Author: falala

(*) is a voice from an under-represented generation of middle aged women and told in a musical style that has resonated with younger generations, where sample beats & virtual instruments mix with a real life searing vintage Gibson SG. Much of the album addresses the contradiction of enduring lust after desirability wanes (Setting Sun, Mas Caliente Que El Sol, One More Time). The frustration & heartbreak of aging parents are explored in When I Stop Barking, Where Did You Go, Shadows On The Beach. Romantic distance is lamented in Pixels & Text and fuck-everyone level of confidence expressed in Clap For Yourself and Dead Birds Fly. Oh yes, and lastly but perhaps most important, the most political song on the album was inspired by the creepy feeling of people staring in a restaurant when all you’re trying to do is hold your wife’s hand. (Kisses On Blankets By The Sea) Super special thanks to Matt Roth of Olive Juice Music for mixing & post production on many of the tracks, Julie Delano for her crazy amazing bass on Setting Sun, and my wife for her beautiful & haunting harmonies.

I never want to hang on to the past, I just want to move forward, or at least avoid the self imposed stigma of being “stuck”. And yet, any sense of accomplishment that comes with finishing a new song is always balanced by that huge gaping hole of what remains unfinished. Now that (*) wrapped up, I’m ready to revolve. 20 years after my band Moxie Starpark recorded our sophomore album, it’s looking like a 2021 release. With the encouragement of our old musician friends/fans, and the expertise of the Napoli Brothers at Cloud 9 studios, the old 2″ track tapes will get digitalized and mixed. If I struggle with my confidence as a solo artist, I do not with #moxiestarpark. Let me tell you in no uncertain terms, if you never heard us, and you dig female centric pop music, you should start getting excited now. I’ve heard this many times, but Missy summed it up to a “t”…”The Best band you never heard” #moxie #girlband #allfemaleband https://www.instagram.com/p/CGbcEONnEuX/?igshid=1pscy1yopz5q7

final track getting mixed….release photos done….start the countdown…. (*)

10/15/20 ALBUM (*) COMING TO A STREAM NEAR YOU. HERES A TEASER. XO https://youtu.be/T7VrbhIb2bU

I’m sooooooo excited, next song ready for album, just a few to go. Frustrating, I wish I could work faster, I think if I had time to play more, my rhythm would be more reliable and spot on. Oh hell, ain’t nothing 100 takes can’t fix!

Continue reading “Next Song Ready for (*)”

Last Sunday we went to a rooftop restaurant in Long Beach NJ called Daddy O’s. We sat for an hour and a half eating dinner and enjoying drinks. I loved the set list. Edgy, distortion driven. alternative. I tapped my fingers along, googling the choruses on my phone to see who the bands were. The Strokes. The Verve. Arcade Fire. (At least there’s one woman) Of course the fourth song in, I realized none of the singers were women. I said to my wife, “watch. I bet they won’t play one female band the whole time we’re here.” And hour and a half. I was right. I silently seethed for the rest of the night. What unconscious message for the little girls who were sitting two tables down? Those teenage girls out to eat with their family? The middle aged woman with crows feet who a long time ago played in Moxie Starpark? (me) Who piped this set list into the restaurant? A bartender? Management? Why couldn’t they feel the void? Or think of anyone in that genre to play? Florence And The Machine? The Yeah Yeah Yeahs? Hole?

This isn’t even a music industry dis. This is just one bar. It’s so hard to notice what’s missing, right? There is a clear lack of inclusion on so many levels.

It’s why when I hear white women say they are “using their white privilege” to stand up for the black lives matter movement, I get a tiny wave of nausea. Privilege? Do you mean EMPATHY? Because you yourself are completely excluded from so much. It’s truly great for one tribe to stand up for another regardless of the motivation, so I don’t not want to be overly critical.

Then this evening, almost the opposite happened. I saw the documentary about The GoGos. See. This. Movie. https://www.showtimeanytime.com/#play/3463368

And this is just a blog, not an op ed piece on feminist so I’m going to cut this short. Nobody is going to listen anyway. Even when I put this subject matter out there on a facebook or instagram post, two or three people click the like button. Very important people, mind you! But pardon this posts brevity, I’m not in the mood to waste my words.

Oh hello, I hope whoever reads this (if anyone!) is healthy and safe, I hope your family is alive and healthy.

It’s been a long time, and though I feel this strange sense of obligation to muse about the world pandemic, I’m going to resist. There is just too much to say, and it’s a subject impossible to encompass.

Aside from playing guitar in my mom’s suburban backyard, I haven’t done much in the way of releasing (*) For one, my laptop broke and I’m still waiting for the parts to fix it. But you know, I’m just going with the flow. Circumstances will circle back, I’m confident. For now, I am sinking into free flow creative rushes. Improvising and singing spontaneous lyrics in the slivers of time I’m allowed. It’s like a drug.

And then…Just when I stop trying….I ran into the kid a few apartments down the hall, and his face..not to brag, but…his face lit up when he saw me. He’s about 17, really into music, an awesome drummer who plays out in all ages clubs and on the streets and subways of NYC. A music nerd, hip without trying to be. “hey, your song came up on a a playlist on Spotify, Wow, I really love it. Did you….did you write that…like by yourself?” “which song?” “God’s God” “Yes, I wrote that all by myself”. So cute! I had to catch the ferry to Fire Island so I was on a time constraint . It was a blessing in disguise (for him). Could you imagine if I had all the time in the world? “Yes, I wrote the song all by myself, but a song is only as good as the musicians who play it. Sonny, why don’t you pull up a chair and I’ll tell you a story about a band called Moxie, started by a bunch of young women who hung out in a magical. almost mythical seaside town called Bayville……….”

You can check out God’s God on spotify

yeah, there’s a gigantic black cat moving across my wall as I type this. Pretty distracting.

So, what’s new? I have been crazy busy on some other unavoidable tasks. Getting back to production of my album feels like a dream, as opposed to the living Covid19 nightmare.

I usually post these “works in progress” on a special private page, but nobody’s gonna read this, lol!

This song. I loved this song when I wrote it. It took a year of spinning, editing, improving, revising, until every word, every thought, every idea was expressed exactly how I wanted. Even this week, upon re-visiting the production, I changed “Sequin” to “Swarovski” as in:

The ferry bounces on a sequin sea to

The ferry bounces on a Swarovski sea

The production. I released it on…i think spotify…i think on all stores…last year…and i HATED IT. I didn’t know why. I just hated it. And with these other songs I need to work on, I should have given up….but….

This song, this song, it means so much to me, it extends outside myself, it’s personal but political, it felt so unsettling that I couldn’t convey it with the production. Yet I knew when we played it live how fucking stoked Elaine our friend was, I knew there was something there. It made me feel a certain way when I finally wrote it right, and I could tell that she felt the same way hearing it at that show.

I was going to crank out, “if you think you’re going” for the next song on (*)

But…

I couldn’t let it go. I didn’t know where to start. I didn’t know what I didn’t like. I started with the electronic bass sounds last week. Nope. Didn’t make a difference. I started with my vocals this morning. Tweaked the sounds, drank some tea, warmed it up with soft rolls and trills and scales. Yes. Salvaged. Topped it off with live, real bass guitar instead of synth. All in two hours. I hit a wall, There’s some gaping holes that need to be “filled”, but that’s the easy part. I’m so relieved. I salvaged this song. Can’t wait to finish and release it.

It’s about Cherry Grove. My favorite place in the world. And how important it is to have a gay haven. “the beach is made of sugar, waves of wine crash on sweet sand, when you don’t have to think before you take your lover’s hand”

After the fact, my wife was errrr….puzzled by my decision to enter a lyric contest held quarterly by American Songwriter Magazine. “You don’t need a contest, people who matter to you know you can write a song. You don’t need some strangers at a magazine judging you.” But I found their ads irresistible. A beautiful wood carved Ovation guitar. A paid weekend in Nashville. And some fun studio recording time. And I remembered and missed the affirming feeling of encouragement from the Long Island Songwriter’s Circle so long ago.

I paid my $15 and waited. Every time my inbox filled with an email from American Songwriter Magazine, my heart jumped a bit, but alas it was only their weekly newsletter. Finally about 6 weeks later, the header announced the contest winners.

Now not to be a sore loser, but I noticed looking over the list of winners, none of which were me, that all winners and honorable mentions were predominately male. So I did a little study.

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I have a man’s name, so I doubt I was outcast because of my gender. Yet…today when I saw an ad pop up on Facebook to enter the next lyric contest, I felt a need to warn other female songwriters, as the screen shot above shows.

To be fair, 2017 was a FAIR year for women songwriters in this contest! (not shown)

And on another note, because I’m not waiting for the approval of any contest judges, I wrote a quick one day song last Saturday, which you can view on my instagram https://www.instagram.com/tv/B-5XqsyhS00/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet or click photo below. “She’s Never Been To Paris”