Week #24: WINE AND THE WAY WE EMBRACE

This week's song is inspired by the title of one of my plays which I've been working on since last year. It's called WINE AND THE WAY WE EMBRACE. I wrote the first part of the chorus several months ago, but never did anything with it. This week the song was in my head ALL WEEK. It wouldn't leave me alone. It was like it was begging to be finished..... so I did. I thought this week I would write something about New Year's eve or starting over but maybe that will have to wait till next year. ;)

Check it out:

INSPIRATION:
The song is of course inspired by the title of the play WINE AND THE WAY WE EMBRACE about a waiter who falls in love with his closeted boss.... but the actual song is only semi inspired by that. It's more about an incident that actually happened to me years ago... which has inspired three different songs now, all about different aspects of the same night. It's good to live your life and reflect on the past as far from it as you may be now.

Week #23: BARRIO CHRISTMAS

Happy Holidays to everyone!!!!! If you haven't been watching, I've been writing one original song a week for an entire year. It's kinda crazy but I'm still doing it. This year I am not going home for Christmas so it came time to write a song about the Holidays all I could dream of is what Christmas would be like if were back in South Texas...... so I enlisted the help my dear friend, Vanessa Garcia, and we sat in Bryant Park freezing our butts off as we dreamed of 80 degree Christmas weather back home. And YES.... those are all names of people in my family, or Vanessa's family....

Check it out:

INSPIRATION:
We wanted to song to sound very Tex-Mex, or Mariachi, or Tejano sounding. Wish we could have used a full band, but I didn't have one at my disposal. We listed all the things we loved about Christmas in South Texas that people don't understand up in NYC.......

Week #22: CONSTANT PAIN

This week, I wrote a cabaret song for my friend Michelle Caniglia. I asked her what she wanted a song about….. and this is what she wanted. lol. Another song about breasts from a gay man. This is a video of rehearsal footage of Michelle and Thomas for a performance we did at Primary Stages on 12/13/11. It still isn’t perfect, but we plan on bringing the song to some local cabarets so we’ll have a better video in the future.
Thomas did the piano arrangement for this, I just gave him a chord chart and he made up the piano part. Thanks Thomas!

Check it out:

INSPIRATION:
I interviewed Michelle about the things that she hated about having large breasts and she rattled on about several things. I took some of those ideas and developed them into this song.

Week #21: THE MAN SONG

This week’s song is a collaboration with famed musical-theatre song-writer, Drew Gasparini. Drew, whose new show, Crazy Just Like Me, won the best of fest award at the New York Musical Theatre festival, wrote the music to this song, based on my lyrics. It was a great experience working with Drew who really challenged me to keep changing the lyrics to be funnier and funnier. The version of the song below, is NOT the final version. Based on feedback from this performance in Adam Gwon’s workshop I changed the lyrics again so that they would be funnier. Check out the version we presented at the workshop:

Check it out:

INSPIRATION:
Drew and I worked on this song mostly via e-mail until we got together at his apt. He wanted to write an “I AM,” cabaret song based on an embarrassing event that happened in class. I thought of this one moment that I witnessed in High School where a teacher embarrassed a kid for staring at her boobs. I took that idea and ran with it.

Week #20: LULLABY (BLESSED DREAM)

This week I found out I am going to be an uncle so I decided to write a lullaby to my future niece/nephew. I enlisted the help of my all time favorite singer Yalda Zamiri who I’ve been singing with since I was fifteen. We wrote the song together at her place in San Antonio, but I didn’t have my camcorder with me so we recorded it on her iphone. The sound is a bit soft. You might want to use headphones. We wrote the song as if we were parents singing to our little bundle of joy.

Check it out:

INSPIRATION:
I really wanted to give a message about how much hope for the future a baby brings into a parent’s life. Children are your only shot at immortality. Well according to Stephen Sondheim it’s CHILDREN & ART. I’m trying to cover the art part, while my brother can carry the children part. :) I wanted to tell the little baby the same things I would tell my students when I was a teacher, that they can be anything they want to be as long as they try hard enough. 

Week #19: WIN THANKSGIVING!!!

This week I felt that I absolutely had to write a song about Thanksgiving. It's been such a wonderful week, full of amazing news, that I want to write tons of songs about, but I have to wait to share all the different news I got, because most of it isn't even my news. lol. Oh well.... but I'm super thankful for the health of my friends and family, and the future so bright. So.... randomly, and in celebration of being thankful, here's a song about conquering Thanksgiving!

Check it out:

INSPIRATION:
So, I told my brother Gerry I wanted to write a song about Thanksgiving, and he said something about eating 3 inches of food. I said Yeah! but let's make it 6 inches..... and I said... We're gonna WIN thanksgiving. We decided to make it really really really TEXAN.

Week #18: THE BALLAD OF CONRADA, MARIA, & ME

Tomorrow is my mother's birthday, and next week is her mother's 90th birthday. Pretty awesome if you ask me. I have been wanting to write a song for my mom for quite some time, but hadn't gotten around to it yet. But I knew that for my grandmother's 90th birthday I definitely wanted to write something. Fast forward to last night. I went to see Hugh Jackman's big "BACK ON BROADWAY" show at the Broadhurst theatre on 44th st, and it was one of the most inspiring and entertaining nights of my life. The most inspiring part was the time that Hugh played tribute to Peter Allen, and also to his homeland of Australia. It was quite inspiring. He sang a song that Allen wrote about his grandfather, and his father, and then himself and it was mind blowing. I decided last night that I would wake up this morning and write one of those for my mother and her mother, and me.

check it out:

INSPIRATION:
Well, the inspiration is pretty self explanatory. The song is about my grandma Conrada, and my mom, and her sisters, and my brothers and the whole family tree that leads to me. It's kind of egotistical I guess, writing a song for someone else that ends up being about you, but it's also a big THANK YOU, to show I appreciate everyone giving of themselves to get me where I am in life today. So Thank you MOM, and DAD, and ROSIE, and GRANDMA, and everyone else!!! I love you!!!! and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Week #17: THERE YOU ARE

This week's song started as an assignment from my song-writing teacher, Adam Gwon. I had to write lyrics to an existing melody, which was a lot harder than I thought. For this week's song I use those lyrics but altar the melody of the song while keeping some of the chordal structure to make the song my own. I'm not sure who wrote the original melody.

I also tried a new strum pattern this week which I have definitely NOT mastered yet.

Check it out:

INSPIRATION:
The idea from the song came from hearing the original tune that I wrote lyrics to. It just sounded like "there you are," so I wrote lyrics around that idea. My friend Michael said the tune sounded anthemic and I wanted to write a song about someone who has a partner that actually inspires and supports them. The idea sounds too wonderful to be possible, but who knows...

Week #16: AFIA part 2

Last week I completed my song about a friend named Afia, but a second friend named Afia said she wanted a song too. So I was met with the daunting task of writing a sequel to my Afia song, called AFIA part 2. I knew I wanted the song to say "Afia too" in the lyrics which was the biggest challenge of all. After the other Afia's boyfriend told me I better not write a song about his girlfriend or he'd kill me, I suddenly had an idea for this song... and so the "stay away from my girl" chorus popped into my head....

Check it out:

AFIA part 2

INSPIRATION:
Well, like I already said, the idea comes from Afia's boyfriend jokingly threatening my life, however to keep with the theme of AFIA part 1, I had to make her boyfriend a girl. lol. Hope he doesn't mind.

Week #15: AFIA

Having to have a song a week is really starting to take it's toll. I have so far met my deadline every week and it's become easier each week to get them ready, but being stuck to such a rigid schedule has become very grueling. Nobody said it was easy. I hope that if anything else, I will at least prove to myself that I can make goals and stick to them. I have so many more goals and plans I'm setting in motion, plays I'm writing, movie scripts, and my own theatre company and all of these goals require a lot of perseverance and drive. Those are things that I possess. If I don't have anything else, I at least have those two things. I can deal with the grueling schedule of song writing and script writing, and waiting tables. It's hard, but I can deal with it, because all I've ever wanted to do is this, and it makes me so happy just thinking about it. So if you're out there, I hope you like these songs and I hope one day you'll watch one of my plays, or see one of my movies.

I digress... this week's song is about a co-worker of mine named Afia. I actually work with two women named Afia, and I had no idea it was one of the most common female names in the world until I met these women. I wrote this song for one of the Afias, and the other one got jealous so I promised her I would write an "Afia part 2."

Check it out:

INSPIRATION:
The song is about a girl who is leaving her boyfriend for a woman.... nuff said.

Week #14: HOW GOOD IT IS TO SEE YOU

This week I went to Chicago to visit friends, explore, eat deep dish pizza, relax, and investigate SECOND CITY which I'm seriously considering studying at. While I was there I stayed with of my oldest fiends in the world and decided that I would write a song with each of them. Evelyn and I didn't finish our song, though I must say when it's done... it's going to BLOW YOUR MIND..... but Roxy and I finished ours. It's about a friendship that is unsalvageable. We were sitting at the famous Portillo's hot dog restaurant and Roxy just blurted out the first line of the song with a pretty good melody... and that sent sparks of imagination through me. We spent a couple days working on it and recorded it at 5am before I came back to NYC. It was a blast. Thanks to Roxy, my hometown gurl for collaborating!!!! And thank you AND Evelyn for letting me come visit. Hopefully I will see you both again soon.... and hopefully Evelyn and I will show you are song..... it's a doozey.... so here is the song Roxy and I wrote...

Check it out:

INSPIRATION:
Roxy and I were talking about how good it was to see each other after two years of not seeing each other. I said "we should write a song together." She said "Let's write it about old friends who are catching up." Then she sang the first line of the song out of nowhere. I said "YES! but maybe they haven't seen each other because they're not talking anymore." The song took off from there, and we had a blast writing it! Hope you like it!

Week #13: BLOODY SCREW

Vodka + Orange Juice + Tomato Juice = Bloody Screw

This week's song is about someone who keeps going back to the same painful scenario time after time, to a lover that breaks their heart. I wanted to write a song about one of my favorite cocktails because most bartenders don't know what I'm talking about when I ask for one, and look at me like I'm weird, so I thought... I should write a song about it and make it more popular. lol.

Originally this week, I had planned on working on a song I thought of last week called "CORPORATE NATION," but I couldn't ever capture the spirit I wanted for the song, so I put it on hold for another week and decided to work on another idea I had a while back.

Keeping up with a song a week, has been CRAZY, because I'm constantly trying to write pages and pages for my plays, and plan this theatre company that I'm starting, among many other things.... but if it weren't for these deadlines I wouldn't be writing at all, so I will continue to work work work.

Check it out:

INSPIRATION:
Years ago while I was working at Red Lobster on the border of the Rio Grande, people would order drinks with Clamato all the time. We often ran out of Clamato and someone would get sent to K-mart to go buy some more. People drank it in their Bloody Mary's which is called a Bloody Caesar, they drank it in their beer, which is called a Micholada, they drank it straight up, or they drank it with vodka, they just loved it. Because it was so popular I decided to try it, and I loved it too. I especially loved it mixed with Orange Juice because it created this wonderful sweet and tangy flavor. To my dismay it is hard to find places that have Clamato here in New York. But maybe with this song.... more places will start carrying it.

Week #12: PAPA GANDY

This week I watched the Occupy Wall St footage online but never had a chance to go down there, which I'm literally about to do once I'm done typing. I didn't understand it at first I admit, but I knew that I was angry too, at how evil corporate America had become. When I worked for American Funds / Capital Group I learned quite a bit about investing, and Wall St, and globalization, and corporations, and I learned quite a bit about how Corporations can't really be controlled by governments, how they're in a sense, BIGGER than countries. THIS is what occupy wall st is about. Corporations shouldn't be allowed to control governments by handing over wads of cash to politicians and government organizations (like the NYPD, which JP morgan just donated millions to, to help #occupywallst go away).

Corporations control EVERYTHING - most of the governments on Earth. I'm not against corporations, OR capitalism, I'm only think that Corporations shouldn't be allowed to control the world. I support Occupy Wall St 100%.

This week's song is one of a few I'm writing about the cause, it's called PAPA GANDY. It was inspired by this interview:

I thought it would be a good time to write a song about the media which is controlled by Corporations. Check it out:

INSPIRATION:
I wanted to write a song about the media and a give a name to this well oiled machine of money making... I thought of past instances where these evil empires and bureaucracies were given names and for some reason I thought of "PAPA GANDY," like some evil God father or grandfather who controls the whole family because he controls the money. I used to have a neighbor growing up named Mr. Gandy.... and I thought of that. We are in a situation where news has become profit, and can't be trusted, but luckily we have new tools like twitter, and facebook, and youtube that can allow us to give each other the REAL news without the attachment to big money.....

Week #11: SHINE DOWN

This week I worked on a song called "On Saturday" all week long, and when it came to Tuesday, I still was done with it. I wasn't satisfied, I couldn't decide what parts of the song cut, or if the song was fighting to be two separate songs, it was frustrating. Late last night after hours of working on "On Saturday," I decided to give it up for the week, it wasn't going to happen in time. Then I was left with the daunting task of writing a completely new song from scratch. It was already midnight and my song was due the next morning. I started going through my song idea recording blips and came across the chorus of SHINE DOWN. It was only the chorus, I plucked it out on guitar and decided I could write verse, chorus, lyrics and a bridge right then if I needed. I started writing down lyric ideas and then I woke up.... I must have fallen asleep... It was 5:00am and I was sleeping by my guitar, and computer. I slept for a few more hours but woke up at 9:00am to try to finish the song. Luckily I got it all done in time.

Check it out:

INSPIRATION:
Once I started playing the song out on my guitar I decided that the verse lyrics should be about trying to find faith, or someone who has not been able to find faith. All week I worked on a workshop of a new play called GAYBY, by Richard Patterson. I had the privilege of directing this new play about a gay man who doesn't believe in God, until he discovers that he's having God's next child. The lyrics were inspired by one of the characters in the play. I dedicate the song to GAYBY.

52 Extras: Better at Guitar

After eleven straight weeks of playing guitar, I've actually started to get a bit better. It doesn't take me hours and hours to be able to play the little songs I write. I'm now able to play through them pretty well after just a couple of times. This marks the first week that I shot my 52 Songs video in one take, without having to try over and over, which is a BIG improvement. lol. I've also started playing around with new chords, key changes, strum patterns, strings, etc. Hopefully that will be reflected in future songs.

Last week you may have noticed that I tried playing the piano. It wasn't that great, but I was pretty shocked at how easily it came to me. I did take two years of piano in high school, and three years in college, and then I taught high school choir which required LOTS of piano time, but still I never thought I'd be able to do that. Hopefully there will be more of that to come as well.

I'm taking this song writing class with emerging composer Adam Gwon, and I'm loving it. It's challenging me to write songs for characters in musicals in different scenarios and I'm sure I'll post the results of those in future weeks. So stay tuned. Now I'm off to catch up on my shows....

Week #10: BURN THIS LOVE

This week I challenged myself to write a POWER BALLAD, after sitting in Rockefeller Center with a friend listening to the Body Guard soundtrack on repeat. We turned to each other and said "No one writes songs like this anymore!" So... that was the start of the challenge... meanwhile I had made plans to meet with NY songwriter, Kyle Struck to work on something for the project this week. I asked her if she'd mind writing a power ballad and she was all for it, so we met in her Hell's Kitchen apt, and threw around ideas for hours. Finally we agreed on a title, BURN THIS LOVE (down), and we started from there. If it were actually being recorded by a diva we'd slow it down a bit, raise the key, add timpani, and violins and stuff, but this is a very early demo... as you're listening try to keep in mind that we're NOT, nor have we ever claimed to be power ballad diva singers, lol. Hope you can get past that, and hear the potential of the song...

Check it out:

INSPIRATION: 
We got the idea of burning love down, somewhere during our hours of throwing around ideas. It started with talking about fire and flames, and then we did an idea map, and liked the word burn. We blurted out BURN THIS LOVE DOWN, and we thought of a village or house, and the idea of burning it down and leaving no survivors. We liked the idea that when you know a love has gone wrong, you just want to burn it down and start over. The thoughts, and memories, and pains, and flames of passion, and sexual attraction are all still there, and they don't go away.... if only we could burn them down.....

Week #9: A SEPARATE PEACE

With all of the ceremonies for 9/11 I was moved this week to write a song about world peace. It's very cliche but it's still something we need desperately. I wanted to write a song that could be sung and taught to children (since Rainya Moser gave me the idea to do a song for kids last week). This isn't exactly a kid's song, but I made sure the lyrics and melody were simple enough to be sung by children. This song is dedicated to the families affected by the 9/11 attacks in remembrance of those they lost....

On a lighter, and related note, this week marked the first time (it happened 3 times this week) that someone recognized me on the street and told me they loved my songs and were following. I must say when Emily Lozow (the second person to come up to me) approached me at the 9/11 memorial in Times Square I was completely shocked. I immediately wanted to become her friend....  so I did.... which led to two nights of amazing times... (Opening Night of FOLLIES on Broadway, and opening night of ELAINE STRITCH SINGS SONDHEIM AGAIN: WHY NOT?!) .... this could be the start of something good.  Well, last night, after we went to see Elaine at the Carlyle, I was freaking out a bit because I hadn't finished a song for this week... Emily helped me sort through my thoughts, and helped out with a few of the lyrics as we walked thirty or so blocks.... cause we were just having so much darn fun.... GREAT GAL!!!!

Check it out:

INSPIRATION:
The song title of course comes from the title of the famous novel, which borrowed it from Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms.... "I have made a separate peace," in reference to being at peace with yourself. For me the song teaches that we each have to find our own peace with everyone's differences so that everyone in the world can live in peace. Until the day terrorists, or bully's can make peace with themselves and realize that our differences shouldn't threaten them, then we will never have our peace.

52 Extras: I Believe We Can Each Live Equally

It's been ten years to the date, since the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center, and Washington in 2001. I was a sophomore at North Texas, in my choral conducting class when our instructor Paul got an urgent phone call from his wife. She told him about the first attack and we couldn't believe it, then she called about the second attack and turned on the old radio to find out what was happening. It was a nightmare from thousands of miles away, and I can't even begin to imagine what it was like here in New York City during that time. Talking to New Yorkers about September 11th, is unreal, and I know there's nothing I can do to erase their painful memories except continue working towards peace. It is definitely possible for everyone in the world to live peacefully, but it has to start with ourselves. We have to spread peace and love to every friend, neighbor, acquaintance, and stranger we meet. We have to teach the next generation, not only to love all walks of life, but to teach their children the importance of loving all walks of life. We CAN coexist.

After the attacks on September 11th, 2001 an artist at the University of North Texas created an American Flag with the World Trade Center made out of the red stripes. It was striking, and the image stayed with me for all these years. I wasn't able to find that image again, and I haven't been able to find the artist who created it, but I recreated it myself because the idea of America is truly a great one. The idea that all people from all walks of life can coexist no matter how different they are, is a beautiful, brilliant, idea. It's an idea we have still not perfected, but an idea worth perfecting. I decided last night that I would write this week's song about that idea, we may not all believe the same things, but I believe we can each live equally. Spend this September 11th spreading love to your neighbors, and respecting everyone around you, regardless of your differences.

And no matter what you do, NEVER FORGET what happens when people don't respect our differences. I hope everyone has a blessed day, sharing their kindness with others. Peace be with you, and everyone in the world.

Week #8: TEXAS RAIN

This week, the drought in Texas raged and over 1,000 homes were destroyed when several forest fires spread due to the massive winds, and dry land. Texas needs rain really bad right now. Rewind to July when I was walking down the streets of the rain filled NYC with some good friends from Texas. I mentioned to them that I had just started my 52 songs project, and somehow or another Rainya and I decided to write a song together called Texas Rain and we hummed out a few bars that I recorded immediately. Fast forward to this week, and it seemed like Texas needed all the thoughts and prayers it could get so I messaged Rainya on Facebook and we decided to work on the song.... via FB Chat.

Check it out:

INSPIRATION:
In the song, a man compares the woman he loves to Texas Rain - it doesn't come often, but when it does it replenishes everything, and Texas is beautiful once more. Rainya and I had been talking about writing a country song together, and then it started raining, it's been raining a lot in NYC, and Rainya said something about needing Texas rain, and I said "that's our country song." I immediately sang my little chorus to Rainya on the street and she immediately suggested that the drought was a metaphor for his heart without her love. Writing a song together when you're across the country is soooo much fun. A million thanks to Rainya, for lending her talents (she's a novelist y'all!) to my 52 Songs project.

Week #7: NOT SO MEAN IRENE

Hurricane Irene came through the East coast with a fury, but somehow miraculously missed NYC. Thank goodness!!! For this week's song I enlisted the help of an old friend, and brilliant song writer, Thomas Dieter. We wanted to write something about Hurricane Irene, and after several ideas were thrown around Thomas came up with the title Not So Mean Irene. I was immediately inspired and both the chorus, and verses popped out of me within seconds. This was a total collaboration, Thomas wrote the bridge, and did the piano arrangements and harmonies and a lot of the lyrics. Most of all, it was a total blast. We had so much fun.

Check it out:

INSPIRATION:
When Thomas suggested we write a song called Not So Mean Irene he was thinking that we would literally write a song about how hurricane Irene magically didn't mess with NYC too much, however I thought of it in a different way. I imagined that Irene was a very mean woman who had left the singer heart broken because she was just too mean. I ran with this idea and the result was this song....

Week #6: NEW CAR

This week's song is called NEW CAR. I had the idea for the chorus about two years ago, but never did anything with it until this week, as I listened to old song ideas I had saved on my computer. It took only about twenty minutes to write actually, it was one of the easiest songs I've ever written.

Check it out:

INSPIRATION:
I wanted to capture the feeling a teen has, when they get their first car. It seems like the possibilities are endless, therefore it's almost like a metaphor for being young.

Week #5: THE NORMAL HEART

I got the title of this week's song from the play THE NORMAL HEART. I saw the recent Broadway revival in June, and it was mind blowing. What a heart wrenching play, about the beginning of the AIDS crisis and how it could have been stopped if anyone with a normal heart had listened, and helped the gays. Instead, America ignored the problem until it began infecting straight people and children. The playwright, Larry Kramer (one of the first gay activists) took the title from a poem, September 1, 1939 by W.H. Auden. That poem is about people ignoring the Holocaust. I wanted to write a song called the normal heart.....

Check it out:

INSPIRATION:
Although my songs is NOTHING comparable to the holocaust, or the Aids epidemic, I took the idea of how a heart can ignore those hurting and applied it to a love song. In the song, the person leaving must not have a "normal heart," or they wouldn't sit idly and watch their lover die.This week, I also had the idea to write a new musical, which I'll tell you more about later..... but I imagine one of the characters would sing this song in the second act, after a certain traumatic event takes place........

Week #4: 52 Songs (the song)

Someone said, "You should write a theme song for your 52 songs blog," and that got me thinking. Should I write a theme song? I started to wonder what the song would be about. Would it be about anything? I decided that I should challenge myself to write a song called "52 songs."

Check it out:

INSPIRATION:
I really got the idea for the song just by singing the first line, "I'll write you 52 songs." I thought about why someone would write 52 songs for a specific person and the idea came that the song-writer might be trying to get this person back. The rest just flowed out very quickly, that may be good, or that may be bad. We will have to see. It's definitely not a radio friendly type song, but it's the type of song that I could see being played at a concert in a park. :)  Or maybe I just want to play a concert in a park.

PS: the lyrics for the verse about poetry are supposed to be: "Cummings, Whitman, Dickinson, & Cisneros," I flubbed the words and didn't have enough time to re-record to meet my deadline.

52 Extras: The Best Best Man Speech.....

Like I promised, I'm posting the video from my brother Gerry's wedding. My brother Danny and I were both the Best Man. Check out our speech... which incidentally DOES include another original song..... though I'm not counting it as part the 52..... lol.... you'll see why.

2 BEST MANS - Best Mans Speech

             CONGRATULATIONS AGAIN TO TIFFANY & GERRY DAVILA!!!!!

                                               July 30, 2011 <3 <3 <3

Week #3: EMPTY BLUE

I spent the whole week in Texas, taking care of a million tasks for my brother's wedding, which went AMAZING, (I'll post my best man speech soon so you can see) but it didn't leave much time to even think about writing a new song. With only two days left, I was scrambling to try to come up with something catchy. Luckily as I was strumming some chords out, my Mom jumped in and came up with a catchy little melody. She thought she was only joking around, but it inspired me to write a song. So, two of the first three lines, and the opening melody, were written by my Mom, Lupita Davila. A MILLION THANK YOUS!!!!! Plus, she helped me work out some ideas for the bridge, so my mom shares credit on this song.  Also thanks to Charles Barksdale again for telling me several times that the lyrics in the chorus weren't good enough.... hope I got them right this time....

It's a bit rough since it was rushed.... but here is week number three:

INSPIRATION:
After getting an opening melody from my mom, I was inspired to write about sitting around at home missing someone that you lost. How many times when you're heart-broken do people keep telling you to move on, or forget it, and it just doesn't help? That's the basic idea of the song. The character keeps going down a downward spiral. I came up with a bazillion different lyrics to the hook..... some very figurative and complex... some super-duper simple.... I ended up going with something simple... and came up with the title, Empty Blue in the last 20 minutes before recording. I also kept accidentally saying "stumbling" instead of "spiraling" but I think I ended up liking that better. In the end, only time can heal a broken heart... but when you're in the empty blue it seems like nothing can save you from drowning.

Week #2: TOM & BOB

So the theme for this week is weddings (which is why I'm wearing a bow tie). Gay marriages officially became legal on Sunday in New York with hundreds of couples saying I do, and tomorrow I'm flying to Texas to be the best man in my brother Gerry's wedding. But in Texas (and 44 other states) gay marriages still aren't legally recognized, which means thousands of couples still don't have equal rights. I wanted a song that told the story of one such couple. Thanks to Charles Barksdale making me realize one of the lyrics sucked, and for helping me re-write it, and thanks to Tara Fike for helping me develop the chords. Love you both.

Check it out:

INSPIRATION:
Well I've met many gay couples who live like married people and who don't have equal rights. I wanted to write a song that reflected how normal gay couples are. I used to work at a Red Lobster by Lackland Airforce Base in San Antonio, TX, and I was always surprised by how many gay military couples would come in and have dinner.... a particular couple came in once a week and ordered a bottle of wine. I think maybe in the back of my mind they inspired this song.... 

Week #1: MAGIC TIME MACHINE

Okay... so I've had the idea for this song for at least a year now. The song has taken many different forms in my mind over that period but I've finally come up with chords and set it in a definite form structure. My old song-writing partner Tara Fike (who I used to be in a band with) helped me choose which sets of historical lyrics to put together and use. Thanks Tara!

Check it out: 

INSPIRATION:
There's this tourist trap restaurant in Texas called THE MAGIC TIME MACHINE, which is actually quite delicious and fun. I always promised someone very dear to me that we would go one day, and it never happened. The idea that things that might-have-been, never would be, is heart-breaking to me and informed the idea of this song. It's about a couple of ex-lovers who need to see each other one last time and hold a shrine, a memorial service, a postmortem, to what could have been. If only they could hop in a real Magic Time Machine and go back to a time they were happy together.

I decided to work on this song first because last week I saw the most wonderful play at INTAR Theatre here in NYC, Drawn and Quartered by Maggie Bofill. In the play two former lovers share one last night together after one of them paints the entire history of their doomed relationship on the walls of the other's apartment.

Hope you enjoy!

RULES of 52 Songs:

Okay, so I guess I need to set some ground rules, and hope not to break them.

RULES:
1. Post 1 new song a week for an entire year.
2. The song must be original.
3. The song is allowed be a collaboration.
4. The song can be in any style.

Let me explain my 52 Song project

Hello world!

I'm David Davila, a singer-songwriter and playwright from Texas, living in New York City where it all happens. Since I was four years old, or maybe even earlier, I've written songs. I used to spend hours recording them on my 1980's cassette recorder my parents got me for my birthday when I was a kid. Now I'm all grown up and I'm still writing songs. They come to me when I'm in the shower, or on the subway, or driving down highway 281, and I can't get them out of my head until I write them down.

Now, I have all of these snippets of song ideas, and melodies in my head, that have never been finished, and the time has come to do something about it. So I decided to challenge myself to write and post one original song a week for an entire year: 52 Songs.

Now, I know there are other people out there doing 52 Songs projects, but this is not about being the first person or the best person out there. This is about challenging myself to finish writing enough songs to be able to do a solid show with, and being able to accompany myself on guitar at those shows. My guitar playing is pretty mediocre at best, but hopefully by the end of this year it will be amazing. :)

This is about telling stories, putting smiles on people's faces, helping people forget their worries, or think about the choices they've made in their lives. This is about the music, and art. It's the only thing on Earth I feel right doing.

So..... follow me along my journey, as I post a new song each week.