"Hole in the Wall," Roger Waters, CDBaby, and Hurricanes

Just ten weeks ago, I was enjoying Key West with some old friends. Today, it's being battered by Hurricane Irma, as is the rest of Florida. Considering I've got quite a number of friends and family in the state, and I'd like to visit the Conch Republic again sooner rather than later, I'm hoping that FL fares better than some of the islands in the Caribbean did last week.

Rhonda and I saw Roger Waters perform at Newark's Prudential Center last Thursday, and I'm gonna say it was one of the five or so best concerts to which I've been. And I've been to a lot. Pink Floyd's The Wall has always been one of my favorite albums (the favorite for a long time), and of course Roger is responsible for the bulk of it. On this current "Us + Them" tour, he plays a good mix of Floyd's music, though only a handful of his solo tunes, and those only from the new album (Is This the Life We Really Want?, which is also an excellent piece of work). I'd have loved to have heard more from The Wall, but I've got no complaints about the music, the band, the multimedia, or the lasers. :-D (As always, pictures are in my Gallery... of Death!)

Over the next day or so, I started thinking about my own song, "Hole in the Wall." I came up with the idea and wrote a few lyrics for it waaay back in 1991, finished them ten years later (with a bit more experience in the subject matter), and figured out the music in time to record it for 2004's Joy in the New. The song, of course, is my interpretation of something that wasn't on The Wall but should have been. When I was deciding what was going on last year's I'll Live and what wasn't, I knew I wanted to remix "Hole" and include it on the new album.

The thing is, though... I'd never played the song on guitar since first recording it in the summer of 2003. Not at any of the Make Music New York shows I did, not at home in the privacy of my own living room. While it's not an especially complex song, it is layered, and I guess I just never thought to try to summon the tune from just a single guitar. And so I quickly forgot exactly how the song went, and didn't bother trying to find out. Until Saturday.

Now that I have worked the sound out again, perhaps I'll come up with an arrangement that lends itself to one guitar. At any rate, I threw together a 'vlog entry, coincidentally the first new one in exactly five years, yesterday featuring a little bit of me playing the song on my Kona and Danelectro guitars, and a bit from the recording...

And this is where it all comes around again to hurricanes. CDBaby, which I've used to distribute both Joy in the New and I'll Live, announced last week that the net proceeds of all digital sales through the site this week, between Monday the 11th and Friday the 15th, would be donated to helping victims of Hurricane Harvey. Sounds like a good deal to me, so if you're interested in my music at all, this week would be a good time to buy I'll Live from CDBaby here. I've got friends in Texas, too (no exes that I know of, though), and while they got away mostly unscathed, I know Texas and Louisiana suffered a lot from Harvey. Let's hope Jose and Katia, the next two hurricanes lined up, don't pack as much of a wallop as the last two did, and let's also not forget that it's not just Americans, and not just the continental U.S., being affected by these monster storms.

Check out 'vlog #10 below, and again, please consider buying I'll Live:

Six Months

Six months ago, on 11-11, I released my double album, I'll Live. While it hasn't been selling like hotcakes (although, really, do hotcakes sell that well?), I've been surprised by some positive, and unsolicited, comments about the music on it, and the "Dangerous Babies" video. Seems some people are even listening to my tunes on Spotify. O brave new world, that has such people in't...

I appreciate the comments, including constructive criticism, and certainly I'd appreciate making some income from more copies being sold, but in the end I put the collection of songs out there because it was something I needed to do. Although I still enjoy Joy in the New, my first album, it was lovely to get a chance to touch some of those songs up a bit, re-record one completely, and then add new material I'd written and recorded since then.

42 tracks is perhaps a mite insane (I think maybe only Minutemen's Double Nickels on the Dime had more), but my thinking was that this may stand as my definitive album, so I wanted it to contain pretty much everything: the different genres I've attempted, electric and acoustic and electronic, love songs and political songs and silly songs, my highs and lows. While I left off a number of tracks from Joy that I felt were dismissible, and of course the gabberish "Troll Doll" will probably never see an 'official' release (unless I redo it without all the Metallica samples, and where's the fun in that?), what I put out on I'll Live gives me a warm, fuzzy, sometimes distorted feeling.

I'm still not really planning on working on another album anytime soon. I'll admit to feeling an itch to write and record some new political protest songs, but even if I do get around to that, I don't know that I'd do an album's worth. Then again, when I first tried my hand at poetry, and then started matching some of those words to music, I never would've thought I'd end up writing over 60 songs and recording most of those.

Oh, if you wanted to sample, or even purchase, any of my music... you can do it here: https://andersensilva.hearnow.com/

And you ask me how I'm doin'...

On Brazil and Christmas and the Album You Haven't Been Waiting For

Groot says, "Happy holidays!" Groot also feels that this would be an ideal time of year for you to buy my new double album, I'll Live.

Groot made me take seven photos before finally being happy with one

Christmas isn't usually the happiest time of year for me, but family and friends help me stumble my way through it. Thanks in advance. I've written two songs, "Christmas Lonely" and "The Discontent of My Winter," about feeling cold and abandoned during the holidays... and they're both available on I'll Live, which you can purchase from iTunes or Google Play or CD Baby. Yes, that was a shameless self-promotion. I may have released the album due to my own creative urges, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't like to sell some copies and to have other people hear it. If you're interested in a CD copy, I've got a bunch, so let me know!

I recently spent three weeks in Brazil, and I have to say I had a blast, and I'm so, so glad I got to see and spend time with family on both my mom's and my dad's sides. Despite mom breaking her foot after we'd only been there a week (true story), she was only slowed down, not stopped; of course, she ended up staying in Curitiba and not coming to Rio for two days with me as planned... but I did enough walking and eating and drinking (and getting sunburned) for the two of us. I even made it to the top of Corcovado, though visibility was poor and so was my timing; I ended up just missing my flight back to Curitiba!

I was not ready to head back to the States after twenty days. My aunts and uncle and cousins and everyone were so good to us, in Curitiba and in Ponta Grossa, and there were still so many more I didn't get to see... and more caipirinhas to drink! But I suspect it won't take another 15 years for me to go back again, and while I probably won't get to stay as long next time, I can hopefully see some places I didn't get to see this time around.

Speaking of seeing, the pictures from Brazil are all uploaded to the Gallery... of Death! and there are a lot of them! (Sorry, Facebook, but I'm just not going to post all my pics with you.) OK, I've fallen behind on actually captioning the Gallery pics... but they start with the one of the Universidade do Paraná, captioned "Curitiba, Paraná, Brasil." Take a look!

It's My Birthday; You Won't Believe What I Do Next!

It's my birthday, and I'm giving you a gift: an MP3 version of "The Bite," the first single from my forthcoming album, I'll Live.

"The Bite" was the first song written/created by Greta's Unmentionables, the band for whom I play rhythm guitar (whenever we can get together).  The first day the four of us went into a rehearsal studio together in March 2014, I played them the opening riff, and we quickly built a song around it.  I finished up the lyrics later.  While we still haven't recorded our definitive version yet, I decided (with the band's blessing) to cover the song myself.  Let me know what you think!

Thirty-five of I'll Live's forty-two tracks are completed.  Yes, it's a big frakkin' album!  Another three are mostly done, and I should be able to finish the last few shortly.  While I do intend to create more music in the future, I may opt for EP and single releases rather than putting out another album, so I wanted to make this definitive.  The better songs from my 2004 debut, Joy in the New, will be included alongside tunes I've recorded since then.

For those who haven't really heard my music before... it's my music.  I've heard that my voice sounds a bit like Lou Reed or Frank Zappa or early David Byrne.  My sound has been compared to Talking Heads, R.E.M., Pete Townshend...  I think you can definitely hear certain influences in certain parts of certain songs, but in the end, I'm pretty sure I only sound like me.  I don't have a polished voice.  I don't play a lot of lead or solo guitar.  I do like to dabble in different genres of music.  I'm OK with all of this.

Oh, right, the song...  You can download "The Bite" here at ReverbNation until September ends; you'll still be able to stream it on the site after that.  I hope you like the track (which I will probably make available as an official single soon), and I'd love to hear your feedback.  And I won't bug you with another newsletter until the album's ready, before 2017 is upon us...

Happy birthday to me, and 'til next time... rock on!

Blurry

I seem to have made an unconscious decision to make my life as much of a blur as possible lately. Maybe I want to get everything in before the impending Politipocalypse... In July, I went to three parties (despite knowing fewer and fewer people at each subsequent party), took in a few musical performances, saw "Ghostbusters" and "Star Trek Beyond" (both were very enjoyable), and trekked back out to Coney Island for some beach time. Made several batches of guacamole, too! I've got Dead Sara, the Boston Comic Con, Goli, the Prophets of Rage, and AFROPUNK lined up for August. September and October will see me attending a few more shows, including Amy Schumer the night before my birthday and Billy Joel the night after, Lindsey Stirling, Tania Stavreva, and Hinds, and hopefully a trip or two to the New York Renaissance Faire. And there'll be another trip in November...

Still working on my album in the middle of all this, of course. I'll Live is still comin' along, and I still anticipate releasing it before winter arrives.

In my last post, I'd asked if any of my musician friends and acquaintances would be interested in contributing a seven-second section of music and/or vocals to "A Blur," the song which will close the album (as opposed to "A Blurb," which will open it). I got one response. I love all of you, too. Heh. Regardless, I dig the way the music is turning out. From the pop punk of "Blond on Blonde" to the mellow jazz of "Too Loud to Be Eaten with the Naked Eye," from the surf rock (with electronic undertones) of "Down the Shore" to the holiday pop of "Christmas Lonely," from love and loss and life to politics and penguins and... giant giants, this album will run the gamut. The "Hate Theme from 'Waiting for X'" and "D.V." will finally see the light of day, and there'll be a new recording of the Aimee Mann-inspired "That's Just What I Am" and my own version of Greta's Unmentionables' "The Bite." I'm looking forward to getting this music out, and I hope you're looking forward to listening to it.

I've also been trying to drum up interest in an outing during Labor Day weekend to the Renaissance Faire. I always enjoy going, even alone, but I know some of my other friends are fans, too, and I think it'd be a lot of fun if a large group of us converged on the place and spent some time there together (and some time apart). Only one response to this so far, too... well, and also the one person I know who's at the Faire all the damn time anyway, so I know I'll see her. Heh-heh.

Some days, it gets wearying to do almost everything alone. Some days, it's hard to go to the party knowing that you're the odd man out. Some days, it'd be nice to have someone sitting opposite you at that table for two. Some days, friends seem so far away.

And you ask me how I'm doing... the unfortunate truth is that I'll live. ;-P

Juneteenth III: Music

Got a lot to say this time around, so I've separated it into three 'blog posts: life, politics, and music. This is the music edition.

A new version of "Dangerous Babies" might be a great idea depending on how things turn out in November. I've been doing more work on the album, I'll Live, which I now intend to release in late summer or early fall. Still a little bit of recording to be done, but I'm happy with the way the songs have turned out thus far, and I really like my rendition of Greta's Unmentionables' "The Bite." Take a listen to parts of this song and three others below, if you like.




Maybe "The Bite" will have to be the single off the album, assuming I decide to release one. Heh. I like that it still sounds recognizably like the song I've worked out with Jon, Anthony, and Mike, but it's definitely got my own vibe to it. I also like that there'll be a GU song and a Not An Exit song (y'know, the eponymous one). If the Hellevators had ever written anything original (had we been capable of writing anything original), maybe I could've thrown that on there, too... The Unmentionables need to get ourselves back to the studio, to jam again but also to record some demos of "The Bite" and the few others we've been working out. And to come up with more! I'd love to do some gigs with Greta's Unmentionables.

I have no intention of changing my plans for I'll Live by writing any new political songs for it, but "Dangerous Babies" is relevant at any time, regardless of who's in the White House or Congress (I think). Ditto for "Human Thing." I do need to finish writing the lyrics to "They Might Be Roses," and then get it recorded. I think the last of the recording for the album should be done within the next month. I'm looking forward to being done with the process as much as I am to having a new album. As I've said before, I think I may retire the idea of recording full-length albums after this, and just put out the occasional single or EP if new music comes to me...

Although I may do a shorter album (or longer EP) towards the end of this year or the start of the next, featuring stripped down and/or remixed versions of some of the I'll Live songs. That'd give me the opportunity to revamp "Dangerous Babies" for the next occupant of the Ova Office. Heh. We'll see. As always, please feel free to comment on anything or everything.

I Don't Want to Sail with This Ship of Fools

Save me from tomorrow... What, no one remembers World Party?

I've been suffering from a rare, lengthy bout of insomnia since the 20th. To paraphrase U2, some nights are better than others (I actually managed a good sleep this past Tuesday night), but generally I've been slow to fall asleep and have woken up several times for way too long. I'm normally out in five minutes and don't wake until it's time to wake, so this has been, well, a rude awakening. Sorry, had to.

I'm more tired than I look, and that's sayin' something

Along with suggesting possible cures (drinking warm milk or chamomile tea or whiskey, ZzzQuil, reading, placing a glass of water under the bed, listening to soothing music), most everyone has been asking whether it's stress. While it certainly makes sense as a cause, I haven't been aware of feeling especially stressed lately... but there have been some involved issues at work, and the anniversary of my proposal to Laura just passed (I know, I know, but it's hard not to think about it when I did it on St. Patrick's Day), and my self-imposed release date for the album is looming.

That last one got me thinking. Again, I haven't been consciously stressing about it, but because I announced I'd be releasing I'll Live this spring, there are now less than three months to make that happen. It's still achievable, really, but it wouldn't be easy, and I don't think I want to put that kind of pressure on myself. Don't get me wrong: I've been working on it and will continue to do so (I finished up the music to "Let Me" last weekend and will hopefully record the vocals this weekend, which will leave seven more songs to finish up), and it's as important to me as ever to get this work done. If trying to finish it in time to get it out by June 21st is contributing to my issues, however, then I need to loosen the reins a bit.

I'm thinking that late summer / early fall is a more realistic timeframe. Even if my birthday arrives and I haven't yet released I'll Live... I'll live. It's not exactly like you frakkers are clamorin' for it, anyway... heh. My state of mind is precarious enough as it is without adding sleep deprivation to the mix, so we're just going to back away from that precipice slowly.

"Nobody ever hears him

     Or the sounds he appears to make,

 And he never seems to notice..."

...And A New One Just Begun

Happy 2016, everyone! Hope you enjoyed your New Year's Eve, whether you stayed home and crashed before midnight or went out and didn't get to bed 'til after the sun had come up. I was closer to the latter, having caught They Might Be Giants playing two sets (and two encores) at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn. This was my third time seeing them, and they're still so funny and full of energy and simply an amazing live experience. Pictures from the show, and from everything else I've seen and done in 2015, are of course in chronological order in the Gallery... of Death!

TMBG!

No resolutions for me, thanks... I'm driving. 2016 will be the year I finally get a second album done and released. If it turns out to be my last, I think I'll be OK, more than OK, with that. I'll continue to write and record songs as the fancy strikes, but in the future I'll probably just put out the occasional single or EP rather than being overwhelmed by the concept of an album. For now, though, I'll Live is moving along nicely and still earmarked for a springtime release.

I've gotten some feedback on one of the songs (from strangers... because my friends don't seem to listen, or at least to share their thoughts). It's somewhat humorous that the elements some people like are the same ones that others don't, but I get it; art is subjective, and music is art, and not everyone is going to enjoy the same things. My music is, well, my music. It's not intended to sound like Top 40, and so it's never going to make it on most (maybe any) radio stations. I'm influenced, I think, by the Beatles and David Bowie and Talking Heads and Nine Inch Nails and other musicians to varying degrees, but I don't sound like any of them, except possibly for this little bit here or that riff there. I'm no more interested in being a tribute act than I am in writing huge pop hits, and to me music is more than one sound.

So, more music, more running, more fun, more focus on the future, and less dwelling on the past. That's the plan for 2016. I wish you happiness, good health, and good fortune for the New Year... even if you don't wish it for me. Especially if you don't wish it for me. And hey, maybe 2016 will be the year some of you start interacting with me here and giving me some feedback. It could happen... Heh.

I'll Live

Time to dust off "Christmas Lonely," but I have newer and older songs to which you should listen as well. I've finally decided to call the next album I'll Live, and I've posted ten of the tracks (including that holiday song) to SoundCloud, Bandcamp, and of course ReverbNation.

A number of songs from Joy in the New will be included on the new release, though they'll all be getting a fresh mixing and mastering. A few of my already-recorded tracks are benefiting from vocal and/or instrumental tweaks; for instance, "Heavywait" finally sounds right. And then there are the new ones, such as the title track. I don't expect I'll be posting any more songs from the album until it's ready for release (I'm thinking April), but you never know.

The album was going to be called Tougher Than Flannel for years, and then I abruptly started considering I Can't Possibly Give More Than I Can Give early this year. That eventually gave way to The Unfortunate Truth (from a line in "I'll Live"), which jockeyed for position with Signifying Nothing. When I began thinking in terms of including a lot of the older material and making it a double album, I even considered using both names. In the end, though, I think I'll Live is the title it should've had all along.

This probably won't be the album art, though, just a temp

The song "I'll Live" is influenced, at least lyrically, by the Who's late bass player, John Entwistle, and the dark, sometimes macabre sense of humor he often showed in his songwriting. Songs like the Who's "My Wife" and "Trick of the Light," or his solo "I Believe in Everything," inspired me to write my own song about a guy having a string of really bad luck, for whom "I'll live" is not an affirmation but a curse.

For me, though, it feels like an exclamation of defiance. That's right, I'll live! So there! Heh-heh. I hope you will, too, and I hope you'll give my tunes a listen and give me your thoughts. Later.

Words and Guitar

I got to see Sleater-Kinney in New York this past Thursday and Friday, and although my calves and shins are still protesting, they were both terrific shows!

Carrie Brownstein, Janet Weiss, and Corin Tucker: Sleater-Kinney!

Corin, Carrie, and Janet put out a lot of energy rockin' Terminal 5 (not NYC's best venue, but I really don't understand all the hate people have for it), and the new material holds its own against the old. Personally, I was thrilled to get to hear them do "Good Things" and "Little Babies" and "One Beat" again, but I was just as excited about "Bury Our Friends" and "Price Tag." I was even inspired to pogo to a few songs the second night, in spite of myself; the crowds on both nights were pumped up and movin' around regardless of how tightly packed we were. In fact, I conceived a new song (and hopefully nothing else) Friday night, to be called "Inadvertently Intimate." Yes, that tightly packed.

I still have a few other ideas to write up, such as a more electronic-sounding tune I'm going to call "O Povo na Rua" ("The People in the Streets"), but this morning I found myself suddenly wanting- no, needing to work on a song I wrote nine years ago. I always had a rough idea in my head of how "I'll Live" would sound. The lyrics were inspired by the Who's John Entwistle and the dark humor behind some of his songs, like "My Wife" and "I Feel Better." Somehow, though, I never got around to recording anything for it, not even a demo... but today while the snow came down again, I got about half the song done, and using an alternate guitar tuning (DAFCGD, a whole step down) on my old Strat knockoff for the first time. I'm liking the way the song is turning out. Maybe you will, too.

I really can't wait for this winter to be over. I'm trying not to let the weather and my fluctuating moods keep me locked up indoors for too long, however. Next weekend, I'll be checking out Tania Stavreva in another piano performance. The weekend after that, Greta's Unmentionables will finally get our asses back in the studio to rock out "The Bite." The weekend after that will find me taking in Stephanie's final concert with the Dessoff Choirs, and a few days later I'll be at Rockwood Music Hall to witness a 75% Serious Pilgrim reunion! I'm also going to see "Nevermore - The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe" off Broadway with Laryssa, and I'm planning on catching up with High Teen Boogie in Williamsburg, too. I'm still working on the Gallery... of Death! as well, and recently added 2002 to the mix, and of course there are a lot of S-K pics in the 2015 gallery now. And then there's all that running...

Busy March, now that I think about it. It's better that way, though. Hopefully, I'll be too occupied to pay too much attention to the weather, and it'll start to warm up before I notice. Of course, I do have a trip to warmer climes scheduled for next month... Woo-hoo!

And now, back to words and guitar...