Bud Buckley

My hometown concert in Hyde Park, NY, last Saturday was very sweet and great fun. There is some video to edit and post in time. I’ve played some amazing spots on this tour and just finished the last one at The National Underground in NYC on Friday but playing to old friends is still my favorite thing to do. A couple of them drove down from Rhinebeck to see me at The National. A few more city dwelling friends came back to see me too. Big crowd and a fun set. Having a beautiful time with my family. Sorry that’s gonna end soon. I’ll be in the studio banging out some demos with Helen Avakian the rest of the week and then I’ll start driving south again.

Facebook continues to give me fits, allowing me a very limited number of friend requests each day before they start sending me threatening messages. I realize it’s totally automated on their part. With a billion users I can’t expect to get an answer from a human.

So now we are starting to live in the Sci-Fi world warned about decades ago. But I see we’re spelling that SyFy now. Ever changing answer machine messages that rarely give you the needed options but plenty of insipid music, automated social networks that aren’t actually run by people, help lines that are populated by script-reading part timers on the other side of the globe, cash registers that make it unnecessary to actually know how to make change, infants with breasts, total joint and limb replacement, face transplants, antibiotics that no longer work because we get so much in our meat supply. A voting population that is informed by 24 hour news networks and yet has never been more poorly informed of actual truth.

I’m not thrilled with most of the so called advances we’ve made as a species and society but I am very curious to see where it all goes. You are gonna suggest I write songs about it but I keep resisting. Some words and images just don’t lend themselves well to verse. There are songs about Chevies, for instance, but not so many about Volkswagons I don’t even really want to hear a song with the words Google or e-mail or Facebook in them. I am working on a collection of songs about Denial, however, and some will get at this list since we have allowed these things to happen by denying that they are. Maybe I’ll come out of this week with a few demos to post.

Why dontcha play one of my songs from the player in the left column while you’re reading

A leisurely drive up the coast was uneventful with two very pleasant stops, First in Amelia Island Florida to dine and visit with or dear friends Davis and Pam Turner and to later watch their gig, Drove to Stoudton, Virginia the next day. Cute little town and on to Narrowsburg, PA to spend some time with my Mom before we went up to Kingston, NY to have a birthday dinner with my daughter. Then we went to our rental house in Rhinebeck to not find a Fedex containing most of our clothes and other important items, which was to have arrived before us. Seems the Clinton wedding took over town to the point that Fedex used it as an excuse to turn around instead of looking at a map for an alternate route. We lived grungy and annoyed for a few days before they got around to delivering 5 days late.

Okay, over that but I woke up Thursday morning to discover that my Gmail and Facebook had been hacked and taken over by the London Scam. I regained Gmail but he destroyed my address book and asked everybody I ever communicate with for $2250 because I had allegedly been mugged while on tour in London. If you fell for it, I’m deeply sorry but if you follow me and open my fan mail, you know I’m on a NY tour. Not London.

I got many sympathetic calls and messages from fantastic friends all over the world. I feel so blessed by that. It makes it so much easier to get over this catastrophe. Facebook is another major problem. I’m not sure they will restore me to my 1200 friends. I do a TON of music business there and this is no small problem for me.

Reverbnation has been stable, secure and very useful. If you’re not on that fan list I hope you will use this widget:

NYC is beautiful this weekend and my first show at UC Lounge in the East Village went extremely well. They want to have me back. Sunday night’s show uptown at SIP Acoustic Soul Lounge also went quite well. Smaller venue but with a very appreciative audience.

We watched a movie being shot right below our hotel room on Broadway at 103 St. A chase scene for a movie called Maximum Rush involving a bicyclist and a car and many extras of both the two legged and four wheeled varieties. Then when we went to play the SIP gig. Nearby another crew for the same movie was shooting more scenes involving a female cyclist. Word is the production company closed down three blocks of Broadway and two of Amsterdam Ave. for two weekends. Think that was cheap?

Makes me look forward to my role as a featured extra in the Beautiful Noise Movie, being shot in Sarasota next month. Getting ready now for the Musikfest gig in Bethlehem this Wednesday.

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Why dontcha play one of my songs from the player in the left column while you’re reading

Been writing songs. Got about two and a half. I’m sure I won’t have time to demo more than that with my producer, Helen Avakian next month at the end of my tour. Have to cut my visit short a few days because—
I’m gonna be in a movie!

Steve Tatone of Midnight Pass Productions, is shooting a movie about musicians here in Sarasota and I was given a part as a featured extra. Specifically, I’ll be a band member. We start shooting August 30. The movie is called Beautiful Noise. Click and read all about it.

I’m also working on a couple of music videos with my new friend Joel Godin of onjoFilms. We’ll start with “Go If You Want To” and follow up with “Underground and “Elevator” since they are being released to radio this summer by Canadian American Records.

I’ve been working as a regular at the coolest restaurant in Venice this month. Back Eddy Bistro is run by Ed and Ally Glennon who have a 20 year history as personal chefs to the likes of Neil young, Jimmy Buffett, Rupert Murdock and others. This pair can cook and they love my music. Their play list is nearly identical to my cover catalog. But original music is the order of the day as ASCAP continues to lean on even small venues like this for dues. Money I am never likely to see. It’s a long story deserving of post of its own. I’ll cover it in the future.

Speaking of Small venues, I played the very cool Shamrock Pub last night in Downtown Sarasota. Not your typical Irish pub. The only Irish tune I played was a cover of Damien Rice. They do manage to pay their ASCAP and BMI dues but ironically insist on mostly original music. Had a fun time but a late night it was for me as I’ve been spoiled by Venice hours lately.

A few more fun gigs to play here before I hit the road for New York and Musikfest in Bethlehem, PA.. My NYC gigs are at UC Lounge on Ludlow St. downtown, SIP Acoustic Soul Lounge uptown on Amsterdam and The National Underground on Houston St. in the Village. I’ll do my annual hometown concert at the Hyde Park Library and then spend the rest of the time catching up with family and friends and making those demos. Then back here and movieland!

You can hear all my music on the music player in the left column. Wish you’d play it even if you own it because it does help my stats.

If you sign on the fan widget below, you can have two free downloads:

In between times are good for my creative process, usually. The Beatles gig with the trio was a big success. the Art Gallery gig was also quite good. Everything I do lately seems to lead to more contacts and work.

I need to get a few songs written before I leave for my North East tour in August. I have enough time late in that month to work on demos with my wonderful producer and friend Helen Avakian.

As mentioned last post, I’m working on a collection of songs about denial which I’ve always considered to be a primary force that drives humans forward in the wrong direction. We’re really really good at that. Our brains seem to be wired that way. I have three songs in mind right now. It was pointed out to me that my recent song “A Way,” is about the denial of environmental disaster. So I may add that to this collection with a new verse I’ve written about the Spill, Baby, Spill disaster.

You can hear the song on my sidebar and I wish you’d click it as it always helps my rating in Reverbnation. Here’s the new verse you won’t hear:

The sea floor burst open and out gushed the oil
The Gulf caught fire and started to boil
Dolphins and turtles slid up to the beaches
Everything dies where ever it reaches ©Bud Buckley 2010

The Chorus would be “Slide Away…”
You can hear all my music on the music player in the left column. Wish you’d play it even if you own it because it does help my stats.

If you sign on the fan widget below, you can have two free downloads:

When I wrote the songs for my album “It’s About Time” I came to realize how time obsessed I could be. As in my “The Silence There” I remember what I did, I can’t go back and rearrange it. I could, of course if I subscribed more heavily to the practice of denial. Looking over the events of the current political scene has made me focus on the art and practice of denial. So I’m working on a collection of songs about that. Our favorite hiding place.

But time has whipped by this past month and it’s interesting how cramming so much in a short space of time makes it seem longer in retrospect yet goes too damn fast while you’re in that whirl to get things done:

Organized a lot of gigs in the past two weeks and eliminated others. Started the exploration of forming a band. Started working in earnest on song writing (songs about denial). Studied more on the skill of publicity and booking. Networked my ass off. Spent time with my godson while his Momma, delivered his sister. Got better acquainted with some musicians and business peeps I really really like. Watched a very supportive venue go under hours before my gig and contemplated on the possibility of a miraculous resurrection and was forced to throw a house concert together in the space of a few hours. A whole lot of socializing, working out and health care is thrown in that mix and I’m constantly amused and delighted by my Cathy’s energy, beauty and grace.

So much more to come on all fronts.

You can hear all my music on the music player in the left column. Wish you’d play it even if you own it because it does help my stats.

If you sign on the fan widget below, you can have two free downloads:

As reported a few posts back, I’ve been opening with the Band Another Roadside Attraction and having fun with them. I’ll continue in that endeavor when the situation is right. It’s become more obvious to me that there are certain venues I can only play if I have my own band. By “obvious” I mean, “We don’t book solo acts but if you had a band to reproduce what you did in the studio, we’d hire you.” So I’m in the process of putting a very good band together. No question that playing with a band is the best fun. The logistic nightmares are enough to send one back to a solo career and a lifetime sentence in coffee houses and opening events but I’ll stick it out as long as it works. I’ll keep the solo thing going as well. I have a graphic designer designing a logo that works for my solo act as well as the Bud Buckley Band.

Been playing some fun new places and this can only improve with a band, even when the band becomes a trio out of scheduling necessities. Tonight, for instance, I’m playing for the third time at Back Eddy Bistro in Venice. Florida, not Cali or Italy or one of those other places. Very fun little oasis in an otherwise sleepy older town. Nobody asks me to play beach music there and I’m happy to oblige. I just finished a five week run at Bacalao, a Puerto Rican Sports Bar/Restaurant by the minor league stadium in Sarasota. Fun while it lasted and an important lesson in culture clash. Read that: very nice people who were quietly tolerant. Okay, rude at times but here’s a tip: never play a sports bar. I’ve been subbing for my friend Radio Free Carmela by MCing her Open Mic in Sarasota’s Pastry Art Bakery Cafe. Very hopping Main Street location with some amazing musicians stopping by. This is not your Grandma’s open mic. Felice’s Cafe in the trendy Rosemary District of Sarasota is another place I’ve been playing. This is the center of tomorrow’s Harvey Milk Festival at which I’m volunteering to help coordinate talent. There are several other venues that I’ve been asked to do and I’m eager to oblige. I have to take time to book some gigs for after I get back from my August North East tour. I always forget to do that and it winds up costing me. This year is different, I swear.

You can hear all my music on the music player in the left column. Wish you’d play it even if you own it because it does help my stats.

If you sign on the fan widget below, you can have two free downloads:

As my record company, Canadian American Records, is soon releasing two songs from my older CD, “It’s About Time”, I’m still getting reviews on that disc. Here’s another nice one from Album Review Blog.

You can hear all my music on the music player in the left column. Wish you’d play it even if you own it because it does help my stats.

If you sign on the fan widget below, you can have two free downloads:

I’ve been playing with my close friend Mark Zampella and his band Another Roadside Attraction. Our new configuration is that I open for them but Mark joins me on electric guitar to add his tasty licks. The band joins me toward the end of my hour set and then I strap on my Taylor T5 electric and play rhythm with the band for the rest of the night. I throw in the occasional cover tune when asked. We are having a blast. We have done two nights like that at Bacalao (the name of a salty dried fish and a very cool Puerto Rican restaurant) in Sarasota. It sits in the shadow of Ed Smith Stadium where the Baltimore Orioles do their spring training. We’ll be doing that Thursdays for the rest of May at least. We also scored a gig together at Felice’s Cafe at the end of the month. This arrangement leaves us free to pursue other things on our own as well, which we both are doing.

The hard reality for a solo acoustic singer songwriter in a resort town is that you really need to find a way to score gigs that pay better than the coffee house while at the same time avoiding the insipid demand for beach music and played-to-tracks covers. I feel fortunate to have fallen into this new configuration. Mark writes some terrific alt country/rock tunes and we do only covers of high appeal that we actually like. We are not a juke box. Those of you in the business who are reading this: I urge you to join this movement.

Repeating other news, Canadian American Records is getting ready to release my two singles.. You can hear them on Reverbnation and if you sign on the fan widget below, you can have two free downloads.

Had a fun time at a new venue last night in Sarasota. Felice’s Cafe in the historic Rosemary District hosted me and a nice group of friends/fans. I’m sure I’ll be returning there and hoping for an even bigger crowd. I’m feeling the love not only from my loyal fans but the other musicians and newly self appointed promoters of local arts in the community who keep showing up. This was a movement started by Claire Franklin, Kat Derr and Ed Midler who put the Noise Ordinance CD collaboration together in February. It spread to Terry “Tbone” Rhodes who started Indie Underground Railroad with Chris Young of Knuckle Brothers Entertainment and the groups have blended together nicely to push local music. Local LPFM radio WSLR also has been supportive and Creative Loafing, Sarasota edition, has also chipped in to boost the effort. The economy is still spanking us but the future looks brighter than it did before these people eased the pain with a welcome cushion of support.

Repeating other news, Canadian American Records is getting ready to release my two singles by the end of April. You can hear them on Reverbnation and if you sign on the fan widget below, you can have two free downloads.

My local music scene has been undergoing an amazing upsurge. Venues are popping up and local media is taking new interest in local talent.  The opportunity to diversify away from my usual solo acoustic package is tempting. I’ll be seriously exploring this option in the coming weeks.  It is clear that there are many more gig opportunities locally if I open for a band.  It’d be even more cool if elements of the band can back my opening act.  This may be the new model for me at least in Florida.  My scheduled North East tour is still locked in as solo acoustic.

In other news, Canadian American Records is getting ready to release my two singles by the end of April.  You can hear them on Reverbnation and if you sign on the fan widget below, you can have two free downloads.