My album Under A Searchlight Moon turns 10 this week. 10 years…that would make it a 5th grader.

In 5th grade I was the new kid. Being a new kid is a lot of pressure:

If you make the pretty kids laugh you’re golden. 
Accidentally let your lunch speak while stretching in gym and you’re done. 

I remember 2 things about 5th grade: my teacher’s kids called their grandfather Donkey (Donkey?!?) 

And I killed the class pet. 

Our room had a black gerbil with half a tail. Its name escapes me. But being the new kid, I was tasked with taking it home for the weekend. 

Its travel quarters was a precarious combo of a rusty bird cage without a bottom on top of a cafeteria tray held together with 2 bungee cords.

Night 1 was a success. Midnight Von Halftail slept, exercised, and ate like gerbils do. The next morning I took him out to stretch. 

He never made it back into the cage. 

In my defense…the process was not unlike trying to change your car’s oil…while holding up the hood…And it’s in neutral. 

The whole family searched. But after 2 days without a sighting we knew what we had to do:

Go to the pet store and find a black, half-tailed gerbil. 

They’re not as common as you might think. 

So on Monday I delivered to the class their brand new pet: a blonde and white hamster that I named Twinkie. 

Who doesn’t love Twinkies?!  

(Don’t blow it kid.)

This is pretty cool: 

1. The Moon has a tail.

2. How the ancient Greeks knew the earth was round by using “sticks, eyes, feet, and brains.”

3. I need to clarify in Tongue Like A Hammer when I say: “belly button fuzz and your hip hop name.”
That’s MY belly button fuzz and HER hip hop name. 
Her hip hop name being “Malik the 5 foot freak” named after Phife Dawg in A Tribe Called Quest.
My favorite Tribe song is Buggin Out.

4. Here’s the largest collection of belly button lint in the world.

5. Under a searchlight moon would be far less cool without the production and friendship of Trey Pollard. He released a gorgeous album of his classical music that I love.

6. Here’s a Twitter thread of classical music used in cartoons.

7. I rewatched the video for Forever Never Knowing for the first time in 10 years. That was the day I dressed up my newlywed wife like a horse to dance around with me in front of my friends for the album cover. 

Say “hey” if you get a sec,
Dean 

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Our son loves Britney Spears. He’s devoured all of the hits. Now he’s into the remixes.

He knows all the words…phonetically. For the most part he has no idea what’s she’s saying.

Unfortunately, along the way, Britney Spears taught my 3 year old how to say…

the b word.
The _itch word.
The bitch word.

He says: “It’s Bitney Bish”

Makes me think of Neil Young…

I was 14 when my sister got her drivers license. She got a car and the chore of taking me to school with her. I didn’t always appreciate being able to avoid the 45 minute yellow bus ride. And on one particular morning I was not in the hurry she was in. 

I mosied into the passenger seat and while I lazily fastened my seatbelt she hit the gas and began to let me know what she thought of my tardiness. 

We lived in the goondocks. The roads zigzag like Elmo’s EKG. Some time during her speech a thought entered my brain that I decided she should know. I’m not sure if I said she was a bitch or acting like a bitch but those semantics didn’t matter to her. 

She completely let go of the steering wheel. (This was long before Teslas) And with both of her hands she made my cloudiness of judgement crystal clear. 

Most of her punches landed on my shoulder and the car seat. But her point was made.  

Then with her hands back on 10 and 2 she gained control of the vehicle. I’m not gonna say who was crying but we both were. 

Neither of us said a word the rest of the way to school. Just the occasional sniffle while Neil Young’s Harvest Moon played in the tape deck. 

This is pretty cool:

1. Trombone til the cows come home

2. My favorite Neil Young song is Out on the Weekend

3. I love Emmylou Harris’ version of Neil’s song Wrecking Ball. 

4. My otherwise kind, loving sister’s favorite song of mine is Pretty Girls.

5. I love these 2 songs and I have no idea what they’re saying: El Invento Juan González and Ne Me Quitte Pas Nina Simone

My favorite Britney Spears song? Jury’s out til I hear every…single…remix.

I’ll let you know in a week or so 🙂 

Y’all good?

-Dean 

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Our son has 2 ways of describing things: 

That is a great idea.

Or 

That is not a great idea.

He uses it for everything from getting donuts (great idea) to brushing his teeth (not a great idea).

Decision making is not my super power. So I find this approach inspiring and am henceforth applying it to my own life.

Last week I dropped you a note to say hey. 

I wasn’t counting on the replies. I loved hearing from all of you. Especially my pal Jason Myles Goss who after reading my post about once peeing next to Lyle Lovett shared this: 

“My friend once played Hotel Cafe and turnout was low. Unbeknownst to him the set after him was a secret show with Adam Cohen (Leonard Cohen’s son).  
After his set he went to the bathroom feeling iffy about the show, and droves of people stormed into Hotel Cafe until it was shoulder to shoulder all the way back.
My friend Jake was stuck in the bathroom and he was not able to push the door open to get out. shouts through the door, slight nudging of the door, knocking from the inside….nothing worked.
He’s a big guy, like 6’2″ 210 pounds and so he just put his shoulder into it and pushed open the door hard, and the person standing directly in front of the door was shoved aggressively against the wall opposite the bathroom door.
It was Leonard Cohen, in a three piece designer suit. My friend didn’t say a word, shuffled his way out, no interaction.  He had hockey checked one of his musical heros.” 

In reading your responses the distance between us tightened up. The longing I have for hanging with you and playing my songs for you got a little shorter. And I had the immediate hankering to stay connected and keep writing to you more regularly. 

So I asked myself:

Is this a great idea?

Or

Is this not a great idea?

I think its great!

(If you’d rather hear from me only when I’ve got new music, shows, etc click here )

This is pretty cool:

1. Leonard Cohen’s son, Adam (from the story above) produced Cohen’s final album Thanks for the Dance. It’s beautiful and heartbreaking and perfect. Leonard passed before it was complete so Adam had to finish it without him. That must have been painfully cathartic. When asked why he didn’t have another producer finish it he said “they don’t know what he hates. I do.”

2. My favorite Leonard Cohen song is a tie between Famous Blue Raincoat and So Long Marianne.

3. My favorite Leonard Cohen cover is a tie between Teddy Thompson doing Tonight Will Be Fine and Antony doing If It Be Your Will. 

4. My favorite Jason Myles Goss song is Joplin. He’s got a bunch of great songs but this one has his signature enviable story telling, rhymes “Duquesne” and “rain,” and reminds me of us touring together. Think I’ll spend the day with that whole album.

5. And finally, Name that song revealed!

Hope you’re good. Y’all good?

-Dean 

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I miss you.
I miss the long drives to get to see you.
I miss collecting stories I can’t wait to tell you about. (Like once when I peed next to Lyle Lovett)
I miss the jitters before showtime.
I miss carefully choosing a set list that I will ignore after the second song.
I miss making you laugh.
I miss catching you trying not to cry.
I miss meeting your friends.
I miss the handshakes, the hugs, and promising to come back soon.

Hope you’re all pandeming well. We’re hanging in there. Playing name that tune.

Can’t believe it’s been a year since I sent you Armadillo. My snarky song about looking on the bright side of this rusty ol’ world we’re living on.

I recorded it along with the rest of the new album alone, late at night, above my garage before that would become the only way of doing such things. 

I’m still at it. Writing, recording, and looking forward to playing for you some time on the sooner side of sooner or later.

Til then…

This is pretty cool:

1. I just finished a new song with my friend Sarah Siskind. I love her latest “In The Mountains.” And here is Bon Iver covering her song “Lovins for Fools.“

2. Some folks did a 10 Billion pixel panorama of Vermeer’s “Girl with the Pearl Earring.” The up close shots of the cracking drops of paint are astounding.

3. And for contrast, here is a simulation of the billion year journey of the earth’s tectonic plates. 


Let me know how you’re doing,
Dean 

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