the road to Saratoga....

.... somewhere near Boulder Creek.

Bobby's Pride and Bobby's Joy

..... '52 Ford.

a not so silly younger man in a hat....

Chet O'Keefe is on his first trip outside of America. He's on his way to the Belfast - Nashville songwriters' festival and is also openin for Nanci Griffith who sings on a few songs on Chet's new CD, Gamebird.

He landed on Wednesday and has been staying at my house and has been a pleasure to host. On Thursday, he played his first Irish gig, at the National Concert Hall - a good start. Last night, he added his guitar to one of my new songs, Bob and Jenny and is the first ever guest on The Silly Old Man in a Hat channel on youtube. He also played a couple of his own songs - in a hat - and these will be uploaded in the near future.

Bob and Jenny is one of a bunch of new songs I wrote and co-wrote on my recent USA tour. This was written by Burton Jespersen and me during the California Listening Room Writing Retreat. We spent an excellent day driving - top down - and hanging out in Saratoga, gathering material for our song was our excuse. We didn't manage to actually find the lake. We know it's there - at least in our heads.

Bob and Jenny

The Silly Old Man in a Hat...

.... is still fighting a battle with his grasp on technology. Here's the new youtube channel launch again - and all in glorious monochrome;

The Siily Man in a Hat launch....

It occurred to me that my youtube channel, seanoneillsongs has very few songs on it - especially my own. With almost 120 clips up on it now, mostly dog stuff - along with travel stuff and bits and pieces I've recorded at gigs, I'm not about to change that or drop the channel - it does get a reasonable amount of views.

Last night I had a very silly idea. I used the inbuilt camera in the mac to make some videos. The sound quality left a lot to be desired but, eventually, I found that my external mic wasn't configured. It is now and, on little or no budget, I hope to grow this channel into a catalogue of my material and share it. I will also do an occasional cover song - but first I'll need to learn to play them.

Welcome to the launch party and first song;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW_bWRkjlAY

Nanci Griffith - the loving kind

Here's Thomm Jutz and Pat McInerney in conversation with Nanci about her new album, 'The Loving Kind'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4At5XzanyA

Harlan Howard...

Harlan Howard, one of the most successful songwriter s of all time, died a few years ago leaving many anecdotes in his wake. Harlan drove the archetypal Cadillac – complete with cow-horns on the bonnet (hood) and with the distinctive registration 1 EARN. Harlan’s wife drove a similar car and her registration was; 1 SPEND . Not subtle but not retiring either. Harlan, apparently was frequently to be found in Nashville bars, shooting the breeze and offering pearls of song-writing wisdom to anyone who cared to listen. One often quoted being that in a song – a version of a story in 3 acts, what is required in the first verse is that you ‘Tell em’’, the second, ‘Tell em’ again’ and in the third, it’s important to ‘Tell em’ you told em’’ – that simple. Another oft quoted is that ‘Take a good story, shorten it and then, shorten it again”

In California at the writing retreat, one of the participants told me of her first husband’s meeting with Harlan, shortly after they’d moved to Nashville. Her husband, then 24, explained to Harlan that, at 24, he felt he was too old to go for a singing career and intended to focus, henceforth on whiting for others. Harlan asked him again how old he was and, when told, responded that y’ain’t got nothing to write about till you’re 42.

A saint then? Not quite it appears. Someone I met on my return to Nashville reckoned that Harlan wrote less than half the songs he was credited with and told me about a time when a young man approached Harlan and excitedly asked to run a song by him. Harlan agreed, listened and told the disappointed guy that it’s already been done – mentioning a title. After the guy left the bar, Harlan asked my friend for a pen and began scribbling. My friend asked Harlan what was so urgent and Harlan told him, ‘Gotta write down that song before I forget it. It’s good’.

http://www.harlanhoward.com/bios/Harlan-Howard.htm

some Round USA photos..

Chips - up close and personal

the bat-bike?

Santa Cruz - pink bucket

looking for Jack and Jill in Santa Cruz

boys get excited about these

me at the Mountain Store

King Charles

nice lady with T-Bird

fifty two ford - tailgate broken

happy chef

one Santa Cruz man and his dog

one Saratoga dog and his man

Couchsurfing Bat-Cave

on Santa Cruz promenade

Saratoga 911