Time again to "get back on the horse," or bicycle, or whatever your ride of choice might be. (I get what people mean when they say that. What they neglect to mention is that your backside still hurts, whether you ride again or not.)

I've been working through my creative dry spell, and trying to ride some of the good vibes from the awesome Amethyst gigs we've been playing this summer to motivate me beyond the equipment failures and time-wasting singer wannabees. I've been working on tracks for both "Don't Bother Me" and "Welcome To Earth," but I've been trying to avoid using my vocals in hopes that I can find a decent singer to finish them. (Most good singers I know wouldn't be interested or are focused on their own projects, not to mention it takes a special kind of person willing to sing perversely dysfunctional love songs or tunes about aliens.)

If I have to post the MP3s with my singing for the time being, so be it, but let's see if I can save your ears for the moment anyway.

I'm composing these words on a Sunday morning on a grassy hill that slopes down from a motel off of Interstate 90 outside of Albany, New York. Exactly why I'm here, I'll get to in a moment.

I've been lucky enough to have a number of great "musician moments." I hope it doesn't sound like bragging; it's just cool to have a few memories that make the effort and practice worth it. I've played solo piano in a penthouse lounge overlooking the Manhattan skyline. I've cowritten songs with a signed band, and was sort-of signed myself (briefly, long story). I've performed Queen's "Somebody To Love" with a gospel choir. I've recorded/opened/performed for some famous musicians and a celebrity or two. Radio interviews and airplay. Not to mention a naked party gig or two (more long stories).

But the one of the things I haven't done in awhile is the good old band road trip. Amethyst got out of NJ for a weekend to perform at a huge wedding in Massachusetts. Forget the Adam Sandler movie, there's a lot of work and prep in playing weddings, even for a non-wedding-band band like us, but it's a lot of fun when it all works. And when over a hundred people are dancing having a great time, you know you're helping to forge some good memories for everyone.

Which is why I'm here talking into my little recorder during my morning stroll. After a brief few hours, I want to etch some of these details in my head. These "musician moments" don't come around very often, and I want to make sure I hold on to them when they do.

Okay, that title is a lie. I do mind when people waste my time, much like the potential new lead singer I was all excited about for 2 weeks until I actually heard him sing live. Question: If you recieve a demo for someone replying to an ad for a singer, you'd think the person on the MP3 would be the actual singer, right? When I asked that question, the response was, "Nah, that was my old lead singer. I'm on guitar and backup vocals." Since his guitar sounded like the "Nigel's solo" scene in This is Spinal Tap, and his background vocals sounded like cats in boiling water, I took a pass.

Over time I've been lucky to have joined a few good bands whose lineup was already set. But this little scene brought back a flood of memories of the old days trying to get an early band together and dealing with people who probably bought their instruments on the way to the studio.

I think most of us have met musicians like that. Or maybe it's the "I brought the beer but not the talent" guy. Maybe the "my ability is far outweighed by my attitude" person, among others.

At some point I had started a book about being in a band, and wanted a bunch of horror stories and experiences as sort-of "don't let this happen to you" moments. The book never came to be, but I love hearing those stories from other peple.

So please, cheer me up a bit. Share your best/worst "what the hell was this person thinking" audition moment.  I'll give you one of mine to start:

Many moons ago, I was putting together a band from scratch, and was auditioning every part at the same time (dumb, I know). I gave everyone the same list of 5 covers and a month to learn them. I booked 3 hours in a paid rehearsal studio, and planned to bring in 3 lineups with of people in hour "shifts" to keep people from waiting around for their turn.

I usually have a pretty good BS alarm, but one guitarist who had been talking me up for a month got me really excited. He showed up for his audition an hour late (leaving me a guitar-less lineup to play rock tunes for an hour...no good). The bigger problem was his guitar -- it had no strings. I asked him, "You didn't just learn these tunes on air guitar, right?" He took another hour to string and tune his guitar. Halfway into his first song, he put his hands on his ears and announced it was too loud. I asked him to play the part alone, and he couldn't do it (he was playing a 7/8 song in 5/4). I try to keep my temper in check most of the time, but at that point I showed my Irish and kicked the guy out, holding back the urge to follow him out to the parking lot and pin him under my car.

Okay, it's your turn...

Just a quickie post here to announce Amethyst got a mention in two newspapers this week, thanks to our string of Friday shows in Surf City. Check out our articles in The Asbury Park Press and in (Ocean County's) The Sand Paper. I'm giving the Amethyst site a makeover, so I'll have these permanently added to the site shortly. Come see our final Friday show at the Surf City Hotel in Surf City (LBI) this Friday 6/27.

Meanwhile, back here in Crosstalk Club land, I have some singer news I'm excited to report later this week. More to follow!

Here's a shout-out to the guys in Illegal Motion who let me be an Illegal for one gig and add a little keys to their mix. Their drummer Chris joked they were throwing me in a sack to keep me from going back to Amethyst. They're a tight band, and worth checking out to get your 90s-through-modern rock fix. Go catch 'em locally, and buy them a round after they've rocked your evening.

I've noticed, being in "the circuit" this long, it's become almost a Six Degrees of Separation thing with members of various groups, especially cover bands. With Illegal Motion, for example, guitarist Ken and I played in Emanon/Interchange (I think the first decent cover/original band for both of us). Chris and I played together many moons ago in a band that rehearsed for 8 months, learned a few thousand tunes, and went nowhere. Dennis is formerly from Shore 2 Please, whose singer Rhea has done sub gigs with Amethyst. And Chris and Brian were the rhythm section for a re-formed Goodbie Amy several years after my tenure in that same band. (I feel like a big circle in the middle of a Venn diagram.)

Here's another one: In the Emanon days, Ken and I finished our album with vocals by singer Vince Ascoli. He went on to a New Brunswick prog-rock band called Nepenthe, featuring keyboardist Eddie Konczal, whom years later I replaced in Amethyst. (Three degrees across three counties.)

At my Crosstalk Club gig last week, I bumped into my former Exit 82 guitarist Steve. It turns out he's working with Andy, the bassist from Space Invader Theatre, whose album I wrote for two years ago. Their new band includes Tommy Ducett, whom I did an acoustic thing with, and singer "Rob D Vox," MySpace friend and former singer for...Crosstalk Club.

Okay, I haven't achieved Kevin Bacon status yet, but I'm on my way. Maybe when I do, I'll actually be able to connect with a singer and finish this damn CD.

Contrary to this blog entry's lyrical title, it's not Halloween. But it does sometimes feel a bit laboratory-like around here, trying to complete full songs single-handedly in front of a computer screen. Working like that for a long time can make one feel a little mad-scientist-like. Kinda like this guy here...minus one rabbit and add one keyboard and computer.

How mad, you say? Well, the song I was working on in that last blog entry stalled, and in the middle of recording it, I abandoned it in a fit of frustration. I destroyed all the files, shredded the lyric sheet, and tossed out all copies of it. (When I abandon a song, it stays abandoned.)

With the accumulated frustration of working alone late at night, still searching for a singer a year after Rob moved away, PC problems, some personal obstacles, and a recent creative block, I'd just had enough. And it's times like these I want to chuck the notebooks and demo CD's out the window to see how far they'd fly.

Fortunately (both for me and my notebooks), I had 2 experiences that gave me a much-needed jolt.

In the middle of a recent gig at a huge club in Manville, as I was passing out promo stuff for Amethyst, a man grabbed my arm. Getting my attention, he said, "I just wanted you to know, whatever you do in the other parts of your life, don't stop doing this. You've brought a lot of happiness into this room tonight." I smiled and told him, "You wouldn't know, but I really needed to hear that today, thanks so much." (In retrospect, I should've at least bought him a beer before he left. Dude from Rhythms, if you ever read this, you've got a free brew coming.)

The other was two consecutive interviews I read, one with The Fall's Mark E. Smith, the other with Los Lobos' Steve Berlin, both talking about the crappy times they've had in the middle of recording. (With Steve Berlin, both in recording Los Lobos, and working with Paul Simon. Read it here.)

So now, as I try to get back on track, here's the audience participation part of our program for you creative types out there. What's your best secret/trick/whatever you use when your creativity does a crash-and-burn and you need the jaws of life. Drop a line here and let me know!

Thanks.
(new songs soon)

Wow, it's good to be back. After a little reconnection trouble, Studio O'Leary is back in action so we can resume making noise. Praise be to the ghosts in the machine.

I was talking with some musician friends about our respective upcoming projects and mentioned the two concepts I had for my album art. (I'm torn, still unsure, we'll get to that another time.) During the discussion, a 20 year-old member of the group sincerely questioned, "Why even put out a CD? Everyone just downloads." And I started wondering: am I so old-fashioned that I still LIKE CDs? Besides sounding better than the compressed sonic loss of MP3s, I like something physical and tangible with my music. I like cover art, reading liner notes (so I know who to admire...or who to blame), and going back to lyrics I missed in the song.

Am I alone in this? I know a few people, some of them readers of this blog, that still want to release CDs and still use them. But do most people believe those MSM predictions of the "Death of the CD"? Tell me what you think in email or comments here: are you still holding on to your CDs, or are you living in an MP3-only world?

Well, we're finally back in business thanks to a few replacement computer components and my friend Andy who helped install them. I get a little shaky around computer failure, especially since it was the Great O'Leary Computer Crash a few years back that forever lost me about 30 songs and made me quit the original thing (for a bit) in disgust. You'd think by now I'd learn to backup, right? Yep, but like many other people, I don't think about it until the worst happens. Kinda like prayer, come to think of it.

Still, it's worked out, and I'm keeping optimistic. We're on to new songs and continuing SingerQuest '08. I got some really nice offers lately for some musical help, and I think we're in for some progress soon. I finished the lyrics for "Don't Bother Me," and started some basic tracks. I'm still looking for those hand claps I posted previously (see "You're Just What I Needed," 8/28/07) for the song "Welcome to Earth." And I'm banging out some lyrics for an as-yet untitled song about growing older, that so far references Star Wars, video games, Michelangelo, sex, a Chevy Nova, and game shows, in just three verses. More to come.

PS: One brief sad note. I learned recently that Oscar Peterson died at age 85. If you haven't heard the master of jazz piano, grab a copy of the concert he did at age 75. If I had that man's speed now at half his age than he had fighting arthritis in his seventies, I'd be a happy man.

I don't think there's a musician or writer out there that hasn't at one point or another wanted to take his/her computer, drop-kick it through a glass window, causing it to tumble down several flights of fire escape stairs and into the street, where it would come to rest for a single second and then immediately be run over by a speeding gas truck that is simultaneously suffering a cab fire. Not to get all Wachowski Brothers on you, but we all realize just how much we depend on those machines, especially when those stupid glowing plastic boxes dies without warning, apparently from a technological bad mood.

My PC suffered its own version of a stroke about two weeks ago, leaving me without most of my writing, my songs, my contacts, and my email. In most of my life I try to be a pretty even-tempered guy, but nothing angers me more than any machine -- car, PC, keyboard, whatever -- flatlines for no other reason than "just because." I'm partially back in business as of yesterday, and slowly catching up on weeks of email, writing, and recording projects all left from before Christmas. So if you've emailed me lately and I haven't replied (especially if you're answering my singer ad!), I'm NOT ignoring you! Write again or give me just a little time to de-spam my Inbox and start getting productive again.

It's the holiday season, so come get your Eighties on and help a good cause. On Saturday, December 15th, my cover band, Amethyst, will be collecting canned goods for a local charity. Come out to Molly Maguire's in Clark NJ (GSP Exit 135) on Saturday night, sing along to some of your 80s faves (including a few carols), and help those in need this holiday season.

(P.S.: Two of Amethyst's six new demo songs are on the MySpace player. Check them out.)

(P.P.S.: In the mood for a road trip? Come out to The Shack -- formerly Errico's -- in Frenchtown this Friday 12/14.)

First, most importantly, to anyone I haven't already spoken to, thanks to all who wrote condolences about the death in the family. Everyone's doing okay, and slowly working through it.

Next, I finally posted "Plastic Island," the song about the Eastern Garbage Patch. It's not quite completed, but it is close. It's taken some time to learn how to play a reggae-ish song with some feel to it, the bass part especially. (I've learned some good lessons on playing and engineering as I've stumbled through the recording process of each new song.) The tune is minus, as usual, final vocals because, also as usual, the singer search continues.

I call it 'reggae-ish' because I know that this Irish/Italian surburban rock dude could never pull off a convincing Bob Marley. But I think it falls into, say, O.A.R. territory. How about Elton songwriting for Sublime? Let me know what you think.

Lyrically, it's another smartass song, but it's a subject I've become pretty passionate about, so Google 'Eastern Garbage Patch,' or follow my link in a previous blog, and learn more about it.

One of the benefits of recording in a home-based studio is the freedom from being "on the clock" and watching your recording budget fly out of your wallet while you work on take 18 of the same guitar solo. One of the problems of home recording is that there isn't a highly-paid engineer to figure out why your PC is suddenly inserting massive dropouts in your newly-mixed song.

I had overdone the number of guitars on "Tempus Fugitive"; the track list reminded me of one of those multi-Agent Smith fights in "The Matrix." ("Mr. Anderson, welcome back. Play some more guitar tracks.") So I've gotten it down to a resonable number, eliminated some buggy VST plugins and finally posted it on the profile.

As usual this is a demo version with my own vocals until I've got a permanent singer again. (Yep, still looking.) I explained the song in my previous blog, so give a read, give a listen, and tell me what you think so far. Thanks.

...for those who got my lyric reference on this blog entry, my apologies. Okay, on to the updates.

Wanna know the definition of irony? Taking three months to find pieces of time to record a song about not having enough time to do the things you want.

"Tempus Fugitive" is three answers to the question, "Damn, where did all the time go?" I had the idea to come up with something that merged the Foo Fighters' "All My Life" with Joe Jackson's "Got The Time." I ended up with a very Cars-esque guitar sound, so I eventually slowed it down and got in touch with my Inner Eighties and went all retro on this one.

Now, I don't mind retro -- if Weezer, Fountains of Wayne, Shiny Toy Guns, Franz Ferdinand, AFI, The Killers, and The Bravery can crib from the 80s, then a guy who actually grew up in the 80s should be allowed to do so too. (Okay, playing in an 80s cover band for over two years is probably a factor too.)

But, deciding I'd gone too retro, I redid all the guitars...no small feat for a keyboard player. Picture typing a novel using only your pinkies and ring fingers -- that's about my skill level and speed on the guitar. I was getting frustrated with the progress until my friend Raj parted the clouds for me with a single sentence: "Do want it quick, or do you want it right?" Thanks, Raj.

Also, thanks to the RBMC's Songwriters' Workshop, who suggested a major overhaul on "Plastic Island," changing it from an Elton-esque song into a reggae-lite song. If I can get the bass to sound right, I just might have two new songs to post. Details soon.

One last thing from previous: still looking for more hand claps to add to "Welcome to Earth." Check the last blog entry for details. (I'll avoid any horrible jokes about "getting the clap" that would normally go here. You're welcome.)

Wanna be on my CD?

I want to try something different for the next song I want to record for my album. Those who have heard me live recently might remember the song "Welcome to Earth." I'm trying an experiment and I need your help. I'm stealing an idea from Jonathan Coulton, and asking for people to send me their hand claps. Any kind of single hand clap -- be creative! Record yourself clapping in a high school gym, your bathroom, an overpass on the Garden State Parkway, wherever, send me the WAV/MP3 file, and I'll incorporate it into the tune.

The song's going to have a sort-of "Hey Jude" na-na-na-na kind of ending to it. So if this goes well, I'll next ask for vocal versions of the chorus (which I already planned to do to friends visiting my house: "hey, while you're here, wanna step up to this mic for a minute?").

It'll be a creative commons use of your contribution, and I can't compensate you aside from giving you a free copy of the CD once it's finished (whenever that happens), but if you'd like to have an album with your name in the credits, go for it.

If you want to go for it, send me an email here, and I'll give you my home email to send the file.And thanks!

I'm having one last go at "Tempus Fugitive" vocals before I post it. I got some great feedback on "Plastic Island" thanks to the RBMC, so it's going through a format change this week. More news to follow.

How's this for cool: I got recognized! Being the guy who usually doesn't take center stage in a band, I usually fade into the shadows, especially in large cover bands. Normally I don't mind, but occasionally it is nice to be noticed.

I got out for a little bit this weekend to post some signs for Amethyst's second annual boardwalk show (Seaside Heights! 8/13! 7-9PM! Be there!). In my wanderings, I ended up at a tiny place checking out a new band, and the drummer recognized me from my old band (The Pulse) from our shows at The Columns. I got invited up to play a few songs (and sing on "Piano Man"). The band is called PRYY, and I told them they need to "do" MySpace ASAP. So if you see them, check 'em out.

Quickies: "Tempus Fugitive" should be posted by tomorrow, and "Plastic Island" shortly after. Lead Singer Quest continues (see previous entry), but hopefully an update is coming soon.

Okay, note to self: I need to stop using song lyrics for blog subjects, or come up with less obscure songs. (Age test: if you know the song, you're over 29.)

I was working on a recording project for another cover band this past week. It's finished, so I'm back on my own stuff again. "Go forward, move ahead..." and all that (hmm, maybe that should've been the blog subject). I'm taking one last crack at the temp vox for "Tempus Fugitive" before I post it this week, followed next by a brand new song, "Plastic Island," which I'm pretty excited about. (It's timely too, take a look at this, which appeared coincidentally as I was writing about the same thing.)

On to singers: if you've contacted me over the last month and I haven't gotten back to you, please email me again. I had a list of names that's gone AWOL on me, and I want to hear from you!

Thanks to everyone who came out to the recent Crosstalk Club show -- you all rocked! I love doing covers with Amethyst, but I forget sometimes how cool it also is when I play something I wrote and have a roomful of people applaud loudly at it. Thanks to Bill for sitting in on vocal and guitar duties this time, someone give this man a record deal and throw lots of money at him.

Also big thanks go to everyone who has checked in about the singer situation. No one permanent just yet. It's tough to find a singer who's (a) interested, (b) good, (c) local, (d) not involved with their own original projects, and (e) doesn't mind singing songs about psychics, monsters, schadenfreude, aliens, and happy dysfunctionals. I've got responses from The MODE, Craigslist, and MySpace that I haven't responed to yet. Updates to come soon.

Maybe I've spent too much time on music trivia, but I've noticed that there are certain years each decade when a number of albums released together become iconic of the bands that make them, and are often historic musical landmarks. Case in point would be 30 years ago, 1976-1977. Take a look at some of the albums listed below. If I asked you to name a song from the artist, it probably showed up on these albums, and you can probably sing all the lyrics too.

Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run
Ramones - Ramones
Boston - Boston
Eagles - Hotel California
The Clash - The Clash
Bob Marley - Exodus
Iggy Pop - Lust For Life
Sex Pistols - Never Mind The Bollocks
Billy Joel - The Stranger
Fleetwood Mac - Rumors
Meatloaf - Bat Out Of Hell
Television - Marquee Moon
Blondie - Blondie
Steely Dan - Aja
ELO - Out Of The Blue
Rush - 2112
Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel  (Car)
Muddy Waters - Hard Again

My point in all this? Well, I'm wondering when that new crop of albums is coming up this decade. I've heard some great new stuff lately, but I'm still waiting for those handfull of modern CDs that grab you and say, "pay attention, we're about to make history."

Anyone have any suggestions?

Wow, Crosstalk Club has reached 1000 hits on our MySpace page! Now, compared to other pages, this may not seem a lot, but I think this page is different. Just about everyone on my Friends list is someone I know, am a fan of, and/or someone who likes the tunes. I have never been a "friend collector," and I'll never know 10,000 people in my lifetime. So to reach 1000 visitors with very little promotion is an accomplishment, and I thank you all.

On the band scene, yes, we're still looking for a new lead singer, but we're pressing on. Busy as always, but I'm hoping to cut back on some nonmusical activity soon. I'm recording "Tempus Fugitive" at the moment, which is a pretty guitar-intensive song for a mediocre guitar player, so excuse the delay. I'm hoping to post a non-C/C song here too, as my friend John and I will be working out a new arrangement of "Call In Superman," a song I debuted live last year. More good stuff to follow.

Ever since the band name changed from Exit 82 to Crosstalk Club, I've received comments and questions about what exactly the name is supposed to mean...and couldn't I have found something better.

To start with, it was the first name I Googled/Yahooed/MySpaced/etcetera'ed that didn't belong to another band. And there is a little meaning attached to it. "Crosstalk" is a noisy mess of different overlapping signals merged together -- take a look at the influence list for proof of that.

As I was thinking about the name, and if it was a little too strange, I started listing some of the newer bands I've listened to, bought CDs from, or downloaded (legitimately) just this past year:

Zolof the Rock n' Roll Destroyer, Cute is What We Aim For, Death Cab for Cutie, The Pink Spiders, Dogs Die in Hot Cars, The New Pornographers, Jack's Mannequin, The Kaiser Chiefs, My Chemical Romance, Logs in the Mainstream, Tsar, Boy Kill Boy, Butch Walker and the Lets Go Out Tonights, Space Invader Theatre (hell, I even helped record these guys).

And then there's the older bands I heard/bought/downloaded this year too:

Flogging Molly, The Buzzcocks, Barenaked Ladies, Camper Van Beethovan, Dead Kennedys, Big Audio Dynamite, Ziggy Stardust, Def Leppard, Mott the Hoople, Ghoti Hook, The Dickies, Gigolo Aunts, Guadalcanal Diary, Toad the Wet Sprocket, The Boomtown Rats, The Sex Pistols, Social Distortion.

There are two things to learn from these lists. First, I collect WAY too much music (the "normal name" lists are even longer). Secondly, in comparison, "Crosstalk Club" is just fine. Maybe even too tame. How about I change it to "Road Kill and the Steaming Entrails of Death"? "Paper Cuts Anonymous"? "Suburban Purple Space Hookers"? Hmmm...