I spent last weekend down in NYC haunting around with some of my best friends. It was nice to get back down there after hiding out the last few months upstate. I got the chance to hang out with a friend of a friend who is also a songwriter and fronts a cool lower east side based band. It turned out we have very similar approaches to writing tunes and creating demos. It seemed like whenever we had the opportunity we jumped pretty deep in “songwriter talk.” After a few such instances our other friends banned us from “geeking out” on stuff that isn’t all that interesting to everyone else. We obliged, recognizing that songwriter talk can be pretty exclusive to those that aren’t inclined. After the fact, however, I couldn’t help but to feel fortunate to work in a professional where there seems to be endless conversation pieces. In some way it’s like the only thing that keeps us songwriters from unbridled social awkwardness. I mean we’ve got technique to chew on, production elements, live performance, the biz, the lifestyle and uhhh, the music . . . In a way it sort of makes me wonder what the hell I would talk to people about if I weren’t a songwriter. Cars? Ehh too expensive. Wine? Nah, makes you sound elitist. Film? Well maybe, but I wouldn’t like it nearly as much.