hello everyone.
i've decided to start updating this blog on a daily basis. (we'll see how long that lasts) i received an e-mail from anton (books for mai's cafe & otehr ventura venues) asking if i would play for his birthday party on the 7th. its at the beachcomber tavern, which i hear is quite a charming dive bar. for this show i decided to get andy to play drums, along with kenny on guitar & my dad on bass. it seems like i have two bands now; a LA band (which consists of: dave lotfi, justin smith, kenny, & my dad) & a ventura band (which consists of andy macphee, kenny, & my dad). for this gig it will be the ventura band seeing as how the gig is in ventura. makes sense right?
my old friend johnny lloyd rollins (http://www.johnnylloydrollins.com) has asked me to play bass for a few of his LA gigs happening later this month. him and i used to be in a band (with dave lotfi & curtis johnson) called columbia. johnny hasn't told me where gigs will be yet but when he does i will pass along the info to this blog.
"doors & windows" continues to move along. thanks to all of you that have purchased either the cd or the download via itunes. yesterday i was thinking about the differences between 'ghost waltz' & 'doors & windows', and i came to the conclusion that the only very noticeable difference to me was that 'ghost waltz' has lots of organ, and 'doors & windows' has none. the reason for this is that most of 'ghost waltz' was written & recorded when i lived in cambria, with my organ right in my room with me. 'doors & windows' was written & recorded entirely at my house in thousand oaks, where my organ sits in storage in the garage. other than the organ both albums could be like vol.1 & vol.2.
a few people have been asking how the 'old tack pianos' video turned out. my answer to them has been "i don't know". the director josh is currently staying up late with eyelids made of brick, editing the nautical video that is 'old tack pianos'. as soon as its finished i know he will let me know & i in turn will let you. it WILL be worth the wait mind you, kenny b's performance as a sailor is sure to bring a smile to your lucky face. his blog will too. http://www.kennyblogginz.blogspot.com
i finished up 4 new recordings these last couple of weeks. the first was for the harry nilsson blog 'for the love of harry', which i highly HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend to anyone that enjoys nilsson or melodic music. (http://fortheloveofharry.blogspot.com/)
i recorded a song from the 1969 album 'harry' titled 'i guess the lord must be in new york city'. you can listen to it at the previous post, or at the fortheloveofharry blog.
the second song i finished is an original titled 'mark twain boat'. i spent a good amount of time on the lyrics with a bit of input from dana. its an upbeat song with hand claps & chiming guitars. i believe it will soon become a live song though we will have to see what happens.
the third song is titled 'out of the country' & i actually started writing it about 6 months ago but didn't get it finished until last week. its a ballad with lots of vocals & heavy bass. i'm not sure how i feel about it. time will tell.
the fourth & final song i completed is titled 'while candles will burn you down' which i started right after i finished 'doors & windows'. i always seem to write a song right after finishing a album. with 'ghost waltz' it was 'old tack pianos', & now with 'doors & windows' its this one. its upbeat with 50's sounding guitars & backing vocals. i had my dad add a harmonica solo which is seriously great. the man is truly a great all around musician.
anyway there is your paul starling news for the day (maybe the week). ok so i've already decided against this daily update thing for the blog. that was quick.
la la la la,
~Paul
p.s. don't forget you can purchase 'doors & windows' by clicking the album cover below, which will lead you to the rockshot records website:
& you can also purchase the album on
