Kerrville Folk Festival 2024 | New Folk Song Competition

Wow, what an exciting morning! I have the privilege of being one of 24 finalists in the Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk Song Competition. There were 1,341 extremely talented entrants this year, a record number of folks who have the ability to make this world a better place, one song at a time: it is a blessing to share this lifetime with such beautiful creators.

I am so thrilled to have the opportunity to widen my constellation of new friends at this Festival. What a lovely opportunity this is to fill the love battery with the company of such good hearts and minds and spirits.

I was taking a look at all the incredible creatives who have played this festival in the past, and feel gratitude to be in such stellar star stuff company: Nanci Griffith, Steve Earle, Lyle Lovett, Robert Earl Keen… there are too many to name. Headlining performers have included Willie Nelson; Peter, Paul, and Mary; Lyle Lovett; Mary Chapin Carpenter.

I sent in six songs this year, and the two that were selected are called “Infinite Jest” and “Want”.

Infinite Jest

https://youtu.be/Rm0y-DDh7NY?si=WSaaLUosdx12ucCF

Want

https://youtu.be/071Ik0FA0fo?si=RwQZ3CFno_fno8dm

Thanks again to Kerrville Folk Festival for what they do, and for listening to all of us share our hearts, minds, and souls.

“Life is a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves.” - Bill Hicks

WHO IS MIKE VITALE?

I am a storyteller, singer, songwriter, music producer, traveling musician, Jungian dream analyst, all-around curious fellow (Spiritual, Mathematical Historical, Scientific), Taoist, and much much more, based out of Los Angeles, California. I’m constantly releasing new music, in all sorts of different genres. You can listen to me below, on Spotify:

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No Vacancy | Mike Vitale (Original)

This is a song I wrote when I was living in Long Beach, CA several years ago—what feels like a lifetime away from me, now. It was another life.

I was exercising the deep hurt that I felt after the end of a relationship—transitory. A Dixie cup? It's not my place to say. Feelings. Truth. Facts. Gossip. What do any of those things really mean, when you are hurting. I think you just want the pain to stop—and it always does eventually.

What I do know, is that I sobbed as I wrote these words, and that they were cathartic. Hopefully, they will be to someone else, now.

No Vacancy

words and music by Michael Patrick Vitale

Dancing with a lover on a dead-end street

Stepping on toes with my two left feet

I fell asleep under a vacancy sign

The NO was burned out, but then she changed the lights

A foggy walk alone on a new moon night

She disappeared all together when I closed my eyes

The street lights flicker on and off, on and off, on and off, like her emotion

Until I find I'm off the deep end of an abstract notion

I forgot the melody a caged bird sings

The door's wide open but I've got clipped wings

The seed went sour in the dying light

So I'll sing for my supper 'til the water runs dry

The quick hide hid under a broken nail

The Essex split in two over an angry whale

There were rumors of cannibals living on the island nearby

So the survivors took the opposite course and ate each other when the truth was in short supply

I forgot the melody a caged bird sings

The door's wide open but I've got clipped wings

The seed went sour in the dying light

So I'll sing for my supper 'til the water runs dry

Parallel lines in the wilderness

Train tracks broken by a small recess

As the casualties are listed by a talking head

She limits her emotion behind words she read

I forgot the melody a caged bird sings

The door's wide open but I've got clipped wings

The seed went sour in the dying light

So I'll sing for my supper 'til the water runs dry

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The Puzzle is Now Live on Patreon for Purchase and Streaming

The world is odd, and isn’t obliged to make any sense. Mathematics and science, the religious and pious, eternal discoveries or human invention?

These are the lyrics that occur later in this song. It’s called The Puzzle, and that’s how I see life.

Today, as I was walking to Target to get a 9V battery for my acoustic guitar pickup, I was listening to an audio book discussing time on the quantum level, within the realm of Quantum Mechanics.

What is time, really?

According to John Archibald Wheeler, a theoretical physicist, “Time is what prevents everything from happening at once.”

The reason he said this is because the past and the present don’t exist as separate entities in the micro; the fabric of our reality. “There is no such thing as spacetime in the realm of quantum physics.” There is no linear time in the original quantum formalism. There is no explanation as to how one moment becomes the next, because in Quantum Physics, there is only one moment: the moment of observation, or what we as human beings call, The Present.

As Einstein put it: “People like us who believe in Physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future, is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”

We are always at the moment of observation. That is what the present is, and that is a gift. It is the moment of creation, for each and every one of us.

This is the first 45 seconds of the song. It is available to stream and purchase on my Patreon page, under the SHOP tab, through the Patreon App, which apparently, has always been there, even though I just created it.

https://www.patreon.com/mikevitalemusic/shop

Patreon is a way to directly support creators and observers, such as myself. I like making things, and it is lovely to make a living and pay my car payment and my rent, doing what I love. Patreon is a way to help make that happen. If you are a $5 backer or higher, you get the song included for free for being a monthly subscriber.

I like being a creator, now, in the present. I also like being the reason to shake some ass.

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Want by Mike Vitale

I wrote this song shortly after moving to Los Angeles. I was astounded by the tremendous amount of homelessness in my neighborhood, and in Southern California in general. And if those numbers weren’t astonishing, the pandemic exponentially increased the homeless population to a scale I could never possibly imagine.

I don’t have an answer to fix it. I really wish I did. I am an empathetic person, and there are millions of reasons why an individual ends up on the streets—and while I do not have a solution, I can say that I see possibility. I see value. I see the potential of a person. I see the sense of community amongst the ranks of people I know on a first name basis in my neighborhood. I see the folks who are suffering from Schizophrenia, and Tourette’s, and Manic Depression. I see self-medication. I see people. I see you. I see me.

Want

words and music by Michael Patrick Vitale

A tall glass of water

A safe bed to sleep

A roof overhead

Warm food to eat

A world full of want

Desires and dues

Everyone needs something

Without exception too

Someone to hug us

When we’re feeling blue

Someone to love us

Through and through

Everyone wants

We’re all living proof

Everyone needs something

And I’m no exception too

Maybe under an overpass and over this life

Feeling all alone and cold and scared and hungry at night

Empty as a Dixie cup, discarded just the same

Crumpled up and wasted under pliable walls, blankets, and rain

Who here marks value on things you can count

Please add up all the tents and tarps standing about

Everyone here needs a home and no one ever wants to feel alone

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Silver Lining | by Mike Vitale

Silver Lining

music and lyrics by Mike Vitale

Dancing in the dark

Awkward in the light

Destroying all hope

With hindsight

Reaching out on the phone

Feeling all alone

No eye contact

Throwing shade

Leave me here sleeping in the bed I made

Raining on parades while the sun is shining

Finding dark clouds in every silver lining

Every silver lining

Raining on parades while the sun is shining

Finding dark clouds in every silver lining

Every silver lining

Chattering thoughts

Solemn in the mind

The glass is half-empty and I'm resigned

Reaching out on the phone

Feeling all alone

I cup my hands

The wrong wolf's fed

Now I'm exercising demons that are in my head

Raining on parades while the sun is shining

Finding dark clouds in every silver lining

Every silver lining

Raining on parades while the sun is shining

Finding dark clouds in every silver lining

Every silver lining

Raining on parades while the sun is shining

Finding dark clouds in every silver lining

Every silver lining

Raining on parades while the sun is shining

Finding dark clouds in every silver lining

Every silver lining

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Dandelion Seeds | Mike Vitale (Original)

“Dandelion Seeds”
words and music by Michael Patrick Vitale

We’re dandelion seeds in the wind
A couple kids playing pretend
Making wishes in the weeds
Reading our futures off of tarot cards and tea leaves

Wandering around the bend
With one hand on the steering wheel, the other on the bitter end
Reaching out towards the stars
Above a Hollywood sign and an ocean of cars

I have my opinion, but you’re full of your own
And there’s plenty of windshield time with our thoughts alone
And some could wage argue that truth is both moot and plural
Yet I’m still in love with the girl
Still in love with the girl

We’re dandelion seeds in the wind
A couple kids playing pretend
Making wishes in the weeds
Reading our futures off of tarot cards and tea leaves

Wandering around the bend
With one hand on the steering wheel, the other on the bitter end
Reaching out towards the stars
Above a Hollywood sign and an ocean of cars

I have my opinion, but you’re full of your own
And there’s plenty of windshield time with our thoughts alone
And some could wage argue that truth is both moot and plural
Yet I’m still in love with the girl
Still in love with the girl
I’m still in love with the girl
I’m still in love with the girl

If you are interested in learning more about me and my songwriting, engineering, production, and album making process—or would just like to be a part of my creative endeavors, check me out at http://www.patreon.com/mikevitalemusic

I have two albums that I’ve been working on to release this year. The first is Americana music, and the second is more world music driven! The Americana album is already available to listen to right now for $10 backers.

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"Want" | Mike Vitale (Original)

“Want”
words and music by Mike Vitale

A tall glass of water
A safe bed to sleep
A roof overhead
Warm food to eat

A world full of want
Desires and dues
Everyone needs something
Without exception too

Someone to hug us
When we’re feeling blue
Someone to love us
Through and through

Everyone wants
We’re all living proof
Everyone needs something
And I’m no exception too

Maybe under an overpass and over this life
Feeling all alone and cold and scared and hungry at night
Empty as a Dixie cup, discarded just the same
Crumpled up and wasted under pliable walls, blankets, and rain

Who here marks value on things you can count
Please add up all the tents and tarps standing about
Everyone here needs a home and no one ever wants to feel alone

INSIDE my HEAD RSS