alec spiegelman

Zoe Guigueno, Jason Burger, and I are Obscure Eddie, a new band, with a new record, and a new single (out today). We’ll play our entire yet-to-be-released album tonight at The Owl, on a bill with Joseph Keckler and Mehran Khaghani.

You can hear The Real World on any & all streaming services, today.

And you can bookmark (‘pre-save’) the full album, Obscure Eddie, to be released on Dec 8, (thereby letting the big central servers know you’re a fan-in-waiting)

I saw The Real World, growing up in the 90s. I wasn’t a big fan, but I have to admit I was pulled in. It was entertaining, and seemed well-conceived: a bunch of young- and barely- adults all living, uncomfortably cramped together, in some cultural capital. And the intense proximity of everybody would engender such intense reactions! Synthesis, decomposition, even combustion now and then. 

And everything was done in front of cameras! And that just made you wonder what you weren’t getting to see. Because there were intriguing privacies still, and some secrets teased at but withheld, and surely others never even captured. They must have turned those cameras off sometimes, just considering the meager data storage limitations of that bygone day. I bet that even now, at least for the moment, lots of life goes still un-recorded.

Standards on Snare, Mandolin, and Bass Clarinet is available (in hard copy, streaming, or downloadable) by following the preceding link, or by searching any of the usual music-rental platforms, as of today, Oct 6 2023

We’ll play the music from this album live, in the very neighborhood where it was recorded & mixed, at 7pm on Wednesday Oct 18 at the Coffee Mob Bar & Roastery (1602 Newkirk Ave, Brooklyn, NY)

I’ve got some other fun shows on the horizon: 

a solo set at The Owl this coming Thursday, Oct 12, sharing the night with Chelsea Crabtree and Izzy Oram-Brown. (songs new & old)

details to come …. but I’ll be joining a show in Charlottesville with the David Wax Museum on Saturday,  Nov 4!

a new (!) band, with a new album, “Obscure Eddie” (me and Jason Burger and Zoe Guigueno) plays the Owl on Friday, Nov 10, with Joseph Keckler and Mehran Khaghani

and, very exciting …. Cuddle Magic (!!) plays the Sultan Room on Monday, Nov 20, with BBWisely … get tickets!

Jacob Jolliff, Jason Burger, and I have recorded an album of standards. It’ll be available, via all of the big digital services from whom one rents music these days, on Oct 6. And we’ll be printing cds. And we’re gonna have a party, fittingly in the same neighborhood where we made the album, at the Coffee Mob Bar & Roastery, at 7pm, on Wednesday, Oct 18. 

The first track, Ornithology, comes out even earlier, on Sep 11, via those same services. You can put a bookmark on it right now (search for our names in your service of choice, or click through the links on my profile); you’ll, at once remind your future self, and also communicate to the central servers, in advance, your enthusiasm for jazz mandolin, bass clarinet, and snare drum trio recordings. 

(The same trio will play a couple of songs at the Adyhâropa Records label showcase, at The Owl in Brooklyn, on Saturday, Oct 28!)

And, btw … I’ve got other shows coming up soon if you’d like to hear me living & in-person:

Sep 2 – with The David Wax Museum at Nowhere Else Festival in Martinsville, OH

Sep 9 – with The David Wax Museum at the Steam Kettle Music Festival in Westwood, MA

Sep 10 – singing songs, and playing with Andrew Dimola’s Amanti Ensemble at the Middle East Corner, Central Square, Cambridge, MA, 8pm

Sep 16 – playing the saxophone with Charlie Kaplan at Rubulad, in Brooklyn, NY

Sep 21-22 – with The David Wax Museum at Americana Fest in Nashville, TN

Oct 5 – playing the flute with Adeline Hotel for the Hot Fruit Album Release at The Owl

Oct 12 – on a bill with Chelsea Crabtree and Izzy Oram Brown at The Owl Music Parlor, in Brooklyn

Oct 18 – the above-mentioned album release party for Standards on Snare, Mandolin, and Bass Clarinet, 7pm at Coffee Mob Bar & Roastery, in Brooklyn, NY

I’m really excited I’ll get to play a set of my songs, many from Airplane Mode, and some newer songs, for all the people who make it out to the Sultan Room on the evening of Thursday, Aug 3rd.

It’s a great bill they’ll be catching: Upstate, Nico Osborne, and me! (really nice place, you can get tickets.)

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Also coming up soon – some Red Hook imbibers will get to hear me and the Mike Robinson sing and play jazz & country classics, fondly remembered pop tunes, and the like, in the front room of Sunny’s Bar on Tuesday, July 18th.

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I have so many complicated anxieties concerning the extensive documentation, these days, of everything, everywhere, all the time. And yet … I am really happy to have this document of a very focused musical moment with a cast of the empathetic listeners, of which I feel blessed to have been a part. I will be able to watch this so many times, for so many years, and continue to refresh that wonderful memory. It’s amazing the times we live in.

that’s right. Friday June 23rd I join Jeffrey Foucault for his residency at Floodwater Brewing in Shelburne Falls, jammin sax on classics known & unknown, with, both stars, Jeremy Moses Curtis on bass and Don MacAulay on drums

Saturday, June 24th, at 8pm. I’ll play songs from Airplane Mode (and newer songs) at Tasty Burger in Harvard Square. Andrew Dimola will lead a set from his deep catalog of instrumentals, assisted by me on sax and multi-instrumentalist sound wizard Mike Greensteen on whatever he brings. (Doors are 7:30 for downstairs, but upstairs is open all day for tasty burgers, of course!)

I’m putting on a show at the Owl, at 497 Rogers Ave in Brooklyn, not far from the East side of Prospect Park, on Saturday, June 17.

I, Koof Ibi, and Talia Hannah have a tight night’s worth of vocal and instrumental material, including a few new collaborations among us. Nicole Patrick will play drums. David Cieri will play piano.

I think you’ll like it. Please do come by.

Doors open at 7:30pm, music commences at 8.

with Kaia Kater and Andrew Ryan, playing Kaia’s great songs – Wednesday April 26, at the legendary Cafe Wha?

with the David Wax Museum in celebration of their new album, You Must Change Your Life, a Dan Molad-produced gem on which I’m proud to have contributed sounds along with an excellent crew! (May 3-7 in the Northeast, May 17-20 in the Midwest)

then, performing Brittain Ashford‘s Trotter, her excellent new album on which I’m proud to have made some sounds, at Union Pool on Saturday, May 13. I’ll play in Brittain’s fabulous large band that night, and open the night with a set of my songs.

and on May 16, a set with the amazing & inspiring songwriter Zoe Guigueno, at P.I.T. in Brooklyn! (Zoe’s songs, four piece band with masters Isa Burke and Jason Burger.)

I’ve got a show at the Owl Music Parlor, April 1:

Short Set, Short Songs … along with Joseph Keckler and Bim Tyler!

FYI, I’m updating the website from down in Austin where I’m playing sets with the wonderful Kaia Kater, David Wax Museum, and Raina Rose. (also joining David & co for a forthcoming Mountain Stage performance & taping, as well as many shows all around the US this coming Spring!!)

And, recently saw the release of this glorious video & track with Taylor Ashton & Rachael Price!

Spending next week up in NH tracking stage 2 of an incredible album coming soon from Session Americana!!

Zoe Guigueno, Jason Burger, and I have been working on some new songs that you surely haven’t heard, and we’ll perform a bunch of them live, this coming Tuesday, Feb 14, at Rockwood Music Hall, Stage 1 in Manhattan. It’ll be a 45 minute set starting right at 8pm. And, our good friend, the excellent Bobby Hawk leads his band immediately following!

not only that … 
on Feb 16 I’ll join an incredible band, led by Michael Winograd, to recreate the classic album Tanz! (by Dave Tarras and the Musiker brothers). I will be humbled and happy, in the esteemed company of the finest contemporary klezmorim that night, at the Marlene Meyerson JCC in Manhattan.Tickets and info here: https://mmjccm.org/programs/person-michael-winograd-plays-tanz-live-album-recreation

Also I’m excited to note a bunch of David Wax Museum shows on the horizon, in particular 4 coming up fast, for which we’ll be onstage before some true musical masters, Los Lobos !!
2/17 – Peekskill, NY
2/19 – Fairfield, CT
2/26 – Charlottesville, VA
2/27 – Winston Salem, NC

And (so many gifts here!) … I get to join the masterful songwriter (and my friend, and longtime collaborator) Ana Egge for shows on Mar 2 (in Bethesda, MD) and Mar 4 (at the Jalopy Theatre in Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood.)

and that comes not just from me but also all of Cuddle Magic, from the bathroom

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and we have more music, in the can!

Also …

I’m gonna get to sing lots of my favorite christmas songs this Friday (Dec 23) at the Owl, in collaboration with Oren Bloedow, Elizabeth Ziman, Charlie Burnham, Adam Minkoff, Dave Flaherty, Julia Easterlin & Akie Bermiss. Please join us if you can! 7:30pm doors, 8pm show.