NWZLTR
Live
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Learn
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Forget
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Repeat
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Live • Learn • Forget • Repeat •
KOAN
Every other week seems a fair enough frequency? Or should it be monthly? If I don’t stay committed to a strict schedule with this I feel like it will become more of an Annual Report”… Twenty percent of you answered the questionnaire, that’s 9 responses! The number one choice was my first “NYC open mic” Saturday 2/19/22 Hell’s Kitchen between 2 and 5 pm I will have my 7 minutes at the piano.
LEANORDKOAN
I came to his music recently, learning of his existence through the ubiquitous, relentlessly covered Hallelujah. There are more than 300 official versions not including all the you-tubers.
The man’s lyrics define what it means to put poetry to music. An economy of words explaining the infinite through the specific defining the universal.
There are a few artists - Warren Zevon, David Bowie, Johnny Cash who saw the end and put together their final work knowing that. Cohen knew and described our regrets and reflections at the end of life with laser precision. To me, these feelings are far and away the most universal. By the last album Cohen was not crooning he was speaking directly to our deepest insecurities.
My best friend once told me to “stop trying to sing and be the narrator” It’s too late for me to tell him I get it now. I want to dive in to this deep.
Why the spelling?
frosty all the copyright stuff second, I think it speaks to what I am trying to do with this music.
NOUN
A paradoxical anecdote or riddle, used in Zen Buddhism to demonstrate the inadequacy of logical reasoning and to provoke enlightenment.
‘Like the ponderer of a Zen koan, the viewer must come to terms with this paradox.’
I can imagine a broadway show LeonardKoan
What would he say about today? What are the stories behind the songs? This is a heavy heavy lift to imagine, research write rehearse and perform. Ive decided to take a bite out of the project and see how well I do with a couple songs from his final work at the open mic. I want to start from the final work and work backwards.
I am toying with the idea of going all in and going for a similar look which would involve some big changes for me.
Short hair, haven’t had it in a long time and frankly I’m ready for it
The hat, I have never once felt comfortable in a hat….
The suit, I love wearing the suit
American Utopia
Being in NYC I promised myself to do one quintessential New York experience every month. We went to see David Byrne’s American Utopia this week. In my late teens and early 20s I had the opportunity to see so many essential musicians in my life. I attended not one show. There are a few I really regret because the ability to ever see them perform again is lost. There are others that I firmly believe would have changed my life trajectory had I only seen them.
The lyrical ability of David Byrne to talk about the most mundane and obvious things in a challenging way that causes us to question everything is incredible.
At the start of the show he holds a replica of a human brain and describes what each part is responsible for. I imagined him conceiving the idea, mapping it out and creating the final work.
This show was monstrous, an entire band constantly in motion no wires whatsoever yet a completely live performance. Sprinkled within a series of songs he touches on the political on the societal and personal issues of our time
NWZLTR
1/28/22
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Rising from the Shore of Nothing, crossing the Land of Now before drowning in the Sea of Forever After; the arc of our existence. Along life’s journey we gather talents and possessions holding them dear like gems. Approaching the second shore we know none of the gems can come. Those with things might seek to pile them on the shore in such a way that generations may notice and want to know “Who”? Who built that building?, started the company?
The artist wants to skip their stone across the top of that forever after for their contemporaries to see and feel. Genuine connection with a few being far superior than notoriety with the many. Of course the stone should be shaped and smoothed and the artist needs to know how to throw it, otherwise it can instantly break the plane of Forever; immediately submerged and less than forgotten, never even noticed.
Why the Manhattan Project? The idea wasn’t born here, no epic New York Opus being feverishly written in my new zip code. Something about this crush of humanity that rings the bell of mortality. Looking up at all the buildings and beyond to eternity. So many dreams in this naked city, 8.8 million and now, as others might say, another one…
The dream is to arrange and produce a lifetime of songwriting into quality pieces that cumulatively tell my stories in, hopefully, some sort of universal way. I walked the perimeter of Central Park turning into the city at 72nd street . Throughout the walk I listened to one Leonard Cohen song after another and could easily feel his New York. I am hopeful this city will inspire me to tell my stories. Beyond the location, I really like Manhattan Project as a name given its history. It was unlike anything before it and changed everything after by way of an orchestrated chain reaction of the tiniest particles. The first Manhattan Project made the world a scarier place. That is a hesitation for me but looking at it purely scientifically, I love the idea that both projects could achieve success through small elements interacting.There will be a song released on the last Friday of every month starting on 3/25. I want to create interesting video, tell actual stories beyond song. A pod cast where I can explore why I feel the way I do through the perspective others. There was so much encouragement in all the “what do you hope to see” responses. My plan is to be both diligent and honest enough to bring them to fruition. Some days I feel wildly talented others a quixotic fool. In truth I know my abilities lie somewhere in the mediocrity of the middle. In the coming weeks I’ll be throwing any manner of things at the wall. My hope is you will tell me what sticks.