This Yellow Taxi Cab In Which I Ride

June 12, 2003: I was sitting at a picnic table in Saratoga Springs, strumming my guitar and "singing." (I use quotes because I didn't know how to sing at the time). I was terrified and could barely keep my fingers from shaking as they attempted to form chords on the fret board. In between singing, I took deep breaths in feeble attempts to calm my nerves. A few weeks previous to that evening, I passed through a set of "ragged, wooden double doors,"* walked the length of a cramped hallway, and ascended the steps of the legendary Caffe Lena for the first time. I had read about the Caffe in a newspaper article that I probably should have missed. Typically, you see, we didn't get the Schenectady Gazette. For some reason, one was delivered to my dad's house, where I lived, and was sitting on the dining room table. One of the middle sections was slightly out of sync with the rest of the paper and part of the headline was visible: Open Mic. Around that tim...

Continued from here . Before I knew who J.R.R. Tolkien was, I saw countless cars with bumper stickers that advertised the line, "Not All Who Wander Are Lost." Mostly, the cars were in rough shape and belonged to hippies... but that is really neither here nor there. The line struck a chord with me, as I'm sure it does with many. Alone, the line is pretty deep and introspective. It's somewhat empowering to the loner who seems to not have a focus or path to follow. In the context that it is written -- a poem or song that a god-esque wizard uses to describe an exiled king who protects hairy footed short people from tormented elves and goblins and a dark lord -- seems to suggest that we may not be advertising our true purpose or path and that when we do, look out. I used to feel connected to this line and felt pride in my wandering ways, because, someday, my path will be revealed to all and my wandering ways will suddenly make sense. With utmost confidence, I can share...

Now that my songs are in a recorded format, more people are hearing them, commenting on them, and asking questions about them. I couldn't be more excited about all of this. In particular, people ask what the deal is with Little Paper Boat , which doesn't surprise me since it's somewhat of a bizarre song. I've told the story about how Little Paper Boat came to be a handful of times previous to recording it. It all started with a picture on facebook, posted by someone who I know through the music community, but not really in person. She was into origami at the time and posted a picture of a boat that she had made out of paper. I said to myself that I'd like to sail in a little paper boat and a flood of images, thoughts, and ideas came to my mind. I saw a concept for a song. It would be about perception, in particular, the way we perceive the world and how it would be much different if we were littler and sailing around in a paper boat. The music came to quite ...

I had a really wonderful music experience last night that come up serendipitously. It began when I received an invite to see one of my favorite bands, the North and South Dakotas, play in a barn. The invite included the promise of beverages, food, bonfires, and a trebuchet: all elements that seem necessary for a party that takes place in a barn. I attended, not really knowing what I was in for. When I arrived, there weren't may people there. I'd say about thirty or so folks were hanging out in the barn and near a small fire that was set up outside of the barn. There were sofas and comfortable chairs set around the fire. I chatted with members of the band and a couple other friends that were also there. I drank a beer and searched for a cup to pour the whiskey that I had brought in to. Then, I heard that the trebuchet was going to be launched to start the first bonfire. I walked outside and stood near the trebuchet. A few rolls of toilet paper had been soaking in some so...

I named the upcoming album Stepping Outside . This may sound familiar as the phrase is an integral part of my song For the First Time . I almost named For the First Time Stepping Outside , but decided that For the First Time fit better as the name of the song. Stepping Outside works really well for the title of the album. Being that it's my first album, Stepping Outside is an indication that I'm putting myself out there. While I have been playing my songs for a long time at open mics and in videos and home recordings, this album is the first time that I have made my songs what I believe they are meant to be (full band, additional instruments). And I'm putting them out there in that form. The other piece to this title is that Stepping Outside is a metaphor for experiencing things (I know; it's broad). The collection of songs on this album are all experiences (when are songs not experiences, though?). The point is, it works as a title for the album. I'm s...

You can't predict the future. Who really wants to, anyway? I mean, if you could -- and you knew exactly what would transpire in days/weeks/years -- what fun would now be? Still, right now is pretty awesome and the way in which things (music related things, that is) are going, the future seems to promise even more awesomeness. Right now, I'm recording an album. It's really shaping up to sound great. Each recording is really impressing me with the instrumentation, the parts played by friends, and the tone. It seems like every time I hear a track, it's my favorite until I hear one of the other ones. It looks like tracking should be done in two or three weeks. Then, mixing and mastering. Then, printing. Then, I'm releasing the album. I'll be sending it out to radio stations and venues. I hope to be booking gigs and doing some radio interviews and performances. Right now, I'm playing with a band. Foxmen, the band, has been playing at open mics and rehears...

When I woke up this morning to my alarm clock (the first time in nine days), I felt the most intense lack of desire to be alive. It was as if I had awoken just before the good part of a really great dream. This, of course, wasn't the case. I was simply waking up to my first day back to work after a week long vacation. My job isn't that bad. I don't know why I dread it so much. Waking up and going to work is always a chore -- mostly because at work you are doing things that you are told to do instead of what you choose to do -- but, it's even more of a chore when it comes after not having to wake up and go to work for over a week. Florida -- where I went on vacation -- was fantastic. I did a lot of nothing. I joined my dad early in the morning to watch the sunrise. I laid by the pool. I swam in the ocean. I repeated this most days. I had some amazing dinners with my grandpa and his wife, my dad and his wife, and my step-sister and her daughter. (It just occurred to...

I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am that I sold my house almost a year ago. Home ownership just wasn't for me. I wrote a song about it. It's called One and Only Home . Shortly after moving into my apartment and sitting down with lawyers and the buyer, I started writing about what was going through my mind as it pertained to moving out of the home that I had lived in for most of my life. There were a lot of thoughts and feelings and it didn't come to a cohesive conclusion and, thus, wasn't a song. One idea that I had jotted down stuck with me. It was that of a gingerbread house that didn't taste good. I had written about trying to build a gingerbread house with ingredients that made me sick, which was a great metaphor for my experience owning a home. This became the first verse. The second verse is an inside joke in a way. You see, I had married a former pageant girl who was very concerned with how the home looked. Everything had to be perfect...

I've been spending much of the last two weeks suffering horrendously from seasonal allergies and preparing for my show at Caffe Lena on June 19. I'm pretty excited about the show and generally pleased that my sinuses have cleared up. Breathing is helpful when singing. I have had some rehearsals with the guys who will be joining me. I'm pretty impressed with the riffs and things that these guys are adding to my songs. It's really cool to hear what Ray Pashoukos is doing on mandolin and what AJ plays on bass. I haven't been able to get the whole band together for a full rehearsal yet. Scheduling is tough and we all have other commitments. But, I'm confident that everyone can play together. These are all solid musicians who know what they are doing. I just have to not screw up (ha!) and we'll be fine.

When I arrived at my cubicle for work this morning (Tuesday) after the long weekend, I turned to face my desk and saw the note I had left co-workers Thursday before I left for my vacation day and road trip. I had taped it to my computer screen and it read: "Gone Forever. Leave a Message." I laughed out loud at myself, forgetting I had put the note up. (Yes, that is a picture of Winona Ryder under my computer screen at work) In my last posting, I left off with me leaving Baltimore. On my way out of the city, I noticed another sporting arena and quickly took a picture. A short drive (less than an hour) later, I arrived in Washington, D.C. I found meter parking pretty easily a block away from Hard Rock. I headed straight for Hard Rock leaving my guitar in the car for now. I figured I'd scope out potential busking spots first. There weren't many people on the street at all. In fact, the city felt somewhat deserted. I went back to my car -- after buying two...

A few months ago I decided it might cool to take a road trip to all of the Hard Rock Cafes that I could get to in a long weekend. I collect guitar pins and each cafe has different styles in stock including "city specific" pins that depict something unique about the city in which the cafe is located. My current collection consists of quite a lot from Boston and New York because they are the closest cities and I visit them more frequently than anywhere else. A good portion of my collection is also from the Orlando Hard Rock because they seem to have the most different types of pins available each time I'm there and I end up buying five at a time. Having so many pins from only three cities (and only a few random pins from other cafes that I've visited) makes for a boring collection. I needed more variety and so I decided to go on a quest. I asked friends to go with me, but I ended up going alone. Most of the reasons not to join my quest had to do with not having any mo...