Really great to hear all your responses to the previous post. I should have included Zero 7, Secret Machines, Joanna Newsom and a few others. The main thing is, y’all have some very sophisticated and, might I add, damn good taste.
The White Limo mixes are coming along nicely (5 down 8 to go) but I’m trying to figure out what I can pull off live at this early date. We’ll see. Peter is coming back to NYC tomorrow from a road trip and we are going to compile another set of songs for the M.O. section. These will be all the “existing” properly recorded covers (not the 80’s ones I spoke of earlier, but a few that almost no one has heard. Court and Spark will be among them). All righty then, I’m off to bed.

XO
DS

I was organizing the cd’s and I thought I should put up a list of cd’s I’ve enjoyed over the past year or so,
so here goes, again in no particular order …

Phoenix “Alphabetical”
Magnet “On Your Side”
Keane “Hopes and Fears”
Elbow “Cast of Thousands”
Air “Talkie Walkie”
M83 “Before the Dawn Heals Us”
Blonde Redhead “Misery is a Butterfly”
The Dears “No Cities Left”
Super Furry Animals “Phantom Power”
Devendra Barnhart “Rejoicing in the Hands” and “Nino Rojo”

What releases were on your list?

DS

I just got back from upstate (Gerry’s house) where I did (nearly) all the rest of the vocals and Gerry did some
of his ghostlieness. Kevin Killen is set to begin mixing on Wednesday so I’m going to have a pretty busy 48 hours getting everything ready. At the moment it looks like the track listing for the record will be (in no particular order):

Shopping
White Limousine
Nothing Fades
Hey Casanova
Fantastic Toys and Corduroys
I Don’t Believe in Ghosts
Altered
So Gone
Land
I Wouldn’t Mind
Hymn
The Dawn’s Request
Star-Feild on Red Lines

The release date is still up in the air but I’m really shooting for the end of Aug. or Sep.

Bye for now,

DS

O.K. - they’re up in the members area and ready for your listening pleasure. I realized as I was listening to them again that these were the most “keyboard” oriented tracks in the White Limo set. That makes sense because I initially wanted this record to be a minimalist electronica kind of thing. At the risk of being cryptic, I will say that White Limousine is actually a very organic record but that its electronic side will eventually reveal itself over time.

DS

So we have the shows up on their own section of the site, and there will be more show listings this week.
Also, the White Limo b-sides should be up in the Members area by this weekend.

Be well,
DS

One more acoustic show … June 10 at the Iron Horse in Northhampton, MA.
How is everyone doing?

DS

Hi,

There will soon be a new area on the site called “places I’ll be playing” where you can check for upcoming shows, but in the meantime I’ll just tell you about a few of them here. May 31 at the Ram’s Head in Annapolis, June 4 and 5 at the Point and Tin Angel in Philly, July 16 at Steven’s Talkhouse in Amagansett (Long Island), August 6 in Chicago (as I already mentioned) and August 26 at the Riverfest in Raleigh, NC. With the exception of Chicago and Amagansett (and maybe Raleigh) these will be more or less acoustic shows. But don’t worry, I will be touring with the band more and more towards the end of the summer and, when “White Limo” is released we will do a “proper” U.S. tour.

Bye for now …

DSS

O.K. - we got the “members only” area going. Please be patient while we iron out any kinks with different browsers and such, but it seems to be working well so far (thanks to Todd). There will be a lot more songs and maybe some video up there soon - so stay tuned and check for updates. One of the next sets of material will be a “covers record” of songs from English bands and artists I listened to circa 1981-1989. It will probably be serialized over the next few months. And there will be other compilations of rarities and b-sides and all that kind of stuff. The possibilities are endless(ish).
XO
DS

Peter and I just had dinner with Todd (our most excellent web-designer) and we have a few new ideas that we are going to implement over the next couple of weeks. For one thing, the “members only” area is coming together and it should be up and runnning very soon. Also there will be an “upcoming shows” section for, well, upcoming shows (Chicago, August 6th, for example). And some other information kinds of things. Sorry to be vague but I’m sleepy. Anyway, have a great weekend.

XO
DS

At the risk of inciting another left/right political argument, I read Arundhati Roy’s collection of essays entitled War Talk this weekend while I was in San Francisco (Berklee actually, hence the reading material). Whether or not you agree with her, she is a passionate and beautiful writer who is inspiring in her ability to communicate ideas in a poetic and yet very clear way. Some of you may have read her novel The God of Small Things (which I loved) but I think her speeches and essays are almost more powerful because they are more immediate and trenchant. Has anyone else here read any of her writing and what did you think? Dissenting views encouraged!

DS

To answer one of your questions, Gerry Leonard (The Ghost!) is indeed playing his guitars and devices on the new record, along with Jeff Allen on bass, Doug Yowell on drums, and Jay Bellarose on drums and percussion. Kevin Killen was manning the boards and hopefully he’ll be mixing the record soon.

XO
DS

After re-reading my last post, I think it does sound kind of arrogant. I should have posted it within the previous thread because it was actually an answer to some questions in that thread. Please accept my apologies and understand that my next release will be offered up with a most humble spirit.

XO
DS

So you all want to know what it’s going to sound like do you? Isn’t it better to be surprised?
I will say that I certainly hope you all find it to be dark, sophisticated, and pop-unfriendly. And I will say there is a bit more piano, wurlitzer, and rhodes on this record than on previous releases. If you keep guessing I’ll try to let you know if you’re close or not.

XO
DS

David Poe came by last night to record the background/harmony vocals for “White Limousine”. His voice is killing. Hopefully he will sing on a few other songs as well and we will be a few steps closer to being finished with the new record (which will probably be called “White Limousine” by the way). Just trying to keep you posted …

XO
DS

I see some of you guys are now my “friends” on myspace.com. Nice one. I have no idea what this site really does but it is a very entertaining waste of time! For those of you who are on myspace, what is your impression of it and how do you interface with it?
XO
DS

I just finished a book by John Perkins called Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.
It is an excellent read and I think it helps explain, for example, why we are really at war in Iraq, why terrorism has emerged as such an important issue in recent years, and how America uses its power to exacerbate the divide between the rich and the poor in our modern world. Not to get all serious on you, but these are things we all would do well to know more about.

DS

There is a TV show on BBC America called Black Books. It’s on Thursdays at 9:30 (tonight!) and it is literally the most hilarious TV show I have ever seen. I’m such an anglophile I guess, but I think you guys will like it.

XO
DS

I saw a video of one song by The Dears (am I spelling the band name right?). I thought it was a great song and a pretty cool video.
Has anyone heard of this band and/or have any thoughts about them?

I went up to High Falls, NY (Gerry’s house) to record vocals this weekend and it was very productive.
I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!
Just keeping you posted on the progress.
Hope you are all doing great.

DSS

I actually did not make it to the Doves. as I was exhausted on Thurs. and they weren’t playing until 1 AM. I heard it was cool though (Micah saw them). By the way, the “thin nylon jackets from the eighties” in the first post was a dumb joke about the site having a “Members Only” section which made me think of Members Only jackets. But since there was such a positive reaction, maybe I should try and do a special edition … well, maybe not.

XO
DS