by Daniel Maté (composer-lyricist-guy behind the table) Last week I wrote to you from Vancouver, Canada. I got back to New York Wednesday night after some snow & sleet delays -- in late March, no less (and I mean, not to complain or anything because let's face it, Ma Nature is doling out far worse calamities the world over, but seriously: AHEM.) Thursday morning, following a single any-length-would-have-been-too-short recuperative sleep, it was up and at 'em again: "'em" in this case being the pre-teens of coastal New Jersey. It was Day One of auditions for the pre-teen musical theatre program... Continue reading

Back on his home turf, Crazytown's token Canuck takes you back, way back, into the vaults of '80s Canadian pop music. by Daniel Maté (hoser-lyricist) I'm writing from my hometown of Vancouver, BC, where I've been for the past few weeks. I moved to New York from here in 2005, and it's a place I always love coming back to, yet rarely miss acutely. It's consistently ranked one of the world's most livable cities, and for excellent reasons: the mild climate, the gorgeous scenery, the mix of "cosmopolitan" and "outdoorsy", the laid-back West Coast vibe. But in my case, at... Continue reading

by Daniel Maté (something/something/the other thing) I love it when music and theatre find new ways of meeting up and combining forces. My brother introduced me to Reggie Watts the other day and I'm fascinated by the man's gift. I'm not sure if the first song is improvised, but the second one is. It makes me want to try something more off-kilter in my own songwriting. Continue reading

by Daniel Maté (composer-lyricist-bookwriter) Crazytown, I need your help. There's a douchebag following me all over town, insistently tracking my every move. Everywhere I go, I see his douchey, douchey face. Oh God, and his hair -- his douchey, douchey, douchey, douchey hair. He's everywhere. I find it highly discombobulating. Hell, I wish I could remember what being combobulated feels like. His expression says "Hey buddy. Remember me? Yeah, buddy. That's right." He's got those two index fingers cocked at me in that douchey, "aw yeah" kind of way, implying some sort of intimacy that I'm frankly more than a... Continue reading

or, Why do pissed-off birds, mismatched zoo animals, and tripped-out pachinko boards give me such a braingasm? by Daniel Maté (a composer-lyricist-bookwriter, supposedly) I held out for a good long time. I really did. Everyone's been talking about this game Angry Birds for the past year or so, saying how devilishly addictive it is. Sounded like a very bad idea. I didn't know much about the game itself -- something about slinghots and green pigs and exploding eggs? -- and frankly, I didn't want to know. It's fine for my friends with office jobs: an engaging but innocent diversion to... Continue reading

by Daniel Maté (composer-lyricist-bookwriter) Just before the news hit on Friday afternoon that Muhammad call-me-Hosni Sayyid Mubarak had finally stepped down as Egyptian President and fled the capital of Cairo for the comfier climes of his country home, I had a Dr. Seuss book on my mind. It was a simple little volume -- more a monologue than a story -- in which a stubborn little shit named Marvin K. Mooney is urged, implored, begged, commanded, and kindly requested to Please Go Now! The whole while, Mooney just stands there with arms crossed and that aloof Seussian expression of total... Continue reading

by Daniel Maté (composer-lyricist-early '90s nostalgist) I don't really have much to say about the above-stated fact; I'm still a little stunned myself. I mean, it sounds far-fetched -- laughable, even. But if you count backwards, you do find that it's a mathematically sound conclusion. (I re-tested it several times.) 1991. Twenty years ago. Man. By analogy, when my friends and I were tenth-into-eleventh-grade students in 1991, "twenty years ago" meant 1971. We thought of 1971 as prehistoric, and we were right to think so -- just like kids in 1971 could rightfully think back on 1951 and be like,... Continue reading

by Daniel Maté (composer-lyricist-bookwriter) In honor of the brave people of Egypt, who seem well on their way to casting off the (U.S.-backed) dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak, under whose iron fist they've been living since the same year another tyrannical ruler named Donkey Kong first came to power, I present an assortment of songs with the word "freedom" in the title. But first, this moving video from a solidarity rally in London, which gives a sense of the depth of the relief and excitement many people -- those who aren't part of the Egyptian ruling class or the U.S. State... Continue reading

In which Crazytown's token Canadian inserts a fiver and programs a few favorites on the jukebox (musical). by Daniel Maté (composer-lyricist-bookwriter) In Stephen Sondheim's preface to Finishing The Hat, the Reigning Grandmaster of Theatre-Which-Is-Musical's recent compendium of printed lyrics (Part One), he elegantly and convincingly lays out the various differences between pop and theatre lyrics. He also describes how and why listeners' ears have become "lazier" since his day: "pop music has encouraged them to welcome vagueness and fuzziness, to exalt the poetic yearnings of random images." (p.XXVI) Touché, Steve. The vast preponderance of pop lyrics are guilty as charged... Continue reading

Why ads suck in general, and then a few that suck more specifically, complete with photos. by Daniel Maté (composer-lyricist-bookwriter) "As advertising blather becomes the nation's normal idiom, language becomes printed noise." ~George Will Call me crazy, but I've been noticing ads everywhere these days. I know, I know: I'm supposed to notice them. That's their job, right? Do an etymological shakedown on the term and you find that at its root, to advert means to turn the attention to. So kudos, ye modern-day Mad Men, you have my attention. But there are different types of attention, various kinds of... Continue reading

Crazytown's token Canadian hits the ground blogging with a loquacious post addressing just who the hell he thinks he is and what his deal is exactly. Oh, and something about berries. by Daniel Maté (Writer-Tunesmith-Performer) "Wow. Crazytown. Just like I pictured it. Skyscrapers, and everythang." - with apologies to Stevie Wonder Hi Crazytown readers! I'd like to thank Ryan Scott Oliver, this site's founder and a man I'm proud to call a colleague, for inviting me to join his expanding roster of artistic acolytes and cultural commentators. It's great to now have a weekly deadline, as well as a readily... Continue reading