Music Reviews

Hey gang. I am adding occasional mini music reviews to my site to introduce people to new artists I admire. Without further adieu here is my plug for Hotel Lights' new mini EP goodnightgoodmorning and their debut Hotel Lights in case you missed it. I first found Hotel Lights on cdbaby and downloaded their debut album from iTunes and now I am hooked. I find the goodnightgoodmorning EP to be more of what I liked in the first place. They conjure thick moody melancholy like my favorite band, The Blue Nile, with slightly more traditional alt-pop arrangements. Here's to many more years of Hotel Lights.

Happy post Thanksgiving 2006 everyone. I have gained some pounds this past week and weekend and I don't even eat Turkey. I saw my rents who visited from Ohio and it was a nice visit. My Mom is doing well despite 3 major bouts with Lymphoma, the last resulting in a stem cell transplant over a year ago. Cancer seems to be a bit too rampant in the neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio that I grew up in. My grandmother on my Dad's side died of lung cancer when I was three. My mom has been through said bouts, my aunt Nancy has breast cancer that seems to be aggressive, and I have heard countless tales from my mom of friends succumbing to this cancer or that. I did look it up once and it appeared that Cincinnati had a higher incidence rate for some cancers than the general public but there were so many factors that could be involved the study did not make any conclusions about whether it was statistically relevant. I was not planning to write about all this but I am trying not to censor myself when I sit down and write. I do think stem cell research done responsibly could bring a lot of hope to people with diseases like cancer. I don't know how I feel about all the moral and ethical issues involved since I am not well educated on the issue in general.

Anyway back to Thanksgiving. I am grateful for my health and the health of my partner and children. We are truly blessed and live a charmed life in many ways. I end up needing reminding CONSTANTLY that I should be grateful for what I have in my life. I sometimes think I have 2 dueling entities in me - my ego and my soul. They don't seem to want to get along and the ego thing loves that river of misery, just enough to keep me complaining. I hate complaining. Yet alas I complain. I even complain about complaining. ;-).

I am doing some minor promotion for "Light in August" when I have time. It appears to be the best received single I have released to date. If you like it (or not I guess) please consider leaving a review on the CDBaby.com or iTunes music store for me and telling your friends about it. I am a one man show and any little love I can gather makes me feel good and work harder at getting my music out there.

Well I have to assist putting my little guy to bed. Til next time!
Ciao,
Brent

New Single released

I have a new single out called "Light in August" which I am selling through cdbaby.com. The great thing about CDbaby is they get me into all these digital distribution channels like iTunes, etc. To hear and purchase the single on iTunes click here if you have iTunes installed. If the link doesn't work just search the music store for "Brent Roberts". The song features Amikaeyla Gaston and Marco Delmar as well as lil ole moi. I am very pleased with how it came out. I decided to release it with a self published book that I created on my iMac. It's amazing how professional one can look these days in media. It really breaks down the barriers that once made a certain few stars and the rest of us fans. Now I think we are all just potential creators.

My friend Tiffy girl was visiting this past few weeks because he was having problems with the Canadian border patrol. He lives in Toronto but works in the US and in the post 9/11 world apparently this is harder to do than one would think. He is coming back tomorrow for another few days before the whole thing is straightened out and he can go home. Maybe I will ask him if I can regal you with some of his tales while he is here. He is a born comedian and sharp as a tack as they used to say. ;-).

I sort of feel sorry for this guy Haggard who paid the "massage therapist" and bought some crystal meth in the process. Seems he didn't get the memo that his behavior was rather gay and was cavorting around town preaching the good word against those damn homos. Well maybe I don't feel too bad but I hope he can find himself through all the mess he left.

Well folks the mid term elections are next week. I just hope we can all trust the damn election system. Call me a conspiracy theorist but Patrick Kennedy's article a while back in Rolling Stone about the vote fraud just gives me chills. Please vote and be courageous.

Peace and more Peace,
Brent