FAWM : mike skliar (@mikeskliar)

mike skliar

@mikeskliar

Songs

Joined

2006

10025 US

I've in New York City ,and have participated in FAWM every year since 2006. I play acoustic & electric guitar, mandolin, bass, harmonica, a bit of dobro and banjo, etc. I write a mix of the serious & comic, and sometimes (just sometimes) some topical/political songs, though people seem to remember that I write more then a few over the years.

I have two older cds from back in 2000-2008 on CD Baby -and now they are apparently on spotify
https://open.spotify.com/artist/1OlAahvOCxqO877WIPAHwm

More recent projects, since 2012, are on bandcamp (mostly all free or pay-what-you-want (and free is fine!)- https://mikeskliar.bandcamp.com/

The most recent ones, include 'Interesting Times" released March 2022, (drawn mostly from 2022 FAWM) at:
https://mikeskliar.bandcamp.com/album/interesting-times

In October, 2022, I released "Can we be happy", an album drawn mainly from songs written that summer of 2022. https://mikeskliar.bandcamp.com/album/can-we-be-happy

(I also have a 'holiday' single released in Dec 2022, 'eight nights of indictments' -see bandcamp page)

From the older ones, one very different project I should mention, "Chill on Chill" - an electronica-flavored virtual instrument album- a big departure for me- an all-instrumental groovefest, ! I https://mikeskliar.bandcamp.com/album/chill-on-chill

Finally, the last few years I've been part of a collaborative musical project, "Seth & Skliar" with a good friend of mine who is a NYC Cabdriver- our debut album from 2016 is a combination of spoken word, songs, poems & stories about NYC, cab driving, etc.. it's called "The Bards of Gridlock" - its a real trip!
https://sethskliar.bandcamp.com/album/the-bards-of-gridlock

what else?... he/him pronouns, ..........happy fawming everyone!

Songs

Soundboard

@billwhite51 4w

thank you for all your songs and comments this month. regarding beating the traffic, there was a year during which the greater of the two bridges connecting the north end to downtown seattle was out of use due to repairs, so all that traffic had to squeeze through the tiny passage where there was , from about 7am to 10pm, a perpetual two mile back up of traffic. as i hate traffic, whenever i had to go into town to cover a concert, id leave at 6am and hang out all day in the city.

@tiedyehero 6w

Mike, thanks so much for the 2nd comment. I thought it was interesting how you specifically said you don't support letting air out of tires in a song that also contained a line about blowing up pipelines--I'll try not to infer anything from that. Just kidding obviously I have never planned to sabotage any fossil fuel infrastructure, just daydreamed about it.

I also want to note that I love NYC and I've always wanted to live there because I would love to not have to have a car. I lived there for a short time when I was in college I did one semester at NYU and as a matter of fact I came to your apartment for a FAWM party! This was in 2010 I believe. Anyway, thanks for the comment and for hosting me way back then.

@billwhite51 6w

thanks for your comments on guest of honor and cesspool ridge. the first takes place at one of those parties when an influential person from youth is given a retirement party. the first half is drunken chatter and the second when the old guy gets drunk and has to be taken home, i was experimenting with the unusual rthythms of alan whites drums on instant karma with the chord relationships of coltranes giant steps. as for cesspool ridge. the verses are a variation on the chordal structure of the opening lines of tangles up in blue, but thats as far as the dylan influences go, although the yowling chorus may suggest his influence. there is nothing of his lyrical style or subject matter though, and while ochs might have been drawn to such a subject, the song resembles nothing of his. someone else threw in neil young as an influence, and, like ochs, he might be drawn to the subject matter, but there is nothing , at least to me, resembling a neil young song. its always interesting to imagine what other people hear, though. the funny thing that when i do appropriate something, it is rare that anyone catches on. for example, ill cry tomorrow is patterned on the dynamics of i dont know what love is by rush.

@kiffa 6w

Thanks, Mike, for commenting on "Easter Sunday". I get your point about that one lyric, but I'm very happy with it as it is. Even though the line *immediately* preceding the 'could happen anywhere' line doesn't refer to a place, the one right before it does, and I think does the job of setting up that final line. The line you're suggesting I change is also the line of the chorus that packs the most emotional punch for me, personally. I don't think most people will be, or have been, too thrown off by one line that separates the two that refer to location. Thanks again!

@ayais 7w

You might find this interesting: I was inspired to make a baritone classical after watching Miroslav Tadić and Yvette Holzwarth here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRuRNShKXIQ&t=1s (go to 26:19) and found that I could use an ordinary classical and put a .54 string on the bottom, tuned to a B, toss the high E and keep the other five strings, just moved up a position. It's a gas to play. I even put a hole into the body near the neck like his so you can hear the bass better.

@dh3 7w

Hey, thanks so much for your kind words about 'James, will you dance with me?' To answer your question, i started with a story i had heard about two people I know - it span out into this story about two old friends who had fallen out, struggling to apologise, but dancing together instead. The chorus came very quickly! The rest was more difficult, and I'm not sure I'm entirely happy with it yet... But I'm trying to not be a perfectionist this FAWM!

@caseewilson 7w

Hi Mike, thanks so much for your comment on Ivory Towers - no, there's not a single incident which inspired it, but more a series of injustices and cruelties that I've watched in the UK, the US and beyond. From the killings of young Black men, to the persecution of trans folks, to the removal of books, the banning of abortions, Brexit, Ukraine being invaded by Russia, the corruption of several pivotal governments, the removals of the rights to protest, the removals of the rights to strike (currently under debate in the UK) - the list just goes on and on and on. I mean - I wish I could say that the list above is exhaustive, but alas... :( So my rage found some words and I strung them together.

mike skliar

Songs

Soundboard

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