Welcome to a very special edition of the Ohio Spotlight.  November 9th is Local Music Day in Dayton.  This idea comes from Daryl (Derl) Robbins, who you might know from such bands as the widely-praised Motel Beds,  and corporate lackeys Company Man. 

Why is Local Music Day special?  Here's Derl's explanation from the event's official website:

What it is 

Think of it like record store day but instead of you buying that one Eagles record again, you’ll be buying exclusive releases from local artists made especially for this event. You need this. 

There will also be bands. Stay tuned.

That sounds good to me.   I am pleased to be able to participate in this event, alongside several other local artists.

Would you like to know what releases will be exclusively available beginning on November 9th?  Well, click right here for the list.

if you live within an easy drive of Dayton, why not head down to Yellow Cab (on 4th Street downtown) for Local Music Day?  You'll be able to discover some great music, all made by hard-working local musicians.  As you can see on the page describing the releases, some are available on compact disc, some on cassette, and some on vinyl.  Sure, I would love it if you would pick up the split album that contains some of my songs,but even if that doesn't interest you, this will be a nice community event... and surely you will find something to enjoy.  Personally, I am looking forward to getting my hands on that Me & Mountains disc.  I already have the Human Cannonball album on compact disc, but hey, it is being issued on vinyl for the first time, so if you don't have it yet, or happen to collect vinyl, that's something you should definitely buy.

This is going to give everyone a good idea about my age, but when I was first getting into discovering music on my own, I loved opening the cassette and pulling out the folded up liner notes.  I would read the lyrics without the music playing, I would read the lyrics with the music playing, I would read the lyrics and sing along.  When cassettes got replaced by compact discs, I would do the same thing... in fact, I would be disappointed if I bought an album that didn't have the lyrics included.

Fast forward to now, where music lives mostly in digital form.  It feels like modern music listeners may not be as concerned or interested in the lyrics as I was in my youth.  My intent here is not to sound curmudgeonly, nor to yell "get off my lawn" at folks younger than me... they love their music, but with the decline of music as a physical thing, it seems to be a bit harder to find the lyrics.

With that in mind, I have added a lyric page to my website.  If you wanted to know how to spell all of those French words in "Le soldat" or you were curious as to what exactly I am saying in "North of Sixteen", or if you didn't know whether I am saying "write away" or "right away" in "Soul of an Ode"... well, head on over to the lyric page and read away.  Please sing along.