: A Concert, a Gig, and a Release – Oh My!
Here’s hoping that everyone here in the North Jersey, NY metro area has survived this week’s deluge. We took some water in the basement – it was a fairly large sized PITA sopping up the residue but all things considered we were lucky.
Last month I told a tale of woe about my troubled relationship with modern technology. Here’s another:
I wanted to buy a new carrying case for a loudspeaker I use on gigs. I found one that looked really good, but it was only available on eBay. No problem, I’ve bought stuff on eBay before, I know how to do that. However, I needed to double check on something before buying. But the only way to contact the seller was by getting an eBay account. Sigh. Yet one more way for my information to get stolen.
So I create an eBay account, reach out to the seller and got the answer I needed, OK, let’s buy this bad boy, I fill out the forms, give my credit card details, press Purchase and got this message:
“Purchase declined, you are not eligible to make this purchase, blah, blah, blah”
Hmm, I must have done something wrong, let’s try again.
“Purchase declined, you are not eligible to make this purchase, blah, blah, blah”
I try 5 different ways to no avail. WTF? I’ve bought stuff on eBay, why is this being declined. What’s different? After all, I even have an account now. So what’s different?
Hmmm. I have an account now – that’s what’s different.
I log out of eBay, fill in the forms, and. . . my purchase sales through. Hah-hah eBay! I tricked you!
N.B. I found out after the fact that if you have an eBay account, your first purchase must be under $100 (or something to that effect). But that was nowhere mentioned anywhere during the process.
Meanwhile, there’s a bunch of different stuff going on this month. In chronological order there’s a concert, a gig, and a new single release.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Thursday September 9th 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM
A Concert of New Music for Strings & Electronics
Little Church Around the Corner
1 East 29th St, New York
Season 1, Episode 2 of my string quartet (SQrt) is being performed this coming Thursday at a concert put on by the New York Composer’s Circle (NYCC). This concert features a number of pieces by NYCC composers, my piece is last in the program. In case there was any doubt, I am not performing in this piece.
SQrtSeason 1, Episode 2 is an homage to movement III of Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132 as filtered through Memphis R&B. The middle section was inspired by Bettye LaVette’s version of Where a Life Goes (written by Randall Bramblett) from her album Worthy.
You may purchase tickets here or at the door. The recommended price per ticket is $20, students are free. Please note that NYC now requires proof of COVID vaccination for indoor events. Masks are optional but still recommended. I can report that this church has high ceilings and plenty of room to spread out, so it is as safe indoors as any place can be.
https://newyorkcomposerscircle.org/
Sunday September 12th 8:00PM -12:00AM
Better Off Dead at Great Notch Inn,
400 US-46, Woodland Park, NJ 07424(973) 256-7742
As this is a Sunday gig we start at the much more reasonable hour of 8 instead of the usual 9. If you have never been to “Da Notch”, I recommend trying it out at least once – it’s a unique experience. If you’re concerned about COVID you can stay outside on the porch – or even hang around in the parking lot and admire the “hogs”.
http://www.betteroffdead.com
https://www.facebook.com/Great-Notch-Inn-45741843010/
Friday September 17th – Sticky Glue release
On September 17th, Sticky Glue will be unleashed on an unsuspecting world. Sticky Glue is a novelty song that I co-wrote with lyricist Joe Colletti, it was composed/recorded in 1983. The actual recording was done on a 4 track Teac cassette tape recorder (technical readers will understand this) in my bedroom; so by today’s standards the sound quality is somewhat lo-fi, but it has this goofy charm to it.
Why release this now? Well, I had finished up a bunch of new compositions that sounded really good to me, and I was a bit intimidated as to whether I could keep up the quality. So while I was dithering about, my daughter Hannah (who is wise beyond her years) said “Hey Dad! Do Sticky Glue!” Now I had played this for my family when the kids were little and they loved it. It must have made an impression because 25 years later Hannah remembered it.
But there was no way I was going to start from scratch and re-record the whole thing. So I did my best to clean up the old recording and – while there are some technical glitches – it still sounds pretty good to my ears.
But I’ll let you be the final judge. On Sept. 17th Sticky Glue will be available on all major platforms including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, etc. Or if you can’t wait, you can get an advanced version here on Bandcamp.
And…. For extra globs of glue, you can get the. . . . Extended Version