About a year after that, my uber talented friend, Tom Curtin remembered that tribute and suggested that I submit my songs to something called The Puppet Playlist, a bi-monthly event that showcases the talents of both puppeteers and musicians paying homage to an artist or to a theme.  Unfortunately, I submitted my music too late to be considered for their debut evening, which happened to be a Tom Waits tribute, but I have played the last four Puppet Playlists…

#2 – The Magnetic Fields

#3 – David Bowie (which I performed with Pearl and the Beard’s Emily Hope Price)

#4 – “The Seven Deadly Sins”

#5 – “Country Music”

The organizer of the Playlists,  Josh Luxenberg and Jon Levin have put together five amazing evenings over the course of a year and all signs point to The Puppet Playlist continuing to kick ass… Word on the streets is that Playlist # 6 will be a tribute to They Might be Giants.  Keep your eyes on that by visiting the new website… HERE!

Here’s a video of me throwing down at Playlist #4 this past December, for which I used “Dynamic Public Speaker” to say a little something about one of my favorite sins — VANITY!

But at the 11th hour he came back, casually approaching the shore in the row boat, this time in a surfer’s stance, with a look that said, “Hey! That was no problem whatsoever… what the hell is for dinner?!?!”

I love Wynn.  And I could not have been happier with the fun times we had last weekend, short as it was.  Beers at El Sombrero, whiskey at Bar Four served by Paul Basile, late night greasy food at Purity Diner, topped off by a hell of a show at Union Hall on Saturday, that included Beau Jennings (and his ridiculously big and luscious new band) and Mr. Basile’s continually awesome Great Elk.  The four of us played well and the snow didn’t seem to stop anyone from showing their love.

Excellent times.  Farewell, Wynn.  Come back when you can.

Thanks to Chris, Jeff and Gary for all your amazing work in making things sound so damn good, thanks to the players, Dan, Misty Foster and extra special guests, Paul Basile, Ivan Sandomire and Kevin Johnston (you take my breath away) for giving your best to the audience, and thanks to the fans, new and old, for making the experience a truly special one.

My apologies to Pearl and the Beard, The Blood Sugars and Dinosaur Feathers for my lack of presence at your CMJ show tonight at Pianos.  Now that I’m out of my funk, I need to enjoy this moment with myself.  Good night.

With that said, I turn to a rather frightening subject, not for the faint of heart, and certainly not entirely telling of the remainder of our great times on the road… shortly after being issued a speeding ticket on our way from Ithaca to Boston, the boys stopped at a roadside gas station.  And here’s what my iPhone (Steve) found:

Thus far, New Jersey and Pennsylvania have treated us far more kindly than New Hampshire — packed shows, enthusiastic new friends and warm beds in which to sleep were the stories of Montclair and Philly, whereas our finest moment in Portsmouth probably came when our show was over and we enjoyed our first cool breeze since June.  But we have hope for New England and our next few days in Vermont will surely be awesome.  I have few doubts.

More than anything else, I have enjoyed the people with whom I have shared great times — namely the boys from Great Elk, whose songs are starting to feel like my own.  Above we can see Paul and Patrick enjoying a mid-day PB & J on the Trinity College main quad before taking on New England.  But everyone has been amazing.  From my back-in-the-day MHS homeys, to our face-painted friends at Chernobyl to my new friend Ahmed, a Turk who has come to the states to study theology, almost all the people we’ve met have been great to us.  And those who haven’t do not really linger in my mind.

We move on.

While his daily routine might not be predictable, his go-to look for work is. In the five years since Wes moved to New York, his style has evolved into a tailored uniform that reads business not boring; urban but with a European sensibility. Button-down oxford shirts, skinny ties with a tie bar, and fitted jeans are standard form for Wes. He avoids the quirky yet ubiquitous pairing of Converse sneakers with business wear in favor of the traditional—he sticks to brown or black leather shoes for a polished look. “For the most part, I aspire to pursue a timeless look, with hints of the modern age in terms of cut,” explained Wes. “On a style level, I admire guys like Robert Redford, Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Robert Downey Jr., and Daniel Craig.”

After three weeks of running around like a madman producing, rehearsing, writing, recording, mixing, and barely sleeping, I finally have a day off…….and what perfect timing.  Now all I have to do is DESTROY tomorrow night at The Gramercy Theatre!

Once again, we pushed finishing the singles to the very last minute, but all that matters is that they’re done……and that means you can download the final installment of ABCs for FREE here! I really hope you download them, and if you don’t have volumes 1-5, get them while you’re at it.

Remember, sharing is encouraged….drag the songs or zip files right into your IM windows and send it to your friends at work….yes, it’s that easy….why else do you think the music industry is dead!???

Also, a really nice article was written about me by the great Christina Morelli.  She did an amazing job of making me sound much cooler than I really am, so please take the time to read it!

Hope to see your smiling faces out tomorrow night….It’s gonna be a great one!  I should hit the stage around 9:15, but come early to see the great Matt Singer start the night off at 8, followed by the wonderous Pearl And The Beard….don’t worry about staying around for Wakey!Wakey! though…..it’s cool, he’ll understand…..