NEWS
5/14/21
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Friends/lovers,
I hope you're well. What a year. My condolences if it was especially tough on you. I'm blessed to have made it through ok and to not lose anyone close. I sincerely hope the same for you. With that said, I just wanted to give you some updates on me and not be a complete hermit. And as a reminder, you can always reach out to me on Twitter, which is basically the only form of social media that I'm active on. Also, you can shoot me an e-mail to say hi.
I sit here in an apartment in New Jersey on a Friday night with my balcony door open as I drink a Manhattan and listen to "Quizas, Quizas, Quizas" by Nat King Cole. That's where I'm at. In a good mood. The weather has been great and I recently found a nice place to jog after work. Trying to find peace. I guess I'm one of those guys now. Anyway, I'll try to quickly run through some music updates.
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I just finished recording and mixing a new original song a couple of weeks ago. It's called "If It Wasn't For My Pride" and it will appear as the 4th track on my full-length album Thoughts Before Surgery. I love how it came out. There's so much energy to it, but there's also a sad intensity as well. It's pretty hard to explain. I got a ton of help from a number of musicians who are far more talented than I am, so I basically view it as a collective collaboration. Joe Michelini, Pat Noon, and Adam Levy of The Honeydogs (one of my all-time favorite bands - another story for another time) all helped to produced this song that I love. I have no immediate plans of releasing it as a single, but I'm seriously considering doing a "song deconstruction" type of thing as a YouTube video. Maybe show the demo that I recorded on my phone and explain how it eventually grew into a fully-produced and arranged piece. Some background info on the lyrics and creative direction that I decided to go with it. I dunno. I love that kind of stuff, but there's also the risk of seeming self-indulgent. We'll see.
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Beyond music, I continue to create short musical documentaries, all of which can be viewed at us.kef.com/listen. It's naturally a lot of hard work and takes up a lot of time, but it's kind of a dream job, and so I'm thankful for the opportunity. And hey, it pays the bills and allows me to save up for the completion of the album.
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Also, new merch will be coming in the near future!
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So that's about it for me. If you're reading this, I want to thank you for your support and for allowing me to continue to do what I love. Writing and recording music is my favorite thing on Earth. It's such a tough challenge, but the rewards are always worth it. Please stay safe in the meantime.
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love,
-b.
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5/12/20
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It has been a very long time. Sorry if you've looked to this site for constant updates. First thing's first - I hope that you & your loved ones are safe and handling this pandemic well. With that said, my new single, "Mom & Dads" is out today. It was recorded by Joe Michelini (American Trappist, River City Extension) at Berlin Studios in Berlin, NJ. The b-side is a cover of the Bacharach/David classic "I'll Never Fall in Love Again", which was recorded by Pat Noon at EightSixteen Studios in South River, NJ. Both were mixed by Pat Noon and mastered by Alan Douches. The cover art is by Eric Hinkley. It's available to stream & download on the front page, and it should be available on all the major streaming services soon. Let me know what you think! Drop me a line at bootsyspankinspi@gmail.com or on Twitter @bootsyspankins. Thank you for all of your support. It's a joy to write & record music, and I love sharing it.
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best,
-b.
2/1/18
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Hi all. I hope that your new year is treating you well. It has been a while. My spare time has been limited due to work, but I've been attempting to record demos of my new songs. Lyrics are pretty much finished, and now I'm working on arrangements. I was looking for a rare track of something that I'd never released before, just to give you something to listen to in the meantime. Here's a demo to my cover of the 1967 Alton Ellis song "Rock Steady" which later appeared fully-arranged on my album "Lovely Laundry" in 2011. Incidentally, the demo is much more somber than the finished product. I hope that you enjoy. (link: https://soundcloud.com/bootsyspankinspi/rocksteady-demo)
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best,
-b.
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8/30/17
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Hope you enjoyed your summer. I've done a lot of writing lately. I don't have the funds to record a full-length yet, and so I have no immediate plans to go into the studio, unfortunately. Here are some song titles of songs that are finished and ready to go:
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Moms & Dads
3rd Degree Burns
Cemetery Grass
If It Wasn't For My Pride
You're a Real 'Beaut
Over Every Room
Hotel Bar
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In the meantime, I'm working on a short-run podcast about a fast food eating contest called The Tour de Colon. That's what most of my spare time has been spent on. I hope to have it out by the spring. More info will be found here in the coming weeks.
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best,
-b.
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6/20/17
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Hell yeah. The single to South Philadelphia is here. You can stream and/or download at the HOME screen. The other digital distribution sites and the links to buy the songs are as follows:
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You can apparently stream it on several other services like iHeartRadio and Pandora, too. I hope that you enjoy listening to the songs as much as I enjoyed making them.
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best,
-b.
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6/08/17
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On June 20th, the South Philadelphia single will be available to download through all major online music services (iTunes, Amazon, Google, etc.) and also on the homepage here. There are two original songs: "South Philadelphia" & "Meet Me In the Middle" and I look forward to getting them both out there.
The t-shirts are finished and they look great. Philadelphia artist Eric Hinkley designed them. Pictures and a link to purchase them to soon follow.
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For those who purchased the vinyl - let me know when you receive it! Tweet a picture of it to me @bootsyspankins and I'll RT.
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best,
-b.
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5/16/17
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The preorder for the South Philadelphia 7" is now available through Future Oak Record Co. right HERE. Just a heads up - only 50 are being made. Also, Lauren Rearick of The Grey Estates conducted an interview with me that touched on a lot of subjects pertaining to the creative process of writing & recording. That can be found HERE.
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Today has been fun! New Bootsy music is finally here, and if you weren't aware, "South Philadelphia" is currently streaming on the home page.
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best,
-b.
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5/11/17
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Hi, it's Bootsy. I just began building this website, and so it's currently in its infant stages. As Bryan Adams would say, "Please forgive me."
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There is new music on its way. I have a 7" record coming out on Future Oak Record Co. with two original songs: "South Philadelphia" and "Meet Me In the Middle". It will be available to preorder soon. The songs will also be streaming here and available to download digitally sometime later in the summer. Also, t-shirts are currently being designed and will be available to purchase through the store in a couple of weeks.
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Within time, I'll be trying to turn this website into something more fun an interactive. Please come back later when I have my shit together.
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best,
-b.