Quarantunes Revisited

When the pandemic hit, the ticket company that I had built over 14 years was decimated. And the the group I had been touring with for over three years had every single one of their shows postponed or canceled indefinitely.

Overnight, like so many of my friends in the arts industry, I was unemployed and my income dropped to nothing. Literally nothing.

I created music ... my Quarantunes ... and so many were kind with their support and sharing of my songs. It was more than I expected and I was humbled and grateful.

All of the sudden it's been a year since I posted my last Quarantune. Life is certainly less scary than it was. I have benefitted from access to more frequent and professional hair cuts. Dennis Leary never acknowledged "Maskhole" so I take back my apology for improving his song. I could not be more excited for the return of Broadway, though all the uncertainty that comes with it (whole new world, Aladdin) does not make me nostalgic for my time as a ticket broker.

Here are a few of my 66 Quarantunes, along with the all-thumbs Instagram messages that accompanied them.

Quarantunes #1 You'll Never Walk Alone

I’m pretty good throughout the day. Try to get some work done, although not much work to have. Engage with and help my kids with their virtual classrooms and stay busy with making snacks, lunch, dinner, etc. Just be a husband. A dad. A teacher. A caregiver.

But then around 8pm I start getting sad and frankly, scared about everything. Music helps me deal with those demons. And I haven’t given myself much time lately to make music, so the demons have been circling more so than usual.

So here’s my cover of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from Carousel. @marcusmumford just released a version of this as well and it cut straight through my soul. I recommend you checking it out.

I’m going to try and play and record more music, even just on my phone. All of you artists doing the same are inspirations and lights in the darkness right now. Don’t stop.

Quarantunes #15 Here Comes the Sun

A family friend is an anesthesiologist at Beaumont Hospital here in Michigan and she told me that when they get Covid patients off the ventilator and breathing on their own, the hospital plays this song.

So this is for everyone recovering right now. Praying if you have a friend or loved one afflicted with this terrible virus, that they will see the sun again soon.

(Not to overlook "You Are My Sunshine," featuring my daughters with emotional support from Toby the Dog, of blessed memory.)

Quarantunes #30 Times Like These

A new week. A new way to find inspiration for my nightly tunes. Tonight’s was inspired by the UNREAL collaboration of BBC Radio 1’s version of the Foo Fighter’s song, “Times Like These”. I strongly encourage you to check it out.

I’m a huge Foo fan so I hope I did it some justice.

Hello (A Coronavirus Parody)

With apologies to Mr. Richie. A music video parody song in tribute to his 1984 hit song, "Hello"

Everyone stay safe and stay at home!

Quarantunes #43 The Middle (Qollaboration)

I reached out to my wildly talented friend, Molly Gibson, a few weeks ago and asked if she wanted to collaborate on a song. We have wildly different tastes in music, so I didn’t know how easy this would be. But she found this beautiful Caroline Spence cover of the Jimmy Eat World song, “The Middle”, and we put this together in our respective homes.

Sheltering in place is not always easy. I’m grateful for my friends who have wanted to make music with me from near and far. There’s more being planned!

Quarantunes #51 Kick out the Jams (Qollaboration)

When I was in a band with @courtneyfxcahill, although we put out six albums with original music, our favorite thing to do at live shows was to play some high energy covers. Every once in a while we’d even do a cover of a cover.

So for your listening pleasure, here is 90 seconds of Courtney and I revisiting fun covers we played in our glory days by melting all of your faces with “Kick out the Jams”, originally by #MC5 in the style of the 1995 version recorded by @presidentsoftheusaband

Quarantunes #62 Creep

This is actually one of my lesser favorite songs of Radiohead but I heard this haunting and strange rendition from Scala & Kolacny Brothers the other day and decide to add two additional harmony parts with a lone guitar...and here we go.

Pretty proud that I put this entire thing together in just two days. Four vocal tracks, guitar, mixing and editing. I really wanted to get this one out because these dark days sometimes need a dark song.

If you are fans of Radiohead please let me know what you think. I took a risk with this one a bit, but I would hope Thom Yorke might give it his stamp of approval.

My gratitude – more than words and my limited video-editing abilities can express – to everyone who encouraged and supported me during a very difficult time. Please get vaccinated and get boostered and get back to enjoying live theater and music.