A Twitter inspired shout out

I tweet. I do. I chronicle my life (not in minute detail, but with a few details nonetheless). Still, until very recently, it was a private affair shared with only a few key individuals.

As of late, I have been receiving a lot of "follow" requests. I think this probably stems from the fact that I began "following" Rachel Maddow and Sasha Frere-Jones, and some Twitterites assumed that I would be an interesting person to follow due to my choice of company. They assumed incorrectly, and I saved them the pain of reading my banal updates by denying their requests.

My curiosity got the best of me, however, when it came to one Twitter request from a Sam Jacobs (a.k.a. The Flying Change). I jumped down the rabbit hole, following the link from his Twitter account to his website. Lo and behold: music!

I'll allow Sam to speak for himself (words from the website's Bio page):

The Flying Change is the songwriting and performance vehicle driven by New York-based artist and technologist Sam Jacobs. Sam used to write and record under the name Lipstik but people found the name distracting and he didn’t care enough not to change it. As Lipstik, Jacobs released one full length titled ‘Everything Is Good’ in 2006, one EP titled ‘There Is Only One Thing’ in Winter 2008 and numerous demos, covers, and experiments through his monthly email list (which remains, thankfully, intact).

When you’re riding a horse, there are two types of lead changes, whereby the horse moving in a canter or gallop, changes leads. The first is the simple change. The second and more difficult maneuver is the flying change. You can, or should be able to, see how this could be a metaphor for life and living.

Most importantly, the title comes from the Pulitzer-prize winning book of poems titled ‘The Flying Change’ written by Henry Taylor. Henry went to school with Sam’s father...

You can listen to the Lipstik LP and EP on the Flying Change website under the Discography section, and you can buy these albums from the same place or through the iTunes music store. You can also listen to the new album, Pain Is A Reliable Signal, with the website music player. The music is well-crafted, fun, and reminds me of some beautiful State Radio/Jack Johnson/Jack's Mannequin hybrid. My favorite song, so far, is "Don't Look Away," a little tune that starts off sounding a bit melancholy, but fleshes out that feeling with horn-work and tech-noises. I am so glad that Sam Jacobs tried to friend me on Twitter, and succeeded in adding a wonderful layer to my Spring 2009 soundtrack.