Facing the Fall Is This Many
(picture two hands with fingers fully extended)

And my dad promises to get it a Fergist.*

Hard to believe, but exactly 10 years ago my old band Stand Up Eight was holed up in Dizzyland Studios in Rochester, NH, recording our second album, Facing the Fall. A mere three weeks of recording all day every day gave us the work that I still consider among my proudest accomplishments. Unlike my opera Lotus and other subsequent compositions, I was merely one of six guys—exactly what made it so satisfying. It took two years of collaboration, compromise, and many long nights working out our ideas in the basement clubs of northern New England to make it happen.

And it was Facing the Fall that inspired me, Tony, and Josh to reunite from our various outposts around North America in 2001 and see what else Stand Up Eight could do. The synergy may not have been there to make a third Stand Up Eight opus, but the two more years we were able to be a band were a tremendous gift, and I still cherish the songs that came out of that collaboration.

Facing the Fall is available for download on iTunes. You can also order a CD from hotmike.com.

*Before I turned ten my dad told me, "You know, when you turn ten, that means you get a Fergist." What's a Fergist? He wouldn't tell me. He did sing a catchy little tune about it, though. My brother drew pictures. I got excited. Really excited. Birthday arrives; no Fergist. "Oh, that?" Dad says. "I was just joking."

I want my Fergist.