Interview by Meghan Killimade
Tell us about yourself! How did you get started in music and what kind of music are you creating?
My older brother, Eric, was into punk rock when we were kids. He carried around an old, green, canvas backpack that he picked up from an army surplus outlet somewhere. Using a Sharpie marker, Eric scrawled on it all these logos from mid 80s punk bands. I remember looking at that bag and being mesmerized by that iconography. It was like an alien language. Before long I was pulling records and tapes off his shelves. I fell into a rabbit hole. I liked all the pop stuff on the radio too but Eric’s music was my gateway into punk and the infinite space of alternative music.
In fourth grade, you got to pick an instrument to play in band. I chose the oboe. Don’t ask me why. I have no idea. It’s incredibly hard to play and almost always sounds like a duck but that was the one or me. I learned to read music and quacked along with the school band.
When I was 13 or 14 years old, my mom bought a disused acoustic guitar from a second-hand shop. She was going to take lessons and learn to play but didn’t want to cut her nails. She’s always had nice, long, well-manicured nails and the thought of trimming them down to press on the fret board was too much for her to bear. So, it sat idle in our living room until I picked it up. Someone showed me a couple of chords and the rest is history. I got a Fender electric guitar and an impossibly loud Crate amp for my 14th birthday. After that, I was off and running.
I played in all kinds of bands with my friends back home in Delaware. Lots of screamy stuff. Some punk. Some funk.
As an adult, I played drums for years in a successful cover band. We did shows in all kinds of bars, weddings, etc. Then, all the players in the band started having kids and getting married and things fell apart. I was a little older than they were. I already had a family and a house so all their old gear landed in my basement. That left me with the tools I needed to start recording my own music.
I picked up the bass when a couple of friends wanted to make a dad band and just never really put it down. It’s my main instrument now. If I have an idea, I work it out on the bass guitar first before going anywhere else.
I make lots of different music now. Before my latest release, I put out a collection of spoken word, political screeds over trip hop style beats which I called Civics. That was a lot of fun. Before Civics, I made music with a woman from India. Our stuff was hip hop meets rock meets the music of India. Bhanu was the name of that partnership. It was really interesting stuff. Recently, I joined a hardcore band and that’s a lot of fun. I’m also recording with some jazzy artists doing some gentle, piano-based pop stuff. It’s really coming along nicely. I generally play rock stuff but I’m musically omnivorous. I toured with a hip-hop group for a couple years. I’ve performed in musicals with community theater. I even still pick up the oboe from time to time.
Last month you released the album ‘Half Life’ – what was the inspiration behind it and tell us about your songwriting/recording process!
After years of teaching myself to play all these instruments and operate all this recording gear, I decided I wanted to take on the challenge of making an album. So, in 2017, I started work on an album I called This Life. This Life was a concept album that told a story about characters. Having characters and stories to work with helped me figure out what I wanted to say and do. It gave me a framework to build in, a way to give shape to endless, amorphous, musical possibilities. This Life came out to be about 14 tracks and was a lot of fun to make. I always loved that music is a vehicle for personal expression but, at the time, I wasn’t really focused on my story. I didn’t have too much personal stuff I needed to express.
Seven years later, I had gone through tremendous upheaval personally and professionally. The world had been turned upside down and then set right again and like a snow globe I had all these thoughts and feelings drifting around. I’d been playing with a cover band for a while and when things started falling apart, I decided to snatch up those thoughts and feelings and process them through music. It was wonderful - therapeutic, creative, fun. All the things I needed it to be.
When it comes to writing songs, it just sort of happens for me. I guess I’ve been doing this so long I can make music out of anything. The lyrics and the emotional content, however, has always been tricky for me. I have hundreds of completed songs that have zero lyrics!
For Half Life, I used a trick my old friend Paul Sanderson taught me. He’s a poet. He said write something, then cut it down, then cut it down again. Whittle it down to its essence. Journaling helped me get through some of that tumult in my life so I had years’ worth of writing with deep, emotional resonance. I applied Paul’s advice to those extended journal passages and trimed them down into verses and choruses. It’s a really interesting exercise taking something and trying to strip it away to its core. It’s not that those passages were too wordy or in need of reduction. But inside them were little nuggets that could be mined for songs.
Half Life came as a sort of follow up to This Life. It had half the number of tracks but it also came at a time when I was reaching middle age. Half my life is gone. But I’m also a science teacher and I know half-life is the amount of time it takes for a radioactive element to be reduced by half. It just seemed like an appropriate metaphor for all that had happened. Time had gone by, I’d been reduced. I know that all sounds very dismal but it’s not. A lot the songs are about failure and mortality and decay. Things going away. But it doesn’t feel dark to me. I can’t really explain it. Like those long passages trimmed to the emotional core, being reduced leaves you with what’s most important. Besides, in science, when radioactive things decay, they give off enormous energy. They can glow. They can power communities. I guess Half Life has been a meditation on the dark times while turning towards the brighter aspects of life.
Is there anything you’re hoping to get across to listeners with the new album or your music in general?
The world is so saturated with music and beautiful, compelling people making fascinating art, I don’t think I ever really entertained the idea that my music would break through and speak to someone. I’m proud of the music I make but I can’t imagine actually having many listeners to communicate with. If I could deliver a message to people through my music it would probably be this: “be kind to yourself, rest when you are tired, eat when you are hungry, and then spend every other moment fighting like hell to make this world what you want it to be. All we have is here and now and if we don’t do what we feel we need to do in this moment, we might not get another chance to do the right thing.” I don’t know if this comes across in any of my music but it is the spirit that animates a lot of what I do in my life.
What are some bands/musicians that have influenced you or that you listen to for inspiration?
I’ve had a lifetime of being acutely sensitive to music. I could go on forever answering this question. I’ll try to do it eras style.
The first time I ever made music was on piano and oboe when I was in 4th grade or whatever. Music instruction for kids always revolves around classical/orchestral music for some reason. The music that really spoke to me from this era was Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition orchestral suite.
In high school, I learned that girls like boys who play guitar better than boys who play the oboe so I switched. I predominantly did the punk rock and hardcore thing. Sonic Youth, Nirvana, all the Fat Wreck Chords bands. If I had to pick one from this era, maybe Beastie Boys. I’m Jewish and came up in a time when hip hop and punk and electronic music where all being born. The Beastie Boys sit at a nexus of all these things for me. I found them in this era. They’re funky, endlessly creative, and still a source of inspiration to me all these years later.
During my time playing in punk bands, I was often accused of being too funky by my band mates. I love the Meters and Sly and the Family Stone. Also, Sade is one of my all-time favorites. I don’t know where that fits into this era business but they’re all tremendously influential on me.
I moved to Boston after school and discovered that the Massachusetts library systems would send CDs from anywhere in the state right to my local branch. During this time, I explored an endless, state-funded catalog of old jazz recordings. I worked the late shift at a CVS. In the daytime, I would write and listen to Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Herbie Hancock. Verve and Blue Note recording artists. From this era, Thelonious Monk probably had the biggest influence. No wrong notes. No awkward timing. It’s all good. No matter what. Just play. Don’t explain it. Let dissonance be your voice.
I got really into post-rock around this time too. Mogwai, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and Do Make Say Think were favorites. Do Make Say Think was probably the most influential on me.
Since I moved to Connecticut and put down roots, the internet really changed how I consume music. You used to have to hunt for cool new punk bands, trade mixtapes with friends, dig through bins at records stores. Now, it’s all served up to you on an algorithmic stream of digitized content. It’s great but none of it is super influential to me anymore. We’re all just awash in it. It’s all kind of background chatter. There’s just too much and it comes out too fast and is all so good. That being said, McLusky is a favorite. I love their chaotic sound and wry humor. I found out about them a few years ago and fell in love. Also, I don’t know if I can say this on your site but I really love a band called Whores. from Georgia. They’re a noise rock trio that just hits super hard. I can’t get enough of them.
In addition to music, you’re also a middle school teacher as well as an author/illustrator - tell us more!
I am a middle school teacher and that’s really all I’ve ever wanted to be. That’s what I went to school for and that’s what where I spend most of my time/energy. However, there is a strange quirk to my personality. If I sit still for too long, I get restless. I have zero chill. Watching TV is very difficult for me. I want to get up and start creating something, interact with the world. I want to go do something. As a result, I pick up lot of hobbies and activities.
I made my first picture book for kids, Sir Ryan’s Quest, in 2007. It was picked up by Macmillan and published in 2009. I had a publisher and an editor and an agent and a publicist and it was all super weird. It was very corporate and it took a very long time to do anything. I heard, no, a lot and eventually severed ties with all those folks. After that, I launched my own webcomic called Monster Haiku which was an awesome experience. I ran around to comic conventions putting books into the hands of comic fans and built up a pretty good following. But, I was away at conventions all the time and my kids were small so I decided to step back from that. I didn’t need to hustle so I stopped. I was missing out on cool stuff happening in my family and in my community.
The election of Donald Trump in 2016 was a game-changer for me. I knew I had to put my energies somewhere other than art. At the time I wasn’t really sure where but I sort of suddenly gave up on the author/illustrator stuff I had been doing. Instead, I started doing stand-up comedy for a while. I went to open mic nights. Then, I got invited to do showcases. Then, I got invited to clubs. I did my thing at Mohegan Sun and got an invite to do clubs in New York. I really enjoyed comedy but I could feel it taking me away again. It wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted to use words to persuade. I wanted tell compelling stories. I wanted to call attention to bad behaviors and hold people accountable. Comedy was a vehicle for all of that but what I realized later is that I was really just orbiting around something else. At the center of it all was politics and, before long, I gravitated towards it. Instead of trying to make people laugh, I wanted to make people care about important things in their communities. I responded to an ad in the paper for my local Democratic Town Committee.
I started to work with the Democratic Town Committee and eventually was elected chair of the organization. I was appointed to a commission in my town. Then, I was elected to the Planning Commission. A few years later, I ran for Board of Selectmen and won a spot as a town leader. My involvement with municipal government and local electoral politics is something I’m very proud of and will keep doing until the voters boot me out of office. Maybe, when that happens, I’ll go back to writing and drawing again.
CATCH THE SHOW:
Saturday April 12 @ Telegraph Autonomous Zone
137 Bank Street, New London
Record Store Day Celebration
Store open @ 10am / Music 2-10pm
Suggested $10-20 / All Ages
Facebook Event Page
WATCH:
My older brother, Eric, was into punk rock when we were kids. He carried around an old, green, canvas backpack that he picked up from an army surplus outlet somewhere. Using a Sharpie marker, Eric scrawled on it all these logos from mid 80s punk bands. I remember looking at that bag and being mesmerized by that iconography. It was like an alien language. Before long I was pulling records and tapes off his shelves. I fell into a rabbit hole. I liked all the pop stuff on the radio too but Eric’s music was my gateway into punk and the infinite space of alternative music.
In fourth grade, you got to pick an instrument to play in band. I chose the oboe. Don’t ask me why. I have no idea. It’s incredibly hard to play and almost always sounds like a duck but that was the one or me. I learned to read music and quacked along with the school band.
When I was 13 or 14 years old, my mom bought a disused acoustic guitar from a second-hand shop. She was going to take lessons and learn to play but didn’t want to cut her nails. She’s always had nice, long, well-manicured nails and the thought of trimming them down to press on the fret board was too much for her to bear. So, it sat idle in our living room until I picked it up. Someone showed me a couple of chords and the rest is history. I got a Fender electric guitar and an impossibly loud Crate amp for my 14th birthday. After that, I was off and running.
I played in all kinds of bands with my friends back home in Delaware. Lots of screamy stuff. Some punk. Some funk.
As an adult, I played drums for years in a successful cover band. We did shows in all kinds of bars, weddings, etc. Then, all the players in the band started having kids and getting married and things fell apart. I was a little older than they were. I already had a family and a house so all their old gear landed in my basement. That left me with the tools I needed to start recording my own music.
I picked up the bass when a couple of friends wanted to make a dad band and just never really put it down. It’s my main instrument now. If I have an idea, I work it out on the bass guitar first before going anywhere else.
I make lots of different music now. Before my latest release, I put out a collection of spoken word, political screeds over trip hop style beats which I called Civics. That was a lot of fun. Before Civics, I made music with a woman from India. Our stuff was hip hop meets rock meets the music of India. Bhanu was the name of that partnership. It was really interesting stuff. Recently, I joined a hardcore band and that’s a lot of fun. I’m also recording with some jazzy artists doing some gentle, piano-based pop stuff. It’s really coming along nicely. I generally play rock stuff but I’m musically omnivorous. I toured with a hip-hop group for a couple years. I’ve performed in musicals with community theater. I even still pick up the oboe from time to time.
After years of teaching myself to play all these instruments and operate all this recording gear, I decided I wanted to take on the challenge of making an album. So, in 2017, I started work on an album I called This Life. This Life was a concept album that told a story about characters. Having characters and stories to work with helped me figure out what I wanted to say and do. It gave me a framework to build in, a way to give shape to endless, amorphous, musical possibilities. This Life came out to be about 14 tracks and was a lot of fun to make. I always loved that music is a vehicle for personal expression but, at the time, I wasn’t really focused on my story. I didn’t have too much personal stuff I needed to express.
Seven years later, I had gone through tremendous upheaval personally and professionally. The world had been turned upside down and then set right again and like a snow globe I had all these thoughts and feelings drifting around. I’d been playing with a cover band for a while and when things started falling apart, I decided to snatch up those thoughts and feelings and process them through music. It was wonderful - therapeutic, creative, fun. All the things I needed it to be.
When it comes to writing songs, it just sort of happens for me. I guess I’ve been doing this so long I can make music out of anything. The lyrics and the emotional content, however, has always been tricky for me. I have hundreds of completed songs that have zero lyrics!
For Half Life, I used a trick my old friend Paul Sanderson taught me. He’s a poet. He said write something, then cut it down, then cut it down again. Whittle it down to its essence. Journaling helped me get through some of that tumult in my life so I had years’ worth of writing with deep, emotional resonance. I applied Paul’s advice to those extended journal passages and trimed them down into verses and choruses. It’s a really interesting exercise taking something and trying to strip it away to its core. It’s not that those passages were too wordy or in need of reduction. But inside them were little nuggets that could be mined for songs.
Half Life came as a sort of follow up to This Life. It had half the number of tracks but it also came at a time when I was reaching middle age. Half my life is gone. But I’m also a science teacher and I know half-life is the amount of time it takes for a radioactive element to be reduced by half. It just seemed like an appropriate metaphor for all that had happened. Time had gone by, I’d been reduced. I know that all sounds very dismal but it’s not. A lot the songs are about failure and mortality and decay. Things going away. But it doesn’t feel dark to me. I can’t really explain it. Like those long passages trimmed to the emotional core, being reduced leaves you with what’s most important. Besides, in science, when radioactive things decay, they give off enormous energy. They can glow. They can power communities. I guess Half Life has been a meditation on the dark times while turning towards the brighter aspects of life.
Is there anything you’re hoping to get across to listeners with the new album or your music in general?
The world is so saturated with music and beautiful, compelling people making fascinating art, I don’t think I ever really entertained the idea that my music would break through and speak to someone. I’m proud of the music I make but I can’t imagine actually having many listeners to communicate with. If I could deliver a message to people through my music it would probably be this: “be kind to yourself, rest when you are tired, eat when you are hungry, and then spend every other moment fighting like hell to make this world what you want it to be. All we have is here and now and if we don’t do what we feel we need to do in this moment, we might not get another chance to do the right thing.” I don’t know if this comes across in any of my music but it is the spirit that animates a lot of what I do in my life.
What are some bands/musicians that have influenced you or that you listen to for inspiration?
I’ve had a lifetime of being acutely sensitive to music. I could go on forever answering this question. I’ll try to do it eras style.
The first time I ever made music was on piano and oboe when I was in 4th grade or whatever. Music instruction for kids always revolves around classical/orchestral music for some reason. The music that really spoke to me from this era was Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition orchestral suite.
In high school, I learned that girls like boys who play guitar better than boys who play the oboe so I switched. I predominantly did the punk rock and hardcore thing. Sonic Youth, Nirvana, all the Fat Wreck Chords bands. If I had to pick one from this era, maybe Beastie Boys. I’m Jewish and came up in a time when hip hop and punk and electronic music where all being born. The Beastie Boys sit at a nexus of all these things for me. I found them in this era. They’re funky, endlessly creative, and still a source of inspiration to me all these years later.
During my time playing in punk bands, I was often accused of being too funky by my band mates. I love the Meters and Sly and the Family Stone. Also, Sade is one of my all-time favorites. I don’t know where that fits into this era business but they’re all tremendously influential on me.
I moved to Boston after school and discovered that the Massachusetts library systems would send CDs from anywhere in the state right to my local branch. During this time, I explored an endless, state-funded catalog of old jazz recordings. I worked the late shift at a CVS. In the daytime, I would write and listen to Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Herbie Hancock. Verve and Blue Note recording artists. From this era, Thelonious Monk probably had the biggest influence. No wrong notes. No awkward timing. It’s all good. No matter what. Just play. Don’t explain it. Let dissonance be your voice.
I got really into post-rock around this time too. Mogwai, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and Do Make Say Think were favorites. Do Make Say Think was probably the most influential on me.
Since I moved to Connecticut and put down roots, the internet really changed how I consume music. You used to have to hunt for cool new punk bands, trade mixtapes with friends, dig through bins at records stores. Now, it’s all served up to you on an algorithmic stream of digitized content. It’s great but none of it is super influential to me anymore. We’re all just awash in it. It’s all kind of background chatter. There’s just too much and it comes out too fast and is all so good. That being said, McLusky is a favorite. I love their chaotic sound and wry humor. I found out about them a few years ago and fell in love. Also, I don’t know if I can say this on your site but I really love a band called Whores. from Georgia. They’re a noise rock trio that just hits super hard. I can’t get enough of them.
In addition to music, you’re also a middle school teacher as well as an author/illustrator - tell us more!
I am a middle school teacher and that’s really all I’ve ever wanted to be. That’s what I went to school for and that’s what where I spend most of my time/energy. However, there is a strange quirk to my personality. If I sit still for too long, I get restless. I have zero chill. Watching TV is very difficult for me. I want to get up and start creating something, interact with the world. I want to go do something. As a result, I pick up lot of hobbies and activities.
I made my first picture book for kids, Sir Ryan’s Quest, in 2007. It was picked up by Macmillan and published in 2009. I had a publisher and an editor and an agent and a publicist and it was all super weird. It was very corporate and it took a very long time to do anything. I heard, no, a lot and eventually severed ties with all those folks. After that, I launched my own webcomic called Monster Haiku which was an awesome experience. I ran around to comic conventions putting books into the hands of comic fans and built up a pretty good following. But, I was away at conventions all the time and my kids were small so I decided to step back from that. I didn’t need to hustle so I stopped. I was missing out on cool stuff happening in my family and in my community.
The election of Donald Trump in 2016 was a game-changer for me. I knew I had to put my energies somewhere other than art. At the time I wasn’t really sure where but I sort of suddenly gave up on the author/illustrator stuff I had been doing. Instead, I started doing stand-up comedy for a while. I went to open mic nights. Then, I got invited to do showcases. Then, I got invited to clubs. I did my thing at Mohegan Sun and got an invite to do clubs in New York. I really enjoyed comedy but I could feel it taking me away again. It wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted to use words to persuade. I wanted tell compelling stories. I wanted to call attention to bad behaviors and hold people accountable. Comedy was a vehicle for all of that but what I realized later is that I was really just orbiting around something else. At the center of it all was politics and, before long, I gravitated towards it. Instead of trying to make people laugh, I wanted to make people care about important things in their communities. I responded to an ad in the paper for my local Democratic Town Committee.
I started to work with the Democratic Town Committee and eventually was elected chair of the organization. I was appointed to a commission in my town. Then, I was elected to the Planning Commission. A few years later, I ran for Board of Selectmen and won a spot as a town leader. My involvement with municipal government and local electoral politics is something I’m very proud of and will keep doing until the voters boot me out of office. Maybe, when that happens, I’ll go back to writing and drawing again.
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| Radiodonta plays at The Planetarium in East Lyme March 7, 2025 |
You’ve also been booking live music at The Planetarium (Stars To Stem) in East Lyme – tell us how that came about, what the shows have been like and how the response has been?
I used to go see Pink Floyd laser light shows at a planetarium in Philadelphia when I was in high school. I must have seen The Wall at Franklin Institute 50 times! Then, I left that part of the country and bounced around New England. As fate would have it, I landed a few miles from a planetarium in East Lyme. I lived there probably 10 years before I even knew it existed. My wife bought tickets to a show there one afternoon for the whole family. We all sat on little bean bags and looked up at the dome. The show started and it was like being struck by a bolt of lightning. Technology has come a long way since those Pink Floyd laser light shows in the 90s. In an instant, I saw how my role as a science teacher, musician, and town leader could all come together. I knew I had to put on community concerts in this space. I stood up in the middle of the show and went to find the people in charge.
The space was built in the 70s when folks were super excited about space. Over the years, interests and curriculums changed. Planetariums fell on hard times. A teacher in the East Lyme school system, Diane Swan, organized a grassroots effort to restore the East Lyme planetarium to its former glory. And, with a team of like-minded people, it happened. I approached those like-minded people and told them I had ideas. They listened while I excitedly raved and then said, “heck yeah!”
The first show we put was a magical night of art and music through an artificial cosmos. It featured James Burke, Michael Slyne, and Russ Linder (titans of the New London music scene). Emily Baressi made a film for the occasion. People turned out in droves! It was the realization of the vision that struck me like a thunderbolt. It was as close to a dream come true as I’ve ever had.
Since then, I’ve tried to make these shows a regular thing. We do musical performances on the First Friday of each month and the response has been good. It’s hard to communicate just what is happening in these planetarium shows. People like music. They like planetariums. They like community events. But, somehow, when you put them all in the same place, it takes a lot of explaining. Really, there’s no substitute for coming to one of these shows and seeing it for yourself. Much has been said about the “magic of the theater,” the strange energy that emerges from a shared artistic experience in a public space. It’s kind of the same with the planetarium shows. The experience can’t be capture on cell phone video. It has to be a firsthand experience. It takes folks from the community and turns them into psychedelic space voyagers for a surreal evening.
When I was a kid, I went to a lot of punk and hardcore shows. It was very important to me at the time and foundational for who I am now. I met lifelong friends at those punk shows and experienced art that blew my young mind wide open. I really want these planetarium shows to be available for the young people in my community. I want them to get that eye-opening, community-based, shared, artistic experience. The planetarium is housed in a high school. It seems like it would be a lock. However, it’s been hard to get young people to turn out for these shows. That’s where I personally would like to see it grow. I wish it was seen as a space where they can go once a month to connect with each other and have some crazy thing to talk about. Better still, I want them to be the ones making the shows. Maybe it’ll happen eventually or maybe this is just an old man trying to force his childhood dreams onto a new generation that doesn’t really care that much for someone else’s dreams. I don’t know. But, I am, if nothing else, relentless when I get an idea in my head and I am firmly possessed by the notion that this community space could be accessed by kids for their betterment and the betterment of the town.
You’ll be playing a set at The Telegraph in New London for Record Store Day on April 12 – what can folks expect from your set and who are you most looking forward to seeing? (Also, what records will you be on the hunt for?)
I’m not really a front man but folks can expect to see me out front. I don’t love playing guitar but folks can expect to see me wailing away on the little Fender I’ve had since I was 14 years old. I can’t really sing all that well but folks can expect to find me giving it all I’ve got. I’ll be backed up by a couple friends on bass and drums for a four or five song set. I created Half Life alone in the studio - tracking every part separately. As a result, I kind of built up these songs that are near impossible to play live. You’d need like 40 musicians! But, I’m going to give it a go and pour my heart into the performance. I’m probably not selling it very well. LOL. Let’s put it this way: come see my set and you will see an energetic, music-obsessed, middle-aged man banging away passionately on music that’s important to him in a space he loves surrounded by folks he admires and respects.
I’m looking forward to seeing the cool stuff James Burke and his friends come up with. I like his music and his energy.
I mostly listen to records with my wife and my friends. As a result, I never really buy stuff that’s too crazy. I love zany music but the artists whose records I buy have to have broad appeal. That being said, I’m always on the look out for those old records I pulled off Eric’s shelves when I was a kid. Dead Kennedys’ Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, The Dead Milkmen’s Big Lizard in my Backyard, etc. I have especially fond memories of listening to Bedtime for Democracy when I was a kid, staring at the intricate cartoony stuff on the cover. I’m always looking for Dinosaur Jr.’s Where You Been, Yo La Tengo’s And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out, and Give by the Bad Plus (which I don’t think actually exists as an LP). Also, I’ll buy anything with Sade’s name on it.
Any favorite local bands/musicians you’ve been digging lately?
Pocket Vinyl is wonderful. I wish everyone would know them and fall in love like I did. My whole family likes them. They’re kind of hard to explain (like planetarium shows!) so people don’t always get it when I proselytize but they’re worth exploring for sure. I mentioned James Burke before. I like all his little adventures. Nova One is fabulous. I think their music is just so dreamy and beautiful and emotionally raw.
I go to New Haven a lot to hear jazz. There’s a wonderful collective there called New Haven Jazz Underground that puts on shows and jams all over town. It’s headed up by a trumpeter name Nick Di Maria. I like his stuff. In the NHJU group, there’s a guy named Ryan Sands I enjoy seeing. Another artist from New Haven who has kind of gone on to touring the world is a bass player named Zwelakhe-Duma Bell le Pere. He’s a hard one to catch because he’s always on the road but I try to see him play whenever he’s around. I also found a cool group called Trance Macabre that put out a record on Redscroll Records which I really enjoy.
What’s up next for you? More shows? More recordings? Goals?
As I mentioned earlier, I just started playing with a hardcore band called Ledge OE. I love having that energy in my life. We’ll probably play out. We’re all a little giddy to be back in action with the vibrant, crazed, energetic music of our youth.
I’ve been recording with an artist who lives in my town named Sunnie Redwing. She’s jazzy and gentle and smart and her music is just so surprising. I’ve really enjoyed pushing her as an artist and watching her grow into new ideas and new sounds. It’s been a great partnership and we’ll probably put something out later this year.
Beyond that, I don’t know what the future holds. I’ve been around long enough to know that there will always be something. When one door closes, another one opens, as they say. I’m up for election again this year. There are few things in life that are truly unpredictable. Politics is a realm where anything can and does happen. I love its unpredictable nature. I hope to win again and bring a bunch of people into the process but, like I said, it’s totally impossible to see what the future holds.
I will always record. That is an absolute mainstay in my life. I don’t know if it’ll be more of the stuff I’ve already done or something new but it’ll happen and I’ll get it out to the world one way or another. It’s just what I do. Some people play golf. I record music.
I would like to continue growing the musical performances at the planetarium. I would like to bring more people into the political process and support candidates who share my ideals. I would like to help people make and share their music.
I want to help create a better world with art, music, and politics. I know I'm kind of eccentric and, at times, pretty goofy but I'm unwavering in my commitments and relentless in my pursuits.
I used to go see Pink Floyd laser light shows at a planetarium in Philadelphia when I was in high school. I must have seen The Wall at Franklin Institute 50 times! Then, I left that part of the country and bounced around New England. As fate would have it, I landed a few miles from a planetarium in East Lyme. I lived there probably 10 years before I even knew it existed. My wife bought tickets to a show there one afternoon for the whole family. We all sat on little bean bags and looked up at the dome. The show started and it was like being struck by a bolt of lightning. Technology has come a long way since those Pink Floyd laser light shows in the 90s. In an instant, I saw how my role as a science teacher, musician, and town leader could all come together. I knew I had to put on community concerts in this space. I stood up in the middle of the show and went to find the people in charge.
The space was built in the 70s when folks were super excited about space. Over the years, interests and curriculums changed. Planetariums fell on hard times. A teacher in the East Lyme school system, Diane Swan, organized a grassroots effort to restore the East Lyme planetarium to its former glory. And, with a team of like-minded people, it happened. I approached those like-minded people and told them I had ideas. They listened while I excitedly raved and then said, “heck yeah!”
The first show we put was a magical night of art and music through an artificial cosmos. It featured James Burke, Michael Slyne, and Russ Linder (titans of the New London music scene). Emily Baressi made a film for the occasion. People turned out in droves! It was the realization of the vision that struck me like a thunderbolt. It was as close to a dream come true as I’ve ever had.
Since then, I’ve tried to make these shows a regular thing. We do musical performances on the First Friday of each month and the response has been good. It’s hard to communicate just what is happening in these planetarium shows. People like music. They like planetariums. They like community events. But, somehow, when you put them all in the same place, it takes a lot of explaining. Really, there’s no substitute for coming to one of these shows and seeing it for yourself. Much has been said about the “magic of the theater,” the strange energy that emerges from a shared artistic experience in a public space. It’s kind of the same with the planetarium shows. The experience can’t be capture on cell phone video. It has to be a firsthand experience. It takes folks from the community and turns them into psychedelic space voyagers for a surreal evening.
When I was a kid, I went to a lot of punk and hardcore shows. It was very important to me at the time and foundational for who I am now. I met lifelong friends at those punk shows and experienced art that blew my young mind wide open. I really want these planetarium shows to be available for the young people in my community. I want them to get that eye-opening, community-based, shared, artistic experience. The planetarium is housed in a high school. It seems like it would be a lock. However, it’s been hard to get young people to turn out for these shows. That’s where I personally would like to see it grow. I wish it was seen as a space where they can go once a month to connect with each other and have some crazy thing to talk about. Better still, I want them to be the ones making the shows. Maybe it’ll happen eventually or maybe this is just an old man trying to force his childhood dreams onto a new generation that doesn’t really care that much for someone else’s dreams. I don’t know. But, I am, if nothing else, relentless when I get an idea in my head and I am firmly possessed by the notion that this community space could be accessed by kids for their betterment and the betterment of the town.
You’ll be playing a set at The Telegraph in New London for Record Store Day on April 12 – what can folks expect from your set and who are you most looking forward to seeing? (Also, what records will you be on the hunt for?)
I’m not really a front man but folks can expect to see me out front. I don’t love playing guitar but folks can expect to see me wailing away on the little Fender I’ve had since I was 14 years old. I can’t really sing all that well but folks can expect to find me giving it all I’ve got. I’ll be backed up by a couple friends on bass and drums for a four or five song set. I created Half Life alone in the studio - tracking every part separately. As a result, I kind of built up these songs that are near impossible to play live. You’d need like 40 musicians! But, I’m going to give it a go and pour my heart into the performance. I’m probably not selling it very well. LOL. Let’s put it this way: come see my set and you will see an energetic, music-obsessed, middle-aged man banging away passionately on music that’s important to him in a space he loves surrounded by folks he admires and respects.
I’m looking forward to seeing the cool stuff James Burke and his friends come up with. I like his music and his energy.
I mostly listen to records with my wife and my friends. As a result, I never really buy stuff that’s too crazy. I love zany music but the artists whose records I buy have to have broad appeal. That being said, I’m always on the look out for those old records I pulled off Eric’s shelves when I was a kid. Dead Kennedys’ Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, The Dead Milkmen’s Big Lizard in my Backyard, etc. I have especially fond memories of listening to Bedtime for Democracy when I was a kid, staring at the intricate cartoony stuff on the cover. I’m always looking for Dinosaur Jr.’s Where You Been, Yo La Tengo’s And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out, and Give by the Bad Plus (which I don’t think actually exists as an LP). Also, I’ll buy anything with Sade’s name on it.
Any favorite local bands/musicians you’ve been digging lately?
Pocket Vinyl is wonderful. I wish everyone would know them and fall in love like I did. My whole family likes them. They’re kind of hard to explain (like planetarium shows!) so people don’t always get it when I proselytize but they’re worth exploring for sure. I mentioned James Burke before. I like all his little adventures. Nova One is fabulous. I think their music is just so dreamy and beautiful and emotionally raw.
I go to New Haven a lot to hear jazz. There’s a wonderful collective there called New Haven Jazz Underground that puts on shows and jams all over town. It’s headed up by a trumpeter name Nick Di Maria. I like his stuff. In the NHJU group, there’s a guy named Ryan Sands I enjoy seeing. Another artist from New Haven who has kind of gone on to touring the world is a bass player named Zwelakhe-Duma Bell le Pere. He’s a hard one to catch because he’s always on the road but I try to see him play whenever he’s around. I also found a cool group called Trance Macabre that put out a record on Redscroll Records which I really enjoy.
What’s up next for you? More shows? More recordings? Goals?
As I mentioned earlier, I just started playing with a hardcore band called Ledge OE. I love having that energy in my life. We’ll probably play out. We’re all a little giddy to be back in action with the vibrant, crazed, energetic music of our youth.
I’ve been recording with an artist who lives in my town named Sunnie Redwing. She’s jazzy and gentle and smart and her music is just so surprising. I’ve really enjoyed pushing her as an artist and watching her grow into new ideas and new sounds. It’s been a great partnership and we’ll probably put something out later this year.
Beyond that, I don’t know what the future holds. I’ve been around long enough to know that there will always be something. When one door closes, another one opens, as they say. I’m up for election again this year. There are few things in life that are truly unpredictable. Politics is a realm where anything can and does happen. I love its unpredictable nature. I hope to win again and bring a bunch of people into the process but, like I said, it’s totally impossible to see what the future holds.
I will always record. That is an absolute mainstay in my life. I don’t know if it’ll be more of the stuff I’ve already done or something new but it’ll happen and I’ll get it out to the world one way or another. It’s just what I do. Some people play golf. I record music.
I would like to continue growing the musical performances at the planetarium. I would like to bring more people into the political process and support candidates who share my ideals. I would like to help people make and share their music.
I want to help create a better world with art, music, and politics. I know I'm kind of eccentric and, at times, pretty goofy but I'm unwavering in my commitments and relentless in my pursuits.
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Saturday April 12 @ Telegraph Autonomous Zone
137 Bank Street, New London
Record Store Day Celebration
Store open @ 10am / Music 2-10pm
Suggested $10-20 / All Ages
Facebook Event Page
LISTEN:
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