The images below contain links
to musician's websites, cool places, where to buy
guitar strings...
The images
below contain links to musician's websites, cool places,
where to buy guitar strings...
Cool Links:
Django
Music
Django's is the best on-line record store,
as far as I can tell. I can usually find
what I want, cheap, and they run special
deals all the time.
Michael
Moore
Michael Moore first came to fame with
his great movie "Roger & Me".
He's got a new book called "Stupid
White Men". I always like what he
has to say about things.
Richard
Hugo
Richard Hugo was a gifted poet, and seemingly
a great man, which doesn't happen often.
I discovered him by accident in a bookstore.
Happy accidents happen almost as much
as unhappy ones.
Beatlesite
I bought a little flea ukelele right a
few months after my daughter was born,
during the winter of 2004. I stumbled
across this site, which demonstrates how
to play a multitude of Beatle's songs
in the key of "F" on the uke.
Probably the best teaching site I've come
across, and it shows serious dedication
to both the Ukelele and the Beatles. I
highly recommend the Ukelele for anyone
who wants an instrument that doesn't hurt
their fingers.
Sarracenia
Ever since I was a little kid I wanted
a Venus Flytrap. I have one now, and to
tell you the truth, it's not that exciting.
The website above about carnivorous plants
is a little creepy, but cool. It did make
me think I would never be able to keep
my plant alive, but it keeps on growing
new little mouths…
Best Music on the Web:
The Best Music Most People Don't Know About
Whenever I really get into an artist, I often wonder,
"What do they like? What do they listen to when
they are doing the dishes, drunk on the couch, cruising
the streets, dancing with a new date, going out on the
town, finding inspiration, taking a nap, contemplating
with a cigarette?"
With that in mind, I've decided to list those acts
that I think are Great with a capitol G, not just
good - the ones that I sit back to and go "Man,
I wish that I could write a song, sing, play like
that." I won't bother with the ones everybody
knows…The Tom Waits, Bob Dylans, Joni Mitchells,
etc.
You can find them, or most likely have found them…these
are the ones that I felt like I was in the right place
at the right time when I first heard them - otherwise
I would have never discovered their music…
Nathan
Hamilton
Nathan Hamilton - I was a finalist in the singer/songwriter
competition at The Sierra Songwriter's Festival…It
had been a long day, it was hot, the main acts were
solo acoustic acts, everything was turning into a
blur. The crowd was small throughout the day and I
had just found out I hadn't won the contest. Seemed
time to pack up and go back to the hotel, there was
just one act left and no reason to think it would
be any different then anything else I had seen. I
was intrigued, however, when I saw a raggedy bunch
of folks crawling up on stage…they looked like
Texas, not California or Boston, not the places I
had seen that day. Nathan Hamilton and his gang proceeded
to whip the crowd into a frenzy - hot, hot, roadhouse
rock, amazing songs about real things, energy that
brought a tired crowd to their feet.
After he finished we talked, exchanged albums - he
had won the Kerrville Folk Festival Songwriting Contest
that year. Although I had been at that very festival
I had never seen or heard him. Never seen or heard
him again, but his album "Tuscola" is one
of my favorite records of all time.
Manda
Clair Manda
Clair - Club Passim, open mic night, about 11:00
pm, 1996. I had been waiting for my soon-to-be good
friend Kevin So for about two hours so we could go back
to his place and get some sleep before heading out to
Martha's Vineyard for a singer/songwriter retreat. That's
another story…
Manda Clair stepped up to the piano and sang "Heartsick
Saloon" …a demented Tin Pan Alley song, reminiscent
of Tom Waits, but more direct, accessible. I was standing
outside of the room where the stage is when she started
- I was in front of the stage when she ended, trying
to see who had written the best song I had ever heard
at the Passim open mic. I would run into Manda over
the next couple of years at open mics and never was
disappointed in her songs or performance. She is a seriously
talented, original songwriter and an interesting character
to boot. She always scared me a little, so I never attempted
to build a friendship, but some things are better appreciated
from afar. I haven't seen her for years, but I liked
her so much that I would call up WERS in Boston and
request her music, in the hopes of getting her famous.
It didn't work. "The Girl With The Mis-Shapen Heart"
is her album, but there's nothing like seeing the real
thing in front of your eyes.
Joe
Nolan
Joe Nolan - I was living in Ann Arbor, Michigan from
the fall of 1992 to the fall 1995. It's where I started
to write some songs that other people noticed. And that
all started after I went down to Nashville to visit
my friend Jerry Hager, a fine singer/songwriter I had
befriended in Ann Arbor who had moved to Music City.
Jerry's roommate, Joe, came out of his room at Jerry's
request and proceeded to play a bunch of the most lyrically
expressive songs I had ever had sung in my presence.
Clearly Dylan and Beat Poetry influenced, a rough but
right voice and simple chord structures, hit me hard.
Real hard. I wanted Joe to sing me songs all weekend,
but he was a tough guy to pin down. Over the next few
weeks I wrote "Tumbleweed's At The Fair,"
"Foulmouth Kelly" and "The Rabbi's Daughter,"
songs that are still with me. I am convinced that meeting
Joe Nolan brought my songwriting up several notches.
He taught me something just by being around, without
trying. Most of the songs I heard that weekend are unrecorded,
but you can download as much of Joe as you would like
on Mp3.com, a great place where you can also find Jerry
Hager…
Dick
Siegel
Dick Siegel - Ann Arbor, Michigan. I had heard about
Dick Siegel since I had moved to town, a local hero.
I figured right from the start that a local hero couldn't
be that good, so I never, for the first two years I
was there, went to one of his shows. Then my friend
David Goldfinger learned one of his songs and played
it for me. Um, I thought, I've made a mistake, I think.
I went to the next Dick Siegel show advertised and saw
that local heroes are sometimes better than national
touring acts. Every genre of music is explored by Dick,
blues, folk, country, pop, rap, rockabilly, show tunes,
and they all sound convincing in his hands. Very rare.
Dick Siegel is a carpenter by trade, doesn't tour much
and has two albums out. Another one who doesn't know
me because I'm shy around genius. I cover two of his
songs live, and one of them is the best song I'll ever
perform.
Mike
Younger
Mike Younger - Kevin So and I were waiting for our turn
at the all night, not official, but famous, held on
the second Tuesday of the festival, run by bad boy JC,
open mic at The Kerrville Folk Festival. Must have been
2:00 am. A guy got up in black pants, black boots, and
a black leather jacket - it was at least 90 degrees.
I turned to Kevin - "Hey, who is this, the Fonz?"
No, I soon found out, Mike Younger, cooler than the
Fonz, and the closest I'll ever be to discovering Bob
Dylan. Mike Younger is so good that it hurts me to listen
to him. He had a tape he had recorded one night at a
club, just him and his guitar and 24 years of hard living.
That tape is the best tape I ever got from someone,
and there ain't no more of them. I listened to that
tape until it broke. Kevin made a copy from a copy he
had made for someone in New York and I put it on Cd.
Mike Younger lived in the streets and scrabbled around
until Rodney Crowell, who has had dozens of country
hit songs, heard him and got him signed by a major label.
I still don't think anybody knows him, and his album
can't touch the tape. If you get it, though, and send
me a tape I'll make you a copy from my copy of a copy.
But you have to prove you bought his album….
Bob
Martin
Bob Martin - I opened up for Bob Martin at The Lancaster
Coffeehouse (Lancaster, MA) in November of 1999. Humbling,
to understate it. Bob has been playing music since the
early 1970's, when his debut record was released on
RCA records. He released his second album 8 years later
and his third 18 years after that one. He's 60 years
old, teaches computers to fourth graders and is the
finest narrative songwriter right now in The United
States. I'm not kidding - you could put Bob on stage
with anybody, including Steve Earle, Bob Dylan and Greg
Brown and he would hold his own. If you don't believe
me, check out his website at www.riversong.com.
And the best part is, he likes my music.
