Without Annette by Seth Davis

Feldman

Aural Fix 10/2001

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I was recently pegged "Veteran alt-folkie Seth Davis” & the “veteran” thing is funny to me, but not inaccurate in that I've been playing my songs in & around the N.Y. scene for over a decade...can't wear the popular “rising star” metaphor anymore.... more like a “relentless sport” some days.

Been around this mud puddled block a few times & I've almost quit a few more. But I've never considered giving up my self imposed feature role as songwriter & singer for generation Seth...music is my second brain...it's how i see the world & what helps me to make sense of it...

goes a little like this.....

My only sibling, big brother Kim was a child of the 60's, an obsessed record collector & a jazz saxophonist. 10 years between us, he played loads of music I couldn't understand at the time, & plenty that I couldn't get enough of. I still remember the LP sleeves littering the bedroom floor & all over our beds...

Van Morrison, Beatles, Gil Scott Heron, Laura Nyro, Thelonius Monk, Beatles, Joni Mitchel, Beach Boys, Switched on Bach, West Side Story, Dylan (Bob), Beatles, Coltraine, John Denver, Peter Paul & Mary, George Carlin, Paul Simon, Joan Baez, Stones, the Tommy album...

Some of it made me feel like I was 8 hours into the acid trip I'd never had, but most of it made me wanna live. Kim taught me how to shoplift chocolate bars, how to block an over-handed knife attack & how to fingerpick “House Of The Rising Sun”. He was my hero for a long while.

My parents had me in their 40's & were married for 48 years.

Dad shared Kims love of improvisational jazz & gave me his kindness & his dry sense of humor (so don't blame me).

Mom loved spanish dancing, all foods (except beets) & was a wild, wild soul who painted the most beautiful flowers you've ever seen. She taught me to recognize intense beauty in the ordinary, the extraordinary in the ugly, & to never hastily trash a project gone awry. She also tried to instill in me the importance of having a steady & practical livelihood.....a lesson i haven't yet learned.

She went on the Cyclone in coney island with me when she was 53 & whenever I played her a new song she'd alternately correct my grammar & cry uncontrollably.

I was raised in Flushing, Queens, N.Y. USA, Earth within blocks of both Simon and Garfunkel, members of Kiss, Matt Groenig (the Simpsons creator), all of the Ramones & Fran Drescher of the Nanny. (Don't know what that says about the local water but it gives me some slanted sense of fellowship.)

Lived right across from Queens college which bred Marvin Hamlish & Carole King & where I spent a semester & a half majoring in drama & space invaders.

I wrote songs beginning at age 12 & sang them to Sammy the cat until i swear he either fell into a dream state or retreated for the litter box....hints of rejection abounded.

Played guitar & sang “this land is your land” in a 5th grade talent show duet with John Garabo, who's now morning guy at KISS Country radio in central California. He played piano so neither my guitar nor our voices were audible. Rough first gig. Wouldn't be the last.

I almost never learned other people's work nor do I read music but I do know a shitload of chords & am pretty good with words. I've written several hundred songs. Some I'm proud of. Short stories too. Outlines for a couple of films too. All in good time.

Although I play mostly acoustic music & hippy folk/rock, I was big time influenced by the stuff on rock radio growing up especially the post punk & new wave era....mesmerized by The Cars, Blondie, Roxy Music, Kate Bush & Bowie.

Passionately hated school from kindergarten but mostly excelled at it & fantasized always about being the Beatles or about writing, directing & starring in the greatest film ever.

Went to Jamaica high school from which Francis Ford Coppola graduated. I only know I was there because I've seen pictures & because people say they know me from there.

Had some amazing teachers in school who encouraged me & helped me to realize that I am whatever I decide I am. I decided that I am an artist & proceeded to be vague while I diluted my efforts being a jack of all creative trades & working uninspired day jobs to support my bad habits.

Learned how to sing while driving around in cars alone with the windows rolled up tight screaming over everything from Elton John to OZZY to Husker Du.

Was 19 when long island pop band heros AZIZ recorded my song "i'll be" & it was on WBAB.

Fronted several eclectic rock & folk quintets featuring former members of Robert Fripp's League of Crafty Guitarists and also played bass with Jim White's band, "The 144,000" before he became an international sex symbol. That guy is a true genius & a real gentleman...don't let him tell you otherwise.

I've played hundreds of gigs on the N.Y.C. bar & Long Island solo coffee house scene.

I've played very cool rooms such as The Bitter End, CBGB's Gallery, The Living Room & The Fez in New York City, & The Kiosk in Los Angeles. A couple of bars & a party in Austin. I busked for lunch money in London in the early 90's....the Undergrund rail system there has dreamy acoustics.

“Prizoner of My Mind” was the first song people really gravitated to...people like to relate & since we all have our respective histories to contend with this one got around....people write to tell me they remember it when they hear it live or on the radio.

“Lottery” is a 'losers lament' but romantic just the same & to my taste should be in every lottery commercial on the air in every state in the union....another one that people tell me was written for them...(or that they should have written).

I've been involved with dozens of recording projects & plan to acquire & assemble the coolest & least embarressing of the lot for public scrutiny here on the website sometime in the n.t.d. future.

I should have info soon on viewing for “Blossom”, the film by Dean Demus for which

I wrote & produced 2 songs & had a small role in...(played a hippie named “seth”

interviewing for a job as a florist)

Also waiting to see “Simply Being” by Luis Marin which has “Lame” in the soundtrack.

I've hosted a very cool open mic almost every wednesday for the last 3 years at Starbucks Cafe in Long Beach. We get 30-40 performers some nites & the place gets packed.

I started out playing the open mics in the Greenwich Villiage in my early 20's and the experience was priceless so i wanted to bring some of that good stuff to my little island here in the Atlantic.

So we get all levels of talent powered by high levels of enthusiastic support. Poetry (some english-some not) of all sorts, cool players doing covers & lots of originals along with harmonica players, a harp player (the kind with strings), trombone, flute, drums & stuff i cant remember right now.

All ages...all types. No smoke.

I'll be recording new (& old) stuff soon & will begin posting Mp3s here for free.

I've been a bagel baker, a cheese slicer, a telemarketer, a gymnast, a baker's assistant, a drug dealer, a caterer, a delivery boy, a ticket scalper, a realtor, a graphic artist, & a vegan pastry chef.

I've facilitated creativity support groups, taught vegan cooking & raw food prep. classes, started (and ended) a small greeting card company, & organized fundraisers.

I baked a birthday cake for Erykah Badu..heard she loved it.

I was married to the same beautiful woman twice.

I haven't gotten high in over 15 years.

Haven't missed it.

Much

i have 6 guitars, 4 cats & 3 nipples.

Thanks for your time & for supporting original music.

Please stay in touch.

seth

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