Sing Back, Brooklyn! is back. Read about it in this week's newsletter

Family sing-a-long event this Saturday in Brooklyn Heights

This Saturday, October 4th, at 11am is the first Sing Back, Brooklyn! of the season. Sing Back! is a monthly event for families at the Brooklyn Historical Society. It's different every month but it's best described as a sing-a-long variety show. This first one is going to be almost entirely sing-a-long -- and play-along! I'll have digital songbooks (that I'll post here and elsewhere shortly) so you can follow along on the words and the chords. BRING INSTRUMENTS.

Our theme this month and next is "home." The actual buildings we live in, yes, but also the intangible qualities that make one feel at home. If you've written a song or poem that fits with this theme, bring it. Write your song out neatly with some chords if you'd like me and others to play it with you.

Reserve your space here here. The event is free and open to all but if you're able we request a $10 donation per family (to help keep these cool events in this beautiful space happening). Give this if you can in person at the event. But most importantly, come to the event. I want to see you.

See you soon--
Lloyd

This week's Flying Newspaper is all about books

Here's issue 4 of The Flying Newspaper, my weekly newsletter

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Help me make a grown-up musical

Yesterday my friend Roy Nathanson and I launched a Kickstarter for a musical we've been working on for over two years. It's called Trashed Out and will feature his longtime band, the legendary Jazz Passengers. Inspired by and adapted from Paul Reyes' incredible nonfiction book, Exiles in Eden, Trashed Out is a musical about the housing crisis in Florida and the people who lived through it (and are still living through it).

Trashed Out was chosen for a fall residency at BRIC. Best known for putting on the Celebrate Brooklyn concerts in Prospect Park, BRIC also has a newly-renovated space near BAM where they support artists developing new projects. In late October and early November we'll have 10 days to workshop the show culminating in two intimate work-in-progress performances on Nov. 7th and 8th. We have to do a Kickstarter to make this residency happen. We need money to pay musicians and actors, to fund the creation of video projections that are essential to the show, to build props, and to buy a lot of smaller necessities.

Please watch our video (we spent a lot of time on it) and read about our project here. Donate what you can. We have a lot of cool rewards: CDs, posters, two different meet-the-Passengers soirees, and of course tix to the show.

- Lloyd

CLICK HERE to visit our Kickstarter for Trashed Out

The Flying Newspaper issue 2

I call The Flying Newspaper "a companion" to my weekly sing-a-longs. It's a newsletter but only sort of. I do put info about upcoming shows and other projects I have going on in there but I'll also throw in historical tidbits, stories I've heard, quotations, jokes, lyrics and chords, background on songs, pictures to color, and other stuff I find interesting.

There are two versions of this week's companion. One is the general edition and features a guitar to color. The other is a special Williamsburg edition that explains the (small) price increase at my Knitting Factory sing-a-longs this fall.

Come to one of my sing-a-longs and I'll give you a copy made out of real paper.

My Brooklyn sing-a-longs resume Wednesday, September 3rd

I'll be back in the middle in the crowd starting Wednesday, September 3rd at the Knitting Factory.

New this fall: each week I'm going to give away free copies of The Flying Newspaper, a one-page newsletter of sorts. It will have lyrics, stories behind the songs, chords to songs, poetry, pictures to color, news of upcoming events, reading lists, and other stuff I feel like putting on there.

I'm also going to have songbooks available for use at all my sing-a-longs this fall. So you can sing along to every word.

Fall 2014 schedule and details: 

Wednesdays at 11am
Knitting Factory, Williamsburg
$5 a family (starting Sept 3)

Thursdays at 10:30am
Dean Street, Prospect Heights
$8 a family

Fridays at 10 and 11am
Lark, Ditmas Park / Flatbush
$5 a family

For addresses, phone numbers, and websites for these venues, click on the links to the right.

See you thar.

L

Online sing-a-long July 22nd

I'm going to do my first online sing-a-long on Tuesday, July 22nd at 11am. Hopefully the first of many.

Will you tune in? Just head over to Concert Window and follow their instructions in order to buy tickets. This first one is pay what you want (minimum $1).

Be part of history! Seriously. I'm planning to do a lot of these and I need your input on this first attempt. I've got all sorts of things to configure-- camera placement, lighting, microphone set-up, equipment I plug into my laptop-- and really only you, the viewers at home, can tell me whether these elements are working or not. I can preview my performance, check my volume and basic visuals but the sing-a-long won't be recorded for me to watch later so I can't fine-tune without your help. Please help! I want to bring the fun of our Brooklyn sing-a-longs to fans who have moved to other states, other countries, and drastically different time zones.

Lloyd