I'm a musician, writer and photographer, born and raised in New York City. I make my living doing technology for online news and media.
Discreet Harmonica: New album coming soon. Previews available in-person only. Contact
She Had the Will (Etta James, 1938-2012)
Blog post: Saturday, January 21, 2012
I’m playing Etta James today. Not her old stuff. I’m listening to two records that might not exist at all had she not been such a tough woman. I like her 50s and 60s stuff just fine, but for me, … Continue reading Epyphony
Blog post: Saturday, January 7, 2012
A day late, here’s this week’s ImprovFriday contribution: Epyphony (Three Kings Suite). We three kings disoriented are Guided by an unmoving star Beacon calling morse reminder Hopelessly following yonder star I was always fascinated by the legend of the kings, … Continue reading Epyphony (Three Kings Suite)
New Song: Saturday, January 7, 2012
I was always fascinated by the legend of the kings, and by the modal monotony of the holiday song, which probably presages my love of old-time music.
So Many Morning Coffees
New Song: Saturday, December 17, 2011
I know it's hard to understand the words. That's the point.
Send your music out into the world and it will come back to you more wonderful than before
Blog post: Saturday, December 3, 2011
This was the first week in many months that I was able to contribute a piece to ImprovFriday. And it reminded me why I’ve missed it so much. ImprovFriday is a worldwide online collective of improvisational musicians, using all kinds … Continue reading Fried, A Night
New Song: Friday, December 2, 2011
The end of a long week. This simple piece began as an experiment with my recently acquired Moog ring modulator. I built a drone up by layering the same note on a low F harmonica. The ring modulator was more or less tuned to the note, and the rest of the modulation is just my attack and embrochure. Then I kicked up the modulator frequency quite a bit, and played some very gentle riffs on the same harmonica, up higher, varying the LFO amount with an expression pedal. I sampled the drone, and some of the riffs, into the Kaoss Pad, and use one of its nicer delay settings. That was then looped into the EHX, still my most frequently used looper. I like the textures of this piece, and the combination of very gentle playing on a low harp with the harsh edge of the ring mod.
Lonesome Moonlight Waltz
Video: Sunday, January 31, 2010
Quick run-through of this lovely fiddle tune, which my friend Rick Shields likes to play at jams, but for the fact that I get the chords wrong too often. So I finally sat down and learned it right. Well, mostly....She Left Me In the Red
Video: Thursday, August 6, 2009
Performing my song "She Left Me In the Red" at the 2009 Augusta Heritage Festival, with Joe Newberry, Mike Compton, Ann Downey and Clay Buckner. It was an amazing honor to sing with a backing band like that!Annabelle
Video: Thursday, August 6, 2009
Accompanying Amanda Lynn Stubley on her version of Gillian Welch's "Annabelle," at the Augusta Heritage Festival, summer 2009.
