Andrea Daly:

July is cherry season in the little lake town of Traverse City, Michigan.  Dried cherries, chocolate-covered cherries, cherry pie, cherry jam, cherry pits... It's adorable. 
I was there for a week around the start of the festival, and it could have been an experiment in how to get on stage in the shortest amount of time.  I scouted out some live venues early in the week, met some local artists, and by Thursday I was making guest appearances at Union Street Station bar, Kilkenny's Irish Pub, and a martini piano bar called Beacon Lounge on the 10th floor of the Park Place Hotel.  Highlights include meeting singer-songwriter Levi Britton, who let me sit in on his Union Street gig, and Tom Kaufman from Beacon Lounge. 
Levi is an incredible performer, and if I closed my eyes I could have sworn I was listening to Martin Sexton.  Post-Jager-shots, it turns out, Levi's performances are even more interesting.  Around midnight it was getting hot on stage, and he [...]

I'm finicky with words.
I fold them up, Lick them,
Experiment with them,
Like paper airplanes.
 
I throw them away, and the
Ones that catch the breeze and come back, I keep...
Save a tokens of an odd Moment, of could-be-perfection.
If I play my cards right.

"News" entries have now been transformed into blog entries, as of today.
Which means that, as of today, you can now comment on them.  So comment away!
Blow me away with your wit and good taste.

The aforementioned Roll Over Baby music video, conceived and shot by students at the New York Film Academy and complete with cool stop-motion paint make-up, is now available for your viewing pleasure.  Thanks to the wonderful students who put it together!!  Especially Celia Barreda, Clara Mahieu, Carmen Simon, and Mert Erdem. 
To watch:  Please click on the Videos page in the Navigation Bar at the top of the screen.  (The site will not allow me to post it within this blog entry.  Any computer savvy people want to help me override the system?)

So in a previous entry I mentioned the Recoup Lounge.  That Thursday evening I spent there began with one frustration after another, and ended with magic... 
I went downtown in the first place with a friend to do an open mic at The Catweazle Club.  After an hour and a half of subway/foot travel (remember how I said I live in that "special" part of Manhattan that's far away from everything?) Enrico and I arrive at a nondescript brownstone-type building, climb the stairs, convinced that we are invading someone's home, and open the second floor door to discover a peaceful-looking black gentleman snoring on a couch.  Oh crap.
But a girl appears and explains on her way out the door that yes this is The Catweazle Club, but it's closed right now - open mic was last week.  (I hate when people don't update their websites.  I hereby resolve to update mine very frequently.)  So Enrico and I wander down Avenue C to the Recoup Lounge, which also claims to have an [...]