I'm a musician, writer and photographer, born and raised in New York City. I make my living doing technology for online news and media.
Discreet Harmonica: New album coming soon. Previews available in-person only. Contact
18 Hours as an iPhone Owner: iYiYi
Blog post: Friday, February 3, 2012
iPhoned for about 18 hours the other day. iT was iRritating and iHated it, so iReturned it. iWill never do that again. Some background. Over the Christmas break I lost my iPod Touch, which is more or less an iPhone … Continue reading Harmonitronica Geekout: The Hole Story
Blog post: Thursday, February 2, 2012
Last night I posted my third song for this year’s February Album Writing Month. “This Hole,” along with the previous song, “I’m Not Not Very Concerned,” combined harmonica with loops created in Korg’s iKaossilator, an iPad application. As usual with … Continue reading This Hole
New Song: Thursday, February 2, 2012
Another Kaossilator loop, albeit more minimal, and live harmonica and vocals. No looping for the harp this time. I'm not sure what this is about but it probably has to do with buying electronic gadgets and thinking about the people who make them.
There Ain't No Snow
New Song: Wednesday, February 1, 2012
An after-midnight improvisation that started with two simple loops of harmonized harmonica. The lyrics were "written" while singing over the loop, then I turned on the recorder and kept going. The ending is just overloading another loop with harmonies followed by dissonances followed by noise. Yeah, it's like a metaphor kinda thing.
I'm Not Not Very Concerned
New Song: Wednesday, February 1, 2012
This is basically just a harmonitronica raveup inspired by the latest Repugnant idiocy. I originally planned a whole cutup with bits of Romney's speech about the "very poor" but either he's not worth the energy or I'm too depressed to bother. I did the rhythm loop ahead of time in the iPad Kaossilator app, then recorded the track live, playing harmonica through a few effects, and "playing" the Kaossilator as well. Edited down to five minutes from 18. As always, no overdubs.
She Had the Will (Etta James, 1938-2012)
Blog post: Saturday, January 21, 2012
I’m playing Etta James today. Not her old stuff. I’m listening to two records that might not exist at all had she not been such a tough woman. I like her 50s and 60s stuff just fine, but for me, … Continue reading Lonesome Moonlight Waltz
Video: Sunday, January 31, 2010
Quick run-through of this lovely fiddle tune, which my friend Rick Shields likes to play at jams, but for the fact that I get the chords wrong too often. So I finally sat down and learned it right. Well, mostly....She Left Me In the Red
Video: Thursday, August 6, 2009
Performing my song "She Left Me In the Red" at the 2009 Augusta Heritage Festival, with Joe Newberry, Mike Compton, Ann Downey and Clay Buckner. It was an amazing honor to sing with a backing band like that!Annabelle
Video: Thursday, August 6, 2009
Accompanying Amanda Lynn Stubley on her version of Gillian Welch's "Annabelle," at the Augusta Heritage Festival, summer 2009.
