I've really loved Philly despite some political unrest here at the circus (infighting in the band, probably shouldn't say much but very dramatic). (I often consider making this area of the website password access only so I can write more freely).

Anyway, I have friends visiting today and I'm considering making the trip to Providence apart from the circus train because it's going to take a long time. A long trip might be nice but I have to be in Boston Tuesday AM for an appointment. Sheesh.

I hope to visit my things in storage too.

Here are some pix:


That's the circus train in New York. See the Empire State Building?

That's my sister in NYC.

This is our circus train passing through Penn. Station, NYC.

This is City Hall, downtown Philadelphia. I hope I'm spelling Philadelphia correctly, I have a lot of problems with spelling.

I didn't make it to the library. I'll get there on Monday. All also need to get to the post office because CD baby already needs more Pinocchio CDs! And BTW a big shot from a very good record company bought one. Normally I'd be begging that kind of person to listen to a free copy.

The ride to Philladelphia was nice. We went under manhatten again, through the tunnels, through Penn station. I woke up at 3am with lights flashing in through the window. I knew we were in a tunnel and I went out on the vestibule. Two other guys were out there. They took some pictures as we went through Penn Station.
We spent most of Tuesday parked in Jersey somewhere. Finally our flatbeds met us and we made our way down to Philly. The city looked nice at night as we circled in.
The next day I walked all over the downtown and visited the Library and emailed my friend Consuela who lives here with her husband. Then I went to visit them. We ate at a great place. The food made me dizzy it was so good. Consuela asked me about my old girlfriend who I do think of often and wonder about.
I think I'll go back to that library today.
Did I tell you my new CD is out? That's been a very exciting piece of news. It's already flying off the shelves. And I'm glad it's going out into the world finally.
This CD has 16 songs that I wrote and I feel they were very inspired and clear. They are the culmination of a lot of listening to my own music and noticing how other people's music makes me feel too. There's a guy named Fred Pellam who influenced me a lot over the last year. I don't think you'd find any close similarities in our music but his sound really travels great distances inside of a song. I was trying to bring that into what I'm doing. Also I was trying to bring the whole CD together this time. Essentially to make it sound like it all belongs together as integral parts of a whole.
Certainly Sammy, Dobson, and Arvin, made that happen just by being themselves on every song. I miss Käthe on this. She was at band camp during the time we created this.
The artwork is my own. They are drawings which I did in ink on paper; the old fashioned way. They were, however colored in the computer by Greg Stadnyck who always does an amazing job of making the CDs look as good as they sound.
People always say they find a place for music in their life. They describe a particular time or place they listen to it. One lady said she likes to ice skate to it. Other people have used it in their performances. Some people have reported hearing my music in surprizing settings, like the house music at a large harp concert. And you might already know that MTV made me rich and famous ;-) this year by liscensing some music for the "Wild Boys" show.
Sometimes I wish I had more time for my own music. I play and travel with the circus full time and frankly, the music in the circus isn't very circusy. Sheesh!
But I should be greatfull for things I do have. Käthe and Dobson played with me and Bindlestiffs while we were in New York and the new CD are wonderfull things in my life.
I think I'll venture out to the library.

My sister and tried to get the the boat graveyard. It was too far and we only had a half day. I'll keep trying.

My grandmother came to see the show. It was good for her to see me playing on a gig because this is her legacy. She is a musician too. She plays the piano and knows the work of Scarlotti.

I'm very excited about my new CD being out. It's on the cirkestra web site. I'm pleased with it becuase a lot of things I've been working on over the last few years comes together on this CD; the performance, production, composition, visual component (i did the illustrations myself on my sister's urging), the concept, and the people involved really had their hearts in it. I'm gratefull to all of them. Also, it felt good to finance this one independantly. If you get a chance to hear it write a review or tell a friend, I just want it out there in the world.

I visited the accordion shop downtown. They're fixing a few things for me and adding a pick-up to my accordion. It should be done tomorrow and I hope to play it in the Bindlestiff show tommorow night.

I'm thinking about trying to find the boat graveyard of Staten Island on tuesday.

New York is great in the spring. I don't want this stop on the tour to end. I played with the Bindlestiffs on Friday. It was so much fun! Mike, Käthe and I accompanied the Friday night variety show. I felt like a real musician again. Another great thing is that the Pinocchio CD is out. It'll be on the Cirkestra website in a few days. Meanwhile I sold the first few copies at the Bindlestiff show.

I have one more show tonight, two tomorrow, and then one on tuesday morning. Then there are three days off.

I'd better get on the bandstand before I'm late!