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Eighth Letter to You of 2010
Have you seen the video for "Kale Store" yet? It's fun!
A few friends and I got together in Somerville in early May and filmed ourselves dancing and parading around. I also got together with my friend Don Burns when I was last in Buffalo. He and I shot the piano footage over at Nietzsche's. With 40 minutes of footage to par down into a 3 minute long video, we were pretty well set. Don did the editing and I have to say he did a great job.
With that project complete I've moved onto another. This go around is a mission: I'm rallying friends and fans to contact the radio show A Praire Home Companion and suggest GREG KLYMA as a musical guest.
For years now I have been trying to get on the show. Admittedly, passively. I simply would mail in a new album each time I finished another CD. This means that I have mailed in a new album every year for the past three years! I get a nice form card that thanks me for my submission and informs that I'll be contacted if they are interested.
It's time to take it to the streets, so to speak. Will you help?
This should take but
a minute. Please visit this link:
A
Prairie Home Companion
You'll see there a form with a message, "If you have suggestions for musical guests..." I'm asking that you simply suggest me as a musical guest. Add whatever comments you like, but definitely include GREG KLYMA and MUSICAL GUEST.
I have tried to make it happen on my own, dear reader, but it is clear that I need my community. It would be amazing to perform on A Prairie Home Companion. To be on a nationally broadcast show! Thank you in advance for helping me in achieving a goal.
Now, if you haven't yet, get in the car and go to the kale store.
~ gK ~
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Seventh Letter to You of 2010
I have a friend in Somerville, MA who has a party on the 3rd of July. It's Dependence Day. If July 4 is Independence Day, then July 3 is the last day we were under British rule. I'm a fan.
It's great to be back in town. Man, it's great! I've already played a couple of gigs as sideman for Tom Bianchi and James Houlahan. Have mandolin, will travel. Soon enough, I'll be back on track playing my own shows. I could really use some bookings to promote my new album!
My latest CD is the one where most of the songs were written on either piano or mandolin; all of the songs were performed on these instruments. When I played guitar on the album, it was simply for supporting rhythm. I also tried my hand at percussion and sang most of the harmony.
I've now released three CDs in the past 3 years. The last two, I was able to do it without any help from backers. It's not a huge big deal to a lot of people, but in my little world this feels like an accomplishment.
Beginning in August, I will do something I have not done since I took on touring full time: I will rent a room. A room will be available in the house of a couple of dear friends and I'm ready to give it a go. The rust belt vagabond is going to hole up in Somerville.
Renting will slow down the touring routine some, but not completely (check out my schedule). It will certainly tie up my limited funds. It's freaking me out a little, to be frank. Still, I have to do it. I love Somerville and Cambridge. I have a lot of friends here in the music and dance communities. I love the pedestrian friendly layout of the place and the pace of things here. I'm bound to learn something new about myself for the experience.
I'm coming into a time when I will once again have to turn to you, my friends and fans, for some financial support. I would really like to get as much attention for PianoMandoNation as I can. This will mean hiring a promoter. Also, the DVD project is still waiting to see the light of day. Not sure how much it's all gonna cost, but I can guestimate that it will be several thousand dollar.
In the old days, seamen looked for a girl in every port. I need benefactors.
~ gK ~
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Sixth Letter to You of 2010
My new album - Piano Mando Nation - is just about ready to be stamped. As I write this to you, I am touring my way back to TX for the Kerrville Folk Festival. I have been in steady communication for days with the mixing engineer, who would do a mix, upload it to a "secret" web page where I could listen, and then put my two cents in. Now, a similar process with mastering.
Everything is lined up for this album to be ready for you by June. As the title indicates, it is a collection of songs that I perform on piano or mandolin. With just a couple of exceptions (one being a bonus track), all the songs were written on piano or mandolin. This, from a guitar player.
It all happened so fast. I have other projects that were in mind when this sprang up. It started out innocently enough as a demo project. After two sessions, I had 8 songs. I wrote a couple more and picked a couple trad songs I really like. Bang! 12-song album and a bonus track, "Static on the Airwaves."
So, my live concert DVD continues to get pushed back a little. With any luck I'll have it out by the end of this year. For now, there's a festival in TX to attend and a van to turn into a tent.
~ gK ~
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Fifth Letter to You of 2010
It's conceivable that every kid has said it on a sandlot at some point: oh yeah, my dad can beat up your dad! Or, some such thing as that.
It is fairly easy to have a good thing and not know it. Until you have an experience or some other example to compare against (aka, perspective, right?), it may just be that you take a good thing for granted. I've grown to a point of really appreciating my parents. I know I always have on some level, but lately they just amaze me. My father in particular.
Dad is the quiet one. Mom's amazing and it's really in your face. Mom mostly stayed home while dad worked for 34 years as a garbageman. Sometimes mom worked part-time to make extra money so that the family could afford a vacation or some other extra thing. Mom cooks, cleans, shops, sews, mends, doctors, organizes, balances the household budget and probably a lot of other stuff I never saw or see. Dad just blunders about his day, or so it seemed to me.
Recently it sort of snuck up on me, the stuff I knew all along. Mom says, "Your dad's a good man. He's never raised his hand to me and he's always provided for you kids." It's that simple. The value of being present daily, every day, for your wife and children; having the integrity to honor your commitments.
I stay with my parents when I'm not touring. The last thing I hear in the house as my parents go to bed is my mom laughing. After 42 years of marriage, my dad still makes my mother laugh every night.
My dad was a bowler and played football in high school. When I started playing little league baseball, my father, who was up at 5:30, 6am daily for work and didn't know anything much about the sport, became a coach. He'd read books about the science of a fast ball and curve ball and then do his best to convey this to the pitchers. He'd buy us pizza and pop at the end of the game, win or lose, and everyone played, equal time, regardless of talent.
I
called him while driving from State College, PA to the Hudson Region of
New York and said something like, "It's just occured to me that I've
never thanked you for being a great dad, and I want to make sure before
the opportunity passes me by that you know in this life time, YOU are
a great dad."
That thing my mom says - "Your dad's a good man. He's never raised his hand to me and he's always provided for you kids." - really hit me in the heart recently thinking mean thoughts about a world rife with wife beaters, cheaters and homewreckers. My father is a mature, thoughtful, stable, committed, quiet man and a great dad, who, I realize, is still the person I want to be when I grow up, just like I wrote on a Father's Day card in kindergarten.
Man, I'm glad I figured that one out.
~ gK ~
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Fourth Letter to You of 2010
I've done pretty well here in the early months of 2010 (the best 2010 ever!) to produce new material. While in Texas, I wrote 8 songs in 8 days (you may find video of "Good Work" and "Tongue" on YouTube). Then another song later in the tour was written in Minneapolis. Most of these were written on my Pomeroy mandolin.
Now, I've come up with a new one to play on the piano. It's a pop song, far as I can tell. Check out the lyrics, friend:
EASY
TARGET
by Gregory F. Klima
Feb. 23, 2010
You
don't know what you want
You know that it ain't me
You don't know where you're goin, but
I can see, I can see
You
headed for a heartbreak
You're gonna break a heart
Your aim is true and you
Have an easy target
We
walked around the block
We've talked in circles, babe
I'm gonna go back home
Leave you to find your own way
You
headed for a heartbreak
You're gonna break a heart
Your aim is true and you
Picked an easy target
Everybody's out there searchin'
Many who wander are lost
I found what I was looking for
Well, that was what I thought
So I'm trying to accept this
That I have to set it free, but
Could you show me how to walk away, knowing all I ever dreamed?
Remembering every-thing
You
headed for a heartbreak
You gonna break a heart
Your aim is true and you
Picked an easy target
You've got an easy target
So,
there ya go. If there's a piano, I'll play it at a show... yo.
~ gK ~
ps. if you found your way here following my post on Facebook about this
letter being updated, it'd be great if you left a comment on the fan page
about this song. Thanks.
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Third Letter to You of 2010
Thanks to the hard work my good friend Aaron Sugar, there has been a new Greg Klyma video posted on YouTube every week since the end of January. We've got enough footage from shows to keep this up for a couple of months. Also, there's the video from March 2009 at Sportsmen's Tavern in Buffalo (aka, the live concert DVD that is being worked on). So, keep your eyes on the Tube. Every Monday, a new clip.
I did something crazy recently. I drove the 1,045 miles from my gig at Benlee's in Worthington, MN to my family's home in one shot. It took me 20 hours. Benlee's was the last show of a 6-week long tour. You could say I was eager to be home.
It was very snowy leaving the gig. The first hour of driving in MN was stormy. When I got to the eastern part of that state, the weather changed. Everything was clear, most importantly, the roads. No ice or snow to contend with in WI, IL, IN nor OH. I really didn't expect to stay awake that long and drive the whole way.
When I got just north of Chicago, I did get a little drowsy. With no traffic for the past six hours and little traffic in Chicago at daybreak on a Sunday, I did not want to pull over at that point and have to deal with getting through Chicago later in the day. So, I powered through it. Once I got to Indiana, I got out of the van to gas up. The brisk wind stung my face. That in concert with a phone call from a friend and I was snapped awake. How far can I get?
Turned out I could make it the whole way. I was thankful to have a couple long conversations with friends that proved to help in keeping me alert. I got home, took a bath and, after a couple hours of winding down, slept for 11 hours, in my own bed, a full day earlier than expected. How nice to have a bonus day with my family. Crazy has its benefits.
~ gK ~
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Second Letter to You of 2010
Track one of a favorite mix CD has this lyric... "I may drift and I may roam, but she's the one I call my home." It's been a month since this tour began. There are two weeks left. I am at once really looking forward to the shows coming up in Minnesota and Iowa and really missing home.
Following 7 shows in 10 days (see: http://klyma.com/shows.htm), I will return to Buffalo to play a Benefit fo the Matt Urban Human Services Center. Please read below and forward this information to anyone you know in Buffalo. Thank you for reading.
-- greg
BEERS
FOR BLANKETS
Bring a blanket, get a beer!
Greg Klyma at Sportsmen's
Tavern Wed, 2/17
Doors @ 7:30, music @ 8pm
$5 cover
Donation of a blanket for Matt Urban Center homeless outreach is rewarded with a ticket redeemable for a free pint of your choice of Pearl Street beers! *Limit 1 free beer per person. Donation of winter clothing also welcome.
BEERS FOR BLANKETS BRINGS OUT THE BEST OF BUFFALO
The cold of winter hits the homeless hardest, a fact that hits home with two of Buffalo’s finest performers.
With two separate concerts – Greg Klyma at the Sportsmen’s Tavern on Wednesday, February 17th, 8:00pm; and Jony James Band at Pearl Street Grill & Brewery on Saturday, February 20th, 9:30pm; $5 cover for each – The Good Neighborhood will collect blankets and more and hold a 50/50 split for the homeless outreach efforts of the Lt. Col. Matt Urban Human Services Center.
Attendees who bring a blanket will receive a ticket redeemable for a pint of their choice of signature Pearl Street beers, brewed in their downtown dining room and served on tap at both Pearl Street and the Sportsmen’s Tavern.
Both performers, who will be returning home from tours of the South and beyond, can relate to the plight of the homeless. “I’ve spent cold winter nights sleeping in my van on the road, so I know the value of a warm blanket,” said Klyma, the “Rust Belt Vagabond” who will perform solo at the Sportsmen’s. “I can’t imagine what it’s like to be faced with that every day.”
James, a lifelong “Survival Blues” guitarist with a hard-hitting, award-winning band, explores these themes in his own songs such as “Hit the Street” and “Golden Rule.” “I always say that if I had one wish, it would be that the sound could keep you safe,” he said. “We hope these shows will help people stay safe and warm.”
In addition to blankets, attendees are encouraged to bring winter clothing such as coats, hats, scarves, gloves, boots, and socks, which will be distributed by the Matt Urban Center’s Team HOPE – Homeless Outreach Program Eastside. Team HOPE engages with the homeless to assist them in securing benefits and services necessary to obtain safe, decent, and affordable housing.
The Good Neighborhood is a Buffalo-based company that pairs performers with common causes to create Gatherings for the Common Good.
For more info, contact Seamus Gallivan at 716-587-2005, or seamusgallivan@yahoo.com
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First Letter to You of 2010
Hello from Texas. Have you ever heard of a writer's retreat? Thanks to the generosity and grace of two dear friends, I have the privelege of being a guest in their home and enjoying their property for a week with one self-imposed condition: that I write some songs!
As I put this LETTER TO YOU together, I can report having written two (one that you may never hear) and editing an older song while tweaking its arrangement in a way that I think it may actually now be ready for the studio.
I've played a song called "Grandpa's Purple Heart" a time or two. It has had mixed reviews, and something in me that hasn't been entirely satisfied with it either. While I know at this point in life how songs can continue to grow, change, morph with time; I'm clear there's a moment when it feels real. Complete, so to speak. So it is with this one.
Maybe I'll start working these songs into the sets. Have to let that figure itself out; vibe.This Saturday - Jan. 16 - I'll play a house concert in Corpus Christi; then one on South Padre Island on Sunday. Soon, north and east: Th. Jan. 21 has me returning to New Orleans and Jan. 22 is my return to Auburn, Alabama. Really jazzed about the whole tour.
2010 has had me up and down a few times already, but I'm healthy and mostly joyful. That's a fine way to start any day, be it the first of the year or last. No complaints having had two weeks of it to kick things off.
All my best to you and yours. The tours are being booked and I'm wading into the Ocean Facebook. Be it here or there, I'll keep you posted on my travels and my shows. Thanks for stopping by, friend or foe.
~ gK ~
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