Tag Archives: Better Day

DownTown Blog – The DownTown Demos

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It seemed like an odd choice to release The DownTown Demos. I really didn’t think the sound of the demos would stack up against previous releases, mainly because they weren’t recorded in the studio. Well, technically the tracks were recorded in a studio to begin with, with the exception of Live. I did go into the studio to experiment with the Bong Bros. and cut close to 15 tracks. The results varied but I did have a blast working and recording the tracks. It was kind of like being the star of my own musical fantasy camp. Just me and my guitars alone in a recording studio, laying down as many tracks as possible.

When I was finished recording, I came home to listen to the results. There were a few tracks that I thought were very cool and decided to flesh them out a bit more, recording bass guitar and some extra guitars. I did this on my Tascam 8-Track Digital recorder, putting the studio mixes on Tks 1 & 2. This gave me 6 extra tracks to work with. Once I was finished overdubbing the extra tracks, I mixed the 8 tracks down to 2-Tk stereo. The last song I recorded was Live and that was the only song not recorded in the studio. I did it all on the 8-Tk.

One afternoon I decided to record something using the MP3 I had with beats. I got a killer guitar sound on my Stratocaster and recorded the instrumental version for Live, originally called Stratoblaster. All of the tracks sat around for a number of years until I decided to try and write lyrics and put melodies to some of them. I eventually would finish 3 of them by arranging the tracks of each song into verses and choruses. Then I would splice the parts together creating the entire song. Once again, I put the mix on Tks 1&2 of the 8-Tk, and then recorded my vocals. When I finished doing the vocals, I mixed them down to 2-Tk stereo.

1964 Strat

It was at the start of 2018 that I decided to finish writing the lyrics to The Wish, which in turn would be the starting point for the Better Day album. While working on the lyrics to The Wish I went back to my instrumental tracks and tried writing lyrics to a few of them. The 1st one would end up being Live. I thought the lyrics were very positive and life-affirming. Little did I know that about 10 months later I would be diagnosed with MDS, short for Myelodysplastic Syndrome, a pre-condition of Leukemia. As I’ve already chronicled here previously, I got a Stem Cell Transplant in May 2019, which is a cure for MDS.

The strange thing about the song Live was that I thought I wrote the lyrics after my transplant. It wasn’t until I went into my workbook when I was writing the lyrics to Shadow Walk that I saw the date for the lyrics of Live—January 2018! Talk about life imitating art!! They say that truth is stranger than fiction and here’s a case that bears that out. Somehow my subconscious was telling me I needed to have a positive frame of mind for something that was coming my way.

Shadow Walk is the other song with vocals on The DownTown Demos. I was originally going to call it Lucifer but thought that might be too provocative. I was having a bit of trouble with the lyrics until I realized the title of the instrumental track was Shadow Walk. I really like that title and in a way, it turned out to be what a song about Lucifer would be about. And no, I do not believe that Lucifer is Satan. That’s an old wive’s tale—The Fall of The Angels. He’s the Archangel with bad PR, made to be a scapegoat.

Now I know what you’re thinking because you’ve been taught that Lucifer is the Fallen Angel known as Satan. Remember, the Bible was written and compiled by humans. The fall of the angels is a metaphor to show how Lucifer lets his pride bring him down. But there’s something about the story that doesn’t ring true, which is that angels weren’t created that way. It’s a contrived story for the purposes of Religion. It’s humans who make judgments. It’s in our nature, not that of angels. The angels give selfless service to humanity. That’s why they exist. But there’s this one bad apple who rebels? Really?? I don’t think so. But I digress…

The other thing about writing a song called Lucifer was the problem of not wanting to say his name even though it’s written from his perspective. It then occurred to me to approach the song like The Stones did with Sympathy For The Devil, when Mick sings “hope you guess my name”. This gave me the idea to start the chorus with “do you know my name?” I wanted to conjure up the feeling of dread that would be present in a “shadow walk” with the music and lyrics. I try to end the song on a positive note by saying he will guide you back with his light. Lucifer means “shining light”.

If you look at the people I thank on the sleeve of the DownTown Mystic cd, you’ll notice I thank Viceroy & A Band of Angels on it. Viceroy is another name Lucifer goes by. Even he doesn’t want to say his own name because of the connotations associated with it! Shadow Walk refers to the dark side we are all capable of having. A “shadow walk” could refer to an addiction or a troubled soul. As I see it, from my experience, the Archangel Lucifer is there for humans on their “shadow walk”. He’s the Archangel of Fear and Despair, not something the other archangels raise their hands for. He holds a place for us without any judgment so that when we are ready to accept help, he’s there for us. Think about what he’s seen. It’s a scary place for sure, which is why the music is so foreboding. When it comes to the existence of “The Devil”, my sources in the Spirit Realm say it’s not so.

KoolSkool is a fun track. I had asked the Bong Bros. to create an old-school hip-hop beat for me and then played a rhythm to it on my acoustic guitar. There’s a song from years back by the Irish singer/songwriter Donovan called Goo Goo Barabajagal, which is strange enough. For some reason, the groove on KoolSkool brings Donovan’s song to my mind. When I listened to the track at home I thought I’d experiment with some lead guitars. The interesting thing for me on KoolSkool is the fact that I recorded 2 separate guitar parts that harmonize in spots with the exact same phrasing! It’s really wild because I don’t think I could have planned them that way. I remember feeling very fluid that day and just wanted to get my playing recorded. It was hearing the playback that blew my mind! LOL

The other instrumental is AcousticHeart. This is probably my favorite track from the recording sessions with the Bong Bros. and one of the few ideas I brought with me in advance. It’s a different kind of groove but it works so well, building as it goes. I’ve always liked the music and wanted to create a full song from it. After a number of attempts that fell short, I finally figured out a way to write the song. The new song is called When The Angels Sing and it’s quite special to me. The next studio album will be Biblical for sure. 🙂

DownTown Blog – Bruce Engler: One More Chance

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The One More Chance album by Bruce Engler featuring DownTown Mystic has been a pet project for some time now. It’s filled with great songs and it was a highlight of my career to work on and be a part of. Of course, I’m a bit partial since I co-wrote 2 songs with Bruce, including the title track, and Bruce was generous enough to record 2 of mine. Besides producing, I got to sing and play on every track on the album. Considering that Bruce and I have been collaborating and working together over the past 25 years, it was about time we did an album of his songs.

Buce & Robert

I wrote about how the title track One More Chance came to be written before and really started our working relationship. It’s been an interesting journey for the two of us. Bruce has been an integral part of the DownTown Mystic project since its inception, lending his many talents, chief of which is his excellent guitar work. I think Bruce is one of the most expressive guitar players I’ve ever seen, let alone worked with. His playing has a character all its own and it’s great that he’s finally getting some of the recognition he deserves. Of course, his slide playing brings out the best in him.

The Way To Know single is a great example of Bruce’s slide playing and technique. Aided and ably abetted by the RnR HOF rhythm section from The E Street Band, Bruce puts down layers of slide guitar parts that float on top of the track. When he solos during the instrumental break, it’s hard to tell if he’s playing slide or a synth is playing the part. Bruce is that good. Having written and produced the track, I got excited when Bruce recorded his vocal. Bruce’s vocal style is a lot like his guitar playing, where he’ll phrase something in a way that lifts the entire track.

One of my favorite tracks on the album is Fiona. From the moment I heard Bruce’s demo I knew I wanted to record it with harmonies not on the demo. PJ Farley (Trixter) lays down a great bass line and Rich Scannella (Bon Jovi) provides a cool reggae beat that brings the song to life. I came up with a cool vocal arrangement on the chorus that Bruce, me and the lovely Jaime Della Fave sing in the background. One of my all-time fave parts!

Bruce at Bitter End, NYC

One Step Closer is the original version by Bruce. DownTown Mystic recorded a version for the Better Day album. I always thought this was a breakthrough song for Bruce and his career as a singer/songwriter. It signified something deeper in him that I had not seen before. I love its message and the good feeling you get from it. Outside of the She Said, She Said cover, One Step Closer is the only song recorded but not written by DownTown Mystic.

Goodbye is a rocker with a classic riff that provides Bruce with the opportunity to show off his guitar chops in a big way and he doesn’t disappoint. Backed by the rhythm section from Ian Hunter’s Rant Band, drummer Steve Holley and bassist Paul Page lay down a solid track and Bruce does the rest. Blue Moonlight shows off some more tasty slide work from Bruce. I think it’s one of his most underrated songs. I had just bought my Rickenbacker 360/12-string and got the chance to use it on this track as well as singing a couple of harmony parts.

I’ve always thought that Bruce’s whistling on Go Back made it one of his most unique songs. Bruce and I disagree about this because he thinks I hated the song when I first heard it because of the whistle, but he would be wrong about that. 🙂 I first heard the song when Bruce sent me a homemade 8-tk recording which blew my mind, so it’s very unlikely that his whistle would have turned me off to the track. I still think that 8-tk is one of the best home recordings I’ve ever heard. Go Back really has it all—great guitar work, killer harmonies and a chill acoustic groove that Steve Holley and Paul Page star on.

Read The Signs is the other co-write on the album that I did with Bruce and it appears here as it did on the Better Day album. It’s too good of a song to keep off this album and once again, Steve Holley and Paul Page play a big role in its success. Letter To My Brother is one of the first songs I ever heard by Bruce and he shows off his acoustic guitar playing on the track. We also share the bass duties on it. I play on everything except the chorus, as Bruce came up with the part and it made sense to have him play it. I don’t think anyone can tell there are 2 different players as the playing is seamless. I think this is the first time I recorded a part with my Rickenbacker 360/6-string.

Bruce Engler

Bruce sings my song Last Teardrop and his vocal is killer. The song has always been a problem for me because of the key but it fit Bruce’s voice perfectly. It was fun to do the harmony part as well as recording the acoustic guitars which I have to credit to producer Rob Harari for a great idea in layering them. The last track If We Believe was recorded at the same session as Fiona and features the same personnel—PJ on bass and Rich on drums, who lay down a solid rockin’ track for Bruce’s cool slide parts. Once again Bruce, Jaime and myself provide stellar background vocals as counterpoint to Bruce’s strong lead vocal. A fun track to end the album.

I’ve included an unreleased version of Fiona as a bonus track on the album. This is the full unedited track and shows off more of Bruce’s lead guitar work than on the final version. There was also an extra drum track that wasn’t used on the final, but overall, an interesting take. Even Bruce was surprised to hear how different it was from the final version. As I said at the start of this blog post, the One More Chance album has been a pet project of mine and one of my favorite albums to have worked on. I think it will help continue the roll that Bruce has been on since his excellent release The Landing in late 2020. Check out One More Chance.

DownTown Blog – Welcome To Sha-La Land

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2020 has been one tough historic year and it will be long remembered for the life-changing events that seemed to happen almost daily. People and History will talk about surviving the deadly Covid-19 Pandemic in the years that follow. What might not be talked about is the emotional toll it took on everyone. People had loved ones die and many never had a chance to see them or say goodbye. The pandemic has been like something out of a sci-fi horror movie. Hospitals were so overrun with Covid cases, that many died without anyone claiming their bodies, only to be buried in mass graves like something out of the Middle Ages when plagues were killing people.

It was back in the summer that the thought occurred to me that I should release some musical ‘positive vibes’ out to the world dealing with this pandemic. Sha-La was releasing The Discontent Specialty Shows album and the song Dying Breath struck me as being perfect for this time we were all going through. When I thought about all the music released on Sha-La I decided to make a compilation album with positive messages. It was obvious that the cover art for Welcome To Sha-La Land had a Christmas look to it with the green and reds flowing together, so I thought a Holiday release would be in order. Even though there are no ‘Christmas songs’, I felt that making the album have a ‘positive vibe’ would capture the ‘Christmas spirit’.

I needed a strong lead track to start the album that could also be a single for Radio. Test Of Time seemed to fit the bill. I had written and recorded the song as a gift for my wife Barbara on our 25th Wedding Anniversary, but taken another way, it really speaks to those who lost loved ones to the pandemic. Also, a pattern soon developed, with DownTown Mystic featured on the other tracks with Bruce Engler and The Discontent. It only seemed fair to feature Bruce on Test Of Time because of his great slide playing and harmony vocals on the track. Moving next to One More Chance, which I co-wrote with Bruce, seemed like the perfect segue. It’s also the title track from the album Sha-La will release in 2021 called One More Chance featuring DownTown Mystic.

https://soundcloud.com/shalaman/standing-still

Pollution is a track I co-wrote and produced with The Discontent. DownTown Mystic recorded the song and called it Breathe. Again, it seemed like perfect timing with the lyric “I can’t breathe”. Standing Still is one of my favorite DTM tracks and it was a tough song to write. I had started to try and write about my father’s parents (my grandparents) who both died within a couple of weeks of each other in different hospitals. My father and his 3 sisters never got to see their parents to say goodbye, which is something that’s been all too common in 2020. It became too difficult to get the story down so I focused on writing the song to my father, who died when I was young. The song comes full circle in my feeling like he must have felt with his father and mother.

https://soundcloud.com/shalaman/dying-breath-the-discontent

I included Bruce’s song Fiona because it’s one of my faves and I think one of the best he’s ever written. I wanted to record it from the 1st time I heard his demo of it. I feel the same way about Dying Breath by The Discontent. I recorded more guitar and harmonies on it to bring the track out a bit more. It really hits home right now with all of the lives that have been lost in this pandemic. It has one of the rare positive lyrics from Jessie where he flips the script, from asking to take his dying breath, to not wanting to die and finding meaning in life. It’s profound on a level that Jessie is not usually known for. 🙂

Next, we move on to a 3-song acoustic set starting with Better Day. This was a bonus track on the cd and is the acoustic mix of the song. It has a totally different vibe from the main version, mainly because the acoustic guitar plays a different rhythm than the electric guitars on the track. I wrote The Last Teardrop in 1980 and I’ve always considered it one of my best. It’s an Elegy about loss but it also offers hope for the future. I asked Bruce to sing it because I never liked my voice on it. His vocal is just so natural and I remember when he cut it in the studio. It was amazing! Then I got to record a harmony to it and finally got a definitive version of the song. Also, producer Rob Harari had us track 9 acoustic guitars that created a very cool sound landscape.

https://soundcloud.com/shalaman/the-last-teardrop-bruce-engler

Dead End Space is one of the rare acoustic tracks by The Discontent. Come to think of it, it’s their only acoustic track. I was trying to get the band a song that would allow the listener to ease up from their usual intense attack of material. I co-wrote the song with Jessie Hobbs and the late Ozzie Caccavelli and we recorded the track at Ozzie’s home studio. I’ll never forget Ozzie’s reaction after we finished writing it. I saw the look on his face, which seemed to be shock, and asked him what the matter was. He just shook his head and said it was too good for them. Lol

Welcome To Sha-L Land finishes with 3-Way Heartbreak, which I included because it was not on the Used Records History album and Good Karma by Monte Farber. Monte and I share the same birthday (he’s 2 years older) and first met in the NYC clubs we were playing back in the late 70s. Our lives parallel each other’s in so many ways it could only be coincidence. He’s an astrologer and I’m a numerologist. Monte would go on to become one of the leading New Age authors, creating some of the most incredible divination systems with his wife, artist Amy Zerner. Sha-La released Good Karma almost 30 years ago and it’s become a perennial holiday season favorite.

Sha-La Music celebrated its 33rd year in business in 2020. We started the year by releasing the positive Better Day album in January, not knowing that the Covid-19 Pandemic would soon be taking over the world and changing lives forever. We’ve all lost loved ones and friends that in many ways still feels surreal. It only seems appropriate that we end the year with Welcome To Sha-La Land and put out some more positive energy at the most emotional time of the year. We hope that 2021 will find an end to this pandemic and allow all of us to get back to our lives for the better.

DownTown Blog – DownTown Mystic: Used Records History 1979-1985 Part 1 “Almost Famous”

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A letter arrived in the mail back in June 2017. The return address listed the Asbury Park Hotel with Attn: Nick Cohn. This was strange. What could this be? The letter opened with Nick Cohn saying he was a British music journalist. He had been in Asbury Park for the past few months working on a project to chronicle the historic music scene that took place in and around Asbury Park in the late 70s and early 80s. Well now…I had a band that played in AP during that time.

Mr. Cohn continued. He said he was looking into the records of bands that made an impact, big or small, during that time period and had come across “one curiously unknown band that seemed to pop out of nowhere then mysteriously disappear”. He said the band was called The Tupelos. WTF??!! That was my band!! Mr. Cohn went on to say that The Tupelos had done a show in the now defunct Fast Lane club, and in interviews with locals, it “was the best rock n roll show they’ve ever seen”. Ok…am I being punked?? This is really weird!!

The Fast Lane Asbury Park, NJ

The letter went on to say that he had traced the origins of the band back to me and he hoped he was correct. He apologized for taking up my time if he had been wrong, but if I was a member of the band, then I should read on. Mr. Cohn said that he and his publisher were putting together a very detailed account of that music period, along with any live recordings they could find. He wanted to consider The Tupelos for a chapter titled “Almost Famous” and then went on to ask some questions he wanted me to answer. He ended the letter by saying he was flying back to the UK and gave me his email to contact him.

The Tupelos 1979

Wow…this was a lot to take in. Was this for real?? I immediately googled Nick Cohn and found that he was indeed a British music journalist. But he was listed as Nik not Nick and was considered by many to be the father of rock criticism. His book Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom, written in 1969, is considered to be one of the best ever written on rock n roll. His 1976 New York Magazine article Tribal Rites of The New Saturday Night would be the basis for the movie Saturday Night Fever. Are you kidding??!!

When I emailed him I asked him how he found out about The Tupelos and if he was the same Nik on Wikipedia. He wrote back and he said he was the same Nik on Wiki. He also said that he had run into Pat Fasano, the former owner of The Fast Lane, who had a 45 record of the band. That would have been the 45 single we put out in 1979 with a cover of Chuck Berry’s Sweet Little 16 on one side and my song Please Be There on the other. This would be the same single that would get the attention of E Street bassist Garry Tallent.

Garry Tallent

That was 3 years ago and as far as I know, nothing has yet to come of Mr. Cohn’s research in Asbury Park. But his letter did make me go back and start to look into my music archives and rediscover some of the songs that would be the musical seeds for DownTown Mystic. All of the music from that period starting in 1979 was on reel to reel and cassette tapes. I tried to get as much of it onto DAT when I got a DAT machine in the 90s. Listening to the music I was making in those days took me back in time…from my work in The Tupelos to my solo stuff after I left the band. I took what I thought were the best tracks and had Larry Bentley master them one night at Cellar Dweller. The thought of possibly releasing them one day began to intrigue me, but when and how would I be able to do that?

It seems that after 3 years the right time to release those songs has presented itself. In January 2020 Sha-La Music released the DownTown Mystic Better Day album. 2 months later the Covid-19 pandemic hit and was closing down everything here in the NY/NJ area with everyone having to quarantine in their homes. While Better Day was having a good run at Worldwide Radio as well as Americana Radio here in the US, it provided a good time to revisit the idea of releasing the early material. Sha-La Music looked at its catalog and thought this was a good time to release projects that DownTown Mystic has been involved with and tie-in the early material. To that end, the DownTown Mystic: Used Records History 1979-1985 album was created.

To kick off the catalog releases, Sha-La Music released The Discontent Specialty Shows album last month in July. This album had been released on cd but never digitally. Its release coincides with the 20th anniversary of The Discontent making the Specialty Show charts, which brought the band national recognition. It was produced by DownTown Mystic (Robert Allen) and the late Ben Elliott. The track Dying Breath features DownTown Mystic and is a perfect single for this time of the pandemic, but might hit too close for comfort. In November the DownTown Mystic: Used Records History 1979-1985 album will be released and then the Bruce Engler One More Chance featuring DownTown Mystic album will come out in 2021.

Sha-La will release the 3-Way Heartbreak Single in September as a way to introduce the DownTown Mystic: Used Records History 1979-1985 album. 3-Way Heartbreak is the original track that was recorded in 1985. The single also includes the 1983 recording of Same Old Lover, which differs slightly from the original version on the album. 3-Way Heartbreak is a pure 80s track with the use of synths and drum machines and should fit in with the current comeback of 80s music.

Stranger Things Music Supervisor Nora Felder loved the song and wanted to put it in the 2nd season of the show until she found out that the song had not been a hit in the 80s because it had not been released. It was recorded at the same sessions that included Fly Like The Wind, which was selected by Music Supervisor Alexandra Patsavas for her TV show The Carrie Diaries because it was recorded in the 80s when the show takes place. Fly Like The Wind has become one of DownTown Mystic’s top sync-licensing tracks and will be in the upcoming Disney movie Flora and Ulysses. 3-Way Heartbreak will be released at Worldwide Radio and I’ll talk more about the album in Part 2 of this blog post.

To be continued…

Click link below to listen to 3-Way Heartbreak Single:

https://promo.theorchard.com/UrJ1v4vyODctbpYAArzn

DownTown Blog – Better Day Part 4

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So I was ready to get my Stem Cell Transplant in March 2019 but there was a Mercury Retrograde going on and I was not going to have any communications or equipment break down at such an important moment in my life. So I asked to have the transplant moved to April and it proved to be a very good move because the 45 year old woman, who had been a perfect 10 out of 10 match to be my donor, failed her physical in March and was taken off the donor roll. It was time for Plan B.

Plan B was to go to my family because of a bloodline and find a donor. I’m an only child with no siblings, so the next circle would be my first cousins. The cutoff age to be a donor is 60 yrs. because at that age everybody starts to make cells which are unique only to them. Science doesn’t quite understand why this happens, but it happens. All my cousins are over 60 so now I needed to go to their kids. Luckily my oldest cousin’s son volunteered to be tested at Christmas and had been a match. Actually, he is what is known as a Half Match because my father and his grandmother (brother & sister) shared the same gene and so do we. It’s called a Half Match because the bloodline is on only 1 side of the family, but sometimes it’s favored over a stranger who is a 10 out of 10 match because of the bloodline.

The hero to my rescue was Marc Dral, my first cousin once removed, who had just turned 40. He was in from the start when I first asked him at Christmas and now I had to call him to let him know my 1st donor had failed her physical. To his credit, Marc never wavered in his help and support and for that I will always be eternally grateful. In fact, the whole experience of having to ask my relatives for their help was a very emotional experience. I had an outpouring of love and support from my wife’s family lining up to volunteer, including their friends. Unfortunately, like my wife, they’re complete strangers blood wise, but it was very gratifying to know they wanted to have my back.

Robert & Marc

Marc made his stem cell donation as planned in April and I received the transplant in May because I got sick in April a week before the scheduled day. I went into the hospital on May 2 and for 6 days they hit me with heavy doses of chemotherapy to kill off my immune system. Then on May 8th, I got my transplant and it’s considered to be your 2nd birthday because the nurses come in the room with a balloon and birthday greetings because I’ve been technically reborn with the immune system of a newborn baby. The idea of the transplant is for Marc’s cells to take over and form a new immune system in my body. I’m as defenseless as a baby and need to get all my vaccinations all over again. My blood type is now the same as Marc’s.

I would spend 26 days in the hospital. I had my own private room on the transplant floor at HUMC and the best of care from the doctors and nurses there. Just days before I went in I received my copy of TunedLoud Magazine with my photo on the cover. It came as a total surprise because the editor had to cancel the original cover because the artist wasn’t ready to release his project, which left an opening for the cover. The editor thought I was deserving of being on the cover and put me on and made me the centerfold story with other great photos that Mark Maryanovich had shot. Every time a nurse of doctor would visit I would pull out the magazine to show them and tell them that “I bet you didn’t know you were treating a celebrity”. LOL

I also brought the Rock’n’Roll Romantic cd to give out to anyone who might be interested in listening. Music would become a big part of my rehab there, particularly with 2 people. I gave the cd to an aide named Mark who looked after me. One day he came back to tell me he had listened to the cd and how impressed he was with my music. He went the extra step by playing me on Spotify over the speaker system on the ward. Every time I would go out of the room to walk around the ward (23 laps=1 mile), Mark would have my music playing in the halls. It was very uplifting for me to hear my music being played as I did my laps. THANK YOU Mark!! 😎

The other important person who came into my life there was Ike Lester. Ike did the caricature of me that’s on the inside panel of the Better Day cd. He used to do political caricatures for the Village Voice in NYC and was now volunteering his time doing them for the patients at the hospital. Ike is a soul man all the way and our talks about music and life were inspiring for me. I wasn’t very impressed with the 1st drawing he did of me until I realized that I really did look that bad. It wasn’t Ike’s fault. He might have made it a bit better. Then one day I showed him my magazine cover and he flipped over the photos, immediately picking one he wanted to draw. A couple of weeks later he knocked on my door and brought in the finished copy. It was GREAT!! I told him I would put it on the new cd I was planning and was able to give it to him after I was over my 100 days of quarantine after leaving the hospital. THANK YOU Ike!! 😎

I’m always surprised that people want to hear about what I went through during my stay and I understand why. Modern medicine is really doing amazing and unbelievable things but I will leave it here, except to say that I have 100% of Marc’s blood in me. The latest bone marrow test showed that there is no cancer or any blasts and I continue to regain my strength. Besides Marc and the great staff at HUMC, I owe my recovery to the love of my life—my wife Barbara, who is also my caregiver. I know it’s because of her undying love and care that I’m still around to tell my story. I’m a very fortunate and lucky man. 🙂

DownTown Blog – Better Day Part 3

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Going through this experience made me take a closer look at my life and reflect on many experiences. I took stock of where I’d been and where I was going despite trying to stay centered in the present moment. As I said at the end of Part 2 of this blog, I was going to have a Better Day in more ways than one and when I started the Drug Trial and chemotherapy, I began to focus on how to promote the new music I just recorded. I needed to keep my mind on my music and keep myself positive and moving forward, while I was spending 6-8 hours a day for a week each month sitting in the Infusion Center. I had music business to deal with.

In 2018 I signed a new Digital Distribution deal with AWAL/Kobalt Music and released a couple of singles off of Rock’n’Roll Romantic in the second half of the year. I promoted them to Worldwide Radio via the iPluggers online Radio platform and scored some good success. The plan for 2019 would be to release 3 new singles before putting out the Better Day album by the end of the year. I had new music but couldn’t decide which track to release first.

The decision would be made for me when iPluggers ran a special promotion for Valentine’s Day looking for love songs. With Love Light ready to go, it was a no-brainer for me. But instead of just releasing 1 track, I decided to add a B-side with the Americana tinged Tomorrow’s Clown. This is without a doubt the most unusual and unique track in the DownTown Mystic catalog and I wanted to give it some extra exposure before the album release. This song would also bring back an epic memory about how I came to write it because it involves meeting the legendary songwriter John Prine.

Trilogy

Way back on December 16, 1972, a month from turning 21, my band Trilogy would play a sold-out show opening for John Prine who was headlining with his self-titled debut album on Atlantic. A buzz was building in music circles about his unique songwriting skills. A week before Christmas, a capacity crowd of over 2000 people filled the gym of my alma mater Rowan University in historic Glassboro, NJ to watch an amazing all-acoustic show. We were the big band on campus so this was a really huge deal for us and as you might imagine, this was the largest audience we ever played for. We were out of our skins!! LOL Looking back we managed to play a strong set of our original songs and went over very well with the audience. However, John Prine was somewhat of a surprise headliner that night when compared to the other artists on the bill.

That bill included a young up-and-coming Bonnie Raitt, who was very popular in the Philadelphia area, which was only a half-hour away. She was touring behind her new critically acclaimed 2nd album Give It Up on Warner Bros. and getting a lot of radio play. But the guy from South Philly who really should have been the headliner instead of being the Special Guest, was the guy whose career was taking off like a rocketship with his 2nd breaking hit single Bad, Bad Leroy Brown—the late great, Jim Croce. He was the main reason the gym was filled to capacity and that WYSP in Philly was simulcasting the show on the radio. Also, his sideman, guitarist Maury Muehleisen, who left school at Rowan to sign and make a solo album for Capitol was returning home to Glassboro! It was heartbreaking to hear the news that both men had been tragically killed in a horrible plane crash only 9 months after this show.

Jim Croce & Maury Muehleisen- (Photo by: Fred Sabine/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)

Jim Croce was a really cool, humble, open kind of guy. You would not know he was on the verge of a meteoric rise to stardom, and he graciously gave me a great tip that night. He went on after us and did a killer set that brought the gym to its feet. I saw him backstage afterward and asked him how he could play his acoustic guitar without being miked up like we were. He showed me a brand new tiny acoustic pickup called a Barcus Berry that he taped to the bridge of his guitar. You couldn’t even see it from the stage and I was right up front watching. The next time I went home I made a trip to W.48th Street in NYC to visit the mecca of music stores—Manny’s Music and bought 3 brand new Barcus Berry pickups for the band. It changed everything. Thank you Jim Croce!! But I digress…

Bonnie & John

Bonnie Raitt would actually close the show because her flight from Syracuse had been delayed by a snowstorm. So John Prine followed Jim Croce as Bonnie was being driven from the airport to the show. As he was walking up the back of the stage, the backdoor to the gym suddenly opened and in walked Bonnie with her bass player Freebo. She ran over and grabbed John around the neck in a hug that nearly pulled him back off the stage. Luckily he was able to maintain his balance and avoid a nasty fall. He then went up to the mike and with a sly smile muttered something like “I knew a little snow wouldn’t stop Bonnie”, much to the delight of the crowd at hearing Prine’s inside joke. But I digress…again…

On this night John Prine was 25 and just starting out on his musical career. He had recorded his major-label debut album and in 1972 he earned a Grammy Nomination for Best New Artist. Nearly 50 years later he shed his cult status and was honored with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. That debut album, John Prine, is now considered a classic, filled with little masterpieces that got the buzz growing on the mailman turned songwriter from Chicago. Backstage there was definitely something about him that was different from other people. You could see it in his eyes and I was intrigued by him. It made me want to see him play. We chatted a bit as he sat a bit bemused by his headline status, quietly drinking beer to take the edge off his nerves before the show. I probably spent more time talking to his manager Al Bunetta because the 2nd artist that Al was managing, Steve Goodman, was having a breakout hit with his now-classic song City of New Orleans.

John Prine (Photo by Tom Hill/WireImage)

It’s funny thinking back to that night and just how much I absorbed from watching John Prine’s performance. I was like a sponge back then and I was paying very close attention to him and how he started every song with a certain style of fingerpicking that always had this little rhythm to it. It certainly rubbed off on me because it wasn’t long after that show that I came up with the fingerpicking for the music that would become Tomorrow’s Clown. The other thing about John Prine was his way with words and how he just seemed to have a knack for writing about life. He could take something small and natural and make it sound offbeat and still get to you.

Robert/Trilogy

I know he got into my head that night because not only did he influence my fingerpicking, but he also got my attention with his lyrics. Tomorrow’s Clown is a love song about a serial killer (pure Prine). The inspiration for the song came from watching an episode of Kojak, a popular TV series at the time, but the lyrics are definitely due to John Prine. I say this because I’ve never written anything like it before or since and I can only conclude that there’s just no way I could have written the song if I hadn’t seen and met him that night.

Ben & Robert

Tomorrow’s Clown is one of the oldest songs that I’ve written and recorded and like a John Prine song, there’s something particularly poignant about the song itself, as well as the recording of it. 2 of the people involved have recently passed away. My engineer of 20 years, Ben Elliott, who recorded everything DownTown Mystic ever recorded, just passed away a couple of weeks ago as I write this. Ironically, the only time I’ve ever used his voice on a recording is at the start of Tomorrow’s Clown, when he hits the record button on the Studer tape machine and says ”we’re rolling”. It’s something he said to me hundreds of times in my headphones over the years and I have it for posterity now.

Tommy & Robert

The other person who’s no longer with us is the drummer on the track, Tommy Mastro. Tomorrow’s Clown is the last track we ever recorded together. Once again, it turned out to be a totally unique experience. We had started that last session around 1 pm and it was now 1 am. Tommy was set up in the studio and I was set up in front of the mixing console with my acoustic guitar miked in front of the floor to ceiling studio glass so that we could see each other. It was the only time that I ever did this working at Showplace Studios with Ben. The basic track was cut live as you hear it. Ben says “we’re rolling”, I start the count and then start fingerpicking my acoustic in the control room looking at Tommy playing in the studio, just the 3 of us. I’m forever grateful to have it on tape. As I said earlier, Tomorrow’s Clown is the most unique song I ever wrote or recorded and I’m lucky enough to owe it all to one man. Thank you John Prine!! 🙂

To be continued…

DownTown Blog – Better Day Part 2

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As you will see, the making of the Better Day album would become an adventure. 2 weeks before going in the studio to start recording, I had done a photoshoot in NYC with LA photographer Mark Maryanovich, which I considered to be part of the project. I had never released any DownTown Mystic recording with my face on the cover and I intended that to change with Better Day.

The following week after the photoshoot, Mark got back to LA and sent me the photos. I hate to take photos of myself but Mark had done an incredible job. Even I was really impressed. There were so many great shots to choose from. Mark had given me everything I needed to get the project rolling. With my head filled with good vibes, I entered the studio ready to rock!

courtesy of @markmaryanovich

The tracking sessions took place at Showplace Studios with my engineer of 20 years Ben Elliott and then recording moved to Sound Spa here in NJ, helmed by Stephen DeAcutis, also known as Stevie D. I had worked with Steve before and knew he was also a great guitar player. Given that DownTown Mystic is primarily all guitars, I figured Steve would be the best man to work with on the new songs. Steve was still in the process of finishing his own album Torn From The Pages with Cory Glover, of Living Colour fame, on vocals. So I was in very good hands.

Steve Holley, Robert & Paul Page

The sessions were a blast. Steve Holley and Paul Page provided the backing as the rhythm section (which they also do for Ian Hunter’s Rant Band) and the end result was some of the best music I had ever recorded, including some of my best guitar solos. From the Tom Petty inspired 12-string solo on Better Day to the ripping guitar on Modern Ways. One of the more memorable moments came one night when I was trying to flesh out the solo on The Wish. I had asked Lance Doss to put down a guitar part for me just before he was to pack up and go home. He laid down a part in one pass. Some of it worked and some of it needed some improvement. So for about 30 minutes I toiled trying to piece something together with what Lance had played and it wasn’t working.

Lance & Robert

Now sitting next to me punching in my takes is Steve. I’m looking at him and thinking, “what am I doing here”? I handed him my Les Paul and asked him to have a try and just play whatever he wanted. I think he had the solo finished and recorded within 10 minutes and it was perfect! These are the moments, as a producer, that I live for. It was truly magical! Lance and I never stood a chance. So my intuition to work with Steve had already paid a big dividend.

At The Spa

We finished the sessions in early October and it would be another month before I could get more studio time. 2 weeks later I went for my annual physical with my primary doctor, Dr. Edward Gold. When the doctor called a few days later with the results, I was not really surprised by what he said. For the past 2 years Dr. Gold had been trying to find out the cause of my hemoglobin dropping. His diagnosis had been Chronic Anemia, which I was never really satisfied with. Now he told me my hemoglobin had dropped from 9.2 to 7.2 in the last 6 months (normal hemoglobin range is 14-18). He said we needed to do another bone marrow test to see what was going on.

I went for the bone marrow test and got the results from Dr. Gold on Halloween before I left for the studio to continue recording. The doctor said I had what they used to call “pre-leukemia”, now called MDS (Myelodysplastic Syndrome). Actually, in an odd way, I took this as kind of good news because there was finally an explanation for what I was going through in the last 2 years. The doctor wanted me to see a specialist, Dr. James McCloskey at HUMC. I called and made an appointment and then headed out the door for Sound Spa. I was not going to let anything deter me from finishing the album, especially now. Who knew what was ahead of me? The main thing was to stay in the moment and make music.

Steve & Rob

I remember walking into the studio and talking to Stephen. We would usually chat before a session about what was going on since we had seen each other last and I told him my news. I could see the concern on his face and I told him I would be ok. In previous conversations I had with Steve, I told him about my sessions with Dr. Peebles and Natalie Gianelli, who channels the good doctor (this would make for another post). The main teachings of Dr. Peebles are to take responsibility for your life and to connect with your heart, which will connect you to your Higher Self and who you really are. The mind (ego) will always try to get involved and micro-manage everything, which makes it hard for us to get out of our own way. Dr. Peebles told me that everything in my life was always working for me and never against me. So I was now applying that to the MDS and looking at how it was going to benefit me. Little did I know how much this new mindset would help me in the days to come.

courtesy of @markmaryanovich

With the discussion over, I changed my focus back to the music and spent the next week recording and mixing. Song titles like Better Day, The Wish, One More Chance, Love Light, One Step Closer, Read The Signs and Lost & Found took on very different meanings then they had just a few days before and the irony wasn’t lost on me. The positive vibes that started with the photoshoot had continued with the recording sessions and helped me to keep my attention in the present moment. What was about to occur was not something I was giving a lot of thought to and this will be the 1st time I’ve ever talked about it at any length, so please keep that in mind.

courtesy of @markmaryanovich

I continued recording and mixing the Better Day album in the first week of November 2018. The following week I met with Dr. James McCloskey, the head of the Leukemia Dept. at the John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center here in NJ. Dr. McCloskey had looked at my bone marrow test and told me that the test revealed I was making these irregular cells called “blasts” at 12% of my cells. He said that at 20% it’s considered to be Leukemia. At 12% I was in the high range and needed to be treated as soon as possible, because unchecked, the blasts would become Leukemia cells. He said that I was a good candidate for a new drug trial he was doing that was in its 3rd and final stage before getting approval by the FDA. It was a chemotherapy drug in pill form that took the place of the intravenous drug and with fewer side effects.

But the real news of my meeting was that there was a CURE for MDS, usually a bone marrow or stem cell transplant. I then met with the Transplant Team headed by Dr. Scott Rowley. The plan was for me to enter the drug trial, get as healthy as possible and then get a transplant. I started the chemo treatment in December for a full week and every month after until March, when I met with Dr. Rowley and was told that I was ready for the transplant. My hemoglobin was up to 13.2 and the blasts had been reduced down to 2%. I was feeling so good I asked them to put off the transplant until April. It seemed I was going to have a Better Day. 😎

To be continued…

DownTown Blog – Better Day Part 1

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In the last blog post, I wrote about how the album still lives and the new Better Day album I’ve just released will be a case in point. I decided back in late summer 2018 that I would create an album of all positive songs and call it Better Day. This was a year before I would hold the actual album in my hands. Now I was gearing up to go into the studio in early Fall 2018 to start recording the material that would become Better Day.

I had started the year by deciding to finish writing 2 songs that were “sitting in the can” as it were, meaning I had recorded the basic tracks for them during previous projects and never finished them. One had been “sitting in the can” for 9 years and the other one for 6 years! It was finally time to get down to finishing each one and then recording them later in the year.

courtesy of @markmaryanovich

The 1st song that I finished writing from 2009 was called The Wish and the other one from 2012 was called Love Light. I had put the rough mixes from the studio sessions on my 8-Tk digital recorder so that I could record vocals and guitar parts and get a demo for each song. Soon I added demos of 2 other songs, Better Day and Modern Ways. I was so happy with the results that I booked time for the end of September to record them.

It had been 7 years since my last photoshoot and I knew this was the time for new photos. I was supposed to have a photoshoot in August with LA photographer Mark Maryanovich but it had been canceled due to a week of constant rain. Mark called me a couple of weeks later and said he would be in NYC the 2nd week of September and we should book a session. This turned out to be a stroke of luck as the weather was now 20 degrees cooler than back in August and with the studio already booked for the end of the month, this would allow me to get in the proper frame of mind as an artist.

courtesy of @markmaryanovich

Mark had asked me to scout out some locations for the shoot. He said he was looking for a kind of gritty street vibe, or something like that. I had recently seen a video that Bruce Engler had done using the Brooklyn Bridge. There was a shot at the end of the video that had the bridge in the background and I sent it to Mark to see what he thought of the location. Mark loved it and said it was perfect for what he wanted to do with me.

courtesy of @markmaryanovich

Bruce said there was a warehouse area on the Brooklyn side under the bridge. This seemed like the logical place to start with Mark. So a week later I got up with my wife Barbara at 3am on a Saturday morning to meet Mark and his wife Carolyne down at the Circle Line on the West Side Highway in Manhattan so we could get over the Brooklyn Bridge at 5am because Mark wanted to shoot with his light setup. The area under the Brooklyn Bridge would turn out to be a better location than expected for a photoshoot.

Courtesy of Barbara Szala

Not only was there a warehouse that was lit up at night, but once you walked around a small bird sanctuary with trees and bushes blocking the view, there was a small park and Jane’s Carousel, glass-enclosed and all lit up with the East River rolling by. We worked for over 2 hours as the dawn broke in a light misty rain. We left about 7:15am back over the bridge to our 2nd location in lower Manhattan.

Courtesy of Barbara Szala

I had picked the Wall St. area because I knew it had some of the oldest bars & cafes in the city. There was one area where 2 streets crossed by Del Monicos but it was Saturday and that’s trash day. The streets were filled with black trash bags piled all over the place. We needed to find another location. As luck would have it, we had passed a cobblestone street, appropriately called Stone Street, as we made our way up to the 1st location. With all the streets being 1-ways, we circled back around to find Stone Street.

Courtesy of Barbara Szala

I pulled in front of the oldest café in NYC on the corner of Stone Street so Mark and his wife Carolyne could get out and scout the location. About 10 minutes later Mark came running back and motioned me to get out and follow him. I walked down the cobblestones to the middle of the block where Mark was standing in front of a private residence that was undergoing renovation with scaffolding all around it. In front of the residence’s entry was a small thru street that was now blocked off to traffic, making it a private driveway.

Courtesy of Barbara Szala

I quickly ran back to my car and backed it down the street and into the private driveway, hidden from view. Mark set up his equipment and for the next 90 minutes, we had our own little set and a complete run of the street. The rain stopped as Mark started shooting me on a street unlike anywhere in NYC. You would have thought we were in Vienna or some other old city in Europe. It really was unbelievable and thanks to the clouds, there were no shadows that would have been created had the sun been out. Mark and I couldn’t have asked for a better day or 2 better locations.

courtesy of @markmaryanovich

As we wrapped up the shoot I went into the bakery across from the driveway, which had just opened, to buy everyone lattes. Then we packed up and headed back to mid-town Manhattan to drop off Mark and Carolyne at their hotel, having completed a somewhat magical morning in NYC. Mark and I had been talking about doing a photoshoot together for over a year and now it had finally come to pass. There was no way back then that we could have planned such a day. With the photoshoot behind me, I was now in the right frame of mind to head into the studio. 😎

To be continued…