Paul Levinson Talks about Welcome Up on Bear Tone Podcast

Among the many people and media in music and science fiction I talk about in this podcast, recorded the day I finished recording Welcome Up: Songs of Space and Time in Old Bear Studios in Batavia, NY in November, 2018: Alan Freed, Murray the K, Stu Nitekman, The New Outlook, Ellie Greenwich, Herb Abramson, Twice Upon A Rhyme, Boris Midney, Nikita Khrushchev, Paul McCartney, Robert Christgau, The Village Voice, Tina Vozick, Record Collectors Magazine, Big Pink Records, Anthony Nyland, Chris Hoisington, Phil D'Amato, "The Chronology Protection Case", David Hartwell, Borrowed Tides, Peter Brown Called, Steve Padin, Vincent van Gogh, Jeremy Thompson, Electric Lady Studios, Egypt Station, Bill O'Reilly

Debuting Welcome Up LP at Philcon 9 November 2019

vinyl, digital, and CD copies of Welcome Up: Songs of Space and Time to be officially released by Old Bear Records in early 2020 - but you can get an advance copy of the CD here

more about Paul Levinson's music 

My Set List for 9 November 5:30pm Philcon performance

Jeremy Thompson, Paul Levinson, Steve Padin, Chris Hoisington

Here's the set list for my 9 November 2019 (Saturday), 5:30-6pm performance at Philcon (in Cherry Hill, NJ, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel), room Plaza VI (Six) - the first public performance of songs from my new science fiction related album, Welcome Up: Songs of Space and Time, produced by Chris Hoisington and to be released by Old Bear Records in early 2020:

If I Traveled to the Past (words by Paul Levinson, music by John Anealio)  

Tau Ceti (Paul Levinson and John Anealio)

Samantha (Paul Levinson)
Welcome Up (Paul Levinson)

Alpha Centauri (Paul Levinson and Peter Rosenthal) 

Cloudy Sunday (Paul Levinson and Linda Kaplan) 

I Knew You By Heart (Paul Levinson and Peter Rosenthal)
Picture Postcard World (Paul Levinson)

The names in parentheses are the songwriters.  I'll be singing all the songs, against backing tracks from my new album Welcome Up (to be released by Old Bear Records early in 2020) and two other songs from Twice Upon a Rhyme (Happysad Records, 1972).

backing tracks for If I Traveled to the Past, Tau Ceti, Samantha, Alpha Centauri, Welcome Up, I Knew You By Heart, Picture Postcard World:  guitars Jeremy Thompson, drums and keyboard Steven Carlos Padin, harmony and production Chris Hoisington, keyboard Anthony Hoisington, accordion Don Frankel

backing track for Cloudy Sunday: guitar Peter Rosenthal, piano Barbara Krupnick, harmony and production Chris Hoisington, production Paul Levinson

more about my music: Reverbnation, Facebook, Bandcamp, Spotify 

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The rest of the convention should be lots of fun, too.  Here's my schedule:

Fri 6:00 PM in Executive Suite 623 (1 hour) READINGS: PAUL LEVINSON, APRIL GREY, JAMES CAMBIAS (3723) [Panelists: Paul Levinson (mod), April Grey, James L. Cambias]  Note: I'll be reading from a  brand new alternate-Beatles story, "It's Real Life," for the first time in public!

Fri 7:00 PM in Crystal Ballroom Promenade (Gaming) (1 hour) AUTOGRAPHS: PAUL LEVINSON, APRIL GREY, JAMES CAMBIAS (3726) [Panelists: Paul Levinson (mod), April Grey, James L. Cambias]

Sat 11:00 AM in Crystal Ballroom Two (1 hour) ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND CONSCIOUSNESS (3590) [Panelists: Jeff Warner (mod), David Walton, Rebecca Robare, Anna Kashina, Paul Levinson, Muriel Hykes] Does “I think, therefore I am” apply to AI? Could it ever? How could we tell if it happens

Sat 3:00 PM in Plaza V (Five) (1 hour) JEWISH SCIENCE FICTION (3530) [Panelists: Simone Zelitch (mod), Paul Levinson, Aaron Feldman, B. Lana Guggenheim, Daniel Kimmel, Alex Shvartsman] Is it a subgenre of its own? Plenty of Jews write SF, and plenty of non-Jews incorporate Jewish history and elements of the Jewish supernatural into their work. What can we learn from this classification, and does it enrich or limit how we read

Sat 5:30 PM in Plaza VI (Six) (30 mins) Paul Levinson mini-concert

Sat 11:00 PM in Crystal Ballroom Two (1 hour) GAME OF THRONES (3600) [Panelists: Charlie Robertson (mod), Michael A. Ventrella, Muriel Hykes, Paul Levinson] It wouldn't be inaccurate to say that *everybody* lost when it comes to the HBO adaptation. How should the show have ended? How might the ending of the novels differ

Sun 12:00 PM in Crystal Ballroom Two (1 hour) HOW FAR CAN YOU SUSPEND SOMEONE'S DISBELIEF? (3514) [Panelists: Elektra Hammond (mod), Paul Levinson, Lawrence Kramer, Julie Ann Dawson, Robert E. Waters] How much can you ask a reader to take on faith before they can't take your story seriously any more? Are there ways to get readers willing to accept more challenging changes and assumptions? What authors have succeed at pushing the boundaries without pushing their readers out of the story

Captain Phil interviews Paul Levinson about his New Music, Science Fiction, and Trump

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 117, in which the notorious Captain Phil (on WUSB Radio) interviews me about my new music, latest science fiction, and Donald Trump's current assaults on democracy.  Phil also plays, at the start of the episode, two rough mixes from my forthcoming Welcome Up album of science fiction songs, to be released by Old Bear Records this Fall: "Alpha Centauri" and "Samantha".  We discuss such topics as the return of Jeff Lynne and the re-launch of Amazing Stories, in which several of my new science fiction stories have appeared. I always have a good time talking to Phil, and this interview was one of the best.

Helpful links:

1. Robinson Calculator
2. more on anniversary issue of Amazing Stories
3. my review of Jeff Lynne at Prudential in Newark
4. my review of The Loudest Voice
5. Levinson on television about Trump

Check out this episode!

Sneak Peek at the Batavia Sessions

Just a quick note to let you know that Twice Upon A Rhyme - digital as well the original 1972 vinyl released on HappySad Records - is now up on Bandcamp. And ... I know that many of you have been clamoring to hear some of the songs I recorded at the Batavia Sessions October 31 - November 2 for Old Bear Records.  Here are two of them - Samantha and If I Traveled to the Past.  (These are rough mixes, with stuff likely to be added.)  Chris Hoisington produced and did the harmonies,; Jeremy Thompson guitars, mellotron, and stand-up bass; Steven Padin drums and piano.

Music

Samantha If I Traveled To The Past MORE MUSIC

Press

"PAUL LEVINSON WRITES SONGS THAT ARE CATCHY AND COLORFUL. WITH A STORIED CAREER THAT INCLUDES WORKING WITH SONGWRITING LEGEND ELLIE GREENWICH, LEVINSON RELEASED FOLK AND POP GEMS IN THE SIXTIES AND SEVENTIES. FANS OF SIMON AND GARFUNKEL, DEL SHANNON, BRIAN HYLAND, SPANKY AND OUR GANG, THE ZOMBIES, THE VOGUES, AND STRAWBERRY ALARM CLOCK WILL LOVE LISTENING TO PAUL LEVINSON."— Modern Music Maker, Mar 23, 2018

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