I will skip the apology to the faithful millions who follow my blog.  Yes, it’s been nearly four months but I have been busy.  So very busy.  Not too busy for you.  Just generally busy. But in the last few days, having lost my voice to a flu (and talking too much) I have been re-awakened to the power of the written word.  That, and I miss you all.  All of you millions.

On temporary speechlessness, I have discovered a few things.  I hope that these observations serve as a heads up to those unlucky enough to lose their voices. Don’t worry — it’s not all bad.  Here are a few things you can expect:

1. When you whisper, other people whisper back.

2. When you do not speak, it is disorienting to people.  Awkwardness is heightened.

3. When you temporarily get your voice back it may be your instinct to begin using it as you ordinarily would, even pushing your vocal chords to their limits.  Don’t do that.  It’s dumb and your girlfriend will scold you.

4. People are nice.  When you mouth the words to a cab driver, “I lost my voice,” he will say, “Oh, I’m sorry.”  When you point at a coffee cup to indicate the size of beverage you wish to order, the barista will take it in stride and smile at you.

5. You may become conscious of all the unnecessary words you utter on a regular basis just to “fill the space.”  When you recover, you may discover how to communicate more effectively and to become more comfortable with silence!  (The second part of this is only my hypothesis.  I still can’t speak.)

Now I am not the foremost authority on voice-losing — this is only my first experience with the ailment and I expect that it will be temporary.  I certainly hope so, because I have got two rehearsals this week and a European Tour Kick-Off show at the Living Room on Friday with my good friends Rob Kovacs (Return of Simple) and Steve Waitt.  Saturday I fly to Belgium and then on to Germany — so that will make 8 shows in 10 days.  Ouchy. If even a small percentage of you millions would say a prayer for me, I am sure that my voice would double its recovery speed.

Anyway, having lived the experience of my four month blog silence followed by my four days of actual silence, I have been able to reflect thoughtfully on the notion that consistent (and legitimate) blogging is not easy!  Following in the footsteps of my good pal, Casey Shea, who I give full credit for encouraging me into the blog game, I turn now to Tumblr for what I expect to be a more Matt-friendly blogging experience.

I only hope that my adoring millions will play along.

Once again, the Puppet Playlist delivers.

In addition to putting on yet another awesome show full of wildly fun puppet acts and awesomely unusual song covers, Josh Luxenburg & Jon Levin deliver with some beautiful video captured during the 9th installation of this great event, entitled “One Hit Wonders.”

Highlights for me include introducing Paul Basile of Great Elk to the puppet scene (he covered “The Promise”), watching Eric Wright & Co. of Puppet Kitchen do a stupidly fun puppet homage to The Darkness, and of course, sharing the stage with my honey bear, Melissa, for the first time (at the same theater where we met at Playlist #2), as we covered “What’s Up” by the Four Non Blondes, a performance which got us invited to audition for America’s Got Talent. Ridiculous.

All those performances and more can be seen here at The Puppet Playlist Website.

And my “No Diggity / Axel F” mashup can be seen and heard here:

If I were able to clone myself I would have used my other Matt to capture a lot more video from the Paul Simon tribute at Bar Four this weekend.  Sadly, this little tidbit of Jessi Robertson’s take on “Mrs. Robinson” was all that I got.

Oh well.  I’ll just have to refer to my memory banks to revel in the musical goodness from this killer LC Tribute — Matt Cranstoun’s bluesy “Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes,” Bryan Dunn’s pop-rocky “Me and Julio” (I whistled on that one) and tribute organizer Paul Basile’s dark and melancholy “Homeward Bound,” which felt like a Leonard Cohen-Paul Simon love-child.

Those were just a few.  People really need to keep their ears open for the next LC tribute.  They are always very, very good.

The very next night, I did a reprise of “Boy in the Bubble” with the band.  Dan Jeselsohn and Taylor Floreth accompany me on this classic from Graceland.  And yes, I am dressed as Sergio Ramos, defender for Real Madrid and the Spanish national soccer team.  Can’t you tell?

Local Correspondents (LC) is so tight-knit a community that it is a fairly common occurrence to see and hear one LC musician playing a rendition of another’s song. I myself have covered the songs of a number of LC artists, including Blip Blip Bleep, Lowry, and Wynn Walent, all supreme talents whose music has inspired me again and again. Joel Cohen, aka Sticker Dude, is also building quite the reputation as being an “LC Cover Guy,” digging into some choice LC tunes, learning the chords (more or less) and sharing with the masses his own unique interpretation of his favorite numbers, almost always played after a descriptive monologue and several preparatory strums of his guitar.

Now it appears that the tradition is being passed down through the bloodline as Joel’s son, Dylan, aka Sticker Junior, blessed the stage last night at the Bar Four open mic with his own take on a Casey Shea original.

At about 1:45 through Junior shifts gears into another piece, possibly something original, similar in feel to the earlier part of the song and distinctly different from what one might hear listening to Casey’s own version of Good Man, which can be heard on his most recent full-length release, Love is Here to Stay (Family).  It is worth a listen.  And if you want to hear it  live, go to one of Casey’s CMJ shows this week — Rockwood Music Hall on Thursday, October 21st and/or The Living Room on Friday, October 22nd.

A long time ago in a borough far far away, I recorded a little known 2-song single, called Words of Mass Destruction, inspired by the Bush Empire’s respect for human life… and war mongering.  One of the tracks, White Men/Grey Suits was one of my first attempts at delivering a hip hop song and one of my very few co-writes — Dan Jeselsohn, longtime friend, bassist and producer, made the beat and I wrote the lyrics.

The other song was celebrated by a few dozen people back in the days when you might find me at Sidewalk Cafe a little more frequently.  Years pass and apparently some people remember.  More than that, some people get inspired… enough to make a video!

My old friend, Mike Estler recently created a video for The Clones.  It is pretty damn good.  And if you have any fondness for Star Wars or Legos or Star Wars Legos, then you will probably enjoy this.

This is the 2nd Matt Singer video to come out in just a few weeks to which I contributed ZERO creative thought.  If anyone would like to pick up the torch and continue in this new tradition, I welcome your efforts!

Something special is happening upstairs from the Living Room. Danny Lanzetta has put together an inspiring roster of writers and musicians to perform at Googies, every Sunday in September. His weekly residency has featured the writing talents of Minju Pak and Andrew Cotto and the musical stylings of Paul Basile (Great Elk) and Clyde (Misty Boyce & Nick Africano).  This past Sunday (Part III), I played a round robin with Bryan Dunn, who even dabbled and doodled a little on lead guitar when I invited him to do so.

I appreciate that Danny is doing something new, particularly for singer-songwriters and their audiences, opening up our world to a different kind of storytelling.  Andrew Zornoza, who performed last night with me, is proof in that pudding, as he tells tales of a lonely, broken-down, and gritty West, with beautiful photographs (also taken by Andrew) to accompany these stories.

While Danny’s vision in organizing these nights must be credited, his truest talents lie in his brilliant wordsmithery and his unusual ability to tap into the beauty (and the ugly) of life.  He is also a hell of a performer, bringing uncanny passion into every syllable he utters.  Here is a taste:

Make a point of seeing the fourth and final residency night at Googies this Sunday, September 26th at 8:00pm, which will include the stories of Joe Salvatore and some of my favorite songwriting pals, Emily Easterly, J. Seger and Chris Cubeta whose band The Liars Club takes the Danny Lanzetta experience to even greater heights.  If you’re lucky, Danny might break out a bright green plastic guitar and shred nastily.

Oh, and fuck Bill O’Reilly.

Pacing myself in taking in the natural beauty of the Lofoten Islands in Norway, I allowed myself a brief respite at the local bar-restaurant, Skjaerbrygga, which Melissa pronounces Shy Bugger.  Really though, it’s quite charming.

So too is this lovely video that my friend just pointed out to me on YouTube.

As you can probably tell by watching, I didn’t have anything to do with the video and its maker didn’t even tell me about it, but I’m flattered.  The artist known as Brignogan101 has other vids that you can check out.  Thanks, whoever you are!

It is doubtful that Local Correspondent’s (LC) decision to host a Weezer tribute night at Bar Four had anything to do with the band’s newest album, Hurley, which will be released to the masses in less than a month.  If anything, the fact that the theme was “The Blue Album vs. Pinkerton” implies a certain disdain, or at the very least, indifference toward every Weezer album that followed these two masterworks.  That being said, my experience that night rekindled a distinct affection that I have always had for the band.

The night initially had “disappointment” written all over it, when the band (whose members shall go unnamed) that was to play Blue (my fave) canceled.  But the lowly singer-songwriters came to the rescue, playing some beautiful renditions of choice hits, both from Blue as well as lesser known Weezer albums. There was even a song that can only be found on the Mallrats soundtrack, Suzanne (one of my favorites), which was performed admirably by Bucky Hayes. I also performed a banjo-fied version of In the Garage.

When the solo minstrels stepped down, the rockers stepped up, and they went by the name of Gary Atturio and the Pinkertons.  Words can not aptly describe the level of intensity that these fellows brought, and the term “destroyed” gets bandied about by many in a variety of music scenes, but here the word applies.  Just watch Eric Feigenbaum wail and Jeff Berner (of Chris Cubeta and the Liars Club) shred on Getchoo and you will understand my meaning.

Big ups to Great Elk’s Paul Basile and LC for putting together yet another stupidly fun tribute night.  For those unfamiliar with LC Tributes at Bar Four, you have missed some great ones, including Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen and Gillian Welch.  Undoubtedly, there will be more greats to come.

I must take a moment to give a shout out to an awesome person and a great Family friend, Jeff Jacobson, for his new company, Abatab.com, which connects musicans to their fans… through sheet music.

Yes, Jeff has turned his talents to supporting artists by making available the guitar (and ukelele!) parts of songs to music lovers for a reasonable fee (3 bucks!) and the artists receive a “healthy” chunk of the duckets.  The songs for which sheet music is now available are from some of my favorite people, including The Bowmans and Wes Hutchinson and a number of others are free, with a free mp3 to boot (What?!).  A few of the freebies include songs by Bryan Dunn and Jessi Robertson.  YES!

And it looks cool too.  The website is quite tasteful, user friendly and a total pleasure to check out — just go to the “Preview Tab” icon on any of the available songs to see what I mean.

Big ups to Jeff, for continuing in an ongoing state of ass-kicking.   Needless to say, his amazing songs still bounce through my head with great frequency.  Lunch in the Park (Family Records), an EP recorded live with Chris Cubeta at Galuminum Foil Studios is a collection of songs that everyone should get their hands on.   And it’s free, proof eternal that great minds think alike.

Here’s a thing you should know.  I made a new friend.  His name is Ryan Hobler, and he is the front man for an awesome band with whom I performed at Pianos, a few days ago, for Liberated Matter’s Cross-Pollination, #295.  He and I played three cover songs for our shared set at the end, including Simon and Garfunkel’s Keep the Customer Satisfied, Fleetwood Mac’s Go Your Own Way and The Beatles’ I Me Mine (we specifically wanted to go with three bands who were kind of unknown). 

When working out the arrangements for these songs, the night before the show, I realized that Ryan’s voice is one of the most beautiful that I have ever heard.  So, I suggested that we start drinking beers as a way to get him drunk enough that I could find out the secrets to its startling gorgeousness.  My wily subterfuge worked.

Here it is:

1. Procure 4 sticks of butter, unsalted

2. Place them in large bowl at room temperature for 45 minutes

3. Check that butter is properly softened, not melted*

4. Using a teaspoon, slowly consume the butter

*Note that drinking melted butter directly from bowl may result in the opposite of the desired effect

Oh yes, the band is called Sunroom, probably the chosen name because the Sun shines bright yellow, like butter. You would be a fool not to check them out, here.