travsd

“You Can’t Lose Me, Charlie”

in front of Longfellow House, Portland, Maine

Happy birthday to my son, Charlie!  I penned this song for him when he turned 21 last year (as I had previously shared a song to his brother), but I post it now publicly because it now doubles as a college graduation tribute. I cannot tell a lie: it’s a Leadbelly tune: the refrain and the tune on the verses is his. The lyrics, other than the refrain, are mine, done in more of a Woody Guthrie style, which is all that I can manage (and this took 9 takes). Happy birthday, Charlie! You deserve ALL the songs.

Published by travsd

Writer and performer Trav S.D. (www.travsd.com) is best known for his books "No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous" (2005) and "Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube" (2013). He has written for the NY Times, the Village Voice, American Theatre, Time Out NY, Reason, the Villager and numerous other publications. Trav has been in the vanguard of New York’s vaudeville and burlesque scenes since 1995 when he launched his company Mountebanks, presenting hundreds of acts ranging from Todd Robbins to Dirty Martini to Tammy Faye Starlite to the Flying Karamazov Brothers. He has directed his own plays, revues and solo pieces at such venues as Joe’s Pub, La Mama, HERE, Dixon Place, Theater for the New City, the Ohio Theatre, the Brick, and 6 separate shows in the NY International Fringe Festival. In 2014 he produced and directed the smash-hit "I’ll Say She Is", the first ever revival of the Marx Brothers hit 1924 Broadway show in the NY International Fringe Festival.