hello friends,

Here are the lyrics to my new record "motherpearl & dynamite":

On My Way-

I can't remember when it started
I can't remember when I lost my way
The roots run deep in the broken hearted
Keeping track of the mistakes they made
I trusted in my rosy eye
I should've gone the way that I was told to
And left to late to realize
Double crossed and lost out on my own
No one left to steer me to home

Guess it's true
I'm on my way

Bodies broken by the roadside
Sad to say it's nothing new to me
I'll offer up a piece of advice
If you close your eyes you never have to see

That it's true
I'm on my way

And if you want to roll back home
I wouldn't blame you
But you won't have my hand to hold
I can't save you
I won't save you
Anymore



Get It Over With-

There you stand with your guns on the ground
With the time just about to run out
On the wrong side of your new beginning
On the inside of your breaking out

So get it over with
You know I'm right here

On the road you're about to get on to
At the dawn of your new history
In the promise of your new tomorrow
I can see that it's you without me

So get it over with
You know I'm right here



Forgive and Forget-

Baby, I stood
And watched it burn down
Could of put it out
I could of turned around
But I raised up my head
And stood firm on the ground
And the tracks of my tears
Were nowhere to be found
And I say it's me
And you say it's you
It's not what I want
But it's what I have to do

Now looking back
You know that it's rough
I say the same lines
But it's just not enough
I kiss the same lips
I hold the same head
But something inside
Keeps coming up dead
And I know the way
I've been there before
But someone keeps changing
The lock on my old front door

And I'm sorry for wasting so much of your time
My humblest regrets
And I hope we can do like the good book it says
Forgive and forget

So here's where I'll stand
And watch it burn down
Praying to God
That I'm not around
When all that remains
Is two empty hearts
Broken and bruised
And back at the start
Again.



Sweet Changin' Heart-

So now you found your way back in
I guess I should have guessed
You got an eye for detail
You know I never was that good
At guarding my front gate
Plus you got the key that fits
Inside the lock

Oh my, oh my, oh my
My sweet changin' heart

You say it's like an easy chair
You never have to rush
You never have to worry
You never have to dry your hair
You never have to push
You never have to float
Far from the dock

Oh my, oh my, oh my
My sweet changin' heart

Stay, stay this way
Don't ever change
I beseech you
Keep it tight
Keep it out of site
Baby we'll be alright
We're gonna make it
We're gonna survive

So now it's just the way it was
And just the way it is
And just the way it will be
And when I hear it said like that
You know I must admit
That all the words keep on
Escaping me

Oh my, oh my, oh my
My sweet changin' heart



The Barker Song-

Don't hold your head down I got you covered
I got your body your back your ride
Your head's too heavy
You've got to realize there's a lot
You can just leave behind

Hey

Oooh, When the barker tells you to go
Baby you go, baby you go
Get yourself wrapped up in the show
Baby the show, baby the show

Don't throw your hands down stuck in the background
Swallowing all of your gold plated lines
Your heart's a-bustin'
Out on your sleeve
With the whole cavalry
In a firing line

Hey

Oooh, When the barker tells you to go
Baby you go, baby you go
Get yourself wrapped up in the show
Baby the show, baby the show




Mindgames-

I know it and you know it
But you're too shy to show it
Concealing your feelings
Won't get us anything tonight
I know it and you know it
But either one could blow it
Like pictures in water
We're blurring all the lines tonight

So try me you'll find me
With no baggage there behind me
You're aching for action
And I'm traveling 'round
With the safety off

Say you're not out for blood now child
Say you're not crucifying me
Say it, say it, say it, say it, say it, say it, say it
Please

But one moment
I just wanna be sure
You don't have your fingers crossed now
So let's lay it all
On the table
Let's not let ourselves get too lost
All my life
I've waited
To see your soul laid naked
If we could
I think we should
Get back to basics here tonight

Say you're not out for blood now child
Say you're not crucifying me
Say it, say it, say it, say it, say it, say it, say it
Please

I hope with this one
I don't go on and
Screw it up.




Flesh and Bone-

All along the land I see the fires burning bright
Casting all their shadows on the silence in the night
Stay inside your head my girl this world's no place for you
You were better off a dream
Your flesh and bone will only
Leave you alone and lonely

Far beneath the surface of the waves out on the sea
There's another world that's waiting there for you and me
And if you wanna go just close your eyes and don't look back
We'll all be beneath the sea when the telephoning rings
We won't hear a single thing at all

Motherpearl and dynamite and all things solid blue
Eventually we wouldn't see the sea between me and you
And as the colors faded we would lose our little lives
And everything would rearrange and we would be made new
There'd be no more me and you at all.




Only A Minute-

It all runs out
It all gets used up somehow
You need every heartbeat
You can't keep
A few locked away

You gotta keep moving on
Finish what they begun
Nobody asked you
If you knew
What had to be done

But it's all in the cards they're lying
On the table
Down where the new ones
Laugh at the clock

It's only a minute
It's only a day
It's only a moment
It all slips away

You see that your own two feet
Never knew the way home…
You're down with the weary
And lost in the pines

You bloodied your only map
Trying to get them back
The bastards that broke you
The ones you belong to

You thought you were dying young
You thought you would be someone
You thought you would last out there
You thought you had time

But,
It's only a minute
It's only a day
It's only a moment
It all slips away.

Hello Everyone,

Well as promised the new record is done and off to the presses. But I wanted to give you all a little preview. So assuming myspace lets me do it, I'm going to be posting a new track from the record every three days from now till the release date on Saturday November 8th at The North Star Bar in Philadelphia.

Here's the first song on the record....it's called "On My Way".

cheers!
-AL

I'm pleased to let you all know that I (and 7 other Philadelphia artists) have been selected to participate in the "Music Exchange" program with the Minneapolis station The Current. Starting today (monday June 7th) and going for the rest of the month my song "The Barker Song" will be in rotation at 89.3 The Current in Minneapolis and available for free download at The Current's Website

And 8 up and coming Minneapollis artists will be featured on WXPN

So take some time and check out great music that's happening in two of the most fertile music scenes in the country.

hope to see you soon!

-AL

Hey Everyone,

I’m pleased to let you all know that my song "Remember This" has been included on the brand new Philly Local CD Vol. 2. The CD will be officially released on April 28th and will be included as a gift for new XPN listeners who sign up for the $75 a year level of membership.

so sign up already!!

-AL

Hey Everyone,

I gave an interview and played a few songs with my friend Joe this afternoon at the Yrock studios in Philly and they're going to be broadcasting the show tonight at 9pm.

just go here and click the "listen live" link up at the top right.

enjoy :-)

-AL

I recently read that the true origin of Valentine's Day goes back to the roman empire...where every February in honor of the God Lupercus, teenage girls and boys would pick a "mate" . And they were encouraged to scamper off and do whatever they fancied with each other....these days this sort of activity is called "spring break". But as is per usual, this fury of interesting and exciting new games frightened the Catholic church ever so much...and so it was declared a mortal sin to worship Lupercus, and the pious and wholesome martyr for marriage St Valentine was given a parallel holiday....

So what to do now that there's no possibility of scampering into the woods to play doctor??

What else...exchange lovely greetings on cards. yay. SO much better.

And if that's not enough for you....come see me play at the Society Hill Playhouse 507 S 8th street as part of their "Valentine's Day Sucks 4" show. They've got a bunch of Philly songwriters playing a few original songs and also an 80's love song......so I think I'm going for my favorite Madonna song "Live To Tell" .....I think it's a love song.....it is to me at least.

or maybe that song by "Naked Eyes" .......who knows.

Well these are exciting times...it's a good thing too because winter does really strange things to my brain......and my body. Even though it's not really cold I still can't seem to get out of bed, or shake the weird feeling that the world is ending. It happens every year so I'm pretty sure it's not going to end. And even if we finish ourselves off, the world'll be fine. But this winter is especially exciting for me as I'm starting work on a new record. It's such a neat feeling....a little bit of anxiousness, a little bit of excitement and expectation, like going up the big hill on a rollercoaster. Except I don't know how many loops I'm going to go through...or how many hills there are......or if there's going to be one of those tunnels that when you go through it sounds like a thousand banshees screaming. or if when the ride's over there'll be a fuzzy oversized mascot to help me off the ride and direct me to the nearest funnel cake cart.....and whether I'll want to ride it again or just walk away and leave it forever. anyway, exciting times. exciting times call for extreme measures. so I decided to blog, never done this before and have always been a little hesitant because the word "blog" reminds me of the word "bog" and the word "bog" reminds me of the movie "Labyrinth" and the movie "Labyrinth" reminds me of that "outfit" that David bowie wore when he was going through his Tina Turner phase and it just seems like something I shouldn't get involved in.



But hey, It's a new year!!