Song Talk with Morry Campbell

Happy 2010

Here's to a great new year, and a fresh decade, for everyone. One song down for 2010 already, and another one coming. How's your songwriting coming along?

Back after a long hiatus

Hey all,

It's been a long break, but summer is a crazy time, out of town, yada, yada, yada.

But we're back for another season now, so look for more podcasts and more music news in the coming weeks. Next up, the beautiful Julie Clark talks to me about her music.

See you soon.

xo,

M

More songwrity goodness from JRP

On Thursday evening, my good friend and fellow songwriter John Raymond Pollard allowed a few of us in my songwriting group to preview his new CD, entitled simply Dreams. And what a treat it was. From the whimsical, thoughtful Living an Alternative Dream, to the austere, haunting The World of Tarot, to the final rocker The Divide (By the Time I Get to Phoenix), this is a trip worth taking. We sat in what ended up being the first hot and humid evening of this unusually cool summer season, drinking some delicious wine (also provided by John), and taking this thoroughly enjoyable musical journey.

True to the title, there is a dreamlike quality to many of the cuts, achieved from the artful use of synths, guitars, percussion and horns. John's guitar work on this CD is some of the best I've heard from him. And he's backed himself up with some hot, hot musicians.

Although the CD is not available yet, it will soon be available, and I'll announce it here, and you can bet the John will have something up on his own website.

Thanks, John, for a truly wonderful evening of music.

More internet trouble

Hang in there. I'm having more connectivity issues. Hopefully back soon.

M

Think before you check your guitar

United Airlines broke this guy's guitar and wouldn't take responsibility. Here's his revenge. If you can book anywhere but United, do it.

Wrong Podcast...my apologies

If you downloaded the podcast from the link inside the post, you got a second copy of Terry Radigan, part 2. My apologies. The error has been corrected, and just in case here's the correct link as well.

Resurrection

Sorry for the disappearance. You plan on keeping up on your blog, providing interesting material to keep people engaged, and then Life happens and you wake up and realize your podcast is late and you haven't posted a blog in more than a week. But I'm back, life is good, and you can expect the next podcast before the weekend is out.

Happy  Pride, everyone.

xo,

M

Interesting writing experiment

I was in an Alexander Technique workshop recently that asked me to write down ten things I want using my right hand, then again using my left hand. I was terrible at writing with my left hand. But it intrigued me. If indeed the right hand is wired to the left side of the brain, and the left is wired to the right side (an oversimplification, but stay with me here), wouldn't it make sense that using the left hand to write with, using both hands to write with at the same time, would be a great way to integrate the two hemispheres of the brain? I've been trying it. I write in my journal with my right hand, then answer with the left. I have little conversations back and forth with myself. I suppose that's a little schizophrenic, but it's an interesting ongoing experiment.

Try it. I got a great song verse out of my left hand. Perhaps my right hand would have thought of it too, but it didn't.

I'm off for a few days to visit some family in Minnesota. Will see you all when I get back. Have a great week/weekend.

xo,

M

Back to the basics

Manny's Music in New York City is closing its doors at the end of this month. Kind of. For years now, it's been owned by the mega music store chain Sam Ash, and now it's going to become the Sam Ash guitar store. Apparently not even the current staff is going to change much. So yes, Manny's Music is "going out of business," but it's been out of business for years. It's just now the name is gone as well. But being a good guitar player, I made my pilgrimage to 48th street and 6th Ave to pay my respects. I do eventually need a tele and would love a hollow-body, and I'm still toying with the idea of getting a more versatile bass.

Of course, with current budget concerns, I still  couldn't afford anything I wanted. I found a few cool guitars and basses, but the price tags on all, even with the deep discounts, were too rich for my blood. But I did find a couple method books. Not wanting to leave empty handed, I bought 2 guitar method books and a bass method book, and I've been playing out of them every day.

It's reminded me that I need to stay in shape as a musician. I'm working mostly out of a guitar method book, which is mostly scale exercises in all positions up and down the neck of the guitar, and I'm struck by how out of shape I am. Sometimes, with all the worrying about what my next blog is going to be, or when my next songwriter's event is going to be, or what my next song is going to be about, the need to stay technically proficient on my instrument gets lost in the shuffle.

So thank you, Manny's Music, for reminding me that I need to be a musician first.

We're baaaack!

Thanks to the magnanimous and monumental efforts of the TypePad tech support team, we're up and running again. Special shout-out to Jen, Brianna and Kymberlie, who all helped to resolve the issue.

One of the reasons I decided to go with TypePad as opposed to blogspot or other free services, is that I'm not the most HTML-savvy guy in the world, and part of the deal here is you get great tech support. And once again, they came through. So thanks again, Jen, Brianna and Kymberlie.  You rock.

Julie Clark: Preview of coming attractions

I sat down and had a simply mahvelous chat with the vivacious and talented (and multi-award-winning songwriter) Julie Clark. We talked for over an hour about her music, her knack for writing story songs on par with the Beatles' She's Leaving Home, her plans for future growth as a songwriter, etc. I found her to be generous, gracious, and very easy going and down to earth. And frankly, I could listen to her sing the phone book. Rarely do you hear a voice as captivating and inviting as the voice of Julie Clark. Look for the first installment of her podcast, coming in June. In the meanwhile, you can check her out at her website.

Blog trouble

Careful observes of this blog have noticed by now that the column of links that usually appears along the right side of this blog has disappeared. For some reason, it is now showing up at the bottom of the page. I am aware of the issue, and I've got a ticket into tech support. For now, look at the bottom of this page for the "about this website" link, and links to songwriting resources, artist pages, etc.

Thanks for your patience, and I'm sure the issue will be resolved shortly.

M

Having a wonderful time

Wish you were here.

xo,

M

Montana is lovely this time of year

I'm going home. I'll be checking email sporadically, but the blog will be updated as usual. The only difference is that the next podcast will come out on Saturday, May 9th. Next up is part 2 of my terrific chat with the elegant and gracious Terry Radigan, followed a few weeks later by the next installment of my sublimely enlightening conversation with Dan Manjovi. Have fun with the writing assignment, check in for my "absentee" blog posts, and I'll see you in a week.

Thanks for stopping by.

xo,

M

CORRECTION: Typo in the May songwriting challenge

Thanks to my good friend John Raymond Pollard for bringing the typo to my attention: In the May songwriting challenge, the chord progression is correct the first time it appears, i.e. I--V--vi--IV

In my detailed explanation, I reversed the vi and the IV

So, just to be clear:

Major ONE chord, Major FIVE chord, Minor SIX chord, Major FOUR chord, back to Major ONE.

I apologize for the error.

M