They keep coming

"Tiny Specks of Delight, the song, video by Zach Von Joo:

The One

A new video!

La Bretagne en Eté

This town has been good for my music playing...last of note, I recorded a live video with Chris Carlone. He produces a series called Live at Carlone's that he started in New York City. This was the first West Coast session! He's also an amazing drummer and multi-instrumentalist, multi-talented guy. We had fun with the mirrored angle, and there's even a little interview in the beginning- that you might be able to watch, unlike me; watching oneself talking on camera...weird!
I love how this came out though, take a listen:

Tiny Specks of Delight

Exciting news! - first of all, I am pleased to announce a new partnership with the San Francisco-based record label Kitten Charmer (Kristin Hersh, Crime, Carletta Sue Kay). Kitten Charmer is releasing my new EP, Tiny Specks of Delight. It was co-produced by Monte Vallier (Swell), and as of October 2nd, 2012, is available on every digital platform worldwide - iTunes, Amazon, eMusic, Spotify, MOG, you name it, it's there!

We're celebrating with two California shows: one in San Francisco on October 14th, and one in Los Angeles on October 19th.  If you are around these parts please come and say hello! The San Francisco show will include the premiere of a new video for the title track - produced by Kitten Charmer and directed by our favorite Bay Area filmmaker, Zach Von Joo. We'll be at the Make Out Room, with the Moore Brothers and Eight Belles. The L.A. show will take place at Origami Vinyl, everybody's favorite record store on Sunset in Echo Park. And- I will have a band for the San Francisco show (with special guests!), and some accompaniment on drums for the L.A. date. Getting excited!

I have to admit I am very proud of this collection of songs and love how they came out sounding. Here's peek at the cover, and a few words about it:

"With instrumentation varying from very sparse (guitar, harp and pedal steel) to full band arrangements, the songs on Tiny Specks Of Delight encapsulate a certain idea of the West Coast sound - breezy and open -  while offering a reflection on that eternal process of falling in and out of love - each song centering around a different point along love's roller coaster of learning and liberation.  Contributions by Tom Heyman and Marc Cappelle (both long time Mark Eitzel collaborators), Russ Blackmar, Matt Montgomery, Willow Willow, Chris Molla, Christina Zirker, Amber Lamprecht and Bennett Grassano, make this a bit of a more produced collection than the last album."

Also available through Midheaven.

Carole King

A little sad to have just finished Carole King's new memoir, A Natural Woman. I felt so inspired as I found myself immersed in her unending world of musical creativity. Some facts are just extraordinary - I was amazed to find out that she was only 18 when she wrote this song with Gerry Goffin for the Shirelles, including the string arrangement (I always loved that one)- her first attempt at string arranging for a recording I think. And of course, she also wrote some of my all-time favorite songs, wether sung by her or others...here are a couple of quotes from the book that struck a chord with me:

- (on songwriting) "Alabaster Lady is one of those songs that came through me, rather than from me. As soon as I recognize that a song is coming through me, I try to get out of the way and let the process be guided by whatever is driving me beyond what I think of as craft. People have different names for whatever inspires them, but anyone who's ever created anything from that place knows exactly what I'm talking about."

- (on recording Tapestry, and the amazing convergence of talents at that particular time and place -something I wish I could channel somehow!) "With the Carpenters recording in Studio A and Joni Mitchell recording Blue down the hall in Studio C with Henry Lewy engineering, Lou and I would be recording with Hank Cicalo in Studio B. Seven blocks east, Peter and James were recording Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon at Sunset Sound with Richard Orshoff at the control board. A constant stream of singers, musicians, friends and family flowed in and out of the recording studios along Sunset Boulevard. At A&M we commuted dow the hall. Sometimes we commuted between A&M and Sunset Sound."

Now I'm looking forward to watching this documentary.

Klimt

Looking at Klimt's drawings and studies for his paintings made me think of the parallel with the song in its acoustic form and the finished produced recording... The exhibit was beautiful, this was one of my favorite drawings :

Fish Blood, 1898

BLUE MOON #5 - Let's Stay Here

Welcome to the final installment!
This is a song written at another friend's house, Caitlin's. I was just back from a trip to Europe and looking for a place - nostalgia, hopes, possibilities, and the soft sand of the atlantic coast all found their way into the song. In open G tuning; I often play this one last in a set - like this time, complete with hugs at the end! - check it out on vimeo and youtube.

I hope you liked this series, please feel free to share your felings in the comments.

A big thank you to Lisa Moro for the video, and to The Lost Church for the amazing space.

And to my partners in crime for that show, Sam Heminger (stand up bass), Amy Fowler (mandolin and harmony vocals) and Zach Von Joo (video projections).

photo (as in the last post) by Rikki Ward