Phase One of the Nerf Barricade steampunk conversion is complete: Main body colors changed from “please don’t shoot me, officer, this is a toy gun” to more subtle shades. The bright yellow became a hammered bronze look (which does that right out of the can… SCIENCE!). The orange parts became a more realistic gunmetal grey, […]
There are those for whom the best days of their lives were their teenage years- high school, summer break, all the romantic crap that John Mellencamp and Brian Adams sang about in the 80’s. Then there are the rest of us whose high school years were made a living hell, mostly by that first group […]
The following is a response I sent to a reporter from Billboard asking for comments on the future of the music industry. Don’t know if they’ll quote any of it, but here’s a slightly modified version of what I said. I’m a full-time piano rocker (meaning I don’t play cover gigs, don’t have a day […]
As a former theater/choir kid who wasn’t exactly a model of popularity growing up, I believe it is very important that you watch this. I made my contribution to the anti-bullying sentiment three years ago with a song called When Consequences Come. I wasn’t made aware of this issue because it’s a popular internet celebricause, […]
It seems a little weird that, less than a year after releasing a new album, I would spend so much time and energy on a disc I launched back in 2007. And yet there I was on stage last Saturday in San Jose, warming up what I could only describe as a thousand-robot ballet. Every […]
In my last post about creativity I introduced you to my imaginary friend, Fazaar. He lives in a thoroughly constructed world that I’ve been building inside my head for the past twenty years. Now what? What’s the purpose of all this detail and what are my responsibilities to this being whom, for all intents and […]
I still had an imaginary friend in College, his name is Fazaar. He is a six-foot-tall osprey that drinks too much and is a cynical bastard. Imaginary friends are kind of a misnomer, actually, they’re real. Everything is real- ghosts, leprechauns, Narnia, sparkly vampire teens… all of it exists. Descartes once theorized cogito ergo sum, […]
If you haven’t read Emily White’s post about how she’s spent her life stealing music or David Lowery’s thoughtful response on his own blog, I’ll give you the tweet-length version: Kids today download music because paying money is inconvenient to them; the thought of purchasing songs doesn’t even cross their minds. You’re better off reading […]
For the record: I’ve never actually lived in New York City. In fact, when I wrote the chapters about Dexter Peterson living in New York City, I lived in Nashville and had only been to the Northeast once or twice. Now that I live in Boston, I almost feel like a traitor for opening the […]
For as long as I’ve been writing short stories I’ve struggled to formulate plots and environments that immerse, entertain, and provide an escape for the reader. I say “struggled” because every time I write, that’s what’s happening. Some authors can craft fantastic realms that are so real and so engaging in a single brainstorming session […]
I’m starting to wonder if people actually listen to themselves as they speak. Watching Michelle Bachmann or Sarah Palin is enough proof to the contrary, but in this case I’m referring to ordinary people, far far from the political spotlight. They’re aunts, parents, friends, even teachers who should know better. They all say the same […]
I am not a revolutionary. I am only a Voice, just like you. I did not begin as a Voice, I began as a listener. Like many music fans I spent my childhood plugged into radios, tapes, even an old 8-track. I listened to the music that was given to me by those who controlled […]
