No Master Plan (2021)

Take a listen to my newly released demos on my SoundCloud here

I open with the newest song in the batch written in March, 2019. A double entendre. A play on words.

Jim: Acoustic Lead, rhythm and bass

Dave Hamon: drums. 

Me: Acoustic rhythm

I wrote this song a year ago and Jim Gleason thought I sounded like  “Old Man Crankypants singing : Get Off My Lawn” .

He altered the attitude by changing some of the lyrics this past September …and he inspired me to write  the best line in the song : “ What’s the dirt beneath the plow” .  I find the addictive properties of Facebook fascinating and sometimes depressing.  Yet, I start and end my day there and check in a few times daily.  I have actually gotten to know some people better than I did decades ago .

Vito : Acoustic rhythm and bass

Jim: Electric lead , vocal harmomy 

Dave Hamon: Drums and keys

Me: Acoustic rhythm

February 2017 vacationing on the ocean in Sunny Isles Florida . I was joined by Neal and Frank . Neal and I are friends of over 50 years. He was the guitar player in a power trio with Mitch Nadler on drums and Pete Saturn on bass. I stood out front with a harmonica and wailed songs like Dear Mr Fantasy and  Pinball Wizard . Neal became a successful Beverly Hills Chiropractor and continues to play rock and roll with a bunch of semi retired Beverly Hills lawyers in a band titled Hostile Witness . Frank has been Neals west coast buddy for decades . Frank is another NYC refugee , just two weeks older than me. Frank was visiting South Florida to be with his ailing mother  who has since passed on.  We were sharing a bottle of bourbon and trading songs.  We discovered a mutual affinity for love songs and started to discuss relationships that altered our lives. As Frank was leaving that afternoon to return to his mother’s side , his parting comment about relationships was : Some Things Cost Too Much.  I said : that will be a song by tomorrow. Neal and I wrote it that evening. Frank returned the next day and altered and added to the lyrics. A truly collaborative song.

Jim: Pedal Steel, Acoustic rhythm, Bass, Background Vocal

Neal: Electric lead guitar 

Me: acoustic rhythm lead and background vocal

On September 16, 2001 I wrote down the opening line:

“There once were twin towers at the gates of the city in Liberty’s shadow they said enter here.” I didn’t know if it would lead to a song or a science fiction story. I was not sure what allegory it would lead to. Over a decade later I had a couple of verses but no firm melody. May 2013 I had a songwriting session with Andy Shapiro and he put shape to the melody and chord structure. In 2018 I added the last verse with a nod to Emma Lazarus.

Vito: Elec. Lead, elec. Rhythm, Acoustic rhythm, Bass

Jim: Elec. Lead, elec rhythm

Dave Hamon: drums

Guy Hamilton : harmony

Me: acoustic rhythm 

I began the idea of this song in 1975. It had a folkie feel about a girl who lost a guy . 

Elvis Costello released the song Allison in 1977, for those who may think that I borrowed the metaphor of  Party Dress . Maybe Elvis borrowed it from me. I went through many changes in lyric and rhythm over the years. When I went into Vito’s studio he had the idea to add ripping electric slide guitar.  The feel evolved from Gordon Lightfoot’s ‘If You Could Read My Mind’ to Jackson Browne’s ‘Running on Empty ‘.

Vito: both of the dueling electric slide guitars, electric rhythm, bass 

Dave Hamon: drums

Me: acoustic rhythm lead and harmony vocal

Jim: harmony 

I first heard Jim Gleason play guitar in 1969.  He was playing  the Buffalo Springfield classic Bluebird on Roger Barnes acoustic Bluebird Gibson . We had an acoustic quartet with Guy Hamilton called Brandy. We were on stage musicians at McKenna Theater in New Paltz for a production of Gilpin County Chronicles . A play about a Colorado gold rush.   As I prepared to visit Jim in Lexington Kentucky this  past summer to record this album I  remembered him playing that song in a staircase and I was reminded of the liner notes of Buffalo Springfield Again where Stills and Young are credited with playing 10,000 guitars. I wrote this song as a showcase of Jim’s guitar work. I threw in a small taste of harmonica . I guess I took the roll of Richie Furay. I would love to heart  Stills, Young and Furay tackle this one

Jim : all lead guitar parts acoustic and electric bass and rhythm guitar, variax dobro, banjo, percussion

Dave Hamon : drums

Me: acoustic rhythm 

We lost my first wife, Rosalie to breast Cancer in January 2002. She was a fine artist, particularly her landscapes. She had a Buddhist Spirit and I can often see a beautiful landscape or sunset and freeze the moment in my mind as she could.

I had been changing the song for years. Like an artist who could not put the brush to the canvas. Feb 2019, as I began this album at Vito’s, I arrived one morning and told him what the song was about. He nailed a beautiful guitar solo in one take. It moved me deeply. When I brought the song to Jim in Kentucky six months later Jim played a harmony part to Vito’s solo. Then I sent the track to Guy Hamilton in Hawaii for harmony vocal. All of them knew Ro. 

Vito: acoustic lead, acoustic rhythm, bass

Jim: acoustic lead, background vocal,

Guy Hamilton: Background vocal 

Me:  acoustic rhythm

I dedicate this play on Johnny Cash lyrics to my second wife Pam. It was inspired by one of our visits to Nashville where a tourist photo was taken of the two of us standing center stage at The Ryman Auditorium, the original Grand Ol’ Opry , where Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash stood. Pam Spieler is a widow with four grown children . I am a widower with two.  Four of our kids are now married and we have three grandchildren . Pam’s daughter Kari lives in Nashville with her husband Adam McHeffey and their daughter Emelia. This puts us in Nashville pretty frequently. In my forty year radio career I got to meet Johnny Cash a number of times backstage during the radio contest meet and greet ritual. I have never seen an artist give more attention to a contest winner….consistently. Not just a photo in the hall…  he would invite them into his dressing room, offer them his buffet and ask about their lives.

Vito: elec rhythm, bass 

Jim: Acoustic rhythm , percussion , harmony

Guy: harmony

Me: acoustic rhythm

This past Spring we lost a dear friend , Melinda Ehrlich, to cancer. She was married to Ken Ehrlich for 46 years. Ken and I have been pals since the 8th grade. In Ken’s eulogy he told a story of how they met on a blind date. A mutual friend , Gerry Schneider set them up in 1972 at a bar called The Candle Light on Central Ave in Ardsley NY.  It was loud and crowded . Ken asked : would you like to go outside and watch the stars with me?” Mel figured it was “ a line” ..but she went, only to find Ken had a pretty good astronomical grasp of the heavens and he began to describe the constellations. They never again dated anyone else.  I went home and wrote this song.  The next day I went into Vito’s studio and changed my studio agenda to focus on this song. I told Vito the story of the funeral the day before. I told him that I wanted a guitar solo that keeps rising to the heavens . In one take he brought me to tears with his beautiful solo As he had done with my song for Rosalie (Capture The Moment)  Jim added a lead part that cascades off of the vocal phrases 

Vito : Acoustic Lead Acoustic rhythm, bass

Jim: acoustic lead

Me: acoustic guitar

I probably got the line ‘Denial is a River’ from Henny Youngman, who I had the great pleasure to have dinner with a few times. Some may notice a Yiddish allegory in this bluegrass number : “ it’s said that God is laughing when we make a plan “

Vito: acoustic lead, rhythm, bass

Jim: acoustic rhythm and percussion

Me: acoustic rhy.

Feb. 2016 I was visiting Neal in Beverly Hills with Roger Barnes . Neal lives a short distance from the famed Hollywood Jewish Deli that was the 24 hour gathering spot for George Burns, Jack Benny , The Marx Bros, Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner. Ironically Canter’s son turned the back room , known as the kibbitz room from a comic’s haven to a rock and roll room . In 1985 the son’s pal Saul Hudson debuted his band Guns and Roses at the kibbutz room at Canter’s . Saul changed his name to Slash.

Roger Barnes , Neal Snyder and I had breakfast there .  Three old college buddies 48 years later complaining about every conceivable ache and pain. Roger blurts out :

“ Every morning when I look into the mirror , some old bastard’s looking back at me. I feel like I’m invisible.”   That one sentence earned him co-writing credit. Neal helped by structuring the chords and melody 

Vito: bass  Jim: Elec lead, elec rhythm, Rickenbacker 12 string, perc.

Dave Hamon: drums

Me: acoustic lead and harmony vocal

On that same LA visit that I referenced in the last song  Neil, Guy, Roger and I took an overnight journey to Joshua Tree . The four of us had played together for 47 years.

Vito: bass  Jim: mandolin

Jim and Guy: harmony  

Me: acoustic guitar and harmonica 

Wrote this one watching the sun set one early autumn 1970 in Gardiner NY watching the sun set on the Shawangunk Mtns.  It is the only original that I performed publicly back when.

Jim: acoustic lead and bass

me: acoustic rhythm and harmonica 

Wrote this  in 1975. I enjoy metaphorical word play.

Jim: elec lead, acoustic rhythm, bass, percussion

Me: acoustic rhythm

My cowboy metaphor… Looking back to see what’s coming …

“ the sun has set on that valiant old west… silicon valley has stolen our best.” 

We recorded this in Lexington Ky at Jim’s . A reunion of Roger, Guy, Neal ,Jim and me.  We released it as Hearing Eye Dog …you can find it under that band name on Spotify.

Jim: Pedal Steel

Roger: Bass

me: acoustic guitar 

Another Hearing Eye Dog track. My homage to Bob Dylan inspired by the challenge of memorizing the lyrics to Dylan’s Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues  when I was in a band with Jim, Guy and Roger in 1970. In the mid 60’s Dylan could be obtuse, sardonic, but always compelling. 

Jim: Rickenbacker elec. Elec. Rhythm, perc. 

Roger: bass

Me: acoustic guitar ,harp

Harvard Psychology Professor Richard Alpert joined forces with Dr. Timothy Leary in the quest to find spiritual truth through LSD. The gathered the tribe at The Hitchcock Estate in Millbrook NY . Leary and Alpert had a parting of the ways and Alpert became a Hindu adopted the name Baba Ram Das and became the spiritual nexus of The Omega Institute in Rhinebeck,NY.

In my college days I stumbled into Baba Ram Dass’ book, Be Here Now.  This song is a whimsical look at a whimsical book.

Vito: elec rhythm acoustic lead ,bass 

Jim: elec. Lead acoustic rhythm,ariax sitar, percussion

Me: acoustic guitar , harmonica 

A fitting closer to an album titled Senior Moments with an uplifting yet melancholy message. Plenty of good times ahead… Working on the next album already…..

Vito: Acoustic Lead, bass

Me: acoustic rhythm