The mighty 14-song FAWMs of yore have been whittled down to a tiny 5-song nub. A far cry from 2018 when I did all 14 in two weeks, but I'm a little proud I managed to even do this much. At the beginning of the month my partner and I broke up after nearly 5 years of trying to make it work. It was a particularly hideous breakup that I'm still coping with. Maybe if we were smarter we could have parted ways after recognizing our obviously diverging paths, but that's not how it happened. We're still on speaking terms, so I guess that's something.
With the existential terror that comes along with all that, 5 songs doesn't seem quite so paltry anymore, does it? Each track here is an addition to a different album too. We've got stuff for Soundcheck, Stagedive (the third installment of the Backstage trilogy), Barnum, Curtains, and Bard, all in one neat package.
I got it done just in time to shuffle off to CA for a vitally needed jaunt with Jace. For whatever baffling, wonderful reason, we had the privilege of attending Dr. Demento's 82nd birthday party. It was every bit as whimsical and magical an experience as you're picturing, maybe minus a few cans of silly string.
Even though that was an unforgettable experience, the real reason I went out to LA was to attend a concert by British singer-songwriter Richard Dawson. He's a hero of mine and a big reason I had the notion to construct this giant album cycle in the first place. I'd said for years that if he ever toured the US that I'd travel to the nearest place he was playing to see him. The last show of his first US tour just happened to be in CA a few days apart from the Demento festivities. Sometimes things just work out. It's rare, but it happens. I got to meet him after the show and tell him how much his songs have meant to me, how they've changed the way I think about writing my own songs. He seemed genuinely moved.
So that brings us to now. My life has been upended by the circumstances of this breakup. I'm dealing with a lot of ugly questions about myself and the uncertain future. The current plan is to take this crossroads as an opportunity to move out to TN to be closer to the Needlejuice headquarters. I imagine I'll talk about how that went when the next FAWM compilation rolls around. Anyway, thanks for reading these, hopefully they were of the slightest interest. If nothing else, it's been interesting to trace how far I've come from the embarrassing fat boy who sang funny words over too many Green Day songs.
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