March 2012
1 post
February 2012
4 posts
Feeling Grateful
Feeling grateful today. This is not a feeling I am usually very good at remembering to let myself experience, as I can often be a bit of a pessimist. But the last couple days have helped. Some good things:
—brand new Gibson J-45 acoustic guitar. Super inspiring sound and looks sexy as hell
—new guitar is inspiring new songs, which I really think are a breakthrough for me as a...
October 2011
1 post
Life happens!
Hey everybody,
It’s been a while since you’ve heard anything from the good ol’ Elm City Council, for which I apologize.
But I have a pretty awesome excuse, if I don’t mind saying so myself: I got married. Ta da! On Saturday, October 1st, I got married to the beautiful Laura Smith.
Anybody who has ever planned a wedding knows what I’m talking about when I say...
August 2011
1 post
July 2011
7 posts
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my obligatory thoughts on Amy Winehouse...
Awesome article on Amy Winehouse and on music as artifice or “music as memoir”. I think he’s really nailed one of the essential questions, as it were, that lots of musicians and songwriters confront: do you need to live a certain way to produce “authentic” art?
I actually went to college with Nitsuh (where we both studied poetry, believe it or not - Hey Nitsuh,...
Terror, greed, betrayal, forgiveness and hope --...
Check out my friend’s blog. He’s a really talented writer and he’s serializing one of his novels on this Tumblr blog. Enjoy!
bvandyke:
Set in New York City just before and after 9/11, “Stand Together, Fall Apart” tells the story of the ill-fated friendship between John Marion, a teenage drug dealer, and Horace “Ace” Mejeur, the Wall Street professional who believes he can...
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New Web TV Show!
Sorry for not writing to you for a little while. It’s been a busy bunch of weeks here, but full of good things. Writing new songs, booking gigs (Rockwood Music Hall on July 29th is up next) and planning a wedding. Yup. I’m getting married this fall! So, like I said, busy bunch of weeks…
And I am really pleased to announce the debut of one of the new projects...
June 2011
1 post
1 tag
Are Artists Liars? →
Check out this interesting article about lying vs. storytelling. I’d seen/heard the concept before, but interesting details about how “confabulating” works and how compulsive lying works. Might be an interesting way to approach songwriting…just start “lying”, as it were and pile on the details as if I were being interrogated and then work backward to ...
May 2011
4 posts
The Daily Swarm - Paraphrasing Lefsetz: 2008 -... →
This is awesome. I don’t know if any of you read Bob Lefsetz’s email newsletter, but he’s nothing if not opinionated. Sometimes reading it feels like a breath of fresh air, but sometimes it definitely feels like listening to the loud guy at the bar who’s had one too many and thinks he has the answer to everything. I think this article sums it up pretty well…
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How many hipsters does it take to screw in a...
zenofblogging:
It’s an obscure number… you probably never heard of it.
Awesome.
Check out The ECC on this great local podcast! →
April 2011
5 posts
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March 2011
2 posts
1 tag
New EP now finished and available for FREE...
Hey all, We’re extremely pleased to announce that our new, 3-song EP is now finished and available for streaming on our website and at Bandcamp. <a href=”http://theelmcitycouncil.bandcamp.com/album/ep-1” _mce_href=”http://theelmcitycouncil.bandcamp.com/album/ep-1”>EP 1 by The Elm City Council</a> We tracked these 3 songs over the course...
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February 2011
8 posts
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Another show booked!
Pete’s Candy Store - “Afternoon Delight” -4:30pm, Sat, 3/5 - FREE (Facebook Event)
Spike Hill - “Sunday Sinners Show” - 7pm, Sun, 4/3 - FREE
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January 2011
3 posts
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December 2010
3 posts
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The Duke Spirit - "Villain" →
I really dug this band’s first album, “Neptune”. Their new album promises to be pretty hip, too…
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“We work in the dark - we do what we can - we give what we have. Our doubt is our...”
– Henry James - “The Middle Years”
November 2010
5 posts
"Against Health" - Very interesting article about... →
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The Scale of the Universe
beerock:
Um. Holy balls cool.
spaceporn:
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/525347 “Zoom from the edge of the universe to the quantum foam of spacetime and learn the scale of things along the way! Learn the size of the Pillars of Creation and marvel at the minuscule scale of a neutrino!”
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Sickness, Reading, Opportunities - Keith Richards...
Sorry for not posting for a while. I’ve managed to spend most of the last couple weeks with a NASTY flu and I’m just now returning to some semblance of normal life.
What I did do, however, was read a lot since I had an inordinate amount of time in bed. The two main books I read were: “Life” by Keith Richards and “The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius...
October 2010
3 posts
14 tags
I love rock and roll. Get over it.
Seriously, what IS my problem? Why is it so hard for me to just admit that - while my conscious brain loves all sorts of music and, actually often prefers (at least recently) to listen to something a bit more mellow - there is some forever-15-years-old part of my soul that firmly believes Led Zeppelin is the be-all-end-all band full of true rock gods and there’s no musical purpose...
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First 2 cover songs and "Ah Brooklyn..."
So, it’s been a pretty crazy few weeks (got engaged, went to a friend’s wedding, fiancee in school and starting a new job…like I said…pretty eventful!), but I’m happy to say that I have actually managed to get myself over to my rehearsal space to start working on learning tunes. I mentioned this before, but it really is pretty amazing how much internal resistance I...
September 2010
7 posts
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Robert Plant and The Band Of Joy - live at The... →
Ridiculously cool live performance form Robert Plant’s new band featuring Buddy Miller and Patty Griffin (among others). If you haven’t read any of the interviews with him recently, he’s really sharp on how critical it is to keep following your muse rather than getting trapped. Very inspiring. He truly seems to view music as an adventure and that’s an attitude we could...