Uncle Warren's Attic 75 - The Barry McGuire Episode

Click on the pod icon or this link to download/listen to Uncle Warren's Attic #75.

This 75th episode of Uncle Warren's Attic tells the story of when I met Barry McGuire, the 1960s folksinger who morphed into a 1970s contemporary Christian music singer and now tours the world with a show called "Tripping the Sixties."

It's the story of my latest book, A Scream of Consciousness, and of my latest little homemade recording, Ten Thousand Days. You'll hear Barry sing a well-known sixties tune and a live solo rendition of "God Like the Wind." You'll hear me sing a song I wrote a long time ago called "Just Today" and a more recent one called "All That's Left You."

If you've hung around for 75 episodes, thanks! If you're new to this, welcome to my Attic!

And if you're ever in Green Bay, make sure you stop by the Cup O'Joy!

UW Attic 101: Back Where I Belong

Introducing "Back Where I Belong" from my new music project Ten Thousand Days and beginning a reading of my book Refuse to be Afraid. This begins a 10-week (ish) series that will feature a song from the album and an excerpt of the book. You can collect all 10 podcasts to get the picture slowly but surely, or you can go to my bookstore or CD Baby or iTunes to buy and/or download the book and album in their entirety today.

Here's your handy guide to today's episode:
Intro/Not to Return - Randy Bachman
Back Where I Belong - w.p. bluhm
(Robert Palmer concert ad)
Buy For Me The Rain - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Cheese Curds, Booyah and Beer - Fred Alley
(Roy Orbison for Coca-Cola)
Refuse to be Afraid - Introduction - Warren Bluhm
The Banana Boat Song - The Tarriers

Click on the Pod icon or here to listen/download UW Attic 101 - Here are your links to the album and the book. Have fun!!!

Ten Thousand Days preview: You Can't Be Trusted

Hi folks! Happy Election Day. Here's a tune for the day from my upcoming album Ten Thousand Days, releasing Nov. 9. Also watch for Uncle Warren's Attic #101. Click on the pod icon or right here to listen!

Ten Thousand Days minus 150 equals ...

I DID write "coming soon" in this post, didn't I?

Well, in that "we are just a blip in the timeline of eternity" sense, my set of new songs Ten Thousand Days is indeed coming soon.

And so is Refuse to Be Afraid.

And so is The Imaginary Revolution.

And so are podcasts with the "Uncle Warren's Attic Productions" imprint on them.

All in their time, my friends. All in their time. It's been a busy year away from cyberspace. Much has changed. And much has not.

Thank you, so much, for checking in to see.

Offline and back

I've been offline for a few weeks while things change (for the better) in the day job. Three years ago I was invited to move from the small town to the big (well, medium-sized) city; last fall I let it be known that I was content with the job but miss the small town. Now I'm being moved back to a place that I pretty much loved for five years, and I'm tickled. Official announcements are still to come.

In the meantime a variety of projects remain in limbo, including my 20th homemade album, Ten Thousand Days, and its accompanying series of podcasts ... the long-promised book Refuse to Be Afraid ... and my little Christian music podcast Ikthuscast, which I find myself thinking may have run its course after 150 installments.

I have at least one book report to write up for you and a handful of other thoughts and observations, but for this morning I just wanted to check in and say hello. As for that yet-to-be-announced change I started this note with, I've become one of those folks who is getting paid to do work he loves, and that is always good news.

Coming Soon: Ten Thousand Days

The guitar is back in my hands, and my fingers are rusty. But it feels good.

Last year, Barry McGuire and John York brought their Trippin' the Sixties show to Green Bay, and the next afternoon Barry spoke and sang a few songs at the Cup O'Joy up the street. It was a weekend that changed my life, and not just because he led the Cup crowd in singing me "Happy Birthday."

That Sunday night, I pulled out the guitar for the first time in ages and wrote a song for the first time in ages. I had chuckled with Barry as he described writing "Greenback Dollar" with those trusty old chords, G and C, and an Em thrown in for good measure. Out came "Back Where I Belong," which begins with words that listeners of Uncle Warren's Attic #57 might recognize:

"I was dead and gone, but now I'm better ..."

That was just the start. For the next month songs came pouring out of my brain, almost like a dam had burst and emitted tunes. By the end of May — April, really, just one song came out in May — I had a pile of songs that fit together so well I was pretty sure I had an album in hand.

Almost 12 months gone now, and those tunes have been percolating in my mind. It's long past time to pick up the guitar, confront the microphone, and start sharing them.

And so ... watch this space. And make sure you're still subscribed to the Uncle Warren's Attic RSS feed, because that's where the first versions of these songs will be coming.