Music
One of the main sources of satisfaction in my life is writing and arranging songs to play and sing live. Producing recordings of the songs is the way to have a permanent legacy of what I hear in my head. The songs on my website have been part of various band setlists for some time, and I'm glad to have them finally be available for people to listen to without my having to gather the musicians each time. I had a great deal of fun doing the recordings and mixing the results to create the fin- ished product. I've always sung and played bass in all the bands I've been in, including the most recent outfit, Crosstown, which also featured the singing and writing of fellow North Ender, Sandro Carella. Crosstown was actually his band, but I was able to do five or so of my songs when we played open- ings at his art gallery and at the North End Italian Pride Day celebrations on the waterfront. (some pictures of these events are included for you to check out). We haven't played together for a while, since Sandro decided to go get his degree in architecture, but the experience of playing in the North End is what prompted me to do these recordings and get them out there. If I may digress for a minute, I'd like to say how much I love living in "The Neighborhood". The people, speaking Italian (or "Bostonian") on all the street corners, are warm and friendly. The little shops, specializing in things like coffee beans (Polcari's), or haircuts (Firicano's) are the best around. The pastry shops (I like Modern Pastry) and the bakeries (I like Parziale's) are a pleasure to smell and be inside of. The cafes (The Paradiso on Sunday mornings) and the restaurants (my favorite is Monica's on Richmond, but take your pick) make the North End a real food destination for the whole country. Add in the narrow winding streets and the beautiful old tenement buildings (one of which I live in right on Hanover Street), as well as the centuries of American and immigrant history and you've got an actual Old World Neighborhood in a vibrant 21st century American city by the Atlantic Ocean. I love it! Unfortunately, there's very little in the way of a music scene in the North End. These recordings were done in Arlington Heights at Straight Up Music, the home studio of my friend Larry Luddecke who plays organ and piano on the tracks. He recruited some great players that he's worked with over the years to help me out: John Sands (of Aimee Mann's band) plays drums on all the songs. Pete Harris, (from Larry's band, The Band That Time Forgot), my friend Joe Ward (from one of my old bands, The Runes), and myself all share guitar duties on most tracks while Pete Nathanson (a sharp studio cat Larry knows) plays all guitars on two songs. Of course, I play bass and sing lead and backing vocals on all tracks, with some backing vocal help from Joe, and Tina Busa (of the North End) on two other songs. I'm really pleased and proud of the results and I hope you like them enough to want a full CD for yourself. You can listen to six of the songs on the MySpace site, which I'm hoping will entice you to link to CD Baby through the "Buy Now" button and order the full CD or all eight MP3s for only $5, so I can keep the website going and do some more recording in the future. You can give comments or ask questions (or even order a CD directly from me) by e-mail. Thanks for listening, and thank you especially for your support. Contact Information:E-Mail: zoomboymike@gmail.com |
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