A brief explanation of this whole “Trains Across the Sea” endeavor:

In case you didn’t know, the title of this musical project is taken from the song of the same name by a band called Silver Jews. If you haven’t listened to them, stop reading right now and find their albums. No question, David Berman (the main force behind Silver Jews) is the reason I started writing and singing my own songs. All my favorite singers couldn’t sing either.

Three weeks before I took this full-time plunge into music, David Berman poetically announced the “Joos” were finished. As an additional twist, Berman revealed to the public that his father is Richard Berman, a D.C. based consultant and lobbyist whose company develops numerous media campaigns for multinational corporations to downplay the dangers of obesity, smoking, mad cow disease, and drunk driving, among others. David Berman states in his open letter:

“This winter I decided that the SJs were too small of a force to ever come close to undoing a millionth of all the harm he has caused.”

And that’s exactly why I started this band: it’s not that music is powerless to undo the crimes of the Richard Bermans of this country, but that music is essential to developing the good and right foundation in those who will inevitably replace them. That even if music can’t change laws, it can sure as hell change minds (which are infinitely more powerful anyway). That once music and politics are again inseparable both will be the better for it. That all Music ever was at its best was a morsel of COMMON TRUTH which rang true over the din of chords and melodies and the dancing and stomping and sweating of MOVEMENT and the simple joy of true communion between strangers. That we can argue about what SHOULD be until we’re blue in the face, but the only real answer to this mess is an educated populous who knows the right thing to do and DOES IT. And if the music of Silver Jews or Trains Across the Sea or anybody else can help eliminate the gap between what you’re currently doing and what you know you should be doing, then music won’t be pining to undo one millionth of anything; it will simply provide the soundtrack to all of us building our better future.

“But what happens, and why I think the world doesn’t fall apart, is that when there are irrational old people in charge, there is a countervailing group of young, cooperative straight arrows who are great at teamwork and are not seeking to nihilistically shut down the system. They have an investment in repair…” (David Berman)

Fulfilling a longtime goal of mine, you can find us in the library system. What better local distribution than the perennial winner of “America’s Greatest Library System?”

The other fun part is anybody can do this. And everybody should. A fantastic way to simultaneously support the local arts AND the local library. Both of which could always use plenty of love. E-mail me if you don’t know how.

Greetings From The Peach District was named “most fun album” in Columbus Alive’s yearly roundup of local music. The phrase “wonderful whimsy” was used. Intentionally. Though, to be fair, the copy we sent to Columbus Alive came with a puppy. His name is Roger and yes, he is a lot of fun.

Also, in the random world of “press” for this here musical outfit, Songs From The Road, a blog with otherwise great taste stumbled on the Monster House album (no idea how) and actually talked about it highly. Read all about it!

Various Artists – The Year In Chorus

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

This one goes out to everyone at the Taj Tuesdays open mic. I take fantastically little credit for it, but together everyone achieves more, right? Bookending the story with the first verse of Animal Collective’s My Girls, this “song” takes the best of the choruses (applicable to the “relationship” theme we’re working with) that came out of that room this year and ends up telling a story. I highly recommend you listen to all the songs individually (here would be a good place to start), as there’s plenty more going on here than just the choruses, but suffice it to say I’m honored to be surrounded by such talent every Tuesday. Cheers you beautiful Taj Tuesdays people, and here’s to another year of writing great songs.

The Songs:

My Girls – Animal Collective
I Just Want to Get Paid – Trains Across the Sea
Run Away With Me – Trains Across the Sea
The Cutest Drinking Song Ever – Cody Johnston (see more of him here)
Love Is Something That You Do – Trains Across the Sea
Musket Sea Family – Cody Johnston
Tree In The Woods – Colors for the War (specifically Phil Kim; see more of him here and here)
A Mile Northeast – Trains Across the Sea
My Girls – Animal Collective
Rapture – Colors for the War (specifically Jason Dutton; see more of him here)

Honestly, I probably won’t beat this weekend in a long time.

Chronologically: A meeting with writers from The Lantern and 614 Magazine about the upcoming Greatest Show (more on that later), 8th Floor Improv’s December Show (another reminder of how TERRIBLE I would be at improv), Bernie’s, endless drinkalong/singalong/DuckHuntalong party back at our place, get a 1:35am text from Bobby Miller that I’m in the Rock Potluck (how did that happen?), woke up hungover to get to Central City Recording for practice, had an hour break to eat, played a Salvation Army food drive show at Tobacco International for probably the greatest audience we’ve ever played for (honestly, thank you guys so much; the recording is here, feel free to send me an e-mail for the password), got my face melted at the Rock Potluck (portion of proceeds benefit the Columbus Music Co-Op), and then completely lost control of myself when our single-serving band (Pussy Control) got on stage and played something, I think. Then on Sunday I read The Road.

All without the assistance of an automobile. I love this town.

Well, here you have it. Call it a “digital-only” release, call it a rare live bootleg, call it whatever you want – but here’s a glimpse of the current live set we’re shopping around town. You give us a room with a couple dozen open minds, and this is the singalong frenzy we can whip them into. If you think the recording quality is shit, you’re absolutely correct; this was recorded on a borrowed Olympus VN-480PC set in the corner of the Monster House basement. It’s tiring being a local musician and dropping all that time and effort into recording quality only to sell a dozen or so albums. Plus, a lot of my favorite albums from fifty years ago were a single mic in the middle of the room. So please give it an honest listen – or, even better, come to one of our shows and decide whether or not we’re worth your time or money. Because the fantastic and terrible thing about the internet is the decision of who “makes it” (whatever that means) in this industry is no longer in the powerful hands of a few major-label record execs, but in the collectively powerful hands of the many. And thanks to the other bands we played with that night (Klessa, Letters to the Moon, Old Hundred) and countless other seriously impressive local acts that are making some honestly great music in this town, and struggling to sell an album. You want an amazing local music scene? Fund the revolution.

Okay, sorry to rant, but please listen and check out the lyrics below. And I offer sincere thanks to everybody who came out to that show and any local show and supports all the great music in this city.

And, of course, another huge thanks to Megan Leigh for that album cover.

1. GODS OF ROCK AND ROLL

This is off the last album, and it’s pretty straightforward – old man doesn’t think “playing guitar” is a career, young man tries to prove him it is. It’s a nice idea in a song, but believe you me, turning “playing guitar” into a career is serious hard work – especially (so I hear) in this town. You can check out the far better recording here. That’s Matt Monta on harmonica – more from him later. And THANKS to everybody for singing along. On this and all the rest of the singalongs. Honestly, that means the world.

2. GALILEO

Blastronauts, a fine fellow Columbus band, recently started a project in which they release a series of EPs, each based on a famous astronomer, starting with Galileo. I decided I wanted to follow along and write my own song with each of their releases. So now we’re both working on Copernicus.

She was the first in her family to go to college
She was the first in her family to cross the sea
She was the first in her family to miss Thanksgiving dinner
And when she finally flew in in December
She had the nicest gifts to give
And all the cards read “Sorry for not returning your calls”

Galileo Galilei
If you dream too big they’ll put you away

Ever since he was a baby he was flirting with danger
He could never go fast enough, he could never fly too high
So on the 302nd lap, with his wife and kid in the stands
He was going a hundred and ten when he hit the wall
So that became the day when his son learned
What every boy eventually knows
That nobody wants to turn out exactly like his dad.
So the boy picked music because it was safer
Yeah, guitar was more his speed
But it’s not the guitar that kills you, it’s the dream

3. The Cobbler’s Blues

Also off the last album; I liked the lyrics a lot on this one, but it was falling kinda flat live (though it did go pretty well at Comfest). Turns out, if a song is falling flat at your shows, you just find a fiddle player, slap a capo on the fifth fret and play the song twice as fast. Tada!

What were you doing when they changed the sign from Larry’s into Senor Buckeyes? I was with the girl I thought would be my wife.

What did you do when the money went away? What did you buy and how did you pay? Your grandson wants to know.

If I never meet the man who makes my shoes, how will I know the cobbler’s blues? And now which shoes should I buy?

If you think that you would be a happier guy if you changed your place or you changed your time, remember it’s all in your mind.

I can’t change yesterday, but I can change today.

You can believe the news isn’t true and everything will go back to
“normal” real soon, but thinkin’ about what’s gone will get you down.

Well I don’t mind if you don’t mind and if you don’t mind then I don’t mind and if that’s fine, please pass the wine.

Now that we can do anything, what do we do?

4. A Mile Northeast

Technical difficulties! The version here was technically recorded the next morning in my bedroom. You can listen to the original version recorded that night here, but the digital audio recorder skips ahead too often when the volume dips below a certain threshold. It was just a bit too distracting for my taste, so I just re-recorded it. That’s Jason Dutton on the harmonies.

Hey remember before we turned twenty five
Bellies full of wine
We were living the single life
And we still believed in song
We thought a song would help us understand the world
We thought a song would help us understand the girl
We were just looking for our chance to understand
The worth of half hours on earth
Well me, I moved about a mile northeast
Where there’s no lease
And more trees
I built me some fires and I watched the full moon
And I listened to the trains roll by

“Do you ever feel alone?” she says
“Don’t you ever feel alone?”

And I hope you’re having a nice time
Out there on the coastline
But don’t you worry, I’m living the good life
With my wine
Yeah I’m fine
But before you go asking questions
Ask them of yourself
Is where you are where you want to be?
Do you want to be where you are?

“Do you ever feel alone?” she says
“Don’t you ever feel alone?” she says
“You know, it’s okay to feel alone.”

5. I Just Want to Get Paid

This is me sorta taking everyone through my head for a little while. No really cohesive direction or thesis (except the weak bookends of “the terrible things people do for money”), just a lot of disconnected ideas that fairly accurately reflect my worldview (or lack thereof). It took me about nine months to write. To be perfectly honest, I’m pretty proud of this one.

6. Wake Me Up When It’s Over

This is me trying to sing like Max Sollisch of Our Cat Philip and his current project, Arlo and the Otter. Truly a unique voice and one of Columbus’ finest songwriters. Please check his projects out. I like that the Monster House crowd was hip enough to know his work and laugh when I started the song. It’s a pretty bad impression.

Wake me up when it’s over
Let me know when I can go back to my life
No idea how it started
But we’re not quite yet to the seventh inning stretch

Please stop waiting for somebody
To leave or to come back or tell you what to do
Because I bring my own beer to the party
And when the lights go out we all dance like a fool

The Romans never got sober
You can burn in a day what you can build in a life
So let’s lose another night to alcohol
They can make a living but we can live a life that’s worth your time

Because if I don’t do it, somebody else will
Or I won’t wake up until it’s over

But now we’re one minute older
And you can learn a lot in a minute these days
Because while I slept off my hangover
Four more dead from Ohio

So I handed her a bag of rice
It was paid for by our sponsers
She said “Thanks, but instead could you just take the guns away?”

So if you don’t wake up then it’s over
Because these thousand mile journeys start with one step
And nobody starts a
You just realize it’s happening about halfway through
And then you choose what to do about it

Because if I don’t do it, somebody else will
And I know I know I know I’m not alone

7. Love Is Something That You Do

Matt Monta is back on the harmonica here. Again, thanks to everybody for singing along. Also, I think this is the first time I’ve shown the inside of my journal to the interweb. I feel so naked…

8. Wheat Bread

Also off the last album – things sound far more palatable on the recorded version. This also started the first ever Trains Across the Sea mosh pit; thank you kindly, everybody. Great dancing all over.

The seven grain organic wheat bread is covered with mold
Screw the gas bill, I got blankets for when it gets cold
If we sit by the window, the internet’s free
Let’s lock our bikes to the no parking sign, cuz I like the irony

Hey Jason pour us some doubles
Let the weekend begin
And if all goes right, by the end of the night
We’re eating gyros and cheese sticks in our beds

Sometimes when we go to parties we know the people we see
Other times we take over the kitchen, and just drink for free
‘Cuz if we buy a cup of their coffee, the internet’s free
Maybe I should go back to college, grab another degree

And in the mornings it’s coffee
And in the evenings it’s beer
And if all goes right, by the end of our lives
We’re still twisting like we will this year

Honestly, thank you everybody on this album and everybody on past albums and future albums and anybody who’s ever seen us and everybody I’ve ever met and all that sorta love.

Feel free to ignore the plug for the website at the end. It seems you’re aware of it…

Ah, dear Pat Leonard, staple of the Columbus music scene…

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

If you’re not aware, Pat has been running a radio show for years, and normally he has pretty good taste in music. That’s not the case this week, when he weakened from my incessant bothering to allow us into Electraplay Studios to record. It’s a good mix of Trains tunes – one off the first album, one cover, one off the last album, and one new one. The LifeScouts have three songs on the show as well! So check out patradio.org to listen to the show and then check out his new website (to further confuse his listeners) for video and other excitement.

And of course, keep listening to WCRS.

Yesterday was most likely my last “official” day of retirement, and it was a classic. I should be starting a job on Monday (I’ll let you all know all about it as soon as it’s finalized – I don’t want to jinx myself), consequently moving into a new phase of this project; the main focus of which is to keep writing as many new songs as I can. Looking back, it’s honestly an unreal trip having essentially zero obligations for nine and a half months, and I highly recommend it to anybody who can afford to. There are few greater gifts to give oneself than their own life back. And what do you do when you’ve been given your life back? For me, lots of strange things, but I think a brief rundown of my last completely free weekday acts as a pretty fair cross section of how I’d prefer to spend my days.

I woke up with a pot of coffee and bright morning sun and plowed more through my well-thumbed Hunter S. Thompson (Gonzo Papers Vol. 1), journaled a little, worked on a new song for a few hours, had a thick slice of sourbread toast, mixed up some new dough to rise while I’m out, packed the bag (ukelele, iPod, hammock, books, journal, camera, etc) and hit the road (don’t stop doing things just because you don’t have anybody to do them with). The bicycle took me leisurely all over the city; through downtown, to the west side where I climbed a tree and took the picture above, to those benches on the other side of the river downtown, where I took the picture below, and then casually up that consistently gorgeous bike trail to a coffee shop where Patrick was waiting, and it’s reading and laughing and drinking beer at three in the afternoon and MAKING A NEW FRIEND (this becomes a sweet, rare commodity the older you get) and back home for that Andy-sized bowl of pasta and watching a movie with a six pack of beer and just dumbly smiling at the supreme relaxation of having biked all over this grand town and honestly not wanting to be anywhere else.

Songs Start Here

Because we could give a damn about myspace hits.
Because we’d rather make something that lasts than something that becomes popular.
Because art is like anything else on this planet – you gotta work your ass off before you get anywhere.
Because sometimes we were so drunk it was terrible, and sometimes we were so drunk it was amazing.
Because the only way any of us will get there is if we go together.
Because sometimes you pee at the wrong time and miss something.
Because I don’t want to forget the stuff I can’t remember.

Rules:
Each attendee of open mic is allowed one (1) song per week to be recorded. Having a single song/project (cover, original, spoken word, whatever) to work on each week is a manageable chunk of time to really get a good product. Each song is uploaded whenever Andy gets around to it. No ranking system, no preference to any song above any other. All available for free stream/download. The marketing is done elsewhere. This is a simple database for anybody that might ask “what are those open mics like, anyway?” Click randomly around and find out for yourself.

Or, quite obviously, come to open mic. It’s amazing.