Welcome ...

writing, sort of

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:47:43 -0500

Not sure if it’s fair to call it writing. But Stan gave me a chunk he’s working on that’s sort of stuck in my head. Good thing or not? Let’s say mixed. But it is kind of fun to be working on something. Not that I’m sitting around. Maybe I should say good to be working on something creative. No, that’s not right. I’m working on a book too. Okay, good to be writing music - sort of.

fun!

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 16:08:36 -0500

Well, St Louis was a lot of fun. The Border’s show was weird. Game Night. When I got there the tables were already full of people playing board games. Not looking for musical entertainment. Polite enough, but I was background music. And really quiet. The guy working the coffee counter around the corner - literally 20 feet away - said afterward he couldn’t hear what I was doing. Perfect!

But then I went across town to a real club. Cicero’s. People actually faced me when I played. Took a little getting used to. And I was loud, which I like better than quiet. It was a 16+ show so most of the people looked REALLY young. But they still seemed to enjoy it. They paid attention. Clapped. No one said, “Yuck, Grandpa! Go home!” So that seemed like a success to me.

inspiration

Fri, 6 Jun 2008 09:12:13 -0500

Haven’t really been writing lately. That’s pretty common after finishing a record, though it is starting to feel like it’s been a while. Anyway, it’ll come. Always does. Something sparks something else and suddenly the dam opens.

Speaking of which, Peter said something last night I thought was especially interesting. (Pretty much everything he says lately makes me smile. But this one stood out.)

We were talking about the thunder storm going on outside. We could hear the thunder but weren’t seeing any lightning. He said, “Maybe the lightning is somewhere else getting food for the thunder.”

Maybe so.

meet me in St louis!

Fri, 30 May 2008 10:15:12 -0500

Well, since Omaha went so well, I’m going to try a similar thing in St Louis. Actually even more. Two shows in St Louis, Tuesday June 10th. Borders at 7 and Cicero’s at around 9.45. Both shows solo acoustic. (I guess that’s my new thing now.) Going to be a long night for my old self. :-)

Borders
11745 Olive Blvd.
Creve Coeur, MO 63141
Phone: 314.432.3575

Cicero’s
6691 Delmar Blvd.
St. Louis, Mo. 63130
Phone: 314.862.0009

Hey, borders was fun!

Wed, 7 May 2008 10:28:04 -0500

Just back from my Borders show in Omaha - and my QBQ talk in Norfolk, NE. Fun! Both went well. It was a little funny wedging my way in between the poor folks who were already in the cafe enjoying their conversations in peace. But they were polite enough. Didn’t seem to mind too much. So I played, they sort of listened, clapped politely. Could have been a lot worse. Many shows HAVE been a lot worse. :-) So I’m guessing I’ll do more of those. Too late to pull one together for Charlotte next week, but hopefully St Louis in June.

Also, good news - Evil Genius won an award at the Great American Song Contest. Nice deal. More on that later ...

D.

Nashville

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 09:49:11 -0500

Just back from a great trip to Nashville last week. Following up on some people I met at SXSW. I was really impressed with how nice people were. Open, generous. Weather was perfect too. Might not be too bad to go back now and then. :-)

Now I just need to find some shows!

I’m going to be doing some in-stores at Borders stores as I travel around doing the QBQ talks. Should be interesting. First one is at the end of the month in Omaha. These will be solo acoustic, which is kind of fun. But I really want more full band shows too. So I guess I better go call some people ...

D.

cd party stuff

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:50:51 -0500

This isn’t actually from the party, just the run-up. Nice clip of the new band playing “Jet Boy” on KARE11. Sort of fun.

More to come ...

D.

perfect ending

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 00:25:14 -0500

Sort of took it easy today. Couple of panels. Discovered some money I have coming from a service that collects royalties for satellite radio and web play. That was a nice surprise! Met some nice folks, and bumped into some old friends I was hoping to see. Perfect! So that’s it. Overall, a good thing. So now it’s home tomorrow and getting ready for the CD party this next Friday.

Back to the real world. :-)

sxsw day 2

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 22:40:23 -0500

Okay, starting to get toasty now. My plans crumbling too. I expected to see a couple of panels today. And go to the Spin party. And play to some folks this afternoon. The panels got shortened and/or interrupted by meetings. (Which is good. Meetings are more important. Just had to shift gears.) Missed the Spin party too. Another meeting. And my set - I played to literally no one. It was me and the four people working there. They were nice though. :-) And tonight, there were so many more not-that-good bands. I decided to toss it in early and head home.

But here’s the big surprise. Went back to the club I spend the most time around - because I know the people hosting the bands there. And I had my first celebrity sighting. Pretty good ones too. Sean Pelton. Most of you won’t know him, but he’s the drummer for Saturday Night Live. One of the best around. And - ready? - Rachel Ray. How big is that?! Her husband was the lead singer of the band with Sean Pelton on drums. Tiny little club. She was standing directly opposite her husband. And she probably could have reached out and touched him from there. It’s that small.

To be honest, the drummer was the best thing in the band. Didn’t really like them otherwise. Sort of posers, with a foul mouth. I’m afraid she didn’t marry well. :-) But man, was there ever a buzz around her. She’s pretty huge. And from what I could tell, was also very gracious. It was a treat to see her.

Then, walking back to the hotel, I go by the DirectTV booth I mentioned last night and Moby is in there being interviewed.

And best of all, when I got back to the hotel, the ice cream stand was still open! Perfect.

So - what’s up for tomorrow. No idea. I surrender.

‘Night.

sxsw day 1

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:29:30 -0500

Holy crap. This is so nuts. I don’t know why I decided to rent a car. Think I honestly forgot I meant not to. Anyway, it took me 45 mins to get 7 miles from the airport to the hotel. Most of it the last half mile. (Not bad by LA standards, I suppose. But not good for me.) I was exhausted by the time I got to the hotel. Am I too old for this? :-) Seriously though. I probably am.

2 hours later I make it out to the clubs for round 1. Did I mention this is nuts? Bands/noise everywhere. And so many people. Women/girls wearing things they will be embarrassed about before too long. And will definitely not let their daughters wear.

There’s one intersection on 6th street with super bright lights, like something’s going on there. There is a mobile set from directTV off to the side. So maybe it’s just there so they can see the wildlife walking past in the background.

Anyway, there are some serious preacher types gathered in the lights holding banners about repentance, the time is near, etc. I get a look at one guy holding the biggest sign and all I can think is the guy has a lot of courage. A lot of belief. Good for him. I think he’s nuts. But good for him.

Saw a couple bands I liked. Finally discovered a stage that wasn’t a small club. Stubb’s barbeque. Nice treat. Lights and everything. :-) The other highlight so far is a brat stand, “Best Wurst.” Really great brats. Grilled onions, kraut, mustard and curry ketchup. Guy is working his ass off, cranking out the food. I bought a T-shirt to go with my brat. He said, “Are you the real David Levin?” Made me smile, even though he was just reading the name off my SXSW badge.

Most of the bands I saw though made me wonder about the selection criteria. Seriously. I’m probably biased. But I really think by any objective measure my band is simply better than a lot of these. It just is. And the songs especially. So I don’t know. What’s the festival about? I know it’s not flattering or original to complain about such things. So okay. I’ll try to be good. Hard though.

Tomorrow starts my first day of panel discussions. Several I’m excited about. Going to the invitation-only Spin magazine party tomorrow too. I am SO connected. :-) And of course, my solo set at Nuno’s. That should be interesting. I’ll let you know how it goes ...

‘Night.