"Angels in My Basement" CD#1

 The title is also the first song on the CD. If you read the lyrics you will see, it is a story that had a potential to be tragic. It is a true story about my daughter Emily and my absolute belief that there are guardian angels. You will notice a common thread throughout most of my music, this strong belief in God and Angels. I am not a preacher but I know in my life I have been blessed with a truly amazing guardian angel. My quiet deeds have put me in good standing and my reward has been events like the one in the song, Angels in My Basement.

I would sit in my basement, where I had a small studio, with a 4 track and a boat load of dreams and ideas, and I could feel their presence. Some people might have said it sounds like your basement was haunted, but I felt a real calm whenever I was down there. I love basements! It’s probably a guy thing, but I have owned 3 homes, and every one of them has had or has a studio in the basement, and it’s my sanctuary. Hence the title, “Angels in my Basement”.

(Click on the above link to listen)

Track one; it is the title song and it is based on a true story. I wrote it in about a half hour. It just flowed from chords to lyrics. My daughter Emily was in a walker in the kitchen which was also where the entrance to the basement was. I received a frantic phone call as I was driving home from work that Emily had tumbled down the basement stairs in the walker. My wife was in hysterics as anyone would be but she is also a nurse and knows what to look for. Long story short she had a little bruise under her arm. I tried to re-create the incident by putting all kinds of stuff inside the walker (stuffed animals, pillows, books, anything I could find). I couldn’t believe that she could be so OK! Every time I sent that walker down the steps and watched what happened I was convinced. There were definitely Angels in my basement!

“Devotion”

(Click on the above link to listen)

Track two; I was thinking about my relationship with my wife. It was a really easy song to write. It took all of about 5 minutes. It was so heart felt it was easy.

 “I Am Who I Am”

Track three; It was my observation of the younger generation. Kids are so obsessed with being different and yet they want to fit in at the same time. I wrote it through my eyes and what I thought it’s like to be a teenager today.

“I Love You”

Track four; another song with my wife in mind. The first line tells it all, “I love you, it’s so easy for me to do”.

 “Dreamin of You”

(Click on the above track to listen)

Track five; this is one of my favorites on the CD. It stems from growing up in the bar scene in the Bronx. I can’t tell you how many people I watched waste away on a bar stool dreaming of another life they thought was out of reach. Some of these folks were in their early 20’s and basically feeling it was too late for them to change the direction of their life. A very depressing thought to me. Dreams are never too late to pursue in life. See “Everyone Has a Story I Know” on CD #3, “Something for Everyone”.

 “Don’t Know Where I’m Going”

Track six; I love the line in this song,” Living on the road took its toll on me, now everyone I’ve known is gone, still I keep going, don’t know where I’m going but I’m going”. It has a real Tom Petty feel to the rhythm section. I also like the break in this song as well. “It’s like driving alone at night without your lights on, It’s like playing in the subway, wondering what your doing, It’s like It’s not being selfish it’s being me”. A lot of the lines and references are about Pete Cassani and his pursuit of music. He played on the streets of Boston for many years and occasionally still does. Also Mike Perkins does a background vocal ooh ooh that I love every time I hear it!

 “Someone Else”

Track seven; this song was written by Pete Cassani and I love the version we do on this CD. He intended it to be a ballad and we turned it into a fast rocker. His version is excellent as well on his “Welcome to my Country” CD. This song is a huge rocker.

 “Never”

Track eight; have you ever sat in a bar and watched older married guys looking around for women to talk too. I used to travel a lot in a past job I had and I used to get a kick out of these guys that just looked foolish trying to pick up women in the hotel bar. And I would think how lucky I was to be married to my wife with a couple of wonderful children at home with no desire to be macho. That is where the title “Never” comes from. I love the distant backing vocal in this song. Pete is way in the background and he sounds like a lost soul. The idea came from our recording engineer on this CD Bob. Good call Bob!

 “Angel Hymn”

Track nine; I didn’t realize until after listening to the song 10 times and getting ready for Pete to do lead and additional guitar, that we left out the entire 3^rd verse. Oh well. I didn’t have the musicians or the money to fix it. So as they say in the movie industry, It’s a rap. The idea for the song is based on someone that recently lost their loved one and how they might talk to the angels. My wonderful Aunt Chris was dying of breast cancer and I could only imagine how my Uncle Larry must have been feeling.

 “You Told Me You Knew Love”

Track ten; I love this song. I had this cool groove and it is a really dark look at love and relationships. This song was really easy to write. Mike Perkins added some vocal ideas that I loved and wished we had more time to enhance them even further. Leif does a great job on the bass in this song as well. It always seems we are in a mad rush when we get into the recording mode. Some day we are going to take our time in the recording mode.

 “Saint Peter”

Track 11; completely inspired by my Aunt Chris. This is my interpretation of what it must feel like to lose your spouse. It speaks for itself. Enough said.