November 12 – Tuesday – Steve Forbert – Alive on Arrival

Another album that holds up, for me.

Steve Forbert was popular on the New York scene in the late 70s, and you just got the feeling that he would always be popular somewhere. And he is still active, writing, singing and touring. This was his debut album featuring his raspy, folksy sound. I had to listen to the lovely “It Isn’t Gonna Be That Way,” a strikingly beautiful song about pessimism, twice. Ah, irony – in a less whimsical way though than say, Warren Zevon’s “Excitable Boy,” which, in my humble opinion refines the Beatles’ “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer.”

Something I hadn’t realized – Steve Forbert plays Cyndi Lauper’s boyfriend in the video of “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.”

On another note, some years back, oh maybe about 15, I heard that he was playing downtown with Carolyne Mas. I was living in Queens, and working on Long Island at that time and not too inclined to go into the city on a weeknight only to come in bleary-eyed the next day, so I didn’t go. Another regret, albeit a mild one.

I went to high school with Carolyne Mas, and I really liked a couple of the songs from her debut album. In fact, in one of her videos she was sporting a bowler hat, and I thought I had to get me one. Though I didn’t do that until I saw the movie The Unbearable Lightness of Being, I can say that because of Carolyne Mas and Lena Olin, I am the proud owner of a bowler. I couldn’t find a photo of Carolyne in the bowler, though there are lots of pictures of her in other hats, so I give you Lena Olin. Now that’s a goal to shoot for.