Once upon a time, there was a group of musicians in Hoboken who felt there was a growing lack of reality in the creative process of making music. They wanted to bring back the lost art of collaboration by gathering together and reconnecting humanity and music. So began a new Hoboken Songwriters Circle.
Brainchild of Jason Schlusser of the band Wailing Denims, it’s a workshop in which every member of the group is supposed to bring charts for the rest of the group to work from. Half-conceived ideas. Fully-formed songs. Two chords and half a verse. Whatever. The idea is to create with friends, sitting around the imaginary campfire (in this case the glow of the skee ball tables).
This first meeting’s cast of players included myself, Christina Alessi, David Ribyat, Dave Calamoneri, Bill Hamilton, Rob Nicholas, Eoin Finnegan, Liam Brown, D’Arcy Sarnelle, Peter Bonington, Gerry Rosenthal and Jaime DeJesus.
For now, this is an invitation-only group, meeting once a month at Finnegan’s (734 Willow Ave Hoboken). I feel like I’m crashing sorta because I haven’t written a song in ten years or more. I’ve barely even picked up the guitar in the past 8 years. I have no charts to speak of. I’m simply going for the inspiration.
You see … the thing is … I need music in my life once again. The way it used to be. It was something that fired my soul. In the past few years, I’ve felt so uninspired that I’ve sold almost all of my gear. Thankfully, I kept my guitars.
I had written yesterday about my self-imposed prohibition and my desire to be more creative. This isn’t just something to do to ward off the boredom while I await the reopening of my cafe. This is essential to my life. I’m tired of spiraling in the void. Music was my religion and I lost touch with my God.
But enough about me, this is just a good thing. There needs to be more of this kind of real-world collaboration. Music needs to take a break from technology every once in a while. Strings and hands. Thoughts and cues. The kind of communication that is not possible between man and computer.
So grab your axe of choice, call some friends and start a circle of your own. Or look around and find one already formed. There are a few of them out there. Whatever the outcome, I guarantee you’ll be glad you did.
See Also:
D’s Soul Full Cafe
Finnegan’s
