31 December - Good Riddance

Not gonna miss 2020 one little bit. Let's see if 2021 can be a much better year, okay?

22 December - Early Friday

Today was my last day in the office until next Monday. Taking a long Christmas weekend, and hoping to get my feet up for a good part of it - maybe watch a bunch of movies. It's not like we can go out and party with friends, right? But hey, we knew this odd sort of Yuletide was coming, so let's make the best of it.

Yesterday was the Winter solstice, and also the grand conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter. It was fun watching them get a bit closer to each other (visually speaking) in the night sky over the past several weeks. If you missed their closest point yesterday, you still have a few more nights to enjoy seeing them up there together while they slowly drift apart again and drop over the Western horizon.

I'm not feeling down about the cold season arriving. Remember, we celebrate the Winter because we know the Spring and Summer sun are hidden deep within, just waiting for the equinox. Light a candle. Ring the bells. Love one another.

12 December - Utopia Parkway

THIS WEEK'S COMMUTE
M: Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy
T: U2 - How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
W: Peter Gabriel - Us
F: Fountains of Wayne - Utopia Parkway

My commutes will be few during this year's remaining couple of weeks, and as I've been mulling over not compiling these weekly lists any longer once the new year arrives, I've decided that this post will be the last one to feature them. If you've enjoyed them, I'm glad. But the coming months will be largely devoted to other content, much of which will concern my new album, which will be available on Bandcamp in late January.

For this final week, I chose albums by a few favorite frontmen, with Friday showcasing my friend Chris Collingwood. Chris and I didn't meet and form a friendship until a few years after this album was released, but it was Utopia Parkway that first made me a fan. In particular, the song Red Dragon Tattoo. Loved it immediately, and of course the rest of the record is fun as well. Hell, all their records have great songs on them.

This has been a strange year, and the death of Adam Schlesinger loomed large in the tragic reality of this awful pandemic. But I'm glad that I've got all the FoW albums to listen to, and their former lead singer right up the road. It's good to have friends, especially those who have become like family.

Have a look through my previous posts, the ones that have these THIS WEEK'S COMMUTE lists. In them are a lot of friends who I treasure and admire, and those in the lists are certainly not all of them. But perhaps by seeking out the ones I've mentioned, you'll find a way to meet the others.

We're all in this together. Be well, stay well.

4 December - 80s New Wave Hits

THIS WEEK'S COMMUTE
S: Pink Floyd - Animals
M: David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust
T: Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
W: Steely Dan - Can't Buy a Thrill
F: Out Out - 80s New Wave Hits

Yes, that's right. We came into the shop on Sunday. It was the weekend after Black Friday, and a lot of people ordered tubes for their amplifiers and other gear, and we didn't want to be swamped trying to ship them all on Monday. It's that time of year.

Today's CD in the car is a favorite by Out Out (aka Mark Alan Miller). I love this album. I love his original material too, but this is a wonderful collection of, well, 80s New Wave Hits. Check it out out, why don't you.

27 November - Experience

THIS WEEK'S COMMUTE
M: Led Zeppelin - "ZOSO" (you know, the fourth one)
T: The Motors - Airport (greatest hits)
W: Warren Zevon - Life'll Kill Ya
F: Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland

Once again, you've caught me listening to something other than a friend's CD in the car on a Friday. But today is Jimi Hendrix's birthday, so no apologies. He would have been 78 this year. Not necessarily old, but...beautiful.

20 November - It's Nice to be Nice

THIS WEEK'S COMMUTE
M: R.E.M. - Automatic for the People
T: The Rolling Stones - Black and Blue
W: George Harrison - Brainwashed
F: Pugwash - A Rose in a Garden of Weeds

Today's CD was the compilation of Pugwash songs put out by Omnivore Recordings in 2014, prior to the band's first visit to the USA. This is a fun album to have in the car, as it's a great sampling of many previous records. One gem after another. I was introduced to their music by Chris Collingwood, when he and I were recording what was to become my first solo effort, Wednesday Child. Soon after, we had all become pen pals (or the internet equivalent), and were swapping our music and much laughter across the waves from New England to Ireland.

 

Long story short (less long, anyway), I shared the bill with them for a number of New England shows on three of their American tours, and have many fond memories of our times together. The photo above was the last time I was onstage with them, October of 2016 at the Empire in Portland Maine. I'd opened for them at The Iron Horse in Northampton Mass a couple of nights before that.

Pugwash the band has had many lineups. These days Pugwash is largely its frontman and songwriter, Thomas Walsh. But during those tours, the band was rounded out by Shaun McGee on bass, Joe Fitzgerald on drums, and Tosh Flood on lead guitar. That's the band I will always think of, primarily because of the lasting friendships we all formed at the time. We may be distant geographically, but I love them like brothers.

Bottom line: Pugwash will always be one of my favorite bands ever.

14 November - Masters

Yes, I know the golf tournament down in Augusta is happening this week/weekend, but this post has nothing to do with that. After reviewing them for several days, and making a few minor adjustments to four of the nine songs, final masters for the album have been approved as of this morning.

13 November - Polite

THIS WEEK'S COMMUTE
M: The Autumn Defense - Once Around
T: Iggy Pop - Brick by Brick
F: Sitting Next to Brian - Polite

Today's CD is another one I played on. Brian Marchese is a great all-around guy who writes fun songs, but is perhaps better known for his drumming. Brian is a total pro who's well in demand around here. But in addition to being an ace behind the kit, he's put out a pile of records with a revolving collection of players that you might want to check out. Especially if an ear-catching blend of XTC and Velvet Underground influences (with maybe some Left Banke and early Kinks thrown in there) might appeal to you. It does to me.

Brian also has a cool podcast: Where's That Sound Coming From?

06 November - Mixes

THIS WEEK'S COMMUTE
M: Jeff Beck - You Had it Coming
T: Pogues - Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash
W: Motörhead - No Sleep 'til Hammersmith

F: Rick Murnane - Mixes

Yes. Today I have a CD in the car of my own stuff. Talk about narcissism, right? Not that bad yet, honest. It's one I burned yesterday of the mixes for the new album. All nine songs in the sequence they'll be in when it's finalized. This is a regular step in the process. It's a good way to see which tracks are louder than others, if any frequency jumps out annoyingly at the eardrums, or if anything needs to come forward - that sort of thing. Then you go back in the studio, make the adjustments, and create a new mix before heading to the mastering process. In mastering, one of the things one does is even out the collection so it's at (or pretty damn near) the same overall listening level, and is a cohesive whole rather than just a jumble of tracks. But hey, each step along the way means the project is almost done. I'm very pleased. And I hope you will be, too.

30 October - RMB

THIS WEEK'S COMMUTE
M: Tears for Fears - Tears Roll Down
T: Elvis Costello - Armed Forces
W: Eurythmics - Greatest Hits
F: Ray Mason Band - Don't Mess With Our Routine

Listening to Ray Mason again today. The whole band this time, and an album full of favorites. Our first snow of the season is falling this morning, and I want some neighborhood music. That's what this is. 

29 October - Album Update

The album is mixed. Its title is Rising in the Blue (the title song, in fact), and its initial release will be on Bandcamp. A short run of promotional CDs will be made, and we'll eventually order additional copies to have at shows whenever it's safe to play gigs again. Today I thought you might like to see what the cover art will be. It's a tarted-up photo illustration based on an iPhone image I snapped of the full moon seen through the branches of a tree on our property.

23 October - Hotel Massachusetts

THIS WEEK'S COMMUTE
M: Iggy Pop - Instinct
T: Beastie Boys - Ill Communication
W: The Rolling Stones - Let it Bleed
F: (Various Artists) - Hotel Massachusetts

Locals learned this week that the Sierra Grille restaurant in Northampton is closing. The significance of this is not just a sad fact for those of us who loved to dine there, but also because the Sierra occupied the space formerly known as The Baystate, a now-legendary music venue hereabouts (the building was once the Baystate Hotel).

I did not move home to the Valley until the scene there was well underway, and was never much a part of it. In fact, I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of gigs I attended there. But the place looms large in area history, and I inevitably became friends with many who were immersed in the Baystate goings-on. When this CD was released, I was pleased to be a part of its production. Not musically, no. But I did all the hand lettering of the liner notes, as well as the titling on the face of the disc itself.

The Sierra kindly re-opened the former performance space on Thursday nights, calling the series "Reanimate the Baystate," and featuring many bands who'd graced the space in its heyday, as well as new acts. With the Sierra shutting its doors, the future is obviously uncertain as to whether or not the next tenant there will make a space for music. Let us be hopeful.

16 October - Playtopia

THIS WEEK'S COMMUTE
T: Mark Knopfler - Sailing to Philadelphia
W: Jeff Beck - There and Back
F: Playmates - A Traveller's Guide to Playtopia

This Friday's CD: Jim Weeks, previously mentioned in these electronic pages, was also involved in this project. So was Mike Flood, a great guy who has also played many of the Transperformance events I've performed at over the years. Eric Payne rounding it out. Face it, it's a great big music family here in Western Mass, and we're all connected somehow. Playtopia was one of the few acts I actually saw at the now-legendary Baystate venue in Northampton. Fun stuff. Loud. But who are they here? Playmates? Or are they a guide unto themselves, Playtopia? There are no surviving internet links, sorry. I guess you had to have been there. But look, I have a CD.

9 October - John Lennon

THIS WEEK'S COMMUTE
M: Simple Minds - Glittering Prize
T: David Gilmour - About Face
W: Jimi Hendrix - Valleys of Neptune
F: The Beatles - Rubber Soul

Yes, okay. Fridays are supposed to be CDs by friends of mine. But today would have been John Lennon's 80th birthday, and I wanted to hear his voice. John met Paul the year I was born. I was watching Sullivan the night The Beatles made their USA debut. And I had just got back from band practice when I heard the news John had been murdered. Today I'm celebrating his life, not its sad end. John's music has enriched my time on Earth. If that's not a friend, I don't know what is. We all shine on. All across the universe.

30 September - Wednesday Friday

This week is gonna be a bit different. Wednesday is my Friday, and the real Friday is my birthday, which I'm taking off. Friday is also another Bandcamp Friday, and I'll be releasing a new single on that fine platform from the comfort of my cozy studio. So no commute CD by a friend this week. But I hope you stop by on Friday, click the link to the new song, and download it. Maybe toss a buck or two in the virtual jar. I did mention it'll be my birthday, right?

THIS WEEK'S COMMUTE
M: Pink Floyd - Animals
T: The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
W: Ramones - It's Alive

25 September - Scott Lawson Pomeroy

THIS WEEK'S COMMUTE
M: Marc Bolan /  T. Rex - 20th Century Man

T: Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers - Greatest Hits

W: Frank Zappa - Apostrophe (*)

F: Scott Lawson Pomeroy - Black Sheep Son / Saskatchewan

Got a double disc in the car today. Scott Lawson Pomeroy is an all-time favorite musician, a great friend, and one of the finest frontmen I've ever worked with. We've done a ton of different types of show together over these past many years - different setlists, different lineups, always a blast. You name it, from one-off duo dive bar gigs to showcase events and the annual Transperformance fundraiser, we've been there, done that. But adding to all of this, Scott is also a top-shelf songwriter, and this collection proves it. Go forth. Click the link and see why for yourself.

18 September - I B Sometimes

THIS WEEK'S COMMUTE

M: Jethro Tull - Aqualung

T: Aerosmith - Toys in the Attic

W: The Rolling Stones - Black and Blue

F: I B Sometimes - Your Paradise

This Friday: I B Sometimes was a recording project of my friends Ernest Senecal (who wrote the songs and was lead vocalist) and Jim Weeks, the wizard of Cloud Cuckooland Recording Studio. I've worked with Jim many times, as far back as the earliest Group DeVille CDs, and learned a lot about the recording process from him. Anyway, I loved what these two gents put together each time they released something. There was talk at one point of putting a live band together (with yours truly in the lineup) to perform some of the material, but this never came to pass. A favorite song (one of many) on this particular record is Every Now and Then, which reminds us "Every now and then the good guys win. Every now and then." 

11 September - Lonesome Brothers

THIS WEEK'S COMMUTE

T: The Rolling Stones - Beggar's Banquet

W: Captain Beefheart - Safe as Milk

F: Lonesome Brothers - Pony Tales

The CD in the car this Friday finds Ray Mason making another appearance, but this time it's along with Jim Armenti, with a favorite album from their long-running collaboration as the Lonesome Brothers. Some folks call this alt-country. I just call it good music. Great playing, great songs, and a hometown Pioneer Valley vibe that makes the Lonesomes a well-loved regional act. I've shared many a bill with these guys, and it's always a blast.

2 September - Out Out

THIS WEEK'S COMMUTE
M: Led Zeppelin - II
T: Peter Gabriel - Us
W: Out Out - Or

Wednesday is my Friday this week. The CD in the car today is a fave by Mark Alan Miller, whose musical project Out Out is a massive whirlwind of electrical machines, complex beats, wise and insistent lyrics, and assembled industrial brilliance. Or is the instrumental precursor to the vocal album, Deepsound, and is included as a second disc on that release. Today seemed like just the day for it.

You'll notice the commute playlist this week is three records with two-character titles. I assure you this was unintentional. It just happened that way.

28 August - Span of Sunshine

THIS WEEK'S COMMUTE
M: The Who - Who's Next
T: Elbow - The Take Off and Landing of Everything
W: David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust
F: Span of Sunshine - This Must Be The Present

This Friday: Steve Koziol writes all the songs for Span of Sunshine, and our shared appreciation of the band XTC is wonderfully evident in the ones on this record. Steve can actually capture that sort of madcap atmosphere much better than I ever could (trust me, I've tried and failed numerous times). There are whimsical turns of phrase, and delightful shifts in the structures of each tune that bounce between harmony and intentional discord all at once. Fun stuff. Span of Sunshine isn't copying another band, but the soul of its influence shows - gloriously.

21 August - The Fawns

THIS WEEK'S COMMUTE
M: X - Alphabetland
W: Garbage - Bleed Like Me
F: The Fawns - A Nice Place to Be

This Friday: Today's CD is the 2006 album from The Fawns, another wonderful band on Rub Wrongways Records. The Fawns are fronted by songwriter (and fellow fan of Gretsch guitars) Lesa Bezo. We've been sharing bills for ages now, and it's always a splendid time. A chance to hang out with these folks makes any venue a nice place to be. Also, be sure to check out their brand new release: TLA

14 August - Gentle Hen

THIS WEEK'S COMMUTE
M: Eric Johnson - Ah Via Musicom
T: The Go-Go's - God Bless The Go-Go's
W: Beck - Odelay
F: Gentle Hen - The Bells on the Boats on the Bay

This Friday: This 2016 Rub Wrongways release from Henning Ohlenbusch's marvelous band Gentle Hen is a gem. It's lighthearted and poignant all at once, and I adore the arrangements and vocals that surround and support Henning's voice. A particular fave is "Somebody Else's Problem," but they're all a ton of fun. By the way, I can promise you now that you're going to see many discs in these posts that come from the stable of musicians and songwriters that make up the roster at Rub Wrongways Records. Which is also Henning's record label. No it's not. Inside joke. Go listen.

13 August - Transperformance

It's happening. Join us. Click this link to learn more:
TRANSPERFORMANCE 30: LIVE AID, A Benefit Music Festival

11 August - Humidity

We're going through another sticky string of days. Yes, I know it's Summer in New England, but this year seems unusually unpleasant. Now here's the thing. I freeze all Winter long, and feel wholly justified in vocalizing my displeasure during the colder months. Because of this, I have been determined to never complain about the Summer heat. And I don't. But the current level of humidity is another matter entirely. And this is me bitching about it.

7 August - Ray Mason

THIS WEEK'S COMMUTE
M: George Harrison - Brainwashed
T: Elvis Costello - Mighty Like a Rose
W: R.E.M. - Monster
F: Ray Mason Band - Three Dollar Man

This Friday: Ray Mason is a Valley legend. He's also a friend and neighbor, living less than a mile down the road. He's a better guitar player than he'll tell you he is, and he's a marvelous bass player, too. Besides all that, he's an encyclopedia of musical history. He knows all the records, all the songwriters, all the personnel, the labels and years of release, all of that. In concert, he's one of the best storytellers around, and is a charming and kind soul off stage - a joy just to be around. He's put out a great big pile of terrific records, and I've seen him (solo, and with the full band) so many times I've lost count. This is a fun album. If you listen real hard, you can hear me singing backup (along with Sue Burkhart and Joe Blumenthal) on "You'll Never Play Here Again." Also, the songs "The Newsboy's Toss" and "Reverb and a Zip Code" are among my all-time faves by anyone, anywhere.

31 July - Colorway

THIS WEEK'S COMMUTE

M: The Kinks - Something Else

T: Iggy Pop - Instinct

W: Motorhead - The Best Of

F: Colorway - The Black Sky Sequined

This Friday: F. Alex Johnson is a helluva guitar player, and Colorway was his most recent project here in the Valley. The band's two lineups have been power trios in every sense of the word, with exceptional bass playing and drumming in addition to Al's star turn on the axes out front. On this album, the rhythm section was one I've also had the pleasure of playing with a few times (notably on some tour dates with the Irish pop-rock act Pugwash, but that's for some future Friday). Alex writes powerful, heartfelt songs, and delivers them at a level never less than 100%, whether on disc or live. He and his wonderful better half live in Japan now, and I miss having them around. At least he left some of the music behind. Crank it up.

24 July - Mystics Anonymous

THIS WEEK'S COMMUTE

M: Fine Young Cannibals - The Raw & The Cooked

T: The Bangles - A Different Light

W: Frank Zappa - Hot Rats

F: Mystics Anonymous - Dreaming for Hours

This Friday's drive CD is  Mystics Anonymous - Dreaming for Hours, an album I had the pleasure of playing on. The band is the brainchild of my friend Jeff Steblea, and is a collective of sorts, with Jeff at the center of a continually (r)evolving lineup of other players, all mutual friends here in the Valley. Jeff's songs always include the type of aural surprises that make me smile. You're listening along and mentally anticipating the next note or chord change, and then this other theme leaps out of the clouds and the song laughs at your expectations. Magic.

17 July - New Friday Feature

I'm starting a new thing today. From now on, my Friday driving music will be an artist or band that I'm directly connected with somehow. Following each This Week's Commute list will be a link to their music, and in most cases a little write-up explaining the connection and/or what I like about them so much. Here's the list for this week:

M: Elvis Costello - My Aim is True
T: XTC - Drums and Wires
W: Jeff Beck - You Had it Coming
F: Superkart - 4x4

This Friday: Superkart was a band fronted by my friend Sue Burkhart (say it fast and you'll get it). Every incarnation of this band kicked ass, and included many good friends in each lineup. I worked as Sue's guitar tech on a few occasions, and with five or six guitars and several different tunings, she kept me on my toes. The combination of Sue's and Adrianne's voices never failed to give me chills. I wish they were still around, but I'm glad we're all still in touch. Love to all.

10 July - This Week's Commute

M: The Who - The Who by Numbers

T: The Beatles - Revolver

W: The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers

F: Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy

1 July - This Week's Commute

Wednesday is my Friday this week, so it's a short list this time.

M: The Wallflowers - Bringing Down the Horse

T: Simple Minds - Glittering Prize

W: Fastball - All the Pain Money Can Buy

26 June - This Week's Commute

M: Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um
T: Jeff Beck - Blow by Blow
W: Frank Zappa - Tinseltown Rebellion
F: R.E.M. - Green

19 June - This Week's Commute

M: U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind
T: ‘Til Tuesday - Welcome Home
W: The Pretenders - The Singles
Th: Paul & Linda McCartney - Ram
F: Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark

17 June - Dream On

In a dream this past Sunday night, I was asked to describe to a class of music students what it was like to be a songwriter. Not how it's done, or what my process was, but what it meant. Here's what I told them.

It's called songwriting because it's a form of communication, and one of the most intimate. What songwriters do is lay bare our souls so that we might touch someone else's.

Yes. I'm way more cool in my dreams than I am in real life.

12 June - This Week's Commute

M: R.E.M. - Up

T: Berlin - Pleasure Victim

W: Garbage - Bleed Like Me

F: Thelonious Monk - Monk

5 June - Commuting Again

Well, since this was my first full week back in the office, I suppose it's time to start this little feature up again.

THIS WEEK'S COMMUTE
M: Paul McCartney - Run Devil Run
T: Sloan - The Double Cross
W: The Moody Blues - Every Good Boy Deserves Favour
F: Keb' Mo' - Just Like You

25 May - Memorial Day

Today is a day we honor our casualties of war. No parades this year, though. Just the usual ever-increasing count of those who have fallen. Perhaps 2020 can serve as a new stark reminder that it's stuff like this virus we ought to be fighting, not each other. As if. Don't get me started.

Here in Massachusetts, we've begun a cautious process of gradual reopening. My day job is in the sort of office that can start work again, in a limited fashion, and not be open to the public. I'm heading back in as of tomorrow morning. At first there will only be two or three of us on-site; most of the staff will continue to work from home.

It will not feel like getting back to normal. It will be strange. But as David Bowie once said, we must turn and face it.

ONE MORE THING:
I'd be remiss if I didn't wish all you hoopy froods a very happy Towel Day.

9 May - Virtual Concert

Plenty of cool online shows happening nowadays. I've had folks ask me if I'm planning to do this as well, and so far the answer has been no. I've been concentrating my efforts on laying down tracks in the studio instead. But here is a live performance I did in the office of the Valley Advocate back in 2017, if you'd like to see me wearing a collared shirt and a jacket with real lapels. I'm also wearing a Gretsch acoustic that I don't own anymore.

Click here:  Advocate Session - Rick Murnane

5 May - Cinco de Mayo

In celebration of the Mexican army's victory at Puebla over the forces of France, I am going to make tacos today. In the meantime, I am drinking black coffee and looking at amplifiers on the internet.

Enjoy your day, wherever you are.

17 April - One Month Gone

According to the calendar, I've been away from the daily workplace for a solid month as of this past Tuesday. And while it's the right thing to do, and while I have plenty of projects and diversions to occupy my hands and brain, this sure doesn't feel like a vacation.

Sure, I enjoy time off as much as the next person, but the reason behind these days at home is deadly serious, and pokes holes in any attempt to be fully at ease with the downtime. Each new case, and every loss of life affects each of us to differing degrees, but there's a constant stream of discomforting news that's impossible to ignore, at least for anyone with any shred of empathy. The sorrows that affect us directly are always acutely felt, but even the cases that aren't on our doorstep are still out there, and we can't help but be aware of them. We feel them, like a soft and tragic undercurrent that won't go away. It's like a tinnitus of the soul. It nags.

But then again, it probably ought to. We need to take heart, stay strong, and hold onto as much optimism as we can muster, but we also can't afford to ignore the very present danger the daily numbers say is still very much with us all. In doing so, we risk losing our humanity. Let's not let that happen.

The only way through this is out the other side. Together.

30 March - Days and Nights

Just logged off the state unemployment site, where I requested my first UI check of the furlough. There's no joy in this, just a sense of very slight relief in the wallet department. I suppose this is the new Monday routine until we can return to work. All I know is that this isn't much fun; it definitely feels more like house arrest than playing hooky. There's a real weight of seriousness to all this, and our mortality is really quite sharply defined right now.

A lot of performers (many of my friends included) have been filling up social media with living room concerts now that none of us can get out to the venues. I'm not inclined to do this, but it's really odd to not be able to play for people in a real life gathering, and I hope these at-home broadcasts are enough of an outlet to help folks get through these strange days and nights. My musical efforts at staying sane are all studio based. I'm lucky to have a place here at home to record, and my focus is on that. It's a very comfortable, familiar thing; there's no immediacy that's missing, no absent rapport with an audience and other players. There's just the project at hand, like there would be if we weren't in shelter-in-place mode. So it feels normal, one of the few things that does. Whatever gets us through the night, right?

Once thing I'm wondering is how much people might be missing live shows. Not talking about artists. We know we miss playing out. But what about the folks that in the past might have given in to the idiot box instead of our gigs and just stayed home? My hope is that when this is all over, they'll have a renewed sense of participation. That they'll remember what this quarantine felt like when they had no place to go or weren't allowed to go there. I hope they'll get off the couch more often.

Be safe, be well. Make some music, even if no one can hear it yet but you.

26 March - Saving the Dates

Thanks to this global pandemic, it appears that these pages are turning into a journal of the plague months (if I may borrow slightly from Daniel Defoe, who in his time borrowed more heavily from Samuel Pepys). At any rate, I had intended to post in here more frequently, and now there's plenty of opportunity. I mean, look at this. Two entries in two days.

If you glance at the right-hand portion of your screen, you'll see that my list of upcoming shows is still there. Will they happen? Anyone's guess, but I'm not taking them down until after they do, or in the event that they're postponed, and they haven't been. Is that positive thinking, or just wishful? Think what you like, but I'm still defaulting to optimism.

Stay home, stay healthy, and stay in good spirits.

25 March - Furlough

Many of my friends do not have outside employment. They rely on gigs and freelance or contract income, and I'm feeling for them right now. Been there, and suddenly not having that work is a struggle I fully understand. At the moment, I'm relieved that I decided to re-join the regular workforce a few years back, and was lucky to find something in a music-related industry. I also realize how lucky I am to have something steady to return to, once this current threat has lifted.

But here we are, at least for a while. As of yesterday, my place of work has shut down, for who knows how long. As I had already been placed on hiatus a week ago, today marks the day I became eligible to apply for unemployment insurance, and I took care of that this morning. Massachusetts has its act together, thankfully. The online process was straightforward, and as long as the layoff is temporary due to the Covid-19 situation, there are no job-hunt searches and reports required each week.

As long as the system approves my application (and there's no reason for them not to), I'll be able to get my first check next week. And then I'll be able to put what I can of it back into the local economy. Life goes on.

Be safe, be well, be creative.

19 March - Equinox & Isolation

Spring has arrived here in the Northern Hemisphere as of today. I do like the simplicity of the "meteorological" seasons, but there's something more official about the actual equinoxes and solstices, the days that mark four precise points along the orbit of this tilt-a-whirl globe of ours.

At my daytime place of work, we began our COVID-19 quarantine protocol on Tuesday, which means the only entry in this week's commute list will be the disc I listened to on Monday. For the next couple of weeks, I will be doing the self-isolation thing at home, so the list of my commute music will also be on hiatus. We're scheduled to return to the office on April 6th, barring further steps being taken (by the state, for example) to extend the quarantine.

I encourage you all to distance yourselves from as much real-life contact outside your home as possible. I'm impressed at all the creative efforts folks are making to stay in touch, whether through social media or all the other modern-day methods we've got. These are strange days, but we are a delightfully resilient species.

And it's fun to joke about what songs to scrub to, but really: wash your hands thoroughly and often. Don't give those tiny viral bastards a surface to cling to. Be smart, be well, be of good cheer. We'll get through this together.

This Week's Commute:
M: Led Zeppelin - III

13 March - Cancellation

This past Saturday, some wag on Twitter pointed out that this was going to be an odd week. Daylight savings on Sunday, a full moon on Monday, and then Friday the 13th. And while such an alignment can be amusing, simply throw in the threat of COVID-19, and we have even more weight behind the weird.

Speaking of which, tonight's gig (The Prestons and Jim K at the Friday Night Cafe) has been cancelled by the venue/organizers thanks to Coronavirus concerns. And although we're disappointed about not playing, it was the right choice.

Stay home, stay healthy. We'll see you when we can.

This Week's Commute:

M: Aerosmith - Pump

T: Dire Straits - On Every Street

W: The Replacements - Hootenanny 

F: Bangles - September Gurls

This Week's Commute.

Last year, I started posting a "This Week's Commute" list over on Facebook each Friday. The lists were of the CDs I listened to in my car on the drives to and from work that week. And as I pointed out on Twitter recently, yes, I have a day job. You can't expect me to maintain this level of comfortable obscurity on music alone. Granted, my day job is still somewhat in the music business; I work for a vacuum tube supplier. Vacuum tubes are those little bottles full of emptiness that we put electrons through to make our amplifiers go. 

I've cut back on my involvement with Facebook, and so have decided to post these lists in here instead, beginning today. I'm thinking this might be a good way to update this page more often, and this way I can simply post links to the lists on whatever social media I'm not angry with that week. Or you could even bookmark this place and check in regularly.

Oh, and by the way: I have a four day workweek now, so it's only going to be four albums from now on. Thursdays are my mid-weekday off, so you'll have to guess what what was playing in the house that day.

And so (drum roll), here's the first list for 2020:

This Week's Commute:
M: The Beatles - One

T: XTC - Drums & Wires

W: Ramones - It's Alive

F: REM - Green

Gig Poster.

Looking Forward to LATE Winter.

I still stand by the sentiment of my November post, but at this point Spring will definitely be welcome when it arrives. In the days between that last post and this one, I've been toying with the repertoire, working on new material, and ironing out how the next album will actually go. It looks like my schedule will allow it to be completed this year, and I'm now pretty certain which songs will be on it.

Today I started work on the promo art for the first show of the year. This will be a Prestons gig, and it falls on Friday, March 13th (hence this post's title nod to Late Winter), when we're booked to play a double bill at the Friday Night Café in Cummington. We'll be sharing the night with a true Valley legend, songwriter/guitarist Jim Kaminski.

In fact, you can probably expect the next post in here to be titled Gig Poster. That seems to be what I do. In the meantime, stay warm.