Recently I was invited to be a guest on the podcast ComposerQuest, produced by fellow St. John’s University graduate and new friend, Charlie McCarron! It was a real honor to be asked. Charlie and I talk about my songwriting process, there’s some background on the songs and a little diversion into sci-fi, then we talk…
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In a word…yes. I’ve had several discussions with musicians in the past few weeks about the nature of the music industry and our role as performers in making it a viable environment for the creation of new, quality music. The crux of these conversations revolved around the question of what we should be charging for…
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It’s inevitable…you hear a band you like at a show, you look them up on your phone and decide to follow them on Twitter or Facebook so you can see where they’re playing next, and then it happens. You weren’t prepared for it. You just wanted information and entertainment. You never intended to let money…
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Recently I had a discussion with someone who questioned the professionalism of my practice of using a music stand at shows and my preference to play shows seated versus standing. This got me thinking, generally, about what it means to be a music professional and what practices one should employ if they want to be…
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This one stems from my wandering thoughts about how best to live life. In reaction to the whole media hooplah over the “you didn’t build this on your own” quote I wrote this tune. Fundamentally we do not do anything on our own. Our ability to succeed is inherently tied to our communities, family and…
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We’ve all seen the advertisement at the beginning of DVD’s… “Pirating is stealing.” On it’s face that sounds like a reasonable argument. Sure…copying something that you’d normally have to pay for could easily be considered stealing. But is it wrong to steal from a criminal who has themselves stolen? Oh, now this gets more interesting.…
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There comes a time, several in fact, in a person’s life when they must take a stand for what is right. One of those times is now. The MN legislature, knowing they could never get an anti-marriage equality law passed through proper channels, are circumventing the legislative system to pass a constitutional amendment prohibiting marriage…
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So I was at this gig at Wild Tymes this past weekend and there was this really nice lady who was walking around with a pitcher and collecting money for the bands (which is really great because bands don’t get paid much). The guy organizing the show, Steve MClellan (executive director for DEMO, a really…
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This is part of my Songbook series…unfinished tracks right out of my songbook, as they’re written, to document the journey from concept to album track in my next CD. With this tune I wanted to step out of my comfort zone a bit so I decided to do something in a traditional blues 12 bar…
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Musicians- If you ever feel that making music doesn’t matter, or isn’t contributing to the world in a positive way, watch this video. Music animates this man, gives him life. Listen to how he describes music…words like “love, dreams, holy” and “the world needs love right now.” Music is indeed important my friends. Keep on…
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