HippieMBA

trappedintime:

Ray LaMontagne & The Pariah Dogs - “New York City Is Killing Me”

I’ve always enjoyed LaMontagne’s songwriting, but wondered what kind of future he had as a solo artist, strumming and singing.  So when I heard a track off this new album a week ago on XRT, I went and downloaded the entire thing.  I’m very impressed by the musicianship in his band, The Pariah Dogs, as well as the overall feel of this album.  It has a laid back ‘70’s feel to it, yet still comes across as very fresh. All of the recording took place at LaMontagne’s home in backwoods of Massachusetts, and he’s produced the entire album himself, another first.  Definitely worth a listen, and an album that I think will have good replay value as the summer starts to wind down into fall. 

Oh, hells yeah.  I moved away from NYC to Ithaca for Grad School.  While I was getting my MBA, I was still producing two Off-Broadway shows in Manhattan, so I had to go back down on a semi-regular basis.  Before I moved I was really uncertain about it, because I just felt like I couldn’t let it go.  Before long that started to feel like a really bad addiction, and once I took a close look at where we’d be moving to, I just wanted to be there (here).  So I moved up and started classes and when I first began to go down to NYC again it just hurt.  It was disgusting and felt horrible.  It took so much for me to extricate myself from that city that to go back to it felt like I think it must feel (since many have told me) for someone who really quits smoking for good to one day have another cigarette (they tell me it’s disgusting, but that’s really when they have quit for good).  This song picks up that sentiment perfectly.  I love it.  I’ll be getting this whole album shortly.

Fortunately, the pain that I was experiencing going to NYC has subsided.  I actually love to go back on occasion, but now I think it’s because I go back as a tourist.  I don’t have to live there anymore.  It was wonderful while I was younger, but it is really fucking hard, and I don’t mind saying that I’m too old for that shit.