Happy 2023!
First of all, if you haven’t added “The Christmas Song” to your holiday playlists, please do so for next year!
Vocal version (featuring Madison Massey):
https://orcd.co/xa9jnb5
“Switched-On” Synth Version:
https://orcd.co/w09ja1x
But the big news of 2022 was meeting my amazing daughter, Mara Keyes. The story of how it happened is here.
Update: Since then, Mara and I have hung out several more times in New York, New Jersey, St. Paul and La Crosse, Wisconsin. Our relationship continues to grow with each visit and the FaceTime catchups and text messages (comparing Wordle scores, among other things). It’s been incredible having her in my life, and I look forward to what the future will bring.
Music updates:
On the music front COVID unfortunately was still very much a part of the picture, with different variants coming and going. Sid Gold’s is open, and there have been some great nights, but it’s been somewhat inconsistent. We’re still not back to pre-COVID numbers, but we’re hanging in there. One of the more fun nights was a record release party for Jens Lekman, where I accompanied his fans for “Jens Lekman Karaoke”. There were a few Sid Gold’s pop-ups at Moxy hotels and one at the Frantic City festival. It was great to play in the town of my birth for such a cool event. Thanks to Todd Abrahamson for believing in Atlantic City!
Loser’s Lounge returned with tributes to Dylan, Carole King, Neil Diamond, the Monkees, and Xanadu. The shows are a reminder of why we stay in New York. The talent, the sense of community, and the joy of performing for an appreciative NYC audience. In July, the disco show returned to Lincoln Center for the first time since 2019, and the theme was “Love Is In The Air” and you could really feel the love. Love for NYC, love for the music, and love for my daughter, who was out on the dance floor. A beautiful evening for sure!
Live gigs included shows with Violet; a Dory Previn show with Julia Greenberg in the Berkshires; a fun beach concert with my friend Rich with the Dan Burke Band; a memorial for Mick Rock where I got to accompany John Cameron Mitchell and Luke Spiller. A highlight was playing synthesizer for a special live performance of Natalie Weiss’ amazing musical Borderland. And it was an honor to be part of the final episode of Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast. A bittersweet, heartwarming (and funny) sendoff.
Recording session work (at Carousel and other studios): Bedsit Poets, Evan Taylor, Bill Teitler, Idris Mohammed, Willow and Dear Dark Head. I recorded several tracks for an undisclosed project with my dear friend Rich Kurtz, but sadly that project was scrapped. The tracks may still see the light of day in some other form.
Somehow there wasn’t as much time to devote to original projects in 2022, but I did create a song for the Bushwick Book Club. The theme was “When Brooklyn Was Queer” by Hugh Ryan. I wrote “If These Walls Could Talk” about the February House, a legendary house that housed W.H. Auden, Gypsy Rose Lee, Benjamin Britten and other creative types back in the 1940s. I haven’t recorded it yet but if you skip to about 54 minutes, you can watch it here: https://youtu.be/LeDUeF4A6Ds?t=3254.
For 2022’s “Love Hangover” show, Alyson Greenfield and I recorded a cover of “Summer Wine” featuring Omnichords and Stylophones: https://youtu.be/WDw_0KksK3k. As you can see, I work best when there’s a deadline. I’ll be trying to prioritize more recording projects in 2023. Stay tuned!
Thanks for reading if you’ve made it this far and checked out any of the links. If you’d rather not receive these occasional missives, feel free to unsubscribe. See you in 2023!
Peace and Love,
Joe
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