goldfinch in lilacs

emerging at the seam of the year

Hello, it has been too long. Things have picked up steam in my corner of the world, not all good, but also not all bad. I am taking it one day at a time, I wish that was perhaps not the case and it’s meant that things have often felt frustrating and hard. But then on a walk I turn a corner into a rash of the most fragrant lilacs! Wonderful. I even saw a goldfinch in a bush of them, so it can’t all be bad.

I am thinking about so many things and have several half-written essays in my drafts here. Moving forward, I will make an attempt to finish these and circulate them. For now, just a few things to note as spring emerges.

solo set at Fitzgerald’s

I am playing a solo set at Fitzgerald’s in Berwyn, IL tomorrow evening! I am supporting Billy Allen and the Pollies and will play at 8:30 pm. Please come! Those of you who have seen me recently will know I have been playing some new songs, as well as a variety of old ones. Tickets are here.

subvert cooperative

I am very excited to have joined a new music platform, Subvert, as a co-owner. I am hopeful for cooperatively owned platforms to provide an alternative to streaming platforms; the idea is that they provide better and more direct compensation to artists and create a space to share music beyond the tedium of ad-centered social media algorithms. My music is offered digitally, at a discount to cooperative members. Check out my page here.

march daily songwriting practice

I mentioned in my last newsletter that I was going to attempt to write a song every day for the month of March, and while I got off to a promising start, I stopped about two weeks into doing it. It is hard! And while I had the time, I started feeling that the task was becoming rote and diaristic in a way I didn’t particularly like or find useful. However, I did work on a lot of music that month and last, particularly because I am…

playing the saxophone again

Many of you may not know this, but I play the alto saxophone, and have since I was eight years old. I played in school for ten years, and then for a few years in my mid-twenties, when I was in the touring band for a shadow puppetry company (a tale for another time). When I was in a studio session in early March, I realized I had to have saxophone on one of the songs we were working on. I said, “I hear a saxophone part here, I will bring mine tomorrow,” to which Brian Deck said, “What?!” And then I had to explain the Lisa Simpson of it all. But hilariously, I keep hearing saxophone on things, and there is a little bit of it on all of the songs we’ve tracked so far; so I’m back, baby! If you record music and are intrigued by the idea of having saxophone on it (or backing vocals!), please bang my line. I love playing it and I love currently being in recording mode.

loved

Quickly, some things I have really enjoyed:

Clockwatchers, a film by Jill Sprecher. If you like Ottessa Moshfegh’s work, you will love this. Such a good film with baby Toni Collette and Parker Posey about corporate surveillance, temp work, and feminism in the ‘90s.

Enshittification by Cory Doctorow. Whew! This is helpful for understanding how and why the internet (and everything else tbh) has gotten so bad thanks to a combination of bad policy, the rise of technofeudalism, stymieing Right to Repair, and, unfortunately, so much more! A lot of through-lines with Liz Pelly’s Mood Machine.

Train on the Island by Aldous Harding. I love this artist and I adore this record. Harding has self-identified as a “song-actor” and I really agree with that description. Such a treat to listen to over and over, I feel like I glean new meaning from it every time. Can’t wait to see this performed live.

take care, talk soon,

HG