There is a light that never goes out

One afternoon in 2004, a few of the folks affiliated with Hi-N-Dry, the Cambridge record label, were sitting and talking around the kitchen table. Singer-songwriter Rick Berlin had dropped by for a quick visit and, as he was leaving, he reached out and struck a chord on a nearby piano that, like the Norfolk Street loft itself, had once belonged to late Morphine leader Mark Sandman.

''It was really nice hearing the piano and we said, 'Rick, sing us a song,' " recalls former Morphine drummer Billy Conway, who was there that afternoon and would later help produce Berlin's striking new CD, ''Me & Van Gogh." A two-night stand celebrating the release is tonight and tomorrow at the Lizard Lounge. ''In the middle of the day, he played the most beautiful song for the little crowd, like a little treat, and then off he went. And I thought, 'This guy's got a switch that's always on.' Rick can throw ideas around at will -- he's got a million of 'em."

Or, at least as many ideas as he's been able to cram into more than 30 years of writing, recording, and performing, both solo and with bands of every style and sound: glam rock, new wave pop, torched cabaret. You name it, Berlin has done it, musical or otherwise. Shook hands with Richard Nixon (twice). Dropped acid before his physical exam for the draft. Dropped out of Yale Drama School, where he was on a full scholarship. Performed at a Frank Zappa anniversary party with Patti Smith and the funk group LaBelle. Opened for Roxy Music and the J. Geils Band. Signed to, and then dropped by, Epic Records. Turned down legendary label honcho Seymour Stein's $100,000 offer of a Sire Records contract. Wrote musicals rejected by Disney. Received a curious phone call from the namesake of his last band, the Shelley Winters Project.

''It's bizarre because I never thought music would be a career," says Berlin, 60, tucked into a booth at Doyle's Café in Jamaica Plain, where he has waited tables for more than 15 years. ''Six months after I put my first band together [Orchestra Luna, in 1973], we were signed to Epic and I thought, 'Wow, this is easy'!"

There would, of course, be as many trials as triumphs through the decades, but at the moment, Berlin's basking in the latter. Tonight and tomorrow, dozens of local denizens -- old friends, proteges, rockers, multimedia experimentalists -- will pay tribute to Berlin and his vast, enigmatic catalog. Any version or interpretation of any song is welcome. (For a complete list of performers and show details, go to www.rickberlin.com). Berlin says he's ''incredibly moved that this many people want to take the time to learn something that's not theirs. That's a big deal."

In addition to writing songs -- he's always writing songs -- Berlin's now shooting a documentary titled ''Jamaica Plain-Spoken (Small Town America in the 21st Century?)." He has interviewed 55 people for the project, which he hopes to complete in two years.

''My favorite type of art to do is the stuff I know the least about," Berlin says. ''I never really studied music or piano for very long" -- he studied architecture at Yale University -- ''so I trusted my ability to make something original because it wasn't coming out of a school. I've watched so many movies -- most gay people watch too many movies -- but I thought, it's about time I tried to make one."

''Me & Van Gogh" is a tender, funny, moving, raw nerve of a record, set dramatically alight by nothing more than Berlin's starkly expressive voice and the Sandman piano. He sang and played at the same time with no overdubs.

''I wanted to see if I could actually make a record that had nothing else on it and if the songs could stand alone," he says. ''It's a private record, not a party record."

Conway, who coproduced with Tom Dube, urged Berlin to leave intimate, open spaces, hit fewer notes but emphasize dramatic chords, and stretch out. ''His piano and his voice dancing to their own time" is how Conway describes the recording sessions.

Indeed, the disc's dozen vignettes defy convention: Think John Waters and Jim Jarmusch crossed with Raymond Carver and Randy Newman. Tracks such as ''Criminal," ''Don't Talk About Joan," and, most powerfully, ''A Letter," are verite snapshots; plain-spoken portraits of human frailty, humor, and torment. Most of Berlin's material is grounded in real-life conversation, either overheard in the bustle and din of the everyday or aimed at him directly. Berlin estimates that roughly 90 percent of the lyrics in ''A Letter" come verbatim from correspondence a troubled young acquaintance sent him from prison.

''I met him, he was a hustler, and I picked him up more than once," Berlin says. ''He wound up in prison and wrote me this letter and I was so moved by it. I used his life." He guiltily calls his modus operandi ''vampiric." But isn't it the true storyteller who can recognize art in the ordinary, seize it, and create something special that captures yet transcends its quotidian beginnings?

This uncommon touch inspired the album's tenderly empathic title track.

''It's hard for an artist who has not succeeded in a financial way to not wonder about an artist like Van Gogh, because he was driven to do that work, he was going insane as he did that work, and his brother was the only one who bought anything. And now he's on every poster in every college," Berlin says with a bitter laugh. ''In Western culture, if you're not making money for somebody else, you're a flop. And I've never succeeded, I've never made any money doing this, ever. And yet, I'm so compelled to do it. I'm not at the level of Van Gogh, but I think about him."

NEMO'S TENTH: Time flies when you're having fun. The NEMO Music Festival & Conference, which is held throughout the Greater Boston area and is one of the largest annual music industry events in the country, is now accepting submissions exclusively through Sonicbids.com for this year's three-day blowout of music, panels, workshops, seminars, and an industry trade show. Sonicbids submissions are open until May 15, and rolling admissions commence June 1. This year's NEMO conference is scheduled to take place Sept. 28-30. Past NEMO showcase artists have included Godsmack, Further Seems Forever, the Perceptionists, the Black Keys, Los Lonely Boys, Dresden Dolls, and many others. Go to www.nemoboston.com for details.

BITS & PIECES: Tonight Alt-rock sensations Yellowcard are at the Paradise. The All-American Rejects perform a special concert at TD Banknorth Garden immediately following tonight's Celtics game against the Sacramento Kings. Boston's Dear Leader kicks off the first of a two-night stand at T.T. the Bear's. Tomorrow Country-folk songstress Eilen Jewel hosts a benefit for the Somerville Homeless Coalition at Tir na nOg. Victory at Sea celebrates the release of its new CD, headlining a terrific bill that includes Helms, Tiny Amps, Broken River Prophets, and Seana Carmody. Sunday The female hip-hop trio Northern State headlines a benefit show at the Milky Way for LegalLove.Org, a local organization that aims to raise awareness about same-sex marriage. Tuesday Punk-pop noisemakers Less Than Jake headline Avalon. Wednesday Heavy Rotation Records, the student-run Berklee label, celebrates the release of ''Dorm Sessions Volume III" at the Berklee Performance Center. Thursday Low headlines the Somerville Theatre.