It's been a while, but I've gotten back in the swing of things with writing & performing & all that sort of stuff ...

Been working on some electronic music here: https://cellomike.bandcamp.com/album/electronic-explorations-luna

And I'm gonna be performing at Steampunk World's Fair ... so I'm thinking I might record another lightning speed album leading up to that...

Have had a few other performances lately, and am excited to be slowly jumping back into the steampunk circuit - and hopefully open...

The last 6 months or so have been pretty Weird!

There's been a lot of just trying to hold on for the sake of holding on. 
I moved to Philly in the fall & things ended up not really working out there, and I quit the bands & projects I was in, with the intent of putting music on the backburner for a bit while I got my life together. 

"Quitting" music didn't quite pan out either (You never know *where* life's gonna take you) ... I got back to New York & needed to make money & get by -...

So, continuing the Road Saga, a few weeks ago the Eli August band played up in Nova Scotia ... 15+ hours of driving each way, for one of the specialest gigs I've ever played!!  2nd time I've ever been to Canada (the first time was with Edensong in Quebec City)...

We were headed up to Sherbrooke ("Oh the year was 1778, How I wish I was in Sherbrooke now..." quickly became the anthem of the trip), but detoured in Halifax along the way.  Halifax it turned out was mostly a boring city (with interesti...

Writer's Note: Somehow I never published this... pretend it's May

I just returned from Steampunk World's Fair ... a weekend of the most epicness & positivity in a long while...

There were 3 highlights for me:

1.  The Eli August Secret Show friday night was one of the most beautiful moments I've ever experienced at a convention... the band was really on, the crowd was AMAZING, and the whole vibe was just so beautiful... a moment to treasure

2.  The Two Bastards set was incredibly fun!!  Though I star...

So today was the 3rd Bach in the Subways Day - in celebration of Bach's Birthday!!

It was quite an experience...

Last year, the highlight for me was hanging out w/ Eric Edberg, my cello friend, and getting to see some of the other performers... including a really progressive jazz Bass player who basically improvised on impressions of Bach (which actually inspired my performances this year)

I'm not sure how much my Bach has really improved much since then (except that I can play faster now, so I can h...

I was watching this Joni Mitchell video earlier, and it struck me that basically everything I've watched from the 70s has this sort of free-spiritedness/freedom or even innocence if you will ... it's very un-self-conscious ... I think in the 80s, that got replaced with being unappologetic ... and now we are in the era of hyper-self consciousness over music and video...




I was also watching this Steven Wilson Interview earlier, and he was commenting on how with modern pop music, not only is musici...

So last weekend brought me upstate with The Rose West ... it was a really great weekend ... We journeyed up to the band's in Glens Falls to play at The Hudson River Music Hall.  Hudson River Music Hall is a very awesome venue run by musicians & artists for musicians & artists and was by far the loveliest place to play at.


We got to the venue pretty early (for once), which was really nice, b/c we had time to properly set up (and it was here that things first began to go awry for me) ... dur...

I am now home from my second Wicked Faire (first one I was officially performing at).  The weekend of most EPICNESS ... It kicked my ass & I kicked it's ass right back!!

Had a ton of fun the entire weekend & played 12 sets in 3 days on 2 cellos, plus jammed with people, plus sat in w/ This Way to The Egress on a tune ...

Last year was my first Wicked, and it was one of the most amazing weekends of my life ... there were many highlights, but The one that still stands a year later was catching...

3 weekends, 3 different events!!  That's the way I love to roll!!

It starts with Arisia - the Sci Fi/Fantasy and all things geeky & intellectual convention.  I had 2 shows with Psyche Corporation, and then had time to spend the rest of the con attending all the wonderful panels and jamming with people.  The programming at this panel is really beyond exceptional.  Lots of great entertainment, ranging from a Circus Group & bands to filking & panels on Poly, BDSM, Gender/Sexuality...

Was watching this beautiful video earlier & practicing this piece (which I taught myself from the video a while ago):

Anyway, between that & playing Prayer all the time, I was thinking that my upper register on the A string really sucks ... so I thought I'd do some practicing, which meant a combination of scales and arpeggios (which I found infinitely more challenging & useful) ...

"Scales" are basically practicing 2nds ... usually with alternating fingers

Shifting 2nds is fairly easy for me ... n...