Feb 07—Music Every Month. Bulletin Every (other) Week.
"I Hate My Phone"...meet "Goth"
Making this newsletter a consistent, maybe even weekly, endeavor eluded me when I first tried a few years ago. In the interim, I forgot many parts—some blissfully (the old mailchimp layout, bad), some stubbornly (the “fan club” logo, good). But most of all, I forgot how many of you there are! I had no idea the old newsletter had over a thousand subscribers (fuck!).
That you all would let me bend your ear once a week fills me with boundless gratitude. In this new and vastly improved edition of the newsletter, I’m aiming for a bulletin at least every other week.
…and there will be a lot to share! I’ll tell you all here first: I am releasing music every month this year.
January: “I Hate My Phone”
February: “Goth”
A “Goth” Story:
In the summer of 2021, I was living in New York where Joe Kerwin, the incredible writer/author of You Missed It (his must-subscribe substack) and my favorite songwriter (he inspired me to write my first real songs when we were in college) who I’m proud to call one of my best friends, introduced me to a close friend of his: a mythical figure in the lower Manhattan/Brooklyn L-Train scene known simply as Blaketheman1000. Blake and I became fast friends, and I quickly fell in love with his music, a singular blend of brash production and clever lyrics that makes you laugh when you hear it and cry when you think about it. “Hits hard” is what I’m saying. Blake is a genius for this century and the next. I remember sitting in Blake’s bedroom early on when he showed me a song he was working on. “I think you’d sound good on it,” he said. I still have the demo: “Goth v17.” “Goth” is the first song I’ve ever released that I didn’t write (except for…you know), and I could not be more proud to release my version. If you saw me on tour any time in the last two years, you heard it and almost certainly remember the “I’m gonna push you away.” It’s among my favorite songs I’ve ever heard, and I get excited every time I blast it in my car (which is often). Thanks, Blake. Not sure how I’ll ever be able to repay you, but I definitely owe you dinner…and drinks…and a movie.
Please presave “Goth” and it’ll drop right into your library on Feb 24 at midnight eastern sharp.
(Presave dinner challenge is still in effect. High-score so far is 28.)
Also, this month’s presave goody will be…an automatic entry to win 1 of 5 SECRET GOTH MERCH TO BE ANNOUNCED. It’s really good and I want to tell you, but I have to keep the suspense up somehow…