If you let too much time go by and you happen to be living in an evolving blur of change, then it becomes difficult to remember first and even succeeding times. But it’s not too late for me to remember first hearing Arlan Feiles sing in Asbury Park; it was seven months ago; the mild winter was submitting to spring. I went to Asbury Park’s iconic ‘Saint’ and heard him for the first time. Afterwards, I needed more Arlan sounds; the experience was like an ice cream bar; it was so good, I finished several ice cream bars in rapid succession and buried consumed wooden stick evidence until I passed a proper receptacle, preferably in Asbury Park where I heard Arlan sing again; this time with several singers in a concert called ‘Art of the Protest Song,’ at Gallery 629 on Cookman Avenue in Asbury Park.

Protest songs were a perfect magnet for me since coming out of the sixties and still wondrously tethered to those changed times. And what could be more perfect than to find Arlan Feiles, a troubadour, lyricist, rarified individualist, passionate singer and commentator of our modern times. How I love magic carpets back to the future. How I love listening to Arlan’s musical emoting and watching his facial visages express depth and conviction. How I love words like essential and quintessential. So on that night in an art gallery briefly converted to a small concert venue, I became a fan of Arlan Feiles.

No long winding roads here; just a sleepy small Monmouth county highway that connected our domiciles. As an emerging journalist, I asked if we could talk about the world of his music and words. We began on his living room sofa and then walked down a main street passed a coffee shop and into an old fashioned park with swings and splintery wooden benches. Oh, it was mid-June, sunny and warm.

Arlan is a LA Laker fan; he proudly stated on the park bench. “A long distance rooting for a team. You must be from LA?” I was right. And during his musical journey from Pacific to Atlantic (coasts that is) he’s shared the stage with a plethora of musical icons; Richie Havens, Dave Matthews, Bob Pollard, Joan Baez, Warren Zevon, Hot Tuna and more. I simply said, “Wow.”

He spent a long time in Florida and found huge success with the rock band, ‘Natural Causes.’ I got up from the park bench and walked over to the swings. “Do I dare try the swing out?” He laughed. Then another “wow” from me: In Florida, Arlan became friends with iconic legendary producer Tom Dowd who passed in 2002  and was inducted into the 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Dowd mentored Arlan and ‘Natural Causes’ and they recorded two albums garnering much acclaim. Arlan reminded me of the amazing accomplishments of his mentor Dowd who recorded albums by Clapton, Chicago, The Rascals, Meat Loaf, Sonny and Cher and Diana Ross, The Eagles and more. I said, “Wow,” yet again.

“Let’s head back to the house,” Arlan said. Fittingly, while we walked in a hot sun, Arlan told me about next hitting the road for six months, discovering intimate America in clubs and coffee houses. Comparisons to Woody Guthrie (whom I call the first real American troubadour musician) crossed my mind. Arlan slept in his van sometimes and once played 88 shows in 90 days. I kept thinking a purist, iconic, sensitive, depth charged singer and lyricist is walking ½ step behind me (I have long legs). To arrive where he is now (this very day), so much has gone into Arlan’s cerebral process which makes for extraordinary music and thought. At a long red light on a busy two lane highway, I told Arlan, he’s like a Hemingway of lyricists. Hemingway wrote after living things first; experiencing life and feeling humanity. So has Arlan who even paid for his cross country adventure by selling CDs out of the back of his van. And Hemingway drove an ambulance in Italy during World War I. “Same thing,” I wondered.

As we approached the house, I saw a basketball backboard in the backyard. “Do you shoot hoops,” I said.  “What’s your game,” he asked. So for 77 minutes Arlan and I shot hoops then played ‘around the world’ so I didn’t have to stress my 25 year older knees playing one on one. How many journalists shoot hoops until dripping wet in a hot sun during the interview process? Back inside, we ventured into the special world of Arlan’s recording studio; a quiet, eclectic and spiritually warm place of limitless creativity. I felt it.

Bringing me up to date, Arlan mentioned returning from his sojourn and finding Williamsburg, Brooklyn and forming the band, ‘Gift Horse,’ which had a hit “I’ve Got to Tell Ya;’ it was on the soundtrack of Ed Burns’ ‘Sidewalks of New York.”  I said, “Wow,” yet again. (The groupie in me causes excessive ‘wows.’) After moving to New Jersey, Arlan recorded two solo albums garnering many honors including ‘Top Americana Artist’ at the Asbury Music Awards in 2007.

Back upstairs we talked about his just released album (the reason why I’ve travelled down a straight highway to talk and shoot hoops with Arlan), “Weeds Kill the Wild Flowers,” recorded with his group, ‘The Broken Hearted.’  As of this writing (August 29^th), I’ve listened to the CD a dozen times; his melodious voice easing me into recognition of similarity with historical musical artists which Arlan conjures up. His perfectionism will take Arlan on that ultimate journey of universal acclaim. I’m a writer and thrive on his passionate words.  I’ve seen him perform often now and watch intently as his face changes with emotion; a consummate troubadour and sociologist.

I mention sociologist; one of Arlan’s most passionate songs on the new CD is called ‘Viola.’ I’m a product of the sixties; the deaths of the three civil rights workers (Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, Michael Schwerner) in Mississippi in 1964 changed my life forever. Arlan’s deep roots/feelings into social conscience and commentary led to his awareness of the life and death of Viola Liuzzo; keen particulates of energy swirled into one of his most moving songs.

As the sweat from our basketball confrontation vaporized in his kitchen, Arlan told me about the life of Viola Liuzzo, a housewife in Michigan who was horrified by the violence in Selma, Alabama and decided to go there herself because the struggle for civil rights was everybody’s. Four Klansmen killed her while she was driving local marchers in March 1965. I never knew about her. So now I do thanks to Arlan’s magic. And there’s reverberation as I write this piece; Arlan’s words; Viola’s family; daughters grown up.  I have to share a few lines from this haunting amazing song.

“Hold tight we’re gonna fight, yes I told ya’

Stand tall stand upright you’re a soldier

We’re gonna take this head on shoulder to shoulder

I hope you’re with me Viola”

Words link me to Hemingway’s spirit. I need to live and experience before I can write. I told that to Arlan. Our day together was, as the credit card commercial goes, priceless. Another favorite song from “Weeds Kill the Wild Flowers” is ‘Katie Truly.’

“I’ve been working hard for minimum wages

And I’ve been writing down pages and pages of empty

Since you left me

My car broke down on Pulaski Skyway

This old town she just ain’t going my way this season.”

I’m a spiritual universal kind of guy; always looking for essence and commonality. When I heard this verse for the first time, I yelled, “Oh Wow!”  You see, back in 1965, the year Viola Liuzzo died, my car broke down on the Pulaski Skyway.  We shook hands and said goodbye. Interview over. A sleepy highway back home.

It was a great day with Arlan Feiles for me the interviewer for NJ Discover. When you least expect it, you bond and find commonality in this crazy mixed up world. A few weeks later, Arlan and I were at St. Rose High School in Belmar for the Jersey Shore Basketball League; a college league with mostly offence (spectators we were). Maybe in a few days we’ll do round two of ‘around the world’ hoops; this time at my home court. But in the great cosmic design of things, I found this amazing lyricist, singer and keyboardist. My job is to promulgate, share and move readers to expand horizons. Arlan Feiles is a horizon; easily attainable by checking out websites and procuring his music. Yes, “Weeds Kill the Wild Flowers” is a powerful resounding, “Wow!”

A great video on Arlan Feiles and The Broken Hearted and album release:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TGtZRPBrks&feature=share

To find more information about Arlan and the CD:

http://www.arlanfeiles.com