More details to come. In the meantime, click here to hear what I've been up to these past few months...

worked on drums for "radio silence please" tonight.

This album is a bedroom project, meaning, it's pretty much me (and whoever else I can drag into my little world) sitting in a small room, left to my own devices in the most literal sense. My mixing board could fit into most purses, my mics are in a pretty aluminum case stowed next to my dogs' chow...and there is no drum set beyond one that plugs into a video game console.

Drums have been a big hurdle in this process. Without real flesh and blood sitting behind an actual kit, along with good mics and equipment, it's pretty tricky to have your recording sound legit. I've spent hours building and modulating computer-generated drum sounds, trying to trick my ear to believe, finally shutting the machine down in frustration. It's been sucking my motivation right out of this project.

But as of tonight I've just jumped the hurdle. I found a way to get some real sounds in there, and I'm excited all over again. Still a ton of work to be done amidst all of life's other chores and amusements, but I'm happy to say I'm on my way.

For those of you who keep asking when they'll get to hear something, thanks for your continuing, astounding patience. Hey, if Chinese Democracy can finally be released after 14 years, there's still hope for me, har har...

-b

A lot of words to this one. I like them, though. Maybe an acoustic demo to come soon. A face to go with a name...

The Long, Long Night

we find ourselves in trouble
or nothing of the sort
in smokeless bars
so far away
from the flames that keep us warm

she looked like California
trying hard to shake the Jersey
while Gerry on the jukebox
wished his ferry ‘cross the Mersey

she grabbed a too-tall barstool
it barely reached her thighs
as she dug for my attention
she crossed her legs and eyes

I feigned deep concentration
it didn’t last to long
when she crooked my book
and took a look
at the words to my lucky song

and she said:

“nothing’s ever gonna change
in this gutter of a place
if you don’t live these words you write
and run to her tonight

and say
‘so long, so long
to the long, long night’”
so long, babe
I’ve got miles to burn tonight

---

the road ahead
alone it’s hard to break the trance
blinded by the lights
and you’re missing all the signs

everything you wanted
oh, you pray it’s not behind

to some pewter saint on the dashboard
swears to God to keep you safe
oh, but I keep my lips tight, babe
I don’t have the heart
to let him know I’ve lost my faith

I’ve had my share to drink
but my head is clear
I’m feeling in the pink
and nothing’s gonna turn this car around

I’ve got zero question what has got me
speeding down this line
the hopes and fears of all the years
are behind the wheel tonight

so long, so long
to the long, long night
so long
to the long, long night

so long to all the spoils I left behind...

---

I wish that I could tell you
when I reached her there that night
that an empty pillow right beside her
broke my fall

but the distance that you travel
doesn’t earn you any keep
those long, hard miles behind
don’t mean you get to sleep

and so every day fades to night
but her sun rises every single time
I could never look away from her
despite my blinded eyes

so long, so long
to the long, long night
so long

so long, so long
to the long, long night

so long, so long
there’s a dawn in sight
so long, so long...
to the long, long night.

I’m not dead yet. Swear.

Last night, I started writing what might end up being the first track on the record. You ever put on a record and think to yourself “This song could only be track 1”? If this song survives, it just might be one of those.

A guy I knew in high school named Andrew wrote a play based on the idea of “precious things.” There are thoughts and feelings that build up and reside your head and mean the world to you, so much that you want to share with someone special. But you always run the risk of that someone missing it entirely, rejecting it, or, worst of all, not caring. Hadn’t thought about that idea in years, but it came back once I put my guitar down last night.

I see songs this way. When you give someone a song...whether it’s a song you wrote or that all-important song at the core of your mixtape...whether you’re introducing your song to the world or just to someone you love...it’s personal. If it’s the right choice, it hushes all of the surrounding noise and sends a clear signal to the ones, or one, you target. I’m not sure there are too many art forms that can be a letter, a soundtrack, a memory, a kiss, a slap in the face, a million other things at once when you give them away.

If I have it right, a band I love called Wheat refers to this connection as “rough magic.” Sounds right to me.



So what happens when that song leaves your hands? Will it be adored? Ignored at the bottom of a box or old playlist? Will it take on another life? Given away as a message to someone else?

That’s what this one’s about. Maybe called “Shadows Frozen on Your Wall.”

*******

It’s been quiet here, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been working on this here project. Literally every day, I write and revise lyrics and music, on paper, on guitar, or at the workbench in my head. Not dead yet.

The problem with actually producing these songs has been that my drum sounds have sucked. We’re talking Casiotone-quality, but not even that cool. That all is changing right now in an exciting way.

*******

Thanks for keeping up despite the slow pace of my updates here. I’ll pick it up, best I can, one note at a time...

-b

The Kites (me, Angela, Nat) will be playing once again, this time for the 9th Annual Estrogenius Festival (link here) at the Manhattan Theatre Source at Washington Square Park. Two nights...Thurs, Oct 2 and Fri, Oct 3.

In keeping with the theme of the festival, Angela will be taking most of the lead for these two shows. Rock.

Thanks to all who came out. You totally filled the room. Was truly a pleasure to play for you fine folks.

I tried out a few new ones, with the help of Angela in most cases...
The Long, Long Night...We Wait For Storms...Come Round To You...and the old favorite, Read This 1st

Looks like October 2nd is the next show...it'll be something a little different...stay tuned if you dig.

Okay...so there's no show on the 12th. Instead, we've been pushed up to the 5th. (Still a Friday, woo hoo.) Sorry to jerk you around a bit there.

Here's that same info from before...

I'll be playing a show in the Lower East Side of NY on September 5th at a place called Googie's Lounge.

My friend Angela (you can hear us doing "Falling Slowly" on myspace) and I will play some songs...not sure if this will be billed as a Left Circles show, but there will certainly be some brand new stuff played.

We'll be playing at 9:30. Bring a friend! You can buy more beer that way. (Think about it.)

Hold the phone on this one. Don't make any plans just yet. More details to come...


I'll be playing a show in the Lower East Side of NY on September 12th at a place called Googie's Lounge. (But my subject line told you that already.)

My friend Angela (you can hear us doing "Falling Slowly" on myspace) and I will play some songs...not sure if this will be billed as a Left Circles show, but there will certainly be some brand new stuff played.

Details to come...

Karadzic hid in plain view to elude capture

The Associated Press
Tue, Jul 22, 2008 (1:45 p.m.)

For more than a decade, the world's most-wanted war crimes fugitive displayed a talent for eluding international justice. His secret? Hide in plain sight.

In a ruse worthy of any thriller, Radovan Karadzic transformed himself from a leader instantly recognizable by his famous shock of salt-and-pepper hair into a man resembling a New Age mystic, with a flowing white beard and black robe.

Believed to be protected by a coterie of ultra-nationalists, the former Bosnian Serb strongman - a doctor and psychiatrist who received training in the U.S. - worked at an alternative medicine clinic in Belgrade.

Karadzic's disguise was so effective that prosecutors say he walked freely around town without being noticed and even his landlords didn't know his true identity.