Sunday April 2nd stress and roll.

Sunday Mornings are never EASY :-P
there is a bit or rock and roll thrown in there.

Although to be honest I was TERRIFIED because for the first time I was playing a ustream-only show. That means that not only could people see exactly how bed-headed my hair was but also I didn't have the "safety net" of playing in Second Life, where at least 10 people show up on a regular basis...

that's ok. being terrified. It just makes me want to get better :-)

The set list this morning: Cuando te vas, It Seems Just Like a Dream (What a Day), Dreaming Without You, Parking Lot Kings, Gone, Ruby Red Hair, Little Lion Man (Mumford & Sons cover), Plain Jane, One Hot Second, Stay (Faraway, so close!) (U2 cover), Ash Wednesday, Fantasy.

Week Two! (more or less)

ok, so in order to get my act together, here is week two.

It's the pitch week.

Anyone who has ever played wiffleball against me knows that I can hit a ton, but when it comes to pitching I'm just too nice. I like watching other people do well. I don't have the attack mode that a good pitcher needs. So I asked for help.

I put a list on my FB "band" page and asked people what they thought...I had a few ideas. And more questions than ideas. I came up against the "do you want to brand yourself using someone else's brand?" question. and I had the "who cares what you sound like if you can't tell people who you sound like" problem. And of course, the "Hey I sound exactly like Richie Havens." "Who?" problem.

but here are some thoughts that I wanted to share...some are a little more ridiculous than others...some are amazing...and some are "hey, what the hell? why not me?"

some goals I am setting for myself:

1. Play a show (open or headline) with a line outside the venue. before the end of summer 2012.

2. Have Bono or Eddie Vedder sing a verse of No Pain at a concert.

3. Induct someone into the Hall of Fame. (I'm thinking Dave Matthews or maybe Bon Jovi)

4. new CD by Christmas '10

5. open for someone who isn't a personal friend by next summer

6. run the 800 at the 2016 Olympics.

so, the pitch...

it's not wiffleball on 77th street, so I can't lead the league in doubles this time...

I can however, talk about

"All the power and emotion you can get from an acoustic guitar. I play fast and loud, I play quietly, I play with soul."

what do you think?

classic rock? CANE conference 2010

First off I apologize for not writing more about my project - a group of songs based in ancient myth and history - and I had way too many songs for the actual presentation itself. I ended up recording four songs for an EP titled "Her Majesty Cry" that I gave out at the conference and played a bunch more.

Secondly, thank you to everyone who made it possible for me to play, to all the attendees, and to the long-ago writers of myth who put together some amazing material with which to write music.
For those of you who are wondering, the set list was:
1. Run Run Run (the story of Apollo and Daphne)
2. Paris (the story of Paris and the Trojan War)
3. Ulysses (the story of the Odyssey)
4. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses (yes, the U2 song - it's a pretty good adaptation of Catullus 8)
5. Her Majesty Cry (the story of Orpheus and Euridice)
6. Fire ("Hephaestus's Lament")
7. Black Sails ("Ariadne's Lament")
8. Etc. (one of my songs not about myth, the last verse of which is in Latin)

the lyrics to the songs (and some of the recordings) can be found at http://www.dannrusso.com/cane_conference_2010.html

peace,
Dann