Music
I was given an astonishing, priceless gift as a child by my mother. I began piano and Cathedral Boys’ Choir by third grade and guitar by sixth, began to copy Pete Seeger and Peter Paul and Mary songs with my sister Anne by junior high. Our first concert together, mom and her kids, myself, Anne and my brother Ted, was Pete Seeger.
We learned to play all kinds of pop music on guitar and piano, songs from Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchel, Leonard Cohen, and eventually Neil Young, Elvis Costello and Tom Waites. These were not only wonderful writers and composers, all, but also cherished mentors.
You always think of writing songs but for some reason, don’t. I decided to change that, and in 1997 boasted to my friend Karen Fowlie that I could write a song a day, and did, for 7 days. We wound up with a dozen songs. “French Kiss The Fortune Teller” was Karen’s wonderful, wise and tantalizingly corrupt line of poetry — we chose it for our name and our album title.
After about 30 years of being a father, folksinger, lawyer, virtual bagman for online bookies and card dealers, I had about five more songs – when the Federal Marshalls showed up on Malibu Beach and slapped on the cuffs. Released on $5million bail, I was required to stay in Southern California and Malibu Beach wasn’t the worst place to be washed up. So, in 2007 I went in the studio in West LA, Village Recorder, with 16 of my best songs, wrote 8 more, and recorded them. That double CD was called “Psalngs.” Then in 2009 I did it again in Ocean Way Studios in Hollywood. Nineteen more songs, we named that double CD “Initial Album.”
Albums
I love Shakespeare, Joyce, Roberto Bolano and couldn’t see why I should aim any lower writing lyrics – because I was going to sing them? Pretty sure that’s not the way Bob Dylan thought about it. And Nobel noticed him.
By John Lefebvre
All’s Well
BOOK
Good With Money
BOOK
Initial
ALBUM
Psalngs
ALBUM