May Day! May Day!

It's May Day once again, and while I spent the last one marching and playing tunes with the Occupy Guitarmy in the streets of Manhattan (led by one Nightwatchman, also known as Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello), I'm sitting this one out.  By which I mean that I'm at work.

May Day 2012 in Union Square with the Occupy Guitarmy

I still support Occupy, and the idea that we common men have (or should have) at least as much of a say in our government and society as the fatcat bankers and business owners and politicians.  I've just had too much on my plate and on my mind to commit the time to learning the songs and spending the day in New York.  In fact, I've decided not to do Make Music New York this year, despite taking part for the past five years.  Between the Webcomic and the wedding, I can't spare too much time for the music, at least not right now.  Perhaps I'll shift my efforts and put out a digital EP, rather than the full Tougher Than Flannel album that's still in the works, around the time we get married, but that remains to be seen.

Laura and I did manage to spare a weekend and have some fun in Massachusetts, even though the Boston Comic Con was postponed at the last minute (it's now rescheduled for August 3-4; not sure if we're going) and we couldn't spend too much time in Boston proper.  We've still got all these Slime buttons we'd planned on giving out!  She enjoyed spending some time at WEBS and other yarn shops, and we had a great breakfast at Zaftigs on Saturday morning and a tasty Indian meal at Masala Art in Needham on Friday night (while the second bombing suspect was being apprehended not ten miles away!).  Before heading to Salem on Saturday afternoon for some wandering and dinner, we did take in Boston Common and the Public Garden:

Laura and me in Boston's Public Garden

Getting tasks accomplished is a good feeling, and it's even better when you find them meaningful.  I wish you great productivity and self-satisfaction today, no matter what you're working at (or who you're working for).  Happy May Day!

So Much to Say...!

A wedding engagement, a new MacBook Pro and UP band, a Comic Con...  I haven't put up a new 'blog post since December, so yeah, I'm way overdue.  This one'll more than make up for it, I'm sure.  Let's start with the biggest news...

I'm engaged!  :-)  I asked Laura to marry me on St. Patrick's Day, after a delicious sushi lunch at Sushi Momoya in Bloomfield, and she said yes.  I got down on one knee, Elvis' "I Can't Help Falling in Love" was playing ("It's now or never," I thought.  "My love won't wait.")... it was just right.  The date was doubly fitting, in my opinion, because my love is half-Irish and because March 17th marked one and a half years since we began dating.  We haven't gotten too far with planning yet, but we're shooting for a low-key fall wedding before the year is out.

The combination of diamond, owls, and white gold seems to have gone over incredibly well with my fiancée and everyone who's seen the ring.  I'm generally better at buying tech than buying jewelry, but it seems that I done good.  And I'm glad.  I love her so much, and she makes me feel like the greatest American hero (no, not the permed guy from the '80s TV show; well, OK, maybe a little).

I do love tech gadgets.  Maybe too much.  I recently ran into technical problems with two of mine, and these blossomed into long-running customer service problems which were fortunately resolved to my satisfaction, considering I'd been previously effusive in my praise for both companies.

I've written in several prior 'blog posts about my trials and tribulations with the UP by Jawbone band that Laura bought me for Christmas 2011.  While the product was certainly faulty, the company stood by it and sent me several replacements as each band died, sooner rather than later, until one I received in the summer lasted for several months.  That band, too, eventually came to an untimely end, but when I contacted Jawbone to see about having it replaced this January, I received an initial response telling me that I was eligible for one more replacement and that I'd soon be sent an address to which to send my existing band... and then nothing, for weeks.  This was in marked contrast to the excellent customer service I'd received all last year from them, and as E-mail after E-mail got nothing but an automated reply, I began to worry that the technological singularity had come, and had started at Jawbone.

In the meantime, the LCD screen of my MacBook Pro had begun to come loose from the hinge, and the display was giving me the same problems I'd experienced in 2011.  I wasn't eager to spend a few hundred dollars to have it replaced again, but it still seemed more sensible than shelling out a few thousand for a new laptop, so Laura and I headed to the Apple Store to drop it off for repair work.  I was pleasantly surprised to learn that this was now a known defect, and as a result, the screen would be replaced for me at no charge!  However, after waiting several days beyond the three to five I was told it would take for me to hear back from someone, I called the store and was told that they'd found that the battery and the AirPort card would need to be replaced as well, at my expense.

I was more upset about not being contacted than I was about the additional delays and costs, but I gave the go-ahead.  A few more days went by, and I still didn't hear anything from the Apple Store.  I called them again, and eventually got word that it would be ready for pickup that night; I pressed for 6 PM and was told that the tech working on it would try.  Laura and I went back to the store around 6:15 PM... and now heard that the logic board was going to need to be replaced, too.  I wouldn't have to pay for that, at least, but they couldn't tell me how much longer I'd be without a laptop.  Unhappy but with no real options, I left the store with my love, grumbling about the customer service at both Apple and Jawbone that I'd loved so much before.

Well, I finally got good news from Apple on February 9th, and from Jawbone on the 12th.  The MacBook Pro and the UP band were both replaced with newer models, and all I needed to spend was a few bucks to ship my old UP back to Jawbone.  I've got a shiny new laptop with Mountain Lion, a faster processor, and double the hard drive capacity of my old one, and a new wristband to monitor my sleep and movement, and while I was irritated with both companies initially for the seemingly interminable delays in communications, in the end both came through.  Both the MacBook Pro and the UP by Jawbone wristband are holding up well so far.  Whew!  I've finally gotten around to revamping the AndersenSilva.com and JoyInTheNew.com Web sites, too.  Some of the content still needs to be reformatted and put back up, but both sites are functional and laid out better than they had been.

CISPA?  Again?!?  Perhaps Representative Mike Rogers (R-MI) thinks we've forgotten what CISPA is, but along with the ACLU, the EFF, Mozilla, Reddit, former Representative and presidential candidate Ron Paul, the White House (for now, at least), and others, I'm still putting my foot down.  I've got some issues with piracy, and we need to be vigilant against true cyberterrorism, but the law is just too broad in its scope and in its immunity for businesses; the potential for abuse on both a corporate and a government level is alarming.  I'm against it whether you call it CISPA, SOPA, PIPA, DUPA, or anything else.

Slime is going to the Boston Comic Con!  Laura and I talked last year about the possibility of attending a comic book/science fiction convention at some point; neither of us has ever been to one, and now that we've got our own comic (a Webcomic, but still a comic), we've got even more reason to go.  We're not "exhibiting" or renting a table, but we'll be walking around the Comic Con at the Hynes Convention Center on Saturday, April 19th in our Slime T-shirts.  Let us know if you're going, too, and perhaps we can say hi!  There'll be buttons...  We'll actually head up to Massachusetts the day before, so my honey can visit WEBS, a serious yarn store, and we can spend a little time in and around Beantown, one of my favorite cities.

Another thing my fiancée and I are going to do together is tackle a 5K, in June.  She ran one the day before St. Paddy's, in Clinton, and is going to run another at the Bronx Zoo next month, but the Run 2 Glow 5K at Belmont Park is an untimed event, which makes it ideal for a non-runner like me.  It takes place at night, and there's glow gear and music and a party afterwards, and it just seemed like a fun time for us both.

The glow run is just over a week after Make Music New York, which is on a Friday this year.  Registration just opened up, so there aren't many venues listed yet, but hopefully I can pick one soon.  I may also find myself in a band later this year; my old friend (and occasional Not An Exit collaborator) Jon asked me last week if I'd be interested in joining a group of guys that have gotten together to do the music thing, and I think that perhaps I am, as long as the logistics sort themselves out.  Of course, I need to get back to my own music, too... but working on tunes with them will probably spur me to crank out more of my own.

So this is the kind of thing I mean when I say "Better that your life be a blur than a blurb."  This newly-sprung spring, while not especially warm just yet, will be busy, but it's a good busy.  Most importantly, I'm healthy and I'm happy and I'm in love.  How's things your way?

Swingin' in the Park

A month and a half ago, I dusted off my righteous rage, put on the activist armband again, and joined the Nightwatchman and the Occupy Guitarmy in a march and some music in midtown Manhattan on May Day. The rest of the month involved quite a bit of marching, too, including a trip to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, two weddings, Mother's Day visits to both my mom and Laura's, and a rare Not An Exit jam/recording session with Jon Wardell.

Jon and Andy: this is Not An Exit!

At the beginning of this month, I stood by and watched Laura march instead.  Well, actually, I watched her run, in a 5K race, her first, and I was incredibly proud of her.  She's planning on doing the 2013 New York City Marathon, and I'll be there to watch her, too!  Last week, however, I slowed things down a bit, and the two of us headed to a Victorian bed and breakfast, the Hewitt Wellington, down the shore (yes, we say "down the shore" in Jersey) in Spring Lake for an overnight stay. There was a brief period of rain, much of which we escaped by ducking into a wine shop, but the weather was otherwise wonderful, as were both the lake and the beach, and we even got to commune with the squirrels (and ducks) and swing in the park, though it wasn't after dark. We had an amazing if puzzling dinner Thursday night at Café Artiste; we were never given menus or asked for our orders, and by the time we'd figured out that the chicken special mentioned outside was the only meal available, we'd already been served bread, lentil soup, and salad. After sausage and peppers and a side dish of peas, we finally got to the chicken dish, which certainly lived up to the hype by Cosimo, as did the incredible peach pie we barely managed to tuck away, too.  Dessert was plainly not optional, and I for one didn't mind.

I brought my acoustic/electric along, too, and Laura snapped some nice shots as I played a little on the beach early Friday morning. (Speaking of pictures, I know I haven't updated the Gallery... of Death! at all this year.  Since Apple is doing away with iWeb, I'm thinking of migrating my photos to Picasa and redoing the Gallery from there instead of iPhoto/iWeb; I just need to get around to doing it.)  She found a sand dollar among the tide's remains, which was a nice surprise, and we got quite a lot of walking done.  I know we did, because I finally have a Jawbone Up that seems to be lasting!  I got this one (I think it was the sixth replacement since Christmas, though honestly I've lost track) on May 2nd, and it's still going strong.  The longest that any of the others went before dying on me was three weeks, and that was the original one Laura bought me.  At least Jawbone's customer support has been very good about it, and each replacement was sent to me at no charge, not even shipping.  If this one goes the distance, I will be very happy indeed.

On the Beach at Spring Lake

A week from today, I'm lugging the Danelectro to Jackson Square at Greenwich and Eighth Avenues in Manhattan to play some tunes outdoors at 2 PM for this year's Make Music New York.  It's free, as are the hundreds of other performances taking place around New York all day, so you should come get an earful if you can!  I'm planning to add my newest song, "So Much Happy," to the set, and there's a new T-shirt design available ay my CafePress shop if you're interested; for the new free buttons and/or guitar picks, you'll have to come to the show.  ;-)  The shirts feature my two main axes on the front and Slime's Doug the Slug, plus his hedgehog and penguin buddies, on the back (thanks, Laura!).  You know you want one...

Some days, trying to find time for everything (including updating my personal social media accounts and 'blog - and now I'm adding RebelMouse, too?!? - in addition to the "music" and Slime social media accounts; writing the dialog, and scanning and prepping the artwork, for Slime; making the occasional YouTube video; playing guitar; and of course waiting hand and foot on the Chinchilla Princess, Meguilla) after spending a workday on Microwize Technology's user forum, 'blog, and to a lesser extent its social media and clients' data issues can feel overwhelming.  I need to record a medley of the Police's "Too Much Information" and Living Colour's "Information Overload" as my theme song... but where would I find the time?  Heh.  Then again, the minuscule interaction my "music fans" (102 on Facebook, 90 on ReverbNation, and 294 (!) on Jango, allegedly) provide can feel underwhelming; I still haven't gotten any responses to my query as to which artist(s) I sound like or remind listeners of, and I'm not holding out hope for many people I know showing up at Jackson Square next week, though of course my honey will be there supporting me.  Still, in spite of dwindling time resources and limited active interest on the part of the general public, I'm not ready to give it all up and live a "normal" life.  I want to revamp my Web sites, I want to come up with more creative outlets for the Slime characters, and certainly I want to write new music ("They Might Be Roses" is brewing in my head, and maybe I'll finally pen a song about the experience of playing live, for real people) as well as record some already-written songs that haven't been laid down yet ("I'll Live," "When Giant Giants Attack!" and "Occasionally Tormented Soul," I'm looking at you in particular).  I want to spend more time trying to interest people in that music, for while I'm neither trying nor expecting to become the "next big thing" in music, I do intend to keep at it, and input and criticism can only help.  I want to keep writing in general, and boy, did this 'blog post turn out to be longer than I'd planned.  I want to stop using so many parentheses and semicolons; no, wait, I don't (I really don't)...  Slouching back on the couch and watching the game and the latest reality show is too easy and not satisfying at all, and besides, there are way too many people doing that already.  Also, I can't really teach Laura to play tennis that way.

After all...  Better that your life be a blur than a blurb.  Happy Flag Day!  Got somethin' to say about any or all of this verbosity?  Leave a comment, then!

Makin' Music Again

Late last year, I heard about and signed a statement from musicians who supported the Occupy movement.  The message hasn't always been coherent, and of course there have been acts of violence and vandalism at Occupy camps and events (though there are always bad elements in any group of sufficient size), but overall I am in favor of shaking up the status quo and leveling the playing field a bit.  I'm not against capitalism per sé, but I do oppose giving bankers and corporate executives hundred-thousand dollar bonuses and private jets while homeowners and factory workers struggle to pay their bills and get food on the table.  There's got to be a better way to give everyone a chance at life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and the money to afford the rising costs associated with said pursuit.  That, to me, is what Occupy is about, and I'm all in favor.

Anyway, as a result of signing the statement, I later got followed (on Twitter) by @WeOccupyMusic, and therefore heard about the Occupy Guitarmy being mobilized by the Occupy Wall Street Music Working Group for all the Occupy and union and other marches and demonstrations and things going on for May Day in New York City.  It sounded like an excellent idea, and while I didn't expect them to actually realize their goal of a thousand guitarists marching down Fifth Avenue, I decided to "enlist."

Yours truly, surrounded by other Guitarmy irregulars in Bryant Park

This was only my second march (the first being against the then-impending war in Iraq in 2003), and I had a lot of fun!  I'd guesstimate there were well over a hundred volunteers in our Guitarmy, and among the brigade leaders was none other than Tom Morello, aka the Nightwatchman.  The sometime Rage Against the Machine axe-slinger penned "World Wide Rebel Songs," one of the tunes we were playing as we marched; we also strummed to Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" and Willie Nile's "One Guitar," and "We Shall Not Be Moved" and "Which Side Are You On?" and "El Pueblo Unido" and other songs.  After gathering at Bryant Park to get armbands and chord "cheat sheets" and practice the songs, we headed downtown to Union Square, making music and noise along the way, and eventually the luckier among us (myself included!) managed to crowd onstage with Morello and add our guitars and voices to his in renditions of "World Wide Rebel Songs" and "This Land Is Your Land."

Tom Morello (center), on the same stage as me!

I left after that, being tired and hungry (and of full bladder), but I was happy and grateful to have been a part of such an event!  I'm even in a photo on the MTV Hive site.  My next outing with guitar, of course, will be for Make Music New York on June 21st, a Thursday this year.  This time around, I'll perform at Jackson Square, where Eighth and Greenwich Avenues meet (at Horatio Street) in the Village, between 2 and 3 PM.  Come on out if you can!  MMNY is free and going on all over New York City, all day long.  There's a good chance my set'll include a song or three I learned with the Guitarmy...  :-)

Just in time to celebrate Barack Obama's long-delayed public support of gay marriage, Laura and I are going to the wedding of my friends Stephanie and Nicol tomorrow evening!  This is hot on the heels of Laura's cousin's wedding last weekend, and our short trip to Baltimore and the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.  We're still pumping out those Slime strips, too, and I've been teaching her to play some tennis in between jaunts to Montclair (to see Regina Spektor) and to Manhattan (to revisit Central Park and get some German grub and grog at Rolf's).  Things have been busy lately, but hey...  "Better that your life be a blur than a blurb," am I right?

The Ideas of March, the Music of June

Make Music New York is swingin' round again this June 21st, and as I have for the past four years, I will be taking part.  I don't know yet where I'll be performing, since there aren't many locations available on the site yet, but I'll be there somewhere in New York City, most likely in Manhattan, with a guitar or two!  If any of my fellow singer/songwriters are interested in trying to get a block of time at the same location, that could be fun, so let me know.

I don't expect I'll be playing the "Slime" Theme during MMNY (it'd take at least one other musician, or pre-recorded/sequenced music, to make it sound anything like the recording), but Slime the Web comic is doing quite well, thanks for asking (if you're a science fiction fan, this week's installment might appeal).  Laura and I are cracking ourselves up, and apparently making some other people laugh, too.  Geek out with us, if you haven't already.

My local ranking on ReverbNation has jumped recently, and I'm grateful for it!  I'm currently well within the top 1000, at 872 as of this writing (this obviously isn't including only Lyndhurst- or Bergen County-based rock artists), and I would love to climb higher still if possible, so please feel free to visit the page and listen to my music there, and give me a 'Like' or a +1 if you can.

I've also signed up with yet another music site, NoiseTrade, and there's a free mini-album there, called Spelled with an 'E', featuring several of my songs old and new (the above-mentioned "Slime" Theme, "For Dana," "Dangerous Babies," "Rock and Roll Day," "Human Thing" (alien mix), and "Joy in the New").  You can even 'tip' me there, if you're so inclined.  By all means, check it out and share the news, please!  Oh, and I've received an underwhelming response to my query, so tell me, who do you think I sound like, or whose music does mine remind you of?  C'mon, don't be shy!

Lastly, this Saturday marks six months since Laura and I became a couple, and we'll be going out for sushi (mmm, sushi... hey, not everyone eats corned beef and cabbage and drinks green beer 'til they puke just because it's St. Patrick's Day, y'know).  I'm also giving my baby the gift of... a song.  I started writing "So Much Happy" several weeks ago, but since we began Slime, I haven't touched a guitar very much.  Tonight, though, I picked up the acoustic/electric and a notepad and pen, and I've got about half the song worked out.  I'll at least write up the rest on Saturday (and post it with my other song lyrics, of course), but I'm hoping to have a demo or maybe even the full recording done before we head out for dinner.

Half the month is gone, but I'm keeping busy; I hope you are, too!

A Flying Leap

It's Leap Day, February 29th, and I've decided to take a little leap by asking seriously that people check out my Web sites and my music, and tell me what you think, and tell me who you think I sound like (if anyone).

My personal Web site, andersensilva.com, is filled with pictures and anecdotes and my writing and old microblog posts and... well, all kinds of things related to me.  I started a site over 15 years ago, and it's grown and morphed into what you see there.

SlimetheComic.com is a Web comic started this month by my artistic girlfriend Laura and me; she draws it, I scan and edit it and add the text and then upload the strip each Thursday morning.  We've been having a lot of fun with it and have gotten some positive feedback (and some constructive criticism), but we'd love to hear from more of you.  The musical notes in the upper right-hand corner of the Slime home page will let you listen to the "Slime" Theme I put together for the site.

You can read about my music and see lyrics at JoyInTheNew.com (you can also listen to it there, or at ReverbNation, where the more listens I get, the higher my ranking goes); you can buy my music from the iTunes Music Store or from CD Baby).  I've got a few songs written that I need to record, and I've got a few more songs in my head that need to be written and recorded before long.  Make Music New York is on the horizon...

I need to spruce up the ReverbNation page and my several other music pages, but it occurred to me lately that, while I've always thought of myself as sounding a little like certain artists, I don't hear too much from other people who they think I sound like.  So... who do you think I sound like?  E-mail me with some feedback, about that or anything else I mentioned here, thanks!  And happy Leap Day!

7 + 4 = 11

Happy Independence Day!  I didn't do too much of anything today, and it felt rather good.  I even started the day off by sleeping late, and since I didn't get in 'til around 3 AM from the party Jon and Karin threw yesterday, I felt mostly justified.

It's been a busy several weeks.  I've attended a music festival with Jenn and Rhonda, done a bit of catsitting for Barbara, gone to Sally and Matt's party (where Matt learned enough of "That's Just What I Am" to accompany me on guitar - thanks!), filmed some scenes for Rick Ford's latest venture, "Hassel Unbound" (would you believe I have an entry at IMDB?), played some of my songs in Duane Park for Make Music New York 2011, with Barbara as my roadie, visited New York's Central Park and Greenwich Village with Laura before going back to the park the next day for rollerblading with Dawn (followed by Rosa Mexicano's outstanding guacamole and pomegranate margaritas), had Peruvian ceviche with Yesika's family and Rhonda, attended a managers' meeting at Shadow Lake in Franklin Lakes which eventually turned into a company-wide barbecue/party, and visited Jon and the very-pregnant Karin for the above-mentioned party yesterday.  And of course I had that job thing going on the whole time, too.

I've also visited my parents more often than usual during the past five weeks, understandable under the circumstances.  After my dad finally agreed to see a doctor, he was hospitalized for nearly a week with renal failure and anemia (as well as high calcium and blood pressure readings).  Those symptoms have been addressed, but the cause was eventually determined to be Waldenström's macroglobulinemia, a rare form of cancer in the white blood cells known as lymphocytes.  This, too, is being addressed, with chemotherapy, and while the prognosis is good and my dad is in better spirits than he was a month ago, it's still been stressful on him and the rest of us, and there are several chemo sessions ahead.  He's already losing his hair, and as he and I have both managed to hang on to our full heads of hair with minimal greying, I can relate to the trauma; still, he's mostly holding up pretty well, although of course he has better days (when he can eat and sleep) and worse ones.

With all that's been going on, I've been pretty good about playing guitar every day.  I'm determined not to lose these calluses again!  In addition to performing at MMNY, I dragged my guitar along to Sally and Matt's party (because they wanted people to bring instruments), to Microwize's barbecue last Friday (because my colleague and fellow southpaw guitarist Nicole was bringing hers and asked me to bring mine, too), and to Jon and Karin's party yesterday (because Jon figured he and I could jam a bit if people left early).  I'm still learning to play, and sing, "Burning in the Sun," but I'll get it soon enough.  I'm also planning to write another new song or two in the very near future.

Pam is coming back to see me next month, and one of the events we have planned is a New York outing with my parents to see the new Cirque du Soleil show "Zarkana" and then have dinner at the Hallo Berlin beer hall.  We're all looking forward to it!  A trip to the Jersey shore, a performance of Zach Braff's off-Broadway play "All New People," and dinner at the amazing Cafe Matisse are also on tap for Pam's visit.  :-)

So, yes, there's been a lot going on, and this month will see a get-together or two with some old classmates, more romping around in NYC, and possibly a venture shoreward... and who knows what else?  Can you blame me for parking it on the couch for a few hours this evening to watch "Hearts in Atlantis" and "Flatliners?"  Well, it's back to work tomorrow, and it's just about midnight now, so I should probably park it in bed.  Good night, all...

Make Music New York is coming!

I'll be taking part in Make Music New York again this year, and I'll be back at Duane Park (at Duane and Hudson Streets in TriBeCa), where I performed two years ago.  As always, it takes place on June 21st, the first day of summer; this year, that happens to fall on a Tuesday.  Bleh.  And thanks to my procrastination, I ended up with a 4-5 PM time slot.  Double bleh.  But, hey, I'll be playing my music (and some covers) in public for free, and that's a good thing.  Come out if you can!


I've slacked off a bit on playing over the past two or three weeks, but I'll be picking up guitars plenty between now and the 21st.  I need to get that new song, "Burning in the Sun," down pat, too.  Hope to see at Duane Park...!

Burning in the Sun

Two weeks ago, I was in Costa Rica with some of my colleagues as part of McKesson's VAR Achievement Club.  We were only there for a handful of days, but it was great fun, and I managed to ride a zipline high over the rain forest canopy, go scuba diving to forty feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean... and get sunburned.  Go figure.


I took my newly-purchased Kona K2 with me on the trip.  I'd never brought a guitar along on a flight, and part of me was admittedly nervous about it getting lost or damaged, but once we'd arrived at the hotel and I opened the hard case, I saw that everything was fine, though there was a Notice of Baggage Inspection from the TSA inside.  Guess they wanted to be sure it was really a guitar and not a sniper rifle...  On the way home, the guitar again arrived intact, but the case took a bit of damage.  Oh, well; that's why one uses a hard case.


I didn't play the acoustic/electric as much as I could have while in Costa Rica, and I didn't end up playing for anyone else, but I did play, and I did start writing a new song, "Burning in the Sun," which I recently finished.  I'm fairly certain that this was the first time I wrote music and lyrics together at the same time, and it was a good experience, although I was a bit rusty at first, not having written a song in, well, too long now.  I hadn't consciously intended to give it a Brazilian rhythm and feel, but it seems I managed to do that.  Not that you can tell from the lyrics... but I'm probably going to record it soon, as I've already got the lyrics and the guitar part figured out, so you should be able to hear it within the next few weeks.


You can probably hear it at Make Music New York, too.  Yes, I'm taking part again this year, and yes, I think I'll be comfortable enough with "Burning in the Sun" by then to play it.  I did procrastinate a bit on applying for a space and time to perform, getting in just under the wire; I'll be back at Duane Park this June 21st (a Tuesday this year; blecch), but not until 4 PM.  If you can come out, please do!


I've recently seen two musical productions featuring two friends, and both were science fiction-based and a lot of fun!  My colleague Nicole was in the St. Anne Stages' production of "Bill & Ted Save Broadway," at the Fair Lawn Community Center in NJ; it took the characters from the late '80s movie and revisited them a few decades later, as a not-dead Rufus calls upon them once more, this time to help save Broadway from flagging sales and declining patronage.  They grabbed performers (and songs) from Broadway musicals past and present, and the show was done incredibly well.  My friend and fellow singer/songwriter Tatiana Moroz was in "Europa" at New York's Kraine Theater, and the musical featured a number of well-meaning (and some not-so-well-meaning) misfits on Jupiter's moon; while I went solely to support Tatiana, the rest of the cast was incredible, too, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Television's guitarist Richard Lloyd was in it as well!  I'm not generally a big fan of musicals (though I loved "The Who's 'Tommy'" and "The Phantom of the Opera"), but I'm glad I got to see these two.


In just under a month, Pam will be coming back to New Jersey for another long weekend. My friends Susan and Brett are getting married, and Pam and I will be attending the wedding, along with my friends Barbara and Stephanie (Susan's sister) and her girlfriend Nicol.  It was kind of a sudden thing, but I'm glad it worked out; I'm looking forward to seeing Pam again sooner than expected, and to taking her to the wedding.  :-)


Lastly, the Web site has finally gotten something of a tune-up.  All the old Vitriol and Being... columns are posted now, the FAQs are back up (and those of you who can't understand why I have a "Gallery... of Death!" and a "'Blog... of Death!" can get answers there), and I've even put the x Walks into a Bar page up again (I love those jokes).  Oh, and speaking of the Gallery..., all the Costa Rica pics, and some from "Europa," are there now, too.  Enjoy!  Or don't.