Hello friends!

I wanted to let you know some exciting news as soon as I could (i.e., the day I've moved apartments and am confined to a small corner in a room full of unopened boxes):

Radio play for Alive has begun in New Zealand!

It's the second radio single from ALL or NOTHING, and has just started playing on More FM and Classic Hits this week (well, Classic Hits last week, actually).

For those of you in New Zealand, feel free to let the networks know you think the song rocks ; ) when you hear it playing using the following phone numbers:

More FM: (09) 333-4000 (or, by region, at www.morefm.co.nz)

Classic Hits: 0800 00 CLASSIC (or at www.classichits.co.nz)

Thanks for your support! Hope to see all you Kiwis in the first half of December.

Si.

Spirals

It's always an interesting experience to perform songs that I wrote a couple of years ago, but that are only now reaching their audience. "Do you get tired of playing the same song over and over again?" is a question that I feel artists get asked from time to time. The answer, in my experience, is a resounding "No". But the reason for that is more humbling than it is noble.

I just got back to New York after an exciting six weeks in New Zealand sharing "Hiding So Long" and setting plans in motion for the future. To me, performing a song requires one to live the song in the present - not necessarily to remember what the song meant when it was written, or what it's supposed to be about - but to allow the experience of the song to offer something new, to be alive right NOW, to allow it to evoke something from within in the present.

And what struck me, as I performed the song day after day, and given that I often sing it while playing around with my guitar at home anyway, is how real the song still is to me. The truth is, I feel like a different person from the one who wrote the song a couple years ago. And, at the time of writing the song, I even felt I was writing it somewhat in hindsight. But what the song continues to remind me, as it continues to feature in my daily life, is that the challenges of being human are never something we overcome and say goodbye to forever. They arise every day in different ways, calling us to choose our response, to choose to either allow them to reveal new depths within us, or to struggle against them, deny them, react to them.

So I notice that the themes of Hiding So Long - self-betrayal, the denial of one's own truth - still appear in my life in different ways. The difference, now, is that I'm quite aware of my own choice in that, of my own participation in that drama: that the choice of really being true to my inspiration, rather than to my fear, though it may be a more intimidating path, is always available.

I remember hearing a vocal coach once say, "Learning to sing is circular. You keep coming back to the same issues again and again, but each time, you're at a slightly higher level." It seems that it's true of our learning in general. Though it's understandable that we often want to completely eradicate anything that bothers us in our lives, the reality is, we seem to move in spirals (hopefully, upward-moving spirals). We meet the same challenges again and again, but each time with greater awareness and freedom than before. And, hopefully, we remember that the point of arrival that we tend to strive toward, where we are free from all challenges, is called death; and that the journey itself is the vehicle of life.

Totally unrelated, here is a photo from a recent in-store performance at ESPRIT on 5^th Ave, with my acoustic trio. Lots of fun, watching the rain pour down outside as we rocked out in the store window.

Hey gang! I'm back in New York after a very exciting New Zealand Music Month in May. Here's a video with some excerpts from our show at Backbeat, in Auckland.

 

Hey friends!

Just wanted to keep you up to date with the latest news...fun times in New Zealand right now, you can see recent photos from travels and shows on my MySpace page.  Thanks to all of you who voted in the Channel One Artist of the Year competition!  It was great to be in the Top 20, and with all your votes, we managed to make it to double-digit % against some very big names in music.

Below is a list of the goings-on in the Southern Hemisphere for New Zealand Music Month.  After that, it will be back to New York in June.

Stay tuned for more news and shows :)

Si.

Classic Hits Competition

New Zealand radio network Classic Hits is sending two lucky winners to New York to see a Simon Spire show! Check out the competition online here Hear a couple of fun radio advertisements from the Classic Hits team here and here.

New Zealand Music Month
As well as hearing Hiding So Long on Classic Hits and More FM, you can catch Simon during the following appearances this New Zealand Music Month (May 2009):

Juice TV Garage Sessions - May 15th and 16th

Sunrise morning TV show (TV3) May 5th

Classic Hits and More FM radio in-studio interviews

Juice TV NZOWN May 15th

C4 Select Live (TV), May 19th, 5:30pm live interview

May 21st, CD Release Party, Backbeat, Auckland

The Good Morning Show (TV1) May 28th

Classic Hits Showcase, Auckland, May 28th

June 5th, Full band show at the King's Arms, Auckland

More appearances to be added...

It just came to mind recently...I suppose I sometimes feel a little crazy myself :-)

I heard Hiding So Long on the radio for the first time today!  Somewhat challenging given that it was airing in New Zealand, and I'm currently in New York...but you can see here that it worked out.  Even if it meant being filmed in my bathrobe.

PLEASE NOTE:

all blog posts below this line are

missing their associated graphics/photos.  Sorry

about this.  The original blog posts, including

photos, are available at www.simonspire.com.

A trip to Sydney, Australia, last week...

Photo: Leaving Auckland (I think that's Piha Beach - a different perspective from  the on-site photo in an earlier blog)

At last, a chance to see what all the Guitar Hero hype is
about...



Photo: my Guitar Hero debut

What now? 
Do I dump my axe in favor of a tambourine?



Photo: "Song Failed".  (Ignore the 98% completed.  It's quite irrelevant. Failed on Easy, just to rub it in.)