Save the Date! April 2nd 2019 

They're here!

I've been digital only for a number of years now but due to demand for physical cd's, we've made the decision to make 'Masks' available on cd as well as digital.

Promo copies of the disks have arrived and they look fantastic!  Many thanks to photographer and graphic designer, Shane Tanner, for patiently executing my vision!  The artwork is HOT!

April 2nd is the official release date for 'Masks' on CDBaby, iTunes, Apple Music and other outlets but if you can't wait, direct message me on…

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Gods on Earth are What You Are! 

I'm excited to be wrapping up my latest project!

 

'Masks' is a five-song EP, and a follow-up to "Justice League," the single I released in 2014.  Some of these songs have been a part of my live set for years but a live acoustic setting was never what I planned for them.  In the arrangements on 'Masks' I pulled in elements of punk, post-punk/alternative, metal, and prog rock.  I wanted these songs to sound fabulous and colorful and weird, just like the mighty figures of modern myth who inspired them!

 

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I Have Only Love 

2019 is a year of new beginnings.  My first studio cover (of Fleetwood Mac's "Gypsy") comes out January 22nd.  I took this opportunity to blend folk rock arrangements with EDM in order to take the listener on a journey.  The eponymous gypsy travels from desert byways haunted by hand percussion to the dark funk of urban dance floors and then back to the peace and endless skies of the desert.

Since I was a child, "Gypsy" has been one of my favorite songs.  The lines, "I have no fear / I have only love"…

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Out of the Cauldron 

Sans Merci was born at the crossroads.  "The Ledge" was the last song I wrote in Florida before moving across the country.  It was born from the powerful personal experiences I had at a spiritual retreat for queer men in September of 2017.  As I drove across the continent I was hypnotized by the dust devils.  I arrived in California with the Santa Ana wind at my back and it was there that "Dust Devil Dance" was created.

This is the kind of music that I always wanted to make.  I've had producers tell me to…

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Album Review: The Lillies ROCK! 

THIS is the kind of music radio needs.  The Lillies’ self-titled album highlights their ability to explore diverse musical styles while staying faithful to their signature sound.  The opening track, “Who Cares,” has HIT written all over it.  An art jazz intro segues into a rockin’ guitar riff that supports Bonoesque vocals and introduces the listener to The Lillies’ world of sonic magic.  “Just Breathe” features powerful lyrical imagery and a passionate guitar solo.  “Maria” illustrates the band’s ability…

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Spring 

Today is the last day of Winter and I feel like this Spring will mark a new beginning in many aspects of my life.  I’m starting a new day job, which, I pray, will allow me to further my music career.  If you’ve been around the scene you know that most musicians either have day jobs… or are on the verge of homelessness.  It’s even more challenging for a solo singer-songwriter because it takes money to record, publish and promote new music.  And recording is more important to me than performing live.  There…

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Lyrics 

Yesterday marked the release of "Colleen Mine!"  This is a very special track because it's a fan favorite at my live shows but I seldom perform it anymore because it's the sort of quiet ballad that requires a subdued atmosphere for listeners to be able to hear it.  It's a very old Irish song about unrequited love but I chose to re-title it because "Coinleach Ghlas an Fomhair" is a mouthful... even if you speak Irish Gaelic. (Try saying 'Cunna Gloss un Oh-air' and you're pretty close.)

I also worked out an…

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Fallen Warrior 

They say Aaron Swartz did “the unthinkable” in taking his own life.  I hear people singling out his “mental health issues” as the cause of his suicide.  One person even said, “An innocent man does not commit suicide.”

I disagree with this entire line of thinking.  Yes, in our culture, most of us are taught that suicide is a selfish act.  To take one’s own life is considered symptomatic of deep mental illness, perhaps even insanity.  Many of us are even raised to believe that suicide is a sin.  We have…

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Roots 

Your fearless hero has just returned from The Big Apple.  As much as I love Florida, part of me will always belong to New York.  That is where my family had their start in this country and when I walk amongst the hills of Fort Tryon Park, where the stones themselves always seem to speak to me.  There are so many layers of our nation’s history, my family’s history and, now, of my own personal history enfolded within the shadows of the old castle-like buildings that rise above the Hudson River.

Having grown…

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If a corporation can outsource my job then I can outsource a corporation's services 

In a nutshell, Mr. Kirtsaeng is a college student bought some textbooks overseas (where they are cheaper) and then sold them here in the US on Ebay.  The US publisher of these books (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) is crying 'copyright infringement' and has taken this all the way to the Supreme Court.

I'm sorry.  If you want a 'free market' then it's gotta be free for everybody.  These companies reserve the right to ship our jobs to china then I reserve the right to buy my shit directly from China where I can…

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