Warriors and Angels
Please allow me to take time out from my regularly scheduled column to make sure you know about the 2022 SONA Warrior Awards. In a time when we all understandably have a severe case of virtual fatigue (myself included), this is one event you don’t want to miss.
💪🏻💪💪🏿💪🏾💪🏼💪🏽 😇
Dear Mandy Moore…
Dear Mandy, Back when we met way before THIS IS US, I wrote a song for you called “17.” You came to record vocals. You were so young. Sweet. Starry eyed. Baby skinned. But it was your performance on “I Wanna Be With You,” a lyric I wrote to a melody Keith Thomas sent me for the movie CENTER STAGE, that clinched my crush on you.
I followed you though all 6 seasons of THIS IS US but now that it’s over I miss you, Mandy. I miss THIS IS US. I think I’m going through withdrawal! 🥹 🥹
25 Years Later
For me “Bitch” was a term of endearment for all the complicated and lovable hypocrisies women present. At the time of conception Meredith and I were both going through some kind of metamorphosis unbeknownst to each other and when we got in the same room all those feelings exploded. That’s my favorite kind of Songsex: Confessional. Organic. Un-calculated.
Say You’re Sorry
Seems like there’s no shortage of “National Something Days.” So I’d like to nominate “National Say You’re Sorry Day” — when you wake up and apologize to someone for something you did that wasn’t right. It’s a challenging, mixed-up, polarized, uncertain world out there. Perhaps a day to celebrate forgiveness — dole it out and receive it — isn’t such a bad idea. Maybe it won’t save humanity but it’ll make someone feel … for lack of a better word … seen.
TikTok… Boom!
Two things have been on my mind: TikTok and Tick, Tick…Boom! Loved Tick, Tick Boom! and Jazmine Sullivan’s cover of “Come To Your Senses.” TikTok is a different story. 3 of my friends told me recently that I should “get on” it. That I’d be so “good at it.” What exactly is “good at it?” 😳
American Song Contest
I’m a song junkie — a sucker for smart memorable ear candy. And this show has ‘em. It’s nice to know those kinds of songs are still being written. But could Tracey Chapman have survived this business model?
I See You, Mom
I can’t help but wonder especially with Mother’s Day approaching, do we really see our mothers for all they are? Do they give us passes for not getting to know them better because after all, they are (and always will be) the grown-ups in the room — wanting us to live our lives to the fullest and not be so concerned with theirs? At least that’s the way my Mom was.
Saturday In The Park
I never got over leaving NY. I wasn’t any less in love with her when I left than when I came. So again I ask you — do we manifest our destinies? No need to answer.
My Take On “Levitating”
Songwriters COULD make an effort to be more original. But can you blame us? Algorithms, which determine what DSPs stream, are basically forcing a creative community to write familiar sounding fodder. It’s a shame. But it’s true.
Hotel Cafe
Hotel Cafe is packed. If I don’t get Covid tonight I’m immune! Good for songwriters. Good for Hotel Cafe. Good for the music business that so many ppl came. I’m happy to be here but definitely feel some personal-space anxiety. Deal with it, Shelly. It’s gonna take a minute. I need to get back to the land of the living.
Catching Up With Kasim
My friend Kasim Sulton (bass player with with Todd Rundgren for the past 45 years) was one of the many touring musicians whose livelihood was disrupted due of the paralyzing forces of the pandemic. That didn’t stop him from releasing an album, launching a radio show and starting a podcast. But now that Covid protocol seems to be in retreat, he’s back to his happiest place — on stage with Kasim Sulton’s Utopia. He and I took a moment to talk about where he’s at. Literally and figuratively. Oh and…here’s to musicians getting back to work!!
🥳🎊🎉🍾🥂
Still Co-Writing After All These Years
When I started out I was 20. Everyone else was 20. We liked to write about the same 20-something things. Now, I don’t blame anyone for being 20. It was great! It’s just that I have a wider palette now.
Catching Up With Curtis
I met a 25-year-old Curtis Stigers in 1991 when Clive Davis selected a song I wrote with Gregg Sutton for Curtis’ debut record. Then all 3 of us wrote “You’re All That Matters To Me” which Curtis JUST re-recorded for a new album dropping this week. How on earth does someone stay in the game for so long? Creativity lives loudest in those who never stop envisioning what’s next. 💯💪🔥
Hello It’s Me
Didn’t we all have that guy or that girl or that they in our lives? Someone who was more than a friend but not quite a lover? Or a sometimes lover but not quite a “love”? Or a MAD love who didn’t feel the same about you? They fill some hole. Maybe you sleep together. Maybe you don’t but you want to. You did but don’t anymore. Only Todd knows for sure. But it doesn’t matter what Todd’s inspiration was. What matters is what the song conjures up for US! 😳
Jon
Jon had a way of making me feel like we had a special connection. A “thing.” I now realize that he made everyone feel that way. I’m in no way disappointed that I wasn’t the only one. My thing with him WAS special. Unique. As was all the others. The idea that so many people wanted to cultivate a “thing” with Jon Lind says a lot about the man.
The Way We Were
We’ll always have plenty of talented tasty, clever ear-worm-worthy songsmiths. Topliners. Beat Makers whose delicious material I enjoy immensely. It’s just that when we lose all our Marilyns who’s going to write “The Way We Were”? How do you keep THAT music playing?
If You Can Teach, Teach!
They say if you can’t do, teach. I couldn’t disagree more. Why not do both? There is a season turn turn turn. If you’ve been successful in your field at some point it’s time to pay it forward. Plus, it’s good for us to keep doing things we’re not sure we can do. 🤓
Things I Learned This Year
If someone breaks your heart stay busy — Life isn’t complicated, people are — Getting your hopes up is good for your soul. These are just some of the realizations that came to me this year. I’m sure you’ll relate to at least a few. Have a Happy New Year my friends…Here’s to another chance to try. 💜
A Real Good Feel-Good Christmas Story
A few weeks ago I got a Facebook message from someone I didn’t know. It started out the way many messages via Facebook start out which is why I probably don’t check them all that often. “You don’t know me but”… And then — ”I found something I think you lost many years ago on the streets of NYC.” 🎄
And In The End — Part 3
I don’t know about you but my husband and I were bleary-eyed for days after this series. A similar-eyed friend texted suggesting we curate a support group so we can debrief, vent, commiserate, celebrate. We’d sit in a circle and pass around a talking piece. Because, we need to get it out of our system. But the Beatles will NEVER be out of our system. 😳💙
