November 28th, 2018 I first heard Ian Fitzgerald’s music whilst on tour with Anna Tivel in August. We shared a bill with him in Providence. His album has been in the CD player of our Honda Civic since then. Ian writes some of the most writing dense, intelligent, catchy songs […]
East Durham NY- August 14th, 2018 Anna Tivel’s album ‘Small Believer’ was my favourite album of 2017. We first crossed paths back in 2015 whilst I was touring ‘All We Have Become’. My friend Paul Basile had booked the Pacific Northeast leg of that tour for me. The tour […]
World Leader Pretend – Brooklyn, April 11th, 2018 I had this R.E.M single on a 45 rpm. I was 13. It was a birthday gift from my friends and later my first bandmates Justin and Dave. Most 13 year olds are sound. Other 13- year olds sometimes feel the need […]
Monday March 26th, 2018 Well, that was a weekend of weekends. I bussed up to Boston on Friday, did a song with Glen Hansard’s band to 2,500 hundred people. Played a sold out show Saturday night at Toad and bussed back to New York. Prison Phone Call Greyhound […]
Monday February 26th, 2018 Waiting for the kettle to whistle and drown out the radio. The radio is talking about the historical appeal of conspiracy theories and the nation’s refusal to address the gun problem. Long division in the United states. It’s no way to start the day. And […]
Advent in Brooklyn Already two bottles of liquor on the counter at Meat Market. Customer appreciation, the Brooklyn-Italian way. It produces a feeling akin to the season’s first airing of ‘Fairytale of New York’. By Christmas week there’ll be nine or ten half empty bottles on the shelf. Hard liquor […]
Saturday morning, I woke up sweating and switched on the radio to the sound of the Mayor cautioning people to stay indoors till 9pm, Sunday. The heat advisory, collided precisely with the Big City Folk Festival. Well, why start listening to City Hall now? It was already really hot. I […]
Confession Box Songs: Week 4 Last night Steve Goulding asked the very fair question, “The Confession Box? Is it small and judgmental?”, “Does it at least smell of incense?” No, an no. It’s a song club, in bar in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. A filtered songwriter […]
The Irish Haven frequently pops up on those internet lists of ‘NYC’s Best Dive Bars’ and ‘America’s Best Dive Bars’. It was also voted one of ‘Top Ten Irish Bars in the World Outside of Ireland’, by the readers of the Irish Times, no less. You may recognise it […]
Band rehearsal photo by Dennis Cronin, also in the band and in the room. A Walk in the Park Thursday, May 26th, 2016 Prospect Park yesterday. A saxophone player practicing scales. A fiddler playing reels. Birds. Every shape and sound of barking dog. Flowers, trees, the city in bloom. Bicycle […]