If you ever said “I wanna see you guys but I…”

 If you are broke…it’s free!

 If you don’t want to hear cover songs…it’s only songs by Coyote!
 If you feel like you are too old…it’s an early show.

 If you hate seeing bands in bars…it’s a Cultural Center with a swank auditorium and no alcohol is served.

 If you don’t like to walk much…it’s about a block from a train with an elevator.

 If you are a staunch republican…you should still come.

To the best of my knowledge, you only get one chance to play the Artists for Peace series at SGI’s NY Cultural Center; and we are the 100^th act to put our positive energy out in to the universe by playing this show for these dynamic and enthusiastic chanting Buddhists. We totally want you to come hear it!

This show is ENTIRELY FREE, its on 15^th St just off Union Square, and is at 7:30pm! If you’ve ever been like, “I totally want to see you play, but I just can’t do late nights…” or “I’m on the wagon, and you always play in places with alcohol…” then this show is for you. So come on down and share the love…the coyote love that is.

SGI’s NY Cultural Center.  Possibly also the place where the X-Men live.

Tues March 1st

SGI’s NY Cultural Center

7 E. 15^th St

New York, NY 10003 (between 5^th Ave and Union Sq. West)

Peace and love to youwooowoooowoooooooooooooo

team coyote

 

 

 

 

 

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Coyote Love is the 100th Artist for Peace at SGI on 3/1

Any of you want to see a Coyote Love performance, early in the evening, downtown, in the most accessible location in Manhattan, in comfort, with great sound and where we only play coyote music, in a concert hall devoted to world peace and enlightenment…..FOR FREE?

We are so very proud to announce that on Tuesday March 1st, Coyote Love was chosen to play the 100th Artists for Peace Concert at SGI USA/NYC.  (The NY Culture Center, 7 E. 15th Street, New York, NY 10003 – bet. 5th Avenue & Union Square West)

This to us is a high-point in a year of high-points.  Both Rachel, and Kevin Harris (currently playing bass with us) are members of SGI, an empowering Buddhist organization, that I’ve only ever had great traffic with as well.  And Rachel and Kevin are in good company, some of the most noteworthy artists, and movers and shakers you know of are also Buddhists associated with this lovely practice and the organization that represents it.  That being said, the honor of being asked to play our original music, for anyone that wants to attend, for FREE ADMISSION, in their lovely hall in Union Square…was completely unexpected.  See below!

(FORWARDED FROM SGI-USA/NY)
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>On Tuesday, March 1st, at 7:30pm at the New York Culture Center, Artists for Peace will be presenting our 100th concert!  We are so proud to present at this special event, a most exciting and dynamic band, Coyote Love!

Founded in 2009 with the release of their self-titled debut CD, white boy from the ghetto, turned city boy in the country, turned Coyote Man, Hank Coyote, joins forces with British multi-instrumentalist and singer, Rachel Grundy to bring lush harmony, energetic live performances and old school entertainment value to the front of the stage, backed by a funky, NYC-based horn and rhythm section, including music director and alto sax supremo Sergio Bustamante and former Steel Pulse lead guitarist Moonie Pusey.   With a mission to make Music Every Day, Coyote Love is an army of positive vibes, music and passion.

You can learn more about Coyote Love and check out their music at www.coyotelovemusic.com.  

Our e-flyer is attached to aid you in kindly promoting the event-thank you very much!

We sincerely hope that you and your friends will join us for a great evening!

Artists for Peace<

Bowie Leaves Earth, Inspires Coyote

Howooo lovelies,

If you are human, you are probably aware, and most likely touched by the passing of David Bowie in to the light. I’m sure he is reunited with many old friends and ancestors, and possibly an alien overlord or two.

What Bowie’s passing meant to me was that millions of people in the world are suddenly delving deep in to the life and art of this celestial being. His path was so organic, so packed with highs and lows, so full of rebirth, of searching; of living life to the fullest…it boggles the mind. And my prayer is that it reminds others, like it has me, to embrace these aspects of life and not stay in any rut for too long.

We love you David Bowie. Thank you for being you. You will be missed, but always remembered.

Coyotehank

SHOWS!

“SNUG’S” IN NEW PALTZ THIS FRIDAY NIGHT – 1/15/16 11pm – ???

This Friday night! Snug Harbor, in New Paltz, NY! How much do I love Snug’s? Almost as much as David Bowie?   But for the opposite reason. Snug’s has stayed Snug’s for as long as I can remember and I hope it never changes. Good old juke-joint style hootenanny bar with an amazing cross-section of people. We hit around 11pm. When we stop? Nobody knows.

——-

THE UPTOWN SCENE

Kickin’ it uptown style for the rest of January once we get back from New Paltz. Come and hang!

Sunday 1/24 8pm-10pm at An Beal Bocht! ACOUSTIC double-bill with Mike D!   (Blues extraordinaire).  Favorite small venue in the Bronx! More art, food, drink, music, and theater gets made and shared in this two-room bar than is possible without understanding quantum physics.   Basically it’s a dimensional thing. You are also transported to Ireland the minute you walk in. Like I said…Quantum physics y’all.

Wednesday 1/27 9pm-11pm at Inwood Local! ACOUSTIC, with special guests. We fuggin’ love playin’ our monthly show at Inwood Local; great vibes, the awesome Harry and his team behind the bar, lovely affordable food…and COYOTE LOVE.

Sunday 1/29 9:30PM – FULL BAND AT AN BEAL BOCHT! – Featuring Tobias Gebb on drums!

 If you’ve read our emails, you know how freakin’ bad I wanted to play there. Ta Da!   We’ve been angling for this full band show for a long time. Feels good. And TOBY on the drums. Tobias toured the Virgin Islands and recorded a lot with us. We are blessed to have our uptown bro back for a night.

MORE TO COME!  See Schedule!  And THANK YOU!

Yipeeeyipyip howlywoo!

coyote

 

Who Says Bloody Mary Isn’t a Holiday Drink?

This Sunday we are back at Inwood Gourmet for a Bloody Mary party!  I’m in, Rach is in!  You in?  There are free drinks and snacks and Laruen Skoulatos  will keep the cash register open in case any of her lovely cheeses, meats, olives, oil’s, vinegars, ice creams, etc tweak your fancy.

It’s not exactly a “holiday event” as much as it is a winter get-together. So don’t expect us to play an hour of Christmas carols. But we will be singing songs, blowing flutes and harmonicas, and having a good ol’ time.  Plus Bloody Mary’s are red, and celery is green, so there you go!

Sunday Dec. 13, 1:30pm @ Inwood Gourmet, 95 Cooper St, New York, NY

 

 

 

This Saturday at Inwood Gourmet

Hmmmmm can you smell the hot apple cider? It’s fall and my daughter has made her third jack ‘lantern.   Picked out your favorite sweater yet? I sure have. This Coyote’s coat is getting longer and, outside, the leaves are a fallin’. Plus, our Rachel freakin’ loves the fall. She’s been living the “this is my cup o’tea” reality for weeks now.   For all you “Fall is my favorite season” people, the next few shows are dedicated to you!

INWOOD GOURMET REDUX!

The weather was supposed to be horrid last time we wanted to support Inwood Gourmet with our acoustic, blues-based, funkrockin’ folk explosion.   Joaquin was blowin’ and, while it didn’t rain as was forecast, it was cold as a well digger’s booty that day, so we postponed…until THIS SATURDAY! (Oct 24)

We’re going to play a few sets between 4 and 6pm. We’ll likely be in the store squeezed between the cheeses and the olive oils, so it will be tight….and EPIC!

mmmmmmmm…Cheese!

Lauren Skoulatos has a great thing going with her little Greek-flaired farm-to-table store. She’s got an ever-rotating selection of tasty local and imported cheeses, and breads and things, and she even sells sausages from Castkill Food Company! (That’s Jonah Shaw’s company, he’s the same dude who organizes the yearly “Taste of the Catskills Festival” that Rachel and I support so whole heartedly. We were just up there having a blast and eatin’ up a storm. I love how it all comes together.) Lauren also has the best coffee I’ve had in this neighborhood, and we have some very good coffee up here, so that’s not easy.

Great things come in small packages

Come on up to Inwood Gourmet this Saturday. 4-6pm. The store is on Cooper Street (1/2 block West of Broadway) between 207^th and Isham, about 1 minute walk from the 207^th St A train.   Let us serenade you while you sample some culinary delights!

Howwwwoooooooowoooooooo

Senior coyote

Playing “Superstition” is like acting Shakespeare

I loved this live-in-the-studio session.  I loved the people that were involved.  I loved what we set out to do and I love what we accomplished, and even loved the hurdles along the way (of which there many).

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHvRvwA3YT4)

What we do, is what I live for.  I’ve always loved performing live, but there is something equally special about being intimate with bunch of musicians (and engineers and filmmakers and friends) in a room, just focusing and getting a song as glorious as we can make it.  In this case, it was three songs.  And this email is about another one of the three; “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder.

Playing a Stevie Wonder song, to me, is like acting Shakespeare.   It’s already a great work, with the best text possible (include melody, and arrangement, in this case), the best players have already played it, and all you can hope to do is to do it justice yourself; and to…not spoil it for anyone.  It’s all there for you, you just have to play the story the way the writer wrote it and let the structure lead you where it wants you to go.  Beyond that, you just hope you and your company are good enough artists to humbly, but passionately rise to the occasion when the piece demands it of you.

Sure, like a good Shakespeare production, we wanted to interpret it and make it our own, while making absolutely sure to stay true to the original story.  This is what makes an audience smile.  And even if it’s a “live-in-the-studio” video, we aim to make the audience happy, whenever and however you end up viewing it.

For this task, we certainly had an amazing cast of musicians.  (The dynamic Vanessa Cruz on drums (heroically suffering through a bad case of food poisoning and boyfriend related blues throughout the session), Kevin Harris on bass, Dan Yeager on trumpet, Sergio Bustamante on alto sax (and solo), Rachel on the tenor sax, the astounding Clifford “Moonie” Pusey on guitar, and one very smitten coyote.  In addition, we had an amazing staff of supportive personnel, (thank you Ruthie Conde!).

To film our little show, we had, in Atom Fellows, the most adaptive and creative guerilla director/cameraman/editor we could possibly have asked for.  All the brother knew was that he was getting in a van with Coyote Love and making a video in a black box with any available lighting….um…HOORAY!  Atom hated the look of the HD cams and lenses that we had available for this song.  And opted to roll on the floor with his plate-sized smartphone instead.  Do we love Atom?  Face licks and tail wags!!!

Time was flying by and we were far from home, so we had a few takes with each track, and then we moved on to the next song before we blew our chops, and our schedule (which, truthfully, we blew to hell anyway).  So while I’d love to have had just one more crack at it that day, what you see here is a very realistic portrayal of the Coyote Love experience.  And it makes me smile.

Hope you dig it…..

Hooowwwooooowoooo,
coyote

What Bearsville, Kirk Bromley, and Donald Fagan have in common…

Bearsville (left), Woodstock (right) and the foot of Mount Guardian in the center.

I’m in Bearsville.

I love Bearsville.

Bearsville is the even artsier town, nestled in the little valley in the Catskills Mountains of New York, where Woodstock lives.

It is also where my heart lives. Where I became Coyote. Where I was a magic boy in the hills. I’m sitting at a tiny plaza on a river in between a group of restaurants called “The Bear”, “The Little Bear”, and “The Saloon”. The compound also houses The Woodstock Barn, and WDST-Woodstock Radio,  in a separate building, once used by Todd Rundgren as his video studio.

WDST at night. The gorgeous vast wood building once housed Todd Rundgren’s Video studio.

All of this is about a mile from Bearsville Studios (some of my favorite music in the last 50 years recorded there), and about two miles from The Byrdcliffe Colony.   The Byrdcliffe Colony was once an utopian colony where they made furniture and searched for American style Christian nirvana. Now it’s an arts colony that houses theater and writers and musicians.   I saw The Fugs play in yet another awesome old structure on Byrdcliffe land (my fate as a granola eating, tree hugger was sealed that night).  I have stayed there with my old theater company, and made art, and observed raccoons successfully busting into the theater at night.   Further up that road is sophisticated rock God, Donald Fagan’s house, previously owned by Bob Dylan. This is on Mount Guardian. Up the mountain, on State land, but not far from Mr. Fagan and his neighbors on a little flat, level area in the woods in between but just far enough away from hiking trails…is the spot where I lived in a tent, not once, but twice, for entire summers, while I worked at “The Bear” and in the restaurant across the stone plaza that is now called The Saloon, where I sit now…having a nice glass of local whiskey, and some kale salad, and fries, served by adorable young waitresses, serenaded by crickets and post-millennial hippies with guitars.

The Woodstock Barn. I want one ,Mommy.

Here, working in the kitchen, in the 90’s, and sleeping at night on the mountain (getting coded, numeric love messages from my wife in my tent, on a beeper), I once cooked tuna and tofu for the singer, Jewel, and her band as they workshopped new music. About 20 years later I read a book by Lenedra Caroll, Jewel’s mom, that blew my mind, and is still doing so.

A fantastic book about new paradigms in business and financial sustainability that connect with world sustainability and the evolution of consciousness.

Ari, my friend and my band’s official arranger, is a maniacal fan of both Donald Fagan and Todd Rundgren. Cari Cole, my indie music entrepreneur mentor, who recommended Lenedra Caroll’s book to me, is also Donald Fagan’s vocal coach. She is also how I met Ari, who took the same course with her as I did.

Donald Fagan has the same taste in magic mountains and voice coaches as me. Go figure.

Sarah K. Lipman and Josh Spafford in the Inverse Theater postcard for “Midnight Brainwash Revival.” That I was cast as Coyote, a singing trickster of many guises…said a lot about who I was becoming.

On Mt. Guardian, I was howled at by a coyote, who sat 5 feet away from me, on a full moon night, my last night that I worked at this restaurant that I’m sitting at. I had a fire going, it was too big, I was too loud (high on 50 year old Anejo from my last night party thrown by my bosses at the restaurant) cracking logs on trees to break them.  The coyote easily creeped up on my blind side, sat next to my bonfire, and howled what in human language amounts to “shut up asshole”.   I can be an asshole, and often need to be told to shut up.

A few years later, my friend, playwright Kirk Bromley, later asked me to play the role of Coyote in his millennial play, Midnight Brainwash Revival.  Kirk can be an asshole.  I once told him to shut up.

It was in Kirk’s theater company, Inverse, that I met Rachel Grundy.  She’s never an asshole, but sometimes tells me to shut up.  We were friends long before I found out she played sax and could sing on key.  I was starting to play my own tunes when I found this out about her.  We’ve been friends and band mates ever since.  Before that I was in a band with Christine Mascott.  She was in Kirk’s first play at Todo Con Nada.  We later did a rock opera about a guy on acid.  This newsletter sounds like I’m on acid.

Panoramic view of The Saloon from the wood fire burning courtyard, complete with hippies busting out guitars after dinner.

I stopped here tonight almost by chance. I came up here to go to court in Shandaken, to refute a speeding ticket I got while driving home with Coyote Love, from a show in the area. So I had to drive back upstate to plead my case. Thankfully, my 71mph in a 55mph zone was reduced to a $75 parking ticket.  The road through Bearsville holds great memories for me to drive down and I felt compelled to come see what they made of these restaurants and to grab a bite.  I thought about all of these connections as I sat here. And there you go. This is why I believe in a spirit-that-moves-through-all-things. This is why I am coyote. This is why God spelled backwards is dog. HOWOOO

On Confidence

When I studied at what I affectionately call “Rock Star School,” a few years back, one of the most important concepts that our coach, Cari Cole, impressed on us was “confidence.” When she expanded on “confidence,” Cari made it clear that she wasn’t talking about manufactured confidence, or about projecting confidence for the sake of it.  She drilled in to our heads the idea that if we feel a lack of confidence about our skills, about our abilities, or our songs, or about any aspect of our package, then we probably have a lot more work to do, and deep inside we know it. After all, if you ran 10 or 15 practice marathons in a year (26 miles each), then you will probably feel pretty confident about being able to finish when it comes to running with (or against) hundreds or thousands of other runners at a real race. If you don’t put in this work, but still plan on running a competitive 26 miles anyway…there may be some self-doubt and tension that you feel as you lace up your sneakers.

photo – Atom Fellows

I definitely don’t wake up in the morning feeling full of pure confidence. It would be nice, but, rather, I wake up feeling a mixture of the daunting pressure of my goals, and a lot of gratefulness. Confidence? That comes from a different place.

Of course, there is also that manufactured confidence that most of us practice daily, just to survive in this dog-eat-dog world. The kind we develop on the playground so no one steals our ball. The kind where your boss at work says, “Can I trust you with this assignment?” and we say “You can count on me, Boss!” – not because we know for sure we can do it, in fact we may be pooping our pants at that moment, but because we want to keep our jobs and we have to act as if we are confident. Sure I got that in my bag of tricks. As do you. It’s just survival, innit?

The kind of real and genuine confidence that Cari talked about only comes after I have practiced a song for the tenth time in a day, or after I warm up my voice for 40 mins, for the third time that week, after I have communicated with the band for the fifth time and made sure that everyone knows where and when rehearsal is. And what kind of confidence do I have? Do I feel like I can take on the world, or that I am a king among men? Nope. I have the humble confidence that I probably won’t fuck up that one song, or that I know I can sing up to a “G#” before I start straining my voice thanks to the warm-up.  I’ll know that I was completely clear with the band and that because of this, they should know the details about the rehearsal. That kind of confidence is built on merit, on hard work, on discipline, and even on a pile of small failures that forced me to work even harder. I feel that I can trust myself to continue to put in the work to get better every day. This helps my band mates feel confident in me.   As a listener, I sure want to feel confident in a band, or a given performer. Confident that they will show up tomorrow and play more songs that I like in a way that I like it. Confident that they will do something even more inspiring the next time.

I have come to love the challenging journey towards building that kind of genuine confidence. I love seeing the result of practice, dedication, and discipline in both myself, and the musicians I play with. I believe in merit. I have to. I have had to earn every ally who travels with me in this journey for my little-band-that-can. And I love the journey towards excellence, towards transcendent moments on stage and in studio. This journey never ends. Of that you can be…confident.

With love,

Coyote

Last Scheduled NYC Show ’till the Fall!!!

Last chance to catch Coyote Love live in NYC this summer!

We are playing a bunch out of town this summer but we are only doing one NYC show while we work on new arrangements and finish these blues recordings.  Saturday night at 78 Below.  And we want you to see it!

We are out to impress you with our musical prowess, and we are out to impress the management with the huge throng of people crowding in to see us!  So come on down!!!  Best venue to see us in New York.

Leslie’s got the place is done up real nice, the sound is off the hook, there’s food and great drinks all night and we play for no cover at all.

Sat July 13^th

78 Below

78^th and Columbus

NYC

9:30pm

Current Round of PR Pics, Chosen By You Guys

Thanks so much to you who weighed in your opinions about our PR Pics shot by the lovely Jane Stein.  Based on the responses we got, we are going to use this as the #1 pic for now –

photo by Jane Stein

And this one as the follow up pic –

photo by Jane Stein

Like everything else regarding our blues album, we didn’t strike gold on the first try and we don’t think we found the vibe for the “it” photo.  Jane, Rachel and I all agree we should try again to get the “one”.  But these pics are fantastic for now, and have set the tone for the styling of the shot that we are going for.

Music Every Day Grows Wings in Roxbury

Due to the great time and the successes the kids had when we donated The Music Every Day Educational Project, to the Central school in Roxbury, NY this May…we’ve been invited back to work with 40 more students in the fall!  Coyote Love Entertainment, LLC has partnered with The Greater Roxbury Learning Initiative Corporation (GRLIC), and The Roxbury Central School have applied for a partnership grant so that Music Every Day will ride again!

Students Perform their version of “Music Every Day”

This would be the project in its dream scenario, we’d be integrated with the Language Arts, Choral, and Band classes during the school day for the better part of a week and the kids would perform the following week with Coyote Love as support (and warm up band).  Everyone gets paid and we go away happy and with some lovely video footage to share with the kids, the staff involved, and the world, when we are through.

This partnership and the program we donated in May are inspired by the humanity, energy, and generosity of spirit of the late Terry Doyle, a radio DJ from the Catskills who did a lot to promote us Coyotes on the radio.   And now the project will bring music to even more kids’ lives up there.  He would have loved that.

Cross your fingers for us because the grant application went in two weeks ago.

Upstate Blues Intensive with Moonie Pusey and Mike D

Thanks to the generosity of costume designer Karen Flood and her gourmet chef husband, Henning Nordanger, we are going upstate next week to do some intense blues writing and development to add more songs to the comically late blues series that we have been promising you.  We’ll also be forced to try some of the food at the restaurant that they recently opened together, “Henning’s Local”.  OH FUDGE!

Moonie is a mean blues picker, and Delta inspired blues boogie machine Mike D is the guy I learned the blues with when I was 14.  This collaboration has been a long time coming.  For Mike and I, working with the guy we used to go see live with one of our favorite bands, (Steel Pulse) is a dream come true.  The fact that we get to do it up in Karen’s cathedral-ceilinged, hardwood-floored costume shop while drinking beer, taking nature walks, eating gourmet food and wading in streams is beyond sublime.

But the point of it all is that you need new music to listen to.  You want to be inspired.  And you know that good blues heals the soul.  We want to give that to you.   No matter how long it takes.  This trip brings us all that much closer.

Another Stage For Rachel

Rachel is going through another stage…or rather across one, with the play she is doing at the Brick Theater, in ultra-hip Williamsburg, with our pals from Dysfunctional Theater Company (members of the cast also appear in our soon to be released video for “Blame It”).

Go see Rachel and the Dysfunctional team yuck it up in this comic look at sci-fi culture.

Dysfunctional Theater Company’s “Final Defenders”

The Brick Theater Inc. and Dysfunctional Theatre Company present

Final Defenders

by Patrick Storck

as part of the Game Play Festival

Dates:

Thursday July 11 – 8pm

Thursday July 18 – 7pm

Saturday July 20 – 4pm

Friday July 26     – 9pm

at The Brick, 579 Metropolitan Avenue (between Union & Lorimer; L to Lorimer, G to Metropolitan)

Tickets: $15

www.dysfunctionaltheatre.org

If you are up on New York culture, The Brick represents the “Indie Theater” movement that grew out small (or large) off-off-off Broadway Theaters like Todo Con NADA and the Theatorium on the Lower East Side (Which by the early 2000’s were priced out of the neighborhood that they helped make cool).  Rachel and I met through Inverse Theater Co, which was right at the front lines of the Indie Theater movement in the late 90’s and early part of the millennium.  So go see her and be a part of Coyote and New York history.  BTW, the bar up the street from the Brick Theater serves free wood oven pizza with your beer.  What?

It’s In Our Souls

photo by Jane Stein

An Arial Hyatt article about cyberPR got me thinking (uh oh).  Why do I do this?  Why do I write songs?  Why did Rachel, Darren, Sean, Sergio and our drummers (Tommy, Gideon, Tobias, Luke, Jason and Yahoteh) wish to play them with me, often for no money and at great time expense?  Why do people like our songs and our live shows?  Why do I want to make a living playing songs for other humans?

I think it’s just in our souls.

Maybe that’s the solution to everything.

I have no choice.  It’s in our souls that we love music. It’s in my soul that I have to make it and share it.

I want to take a minute to thank Rachel, Sergio, Darren, Sean, Tommy, Gideon, Tobias, Luke, Jason and Yahoteh and every other musician that we’ve played with as well as every human that ever moved molecules with tone and rhythm.  Thank you for picking up your instrument and using it.

And most of all I want to thank the side of all of us that just loves music and doesn’t ask why because…its just in our souls and its just THE BEST!

One love,
Coyote