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Two significant occurrences in the past 12 months has caused a seismic shift for a lot of people around the United States.  

The first is the tumultuous campaign for the 46th presidency of the US.  The second, being the arrival of Covid 19.  Many people in the arts as well as other walks of life, have had to transform and redefine themselves in the wake of no employment, lower wages and the angst of political turmoil for the foreseeable future. 

In this special series, Martin talks with Councilperson David Heuvelman of Norwalk, CT.  Councilperson Heuvelman was exactly a year ago working in the arts and enjoying a middle class lifestyle along with his wife and son.  Fast forward a year, and Heuvelman, who lost his employment in the industry,  had to reinvent himself by choosing to enter local politics, winning his seat on the Norwalk City Council and decide to go to law school.  Heivelman explains at his decision to take his future and his community's future into his hands.  

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MARTIN'S MUSIC:
Music | Martin Laurence McCormack (bandcamp.com)
Martin McCormack | Spotify

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Happy New Year!

This podcast has two parts.

Part One

Marty talks about the New Year and the history behind New Year's Resolutions.  Why they are different from goals.  How setting goals helps one achieve a balanced life.  And how one should avoid any resolution unless it is a resolve to make some goals.

Part Two

What are Marty's goals with music for 2021?  Give a listen to three tracks from three upcoming albums, plus a work track! 

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We are always grateful to have you listening to STRUNG OUT.    Here are some important links:

SUPPORT THE SHOW:
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MARTIN'S WEBSITE:
http://www.MARTINMcCORMACK.COM 
(note---you can get my weekly bulletin when you sign up on the list!)

MARTIN'S MUSIC:
Music | Martin Laurence McCormack (bandcamp.com)
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Happy New Year!  Or is it more like "Happy to see this year go?"  Marty and Annie take a look at 2020 from the perspective of what good things happened this year.   They also talk about some good websites that have helped them during the pandemic.  Also, there are resolutions, right? Well tune in to hear what they have in mind.  All this and three full songs for you to enjoy on STRUNG OUT. 

Support the show

We are always grateful to have you listening to STRUNG OUT.    Here are some important links:

SUPPORT THE SHOW:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/MartyfineaK

MARTIN'S WEBSITE:
http://www.MARTINMcCORMACK.COM 
(note---you can get my weekly bulletin when you sign up on the list!)

MARTIN'S MUSIC:
Music | Martin Laurence McCormack (bandcamp.com)
Martin McCormack | Spotify

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Martin McCormack - YouTube

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We have a special two part special for you, all on one podcast episode.

Part One.  We talk about the Winter Solstice.  Anne de Courtenay, our resident "witch" helps us unravel the dark mysteries that surround the darkest (and longest) night of the year.

Part Two.  What is your favorite Christmas television special?  Was it Rudolph, Frosty or was it something adapted from the movies, like "A Christmas Story?"  Marty and Annie look at  a lot of nostalgic shows, starting with the 1950's classics Suzy Snowflake, Hardrock, Coco and Joe. and Frosty the Snowman.  Annie talks about a couple of new Netflix shows that are for the kid in all of us that have great holiday specials, Costume Quest, that has an amazing salute to Hanukah and Home, which is adapted from the movie of the same name. 

Throw in two Martin McCormack holiday originals and it's a pretty amazing show. 

Support the show

We are always grateful to have you listening to STRUNG OUT.    Here are some important links:

SUPPORT THE SHOW:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/MartyfineaK

MARTIN'S WEBSITE:
http://www.MARTINMcCORMACK.COM 
(note---you can get my weekly bulletin when you sign up on the list!)

MARTIN'S MUSIC:
Music | Martin Laurence McCormack (bandcamp.com)
Martin McCormack | Spotify

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On this podcast, Marty talks about how difficult it is to find middle ground.  After introducing one of his brothers to the writings of historian Heather Cox Richardson, he is in turn told by that brother that "in the eyes of Jon Haidt" such a writer would not be worth her weight in salt.  Intrigued by his brothers objection over a fairly objective writer, Marty decided to explore just exactly who Jon Haidt is and what is his game.  Marty was delighted to find a great article about this professor from May 24, 2020 in the Atlantic Magazine, written by Peter Wehner.  The article touches on the how Haidt tries to be a centrist in a world that is filled with increasing factionalism.  That there is a moral responsibility for a  democracy to find discourse and an exchange of ideas.    Haidt has spent his life trying to qualify and teach how people can achieve this civic morality.    Ironically, Haidt (like Richardson) tend to view the world through the lens of history, confusing Marty as to why his brother would even infer that a like minded person like Haidt would be opposed to Richardson.  The upshot is a long pondering on factionalism, what it has brought us and how challenging it is to create the dynamic of exchanging ideas without them being shot down.   Even in one's own family, coming from the same background!   Marty then proceeds to talk about the responsibility musicians have in creating "morally" in a  society.   Is it right to have artists that choose to glorify subjects that tend to decay and tear society for money?  Are they no different than entertainer-pundits who preach factionalism for money?   When is expression artistic or just factionalism is "artistic" clothing.   Throughout the podcast we come up for air with some music from Marty's new album "Everydayeveryday."   Please support Marty and this podcast by sharing with friends or giving a financial gift.

Support the show

We are always grateful to have you listening to STRUNG OUT.    Here are some important links:

SUPPORT THE SHOW:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/MartyfineaK

MARTIN'S WEBSITE:
http://www.MARTINMcCORMACK.COM 
(note---you can get my weekly bulletin when you sign up on the list!)

MARTIN'S MUSIC:
Music | Martin Laurence McCormack (bandcamp.com)
Martin McCormack | Spotify

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Part  1
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."   We take a look at the contemporary historian Heather Cox-Richardson.

Martin may refer to her at Cathleen Richardson, who is hotwired in  his brain as a great Chicago area rocker.  Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. 

Heather Cox Richardson is an expert in nineteenth-century America, specializing in politics and economics. Her most recent book, To Make Men Free, A History of the Republican Party From 1854 To The Present, was released in 2014.

 Sign up for her free newsletter at this link.   

Part Two

Paul Schneider's full review of Everydayeveryday:
 

For an artist, these are truly unique times. The Covid-19 pandemic, if approached the right way, provides the artist not only new inspiration, but a new way of approaching his or her craft.

Such is the situation with Martin McCormack. After two and a half decades as one half of the duo Switchback, McCormack realized that, with the pandemic shutting down the entertainment industry and he and his partner Brian FitzGerald losing potentially 200 gigs in 2020, he had to do something else. So, picking up his guitar, he tried to write a song a day. 

The result is McCormack's first solo album, "Everydayeveryday," Fans of Switchback know that the band has a split personality - sometimes they're one of the top Celtic-American acts around, while other times a rootsy Americana group, their songs sounding like they were born from the dirt and grit of the Midwest.

"Everydayeveryday" takes the listener in a completely new direction. McCormack uses the wizardry of the studio - and little help from some talented friends - to produce a collection of 10 tunes of contemplation, introspection, hope and love. Safe to say that none of these songs would feel at home on a Switchback album. McCormack spreads his wings as a writer, alternating at times between the contemplative opening ballad, "Song for August,"  the hopeful pseudo title track "Everyday," a couple of kids tunes, "Fear" and "Summer," and the album's closer, "Time," a six-minute meditation on, well, the everyday.

The album opens with "August," a tune about a dear relative who died far too young. Yet McCormack shows himself as the eternal optimist, trying to build everyone up around him despite the funereal atmosphere of the present, asking for hope in these most troubled times: "We welcome the dark/as the night gathers fire/Feel the warmth of a beautiful sunrise."

From there, "Everyday" takes us back to when times were happier, but even then McCormack looks at the bright side: "All is not lost" he repeats at the coda. "Fear," lyrically a very grown up song about, rather than fearing fear, embracing it and using it to move forward, is nevertheless set against a happy melody that belies the subject matter. It's an interesting presentation, as is "Ill Wind," McCormack's observation of the pandemic and how it's affected his, and our, lives, driven by an unexpected upbeat arrangement.

The musical good times continue on the Beatlesesque "Love to Love," all the way down to the Lennon wordplay of "I love the way you love to love me with love." It would make for a good wedding song. "Summertime" is the other kids tune on here, right down to the harmony vocals provided by - who else? - McCormack's 7-year old daughter Aine. 

While there are a couple of tunes that don't stand up to the rest of the album, for his first solo effort, McCormack draws upon his years of experience as a songwriter to step out of the constraints of his band and produce a strong solo debut. A bundle of restless energy, McCormack continues to write everyday and said he has enough songs for at least two more albums. Don't make us wait too long.

Support the show

We are always grateful to have you listening to STRUNG OUT.    Here are some important links:

SUPPORT THE SHOW:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/MartyfineaK

MARTIN'S WEBSITE:
http://www.MARTINMcCORMACK.COM 
(note---you can get my weekly bulletin when you sign up on the list!)

MARTIN'S MUSIC:
Music | Martin Laurence McCormack (bandcamp.com)
Martin McCormack | Spotify

MARTIN'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL
Martin McCormack - YouTube

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Well, Covid has changed the world, and part of that change is how Martin McCormack has had to deal with the collapse of the music world.  But more importantly, whether to rise above that change or sink below it.  

Those following this podcast or the Mr. Marty Show have seen that Martin has continued along the trajectory of the mission of his art.  That is, to create community, to bring people together of all stripes and to live a life of joy.  Part of that effort is explained in this podcast.  An "Apoligia" of sorts.  Because there are some folks who are confused as to what will happen with the band Switchback as well as what is going to happen on the music scene in general.  McCormack addresses those topics and gives little insight into the reason behind some of his songs on the album "everydayeveryday". 

The first solo release by Martin Laurence McCormack in two decades, Everydayeveryday is a collection of exciting tunes that have been written during the pandemic.  Going in a direction that recalls McCormack's earlier days with the band Beyond Blue, but also with the same energy as his band Switchback.  Joining McCormack on the album is the musical arrangements and contributions by Chicagoans Mike Hagler and Paul Von Mertens.  McCormacks daughter, Aine also joins him for some enjoyable duets.  Also available on Apple Music, Spotify and Pandora.

Support the show

We are always grateful to have you listening to STRUNG OUT.    Here are some important links:

SUPPORT THE SHOW:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/MartyfineaK

MARTIN'S WEBSITE:
http://www.MARTINMcCORMACK.COM 
(note---you can get my weekly bulletin when you sign up on the list!)

MARTIN'S MUSIC:
Music | Martin Laurence McCormack (bandcamp.com)
Martin McCormack | Spotify

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We speak with journalist/activist/grassroots arts advocate and all around fantastic guy, Doug Kamholz.  We explore the creation of his weekly observance "Wednesday Mornings With Moxie" that served as a "not-so-underground" reflection on the Trump regime.  We also discuss the dysfunctional media (or so-called media) that pervades the partisan atmosphere in the country.

In Doug's own words......

    On the morning after Donald Trump was elected I wrote to a few dozen friends, revealing the depth of my depression at such an ill-advised act by my fellow Americans.  I continued my weekly Wednesday tales of woe for a few weeks before deciding the time for wallowing was over.  Quoting Mother Jones and Joe Hill I embarked on a four-year project of weekly missives called Wednesday Moorings with Moxie.  They ranged from rage to parody and back again, almost always with the man I called the Dorito-in-chief at the center.  I tried to avoid screed; there was enough of that out there.  My goal was to bring news my several hundred readers had not heard elsewhere and to give those readers articulations of arguments forged from half a century of writing and political activism.  In fact for some time I had been referring to myself as a media activist.

    On the morning after Donald Trump was voted out of office – well, a few mornings, really – I sent my last Wednesday Moorings with Moxie.  I am humbled by the many responses to my writing over the past four years and at the project’s conclusion.  I know it helped my weather these awful times, and it seems it did the same for many others.
                                                                                     -30 - 

Support the show

We are always grateful to have you listening to STRUNG OUT.    Here are some important links:

SUPPORT THE SHOW:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/MartyfineaK

MARTIN'S WEBSITE:
http://www.MARTINMcCORMACK.COM 
(note---you can get my weekly bulletin when you sign up on the list!)

MARTIN'S MUSIC:
Music | Martin Laurence McCormack (bandcamp.com)
Martin McCormack | Spotify

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Martin McCormack - YouTube

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The first of two interviews with writer, activist and arts promoter Doug Kamholz.  Though not a household name, Kamholz's life story is something what Joseph Campbell would call "the hero's journey."  A more than unusual birth.  Studying and working at a college literally built by he and his fellow students.  Doing all three things one could do when faced with the draft notice for Vietnam.  Establishing two communes in the years after the war. A foray into journalism and gaining the accolades of mainstream media.  Then turning on a dime to follow his embrace of grassroots activism. Create and run a source of literary resistance, called "Wednesday Mornings with Moxie" that was sent across the world as part of an underground of those seeking solace and knowledge during the Trump administration.    Kamholz is able to tell a compelling story that gives him the bully pulpit to expound upon what it takes to serve one's community, one's muse and one's convictions without sacrificing one for the other.  A compelling listen from a true son of the Midwest. 

Support the show

We are always grateful to have you listening to STRUNG OUT.    Here are some important links:

SUPPORT THE SHOW:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/MartyfineaK

MARTIN'S WEBSITE:
http://www.MARTINMcCORMACK.COM 
(note---you can get my weekly bulletin when you sign up on the list!)

MARTIN'S MUSIC:
Music | Martin Laurence McCormack (bandcamp.com)
Martin McCormack | Spotify

MARTIN'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL
Martin McCormack - YouTube

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Marty and Annie talk about the euphoria that at first took over their neighborhood in Chicago upon the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.  But a lot of questions remain?  What about the people (many in our families) who voted for President Trump?  What about the world that Trump is now leaving us, even as he refuses to concede or leave the White House?  Can one be a gracious winner if the other is an angry, sore loser, accusing others of cheating?  At what point do we set aside our differences and move forward?  Or do we go right at and settle them for once and all?  There is a lot more work out there in our journey toward a more perfect union.  Part of that journey is choosing how to deal with all the lingering anger over the last four years.  And making sure that those who supported Trump do not have to experience the malevolence his administration visited on the country.  Join us as we search for answers!

Support the show

We are always grateful to have you listening to STRUNG OUT.    Here are some important links:

SUPPORT THE SHOW:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/MartyfineaK

MARTIN'S WEBSITE:
http://www.MARTINMcCORMACK.COM 
(note---you can get my weekly bulletin when you sign up on the list!)

MARTIN'S MUSIC:
Music | Martin Laurence McCormack (bandcamp.com)
Martin McCormack | Spotify

MARTIN'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL
Martin McCormack - YouTube

FACEBOOK
Facebook...