New Single: Someone to Get Groceries With

Last year, I was feeling so old and tired, I literally told myself I was never going to write another song. That I was out of ideas. Exhausted. Suddenly this year, I'm writing the best songs of my life. There's a lesson here, that if you stop trying so hard and just let the stress and expectations go, the light of inspiration will pop up and shine everywhere you're not looking. That's how this song happened. It came from a personal ad brought to me by Blake Zoflo, from my Bonus Round Band. It was such an honest statement, "someone to get groceries with," I immediately wrote it down. Maybe that wish was a reflection of how I was feeling, that instead of looking for THE GREAT AMERICAN SONG with high expectations or unrealistic goals, maybe what we really need in life is a simple song on a small scale, something clear and honest and real. Blake helped me shape it and I recorded him singing it. If this doesn't melt your heart, you ain't got no heart! :) Someone to Get Groceries With Spotify link https://open.spotify.com/track/5Pr3k6QuduSf0WzL4L3jgq?si=11df76d37a104641 YouTube link https://youtu.be/vKeihne7JiQ?si=IfEwjwLqtxWbUtv4 Apple Music link https://music.apple.com/us/album/someone-to-get-groceries-with-feat-bonus-round-band/1748334462?i=1748334463 Amazon Music link https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0D4XCVRGL?marketplaceId=ATVPDKIKX0DER&musicTerritory=US&ref=dm_sh_lj1hJH2sw2ZxcAwkXTsrBQZ0t If you purchase the track from Apple Music or Amazon, more money comes to the artists (that's me and Leo the cat!) but you are welcome to stream it for free. If you wish to support my work more directly using PayPal or Venmo, use my email address steveshack@gmail.com. [This is the hand crafted no-bot Steve Schalchlin Newsletter. If you wish to unsubscribe, just hit reply and send me a note. If you got this indirectly and you wish me to be on it, write me directly at steveshack@gmail.com! I send it out every Tuesday.] -- Steve Schalchlin Living in the Bonus Round Spotify Links Love Songs by Steve Schalchlin Spotify Playlist https://tinyurl.com/stevelovesongs Personal Songs by Steve Schalchlin Spotify Playlist https://tinyurl.com/stevepersonal Comic/Humor Songs by Steve Schalchlin Spotify Playlist https://tinyurl.com/stevehumor Inspirational Songs by Steve Schalchlin Spotify Playlist https://tinyurl.com/steveinspire Meditation Music by Steve Schalchlin Spotify Playlist https://tinyurl.com/stevemeditate Political Songs by Steve Schalchlin Spotify Playlist https://tinyurl.com/stevepolitics

New Single: Oh You Devil

 Thank you for the wonderful notes I got last week after I talked about the loss of two of my best friends. It really warmed my heart to know I'm not alone. Many shared their own experiences of loss and how they coped.

Gavin Gold and I have been playing Beatles songs in Central Park at Strawberry Fields. I've been taping many of the tourists singing along. If you haven't seen them, they are adorable!

Here is "April" singing "Norwegian Wood" with me: 

https://youtu.be/wsq7fgb4k6Y?si=Gw4KYH2-9HjdGxZR

Here are a bunch of tourists singing "Imagine" with us:

https://youtu.be/rLn2t6rwosA?si=iArQjr6el11lcK1_

I'll think you'll get a kick out of them. 

Today's new release is not a love song, but something a bit humorous and a bit edgy because it's my rumination on fame and religion featuring the devil, Jesus and Elvis Presley. Though it takes a slightly caustic eye, a friend of mine who is very religious says it's his favorite song of mine. Another, who is not religious at all, says it's his favorite. So there you go.  

And for my friends who are hard of hearing, the lyrics are included below the links. (Forgive the ALL CAPS).

Official Oh You Devil YouTube link: 

https://youtu.be/HCeMNLEdlWw?si=9ixjdfOK7jjNarIl

Spotify Oh You Devil link: 

https://open.spotify.com/track/6zRq3KO8MSVC4nKrFa6aJE?si=6e02af33ff134078

OH YOU DEVIL

©2024 by Steve Schalchlin

I ONCE WROTE A SONG FOR THE DEVIL

THE DEVIL NEVER WROTE A SONG FOR ME

HE SAID, GET OVER IT MAN I’M THE DEVIL

A SONG FOR YOU

WOULD BE A REDUNDANCY

AND I SAID OH OH OH YOU DEVIL

ARE YOU SAYING I’M MY OWN WORST ENEMY?

YOU ARE STILL THE DEVIL I KNOW

BUT YOU WERE BORN AN ANGEL

IS A DEVIL WHAT YOU REALLY WANT TO BE?

I ONCE WROTE A SONG TO JESUS

JESUS NEVER WROTE A SONG FOR ME

I SAID JESUS WON’T YOU HELP ME 

WITH MY BURDENS

HE SAID, LOOK AROUND, SON, COME ON, YOU’RE ALREADY FREE

AND I SAID OH OH OH YOU DEVIL

ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY I’M MY OWN WORST ENEMY?

WELL, IT’S STILL THE DEVIL I KNOW

HE SAID, YOU WERE BORN AN ANGEL

AND AN ANGEL IS WHAT YOU WILL ALWAYS BE

I ONCE WROTE A SONG TO ELVIS PRESLEY

I SAID ELVIS, GUESS WHAT, YOU’RE A DEITY

HE SAID ALL YOU GOTTA DO IS DIE WHEN THEY STILL LOVE YOU

AND YOU WILL STAY THE AGE THEY THEY WANTED YOU TO BE

AND I SAID OH OH OH YOU DEVIL

ARE YOU SAYING I CAN’T LIVE UNTIL I DIE

I’M STILL THE DEVIL I KNOW

THO I WAS BORN AN ANGEL

I KEEP A BIT OF DEVIL IN MY EYE

New Single: Past Life

 The full studio version of PAST LIFE, my new single this week, is available for preview, with links to the streaming services on this page.

https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/steveschalchlin/past-life-feat-bonus-round-band

Or there's a YouTube link. https://youtu.be/rm6vp_b0-P0?si=nNnJc3zUirjJbKAb

I'm dedicating this to two people who I lost last month under tragic circumstances, Chris Parks and Ronda Espy. 

Ronda was the music publisher and producer of The Last Session, believing in me (along with her husband, Kim) when I was at my most weak. When death was literally around the corner until the new drug arrived, which I received as a result of a nationwide lottery. She suffered an accident that cascaded tragically. I will never be able to repay her or her family for what they did for me in the worst of circumstances.

Chris was an Internet friend and vet who I met in person and who suffered from PTSD in ways I can't begin to describe. I'm still unsure of what happened because I don't know his family. 

I hope you listen and enjoy. And if you purchase it on Apple Music or Amazon Music, that'll help feed Leo the Cat. 

New Single: I Only See You Young

 I'm proud to announce I've released "I Only See You Young" as a new single. 

This link will take you to where you can listen to it, whether you're on a streaming service or not.

https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/steveschalchlin/i-only-see-you-young-feat-bonus-round-band-2

Enjoy!

Tourists singing "Imagine" at Strawberry Fields - Aug 1 2024

Steve Schalchlin Serenity Concert Feb 1 2024

My comeback!

Yesterday (Beatles cover)

Working Class Hero (John Lennon cover)

Beatles Revolution by Strawberry Feels

My friend Gavin Gold and I have created a new Beatles cover duo called Strawberry Feels.

Follow-up

 The Denver production was glorious. I'm not writing much in this blog because I'm writing a private diary and doing social media elsewhere, though I confess I'm really more into music, exercise, my acting class and being alive than I am about being a social media personality. It's just too exhausting.

Also, I've worked out my book outline and believe I should focus on that. It'd make a great movie.

It would! 

Also, we went to dinner in the Village with friends. I love these old places. This bathroom is exquisite.

Artwork for TLS/Denver (Littleton)

 

70th Birthday Present-TLS Littleton

I'm turning 70 next week and, with TLS-Littleton suddenly blooming in the mountains, I'm accepting it as the most perfect birthday present imaginable.

 
I'm getting excited all over again about The Last Session songs and score. They're asking me questions.

 
Like I know anything.

 
The true birthday Gift is the idea that a new generation of producers and performers have rediscovered our show, one that never had the visibility of its cross-town sister, Rent.

 
This cast has seen a lot of life. They have lived through things none of us know about. That's what will be on that stage, and it's thrilling.

They will channel all that lived experience into the raw emotions of the songs of TLS.

 
They're tearing into it with jam sessions -- and I gave them the freedom to play with it and make it their own, within logical boundaries, of course.

 
There's a wonderful experiment called "Take it too far." Where you get a totally crazy idea or an approach and you give yourself permission, at least one time, to go way too far with it.

 
Sometimes you can't go far enough. If you don't punch the boundary, you can't find the boundary. We live and breathe within those boundaries, so we better be punching hard -- but then, easing back.

Truths don't need a lot of drama.

Real Truth, when you find it, is dead simple.

I want to see who these actors are through the words and feelings of our beloved Gideon, Tryshia, Vickie, Buddy and Jim.

It makes sense that they would find The Last Session now. It's a good piece and simple to produce.

https://townhallartscenter.org/

Prebeat to Living in the Bonus Round 1-4

 I've begun uploading the new TikTok series, one chapter at a time. Hopefully, the story will spread and help us sell the new production in Littleton, colorado.

 https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPR7MkTKq/

Chapter 2 

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPR76KRCW/

Chapter 3

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPR763TXH

Chapter 4

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPR7MLmUj/

Monks at a Tea Party, a film

The Last Session London Original Cast Album

Meditation I: Letting Go - Bonus Round Band