Cinecast Guest Appearance

Ever since iTunes has made it so easy to find and enjoy the phenomenon known as podcasting, I've been quite addicted to a movie review podcast/program called Cinecast. The format of the program is very simple: two guys (Adam Kempenaar and Sam Hallgren) from Chicago talking about movies. The conversation is intelligent and often quite funny. The hosts also invite listeners to provide input and general feedback by email, which is always entertaining. Last week they presented a "So Bad They're Good" episode featuring a discussion of truly horrible movies that somehow transcend their awfulness to point that they're actually enjoyable. With such a fun topic, I couldn't help sending in an email with my top choice in this category (the disastrous but unintentionally funny Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band from 1978) and was pleasantly surprised when they read my entire email on the air. You can check out that episode here.

And then if that weren't enough, being the pop culture junkie I am, during that episode I noted a couple of factual errors they made about both Sgt. Pepper and another terrible-yet-funny "rock musical" of the late 70's/early 80's called Xanadu. So I sent them a quick email (with tongue very much in cheek) with a couple of clarifications. I was pleased to discover that they once again chose to read my email on the air — this time on yesterday's program, which you download here.

Meet Sarah Janelle Shapiro!

A huge congratulations to my brother, Dan, and his wife, Kim, on their new arrival! Isn't she a cutie?!:


Sarah Janelle Shapiro
December 7, 2005

Lewis Brothers "Club Mix" Available!

For my own amusement, I endeavored to do a "club mix" of one of The Lewis Brothers' recordings, "Ha-yom" (translation: "Today"). Despite its fairly short length, it took me far longer to put it together than I expected. But in the end, I'm happy to say the result is not only funny (at least to me), but it's even kind of funky! Whereas I used a polished "Take 2" recording for the final CD version, for the club mix, I used a considerably shorter "Take 1" outtake, which ended abruptly when Shelly had a sudden onset of coughing. I wasn't originally going to keep the coughing in, but hearing it at the end of an early playback made me laugh. So the coughing stayed!

Here are both the "real" CD mix and my silly little club mix for your downloading pleasure:

• Ha-yom (final CD version) (2.2MB download)
• Ha-yom (Club Mix) (1.8MB download)

Lewis Brothers CD Sneak Preview #2

I finally completed the mixing of all the Lewis Brothers tracks over the weekend. I'll still need a few weeks to get the CD artwork put together and to create a dedicated download page on my website. But in the interim, I've uploaded a couple more "sneak preview" files for your enjoyment. As before, for most web browsers, you can simply click on either of the following files and the song will play directly in your browser. Otherwise, to download the file to your computer, right-click (Windows) or control-click (Mac) on each file and select the option to save/download the file.

• Ha-chama Ma-rosh (1.2MB download)
• Hoy Yibaneh (990KB download)

A Sad Anniversary

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the passing of John Lennon. It's impossible to overstate the impact his music and lyrics have made on me as a musician and a person — something that I'm sure millions of others around the world would also say. I'll always remember when by brother Daniel and I first discovered my father's copy of Meet the Beatles in a nightstand drawer. I was probably about 10 years old at the time. After decades of neglect, the album was dusty and scratched up, but that didn't stop Daniel from giving it a spin one day while I was away (probably hanging out with my then best friend Todd). As soon as I got home, he said, "You have to listen to this album." I did and my life has never been the same since.

To commemorate today's sad anniversary, Rolling Stone magazine is launching a series of podcasts that comprise the unedited tape recordings of an interview the magazine held with John in 1970 just before the release of Plastic Ono Band, arguably his greatest album. It makes for a fascinating listen.

Shine on, John.

Lewis Brothers CD Sneak Preview #1

As promised, I have uploaded a couple of "sneak preview" files from the Lewis Brothers recording session to my website. For most web browsers, you can simply click on either of the following files and the song will play directly in your browser. Otherwise, to download the file to your computer, right-click (Windows) or control-click (Mac) on each file and select the option to save/download the file. Enjoy!

• Kohanecha (3.0MB download)
• Kee Kineh (1.3MB download)

Some Slightly Esoteric Friday Comedy

Work on the Lewis Brothers CD is progressing well, albeit slowly, and I'll hopefully have an MP3 or two posted early next week. Until then, here's a cartoon that made me laugh this morning (extra credit to anyone who can identify all the characters and what they're known for):