Paul Sachs: NEWS

From, On the Road,
Jack Kerouac

''So in America when the sun goes down and I sit on the old broken-down river pier watching the long, long skies over New Jersey and sense all that raw land that rolls in one unbelievable huge bulge over to the West Coast, and all that road going, all the people dreaming in the immensity of it, and in Iowa I know by now the children must be crying in the land where they let children cry, and tonight the stars'll be out, and don't you know that God is Pooh Bear? the evening star must be drooping and shedding her sparkler dims on the prairie, which is just before the coming of complete night that blesses the earth, darkens all rivers, cups the peaks and folds the final shore in, and nobody, nobody knows what's going to happen to anybody besides the forlorn rags of growing old, I think of Dean Moriarty,...

So here’s one tune called , “Crying Without Tears”, off the CD slated for next year. Rob Meador on Mandolin, Claudia Mogel, Violin, Ned Strough , percussion, Harold Weg, keyboard and Paul Kuzik on Bass. We recorded it in the apartment. Folks would come in and lay down a track come back and lay down some more. That’s how it’s been going. My Friend and great songwriter, Amy Allison, came over and sang on the back vocals on a couple of tunes and this is one of them. Thanks again Amy and all the rest of the musicians. Go to the music section and it’s there. Feel free to download it. Enjoy! It's option right click for Mac's to download tune.

Here's some pics of the recording.


Claudia

Paul

Harold on keyboards

More songs and pics on the way!

See ya.

Paul

I bought a Harmonica when I was fifteen thinking it may come in handy if I ever wrote a song that needed it. I never did. So the Harmonica and its holder sat for many years collecting dust. The holder literally rusting.

At fifteen I thought it had a Dylanesqe image. At fifteen that’s what it’s about.

I also loved to smoke, a lot, and playing the harp requires breathing. Unless the air was filled with puffy white clouds I found oxygen boring. Last year I quit for the umpteenth time and wrote songs that I thought would sound good with the Harmonica. Maybe it’s true that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks because when I play it sounds like a cat falling from a tree hitting the windshield of a car.

So the other night at the gig I pulled out my Harmonica and placed it in its rusty holder and commenced blowing. From the look of the audience I could see I needed practice. The Harmonica is a very deceptive instrument. Didn’t Huck Finn or Tom Sawyer walk along Mark Twain's’ river banks blowing a tune with a kitbag on their back? Where and how did they learn to play? That is the image I always get. Or someone sitting under an elm tree playing a melody as the afternoon sun sets after a long day of work.

I’ve bought books on how to play, but they’re boring. In fact playing the harmonica in a room alone I find stagnating. I miss smoking. Maybe it’s a rural thing and I’ve always been an urban dweller.



The rusty harp holder

Greetings from New York City:

It’s been a while since I wrote on this thing, but we've made a lot of progress on the CD. Over the past year more than about half the songs have been mastered and are ready to roll. We’ve been recording in the apartment and while it has it’s benefits of saving me money some of the amenities of a recording studio are to be missed.

I asked my drummer, Ned, if he had a very small bass drum and he said he did. Now, the definition of small when applied to a bass drum has to do with the proximity of its surroundings, where it is played, and who owns it. When Ned walked in it looked as big as any bass drum I’ve seen.


Ned and his “small” drum kit

If you want to know how how loud a drum kit is play it in a New York City apartment. While recording I kept expecting neighbors and police at my door reminiscent of the old horror movies like, Frankenstein, where they go after him with pitchforks and torches.

We got away with it and it came out sounding great. After the tunes are recorded here I take the files over to a real studio where they’re being mixed.

I’m playing at the Parkside Lounge on August 12th and I’ll be doing some new songs along with the others. The new CD should be ready by mid 2009. In few weeks or so I’ll be posting a track or two.

Stay healthy

Paul

Hello and greetings from New York City:
Bonjour et salutations de New York City :
Hallo und Grüße von New York City:
Hola y saludos de New York City:

Happy New Year. It’s been awhile since I’ve sat down and written anything on this thing. Which brings me up to date to say that the CD is being worked on and coming along. People that have been playing with me on and off for the past 20 years have been lending their time and energy to it. I’m doing what a lot of musicians are doing these days and recording it at home. It’s free and it gives the musicians and me time to really indulge in the music and not be confined by the parameters of monetary constraints. That’s important when you're doing any art I think. Though this project is taking longer than I expected in the end it’ll be worth it. Last Year was a rough one and it changed the direction of the CD I’d had in mind.


In the meantime I've uploaded a song entitled, If I Ever Get to Paris Again." It was recorded live last year with a band called, “Roots and Grooves” at the The Nuyorican Poets Cafe here in New York. It has Colin Dean on Bass, Beck Burger (keys),Tomo Kanno (drums), John Cave (guitar). Hope you like it.

Happy New Year

More on the way!

Greetings from New York.

On Saturday this past weekend I did a gig at the Huntington Folk Festival. I was part of a song swap that was hosted by Richard Cuccaro, the editor and publisher of AcousticLive! It’s a magazine that lists where all acoustic acts are playing in the NYC area and other boroughs. On stage with me sharing their songs was Meg Braun, Anthony da Costa and Lara Herscovitch. It was great to meet and hear all of them. One of my all time favorite songwriters, Steve Forbert, was the headlining act . To have been on the same stage as him the same day was very gratifying. He’s also a real nice guy!

I’d like to thank Richard for having me play there and to all the wonderful folks I met from the Folk Music Society of Huntington Long Island.

PS

Greetings from NYC

I have a few gigs planned in the month of April . The first of which will be as Amy Allison’s guest at Banjo Jim’s this coming Sat in NYC. On April 22nd I'll be playing at the Brooklyn Lyceum, so I’m sure I’ll play everyone’s favorite arson song, “Fire in Brooklyn”. To see where these gig’s are Click here or go to the calendar section.

I’m going into the recording studio in May to begin laying down the basic tracks of the new CD. Some of the new song titles on the CD are, “Beware of Surprise,” “Crazy Ivy” and “Crying Without Tears”. I’m looking forward to it. It will have Colin on Bass and Rob on Mandolin and a few surprise guests. I’ve switched gears as far the direction of the recording’s, but, “68 Skylark” will still make it on.

In the music section I posted a short sample of the song, “Crazy Ivy”. It’s the demo and was recorded in the living room of my apt on a Tascam 4 track.

And there's a new video of Rob and I at The Sidewalk Cafe in NYC taken a couple of years ago. The song is, "Packing Ashtray's". Since I wrote that tune I've quit smoking.

I Hope to see you at one (or more) of the shows. A song ain’t a song unless somebody hears it!

Paul

Greetings from New York City

I’m Listening to Simon and Garfunkel as I write this. It’s their debut album, “Wednesday Morning, 3 Am.” Simon sings:

“Last night I had the strangest dream I ever had before
I dreamed the world had all agreed to put an end to war.”

Words that have the same relevance today as they did 43 years ago.


It’s times like this when art comes in handy.

I got a couple of tunes posted that were recorded back in 1992 with my old band The Contenders, “Ghost Parade” and “The Bastard from Washington”. Which is available for download and as video. Even though these two tunes don’t have the same sentiment as Simon and Garfunkel’s song, they may strike a chord in somebody.

I remember one night the Contenders were playing in this Irish bar in Queens and we started playing “The Bastard From Washington.” By the time the chorus came around my microphone went dead as did all the amps. It seems we pissed off the owner of the establishment as he shouted at us to get out. Obviously he and the rest of the bar at that point in time was patriotic. The first Gulf war was on and Bush 1 was President.

Even though the song lags lyrically I can’t help but smile at the chorus and wonder if the owner of that bar is still feeling the same pride about this president. I hope not.

See you soon.

Paul

Greetings from New York City

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving and are getting ready for the Holiday season! Heaven knows I ate enough for ten men this year!

My debut CD, "No Trouble Here," is now available for download! It was released in 1999 and is now out of print. The service I'm using is Paypal, the same company that deals with Ebay and other internet commerce. You can listen to short clips in the music section or just go to merchandise and hit the play button.

"No Trouble Here" was a fun CD to make and I'm glad it can find a new home. It contains the song "Henry," which became a precursor for the tune "Mean Streets" and a few others. The musicians on "No Trouble Here" I still play with and their performances on this are wonderful.

"These Quiet Streets" will also soon be available on ITunes and other download sites in the coming months and I hope to see everyone at the Parkside Lounge on Dec 13th!

All the best

Paul

Greetings from New York City

I just wanted to let you know that the Longtown Podcast and their affiliates BzoO HomeGrown Radio have made me Artist of the week. Thank you so much for supporting independent artists like me. I wish them all the best. Longtown Podcast is hosted by Uncleshag and you can hear him at both these internet sites. Thanks Uncleshag. A big thank you to the folks who have purchased my CD, These Quiet Streets Your support of this New York artist goes a long way.

All the best to my fans from NYC and beyond.

Paul Sachs

Hi-

In honor of CBGB"s closing on Sunday night I've created a podcast of the times I used to play CBGB's from 89 till it closed. I played there and then did many gigs at it's sister club The Canteen. It's a medley of some of the songs I wrote and performed with my old band Danny's Son. The sound quality is degenerated because of the tapes that these recordings were transferred from. You'll here a very early recording of the song, "Fire in Brooklyn." You may want to turn down the volume for this since this pod does not have volume control. Anyway, enjoy and thanks for listening.

Hi-
Seeing as everyone and their great Grandfather is uploading a video on You Tube I thought I'd give it a test run. Here's a very grainy live version of the song "Meanstreets" at a club in NYC that was shot at the beginning of summer. Now, it's Autumn in NY and even though it's not as chilly as it used to be, because of global Warming and all that, it still suits me. Anyway enjoy.

Just go to the sonic Sachs section and you'll see it. I'm just working out some kinks so bear with me.

PS

HI everyone,

Just wanted to touch base. The last show we did at the Parkside Lounge was a blast and we had a really good crowd. Thank you to everyone that showed up! My old friend Murphy brought in five folks, some in film school, each with a hand held camera and shot the entire show. He is now in the process of editing it and I may have a DVD on my hands. I've seen some of the footage and it looks great. I'm so grateful to the folks who gave their time and energy. They did an awesome job!

In the recording world things are slow, but I may have something by the end of the summer. I have been recording at home. I brought a Mac last year and it came with a recording program called Garageband and let me tell you I've been having a lot of fun. Though it's not, "industry standard," ( Pro Tools) it sounds good to me. One of my favorite songwriters, Tom Robinson, wrote an article for Macworld and he states, "There's never been anything quite like GarageBand", and he's right. I was doing demo's on four track and the music program that came with my Mac blew me away. Robinson also states that,

"Garageband is to Protools etc what the model T Ford was to the early Bentley. Technically inferior perhaps, but mass produced, easy to use, cheap to maintain, and a tenth of the price. The technology had existed in the hands of a privileged elite for years. It took Henry Ford to make it attractive and accessible for the Great Unwashed. And no doubt the motoring experts of the day turned up their noses at the Model T, just as Cubase snobs sniff at GarageBand today. It isn't a "proper" music application, they sneer: it's for amateurs to "mess about" with.

But "messing about" is the whole point..."

So that's what I've been doing. I think I may have some tracks ready to hear by the end of the summer. If you would like to read the whole article go to
http://www.tomrobinson.com
and click on Written Word.

Hope the summer is going good for everyone and thanks for listening.

PS
Comment on this entry

Well, I hope everyone will come down and check out the Parkside gig on the 25th. Colin Dean will be on stand up bass along with Rob Meador on Mandolin and Doug Pearson on Accordian. We played there before and had a great time.

I can't belive it's almost the middle of june already! It has not been a good month for me because I've been beaten down by illness,but at least it got me to quit smoking again. The recording had to be put on hold because of it. Oh well. It'll happen and will give me time to work in the new bass player whom I'm very excited about. Anyway that's it. I'm still recuperating,but I'm on the mend.

See you soon.

Paul.

Hi Folks-

I wanna thank everyone who listened to the radio interview last Sunday night. I had fun talking to Joe Forte, the DJ on Homegrownradionj.com. We covered a lot of ground from my music, NYC, death, and the current state of America. All in all it was a good interview and we will do again with me live in the studio.

This Sunday my band is playing at the Stanhope House in New Jersey. So come on down! It should be a busy summer and the new songs will start being recorded in May.

All the best

PS