Tuesday night we played our first show at Arlene’s Grocery with our friends from the amazing indie-pop band Portmanteaux. Thanks to everyone who endured the unpleasant sting of the cold rain and wind to make sure we didn’t play to an empty room!

It's probably easier to get a taxi on the dark side of the moon than on a rainy night near 42nd street in New York…which happens to be where we were coming from. We quickly realized the utter hopelessness of getting a taxi, so we called a service and were told a car would pick us up in fifteen minutes. Fort-five minutes later we were out on the street in the pouring rain trying to find anything with wheels that would give us a ride downtown to the show.

We finally managed to hail a taxi, but halfway through loading our gynormous load of eight small cases…that’s one small case with drum cymbal stands, two guitars, two keyboards and a couple of pedal board cases…the cab driver started to flip out on us, saying we were going to break his axel. Come on now…really! It was a van taxi, which is pretty much the standard now in New York, and could easily handle the weight of our equipment. I’ve seen commercials on TV where they throw one truck on top of another truck and haul it up a giant hill with big rocks and stuff. I think the general point of these commercials is to point out that you can put a ton of stuff in a truck. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the average car/van can carry more than the weight of five skinny rock dudes and their instruments.

After a bit of back and forth, our drummer, Michael, managed to convince the driver to let us finish loading all of the gear. Just when we thought we were ready to go, though, he wouldn’t let us all get into the cab. Our equipment fit nicely into the storage area in the back of the van, no fold-down seat required, and there was plenty of room for five passengers, but again, he said we were going to break his cab. I was finally able to bribe him with more money and he agreed to let us all in the cab. That's when it hit me…no keyboard stand. For some reason, the forty-five minutes of waiting for the car service earlier was not enough time for me to figure out I had forgotten one of my keyboard stands in the rehearsal studio! Usually when you are moving equipment for a show, you inventory everything before you load out to make sure you don’t forget anything. It wasn't until we were sitting in the taxi that I realized I didn't see the stand get loaded. I jumped out and told the guys to head down to the club and I would catch up.

I went back to the rehearsal studio, and there it was right out in the open. This one tiny, but very critical piece of equipment was going to require me to take a second taxi, which would require another battle out in the rain to find one. One minor detail….my umbrella was in the first taxi! But it’s New York, which means on a rainy night you can't walk more than ten feet down any sidewalk without finding a street vendor selling umbrellas. Within a few minutes I lucked out, got another cab and was on my way. I vowed never to forget the equipment inventory again. (This is both true and important to the overall story…read on.)

Once we got to the club, it was great. Arlene's Grocery is a fine establishment. It has an impressive stage and sound system, but perhaps more importantly it has a second bar room with a fireplace…perfect for a rainy night. I was in heaven. My feet and legs were soaked up to my knees, but ten minutes in front of that fireplace, I was warm and dry…and ready to get on that stage.

The show was great fun...visit the video page for highlights. It was not only our first show at Arlene’s, but our first show with the new band. Michael Smith on drums, Ry Kenny on rhythm guitar and background vocals, Rafal Moskal on bass and Joe Belle on guitar. These guys are really a pleasure to play with, and I must say I’m proud to share the stage with such fantastic musicians. In addition to our set, which I think was the best show D'Simone has played to date, we had the pleasure of sharing the bill with Portmanteaux, fronted by the truly talented Allan Fox. We plan to play more shows together under the moniker “Bands with French Sounding Names” so please look for more show dates in the near future.

To add the perfect bookend to an outstanding evening, Michael, Joe and I hung out for a while and had a few drinks. When we were ready to go home, we called for a car, and the same car company that couldn't deliver a vehicle earlier came through in spades with a brand new SUV! It was like a rock star ride back to the rehearsal studio. I would have called it the perfect end to a great night…adventures in travel, good stories and a great show. But wait…where the @$#&!!!! is my keyboard stand?!!!! Mother said I'd lose my head if it wasn’t fastened on. Well today I guess it wasn’t, and neither was that keyboard stand. Yes ladies and gentlemen…I left it at the club! And continuing my luck, a phone call confirms they still have it, so I will be retrieving it before our next practice, and knock on wood I will never forget it again!

As always, thanks for all the support. Without your ears to listen, there is no music.
~D

Sometime last year when I was working on music for my album, I had a flash of an old song called Photograph that I had started to write on the guitar but never finished. I mostly write songs on the piano now, and while I do play guitar on some of my records from time to time, I would never call myself a guitar player. I sat down to see if I could remember how it went. No luck…it was gone. A trick that I’ve had some success with when trying to remember a forgotten piece of music is to just try and play anything, and see if I stumble over those memories. This time the process didn’t work, but by accident I found a new chord. Turns out it wasn’t new at all…just good old E minor, but the voicing was new too me, and since I was stuck on trying to remember the song Photograph, I just starting singing it over this new chord…and a new song was born.

We live so much of our lives through incredible images that only 100 years ago no one had any exposure to. We discover beauty, suffering, laughter and sorrow through the images we see in pictures. Not living any of these moments ourselves, sometimes we can be given whole life experiences. On the other hand, we can capture a moment in our own lives and see that moment frozen in time forever. Photographs are one of the most powerful forces in modern culture...and are what inspired the song.

Photograph is one of 16 songs being featured on the Rise Up Against Domestic Violence Music Compilation CD presented by BKS Entertainment to support the YWCA’s domestic violence initiative. When you purchase the CD, a percentage of the sales and proceeds go towards the YWCA’s domestic violence programs across the country. Please visit RISEUPWORLD.COM for more information and to buy the CD.

~D

PHOTOGRAPH
Music & Lyrics by D’Simone

You’re just a photograph
So much more I can see
Turn it around photographs lie

Frozen in time a picture
Just one of a thousand camera angles
A thousand eyes

It’s just one of those days
Where worlds collide
And time surrenders in perfect light
And everything in frame falls to pieces

[Chorus]
And now a photograph is all I have
The memory is burned into my mind
And it will live forever never changing
And now I am standing on the outside looking in
You’re just a photograph
You’re just a photograph

I’ve seen it all in pictures
Beauty profound ugliness too
Just turn the page

Life is so complicated
You cannot hide behind the camera
You are betrayed

It’s a split of a second
Captured in space
A photo finish who won the race
When time stands still
You never disappear

[Chorus]
And all I have is just a photograph
The memory is burned into my mind
And it will live forever never changing
But now I’m standing on the outside looking in
You’re just a photograph
You’re just a photograph
You’re just a photograph
You’re just a photograph

©2010 Calello Music Group

Last October, while searching for musicians to join my live band, (which, by the way is still in progress), I met a pretty amazing bass player. I had posted a few ads on craigslist but wasn’t having much luck finding the right musicians. Then, after a few weeks of frustration, I got an email from a guy named Enzo Penizzotto (cool name…right). So I Googled him and discovered he started his own band, Speed McQueen, when he was 19 and landed a record deal, worked with engineer/producer, Ed Stasium (The Ramones, Talking Heads, The Smithereens) and had toured with Joan Jett’s band. VERY, VERY COOL!!! Needless to say, I called him right away and we made plans to get together. I was still in the process of recording songs for my debut CD and I asked Enzo if he wanted to play on one. I played him a bunch of tracks and the one he really connected with was Photograph, which also features some pretty incredible guitar playing from Jeff Soriano (who also played on most of the tracks for the CD).

Usually when I record a musician, I’m prepared to spend an hour or two getting the right sound and a good performance. So when Enzo showed up to record, my expectations were to finish the one song. I plugged his bass into the console so I could start adjusting things, but it sounded so AMAZING I really didn’t have to do much! I queued up Photograph and hit the record button. One take and four minutes later we were finished. An hour later, I had recorded Enzo on seven more songs. The impact that his bass playing made was monumental, but it was also just the beginning of what was about to happen.

After Enzo played on Photograph I mixed the record. It now had more than 20 guitar tracks, and through the contributions of Enzo and Jeff the song had become bigger than I had ever imagined. I was thrilled with the finished product and couldn’t imagine it getting any better. But you know what they say…”never say never.”

A few weeks after I had finished working on Photograph I got a call from Enzo. A good friend of his was helping the people at BKS Entertainment and the YWCA put together a music compilation CD to raise money for victims of domestic violence. The CD was going to be called Rise Up Against Domestic Violence and feature music from a variety of artists and genres. Enzo suggested Photograph to them, and we sent the song off for a listen. They liked it and decided to include us on the CD, which I was thrilled to be a part of and support.

Enzo felt that Photograph needed a little more work before we delivered it to BKS, and he suggested sending it to a Tim Patalan, a producer he had worked with in the past. For most of my music career I’ve recorded and mixed my own records, but I’ve been very fortunate to have a father (Charles Calello) that is a record producer! My Dad has an amazing talent for making records and I’ve seen/heard the transformation of my music through the work I’ve done with him over the years – most recently on the two singles I released last year, Sleepwalking and Desert Rain. So when Enzo suggested working with Tim, I knew the impact it could have on the song.

Timing didn’t allow us to record live with Tim, so we settled on a re-mix. We only had a few days, though, as the record was about to be mastered and pressed. Tim not only delivered, he blew us away! When I heard his re-mix for the first time, I could not believe I was listening to the same song. It’s hard to explain in words what Tim did exactly – the best way to describe it would be how Dorothy felt in The Wizard Of Oz when she woke up and everything that was black and white was now color. After delivering the song to BKS Entertainment for the Rise up Against Domestic Violence CD, I sat down and listened to it for about a month. As a record maker, I went back to my original mix and tried to emulate what Tim had done. The experience was humbling.

To say that I’m thrilled to have had the opportunity to work with Enzo, Tim and Jeff in the making of this record is an understatement. Photograph has grown to become one of my favorite songs, and I’m honored it was chosen for the Rise Up Against Domestic Violence music project. I hope you join me in supporting this important cause by purchasing a copy of the compilation CD at RISEUPWORLD.COM or CDBABY.COM.

~D

PHOTOGRAPH
Music & Lyrics by D’Simone

You’re just a photograph
So much more I can see
Turn it around photographs lie

Frozen in time a picture
Just one of a thousand camera angles
A thousand eyes

It’s just one of those days
Where worlds collide
And time surrenders in perfect light
And everything in frame falls to pieces

[Chorus]
And now a photograph is all I have
The memory is burned into my mind
And it will live forever never changing
And now I am standing on the outside looking in
You’re just a photograph
You’re just a photograph

I’ve seen it all in pictures
Beauty profound ugliness too
Just turn the page

Life is so complicated
You cannot hide behind the camera
You are betrayed

It’s a split of a second
Captured in space
A photo finish who won the race
When time stands still
You never disappear

[Chorus]
And all I have is just a photograph
The memory is burned into my mind
And it will live forever never changing
But now I’m standing on the outside looking in
You’re just a photograph
You’re just a photograph
You’re just a photograph
You’re just a photograph

©2010 Calello Music Group

Over the years I’ve collaborated with many musicians, and there’s always a bit of tug-of-war that develops during the creative process. “Can we take that section out…I think this part should be the chorus…what if we make this section half as long" etc., etc. It can be a very painful experience! So you can just imagine how excited I was when I wrote a melody and lyrics for a piece of music composed by my friend/former bandmate, Jeff Soriano, and he didn’t want to change a thing. He had emailed me a demo of the music he recorded with guitar, bass, drums and piano, and asked if I’d be interested in writing lyrics for it. I listened to the music, and while I know I have claimed this almost never happens, within just a short time, 10 or 15 minutes, I wrote a completely new song to Jeff's music. The words and melody fit perfectly with the music and required not one single note to be changed…truly a first in my experience. The song is entitled Follow, and it will be featured on my upcoming debut CD.

The song’s lyrics tell a tale of storybook love…the kind you are willing to go to the end of the earth and back for. For those of you who don’t know me very well, I was pretty much born a romantic. When I was a kid, I loved to play King and Queen with my grammar-school heartthrob, Debbie. I still have a picture from one of my birthday parties with Debbie sitting next to me, and I was pretty sure at the time that we were going to be married and grow old together. Well, that of course didn’t happen, but I never stopped believing in the perfect love story.

Throughout my life I’ve been in many relationships I thought might be “the one,” but time and again, I found that I was still, as Neil Young says so profoundly, “Searching For a Heart of Gold…and I’m getting old.” When I finally met my wife, Tanya, I was in a very good place in my life….living in New York City in a really cool loft, making a good living, and in the best physical shape of my life. When I fell in love with Tanya, I didn't think this is “the one”…I just knew it. I never meant to test that certainty, but in the first few years of our relationship, I suffered from a physical injury, which created a number of challenges, and Tanya was there for me in a way no person has ever been. As time moved on and other challenges surfaced, she continued to support me, always there by my side. When someone believes in you like that, it changes how you see the world.

“No one ever took a chance on me. The chance you took, has set me free.”

The video for Follow came together almost as easily as the song. A friend of Jeff's, Jenifer Hahn, is a filmmaker and offered to donate her talents to concept and produce the music video, which co-stars Tanya, along with our scene-stealing cat Kiki. Jenifer’s concept for the video portrayed the song's references to distance and struggle as a soldier’s struggle, which gave the song a whole new meaning. When I wrote Follow, I saw myself as the follower. When I watched the finished video, I realized the song was as much about how Tanya had followed me – “through virtual hell and the real one as well.” For Tanya, there is truly “no place I won't go.” 

~D



D'Simone and Jeff Soriano ~ September 2010

FOLLOW
Lyrics by D'Simone
Music by D'Simone & Soriano

I've got a faded pocket picture of you
It keeps me sane when I can't be close to
The one thing in this world that I have seen
That makes me think my black heart could come clean

I see the question mark behind your smile
For some to trust it takes a long long while
But time and circumstances crumble walls
It's not too late for you to call

If I could tell you I would tell you now
The words have lost their meaning anyhow
So I will be a soldier for your war
And if I die I'll know what for

[Chorus]
A heart of gold that kept my soul from going cold
Where you go I follow
Forever and tomorrow
Through time warps and black holes
There's no place I won't go

This trip has taken me a million miles
But I'm made new each time I see you smile
A thousand churches inspire some
But in your eyes I come undone

I've become jaded from this cruel world
I don't believe anything that I've heard
No one ever took a chance on me
The chance you took has set me free

[Chorus]
How far could someone go for somebody they love
Through battlefield clashes
And frozen high passes
Where you go
I follow

I'd like to think I could be good for you
I give you anything you ask me to
And if you find yourself over the edge
I will be there to bring you back again

[Chorus]
Where you go I follow
Forever and tomorrow
Through time warps and black holes
There's no place I won't go

Through battlefield clashes
And frozen high passes
Through virtual hell
And the real one as well
I follow

©2010 Calello Music Group

Thanks for coming out to hear us play Saturday night…and a special thanks to Paul at Bar East…awesome place to play!! Check out the photo page for highlights from the show.