M. David Hornbuckle

Tag: music

  • Road Trip Day 11

    On my first full day back in Birmingham, I picked up my friend and former bandmate Brent Stauffer at the pizza place where he works and had a little lunch. Okay, in fact, it was a very BIG lunch–a calzone as large as my head. I had heard that a place called Green Cup Books was the place to go for independent authors like myself. So Brent and I headed over there, hoping to get a couple of books on the shelf and maybe arrange a last-minute reading while I’m in town.  But alas, we found that the place was OUT OF BUSINESS. And recently too because there were still shelves full of books inside.

    As long as we were in town, I stopped at Jim Reed Books, which is really more of an antiques and novelty museum than a book store. If you’ve never been to Jim Reed Books and you live in the Birmingham area, GO NOW. I don’t believe there is another place like it in the world.

    Jim was kind enough to take a couple of copies of my book on consignment, so somebody please go and buy them. Both copies are signed!

    On a side note, I should mention that Jim’s brother is the Reverend Fred Lane, one of the most entertainingly insane musicians you will ever go far out of your way to hear.

    After that, I dropped Brent off at his house and went to visit another old bandmate, Tym Cornell. Tym is running a fantastic music studio out of his basement in Roebuck these days, so if you are a musician in Birmingham and need a cheap place to make an album, Tym is your man. He is also quite good with video production.

    Tym’s wife Mary made some excellent pasta for dinner, and then I headed downstairs to the studio to listen to some of Tym’s most recent work. One of his current projects is to record an album for our mutual friend George Mostoller, whom I mentioned in a previous post. Somehow, Tym has arranged for some first-class musicians to play on this recording, including bassist extraordinaire Oteil Burbidge. I have never heard George’s music sound so good.

    More later…

  • Roadtrip Days 5-6

    On the plane into Richmond, I sat next to a very nice lady who kindly chatted with me throughout the flight about the stories in the Reader’s Digest that she had with her and even quizzed me on the vocabulary in the “WordPower” section. She was a hoot, and she promised to pick up a copy of my book when she got to Charlottesville.

    After landing, it was back to the highways to see my old bandmate Angela DiPaolo in Wake Forest, NC. Another old music friend, Crystal Dawn, is also living there. The three of us joined up with Angela’s friend Will to play some music at Gigi’s House Bistro. We played for about three hours, all sitting in on each others’ sets, whether we knew the songs or not. It was really almost too much fun. I crashed at Angela’s. By the time I remembered to take my camera out, everyone was in pajamas and refused to have their picture taken. So here is a picture of Angela’s cat, Lyric.

    In the morning, Crystal (who also stayed over, as did her dog Lucy) made bacon, eggs, and biscuits. Then I shot some hoops with Angela’s three boys. Again, almost too much fun–especially since the goal was set low enough for me to dunk.

    Finally, I had to hit the road again. I had about a 7.5 hour drive to Murfreesboro, TN to visit college friends Holly and Brian. I passed this Adam&Eve outlet store along the way, and if you know what Adam&Eve sells, you know why I think this is hilarious. Yes, those are lingerie mannequins in the window.

    I got to Murfreesboro just in time for dinner. Brian made some really awesome Italian wedding soup and sweet tea (of course), which I consumed in copious amounts. Tomorrow is Memphis.

  • Roadtrip Days 2-4

    On Day 2, I headed off to Charlottesville to meet up with Mark Rock, aka Peter Markush. I stopped in the exurbs between Baltimore and DC for the first of what will probably be many Chick-fil-a sandwiches consumed on this trip. I also took the first picture with my new camera. As you can see, I was not able to refrain from consuming the sandwich before taking a picture of it.

    I found my way to Random Row Books, where I was set to perform with Mark Rock and a very good guitar/cello duo called Barling and Collins. It was cold and rainy out,  so the event was sparsely attended. Barling, Collins, and we all sat in with Mark Rock, and during my set, Mark Rock accompanied me on piano as I read “The Boy Who Cried Wolves” (which, incidentally, was recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize).

    That afternoon, I got bad news about Poly, so I decided to drive to Richmond early in the morning and catch a flight back to NYC. By the evening of Day 3, however, we got good news from Poly’s biopsy. The tumor doesn’t appear to be malignant, so the immediate threat is not as serious as we feared. She will probably be okay.

    Day 4, I shared some bacon and eggs with Poly, did some dayjob work, ran some errands, and watched TV. That night I attended Jonathan Letham’s reading in at Book Court in Brooklyn. It was pretty good, but not as good as the Big Buford sandwich I had at Checkers on the way there. After the reading, I packed my things to prepare for an early flight back to Virginia to pick up where I left off.

  • Hornbuckle and Rock

    I played a show last Sunday with my old friend Mark Rock (aka Peter Markush) who is visiting me from Charlottesville, VA. Since most of you missed it, I put videos of the songs on the youtubes.

    Just as a teaser, here’s an unusual version of an old fan favorite:

  • Dr. Michelle Party

    My bandmate in Gutter & Spine, Michelle Leona celebrated the completion of her dissertation last night at Lolita Bar. There were a lot of excellent performances from the rest of the bandmates and several other pals. I played two songs: video evidence below.

    The video was taken by Marie using my blackberry. Not bad for a cell phone video.

    Congratulations, Michelle!

  • New Song – Spaceman

    Kinda silly, but it’s the first new song I’ve written in a while, and I needed to remember how to use my recording equipment. Though it’s goofy, I think there is a serious undertone about my own inherent insecurities and struggles to connect with other people.

    Spaceman

    I think it sounds pretty okay for a demo, but it will be much better when the DSO does it.

  • Bonus Tracks

    Ok, so I wrote a new song the other day. None of these are it. I hope to record a demo of it this week. But while looking through my files, I came across three old demos of songs that I never did with any band or released on any solo album. Previously unreleased Hornbuck-alia!

    This first one has lyrics by my old songwriting partner George Mostoller. He often sends me lyrics, and sometimes I set them to music. He also wrote the songs “Subway” and “Lip-Smackin’ Woman,” which I sometimes perform.

    “Another Time” — recorded 12/2/2004.

    \”Another Time\” by M. David Hornbuckle

    The next two are from a revue that Marie and I planned to write in 2002 called “Domination: the Musical.” I think these are the only two we got around to writing, and I’m pretty sure Marie wrote the lyrics for both of these.

    “It’s Nice” and “Why Do I Do What I Do?” — recorded August 2002.

    \”It\’s Nice\” from Domination: the Musical

    \”Why Do I Do I Do What I Do?\” from Domination: the Musical

  • Uzi’s Open

    I attended Amy Uzi’s open mic last night at Tribes Gallery in the East Village (every Thursday at 8–cover charge is by donation). It was an interesting mix of the usual art star open mic crowd and some poets, some of whom were actually pretty good. I read a new short story. I took this video on my blackberry.

    Then I had time leftover, so I sat at the piano and fumbled my way through one of my songs. If you listen carefully, you can hear Brer Brian playing guitar and singing from the audience.