#73: The Lost Cell Phone

Today I'm presenting you with my latest adventure where I lost my cell phone.

 
MON APR 20 2026

I brought my guitar to the Jack Hardy Songwriter group which was down at the new place, Houghton Hall on 30th near Madison. I got there very early and I met the guy behind the desk. Hhis name is Adam. He said he was also a songwriter and has an Instagram and does a lot of political stuff.

Only two others, John and Ina came, and myself. We played our new songs and finished quickly. Leaving, I walked Ina all the way over to 8th Avenue and then back to 7th Avenue because we got to talking too much and realized we had walked the block too far.

I got her on the subway and was about to walk home when I put in my AirPods and, reaching for my phone, realized I did not have it on me. Then I had this memory of having seen it on the couch in that room as I was putting on my coats.

So now I’m in a total panic and I run the four very long blocks and four more shorter ones. It was a very cold night and I had on two coats so I unzipped them because it made me hot. I was panting and then I thought, “I wonder if they’re even open. I’ve got to get there faster, but I don’t have any money on me.” For some reason, I totally forgot I could use a credit card if I’d wanted to grab a cab. Panic brain.

Finally got 30th St. it’s kind of a dark street but there’s bright lights where the hall is so I race up and – thank god – it’s open. I am so happy, I see Adam and I say, “Oh I left my phone upstairs I think. I’ve lost it, but I think it’s here and this is my last chance to find it. I think I left it on the couch.”


I said, "It's a last ditch attempt but maybe it's here. I'm so glad you're still here." He said no one had turned anything in. It's doubtful it's here.


Suddenly, in my ears, I hear that familiar little bong sound of my AirPods connecting to a phone. So I click it once and one of my songs start to play. In fact, it was the demo of the song I was gonna present that night, which I had been listening to in order to remember what I wrote! My phone! That's my phone!

“It’s here!” I blur it out. “It must be here but because I just connected to it it’s gotta be upstairs.” I was so relieved. Wherever it was, it was within proximity of my physical person. That’s all that mattered.

So he looks down at his book and he says there’s somebody in there now. So I said, “Can I just, you know, knock on the door and ask if my phone is in there and he said no. He said they paid for that time and they get all of that time. I said so when did they get out? He said, “You’re not gonna like it. In half an hour.” It was now 9:30.

But he assured me he would get them out of there at 10 because he was ready to go home. They were the last group. I was exasperated and to make it worse, I had no phone on me to play games or whatever to pass the time.

Luckily, there was a library there of books. Theatre books, plays, Shakespeare, how-to books, I found one about actors and The Voice. So I’m just reading this scholastic text by this actress about how you use your voice and how you can train your voice, remembering how much stronger my voice has gotten since I started busking four times a week.

Finally, I go upstairs to stand right outside the door waiting for it to open so that I can get home to supposedly take pills at 10 PM, but I don’t have my phone on me so I’m not exactly sure what time it is!

Finally, I am absolutely sure it must be 10 minutes after 10 so I quietly walk over to the door, knowing that Adam has me on camera because he’s watching the cameras, knowing he had cautioned me no to disturb them.

I tap on the door. Nothing. Room is empty. I open the door. Right there on the couch is my phone.

And then I remembered. WE are the group that had the room until 10 o’clock. He was keeping me out of my own meeting!

I was sitting down there for a half an hour for absolutely no reason and grumbling the whole time because I know that interrupting a meeting for a quick "I left my phone" is no big deal.

When I told Adam, he looked puzzled. He asked me what was the name of my group and I said well it was under the name of Carolann. He never made the connection that she had reserved our songwriter group. So when we left, he didn’t clock that that meeting was over.

He apologized and apologized and he said he was just filling in for a friend and didn’t really know the system.

Then it hit me.


The only reason he was still there when I came back for my phone was because he thought that meeting was still in progress!

So now I’m very thankful that the only price I had to pay to get my phone back was to wait for half an hour.


Lesson? Sometimes what seems to be bad can turn out to be very good. I have my phone. Life can go back to normal.


Steve


UPCOMING LIVE APPEARANCES!


MAY 7 BLUE TSUNAMI CONCERT SERIES BY STEPHEN HANKS
Gavin and I will be appearing to sing "Come Together" at Don't Tell Mama for this fundraiser for Democratic Candidates.
https://shows.donttellmamanyc.com/9824-project-2026-blue-tsunami-5-7-26

MAY 16
SATURDAY AFTERNOON
1-2:30 PM
THE BEATLES SING-A-LONG
GAVIN AND STEVE
STRAUS PARK
WEST END AVENUE & 107TH ST
https://fospark.com/event/beatles-concert-sing-a-long-with-strawberry-feels-duo-1pm/

EVERY TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY MORNING
9-11 AM
STRAWBERRY FIELDS
MAGICAL MYSTERY MORNING MEDITATION
WITH GAVIN AND STEVE

#72: Moments in the Park

This morning, I’m free writing and thinking of the past week. I’ve been so busy, I can barely keep up with anything. My newsletter is two weeks late, and my diary is way behind. In the past, this would cause me great stress. But I’ve been stumbling along by keeping forward physical motion, good cooking habits, yoga stretches, and time to myself to just think.

BUT AT THE PARK

I invited a woman to sit next to me after she asked for “Here, There and Everywhere.” She was really shy but had a bright smile that never stopped, beaming at us from across the mosaic circle. She finally acceded and immediately began blushing. The crowd loved her.

I sang to her with my arm around her. Behind her glasses, I realized that two steady streams of tears, unbroken, were pouring out. She hugged me more. When the song was over, all she said was, “That was our song. Thank you for bringing him back.”

As I write this, I’m bawling my eyes out. At that moment, I felt like a conduit. I wasn’t intruding or manipulating her. I was simply the vessel of the song, the empty space into which she could safely pour her emotions. IOW, I wasn’t crying along with her. It all happens too fast for me to get that immediately involved.

Here’s another one. A little girl. Maybe 6 or 7 or 8. She still spoke babytalk. She walked up, perfectly composed, and made a request. I didn’t quite understand. Then I heard. “New York, New York.” You want “New York, New York?” She nodded yes.

I said, “We only sing Beatles songs. So we…” Then I looked into the little girl’s eyes and just went for broke, “Start spreading the news. I’m leaving today!” I thought that’s enough. It’s sweet. Done my duty.

After a song or two, she comes back over and this time the mom, very sweet, pretty, unadorned mid-30s perhaps, says, “She wants to SING “New York New York.” and then she holds up a glass bottle with very white grainy dirt plugged with a cork. It looked like it came from an old West apothecary.

“These are her grandfather’s ashes and he loved New York and The Beatles. And she wanted to do this for him.”

I said, “Let’s do it.”

She climbed up onto the bench next to me in my bright pink Sgt. Pepper jacket, I held the mic to her and the tiniest voice came out.

“Baby, I'm from New York
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There's nothin' you can't do
Now you're in New York”

The Alicia Keyes version not the Liza Minnelli Kander & Ebb version. You should have seen my face. This tiny angelic raven-haired child singing about the concrete jungle.)

Then, as if she were being directed in a movie where she was perfectly rehearsed, she thanked me and climbed down from the bench to a massive ovation from the crowd. She barely noticed. Her mom, blushing from all the attention, leaned over and thanked me as she red-facedly followed her off.

That happened. If it were in a movie, you wouldn’t believe it.

This week I got a reliable wireless connector to the mic and suddenly I’m way more free to interact with people.

And our IMAGINE Circle is much easier because when I go around asking where everyone is from, I’m closer and can make a quick comment.

Today I started asking people, “Why did you come here? What were you looking for?”

I didn’t make them answer. But the shadow of war lingers everywhere and the peace movement feels like it’s lost its voice. Everything these days is about war. Fight to win. Fight for viewers. Fight for attention. It goes to the core of how we are being led to think.

You barely have time to loathe this week’s villain before the new one is set up for the job.

Now during Spring Break, we’re getting big groups of school kids. College and high school. For the most part, none of them know John Lennon or The Beatles. But the mosaic is on the tour route and you pass through it going to other places in the park.

What Gavin and I must look like to them. Two old guys in bright pink and blue satin military jackets, with glittering gold epaulets and fringe sitting in the sun with a guitar. We’re not really an official anything there. But Yoko wanted a living memorial with music and that’s what we do.

For the tour guide, they’re trying to keep a pace. Sometimes they ignore us because they have a speech, which they give, including the fact that it's smaller than it looks in photos. And then they say, “You have a moment for pictures.”

But this week, the first guide just turned it over to us like we were an attraction ourselves.

I just blurted out what the circle is for, to imagine a better world. I tell them how John said you have to create, in your mind, the world you want to live in. Then make that world happen. Looking into those young faces, the reality of it all smacked me in the face. I kept thinking, "Good luck, kids!"

Then I got up and led them around the circle and we sang Imagine together. It was beautiful.

I hope they’re teaching The Beatles music in schools.


I'm excited that the sun has come out. The world will be passing by us and I can't wait to meet them.


Steve

#71: Recovered Audio from 54 Below

Summary: Recovered Audio from 54 Below & The Power of Community. This week, we finally have the audio from the standing-room-only performance with Blake Lee at Peter Filichia’s Broadway series—now captured in a new lyric video. Inside: A report on our inter-generational Beatles singalong on Riverside Drive, a first look at Jim Brochu’s new memoir Exit Laughing, and a major concert announcement for May 7th.

Last week, I mentioned how well Blake Lee and I were received at Peter Filichia's Broadway night at 54 Below, even amongst some very big hitters.

Turns out Blake taped the performance but his cellphone got knocked over so all we got was audio. This week, I took that audio and made a lyric video of that performance.

He did get one lyric wrong, though. He said "Yellow" instead of "Purple" in the first verse. So I ignored that and wrote "Purple" on the video. It didn't matter. He is remarkable when he gets to the later verses and the song suddenly turns melancholy. I love it.

 

Here is that video: https://youtu.be/-40oa1YKiwg

THE BEATLES!
Gavin Gold and I found ourselves bringing Strawberry Fields indoors to a co-op on Riverside Drive. This was our feedback:

"We invited Gavin and Steve to lead a Beatles Singalong in our co-op's lobby last Sunday. It was a big hit for all ages - from families with small children to seniors who remember the Beatles Invasion. Their beautiful harmonies, lively guitar playing and infectious energy made for a memorable evening of community and joy."

And that was what was so fun! It was so inter-generational. The kids loved the child-like quality of many of The Beatles singalong songs, and one of the older participants wrote this:

"The performance, especially with our community participation, hit the spot and gave a lift to our spirits. The Beatles bring back other times, places, moods, adventures. I first heard them on records that I spun as dj in a Mykonos bar in 1967. I am happy tonight to recapture a glimmer."

During these troubled times, I see us as giving support and strength with music, music and more music.


BLUE TSUNAMI
Looking ahead, on May 7th, I'm participating (with Gavin Gold) in a concert series here in New York produced by Stephen Hanks, who years ago reviewed the first of my Living in the Bonus Round concerts. Called "Project: Blue Tsunami," it's a fundraiser for Democratic Party candidates. The line-up is spectacular, so buy a ticket now and enjoy a great night of music and hope. Tickets: https://shows.donttellmamanyc.com/9824-project-2026-blue-tsunami-5-7-26

I'm looking forward to singing more private concerts both with my own music and the music of The Beatles. In fact, we are continuing our Tuesday and Wednesday mornings (and alternating Saturday and Sunday nights) at Strawberry Fields. And though still cold, the weather is way better than the arctic freeze we endured the past few months, it's been thrilling to see the crowds return.

Especially because they come to find a moment to remember when it was cool to dream of a peaceful world. When the idea of that seemed a possibility. So, yeah, I'm an evangelist. An evangelist for healing, music, peace, justice and joy. New Yorkers, come meditate with us on those two weekday mornings.

JIM'S NEW BOOK "EXIT LAUGHING"
Jim Brochu has been writing a new book. I'm editing the manuscript. This book, Exit Laughing, has been in the making since 1971 when Jim did interviews with some of the great theater and media persons of the time, which he rediscovered at the bottom of a pile of paper. It's what I call a "biographical memoir." It's about the life of the great Broadway character actor, David Burns. But it's more than that. It's a personal memoir of a lifelong friendship between and old icon of the theater and an aspiring teenager. It's also a bit of a history mystery book because, in researching David's career, Jim has unearthed a whole barely told history of Vaudeville and the Depression -- and how one man managed to have a career bouncing back and forth between London doing "quota quickies" in the movies and New York.


So we are busy. We are happy Spring is almost here.


Steve Schalchlin

#70: An International Circle & Nancy Drew

 This past week was the first week we weren't buried in ice here in the City. The first time Gavin and I got to be out at the Imagine Circle where we actually had real people staying and singing along with us, as opposed to standing in the ice just long enough to take a photo! Then just yesterday, this note sent through Facebook:

"Hello. Just wanted to stop by and say how much I appreciated the imagine song that we shared with those few around the world on this past Saturday evening. It was a moment I’ll never forget, so, thank you."

MUSICAL INSURRECTION

In my acting class this past week, I read a "monologue" that consisted of a diary entry from 2010. It was the day I had just finished packing up our LA apartment, everything had been shipped to New York (in 28 boxes) the day before, and I was in that empty space remembering the parties we used to have there, most of which were "Steve's last birthday." "Steve's last Christmas."

Jim was in New York with "Zero Hour," which was a huge hit, and I had volunteered to go back and empty the apartment and move us all by myself. I think I was there two weeks to get it all done. It's astonishing how much STUFF you can pack into a one-bedroom apartment with a loft. Mountains of paper. Filing cabinets. Cast albums. Playbills. Scripts. Drafts of scripts. I said it was like having brain surgery during an excavation. Every item has a memory attached. And you make decisions on what to let go.

At the end of the diary entry, I wrote, "Starting over in New York – I'm only now grasping what that means. But I think I want to create an actual group of singers and call them Musical Insurrection.

Then it occurred to me that I have fulfilled that wish. Except it's not a static group of singers. It's an international choir that revolves in and out, and our job is to be there to catch them as they come yearning for connection to the spirit of John Lennon. It's a musical insurrection of the heart.

54 BELOW REPORT

I didn't write a newsletter last week because it was the day after Blake Lee and I sang "My New York Life" at this amazing night of Broadway stars, some re-creating their featured numbers. The response to his performance was off the chart. Afterward, people kept grabbing me and asking me, "Is that song available?"

I couldn't write about it because I was still living inside the experience. It would just sound like I was bragging, especially after the triumph of Jim and me singing "How Do You Fall Back in Love" two weeks prior. 

This past year has been one where I've slowly and carefully been building momentum for my songwriting career. To watch it pay off, first with the concert at Urban Stages in December, then these two appearances at 54 Below. It all feels so easy! So yes, I'm going share more of my songs in the coming year with more singers and hopefully, they will resonate with people.

Ron Fassler wrote a review. He said, "Late in the show came the one piece not from a Broadway musical and it proved a highlight. Composer Steve Schalchlin took to the piano and was joined by Blake Lee Zolfo, co-creator of the song “My New York Life.”

So that's twice in a row where reviewers called one of my songs "the highlight" of a night filled with Broadway's best. How can I not brag? The full review is here: https://theaterpizzazz.com/broadway-songs-and-stories-galore-at-54-below/

NANCY DREW

A few readers loved the video of the song a couple months back called "Nancy Drew is Free." But because I produced it using AI, featuring an AI female voice, others "hated" the idea of using AI and refused to listen to it. But one fan is Cheryl Benton, a publisher of books featuring mostly older female writers and she loved the song. Especially because, even though it's humorous, it's not just about Nancy Drew. It's about the vulnerability of women in a society where AI can be used to make them "do" things.

SOOOO, Blake Lee and I made an entirely acoustic version in the studio. You wanted real? It's real, baby!

https://youtu.be/ZrYvO_22Fz0

And this week, the weather is beautiful and I invite you all to join us for our Magical Mystery Morning Meditation at Strawberry Fields on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 8am -11am.

Steve Schalchlin

--

Watch the live video of Living in the Bonus Round on YouTube. https://youtu.be/8nISTbpm03w?si=dS7vMjbgeHZwWKk0

#69: Blizzards, Getting Plowed & A Show on Sunday Night

 This week has been a harrowing week of storms, blizzards and piles and piles of snow on the streets.

When Gavin and I went out to Strawberry Fields on Tuesday morning, the entire park was encased in ice. Someone had scraped away just enough of it so that you could see the mosaic, but the benches were covered, the ground was covered. So what did we do?

We brushed off the snow from the bench, laid down two cheap orange rain panchos for the equipment to sit on, and we sang to an empty park filled with snow.

Occasionally, tourists would come through and they really appreciated us being out there. Many singing along and enjoying an absolutely stunningly beautiful -- if cold and icy -- morning.

But the ice on the ground was a foot thick. 

Suddenly, we heard the sound of a snow plow. It came from the south and dug up huge plates of ice, scraping along and driving right in front of us, passing us by. Followed by a man with a shovel, I asked if we should clear out. He said, "Yes." 

The plow finally got stuck in the ice near the 72nd street entrance. So we weren't sure what was happening.

Then, after many shovels of salt and digging, the plow was freed and it turned around and was coming right at us.

We jumped up and began winding up cords and unplugging and packing because that plow was not going to stop (we thought). 

And that was it. We ran for the entrance. No. We walked gingerly on the ice and went home. 

MONDAY NIGHT

This Monday night, March 2, Blake Lee Zolfo and I will be singing "My New York Life," for a show filled -- I mean, packed -- with great Broadway stars. Produced and hosted by critic and author Peter Filichia, who reportedly has seen more productions of every musical ever written, named our song as "Song of the year" in his podcast review. And now, we get to present it as part of a Best of Broadway show. Link to show tickets: https://54below.org/events/peter-filichia-friends-broadway-tales-and-tunes-2/

I am so excited about this! To be getting new recognition this late in life (I'm 72), as if I were some new kid on the block, is really fun. I like being the new kid on the block. Truth is, most people still have not heard my music or my name. And that's okay. It is what it is. What really matters is that the work itself is what's drawing attention. 

If you want to relive that moment on stage this past December, from the show, here is the YouTube link that will bring you directly to that song: 

https://youtu.be/8nISTbpm03w?si=rTjLeNNzYxT0M_1R&t=2550

I'm sorry to say that it won't be livestreamed. They did such great work on last week's "How Do You Fall Back In Love" that I was really hoping they would.

And that's this week's newsletter. 

#68: Triumph at 54 Below - with video

This past Sunday night, Jim and I performed at 54 Below with a star-studded line-up of Broadway legends like Charles Busch, Lee Roy Reams and Tony winner Daisy Eagen. Just to be on a show with them was already a most high honor that we did not take for granted. I wrote up a diary entry on how it felt and just before I hit SEND, they sent me the video of the night, and then the next day, a review. 

So, I don't have to tell you about it. You can watch it for yourself. But the headline is that after we finished singing and exited the stage, the audience wouldn't stop applauding. It goes on and on and on. We were startled and though you can't see us on the video, which is still trained on the stage, I stood there not knowing what to do except bow. And bow. And bow again. Then you see the pianist, Canaan, come on for the next act and the audience wouldn't let them start. So we got another ovation. Right at the very end, you'll hear me shout, "I wrote that song!"

It felt so great to be honored this way. 

Author and critic Ron Fassler wrote in https://theaterpizzazz.com/getting-behind-queer-musicals-at-54-below/ :

"The highlight of the night was a duet sung by Steve Schalchlin and Jim Brochu, who have been together as a couple for forty years. In the very personal song, “How Do You Fall Back in Love,” written by Schalchlin, the pair reminisced about a time when things weren’t going so great. Their harmonies and full-on embrace of the emotional heft the song carries were potent. It was truly one of those “there wasn’t a dry eye in the house” moments. So, so beautiful."

Link to video: https://youtu.be/fKx3ciUMbmc

Our next appearance is March 2, 2026 at 54 Below where we'll be part of Peter Filichia & Friends: Broadway Tales and Tunes, feat. Judy Kaye, Dick Scanlan, & more! Jim will be singing a Broadway song and I'm bringing Blake Lee along to sing "My New York Life." 
https://54below.org/events/peter-filichia-friends-broadway-tales-and-tunes-2/

Till next week!

Steve

#67: Old Fashioned?

This week, no tricks. No AI. No weird looking cartoons. Just me singing directly into the mic with a camera watching.

No autotuning. No edits. No cuts. And no politics or issues. It's a love song called “Old Fashioned?” (with the question mark). After last week's total immersion into the AI world of music production and filmmaking, I feared people would think I was an AI evangelist. I am not. I'm simply a user of a tool. And if or when the tool stops being useful, I'll stop using it. 

With people falling for their AI fantasy creatures (which is really a mirror, so they’re falling in love with themselves), what does it mean to love someone anymore?

“Is it really old fashioned to be falling in love?
Putting you first? Keeping you near?

I’ve never read about a successful relationship that didn’t begin with the partners looking out for each other as their number one goal. What does he need? How can I make her feel safe? When do they need space? When do they need an embrace?

“Cuz the world’s always saying it’s all about me

Nobody else matters…”

In a world where we’re always being sold the idea that everything should be about our own happiness. And that we can buy our way into happiness, or that we need physical things and beauty and possessions, how much more interesting and full of love we are when we find someone or something else to care for. That’s how you open your heart and your life.

Elon Musk this week was absolutely puzzled that he's become the richest man in the world but he's not happy. He's just figuring out that money doesn't equal happiness? I guess that's one way to prove it. Get all the money in the world and see how happy it makes you.

This week's song is only on YouTube but it will soon hit all the streaming services. https://youtu.be/sxk9fCTm_Rc


OLD FASHIONED?

You say it’s old fashioned to want to be real
To listen to music while sharing a meal
You say it’s old fashioned to find your own ground
To turn from the crowd and find your own sound

If it’s really old fashioned why does it seem new
Each moment when I’m here with you

Is it really old fashioned to be falling in love?
Putting you first? Keeping you near?
Cuz world is always saying it’s all about me
Nobody else matters. Well, now you must hear                                          

If it’s really a new thing, why does it feel old?
Like timeless treasures of gold

I keep up with everything, I stay with the times
Though I’ve been around, I don’t live in the past
But over a lifetime you learn what will last

So have an old fashioned and let down your hair
Be with me here and not over there
If it’s really old fashioned, Why does it seem new
Each moment when I’m here with you

©2026 Music & Lyrics by Steve Schalchlin
Lil Shack O Tunes/ASCAP

#66: Mitch Ain't My Friend

Guess what I did during the Deep Freeze of 2026 here in NYC? We couldn't sing our Beatles songs because it was too dangerously cold to be outside. So, I decided to deep dive into programming, songwriting and filmmaking. I'm anxious to get your reaction to the result of this week's project.


But first, Jim and I both will be joining a myriad of Broadway and stage stars for a glittering night of music and stories at 54 Below on February 15, produced and hosted by Robert W. Schneider and Matt Koplik celebrating "Queer Musicals: From Boy Meets Boy to Jagged Little Pill." We will be singing "How Do You Fall Back in Love". The show will be livestreamed! https://54below.org/events/livestream-queer-musicals-from-boy-meets-boy-to-jagged-little-pill/ (Recently, Robert listed "The Last Session" as one of the essential queer musicals in his new book by the same title.)


Secondly, on March 2nd, Blake and I will be performing "My New York Life" -- at 54 Below again -- for another night of stars performing the Best of Broadway. Produced and hosted by Peter Filichia. https://54below.org/events/peter-filichia-friends-broadway-tales-and-tunes-2/ It doesn't mention whether it will be livestreamed, so I think you might have to come in person but this cast is amazing!


Thirdly, a humorous new song and video called "Mitch Ain't My Friend" which tackles the pluses and minuses of using AI. Humanizing the AI creates both clarity in the work I have it doing for me but also the paradox of how this humanization can lead people into blind alleys because of the nature of the AI interfaces. In the song, which features a female vocal like last week's song about Nancy Drew, I describe all the AI "agents' I've created using Gemini, including "Jacque," the chef who has made me a gourmet cook, "Mitch" who helps me organize my work and stay on track, "Casey" who teaches me about my own diabetic metabolism based on my blood sugars, and others.


Link to video "Mitch Ain't My Friend." https://youtu.be/gPwvUa2D8Sc


As you will see, rather than a rote description of these agents, I turned it into a cheeky love song, which I produced using Suno. Then, using an AI generator (Whisk) and many, many hours of editing, I created a music video for the song that illustrates the point.


A friend of mine asked me if I just pop in my song, push a button and a video pops out. Actually, no. The Whisk program I am using will only generate 8 seconds of video based on detailed prompts I write. So, it's not unlike making a short film. I have to write the script, figure out the prompt, have it spit out the result, and then I take all the pieces, and just like making a movie, I put all the pieces together into a coherent timeline using Final Cut Pro. Many hours of hard labor.


And in a stroke of timing luck, Google recently released news emphasizing to users that THE AI PROGRAMS ARE NOT PEOPLE. They are NOT alive. They are word-matching programs called LLMs and they respond to your queries by matching words with other words but it doesn't think or know what it's saying. No person writes back to you when you use the program. Understanding this basic truth and learning to be strict with the AI is how you get the best results.


And to be clear, the AI did not write a single lyric for me. It did not compose the music. I wrote the entire song and then used AI to construct a musical setting based on the demo I made in my studio with just piano and vocal. I'm really excited about both this song and the video. I think it's not merely a song, but a statement of our times. And it's fun!


Link to video "Mitch Ain't My Friend." https://youtu.be/gPwvUa2D8Sc


And if you missed last week's video about Nancy Drew, https://youtu.be/nnrsWCZM1R0


It's possible these songs may end up being a part of a larger work where I explore the modern dilemmas of using AI. As a tool, no one yet knows its capabilities and no one knows who to use it to its full extent because it's a tool made my tool makers. As I said 30 years ago, when I was exploring the beginning of the Internet, no one knew how we would use the Internet. it was a tool. For good or bad, it's here and it's up to the individual to figure it out.


For me, I have already had INCREDIBLE results in taking control of my blood sugars and A1c. Down from 7.2 to 5.8, which is almost normal. Others may open the AI and stare blankly at it not knowing what to do or to say. As a digital pioneer who has always eagerly embraced cutting edge tools, I hope in my writing and songs I can demystify it a bit. I'm not a tech evangelist, so whether you use it or not is up to you. But at the very least, you can imagine the possibilities.


Steve

--

Watch the live video of Living in the Bonus Round 2026 on December 9th at Urban Stages on YouTube.

#65: Nancy Drew song and video.

A new song and new video. If you want to skip the whole story and just watch the video, now that you're frozen into place wtih this storm, the video link is on the next line and the lyrics are at the bottom of the newsletter.

Video of Nancy Drew is Free (Nothing Sacred). https://youtu.be/nnrsWCZM1R0

THE WHOLE STORY:

Since my goal is to write a song a week for the Jack Hardy Songwriter Exchange meetings that's why, when Alix Cohen in her wonderful review said, "[Steve] can (and does) make anything into a song," that's a literal statement and this week's song couldn't be more of that calibre.

Everything can and does turn into a song. I saw a headline, "Nancy Drew's copyright has expired along with many other characters from 1930. "

Suddenly the phrase "Nancy Drew is free today to be her own kind of girl" popped into my head.

That's a song, I says. Crikey that's a song. 

But the irony is she can't be her own kind of girl. It actually puts her at the mercy of "everyone in the world" because anyone can do anything with her anytime they want. And with the Internet, it's kind of disheartening, even though it's also freeing for artists who use pop iconography as part of their art.

I quickly wrote the song with guitar and made a rough demo. 

Then, playing around with Suno—as most songwriters do now that they realize they can convert every demo they've ever made into fully produced viable songs—I put in my solo demo, gave it zero instructions so it would stay true to what I was awkwardly playing, and what came out stunned me. Not merely the nice production but something else.

It was a woman's voice singing.

A song that felt observational, from a male looking in, became a song where the vulverability only lives when it comes from the vulnerable character itself. In this case, Nancy Drew, a young woman.

The guitar part is exactly what I was playing, or trying clumsily to play.

The vocalist is using all my vocal inflections. She's singing it exactly as I sang it but with subtle things that I can't do, but would have if I could have. It me but not me. 

In the world of AI, the human songwriter is king. A song with no point of view is generic and any AI can write generically. 

What matters is the thought itself. No AI sits around thinking and pondering the universe. It is a tool.

But then how do I release a song I'm not actually singing? I want people to hear it. Also, the streaming services are trying to stop fake songwriters flooding the streaming market with fake bands where the AI is doing all the work and they're just hitting buttons making hundreds of fake songs to monetize and game the system.

Searching YouTube, I found a link to Whisk, an animation tool that is still in progress. And within two days, I created a video with Nancy Drew actually singing the song.

So, now it's a song about people using Nancy Drew images to create other art by creating art that uses Nancy Drew images for a song.

The chorus is "Nothing Sacred" and that gave me an opportunity to play around with other iconic images. A total escape into my imagination. 

The headline here is that I was able to write, record, produce and then storyboard and execute a fully animated music video in a week.

Now, there are people here on my newsletter list who absolutely despise the use of AI in anything. And I completely understand and respect where they are coming from because feelings are feelings. Whether they have a moral problem or a creative problem -- or they just hate it viscerally -- I hear you and you don't have to like any of this.

But I got the same pushback when I started my online diary in 1996 and that's what gave us a half page in the New York Times when, under normal circumstances, we would have not been see as having any newsworthy to discuss. That feature happened because I grabbed the nearest available new tool and I used it.

You can use the tool or you can let the tool use you.

All I know is I had a deadline and I met it and now I have a new one for next week. 

NANCY DREW IS FREE (NOTHING SACRED)

©2026 by Steve Schalchlin

Nancy Drew was freed today

To be her own kinda girl

But now she’s at the mercy of 

Everyone world

Today lost her copyright

Now the gooners take control

When you lose your copyright

You also lose your soul

Nothing sacred, nothing gained

Everything twisted, everything the same

Monuments are crashing down

Now Mickey Mouse does porn

Betty Boop is pregnant

Leading yoga every morn (in the nude)

Poor Miss Marple’s lost her license

On the street in rags

Pluto’s now called Rover

And pisses on her bags

Nothing sacred, nothing gained

Everything twisted, everything’s the same

Maybe someone someday

Will portray me as a Nazi

Or make me show my dingaling

In front of paparazzi 

No one know me now or

Even cares how I might feel

If I’m famous in my afterlife

Too bad I won’t be real

Nothing sacred, nothing gained

Everything twisted 

But still it’s the same

#64: Health Update. Controlling Diabetes with AI

Summary: At 72, I’m experiencing a health and professional "reboot" that feels like a miracle. By using AI to engineer a gourmet, health-focused kitchen and manage my chronic conditions, I’ve dropped my estimated A1c from 7.2 to 5.8 in weeks. This is a report on how I’m using new tools to stabilize my body, clear my mind, and prepare for my 2026/2027 comeback.


Dearest friends and fans,

This is going to sound like an ad but it's not. Not selling anything. Just reporting.

Ever since December, after our show, I've been working on getting my health in order. Lots of obstacles. Diabetes, HIV, Graves Disease, blood fat issues — it goes on and on.

The most urgent challenge was my blood sugars. The stress of putting the December show together was leading to some bad eating habits and I was devastated when my A1c rose to 7.2, the highest it's ever been. I was eating fast food and felt too exhausted and stressed to cook. Also, even though I have competent home cooking skills, both Jim and I were bored with the same routine of meatloaf, chili, and whatever else was coming out of the kitchen. Even just choosing what to make was taxing.

Over the holidays I focused down on my health. First, I created Jacque, my executive chef, inside the AI (in my case, Google's Gemini).

I gave Jacque this order:

"Make everything that comes out of my kitchen taste like it came from an expensive restaurant using basic cooking skills and ingredients." And also, make it easy to prepare, preferably in a single pan, and it has to work for two different diets. Mine and Jim's. Mine, because I needed to control my blood sugars. His with more leeway in terms of carbs.

The result is that I have now, according to my glucose meter, lowered my estimated A1c from 7.2 to 5.8. (I'm not scheduled for a blood draw until next month, so the estimate is what's available now.)

What does this mean? It means my blood sugars are now staying in the normal range. No peaks and valleys like before, which is terrible on your system. Sometimes a reading would go up into the 200s and almost 300s when they should stay around 100. Then they'd dip down below 70 to put me into emergency eating — usually all the wrong things.

Now slowly, those peaks and valleys are gone. The meter shows a FLAT LINE over a 14-day period with an average blood sugar going from 148 down to 103.

The reason this is happening is because I'm tightly using AI to not only analyze my patterns (as I report my readings) but to educate me on what's actually going on metabolically in my body. Why are they high now? What happens when it goes low? etc.

The BEST result comes from Jim who says my cooking is now as good as anything he's ever tasted — and that's after years of us eating high class food on Crystal cruise ships.

The headline would read: Home cook becomes gourmet chef overnight. And that's literally true. The first meal I gave him blew his mind so hard, he thought he was in the wrong house. I'm not exaggerating.

I also had a lot of stress because I'm trying to stage a comeback in my career after years of therapy on my broken shoulder replacement. I have no manager and no agent, so that leaves me lifting the burden of promotion, press releases, booking shows, promoting shows, writing new songs and staying clear headed while doing it.

I am using AI to solve those problems, too. I'll write about it in another newsletter. But at age 72, getting my body healthy, working, and strong enough to go outside in the freezing cold and sing for two hours four times a week, sounding stronger than ever? It's working. It's also exciting and thrilling to not only be meeting all my health goals but doing it with a clear head and an organized professional and personal life. It feels like a game-changing miracle.

Again, I'm not selling anything and I am not sponsored. Just reporting on how the inventive use of AI can help me get control over my bodily health, my professional life and my mental health.

Steve





Watch the live video of Living in the Bonus Round 2025 on YouTube.


You are free to stream the songs below but purchasing them is the best way to support independent artists such as myself. Or if you have the means, you can make a small donation through PayPal or Venmo using my email address: steveshack@gmail.com.


And please share this with friends!


[This is the hand-crafted non-bot newsletter of Steve Schalchlin. If you wish to be removed from the list, send me an email. If someone sent you this and you want to be added, write me at steveshack@gmail.com]--



Steve Schalchlin

Living in the Bonus Round







Spotify Links

2024 Songs https://tinyurl.com/3su9t85m

Love Songs by Steve Schalchlin https://tinyurl.com/stevelovesongs

Personal Songs by Steve Schalchlin https://tinyurl.com/stevepersonal

Comic/Humor Songs by Steve Schalchlin https://tinyurl.com/stevehumor

Inspirational Songs by Steve Schalchlin https://tinyurl.com/steveinspire

Meditation Music by Steve Schalchlin https://tinyurl.com/stevemeditate

Political Songs by Steve Schalchlin https://tinyurl.com/stevepolitics

Rebel Nerd Songs - lyrics by Steve Schalchlin

https://tinyurl.com/steverebelnerd

#63: The Helicopter Overhead

 Brief summary: This week’s newsletter recounts a freezing Saturday night at Strawberry Fields that transformed into a spontaneous, international prayer circle for peace. Silhouetted against the jagged backdrop of The Dakota, strangers from Greece, Mexico, and Tibet stepped out of the shadows to form a circle around the Imagine mosaic, breathing as one in a rare moment of total unity. It was a poignant contrast: while the literal "war machine" rumbled in the headlines and the Maduro helicopter hummed overhead, we stood below in the cold, proving that the heart’s capacity to imagine peace is as vital now as it was when John first wrote the song.

Here's the whole story.

Gavin and I, playing at Strawberry Fields, had a very touching moment Saturday night. We were facing the 72nd entrance. We had our lights on us (amber because the white ones blind Gavin) plus one little spotlight casting a gentle white oval over the IMAGINE mosaic.

This means the people were dark figures, silhouettes against the backdrop of the huge triangle gables on The Dakota. This was my first night wearing the electric socks my brother David bought me. 

At one point, a very garrulous man jumped onto the bench, near me on the other side of the arm rest.  I waved him over. His mouth was open in a wide smile, like, "Really?? I can sit next to you??" (He didn't say that out loud).

He shouted out, "I'm Marco!" He was probably late-30s, athletic, bald.

I asked him, "Where are you from?"

I'm from Greece!" The small group of four that were over on the left bench all cheered. In fact, that group had been singing along on everything.

For a while, I wasn't sure if anyone was actually listening. There was a crowd of about 10 facing us, another group the same size that were on the right side. I couldn't see any faces. I couldn't distinguish people except for this one woman dressed in bright white fur from head to toe, big Russian looking white furry hat.

Marco smiled and I held the mic for him to sing "Eight Days A Week," which he couldn't sing and didn't know the words and he proudly sang out anyway, with me prompting him. This sometimes drives Gavin nuts because he's trying so hard to maintain the integrity of the song. I'm more like the clown in the monkey suit trying to draw everyone in. That's why I love our dynamic as a duo.

His friends were taking video and eventually others came. An older man with a weathered face. From Mexico. He wasn't there to sing, just pose for a picture. Came right up and asked. When I held the mic to his shoe leather face, he grinned bashfully and said, "I don't..." And then he started singing. Sounded like a frog, but he had a twinkle in his eye that lit up like the cloudless sky above us.

At one point, it's something I feel in my body, the benches on both sides facing us had filled up. No one was standing at the mosaic, but I took a chance. I said to Gavin, "It's time."

"Did you come for the full Imagine Experience?" I prodded them. "Then join me here around the circle."

This is the tricky moment.

As one, as if they had all come together, without hesitation, they rose from the benches and formed a circle. 

Now usually, people are shy. Or they don’t want to stand up, afraid they might lose their place on the bench. But these came immediately and eagerly. 

I began by telling them my Imagine Piano story, how it was under a tree outside just like this. I told them to imagine the piano here, John sitting there leading us. I told them, “His spirit is here now.”

Then I pointed at them one by one – there were twenty or thirty people – and said, “He’s in your heart. So he’s here.”

I led them in the song and then asked where they were from. Mexico, Hungary, Poland, Peru, Tibet! I said you’re my first person from Tibet! Greece. The lady in white. 

I told them the story of the Palestinian and the Israeli singing together here. 

There was something going on this night. Even on good nights, we have people who were dragged there or who weren’t into the group thing. But everyone was there. We were breathing as one.

I said, “Let’s memorize this moment. The freezing cold air. The lights in the park. The jagged skyline of The Dakota. The clear skies. 

Just that moment, a helicopter flew over. Way high up but we could hear it and see its lights in the distant sky.

“And that helicopter overhead.”

Everyone laughed. Just before that, fire engine horns had blared into our space. Ah, New York.

I mentioned how in an interview, John had said over and over that you have to think peace and imagine peace before you can have peace. I babbled on, “It’s hard to imagine since we just invaded Venezuela this morning. And there’s Ukraine…” I didn’t have words. I don’t like being political. But it was in the headlines. How do I not mention it?

Then most people began to leave. We sang another couple of songs and said goodnight. The last song was, “Don’t Let Me Down.”

As we were breaking down our equipment, the lady in white and a friend of hers approached. Both were stylish and beautiful, warm and gracious. 

She said, “We needed this.” Her friend jumped in, “We were just talking about Venezuela and wondering what can any of us do? We were just talking about that! And then we came here.”

When I got home, the first thing I saw on the TV was images of Maduro landing in New York via helicopter.

While the war machine was flying overhead, we were down below in a kind of prayer circle singing about peace.

Peace to us all, Steve

-

Watch the live video of Living in the Bonus Round on YouTube.

You are free to stream the songs below but purchasing them is the best way to support independent artists such as myself. Or if you have the means, you can make a small donation through PayPal or Venmo using my email address: steveshack@gmail.com.

And please share this with friends!

[This is the hand-crafted non-bot newsletter of Steve Schalchlin. If you wish to be removed from the list, send me an email. If someone sent you this and you want to be added, write me at steveshack@gmail.com]

#62: The Reviews are in!

 The best news happened on Tuesday. We got reviewed. One mentioned us on his Best of the Year roundup. Or as my fake press agent, whose name I keep changing, put it:

"The critics have confirmed that the December 9th concert was something special, with Peter Filichia declaring the ballad 'My New York Life' to be the 'song of the year for this type of venue' and noting that the applause sounded like it came from a crowd far larger than the room could hold. Mark Dundas Wood of BistroAwards agreed, headlining his review 'The Miracle of (More) Life' and praising the show’s unique 'jam session' intimacy, while identifying the surprise introduction of Dr. Bruce Dorsey as the 'evening’s most thrilling moment'."

Peter Filichia mentioned us on his Best of the Year podcast. Best of the year! 

If you're not in the theater, Peter is a noted theater historian and lover, author, and a legendarily opinionated, and much respected voice here in New York City. If he hates something, he will tell you. And if he loves something, he will fight for it. His only criticism, he told me that night, was that I didn't mention Potsie.

Normally, one-night shows by obscure songwriters on a cold Tuesday at 9 PM in a 60 seat theater don't get much attention. I didn't even know they would be there.

So, happy new year!

I was thinking back thirty years ago when I suddenly remembered a woman named Leslie. Something about her office at AIDS Project LA. What was I doing there?

Searching my diary archive, I discovered that on June 1996 I was literally walking the halls of APLA looking for someone who would listen to my songs. It was after the first reading at the Hollywood Roosevelt and before the three week workshop in July at the Zephyr. We had no idea what we were gonna do with this show and these songs.

I remembered being there. But not that I was a man possessed. Am I still a man possessed? Gavin says I'm the most intense person he's met. And he's from South Africa!

So, there was desperate me walking the halls when I came upon an offiice with a big window. A woman with shocking red hair sitting at a desk. Across from her desk in the corner was an upright piano covered in teddy bears and stuffed animals. Over her door? COMPLAINT department.

I knocked on the door, which was open and I guess I said I didn't have a complaint but that I had some songs I was desperate for people to hear, especially people with AIDS. Leslie Glick. A former dancer with a heart as big as the universe. She led to me volunteering there but I never met any bigwigs.

Now I'm standing on a stage with a presentation from the New York City Council and the head of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS to the chemist whose drug saved my life not long after that lonely walk down the halls of APLA. 30 years ago next July, we were unwrapping the bandages from my arm.

What now? The critics are calling this a 'miracle' and the 'best of the year.' I call it a foundation.

Do I have a plan? I had a plan walking down the halls to Leslie and her piano.

Same plan as always. Stay alive and live in the bonus round.

#61: Brian Krinsky's Stunning Moment

Here is the full Living in the Bonus Round concert video + Brian Krinsky's big moment.

You have to understand that no one in the cast of Living in the Bonus had heard the show before. Except for their particular moments, nothing was rehearsed. We had no run through. As we all told my story (with script), some cast and musicians were hearing it for the first time and reacted (crying, laughing) just as the audience did.

At this moment in the show, i'm talking about how I was only kept alive because I was surrounded by friends who cared for me. When I went to group therapy session, I realized how unique I was. Many people with AIDS simply died alone, too afraid to come out to their families, too afraid to even tell their own friends. Some seemed to just disappear.

It's the moment when I let my prideful self go and simply gave in to being cared for. I couldn't lift my head up off the pillow. 

So when Brian steps up to the mic to sing "Let Yourself Be Loved," he was barely holding on singing a song he had only just learned. You can see it in his eyes. Luckily, I hired Michael Lee Stevers (who also didn't know what was going to happen) to taped it professionally. So we caught the moment beautifully.

Link to his full performance, barely two minutes long. Watch it: https://youtu.be/7YhgJPFjaAQ

The spontaneity of the night was what made it so precarious and fun. Sue Matsuki, who produced the entire Winter Rhythms Festivel, in reviewing it, said it was an Off-Broadway show ready to go. (She also had no idea what we were going to do.)

Link to full hour-long show: https://youtu.be/8nISTbpm03w

You'll notice when you click through, that I've placed a fundraising tab at the end for Urban Stages. Winter Rhythms was a benefit for their summer schools programs that reach across the entire city into underserved communities. Even if you don't watch the show, go make a contribution anyway. https://www.urbanstages.org/support

This show, barely an idea in my mind four weeks prior, blossomed into something that no one was prepared for, not even me. I hope you enjoy it. Take some time during the holiday season to watch the magic unfold. It's totally free to watch. And have a great new year.

 

Steve (Jim says hi!)