Hence: this.

But wait! There’s more!

We also recently worked our butts off on another spec song. Some of our adventures in spec songs have led to odd things that may have no other homes ever, or to songs that become part of the GrooveLily canon and are among our most-requested live numbers.

We wouldn’t presume to predict what’ll happen with this one, but we like it. Suffice it to say that it will most likely not be used for the big epic nature movie we intended it for, but we were inspired by footage of animal parents and children in the wild…and we wanted to write something that resonated for human parents and kids as well.

This one we’re basically giving away–it’s a free-or-pay-what-you-will deal. Merry belated Christmas, Hanukah, and all the rest–and enjoy the fruits of our labors. We hope that you spend this last week of the year among people that you love, doing things that bring you joy, and bring joy to others.

Here’s the song. Listen, share it with your friends, and please enjoy it with our best wishes for a terrific 2011.

Brendan will be mixing those new songs from live tracks from last year’s Zipper Factory Theatre show on December 30, 2008, in time for this December 2 release. If you already own the CD, you’ll be able to buy the download card separately.

In addition, the fine folks at Warner/Chappell, in conjunction with Alfred Music, are publishing our first-ever song folio, also to be available this December – we should have them available at Arena. 8 songs from STRIKING 12 will be included, in full old-fashioned piano/vocal sheet music style.

For a physical copy of the CD, with beautiful 24-page booklet designed by Jeff Hardy and including all the lyrics, order directly from PS Classics.

For digital download (complete with spiffy 12-page digital booklet), go to iTunes. (iTunes is the ONLY place to get the digital booklet.)

We also invite you to check out these feature articles about the album:

1. the folks at Direct Current have us on their front page. We love this excellent site dedicated to “smart, grown-up music.”
2. the lovely people at Playbill are keeping us in the news as well.
3. New Jersey journalist William Westhoven blogs about us in the Daily Record.

Come join us to celebrate and get your copy of SLEEPING BEAUTY WAKES in person, if you’re anywhere near Portsmouth (April 4), Princeton (April 7) or Palo Alto (April 10)! NYC CD release party will be at Birdland on May 18.

with love and shrinkwrap,

GrooveLily

Sleeping Beauty Wakes album cover

We’ve also been told that Beth & Jules will feature tracks from SBW on their “Free For All” show this week on HomeGrown Radio NJ, Tuesday between 9 AM and 12 noon.

CDs have arrived at PS Classics headquarters in Bronxville! We’re doublechecking to make sure there are no glitches, and then planning to bring them to all our upcoming gigs. Official street date is April 21 – but come to a show and get your copy early.

In addition, the album will be available on iTunes a week from tomorrow (Tuesday, March 31) – and hard copies will be available very soon from PS Classics. Updates imminently.

The theme that keeps appearing for me is “What do I do?” (I know … it’s always good to start with easily digestible small chunks … how am I doing so far?) I’d like to start with my recent trip to Pittsburgh.

Tracking background vocals for SBW

On Friday night 10/24, I flew to Pittsburgh for a Saturday vocal recording session with Brendan and Val for our upcoming “Sleeping Beauty Wakes” album. We’re really psyched about this record … it really feels like us; long time fans of the band should find lots to remind them of what has been special about GrooveLily all along, while at the same time it really feels like a new, inevitable step in our evolution (we throw around the term “GrooveLily 2.0″ from time to time … might be a little high falutin’, but you get the idea). The reason I think this session is so illustrative of how my (and Val and Brendan’s) life has evolved in the last few years is as much in the logistics of the weekend as it is in the content of the music we are making together. I left my full time IT manager day job (my title is “Manager, Technology & Development” … talk about high falutin’!) a little early to hop a flight from LaGuardia to go meet my band mates who are in Pittsburgh debuting a new musical that they were commissioned to write by the City Theatre of Pittsburgh. After a lovely evening with my sister Cherie, brother in law Stanley and niece Edie (who live in Pittsburgh), I met Val and Brendan at the theater at the makeshift studio they’d set up in a vacant dressing room. I think I speak for all of us when I say that there’s always a communal feeling of “oh yeah … THIS is what we do!” whenever we get together after a prolonged absence. This is not to say that the things we do when apart are in any way less important, less impressive, etc. It’s just nice to have an artistic and emotional home base to which you can return.

Ironing Board / Lyric Sheet Stand

As I write this, I realize the analogy I just made … “home base” … is actually the crux of my thematic wanderings as I pondered this blog entry. In baseball, there is only one home base. I realize that I now really have several home bases, that are all important in their own way, and that all require a similar amount of focus, care, and ambition. I imagine this evolution is similar for Val and Brendan … and happily, the overlap in the Venn diagram of our collective home bases is GrooveLily.

GrooveLily, Self Portrait, 10/25/2008.

My other home bases: My IT career, which was always part time until recently, and which is now something I am pursuing not just as an additional means of financial support, but as a part of my life that should be as fulfilling as my music career. Speaking of which, home base #2: my musical life in and outside of GrooveLily, for which my ambitions remain high. Finally, and by far most importantly; my REAL home base … my wife and son. Of course, each of these areas of my life crisscross, overlap, inform each other, conflict with each other, etc. But, I must cultivate all of them. This is at odds with a long-held common belief that you really have one vocation, and everything else is an avocation; sorta the real-life version of the baseball analogy. Well, I don’t believe that … I actually never did, but I feel even stronger now than ever.

There are so many examples of people like me, Val, and Brendan … those with multiple home bases, if I may. Some recent examples that I’ve noticed; Jim Webb … Senator from Virginia and author; I even remember hearing him say in an interview that he thought of himself as an author … that made me smile. I also recently heard a radio show that focused on Ted Conover and his book “New Jack,” which is about his life as an under cover prison guard at Sing Sing. Even though he is a journalist and author, he talks about how the lines became blurred, and how he couldn’t do the job half-assed; his life and those of his fellow guards depended on his really doing the job … not faking it. While not directly applicable to my situation, that aspect of it rang true with me: do it for real. There are so many other examples, including many friends of mine who are truly world-class professional artists (musicians, actors, writers, directors, film makers, dancers etc.) and at the same time have other careers … many of which are pursued with the same care, ambition, and joy that they pursue their art.

While I may always struggle with it, I am equally proud of and hopeful for each of my home bases. I also think that more and more of us are living less-than-typical slash careers like this … I expect that by the time my son is a rock star drummer / surgeon / movie star / middle school teacher / CFO of a major fortune 500 company, it will all seem normal.

LONG STORY SHORT demo #15: “Letting Go”

Of course, there is much more to a piece of theater than only the songs…and even though this is the final song of the show, there is a plot twist that happens afterward that may still keep you guessing. If you like the music, we hope you will consider joining us at the show. (If you are nowhere near Pittsburgh or Palo Alto, then we hope eventually LONG STORY SHORT will come to you.)

Thanks so much for joining us on this little serialized musical journey. As of today, all 15 tracks are available as a downloadable collection for $10. Enjoy!

We catch up with HOPE and CHARLES in their seventies. Charles has just complained about various physical aspects of aging, and is having trouble believing that Hope still finds him attractive. In this song, Hope reassures him of her love.

LONG STORY SHORT demo #13: “Still Love”

Flashing forward to the next song, CHARLES and HOPE are now quite elderly and they’ve decided to move someplace smaller. Tumbling through time once again, we find Hope getting sick and Charles trying to put on a brave face.

LONG STORY SHORT demo #14: “Live Like This Reprise”

See you next Wednesday, October 29 (our official opening night here in Pittsburgh) for the final demo: #15, “Letting Go.”

LONG STORY SHORT demo #11: “Introductions, Fragile As Love Reprise”

By the time we reach the next song, CHARLES and HOPE have been back together for quite a while. Charles’s father has passed away, and this fact has brought their own mortality into sharper focus. Our heroes have settled into a comfortable, harmonious companionship in their later-middle years, and during this song we leap forward through their sixties.

LONG STORY SHORT demo #12: “What Was That”

See you next Wednesday, October 22, for demos #13 & #14: “Still Love” & “Live Like This Reprise.”