(Taken from the inside panels of the "Duchess 33" liner notes.)

Alright, so, why "Duchess 33"?

Well... it's my porn name, of course! You see, it all goes back to 2004 when some bloggers began attacking me for being a "potty mouth" and a "smut dealer" after they found out that my long-time record label A Different Drum declined to release my final Cosmicity album, a best-of collection called "Definitive". ADD passed on that release due to what they considered "offensive content" on the included bonus DVD movie that I made. (They would have released it if I'd agreed to some edits and changes, but I had no interest in doing that.) Still, none of these bloggers had even seen the movie. Nobody had. Nevertheless, I was being verbally trashed on the potential of what I'd done. (Those of you who've since seen the DVD now know that this response was totally out of proportion with the PG-13 type of content found on here. I mean, don't get me wrong. I do loves me some smut. But when ya call it smut and it isn't? That's just wrong. That's like trying to take Robert Downey Jr. to jail BEFORE he does the blow.)

So, I found myself suddenly disenchanted with what used to be my comfort zone: the underground Synthpop scene I'd been a part of for a very long time, not to mention the safety of that built-in audience. But, to my surprise, stepping out of my comfort zone felt great. I began to really feel free. And pissed off. And a little hungry for Subway Italian BMT sandwiches. Just a lot of things I wasn't used to. And suddenly these new songs, and a whole new sound, came pouring out of me. And the title, well, like I said, it just seemed so obvious one day. They're calling me a smut dealer? I'll give them my porn name.

And, for the record, yes, there are MANY ways to supposedly come up with one's porn name. The method I used was combining the name of my first pet (my dog Duchess) and the street I grew up on (which was called 33 Mile.) I think you'll agree that I wisely took a small liberty here and deleted the word "Mile" from the title of this album to avoid looking like I wanted to copy Eminem's "8 Mile" thing. Except, you know, I AM a badass little white boy from Detroit. (Okay, fine... Detroit suburbs.) Just because I enjoy Battlestar Galactica and dressing up as Boba Fett for Halloween every year doesn't make it any less true. Oh, yeah, like you don't wish you had that costume too. Psh.

For additional info, song by song, check out the liner notes of the "Duchess 33" CD.