Hello world!
I feel like I've taken a step off of a very high ledge and will be free-falling for the next 30 days. Today I launched a Kickstarter pledge campaign to get my All City Affairs album Dough Nation pressed onto a vinyl record. The fun part of this is making the pledge levels, putting up social media posts, making videos, and engaging with friends. The scary part of this is listening to the inner voice inside you that says things like: "No one cares," "This is going to fail," and "Don't do it."
I've actually wanted to do this for years. Everyone wants to feel validated, but no one wants to ask the world if they like you and hear crickets. My journey through music has been filled with so many different types of experiences.
I got the chance to go over to Europe and sing improvised music with my friend David Pavkovic's group Toe 2000, and drive all over Germany, Austria, and Switzlerand in a van. We were given food to eat, places to sleep, met wonderful people, and ate loads of Ritter Sport chocolate. David even got us upgraded to first class on the way over, because he was an IT guy for the airline and talked to the gate clerk. It was the only time I didn't want to get off an airplane as soon as it took off.
I've had the opportunity to mix sound for some incredible artists from all over the world: Hugh Masakela, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Bon Iver, Ghostface Killah & Raekwon, Amy Schumer, Neil Hamburger, Kendrick Lamar, Low, Gil Scott Heron, Rufus Wainwright, Allen Touissant, Roger McGuinn, and many, many more.
I've played in, and moonlighted, in countless bands and made my way across the country to play classic venues: Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland, Doug Fir Lounge in Portland, The Earl in Atlanta, Pianos in NYC, Southgate House in Newport, Metro in Chicago, Magic Stick in Detroit, DC9 in Washington DC, and on and on.
I've laughed, cried, died, lived, crashed, crushed, and learned so much about myself and the world around me through music. Nothing has ever been closer to my heart. When I was in elementary school, probably 3rd or 4th grade, I used to perform in my room along to my stack of 45 rpm singles that I could play on a Fisher Price record player. It had a built in speaker and I would pantomime performing in front of a crowd, turning up the lights as high as I could in my room, because if you weren't sweating, you weren't doing it right. One of my favorites, was the drum breakdown of "Old Time Rock & Roll" by Bob Seger. Another was, "Hot For Teacher" by Van Halen. In the living room, my brother and I would put on a concert to Billy Joel's "Glass Houses," jumping on and off the couch under the recessed, canned lighting.
Something about music; that it travels invisibly through the air, can never be contained or held in your hand, makes it one of the most magical phenomenons in the world. I used to dream that the afterlife would be just a place filled with music. It comforted me. But as I grew up, I realized that it's the world I live in. I wouldn't want it any other way.
I created All City Affairs, because it's the music that I want to hear in the world. I've never made a dime off of it, and I do it for the love of sound and the joy it brings me. I hope you'll consider supporting the effort to get my latest jams onto a glorious slab of vinyl. If you want to hear any of the record in advance and have yet to find it online, it's streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, You Tube, etc. A great home for finding independent music is Bandcamp. Here's a direct link to the ACA page.
Peace - Peter, ACA
