music

I've put up a new page for my music over at infamous.net.

(Why two sites, infamous.net and unreasonable.org? Partly historical reasons, my original intent years ago was to separate my professional from my personal/political site; but now infamous.net is my more static site, whereas I post ongoing updates and pointers to news stories here.)

The past few months my musical endeavors have started to pick up steam again, with a regular gig at Leadbetter's, and work starting on a CD of my original music - I go into the studio Friday.

Hello friends! Happy New Year!

It's been an interesting one here. For those of you I haven't seen in a while: my father had heart surgery this spring (to replace a bad valve), has recovered nicely. We finally settled my grandfather's estate, selling his house; an emotional burden resolved, and a financial resolution we needed (my father having been unable to work for a while, due to the surgery and the condition that necessitiated it). I felt 50 pounds lighter the day after we settled on that house.

This year I traveled to San Francisco for the AOBTA convention; Chicago for the 20th anniversay tournment for the Seido Karate branch there; and Osaka to see my friends Robin and Eric and, well, it's Japan, enough said! I'm now scheming if I might be able to get back to Japan for a longer stay.

With all the energy going into the family stuff, my shiatsu practice has been slow to start, but it is getting moving. (That website again, www.EarthTouchShiatsu.com...tell your friend with the stiff neck or the aching back...)

My music seems to be picking up some momentum, too. For those of you local, I'll be playing the first and third Wednesdays of the next few months at Leadbetters' in Fell's Point (selected Baltimore Magazine's "Best Dive Bar" 2005) from 4-8pm. I'm also looking at finally getting off my butt and recording a CD of my originals.

Slashdot refers us to this BBC story about the Music Publishers' Association trying to shut down web sites with music lyrics and scores, including wanting to lock people in cages for sharing the words to songs.

Somehow, it all seems...familiar. Back in 1998, I was interviewed for a piece in the Baltimore Sun about an attack on OLGA, the on-line guitar archive, where musicians share their interpretations of songs, by the Harry Fox Agency.

Excuse me while I repeat myself: Music is not a crime. Music is all about sharing. Performers share with the audience and performers share with each other. That's the folk tradition. We now have a new technology of information that renders the old laws obsolete. We need laws that recognize that the sharing of information is what makes us human.

Fourth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks today. I thought I'd post some things I've previously written. First, a little previously unpublished piece I wrote on the first anniversary:

Sept 11 2002

The Bards of 9/11

The show must go on.

Here it is, one year later. I'm back at the bar where I spent most of the day on that fateful famous Tuesday. I had a gig that day, my regular Tuesday evening gig at Leadbetter's. After spending the morning and early afternoon glued, like much of the nation, to CNN, I realized that I had an appointment to play music.

To play! Music! What a trivial activity at such a time. I wondered if I should bother, if anyone cared. But I also wanted to go somewhere, be around other people - a common impulse that day. So I threw my gear into the Toyota and drove down to Fells Point.

Up late tonight, getting the website up and also putting together some wooden pre-fab storage furniture from Target. Some nights are magic, dancing around bonfires until dawn; some are mundane. Chop wood, carry water; administer website, re-arrange bedroom.

Mundane, that is, except for the music. I finally opened up the CD I bought from Chris Chandler a while back, "Convenience Store Troubadours". Wow.

Some of you have heard me rave about this guy. Well, I'm going to do it again now. Check him out. Spoken word + folk music = "folken word," as he puts it. He's living in Maryland now and I'm hoping to turn more friends on to his work.

Hear some of his stuff in RealAudio at http://www.puremusic.com/listenten.html (scroll down a bit to the links for "Chris Chandler & Anne Feeney", "Chris Chandler & Convenience Store Troubadours", and "Chris Chandler". Do it! Do it now!