Inspired in no small part by the ongoing nonsense that is the race for the presidency in 2008 - including this gem. So mad about it I had to play drums.

I've had a rough recording of the chords and melody on my PDA for a couple of months now. The rough lyrics were going nowhere until I stumbled on a reference to the prologue to Ellison's Invisible Man, and it became a very different song. Enjoy.

Believe it or not, this is a co-write with a 4-year-old. We were in the car after soccer practice and Zoe was washing her hands with a wet-wipe post-popsicle when she blurted out the main melody for the verse and the chorus, all at once, with that curious off-beat: "Give me another wipe: I'm still sticky, my hands are still sticky!" I raced home, grabbed the Tele, and turned it into Lady Macbeth. If you picture Lady Mac being played by the First Lady instead of Dame Judy I won't hold it against you. Note: The beat box was killing me in a bad way - so I re-mixed without it. I would go all Macbeth on Duncan with someone to be able to do this with a real band. Oh well.

From the Step It Up! Capital event, April 14, 2007, Albany, New York. Written by the great Mr. Steve Earle, performed by l'il ole me.

Shot on location at Tess' Lark Tavern. Directed by Carl Liss. Produced by GoPicture Productions and Bionic Media.

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Who's that girl? We'll never tell.

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A l'il tribute to Mr. Troy Pohl of the Kamikaze Hearts. An oldie but goodie. Recorded live at the recent Why Can't I Be You show.

More beatbox-solo-acoustic fun from the recent Unity Stage show. The actual beat was stolen from a song on the Ones and Zeros record. Guess which tune.

I dusted off the old beat box - Boss DR-202 a.k.a. "Dr. Groove" - for the September 2006 Unity Stage show. Dr. Groove was the heartbeat for the Radio Plastic Jennifer album - but oddly enough, "Liquefy" was one of the few tracks on that record that was strictly acoustic. Enjoy.

Written and recorded for the Ones and Zeros album on a sweltering hot day in the summer of 2001. The lyrics didn't make much sense at the time beyond a general emptiness I felt in my gut. They made a lot more sense the day the towers fell. Namaste.

How did I wind up buying a Telecaster in 2000? I did a Joni Mitchell tribute show in New Orleans with the old band that summer. Goofy airlines wouldn't let me bring the acoustic guitar on the plane. Borrowed show organizer Michael Paz's Fender to use that night. It rocked. Bought an electric shortly thereafter. So the Tele Sessions are a handful of demos of songs written with the new guitar. The warm-up for the Ones and Zeros record. The four-track cassette special. And why "Diznee?" I was improvising lyrics. They were ridiculous, but something told me to go with it. And "diznee" rhymed. And apropos, in light of recent reports. (Note: Keep your mouse ears open for the musicial D.N.A. of "Jennifer.")

This cover of Joni Mitchell's "Black Crow" is also from Wafers and Wine, but it was originally recorded on a cassette 4-track for 1997's A Tape of You, a collection of covers by Joni's Internet fans. Legend has it that a copy of it made its way to Joni, which is why I tacked the "Joni's gonna hate this" bit at the end, with the sample of her laughing. Saw her two years later playing "Black Crow" at the Day in the Garden Woodstock reunion show, summer of '98. With my hero Brian Blade on the drums. And my head exploded. I had a sober hallucination that she was singing "black boy" instead of "black crow," just like in my version. And my head exploded again.

Phil and Sandra from Changing Spaces were looking to do a one-night show of erotic-themed art at Valentine's - appropriately, on Valentine's Day. I took it as an opportunity to do some of my own more, um, playful songs, ("Tiresias," "Liquefy," "Camera") but also as an opportunity to do some covers (Prince's "Dirty Mind" and "Erotic City," Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On.") This cover of the Velvet Underground's "Venus in Furs" was supposed to be a medley with Erotic City - but in the end I really wanted to crank the overdrive and the delay, and slow it down, so they didn't work as well together. Some of the folks in the room may have been talking over it, as you'll hear, but that didn't mean I had any less fun playing it. And I've always loved the juxtaposition of the "dream" verse with the darker imagery of the rest of the song, so the last, quiet verse is probably my favorite bit.

This song was also written for the Carl Liss film Apt. D. The music and the first line came to me in a dream. I finished it the next day, on the can, with the help of a copy of the Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Check the Bluff Notes on 'Seachange' for the full story.

I spent the better part of yesterday morning entranced by this award winning photo essay by Brenda Ann Kenneally. In bed. On my handheld. Via the obligatory a.m. stop at Albany Eye. And the whole time I'm asking myself: What would Uncle Sam think of the Troy of today? I feel a song coming on.

UPDATE: The song is called Sam. Cuz Uncle Sam wants you. To explain yourself.