Somewhere Between Hope and Despair
Noam Weinstein Gets his sh*t together
Wanted: Geneticists with pluck and mettle to engage in an investigative study of a highly unusual phenomenon.
According to our records, some thirty years ago Rikki Lee Jones engaged in sexual congress with both 
Randy Newman and Donald Fagen. She then gave birth to a child who appears to have inherited characteristics
of both partners as well as certain creative gifts imparted by Jones herself. The child was raised in eastern 
Massachusetts by a well-meaning couple, the Weinsteins. Upon seeing their son's face for the first time, 
they decided to name him Noam, Hebrew for "acceptable."
The translation of "Noam" was taken from his web site. The playful interpretation of his style is our own 
version of the following quotes from other publications:  "Careens joyfully from delicate ballads to 
Prince-meets-Elvis Costello... Poignant and colorful." (Performing Songwriter)
"If Ben Folds and Jeff Tweedy had a love child, his name would probably be Noam."  (Chart Magazine) 
[at least we involved a female]
"Will appeal to fans of Tom Waits, Joe Henry, Elvis Costello, Randy Newman and Steely Dan." (StarPolish)
The longer one listens to Noam, the more one appreciates the range of styles he encompasses. 
While we left out a bunch of references, they get covered in these other quotes: …Noam has been called everything 
from "a thrilling songwriter" (The Nashville Rage) to "a young Elvis Costello mixed with Randy Newman" (PasteMusic) 
to "a talent who croons lovely, subtle songs" (The Boston Globe) to "intermittently waltzish and/or just plain 
carefully arranged cabaret-boíte-leaning" (The Village Voice). The editors at Time Out New York heard echoes
 of Harry Nilsson in his songs, while other folks mention Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, The Band, Ben Folds, or The Wallflowers…"
Acoustic Live, having found Noam to possess a ridiculous amount of talent, has conducted its own study. 
We report the following:
While we missed the Elvis Costello connection, we gleefully stand by the Donald Fagen observation. 
For this listener, artfully expressed cynicism is its own reward. In his song "Pushing Sixty," although unable to 
impart here the similarity in singing styles, we submit the lyrics:  

the whore of heaven and the prince of pain
pushing 60 in the breakdown lane /
went to bed crazy and woke up sane 
pushing 60 in the breakdown lane

Likewise in "Big Babies" 

your eyes are blue your hands are cold
your words are few and i don't know if we'll ever get married
i don't know if we'll ever be true 
and i'd pimp you to the neighbors if i knew them
and you'd shoot me in my heart if you could find it
just to keep me from loving you

For the Randy Newman link, we like "Undone"  

lust is a movie that never begins 
just previews and credits, then gone with the wind
the script needs a doctor, the plot needs an arc
and now I'm just sitting alone in the dark 
there is nothing to do with a gun
love is a novel that young people buy
but the words quickly fade and the characters die

For an actual bio, we submit the following true saga:
Noam was raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts spending all of his formative years there. 
Part of the Boston area, it teems with college students and aspiring musicians. Noam says he's 
grateful to have been part of such a vibrant musical community His first exposure to music was 
his parents' record collection. One of his earliest set of memories was of his father singing to him 
and his sister in the car or around the house. Noam found that the songs in and of themselves  
 -- "were a little bit magical -- that they stayed in the air around his father and he would be inspired 
to 'pull one down' and share it." His father sang a lot of older traditional songs "900 Miles,"
 "Sixteen Tons," sea chanteys, etc. Noam began studying guitar at age 8. He's taken lessons on 
and off "a number of times." Initially, he learned 3 notes per week on every string. His teacher 
understood that "it was easy to overwhelm a child."
There were a number of fortunate encounters with older, more experienced musicians who became 
mentors Noam feels that he's been "unreasonably blessed" with a number of such individuals in his life.
Wayne Goins gets it going
First, he was sent to a summer camp in Maine called "Encore Coda," at around age nine. The brand-new
director of its guitar program, Wayne Goins managed to light a fire in Noam that still burns. Noam describes 
him as "A phenomenal human being and guitarist.  He  instilled in me whatever discipline I've had over the 
years. I was lucky with Wayne because he gave me a combination of discipline to work on these things and 
but also a love of the music. He was the first person who took me under his wing and pushed me to the 
next stage. Overly strict teachers squeeze a lot of the discipline out of the instrument without instilling the 
beauty and love of it. He also encouraged me to get an electric guitar." (Noam had started with a nylon 
string acoustic) Wayne's help enabled Noam to overcome any lazy tendencies during the primary school 
years and take the time every day to practice. He taught him how to play a lot of blues-based chords and 
scales for the first couple of years which have remained a large part of "whatever palette I have." In addition, 
"He gave me simple ear training. He was living in Boston for a while and came over to the house during 
the school year. He gave me afternoon lessons and played simple intervals on the piano and had me guess 
whether it was a major or a minor."
High School and All that Jazz
There were several other private instructors also. Then, he went to Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School. 
The Jazz Ensemble director, Bob Ponte, was extremely dedicated, sharing everything he could 
during the couple of hours allotted during the week, then putting in a lot of overtime to take the group 
to play at public functions, city gatherings and the like. The group was, as Noam puts it, "more of a novelty 
than actually a 'musically pleasing' contribution to the event. We were pretty rudimentary 
players. It gave us all an appreciation for creating the music and get out and share it. A lot of the first 
opportunities to get out and perform were through the high school."
The influence of having played jazz has crept into Noam's style.  Although he had never listened to 
Steely Dan over the years, as previously noted, listeners other than this author have noticed a 
similarity in his songs to Donald Fagen and/or Steely Dan.
Seriously, Songwriting
At some point in high school, he got into songwriting. He began by 
ambitiously taking the absolutely killer Ray Charles version of Johny Mercer's "Come Rain or Come Shine" 
and put his own words and a slightly modified melody to it. It was only afterward that he started writing his own songs.
In his senior year of high school, he met singer/songwriter Kevin So at an open mic in Boston. Kevin hired 
Noam as an accompanying guitarist for a bunch of gigs. 
Noam would also attend a blues jam at a club in Somerville where he met musicians who were older 
than him, but who were extremely supportive and nurturing. They remain among his closest musical 
friends in the Boston area. 
Noam Puts a Dent in the Apple
At around the age of 21, Noam moved to New York City. He 
religiously attended Jack Hardy's Monday Night Song Swap and got support and inspiration there, from 
Jack as well as older, more experienced songwriters like Frank Tedesso and Tim Robinson. Hearing an 
endless array of run-of-the-mill songwriters can be wearying and Jack can be understandably brusque 
with those whose talent is on the lean side. At some point during that time, the author paid a visit there to 
write an article on the Swap and heard Jack request that nobody finish the routinely offered -- and always 
extremely tasty -- batch of pasta because Noam hadn't gotten there yet. I had never heard Jack express 
that kind of concern for an attendee and, without meeting Noam, assumed that this guy's skills had made 
an impact. It might've been that Jack was also nurturing a connection to this very adept sideman, but we'll 
cut Jack some slack here and accept that it was personal affection as well as professional respect. Noam is 
as likeable as he is talented.
Noam was hanging around the Living Room and fell in with with many musicians, among them  Once Blue 
(the band) alumnus and Norah Jones collaborator, Jesse Harris. His web site lists among his friends, many of our 
old favorites, Richard Julian and Norah Jones among them. He began playing steadily with drummer Rich Kulsar,
bassist Kyle Turner and keyboardist Kerry Brown. Together, in 2001, they made Noam's debut EP, Enough About You.
In 2002 the EP Above the Music followed, and in 2004 he completed his first full-length CD, Probably Human. 
This past September he released a second full-length CD, We're All Going There.
We used lyrics from Probably Human. in the beginning of this article. We think they're wonderfully definitive.
Although the Dixieland opus "When I Get My" isn't the deepest track, philosphically, its lighthearted look at the striving that goes into a 
musical career is refreshing: 

when I get my sh-t together don't know the year
don't know the date but I'm gonna throw a big party;
it'll start around eight; there'll be dinner 
   and dancers and a dixieland band 
and everybody who comes is gonna shake my hand 
and say "it was a question of when, not a question of whether 
I knew you'd get your sh*t together" 

So, of course, it found its way into the title of this article.
On the latest CD, We're All Going There. there are a lot of existential themes.  I thought that one in particular, 
"Sail On," was a post 9/11 contemplation. However, Noam wrote it in response to Hurricane Katrina. It's plenty powerful.

I looked in the fire, I turned in the wind, 
I came to a soldier, asked where he'd been
but with each new hour, as silent as he, 
my dreams blowing further, and further from me
sail on sweet dreams, sail on sweet dreams
mind the waves, mind the rocks, 
don't look back, don't look back
but I once heard a brass band, 
march by my home, 
now I'm an old man marching alone

Both the pensive, sorrowful melody and the searing lyrics are characteristically Noam Weinstein.
The clear-eyed cynicism runs so strongly through his work, I asked  about the overall thrust of his work. 
He responded: "I think there's a lot of sadness around us, but a lot of beauty as well. Hope and sadness 
are linked. Hope is only an interesting and powerful emotion in a world that gives so many reasons 
to lose it." Amen.
There's a wealth of material in Noam's portfolio to dig into. We encourage our readers to go out,  
see him live and pick up a CD or two. 
Noam is playing in New York City at Googies, upstairs at the Living Room on Tuesday, June 19th at 7:30pm 
and at Rockwood Music Hall on Wednesday, June 13th at 8:30pm. See our listings for location details.
For more upcoming gigs, visit his web site: www.enoam.com