Rob Christensen: News

I've come to realize that I probably won't be doing much in the way of musical activity while I'm job hunting. As you probably know, several years ago I went back to school to be a teacher, and now, during what the New York Times calls "the worst time for teachers since the Great Depression", I'm looking for a teaching job. While looking for a full-time teaching job I've been spending a lot of time substitute teaching, working retail, and of course job hunting, all of which leaves very little time for music making. So things will probably be a little quiet on the Music & Stuff front for a while, as they have been for the past year plus.

That's not to say I don't have ideas and plans. I'm just having trouble concentrating on them with all of the distractions in my life. So I'll see you when I have something to report. I am so looking to recording and playing again. But right now the time ain't right. So I'll see you when I see you, hopefully sooner than later.

Best Of Both Worlds + Work

I keep having this recurring dream that I’m back in my hometown of Ferndale, California, and wanting to move back into my old house. I think this was partially triggered by hearing that it was up for sale several months back. I’m always at my current age and actually there at the house looking in. In some dreams I actually get to move in. In others I don’t because I can’t afford it or someone else is moving in.

Another recurring dream I have is that I’m back in the Navy and back on my old ship, a huge aircraft carrier, and am getting ready to go out to sea for a long cruise. Most of the guys I was in with are there again and I’m terribly excited.

More at http://robchristensen.blogspot.com/

Hello - We had yet another snowy day here in Harrisonburg, VA. The postman brought me a DVD of the documentary "Mellodrama", about the Mellotron and Chamberlin, so I'm looking forward to settling down and giving it a viewing.

This morning I uploaded some more mp3s. Now all of the songs from "Demos For Sharon", "Opera Alley", and "At The End Of The Day (live 11-14-98)" are available and correct. "Roses For Sharon" was already okay. I'll be checking over "The Truth Hurts", "Smile Slightly", and "I Hope You're Happy Now (The Thrift Store Series, vol. 1)" sometime in the next few days to make sure the correct versions are up and those albums are complete.

For "Demos For Sharon" I uploaded my cover of Jim Shelley's "Port".

For "Opera Alley" I uploaded the correct album versions of "Somebody To Adore", "Janie Sims", and "Where Red Roses Fall". Previously these were the live "At The End Of The Day" versions.

Finally, "At The End Of The Day (live 11-14-98)" is complete, as I uploaded "Where Red Roses Fall", now in it's correct position, and "You're Not The End Of The World."

Take care, y'all! - Rob C.

Been down with a cold the last few days, so things have kind of ground to a halt. I did go out last Saturday night to hear local grammy-nominated artist Scott Murray. He was kind enough to invite me up to play a song or two, but I was coughing and hacking so much I didn't think it'd be a good idea. The good news is I might have a local venue interested in hosting me, and Scott tells me there are many more around here that are booking solo singer-songwriters. I'm not really pursuing much on that end at this point because life is a bit complicated right now in that I'm still looking for work, or as some artists call it, a "day job".

Someday I'm going to write another blog entry on certain realities and thoughts on having a real job. I sort of already covered it in an entry from last fall titled "A Year Goes By So Quickly", which can be found here: http://robchristensen.blogspot.com/.
Take care!

I've managed to make most of my songs available for streaming and for free download on the, you guessed it, "Free Downloads" page. Most have the lyrics attached; just click on the song title. The tracks from "Opera Alley" and "The Thrift Store Series, Volume 1" also have tidbits about the tracks.

I'm seriously thinking of making a different album available for free download every month. Sort of a "This month's featured album is ___." I'll keep you posted.

Also, there's now a song player at the bottom of the site. Eventually I'd like to get full-length versions of every track up, in random order, so anyone can listen to a stream at any time. Sort of "Rob C. Radio" without pesky DJ's or commercial interruptions. (Insert self-depreciating joke here.) Right now there's one-minute snips of fifteen songs. Click the bigger right-pointing triangle to listen.

Cheers!
Rob C.

I've spent several hours working on the 'Free Downloads' page, adding lyrics and audio for you to stream or download. More to come!

Happy New Year, Everybody!

I've just doing some repairs on the site here - I've updated the "Links" page by fixing the broken links and adding more. I'm also working on the "Free Downloads" page to make it look better and be more functional. Ideally soon all of my music to date will be available to download for free! Cool, huh?

If you haven't heard already via Facebook or Twitter, I'm now living in Harrisonburg, Virginia. I'd been planning on coming here for almost a decade, and it's nice that I'm finally here.

I've got a fresh blog entry here: http://robchristensen.blogspot.com/ that should fill you in on all the news (busy with life stuff) and musical doings (not much, but that's okay).

Check out the Photos page. It's got a new look and way of working that I really like!

The Downloads page is still very sloppy. I'll figure out how to fix it up and make it nice.

I don't foresee any shows for awhile; probably not until 2010. But I'm where I want to be, geographically, and that should lead to good things!

Watch this space!

Did a bit of touchup on the website tonight & have a bit more to do.

Soon I should have an announcement about a move to a new city. I'll let you know when details firm up.

I decided to remove the Guestbook as it seemed to attract more fiends than friends. I've also updated my Contact Info.

Four days until I'm off to California!

Hi there,

Just logged on to delete a bunch of bogus guestbook entries. I hate that! I'm tempted to turn it off.

Not much else going on. Rather than try to extract blood from a stone I'm just going to take some time off from playing and recording. I've got other projects happening right now and thus my mind hasn't been on music. Do check back, though. I do have some site updates in mind that I'll hopefully get to eventually.

Sorry I've been away so long. More updates soon! Hope you like the new look!

Don't forget I'll be doing a solo show / public practice session at St. Elmo's Coffee Pub in Alexandria, VA next Wednesday, August 27. It'll be a mixture of old songs and new. Be there or be square!

The Home Made Hit Show podcast mentioned last week is now out! It's episode number 123 and features a 36 minute interview by the wonderful Dave Kriddle. We talk about home recording, songwriting, and my involvement with Tape Op magazine and the Pot Luck Recording Conference. It also includes three of my songs! You can hear it or download it via the link below.

Dave and show founder Tony Butterworth are doing a great thing by showcasing music by truly independent songwriters and home recordists. I'm very honored to be the subject of an entire episode ("I'm not worthy!", to quote some old friends).

All music fans owe it to themselves to subscribe to the Home Made Hit Show. You can find it on iTunes or at www.homemadehitshow.com. And check out the show's forum at http://forum.homemadehitshow.com/.

As promised, free downloads are now available. The boys and girls have put up two songs from each studio album for you to download and keep forever. More goodies are coming!

In other news, Rob was interviewed recently by Dave Kriddle from the Home Made Hits Show podcast. They'll be playing a few songs to go along with the interview. We'll let you know when it's available!

Though I'd assumed at this point it wasn't going to happen, when I got to New York today there was an email waiting for me asking if I still wanted to play at Googie's Lounge Saturday night. Naturally, I accepted the date, so I'm on at 10:30 pm this Saturday, May 3, at Googie's Lounge (above the Living Room), 154 Ludlow, New York. The website is www.livingroomny.com. Hope to see you there!

*** Free For All – Rob Christensen Music News – Spring 2008 ***

Hello –

I hope you’re having a good Spring. I’m sure glad the winter is over!

I wanted to let you know about a couple of shows coming up. The first is next Sunday, April 27, at The Cave, in Chapel Hill, NC. I’ll be opening for Sound of Singles, and the show is set to start at 9:00 pm. Go to www.caverntavern.com for details.

The second is on Wednesday, May 14, when I’ll be playing a show with New York’s Matt Keating at St. Elmo’s Coffee Pub in Alexandria, VA. This show is set to go from 8 pm to 10 pm. Go to www.stelmoscoffeepub.com for more details.
.
There’s also a slim chance that I’ll be playing at the Living Room in New York City on Saturday, May 3. Check back to my website or MySpace page for more news as soon as I have it.

I’ve got five new songs on the set list for the North Carolina show. If they go well I’ll play them again in Alexandria.

As for the rest of the year, I plan on mostly concentrating on writing and recording the next album. If the occasional show opportunity arises I’m not going to say no, but there are no tour plans or anything. That said, I do plan on coming out to California in October. While I’m there I hope to play a show in Arcata or Eureka. I’ll send out another of these notices as October gets closer to let you know what’s happening.

For several months now, my MySpace page has had the headline, “$5.99 CD sale ending soon.” At this point I’ve decided to keep my CDs at $5.99. In this economy, and with the changes in the music business, I think it’s the right thing to do. So help out an independent artist and buy a CD or two (or three or four…).

Finally, I’m putting together a free 8-song sampler CD. Three of the songs will be acoustic versions of older songs, while the rest will be tracks from my CDs. I’ll make everything on it available for download via my website and myspace. If you want a CD copy, send me a buck and a half for postage and I’ll mail you a copy.

For more news, song downloads, CD’s, and other wonderful things, please visit www.robchristensen.com and www.myspace.com/robchristensen.com.

Have a great spring and summer and write if you can!

Cheers!

The weekend trip to New York was fun, productive, and a bit tiring. I'd hoped to have this summary up by now, but between the lack of sleep and the cold I caught, it wasn't going to happen.

After catching up and relaxing on Friday, my pal Sash and I spent a few hours Saturday in Manhattan. We hit the 48th Street music stores – Manny's, Sam Ash, etc. – and played guitars & looked at things that we can't afford. From there it was down to Times Square and the Virgin MegaStore. That's a place where I could spend loads of money, but I kept it to one CD – a live Dylan session from '62. Sash was impressed by how busy the place was. After hearing all of the doom and gloom about the record industry he was pleasantly surprised at how many people were spending an evening in a record store.

After that we ventured over to Hell's Kitchen for burritos, then headed back to Queens for a solo-acoustic recording session. I did six songs. At least one of them will be on my upcoming free (Free!) sampler CD. Four were new songs that I'm working up for the next album. I tried a couple of those in different keys and slight changes with arrangements.

Sunday evening Lemonheads was spent at the Lemonheads show. Mr. Dando and his band are on tour performing their near-perfect 1993 album, It's A Shame About Ray. Opening, as I mentioned in the last entry, was Second Dan, who are friends of Sasha. I guess I can sort of count them as friends, too, as we first met at a studio opening party in New York last fall. Before the show we hung out a little bit, talking guitars and such. They played a good rockin' set with plenty of energy and warmed the crowed up real good for the main event. Obviously, Ray is a favorite of mine, so it was a real treat to see and hear the Lemonheads perform it in person, especially in a small venue like the Bowery Ballroom. I believe I even got a little teary-eyed seeing my fellow Gen-X'ers swaying along to "Buddy". All in all a fun night and a good capper to a great weekend.

Monday it was back to the daily grind – an 11 am bus back down to DC and home to the day (night) job in the bookstore (which is actually really quite fun).
Until next time…

Hey Everyone –
Some of you who’ve visited RobChristensen.com recently may have noticed that a couple dates snuck on to the Calendar last week. Yep, there are a couple of shows coming up. In April I’ll be down in North Carolina to play with Sound of Singles in Chapel Hill. In May I’ll be at home in the DC area, Alexandria, to play a show with Matt Keating. See the Calendar page for details. Hope to see you there!
Right now I’m in New York staying with my friend Sasha. We’re going to do a bit of recording – he recorded the acoustic tunes on the “fan club” CD from last Christmas. We’re going to do sparse versions of a few new songs and some solo versions of a couple of old favorites that hopefully will go on a new “Book Me” promo CD. Anything that ends up on that CD will also be available on MySpace, and probably on my website, too.
Sunday night we’re going to see the Lemonheads perform “It’s A Shame About Ray”. That was an important album for me when it came out and this will be a treat. A couple of his pals (who I met last year) are in the opening band, so we’ll likely get to hang out after the show. Should be interesting!

Hello!

Hope this new year is treating you well so far!
The boys & girls from Sweet Science have finally put up pictures from last year's activities, including the Tape Op Conference, New York City shows, and more! Go to the Photographs page and have a look!

We've also got the links page working right. The 2002 Tape Op Conference Video link should take you to the right place now.

Hey Everyone!

I just can't believe that it's that time of year again. Time does fly! Only ten days until Christmas!

I see that I never gave a recap of the November shows. The Living Room show in New York City was fun, but still a little shaky. A small but enthusiastic crowd came up for the last half and were a lot of fun. They even called me back for an encore, which was very cool. As far as the 'shaky' goes, I'm still shaking off some of the rust that accumulated over the few years I didn't play live. It'll come.

The Arlington show with Matt Keating was much better. I played what I felt was my best show since I've been playing live again. Everything pretty much felt 'on'. Matt was absolutley fabulous and a treat to watch, and the folks at the Galaxy Hut were very nice and hospitable.

That's about it. I hope you all have a happy, healthy, and safe holiday season!

Cheers!

I'm excited to announce that I've got two shows on tap for the first weekend in November. On Saturday, November 3, I'll be back in New York at Googie's Lounge, above the Living Room. And on Monday, November 5, I'll be at the Galaxy Hut in Arlington, VA sharing a bill with New York's great Matt Keating. If you're in either area, I urge you come on down! See the 'Calendar' page for more details.

Howdy!

The weekend-before-last's two day tour was a lot of fun, albeit a little exhausting.

The Chapel Hill show featured the debut performance of King Of Dogs, a male-female duo that was quite charming, and Gerald John's Sound of Singles record release party for "Sound of Singles Sings Seger". Everybody was fantastic and the evening was a lot of fun. Special thanks goes to Gerald for inviting me to play, and to the folks at the Night Light for being so nice.

Early the next morning I jetted up to New York to play Googie's Lounge, the upstairs portion of the Living Room. That show also featured some excellent players in Greg Koons, Carolyn AlRoy, and Matt Keating. Declan Bennett, a member of the Broadway cast of Rent, closed the show, but unfortunately we were all too tired to stick around for more than a couple of songs. Anyway, New York was great - I felt like I played well, at least until my hand went numb, which was probably a result of not consciously straightening my arm between songs. The numbness didn't happen until the last couple of songs, so overall it was a successful night, I think. Regardless, it was a blast to play in New York. Special thanks here to Carolyn for setting up the show and to Matt for suggesting me to Carolyn.

Hey everyone! Here's my latest email newsletter that I send out whenever there's something to report. If you'd like to subscribe, drip me a line at heyrob@robchristensen.com.

*** Free For All - Rob Christensen Music News (& stuff) - September
2007 ***

Hey Everybody!

First, if you already received this a couple days ago, please accept
my apologies. I really don't think my first try at sending this got
though to anyone, so I'm trying again. Anyways...

It's been ages -- years (!!!) -- since I've sent one of these things
out. So, if you were a Free For All recipient back in 1999-2002, I
hope this letter finds you well. If this is your first Free For All,
Greetings! I most likely put you on the list because either you've
purchased an album, you're someone I met at the Tape Op Conferences,
you're someone I went to school with, or you are a new friend or
acquaintance. If you're receiving this in error or otherwise don't
want your e-mailbox cluttered by this occasional newsletter, let me
know and I'll be happy remove your name from the list.

What's been happening during the last few years? While live
performing & music-making was pretty much set aside, I have kept busy
with the following:

• From 2003-2006 I went back to school at Humboldt State University
and obtained an Elementary Teaching Credential.
• I've moderated several discussion panels about home recording at
Tape Op Magazine Conferences, where I've met lots of wonderful &
fascinating musicians, engineers, and producers.
• I recorded & released my fourth studio CD, Roses For Sharon, in
2005.
• In 2006 I moved to Washington, DC.
• I've traveled all around the U.S.
• And I've managed to play live a few times, notably here in
Washington and in Tucson, AZ.

The main reason I'm sending this out, other than to make contact, is
to let you know that there are a couple of shows coming up soon. On
Friday, September 7, I'll be playing at the Nightlight in Chapel
Hill, NC, at a record release party for Sound of Singles' new "Seger
Sessions," which features Bob Seger tunes. Then on Saturday,
September 8, I'll be jetting up to New York to play upstairs at The
Living Room (!!!) in Googie's Lounge. There I'll be playing with Greg
Koons, Carolyn Alroy, Matt Keating, and Declan Bennett. I'm really
excited about the NYC show -- I've never played in New York before
and I feel extraordinarily fortunate to be able to perform in a place
as cool as The Living Room. (Extra-Special thanks to Matt Keating and
Carolyn Alroy, who made it happen.) As has been the norm the last few
years, it'll be a solo-acoustic show. I'll be playing songs from all
four albums. If you're in either area, come on out. I'd love to see
you!

There may be other shows this fall and winter. However, my main plan
during this time is to hunker down and make another record. (If any
of you know any label folks or have any suggestions, please let me
know). After that I'm looking at hitting the road, at least a little
and maybe a lot, during 2008. I'm especially looking forward to
playing in former homes Northern California and Portland, Oregon.
It's a ways off, but if you'd be interested in touring together or
sharing a show, drop me a line.

In other news, tracks are available for sale / download on my MySpace
page via SnoCap. At this point I'm still trying to decide how I want
to structure the SnoCap shop. I'd like to be able to offer entire
albums, but it may end up being a 'selected tracks' type of store. Of
course, you can always buy the CD's (cheap!) or download from iTunes.

Finally, I'm always on the lookout for other folks to play with here
in the DC area. If you like to play in the folk-rock / indie vein,
email me. A rather long list of my likes and influences can be found
on my MySpace page, www.myspace.com/robchristensen.

Here's some informational links:

Main website: www.robchristensen.com MySpace: www.myspace.com/robchristensen iTunes:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewArtist?artistId=30726016 CD's are also available from CDBaby:
http://cdbaby.com/all/robchristensen The Living Room, New York: www.livingroomny.com The Nightlight, Chapel Hill: www.nightlightclub.com
Sound of Singles: http://www.myspace.com/soundofsingles Matt Keating: http://mattkeating.com/ Carolyn Alroy: http://www.carolynalroy.com
That's it for now. Drop me a line, I'd love to hear from you.

Cheers!
Rob

Hi Everybody

It’s been a busy summer since the Tape Op Conference in June. I’ve had the opportunity to see several great shows – Neko Case (twice) with Eric Bachman, Allen Toussaint, and Lucy Wainwright-Roche.

There are a couple of shows coming up soon. On Friday, September 7, I’ll be playing at the Nightlight in Chapel Hill, NC, at a record release party for Sound of Singles’ new “Seger Sessions.” Then on Saturday I’ll be in New York at The Living Room, upstairs at Googie’s Lounge. There I’ll be playing on a bill with Matt Keating, Carolyn Alroy, Greg Koons, and Declan Bennett. As has been the norm the last few years, it’ll be a solo-acoustic show and I plan on playing songs from all four albums. See the Calendar page for details. Hope you can make it!

I’ve been doing a little bit of recording recently. Nothing too serious at this point. Just trying to shake off the rust. I’ve laid down a few things that may be used in some form in the future, perhaps on a Christmas Single (more on that when and if something comes of it). As we move into fall I’ll move into some serious recording for the next album.

Finally, tracks are available for sale / download on my MySpace page via SnoCap. At this point, I’m still trying to decide how I want to structure the SnoCap shop. I’d like to be able to offer entire albums, but it may end up being a ‘selected tracks’ type of store. Of course, you can always by the CD’s (cheap!) or download from iTunes.

Until next time…