Having a record with a theme of being out on the road, I grabbed my guitar and started writing about a road trip I had taken a few years ago with a girl named Alex who I knew from school. The song pretty much took off from the beginning line. Alex always thought that nothing rhymed with her name, except of course sex, so I found another so I could write a song about her. We did indeed drive through Nebraska and stopped only to eat and get gas; a great trip, though comparatively short.
2
California Stars
California Stars was written at some point after I had come back from a trip to California on Spring Break, though it could have been before I left when I wrote the lyrics. The song’s clear message, and a motto I tend to live by, is “West Coast of Bust!” I didn’t care how I was getting there but it needed to be soon, as a planned trip or even unplanned, the preferred way, and how it eventually happened that year.
3
Oregon
4
Best Friend at the Wheel
5
Leaving Colorado
I wrote this song away from Colorado at a time before I was going to go back there to live again. I knew since I was going to be there and because I had amazing experiences there that it would translate well to music. The drawn out jam at the end was a must; it salutes all the great music I had a chance to hear and play there and hopefully gives back to that, as I wanted to do when I returned. It’s hard to say how I feel about this particular song except that it is one of my favorites to write record and perform, and it will be hard to duplicate, though who’s saying I’m trying.
Something Like A College Recital
1
There and Then
One time I came home and I swear the first person I saw was an old flame. I really don’t think I knew how to react until I left and just thought about it nonstop until I wrote this song. After that I felt fine about it, further proof that music heals many wounds.
2
Falling
3
Halfway Around the World
Halfway Around the World is a song about how after a relationship ends and you have to start a new life, you never feel like you can. You always feel like you’re missing something because that other person isn’t around. I hope I pulled off this feeling tastefully, but this is the first recording of this particular love song.
4
Oregon (Outside the Lines)
This song is a song about going crazy. A friend of mine said it gave him the feeling that he was riding in a covered wagon. The song is also about friendship in a crazy world.
5
Wasted
As a band we could not have been happier to bring this song to an audience. ‘Wasted’ is everything you want but can’t have; it’s everything you try to find meaning in before you snap out of a vivid dream. It’s holding on, it’s letting go. It is everything but the kitchen sink.
6
Full Circle
This is certainly one of the “took less time to write than it does to play? songs, but it was brand new when we played this concert. Consequently there is a much better New Kings recording of the song done the following summer with a “Ghost” guitar on the track. We have no idea where it came from.
7
Christie
I wrote this song for an art student and someone who will most likely be designing the clothes most people where in the future. I think it takes a lot of influence from Lenny Kravitz. But what Lenny has in sex appeal I more than make up for in teenage angst. In any band I play in this is the most loved and hated song we play, only adding to its mystery I guess.
8
Journal Entry #4
This song was about a young love of mine when the two of us were avid friends. I was teaching at a nature camp and playing a lot of guitar when the song was written so the verses kind of came out one by one as I thought about the metaphors for each one. The title and idea for the song came from a critic who wrote about Neil Young’s writing style being more like Journal Entries than pop songs. I loved that analysis when I read it. Listen to the first Neil Young album to get a good picture of this and also my song “Julie” for an earlier attempt at my writing that uses a lot of metaphors in a similar way.
9
Sugar Mountain
10
Best Friend at the Wheel/ Eyeshadow of Gold
‘Best Friend at the Wheel’ - The story about ‘Best Friend at the Wheel’ goes back to when I was in high school and being one of the younger guys in my class I was one of the last to get my drivers license. There were friends, really great friends it turned out, who had the burden of driving me to most places, without me being able to return the favor. I think ‘Best Friend at the Wheel’ mostly went out to those people while I was writing it, but certainly began to apply to a much broader range of people when I started playing the song for audiences, as it is a fun and inviting song to play live.
‘Eye Shadow of Gold’ - Who knows when I came up with this song or what it is even about. I think the guitar line came first and I liked that, and then later the lyrics came out in the one verse or so that’s in the song. I’d like to be able to rerecord this in a much better way. I think it’s one of the better songs I’ve written and though I use it mostly as an interlude I think it would stand on its own quite well.
11
Into the City
12
Bill's Place/ Water
This song goes back to my adolescence and the discovery of beer. Clearly the best way to have a steady supply of the stuff would be to open a bar and serve it to people. Then you've got it right there. The whole idea was a dream that came to be called Bill’s Place. Since watching live music became so much fun, the part about the bands was added. And of course the good times at bars are always memorable and essential to any song about being in a bar, or owning one for that matter. This song will be rerecorded with a band at some point, hopefully live and in New York City again.
13
Spike Driver Blues
14
Comforter/ Dreams Come True/ Snooze/ Ev
This one’s a little funny to explain. Ever get obsessed with a girl and kind of live your life thinking about her? Yea, one time when I did that it turned into a 35 minute, ten-song operetta. What you hear is essentially the first half. There has been talk on and off in the Ed Chiurco camp about recording the whole thing with a band, which would really sound beautiful, but at what point that will happen is really undecided at this time.
A lot of the songs on this album are works in progress, but lacking a better method to record them and without time set aside to do so, eventually we were able to edit this live show and make it available for those who wanted to hear the new songs. The concert was recorded live in New York City on July 26, 2002.
