we've been friends now for so many years
and many more?
Good morning! It is the last Friday of June 2025 and I want to get right into it. Summer’s here and the time is right for…streaming Victory Lapse. Yes, folks, the dang record is finally available on your favorite streaming service. I’ve said it before and I’m saying it again: I did not want to have the record available on streaming, but wiser voices prevailed and here we are. Now you all can actually hear it! Since it seems to be that I can count on my fingers and toes the number of you that have heard it via Bandcamp and cassette so far. Again, I may prefer it that way, but my management team seems to disagree with me.
There has been more and more talk lately (at least in my circle) about how terrible a certain streaming service is. Between it’s financial disrespect of artists, it’s CEO’s questionable-at-best investments, and now it’s full embracing of that uncalled-for thing called AI, it is baffling to me that anyone who cares about music (especially other music makers!) still uses this service. We personally made the switch to Tidal a couple of years ago and have not looked back. Better pay for artists, noticeably superior sound quality, and I think it is still the same price as the other service. I have been singing it’s praises to friends and now I am singing it’s praises to you. So please, if you are planning on streaming Victory Lapse, stream it on Tidal! Sure, you can stream it on the other service, but it’s certainly going to strain our relationship, and you don’t want that now, do you?
As a follow up to my previous post on Brian Wilson, I was invited to join some friends on WXXI’s Connections radio program to share some more thoughts on his importance and influence. Who better to subject Rochester’s airwaves to a nerd-out session with than Ben Morey, Jake Walsh, and host Patrick Hosken? Along with the endless wave of Beach Boy music that has been blasting from our house the past couple weeks, this was yet another cathartic experience for processing this tremendous loss for the music world. Thanks to the wonders of technology, you can now watch the entire radio broadcast here! Appropriately for a program named Connections, we touched on how our love of Brian’s music was a catalyst in forming our own relationships and continues to be a major plot point. In fact, just last weekend Jake and I went to The Little for a screening of Love and Mercy (extra extra read all about it here). I find it very fitting that the GOAT is the subject of the greatest music biopic ever made.
When I was younger, some of the adults in my life expressed concern that my love of music made three decades before my birth would alienate me from my peers - perhaps I should listen to what they’re listening to so that I’m not left out? I flat out disagreed. I may have lacked confidence in most things in my life (still do!), but in this case, I knew what I liked, and I saw no reason to change that just to fit in. It turns out that we were all correct. In a way, it did alienate and isolate me from my peers during my adolescence. But it did eventually lead me to “my people”. I guess I was playing the long game without even knowing.
Other than the album now being out everywhere, I don’t have any other news about anything coming up. We may or may not have some shows this summer. I feel like I have always been in the minority on this, and I am sure I will get some flack for it, but I do not like summer shows. There, I said it. I don’t mind seeing a concert or two in the summer, but I have zero interest in playing any myself, and I do not understand why anyone gets excited about playing them! Summer is the time of the year when my mind is on vacation. It’s the one time of year when the weather is warm and clear enough that I can do all the outdoor activities I wish I could do year round. I just want to relax with family and friends. Shows aren’t relaxing - they’re the most stressful thing about playing music! That said, if I coaxed against my better judgment into playing any gigs over the next couple months, I will let you know on here so that you can come out and help take the edge off of it for me.
Just one more thing - happy pride month! I feel very fortunate that my dear Sammy and I are able to make music and be part of this community. Rock music is a decidedly “straight” world, and to be able to participate in that world as a non-straight is a lucky thing, since I don’t relate at all to the queer music world. I do want to acknowledge several queer major players in my personal rock music pantheon: pioneering English record producer and engineer Joe Meek; sunshine-pop wiz-kid producer, arranger and writer Curt Boettcher; legendary English chanteuse Dusty Springfield; and the Rocket Man himself, Elton John. To that end, I have proudly put together a little Tidal playlist featuring performances and productions by (and even collaborations between!) these four fabulous icons. Now you have to get yourself onto Tidal! See what I did there?