Such a Feelin’ — STORYTOWN

And when I touch you
I feel happy inside

Long ago, a certain extended family member forever dismissed The Beatles due to their cute moptop-ness and the predominance in their early repertoire of, to quote Paul McCartney, “silly love songs”. (And don’t make me have to point out that the supposedly rough, “bad boy” Rolling Stones were in fact – although not uniformly so – the ones with more middle-class backgrounds than the generally lower-class Beatles, who came from the grittier, second-class city of Liverpool.)

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, silly love songs. Who doesn’t remember the exquisite, electric, whole-body sensation of young love, especially that first moment when some gesture (maybe and, one hopes, a reciprocated one) confirms your deepest wish – that the other person is interested, truly interested. When the simple act of holding hands floods you with a crazy mix of feelings – of wellbeing, of pleasure, of hopeful anticipation of what it means and of what’s to come.

Of course, relationships evolve and mature, and if things go well, deeper familiarity with and knowledge of the other person – along with the sharing all of life’s challenges and experiences and blah blah blah – all turn into a lasting, loving partnership long ago that’s different, more mature. The classic trajectory, when it works.

Speaking of holding hands, one evening a few years ago my wife and I were strolling in the West Village with friends, a married couple, after dinner. I happened to be walking next to but just slightly behind the wife, and she, thinking I was her husband, took my hand in hers. It was very sweet and kind of intimate, except that I was the wrong guy. In the moment I wasn’t sure what exactly to do; quickly withdrawing my hand felt a bit harsh and negative, yet just continuing to stroll along, holding hands and enjoying a moment, would be, well, inappropriate if not a little weird. Anyway, she quickly discovered her mistake, and we mutually “parted ways”, so to speak. Years later, when we recall this moment of unexpected and inappropriate intimacy, we laugh and laugh.

Back to the topic of young love … I would venture to say that that first charge of electricity can rarely be repeated in that relationship, at least with that intensity. And, in the long run, sometimes things just don’t work out. And maybe it’s nobody’s fault. Maybe the people involved were too young, or the attraction was superficial, or unforeseen events interceded and changed things.

No one’s to blame
But we’re not the same
As yesterday

OK, none of this is new nor particularly insightful. It’s really just a bit of context for a new song, one that we had planned to debut today (September 15) at The Mercury Lounge. But somebody had a different idea about that, and alas we are not playing any songs today. Nonetheless, here’s the song; I quite like its wistful vibe (click on image to listen):

If you DO want to hear this song live, please come see us live at the seventh installment of Stories from Storytown, our engaging mix of music and conversation. It’s coming up quite soon: Sunday October 19, at one of our favorite venues, especially for this kind of show, The Cutting Room. We’re trying out an afternoon show this time (2pm), and I hope you’re willing to try it out with us.

Also, we have a theme this time – HORNS!. One of our guests is the head archivist at the Louis Armstrong House Museum, Ricky Riccardi. Our other guest is Arno Hecht, sax player and founding member of the legendary Uptown Horns, who have played with a super long list of notable acts, including the aforementioned Rolling Stones, James Brown, and Bruce Springsteen, just for starters. And we are excited to bring something a bit different as an opening music act: versatile trumpeter Bryan Walters, whose incarnation Duplicate creates funky and melodic soundscapes that meld his brass playing with ethereal brass sampling and manipulation and electronic production. Talk about a fascinating through line from Armstrong’s opening cadenza on West End Blues to the innovative approaches that musicians are bringing to live performance today. You don’t want to miss this.

And you don’t want to miss Storytown either. We will close out the show with new songs, including this very latest song, plus many of your old favorites. In light of the show’s theme, we will be featuring our always funky and fabulous horns – Pam Fleming on trumpet and Jeff Hudgins on saxes. I’ll be sending a proper SAVE THE DATE and ticket link as soon as we show up on the Cutting Room’s calendar. In the meantime, SAVE THE DATE: October 19!

And, as always, thanks for listening.