although the lyrics reference any number of U.S. Presidents, the astute observer will note that it is not even remotely about...
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The Music – Excerpt from an Unpublished Coming of Age Novel
The Music When he first realized that no one else heard the music, he went to his room, sat on the bed, and stared at the closet door. It had never occurred to him that he was a freak, walking around...
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Mom and Dad and Bets
This is an excerpt from an unpublished work. “Jacob, are you even listening to me?” His mom always seemed to think he was ignoring her. “I didn’t hear you. Sorry.” “I’m standing right here. I’m glad...
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Morgan the Musician and Shannon the Chef
After years of music school and uncountable hours of practice Morgan makes a decent living playing jazz guitar in clubs and coffee shops and as a session musician at a local recording studio. Following...
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