Let's Kick Fire in Mexico

I know it's been a while since my last post (like two years?). But I'll have you know, although I've moved onto new projects, LKF has taken on a life of its own. Here's the story, starting from the beginning:

In February of 2009, I released an album of original music titled, "Let's Kick Fire," which featured ten stripped-down songs written, performed, and produced by myself. It was released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license, and after some research and outreach, I came upon a few blogs and websites with enough clout to effectively spread the word about "Let's Kick Fire" all over the Web. I made the album available as a free download on FrostClick (which hosts only Creative Commons [CC] music), and thus attracted the attention of like-minded, free-culture-loving listeners, including a few torrent seeders that pushed my download hits into the thousands. After making my tunes available on Jamendo (an international CC content site), I began to receive electronic comments from new fans in the United States, Mexico, and Europe: every morning, I would find myself translating comments and messages about my music in French, German and Spanish.

Time passed and I attempted to push the record a bit more, but ultimately new projects, new musicians, and college graduation took precedent in my life, and I assumed that although I had accomplished a great deal with "Let's Kick Fire", it was pretty much tapped. This fall, however, I was offered a unique opportunity: "Entretenimiento," an entertainment blog based in Chiapas, Mexico, got a hold of my record and asked to do an online interview. The questions they asked were specific to the "Let's Kick Fire" project, and I could tell that the interviewer was genuinely interested in my songwriting. Only a few days after posting the interview, Entretenimiento presented me with a very unique opportunity, and I am happy to announce, after a month of planning, that from February 27 to March 8, I will be flying to the Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas (Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas) to perform a series of shows as a solo artist, judge a battle-of-the-bands, give a lecture on my work with the Creative Commons, and travel to public schools to play for music for the young Chiapanecos.

So that's it: I'm brushing up on my Spanish, rehearsing the songs from my record (many of which haven't been performed in over a year), having my album art and liner notes translated, and eagerly anticipating anything and everything that Mexico has to throw my way!

"Asi que pateemos Feugo!" (Let's Kick Fire. . . sort of)

Adam

P.S. The album will always be available for free digital download here.

The History

I'm working on a few new songs right now. This one is entitled "The History," and is a male-female duet.

Him:
Are you ever wondering
What's become of Sullivan?
She and I we took a drive
As studded stars lit up a moonless sky.
When we hit the watershed
Thoughts of only you had filled my head.
And so to Cambridge we would drive
Somehow Sully read my drifting eyes.

Them:
I would wait
I had closed my eyes
For you to sleep
But I was still awake
And called the one who has my only heart
She has your only heart
And I sang
I heard you sing to her
I could sing to you
You could sing to me
But we both know it wouldn't mean the same

Her:
Are you ever wondering
What's become of him?
He and I had motored North
As fireworks lit up a moonless Fourth.
When we hit 500 miles
My hand coupled his hand for a while
The way his eyes had held the road
I could tell he wished for your hand to hold.

Them:
Do you talk?
I've got a heavy mind
A heavy heart
This is not the time
A purple elephant sits in the back.
A purple elephant sits in the back.
I heard you sing
I could sing to you
What would you sing?
You love someone who doesn't love you back.

There's a faint line in the sand
From when I drew a heart with my hand
Well the water had to rise

The twilight fades to grey
We're northbound on the Palisades.

Kaler's Show

Make Music New York

Here's some videos from the Make Music New York festival that no one seemed to know anything about. Thanks to Kaydee for shooting.

Jealous Guy as made famous by John Lennon:

Meditation by the late, great Filomath:

Creative Commons Salon NYC

Just last night we took a trip into midtown Manhattan for the Creative Commons Salon at the For Your Imagination loft. For those of you who aren't too sure about what CC is, check out this video:

I love to share.

Garage in Fair Lawn Ctd...

A Garage in Fair Lawn, New Jersey

Let's Kick Fire - Yours For The Taking

The Purchase Brick just released a review of Let's Kick Fire. You can read the review here.

It's been just over two months since the album was released, and I've been really happy with the responses I've been getting from it. I can not wait to start writing and recording the next one. I've decided give the album away via free download. You can now download the album in full, without penny's charge. The album is finally on , but that is sort of like a tiger peeing in the forest to mark his territory, if you catch my drift. I want everyone to have this music and share it freely.

Simplify Your Life

"Dream Sequence" has been featured in a VCAM commercial for the new T-Mobile G1 phone, directed by Samuel Bennett. If you dig the video, follow this link and vote for it to air!

Irish Lullaby

I've rewritten the verses, in case you didn't already notice.  Here is my rendition...

Irish Lullaby

over on the island

many years ago

my sister played a song for me on grandma's piano

sure, the chords were simple

but the words they fit so well

and till this day i hear them

ringing like a bell

too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra

too-ra-loo-ra-li

too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra

hush ye now don't cry

too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra

too-ra-loo-ra-li

too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra

that's an irish lullaby

oft in dreams i wander

to a grayish past

among the rows of blooming birch

we would fall and laugh

still my heart beats heavy

but of course those days are gone

so hold me till the morning

tell me i belong

Having Kicked Fire

Last Friday was a great time.  The Boomerangs opened up with a first-rate acoustic folk set.  The did their own rendition of Blink 182's Adam's Song, which as ephemeral as it was, brought everyone in the audience back to middle school.  When they closed with Wagon Wheel, which is becoming somewhat of a Boomerang standard around campus, the whole Coop was singing along.  

After they finished up, I played a few songs from the new album.  

I was happy to hear my friends singing along to the songs they knew, but I was especially feeling it when everybody was singing the songs that they hadn't heart until that night.  The power of chorus is a force to be reckoned with.  When we got to the bridge of Wishful Thinking On Seagrass Shoal, I was completely taken aback by how melodious all your voices sounded.  I feel like we truly made the space vibrate.

Lehrman takes fantastic photos, doesn't she?

In Preparation

Hello, Internet...

It's been an exciting week.  I've really been feeling the love of my friends as they help me prepare for the album release this Friday night.  My valentine this year was silk-screening, and believe me when I tell you I've fallen in love.  It definitely won't be my last screening session.  Kaydee and I went to the Salvation Army and got a plethora of tees and sweatshirts.  Don't worry guys, I washed them... I even used fabric softener.  The kick-it cricket continues to manifest itself in all aspects of designing this show, and the tees are no exception.  You'll see them soon enough.   Just last night we printed out posters for the show and flyered the campus.  Hopefully they will turn some heads.  

I truly can not wait for this Friday night.  A few of my dear friends and family are coming up to the school to show their support.  Performing for you all has been the only thing on my mind.  For now, I'm going to head over to the coop, where WPSR is  having their weekly open mic coffee house.  It's always a good time.  Maybe I'll see you there.

Love always,

Adam

letskickfire

Shots

Martin laying sax on "Esmeralda."

The official artwork for the new album.

Esmeralda Lyrics

well, i tried to paint a picture but it didn't look a thing like you

i say, i tried to paint a picture but the watercolors ran on you

i put your eyes in your mouth 'cause your, your eyes say so much

so i start to drive to your house but the stereo left in my car just gave out

i could use a pair of speakers but i'll take a pair of sneakers

if there's no way out

if i'm gonna end up walking

i expect you meet me halfway

oh, you swore when you took off your clothes and jumped in the flood

oh, look love, where you signed it in blood

and oh, it's cool, esmeralda, it's fine, you're technically mine

darling, i thought you knew, only the best for you

you say you kicked it with the devil, well, the devil said he's never heard of you

("esmeralda, who?")

you sayin' you and him full throttle hit the bottom of the bottle

well who should i believe?

either way if im out drinking, i'm gonna bring an extra sleeve

so you plant a patch of posies but the soil didn't have you all that much

so you wait around an hour for the chance you see some flowers

oh i wish you luck

if you're hands are very dirty, maybe you buried them too deep

Dandelion Days Lyrics

co-written by richard edghill

we'll look back on our old ways

and call them "dandelion days"

but never, no, never go back

and we'll look back on easy times

and wish that there were dandelions

but in our hearts, you know we can't go back

a flower in a field so plain

says her name is magdalene

she doesn't mind all the change

well, that's just maggie acting strong

her yellow face is battle-born

she never, no, never looks back

well you cut her stem and break her class

put her in a bottle made of glass

fight me on this

if you love me you'll fight me on this

fight me on this

if you love me you'll fight me

love gets warm as loving gets

and you give up meat for cigarettes

and one taste ought to hook her

because it's sugar, yeah, pure sugar

she'll live her life in ginger brew

i wish that i could talk to you

well, a flower's just a flower

if only so an hour

magdalene it's alright to cry

(x1,000)

everything will be all right

Wanderlust Lyrics

close yours eyes

and visualize a place where we can run and hide

a shoebox diorama we can step inside, once it's dried

paper, glitter and glue.

open up

just like a thirsty flower, like you're all grown up

and turn the morning raindrops into nothing but,

your daily cup of love, love, love, love, love.

still, i feel i'm missing pages

love never dies it just changes.

girl, our love's dimensional, like the work of vince van gogh,

impasto and always unpredictable.

the unknown will be good to us

and please my wanderlust.

if you play my heart strings i'll be sure to burst into confetti and  

shower the morning with these rosy feelings i've for you.

close your eyes

and give the globe a spin.

see where your finger lies

and plan to leave at daybreak with these tattered maps from travelers  

past.

the road calls me,  does it call you?

wrap your scarf

and gather all the paperbacks we love and can

and pour our awful eyesight into every word on every page.

the world as we know it will change.

lover, come.

you can't hold out forever, like the morning sun.

the daybreak waits for no one.

well, either way, i leave today.

the road is wide enough,

and calls out to both of us.

let our wanderlust roam.

Black As Crow Lyrics

we left town, the woods we loved lost fire

we threw our shoes over the telephone wire

my streets were spinning and needed help

i left a memento to remind myself

now lemon loves the schoolyard, and she's a hit

says she's gonna graduate lickety split

she sat up turning couldn't get through the night

i felt real bad but i slept alright

and all the things you swore would never change

they changed too

yeah they changed too.

maybe you don't know what's good for me

well, maybe you don't know what's good for yourself

lemon bought a dress that's white as snow

but lemon loves the night that's black as crow

i said, lemon loves the night that's black as crow

i knew i was to see you i wanted to look good

i got the hair off my face like my mom said i should

i bought an orange pack of disposable blades

and you said i did a bad job of shaving my face

to you it was nothing

a remark that you made

something you'd forget by the end of the day

well, i sat up turning

couldn't get through the night

you felt real bad but slept just right

maybe you don't know

(maybe you don't know)

maybe you don't know

and it goes to show

everything you once loved black as crow

oh, no maybe you don't know

and it goes to show

you got your lipstick holstered black as crow

said, maybe you don't know

and it seems to me

when everything you once loved black as can be

i said everything you once loved black as crow

Darling, It's Day Lyrics

you don't have to be so hard on yourself

heaven knows the world will be hard enough on you and me

you can take a breath, darling it's day

we made it through another spin of this world's crazy kind of way

sunlight through the blinds, darling it's day!

Lady Courage Lyrics

you said a lot of things

and made us think twice

and for my best friend

my handful ready full of rice

but all the things said

went down like medicine

harder than your skeleton

lady courage, hold it in

on your way you go

to new mexico

i feel terrible

but what else can i say?

pen kissed paper soft

the ball-point rolled the break of dawn

could have sworn we worked it out

two full pots of coffee gone

blue screen sound sleep

no one turned the lights out

television, television

tell me what to dream about

we'll make the monsters go away

we'll make the monsters go away 

we'll make the monsters go away, i swear

you said you found a rope bridge, cross it if i did

you said you found a rope bridge, cross if it i did but it's a long way down

you said you found a rope bridge, cross it if i did, just don't look down

whatever sara says

i know you'll find home soon

we'll make the monsters go away

ruby pills and waiting rooms

Dream Sequence Lyrics

so long island got that flood

the one that they said would come

it didn't seem to bother anyone

the coastal lights went down like sand 

just as they prophesied 

well no one really seemed surprised

we all headed for higher ground

and we took the whole damn town

and in a tavern high and dry

you won't believe who would come by

 

billy joel played his old song

at my gal's request

the one that she likes the best

then my friends we took the fifth 

all at the same time

well billy didn't seem to mind

i can tell what we're made of

i can hear my whole town sing

so please don't go there's nothing out there

your world, tonight, is here

in a tavern on a hill 

that my town would come to fill

when the power came back on

we turned it off and sang a song

so long island got that flood

the one that we all had feared

worst one in eighty years

nobody shed a tear, no no

Wishful Thinking On Seagrass Shoal Lyrics

straight from the witch's brew

there's colors just for you

but no one can see them, or touch them,

or magic marker on their sleeves

lemon lover give 'em hell

let grandma hear your rebel yell, oh no

i say pierce it, dye it, rip your jeans any which way

little green knight mow the lawn

there's always work to be done

uh oh, but workin and working too hard 

will make you go pop

doctor up that smile for me

and tell me it's alright

(tell me it's alright)

a little lie would help me sleep tonight

"the change will do you good," they say

yeah, well i've heard that one before

(i've heard that before)

so make believe 

and lie to me once more

mrs. kellner make a toast

for you say you saw your father's ghost

they don't believe you

forget them

'cause i truly do

swan he didn't want to wait

took a bus across the continental united states

and saw denver and cleveland and scranton 

and tasted the wine

i hear it makes you go pop

round and round we go

and not a day goes by

without changing my mind

they say it's in my blood 

to get like this

a fear i sometimes feel

so i breathe your woes

the world is flat

the world is round

it doesn't matter in this small town 

because no one leaves

and no one comes

this is all that it will ever be

and no one's gonna argue me now

i don't want to fight you in this made up land

(x1,000,000)

smile just a little more believably 

esmeralda take my hand

i'm going to candyland

and you'll fit in much better

as a construction paper cut out

Shake Me Endlessly Lyrics

dark devotion on a cold blue slope

tell me old friend where did you go?

so the snowflake melts on your tongue

tell me brother, what made you run

tell me brother

the constructs breathing, no, your eyes play tricks

one more hour one more fix

"you can't let me fall fast asleep.

adam shake me endlessly,

adam shake me!"

you went disappearing for so long

and now you're gone for good

so explosions in the sky

will keep us starry eyed tonight

underneath elephant tree

swear and shake me endlessly

say so if i let you down

you fell silent when you came to town

we take that silence onto dead air

let's say nothing 'cause no one's there

let's say nothing

all in all i feel like heading home

well at least i feel something

could it be the moonlight?

there's no way that it pulls at the waves and does nothing to you

so if it sways an ocean and draws at your veins 

well that would explain everything

well if it ain't the moonlight...

let's go disappearing once and for all

here's your opus on the emerald moss

dark devotee i'm at a loss

with no goodbye, you will leave

it will shake me endlessly

Song 66 Lyrics

now boy, say you like this girl and girl, says she likes you too if only it were simple like it seems now, girl says she don't need boy well boy knows it just ain't true a four-door ford's the next best thing to home that shady looking lady couldn't be my esmé esmé, oh esmé, they said you went crazy that's why i don't trust a soul the woods are dark, so let's kick fire now boy, say you change your mind (well come on!) and girl, she could change her's too i can't tell who's doing what for who esmé she's a fighter, but she's still scared of spiders (spiders) and brooklyn is broken, esmé picked up smoking to keep the cold away the woods are dark, so let's kick fire tonight. dashboards and stardust and leather and rubber morals and brandy and ludo on shuffle black hair to blonde hair to blue hair and back we only got one more night let's kick fire now, slowly, so slowly, you need to breathe slowly