April 26th Lizard Lounge Show

Great show at the Lizard Lounge this past Saturday night, although it was not sold-out like I thought it would be. Rick Berlin and Peter Linnane opened the night and I was able to catch a few songs.

Rick told a story about his 7-year old nephew who was in a coma after a snowmobile accident. Upon awakening, he asked his Uncle: "Uncle Rick? Do you still love me?". Rick said that this question has got to be one of the most courageous questions anyone can ask. He went on to sing "DO YOU STILL LOVE ME (for Sammy)".

The one thing that makes Rick Berlin stand out is his courage and humanity. Actually, it's his courage to be human. In his performances, he is a solo act behind a piano - naked and alone. He speaks of love. He speaks of the pain of not being loved. He sings about loneliness and he sings about community.

His mission as an artist is unlike anyone I know. As I see it, he performs to bring people together with each other and with themselves.

Peter Linnane gave a stunning solo performance as well - solo acoustic guitar with nothing else. He is a master craftsman with such a tender heart.

After these two I was next, and it was hard to get out the first few songs without holding back a tear. I felt a little out of control and wondered if this was not cool with people. Surprisingly, listeners usually love the honesty of my moments.

Article with Brookline Tab Newspapaer

Great article written by Francis Ma in the Tab Newspaper. He was mainly interested in the personal story behind creating the album. Bits and pieces of my life are now in print, making me feel somewhat naked. However, the courage and openness of this act outweighs my vulnerable position. After all, it's not like I'm the only person to ever be divorced and depressed.

Song Stories - making Phantom Heart

This is a short film by Ted Resnikoff that captures the personal story behind the songs on "Phantom Heart". Dawn Kamerling, my publicist at The Press House asked me about music videos. Because the record was really about vulnerability and openness, I decided that a short personal documentary would be more appropriate than a slick video with a lot of fast edits. Also, everyone has a music video... The other purpose of this film is so that the press can get the inside personal story within 9 minutes.

Shooting Peel Away Music Video

This video was shot by Franky Butkus - entirely in super 8 film. I chose super 8 because I felt it would express the emotion and darkness of "Peel Away".

I met Franky last year on Craigs List when he posted an offer to shoot some super 8 film he needed to use before it expired. We went on top of my roof deck and I played through the tune a couple of times. After that, we just drove around Waltham, MA shooting from the car window. The camera sounded great and I'd love to use the clickety clickety sound at some point in a song.

Phantom Heart Artwork

The cover below is the final artwork for the Phantom Heart CD, which was released on 3-25-08. For a while, I had a completely different cover (the chair to the right). 

An old friend of mine, Matt Condron, is a painter whose subjects are often empty chairs. I always liked his paintings and was inspired to come up with something similar. An empty chair in a room really speaks about the person who sat in the chair. The person is no longer there - who was this person? Why did they leave? 

In the end, the image did not capture what I was going for. Finally, by sheer accident, I was screwing around with a photo of Margaret and I and came up with the final artwork... The final artwork speaks volumes about the love and longing that Phantom Heart is about. Plus the image is much more provocative than an empty chair.