mic check

So I hosted my first ever open mic last night and, aaaah, success. Hands clapping indiscriminately for people of all skill levels and from all walks of life. Blessed encouragement, the foundation of all creativity.

The weather was breezy with a dash of inner warmth. An open mic outdoors was definitely a great idea and one that I'll be pursuing again in the near future (probably July).

bipolar confusion

nothing makes you more frantic than confusion.



and nothings settles better than acceptance.

It'll be on tv, but I'll probably miss it

I haven't watched tv in about a year. The cancellation of my favorite show, Carnivale, turned into a personal protest, which turned into a genuine distaste for television.
Nonetheless, I will be appearing on WCNY tv on July 31st. Aside from a short showcasing of my music, I'll be talking about mental health (both my own and in general). more details to come.

heart of a genius

I've been covering some Michael Hedges tunes lately. He was an extremely nice man who was a pure genious musician. Here he is playing at Kent State U. in '85. I saw hime open for Crosby, Stills and Nash when I was a kid. I don't know how he did it, but he spun around and around in circles very fast, all the while playing an insanely beautiful and complex guitar part. He died on the California coast in a car accident after visiting his girlfriend. I don't know how many people know of him, but this was a great loss for the music world. Time and agin, I think about it.

luck, circumstance, timing, all that

It's difficult to try out a non-practiced genre. It's like starting a totally different religion in the Christian heartland. You've got to sell yourself. But I ain't a salesman, so I'm relying on the music to do that for me. Damn. I hope I hit the nail on the head this time.
peace

the snake in my yard

This is the snake my brother Dave found in our yard a few years back. It was eating a black squirrel. Our family lives outside Syracuse, NY, where giant snakes are not thought to inhabit. But this monster was as big as a python. It dropped twenty feet out of a tree and we stood around watching it engulf its prey.

the perils of climbing a ladder

My dad fell off a ladder the other day while chainsawing, and luckily he's pretty much okay healthwise (I won't even go into why a guy in his sixties is chainsawing on a 15 foot ladder).
Anyway, today, while sitting in a doctor's office waiting room, I read a short article about the increasing frequency of ladder-related injuries.
Emergency room visits due to ladder falls are up 50% since 1990. In short, people are falling off ladders...a lot.
I find this very curious. Are peoples' basic balance and motor skills getting worse? Are people climbing on ladders while under the influence? Or are they just chainsawing carelessly?

my sister

My sister Elena is an excellent singer and is doing all of the female vocal parts on my upcoming album.

Last night she called home from Boston at 2 in the morning ecstatic.
She went to see one of her favorite singers, Ari Hest. She was in the front row watching the concert.
For one of his songs, he let the crowd know that ordinarily Norah Jones sings on it but he would do it alone.
However, my sister's friends screamed up to the stage that Elena should sing it. Before she knew it she was hoisted onto the stage.
She told me that Ari looked at her and said something like "You can actually sing this song?"
Of course, my sister is no joke and was fully ready to perform.
So she blew the crowd away. which surprised many of them. But it's no surprise to me. My little sister kicks ass.

Different Metals

Two days ago I saw silver bullets streak the silver screen.
I saw the silver medal go to all three contenders.
Gold is gloomy and symbolizes too much pain. It uses paper money as its stand-in.
And it hides behind the walls of banks.
Chrome sheens on a new car, but dents too easily.
The gangster's got a mouth full of metal jewelry.
I brush my teeth to avoid getting metal fillings.
My grandma's got titanium hips.
Brass soothes you as you fall asleep on its timeless bed.
Brass horns sing their joy and melancholy.
You may fall asleep kind of blue.
And wake to a solitary bugle.
As one man is laid to rest, trumpets lament in unison.

-Ben

Hasta una hora desconocida

The weather's nice out, I've got music to play and an album to mix. So I deleted my myspace accounts. The internet is a curse and a blessing, but I'm practicing restraint right now.