Bootleg Blogging

In your own backyard, in your hometown...

From the Step It Up! Capital event, April 14, 2007, Albany, New York. Written by the great Mr. Steve Earle, performed by l'il ole me.

Call it familiarity...

A l'il tribute to Mr. Troy Pohl of the Kamikaze Hearts. An oldie but goodie. Recorded live at the recent Why Can't I Be You show.

I'm a little black boy crying in a blue sky...

This cover of Joni Mitchell's "Black Crow" is also from Wafers and Wine, but it was originally recorded on a cassette 4-track for 1997's A Tape of You, a collection of covers by Joni's Internet fans. Legend has it that a copy of it made its way to Joni, which is why I tacked the "Joni's gonna hate this" bit at the end, with the sample of her laughing. Saw her two years later playing "Black Crow" at the Day in the Garden Woodstock reunion show, summer of '98. With my hero Brian Blade on the drums. And my head exploded. I had a sober hallucination that she was singing "black boy" instead of "black crow," just like in my version. And my head exploded again.

Different colors are made of tears.

Phil and Sandra from Changing Spaces were looking to do a one-night show of erotic-themed art at Valentine's - appropriately, on Valentine's Day. I took it as an opportunity to do some of my own more, um, playful songs, ("Tiresias," "Liquefy," "Camera") but also as an opportunity to do some covers (Prince's "Dirty Mind" and "Erotic City," Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On.") This cover of the Velvet Underground's "Venus in Furs" was supposed to be a medley with Erotic City - but in the end I really wanted to crank the overdrive and the delay, and slow it down, so they didn't work as well together. Some of the folks in the room may have been talking over it, as you'll hear, but that didn't mean I had any less fun playing it. And I've always loved the juxtaposition of the "dream" verse with the darker imagery of the rest of the song, so the last, quiet verse is probably my favorite bit.

So what's a black boy to do except to sing for a soul rock band?

The "Street Fighting Man" at Valentine's was much better, but the noise seepage renders the audio unlistenable. This audio was recorded a few weeks later, at the Lark Street Book Shop's annual holiday party, December 2005. Unfortunately, it was also the book shop's last holiday party. Another great little room in Albany bites the dust. Sigh.

I'll be your knight in shining armor...

I wanted to launch this audio blog thang with the full set from a Stones tribute show fundraiser at Valentine's last fall, but the audio for the first two songs was obliterated by the noise seeping through the ceiling. Big metal. I've got nothing against big metal, of course, I just tend to lose a volume contest when I'm playing the acoustic. You can get a sense of how loud it was that night during the first verse of the third and final song of my set, "Emotional Rescue." Thankfully the band upstairs ended their set just I was was beginning the second verse. So have at it.