Return To The Blog

After a Spring and Summer of much activity and many travails, I think I'm up to starting to post some blogs again. I haven't been around, but man do I have some good excuses! It's been a pretty difficult period...at one point I had two funerals and two weddings in one month, I'm trying hard to get my new band off the ground (check out their site at www.theshelterdogs.com, by the way), Cynthia and I have been scuffling to try and just make ends meet with our business suffering in this crazy economy, and of course my "Little Friend" Bipolarity knocking me periodically into...well, if not total catatonia, then a sort of Walking Pneumonia state of depression where I get my essentials done and then just go lie down...so, as I said, I've got my excuses.

A hopefully quick update then: My old band The Anti-Gravity Kings is no more. While we went on hiatus for a few months (everybody was busy with their other lives) my dear friend and Kings Keyboardist Tom Wall died, quietly at his home from natural causes probably quickened by his alcoholism. He lay there for the better part of two weeks before he was discovered by Cyn and I...it was a very grim and sad thing that still haunts me. I had been calling periodically and getting no reply...and hoping that it was because he'd entered the rehab he'd been talking about...but apparently he'd just lain down on the couch, fallen asleep and his body had just shut down. He'd been so sick for so long, and he'd driven so many of his friends and family away...I hope that wherever he is, that there's some peace for him, and some really great music. It's still very hard to write about this.

My cat population has increased by two, now making seven and putting me firmly in the Crazy Old Cat Man category. Tom's cats, trapped in his house, had broken out through a screen window and were living out in his backyard, totally freaked out and dispirited. The detective who had interviewed us on the night we found Tom had left some kibble outside, but they'd run through that, and they were so traumatized. There was no one else to take them in...so now they're here. Anyone want some lovely cats? Both Winthrop and Inkster were in great condition, I think that at the end Tom was just buying whiskey and cat food. Nice animals...both glossy black cats, one small, one about 25 pounds! I guess we'll just have to keep 'em...they're very sweet and easygoing, and I guess I can deal with the Crazy Old Cat Man thing as long as I can afford the kibble and litter.

My new Beowulf Kingsley CD is essentially done...the mastering just needs a final tweak. I have the art and all ready to go, but my finances are so low that I've had to wait on it. Making these albums that only connect with an eclectic few (like hopefully some of you out there) are NOT something I do for profit, they're something I do because I must. That said, I think this one sounds really good, perhaps better than Arphus, and I liked that one a lot. Perhaps there's some genius marketing agent manager Brian Epstein kind of guy somewhere that can find the audience that will love my stuff, I don't know. As I say, I've been busy, and that kind of thing is obviously not my forte...but you can never tell what'll happen. Hopefully though, I can get some of these out before the holidays.

The OTHER band, my Rockabilly/Swing/Country/Old-School Rock ensemble The Shelter Dogs, are a going concern these days. We're playing out a good bit (check that website for dates!) and people seem to like it a lot. They were originally an excuse for me and Pete Bullard to mess around as a duo (and for me to get my chops up on the Upright Bass), but Tom Twiss wound up playing drums for us and it's just a really fine sounding trio! A lot of great standards, and of course some of the Beowulf Kingsley tunes get inserted...Bazinga, Hoodoo Stick, Gumbo and others. Apparently we have a CD coming up with them as well...Recorded in the good old-fashioned way, live in two nights. That was refreshing, and the guys are such good musicians it was easy and fun to do. I'm STILL waiting for Mark from Mac's Traxx to get the mixing done though! It's a little frustrating...I know he's got other fish to fry and he's doing us a big favor, but I coulda got that part done pretty fast myself. I'm gonna try and just get the raw tracks and do that, too, if he doesn't have time in the next week. We'll see what happens!

Booking The Shelter Dogs is part of my life right now too. I was always a sideman, so this is one of my infrequent forays into the world of booking and I have to admit it's one of my least favorite things to do with the world of music. I'm making a LOT of phone calls, and getting the ball rolling is painfully slow. I figure it's 30 to 50 phone calls apiece to venues before I even get a yes or no...I'm not kidding. Where IS that Mr. Epstein anyway? Oh yeah, right, I forgot.

In the mundane world of survival, Cyn and I are hanging on for dear life to our downsized cleaning company. Due to the economy we've lost several clients, which I hate to see but totally understand. This is not the business I'd choose to be in, but it's been keeping us in groceries (and kibble and litter) for the last few years and till our other ventures take off it's what's for dinner. I'm starting a new Di Medici Cleaners ad campaign this week, hopefully we'll have a few new places soon.

My folks have now got Personal Care Assistants in at their house 12 hours a day, mostly watching Dad and making sure he doesn't fall over or forget his meds. It's a great company and allows me a lot of peace of mind...neither I or my Mom can keep track of him every minute, and he's not always gonna use his walker. For a very careful man he's got an incredible talent for denial when it comes to his physical abilities. I'm just glad that his meds are keeping his Parkingson's mostly manageable, and he seems much more with it these days.

I'm starting to realize that I'll have to finish this update in segments, as this is getting to be a much longer post than I anticipated already! But it feels good to get some of this down, whether it's read by anyone or not. At any rate, for those that are interested, yeah, I'm still alive! Sometimes it's good, sometimes not, but there's a lot to like in life, and I'm gonna try to appreciate as much of it as I can. More later.

A much less serious statement of intent

I'm gonna make sure that I wear something colorful enough to scare the cats at least once a week.

I intend to post up songs that nobody cares about to a website nobody goes to for no particular reason.

I may stop over to your house and tapdance on your roof...don't shoot me.

I'll try to tell stories that amuse you, and play music that moves you, and if I don't suceed, let's neither of us get mad, OK?

I'm gettin' a massage once a week. Or more.

I'll try to get to be a better musician, and a better friend, and more psychic, and richer too...that part might be a trick though...

...And I'll try to make my next post make a little more sense.

Another Serious Statement Of Intent

So I’ve gotta think here…this is a difficult time for me to get organized, but what time is a good one for that really? I’m mostly talking to myself this post, anybody else can skip it if you want. I know I’m mostly thinking in an autumnal fashion, appropriate to the weather outside…but I need to start working on my composition as if my time is limited, which it surely is. If I don’t die tomorrow my PC sure could! In fact, part of my inactivity is because of my studio computer’s motherboard going down last month. Another part is just laziness I guess.

What I can do is to get started finishing the few pieces that I did on my home system, which is still working at this point. If I can get the hard drives out of the other, and get them going (and I really hope I can) then I’ve got most of the new album done. But I have to be able to work faster, and to finish documenting stuff I’ve already written…which is a kind of big task. I do write a lot, and there’s a huge backlog of stuff that I still think is good that’s been sitting. But I think I can do it now. As I’m getting better with some of this amazing technology (Cubase, Band-In-A-Box, Acid Pro, etc.) I’m able to do things a lot quicker. And working with the bands as a singer has really helped my vocals, so I can get what I want there with fewer takes (although I’ll still sound like Tom Waits with a cold). Real singers don’t have anything to be afraid of, but I think I can get my point across better now.

I’m still writing new stuff quite a lot, but having this huge pool of older material that I haven’t done anything with is bugging me…it’s like having a room full of ghosts looking over your shoulder. And the only way to lay them down and set them free is to record them, play them and let them fly into the air. I’ll post up what I’m doing on my website and elsewhere, at this point I could care less about the “Standard Rich & Famous Contract” that nobody wants to give me anyway. Sure, if someone wants to shower me with shekels that would be great, but I’d just be happy if a few people heard some of these ghosts as they flew off, and I’d be even happier if a few people liked them.

The Return Of The Stolen Guitars

Well, my guitars that were stolen this Spring have finally been returned! Pretty amazing. They're sitting right here, with the "Evidence" tags still on 'em from the Police station. They all seem to be in perfect shape, although someone had retuned them really high for some reason...but that was easily fixed!

The story of the recovery and subsequent case, as I got from the very friendly and helpful Detective Neumann, revolved around an instrument I don't play at all...a cello. Seems that a very expensive ($30,000-$40,000) cello had been stolen in one of the areas West of Detroit. Later on, this guy (let's call him Mr. X right now) contacts a music store trying to sell it. Of course the music store personnel are aware of this missing cello and alert the police, who wind up raiding X's place. A HUGE amount of stuff ("That was obviously not his" said Neumann) was found in his house, including lots of jewelry, computers, TVs, guns...and guitars. As well as this cello.

The Detroit police made a photo CD of the goods and a lot of them wound up being from this area, where there have been quite a few break-ins this last year. They sent on the photos and descriptions to the other police departments in SE Michigan. I'd given a very detailed description of my lost instruments, which they'd had on file. Deputy Ken Smith emailed me some pictures, and there were my guitars! I was astounded. There were some delays since several of the officers were out for a few weeks, but Detective Neumann saw me today and got me back the guitars, and gave me the word.

It looks like the thing I feared most, that it was someone I knew or that it had something to do with my studio work, was not the case. Mr. X has been hitting areas around Ann Arbor, Westland, Livonia and other close-by towns randomly...but consistently. The fact that my Dad had left a convenient key in an easily-cracked combo lock was just gravy in this case. As Neumann helped me get my axes to the car (he really is a nice guy), he remarked "Do you know how rare this is, for someone to get their property back in this situation? It almost never happens". I know for sure I wasn't expecting to see these guitars again!

It seems surreal to me, but now they're back. It's been a strange time and parts of it very emotionally trying, but actually the experience has been very positive. The guitars are retrieved, and I have a new and much better appreciation of the police force and the work they do, as well as the opportunity for me to meet some of the great people who work in it. And even more importantly, the caring and the support of my friends and the community of musicians in town and around the world online has made me aware just how much I am blessed with the wonderful people around me. I'd like to thank Dave Budzinski especially for making me that Tele to substitute for mine (hey, Bud, I'll wrassle you for the new one!), to Cynthia for being such an amazing and supportive partner through all this, to my band for hanging in there with me, to Deputy Ken Smith, Officer Keith Dalton and Detective Mark Neumann, and very very sincerely to all of you who wrote and called me!! I appreciate it more than I can say. I'm a lucky guy!!!

Yet Another Video

Here's one more video, a photo collage with pictures from our last gig. It was a fun show!

And now, the video! I'm actually enjoying this Picasa stuff. Click on the box to watch, of course...

ANTI-GRAVITY KINGS AT THE TAP ROOM, JUNE 5 2010

We had a GREAT time at the Tap Room show last night! Click on the picture here to get to the online picture album.