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This is a Paul K fan page. The Official Paul K Page is here.

You can get a great many of his CDs directly from Paul.

The obligatory opening rant

I read this review of a singer/songwriter in the Chicago Tribune one day. It was the biggest fanboy rant that I had ever seen in a music column. So that evening I went to see this guy that the reviewer was raving about. Ten years, five shows, a bunch of CD's, three pieces of vinyl, and assorted tapes later I am still raving.

There have been precious few great songwriters in the history of rock music. People who have laid their lives out in their songs. Songwriters, for whom the music is more than just rock and roll. For whom the music is a necessity to their existence. Songwriters who are driven to create. Not to get chicks, not to be stars, to create. To leave something that speaks to the world. Bob Dylan. Pete Townsend. John Lennon. Van Morrison. Townes Van Zandt, a few others. and Paul K.

Paul doesn't get much notice in the music world. Probably because the music bizness has become too much about business and not that much about music. Paul's songs are about the truth. About the real world. Sometimes it's ugly, but sometimes the world is ugly. But there is beauty there too. There is a catharsis in The Third Day Is The Worst. As Al Broadey dies at the end of Wilderness Of Mirrors we are reminded that his entire life as been an act of love. The love that he feels for his wife. It's a Greek tragedy in the modern world. And no one else in rock music writes like that.

Paul has lived a life that resonates in his songs. And ex-junkie and petty thief, his music is about redemption. He has developed a mythology about his life in his music and in the liner notes of his CD's. Here are a few quotes:

The transformation of pain into beauty. This process has never been satisfactorily explained to me, but I have glimpsed its gears turning while I squatted in a windowless abandoned tenement on Avenue C, bought junk in Harlem, and counted out precious cigarettes in a Cincinnati jail cell. I hope that I can conquer my fear enough to learn much more about it. Until that time, here is my progress report … [From the liner notes for The Big Nowhere]

I mean … after love has grown cold and pale, and booze and grass and junk have all become drudgery rather than deliverance, and sex has become a charade, I am still capable of feeling on joy when I come across an Edward Hopper or I hear "Stroke it Noel" or read a chapter or two of "Get Shorty". As weak and irresponsible as it may be to devote one's life to playing rock music, it does seem to make people as ecstatic as I was when "LA Confidential" came out in paperback. And without a doubt these songs are our labors of love given to you in an earnest offering of love or at least our weak attempt at it. [From the liner notes for The Killer In The Rain]

Now firmly entrenched, casualities mount and the battles become longer. The winners and losers are harder to identify when the critics love you but your banker hates your guts … [From the liner notes for Garden Of Forking Paths]

Years of listening to radio broadcasts in which 19 year olds positively ache over the unfairness and venality of the world have made me just angry enough to put aside anger and embrace those few things in life which are universally considered "good". Life is neutral. Money is neutral. Love is always good. [From the liner notes for Love Is A Gas]

This site is just my progress report at the moment. A repository for the music that Paul has put out. Please note that I now have a page where you can order a lot of Paul's music (directly from the band). Some of the "official" CDs are available from Paul now. Tim Welch (the drummer for the Prayers) is putting out all of the cassette releases from the 80s burned onto CD. I only have a couple of them so far but what I have is a fascinating look into the genesis of Paul's songwriting. These are available straight from the band and all questions should be directed to the address given on the for sale page.

I have written some comments on all of the recordings and everything that Paul has released as of 1999 should have it's own little section on my site now.

More to come.