Check out this great article about my friend Richard in the most recent
Billboard! Joni content alert!!
Billboard
October 19, 2002, page 52
Words & Music by Jim Bessman
Heyman's Heyday: Acclaimed New York singer/songwriter Richard X. Heyman,
whose previous album, Cornerstone (1998), was on now-defunct label
Permanent Press, suddenly has a new album out (Basic Glee, on his own
Turn-Up Records); a companion disc on the way, thanks to novel
self-marketing; and an autobiography, Boom Harangue - Life in Mid-Century
Through The Eyes of a Rock'n'Roll Survivor (Writers Club Press).
The book, baby boomer Heyman notes, comprises "short stories dealing with
my brushes with fame and the funny things that happened growing up as a
musician in the '60s."
A guitarist who started playing drums when he was 7, Heyman has plenty of
memories on which to draw. "I look pretty young but I'm just backdated,"
the still-boyish artist says, stealing a lyric from the Who's "Substitute."
While he does not divulge his exact age, he's decidedly proud of having
made it through the '60s and offers many entertaining stories from that
period. One concerns an opening stint for the Beach Boys by his band the
Doughboys (shortly after a name change from the Ascots, which had recorded
a pair of singles for Bell Records): After breaking a borrowed floor tom,
the group withstood an angry assault by its irate owner, Beach Boys drummer
Dennis Wilson.
Heyman also declares his "worship" of Joni Mitchell. "I learned to play
piano from [Mitchell's 1970 album] Ladies of the Canyon - that and the
Band's second album really hit home in terms of song composition," he says.
"I used to listen to what she was doing with her left hand, learned how her
chords flowed, and adapted it: The way you play piano affects the way you
write, because you write within your ability. Listening to Joni expanded my
ability."
Heyman eventually switched to guitar and began writing "what I call
'melodic pop music,'" he says. His new album was recorded at his East
Village Tabby Road home studio; he and wife Nancy Leigh (also his bass
player/engineer) are big cat lovers. But they cut 34 tracks for the 14-song
disc, and 14 of the remainder will soon end up on Rightovers ("as opposed
to Leftovers," Heyman says).
"I did a presale on Basic Glee involving two different [fan] clubs," Heyman
explains. "For $25, the 'Basic Glee booster' received an autographed copy .
For $50, the 'Basic Glee choir member' got the autographed copy, their name
in the liner notes, and the exclusive Rightovers."
But Heyman notes that Rightovers may appear in general release as well.
"Ironically, people who have heard it already say it may be the best thing
I've ever done," he says, "since the songs are more adventurous and daring
- and not what I would normally include on my albums."
Meanwhile, the Arrex Aitch Music (BMI) writer has been promoting Basic Glee
on his richardxheyman.com website and at "house concerts" in fans' living
rooms. "They invite all their friends, and it's so intimate that sometimes
we don't even use a PA," says Heyman, whose recent house concert in
Louisville, Ky., was lensed for a segment on an upcoming episode of the PBS
series Right on the Money - about artists who promote their work in
atypical ways.
~rose
