British Chick

British Chick is the third song from the album, "Love Is Not An Open Door."  Listen to the song and the album HERE on Amie Street.  British Chick was a college classmate originally from England, replete with a fabulous accent.  I had gotten to know her pretty well, and had a thing for her.  I sent her flowers and told her I thought she was peachy keen, and she then had a nice and straightforward discussion with me: "I just don't feel the same."  And we just put the whole thing behind us and continued as friends.  There was no cloak and dagger uncertainty, and no awkwardness; I found it utterly refreshing.

She was clearly enjoying attention from multiple suitors, but not in a way that says, "Look at me, I've got many guys wrapped around my finger."  British Chick is very classy.  As my line goes, "She's innocent but not naive / Her company is hard to leave."

Photo is by my official photog extraordinaire, Portside.

graduation again

Yesterday, my brother Larry graduated from college. Ten years ago this month, I got my tassel. That was the month that the album Lee Istrail-LIVE was recorded in the lounge of a dorm. How time passes. Larry, back then you were a middle schooler. And now, as Vince Vaughn said, "You're growns up and you're growns up and you're growns up." Congratulations, my man, I'm really proud of you. You've grown up to be a smart guy and a good guy. All the best as you start post-grad life.

Golden Afternoons

Golden Afternoons" is the second track from the album "Love Is Not An Open Door." Listen to the track and the album HERE.

In tenth grade I "went electric," and just like Dylan, I got protests that I was selling out and leaving my folk roots behind. But like Dylan, I persisted because I was being true to myself. This tune is an instrumental designed to accompany a teenager's romantic daydreaming.

Photo is by my trusty official photographer, Portside.

Jeremy Barnes' band

Q: Did you jam with any folks who went on to be pro musicians?
A: A few. I'll give you one example. There was a band in high school playing at the same time as Extreme Delusion. We had an awesome Earth Day concert at school in 10th grade, in which members of the bands mixed and matched. These guys were wicked good. The band featured Jackson Kelly on guitar and voice. Jackson was one of my best friends during 10th grade. He had an intuitive feel for guitar tone and skill, a keen vocal range, and a wry wit. While the other guys in the band gravitated towards punk and harder rock, Jackson had one foot in the acoustic classic rock camp, like me.

Then there was the other guitarist, Mitch Marzec. Mitch was the main punk proponent, real serious about his Johny Rotten impression and acerbic tone. Mitch had me up in arms sometimes with his outspoken harsh words for the Beatles.

Finally, there was Jeremy Barnes, the drummer. Jeremy had a hard-driving Keith Moon style of playing and the crazy sense of mischief to go with it. Jeremy wound up playing with Neutral Milk Hotel from 1996-1998 (indie rock fans will know this band), and now he's in the band "A Hawk and A Hacksaw" with Heather Trost. Jeremy got away from his hard rock roots and now plays an eclectic brand of Eastern European folk music and has incorporated Romanian musicians into the band's lineup. This fascinates me because I am originally Romanian. Over time Jeremy and I switched influences: I got more into the Who and blues-based rock, and he got more into the music of my homeland!

Blue Eyed Doe

And now, introducing a new album, "Love Is Not An Open Door." Listen to it HERE. The first track is "Blue Eyed Doe."

Back in 10th grade (that's right, this was the year of my supergroup Extreme Delusion) I liked a certain girl who rode my bus. I asked her out in the summer but she said she didn't know if that made sense because she would be away for a month at camp. I went off to camp myself and developed affections for somebody else (that's a whole other song called "Amiss"). But nobody can take away those bus rides home after school.

I decided to keep the song light in tone, and add an electric guitar solo.

The album cover art is by my friend Portside.

Lee's Second Band

Q: OK, so what happened after Extreme Delusion dissolved?

A: Well, I went to a new high school starting junior year. In my physics class, I met a guy named Ian who was a blues fan like me, and played saxophone and flute. We planned to jam sometime. But when he said he was in the school marching band, I didn't know what to expect; was he going to want to play John Phillip Sousa marches? Ian turned out to be a cool cat who could play the blues and jazz with great technical skill as well as improvisational flair and emotion. He got me into John Coltrane, and during my junior year we played a few live gigs and recorded several tunes, whose stories you can read in the Istrail Tunes archive: "Blue Rain," "A Picture of You," "Amiss," and "Nostalgia"

Ian eventually went off to rabbinical school, and I hope he's entertaining a congregation somewhere with his musical stylings.

Wake Up in the Morning: Song for Economic Stimulus

I originally wrote "Wake Up in the Morning" as a cheer-up song to a friend. However, I think it can be recast as a song for these tough economic times. So buck up, America, because Lee Istrail is on your side.

Click on the following link and scroll to track 6:
http://amiestreet.com/music/lee-istrail/live/