LFTB #20: A Little Milestone I Didn't Know We'd Reach

The 20th episode of LIVE from The Basement was special for me, mainly because I didn't expect there would be a 20th episode when I started doing the show back in April of this year.  Back over a year and a half ago, I first found out about UStream, and realized my Apple iPhone4 could create a live broadcast with its tiny-yet-powerful video camera.  My first idea was to broadcast a live show of the band I was in at the time, Atomic Shotgun, from Fontana's in Lower Manhattan.  On my way home on the subway to go get ready to go to the show, my iPhone was stolen right out of my hands.  So there was no UStream broadcast for me that night.

Fast-forward to April 2012, I was performing solo only for the first time, and I suspected I would not be able to do a lot of live gigs for a while.  So I came back to the idea of playing live somewhere, maybe not in an actual public music venue, but broadcasting it out over the internet for anyone who wanted to watch.  

Show #1 (which you can also watch on my official YouTube channel HERE) was a nerve-racking whirlwind of fun, worry and uncertainty for me.  I had no idea if we would have massive technical glitches, or if people would be able to  hear the music well enough.  It turned out that on the live broadcast, I think we actually did go off the air a couple of times, because the Wi-Fi signal we were using to send the video feed to the internet wasn't consistently strong enough. 

But luckily, I didn't know this as it was happening, and I kept playing songs.  UStream kept recording, so I believe the recorded version of Show #1 has every minute of what transpired.  On top of that, and to my amazement, people let me know after the show that they had lost the feed on their computer, but had stayed online with us, and resumed watching the rest of the show once we were back up on their screen.

For Show #2, (which, YES, you can ALSO watch on my official YouTube channel HERE) we boosted the Wi-Fi so the video feed would not be interrupted, and used an Apple iPad instead of my humble little iPhone to shoot the video.  The picture quality improved dramatically, and we stayed up on the online airwaves with no interruption the whole time.  And it was even more fun than the first time.

I still wasn't sure, as the summer of 2012 progressed, how many more times and how often I should do the show.  But at some point, it became clear to me that for this period of my musical journey, LIVE from The Basement is my creative home.  And it's been pretty cool to have so many people come by to hang for an hour every week, so we can all jam out together across the Interwebs. 

I don't know where the show will go from here.  I'm just grateful and happy that it's here for me every Thursday night, and that so many of you seem to be having such a good time joining in on the fun.  

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LFTB Extra Video: Love by the Lake

Earlier this summer, I played a set at my sister's birthday party, and among the many guests was my Uncle Tom, who was going to get married to his then-fiancee Kathi in early October.  I wrote a song for my sister a few weeks before, and played it at the party.  After I got done playing, Uncle Tom came up to me and jokingly said, "Hey, Collin, that song you wrote for Kelly was pretty good.  I liked it.  You got three months to write one for me and Kathi."  I think he would have been fine if I hadn't written one for them.  But once he gave me the idea, I really wanted to do it, if the music and words would come.  Turns out, they did.

My father and his brother Tom, and their parents (my grandparents), spent a lot of their summers on a beautiful Maine lake called Square Pond.  Tom has continued to live and work in the area for many years.  Kathi, now his wife, lived right near this lake for a long time as well, although they met relatively recently. 

I spent a lot of my summer vacations as a kid staying with my grandparents at their house on the lake.  We called it "Camp" because originally, it was not winterized and could only be inhabited in the summer.  Eventually my grandparents had it winterized, and moved in to live there year-round.

Tom and Kathi Dancing at Their Wedding

One of my most vivid memories of my times on the lake as a young kid is waking up one morning, walking outside to go down to the little beach in front of the house, and seeing the little beads of light reflected from the Sun, appearing and disappearing so quickly, as if they were actual tiny, shiny objects flitting about to and fro on the ripples of the water's surface.



This image came to me again, as I sat down and this new song flowed into and out of me.  It felt like the perfect beginning to this love song.  I attended Kathi and Tom's wedding a few weekends ago, and it was simply lovely.  The full lyrics to the song are below. 

Woke up by the lake one day and opened up my eyes
Dancing on the water, a thousand tiny little lights
Filled me with such peace and joy, and that is when I knew
The lights were dancing just like my heart dances for you

Darling please take my hand and walk the shore with me
We'll let our love sing songs to us and set our spirits free
We'll listen to the gentle waves splashing on the beach
And hear majestic loons proclaim the treasure Life can be

I had hoped my heart would find another sweet and dear
But who knows where the winds of Life will take us year to year
Then I met you and I could feel a longing deep somehow
To spend as much time with you as Fate would allow
Now every minute that I spend sitting by your side
Fills me with gratitude for how Destiny provides

Woke up by the lake today and looked across the waves
Those pretty lights were dancing on the water just the same
But my life had become something bigger and new
Such love and bliss all from the shining miracle of you

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LFTB Extra Video: Binders Full of Women

Last night on LIVE from The Basement I debuted the new song I wrote which was inspired by former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney's comments earlier this week.  He inadvertently coined this new phrase in the midst of the second election debate, while squaring off against President Obama.  It began spreading like a global wildfire across the web as soon as the odd choice of words left his lips.  It compelled me to write this tune from his perspective.  If you missed LFTB, you can watch this Extra of just this song, which I recorded live right before the show last night.
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LFTB #18: A Tribute, A Story, and 2 New Songs

This is LIVE from The Basement Show #18, recorded live this past Thursday night.  It begins with my spoken tribute to Whitney Kropp, a teenager from Michigan whose bravery in the face of some extreme bullying at her high school I found tremendously inspiring.

Further on in this episode is the first-ever installment of LFTB Rock Stories, "Interrupting a Drug Deal."  This is the tale of one of the first few shows ever with my first band, Victor Bravo, in New York City.  A night that begins with some low-level weirdness unravels into a VERY uncomfortable back room encounter.

This episode closes with the world premieres of two new songs.  I wrote "Love by the Lake" for my uncle Tom and his new wife Kathi, for the occasion of their wedding, which I attended just a few days prior.  To my ear it is the prettiest song I have written so far.  "Around the World" is a bit more agressive and up-tempo, harkening back to my punk rock roots.

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