Song Talk with Morry Campbell

World AIDS Day Concert

Hey kids,

This past weekend, my good friend Terry Christopher and I went up to contribute our talents to Newburgh, NY's World AIDS day event, organized by Markus Payne. Terry videotaped the event, and here is his (our) rendition of the song, Wade in the Water. Hope you enjoy it.

xo,

M

Gordon Smith and The WAVOS rock the Alphabet Lounge

On Saturday night, Barry and I went out to see my good friend Gordon Smith, and his new 80s Band, the WAVOS. Okay, so an 80s cover band doesn't have too terribly much to do with songwriting, but it's a hellofalotta fun. They do a fantastic job of recreating songs by bands like Fine Young Cannibals, Simple Minds, and Men Without Hats. Special guest Virgo came to the stage for a great rendition of Frankie Goes to Hollywood's  Welcome to the Pleasuredome , and Soft Cell's Tainted Love . Great songs. Fun band. And if there's a drummer who's more fun to watch than Anthony, I'll eat my...well, I don't really have a hat I wear much. He plays with an exuberance and joy that would be hard to match, is my point. 

Which brings me, sort of round about, to a point about being a singer/songwriter: you need your covers. No matter how much you love performing your own stuff, people like to hear things that are familiar. Which means for most of us covering other  people's tunes. And Gordon and the Wavos do a great job covering these other bands, and even got a couple originals in on the sly at the end of their set. Brilliant self-promotion. And perfect "product placement" in putting them last in the set.

So thanks, Gordon, Anthony, and Joe, for a great set, and a fun evening. And Happy Birthday, Gordon.

Songtalk Podcast: Dan Manjovi, Part 1

Well, as promised, here's the first installment of Songtalk Podcast. To download the podcast, right click with your mouse (or control-click on a Mac) and select "download linked file" or similar command, here for the mp3 file.

I'm taking the maiden voyage with the incomparable Dan Manjovi. In this first installment, we talk about Dan's evolution as a songwriter from his first CD to the second, harmonic vocabulary, writing a lyric as opposed to writing a poem (a good poem is not necessarily a good lyric, and visa versa), and the blues. Look for part two, and possibly part three, of our conversation in the coming weeks. It seems we had a lot to talk about!

You can visit Dan on the web and/or listen to and buy his music at his website, at CDBaby (Woke Up This Morning here, and the self-titled Dan Manjovi here), and on his MySpace page. His music is also available on iTunes, Emusic, Rhapsody and Napster. You can read more about Dan below the fold.

Happy Birthday Mr. Wilson

It turns out that the first cross-link I received for my songwriting blog didn't come from a songwriter. It came from a playwright. A damned good playwright, and a writer I've admired and counted as my friend for close to 14 years now. And, it so happens that today is Doric Wilson's birthday.

So Happy Birthday, Doric. Barry and I had a simply mahvelous time at "The Restaurant" with you, and was lovely to see Jane again, and sit and chat with your "old" friends. Hope your 29th was as good as your last 29th, and that you have many, many more 29ths to come. And thanks for the link.