Welcome to Khristopher's Music Page

Song of the Week, April 10th, 2020

Luke 24: 13-35 was the inspiration I had for this song. I like to listen to this when I'm feeling lonely. The song seemed very appropriate the song of the week on good Friday. It's also timely with all the social distancing and stay at home guidance, which for me means alone, going on at this time. And most importantly, I didn't forget, happy birthday mom!

Song of the Week, April 17th, 2020

I wrote this back in June/July 2013. Where I worked was very different back then. The inspiration was a cross between the Keystone Cops and what it felt like every time there was a major incident at work, where things always tended to gravitate towards everyone ending up in one person's cube waiting on the one unlucky soul who was tasked with engaging vendor support.

Song of the Week, April 24th, 2020

There is a saying among musicians. Make a mistake once and it's a mistake. Make the same mistake all the time and it's called jazz. Well, in this song's first revision I intended the melody to be bizarre, unnatural, and unlike any of my previous chord progression driven songs. In the first revision, I had an automated arpeggio playing in an unusual sound playing throughout the song. At one point in the arpeggio the sound culminated in what sounded like a transporter from the starship Enterprise. Unfortunately I am unable to reproduce that sound. It does however have a lasting legacy. I originally named the song Cozmik Casbah. Cosmik because of the transporter sound, and casbah because of the unusual melody which I think sounds remotely middle eastern. In honor of my friend Orest and in part myself, I changed the name to Koxmic Casbah. The "K" of course for those who know me is not unusual. For those who know Orest the "x" for the "z" is not unusual either.

Song of the Week, May 1st, 2020

This was the first song I wrote on my latest synth (Ensoniq MR-76). I was thinking of James Bond for some reason, and I thought of how the character must have a lot of rage inside after the death of his wife. The character seemed in control and mad at the world at the same time. So I tried to build tension in many of the song's segments followed by an abrupt release thus regulating the rage. At the time I had the Connery and Dalton Bonds in mind. But now I totally get the vibe from the Daniel Craig Bond.

Song of the Week, May 8th, 2020

Not that my parents and their friends ever needed an excuse to party, but I'm sure Taco Tuesday on Cinco de Mayo would have been an acceptable one. The melodic phrase from this song was probably one of the very first I ever came up with. It was a simple melody I dubbed the happy people song. I'm not sure how that got coupled with lyrics, but my best guess would be that Marty (or Mr. Hegedus as I called him, respectfully) heard me playing some version of it while lounging at the pool, and put them to paper. While I may dabble with putting lyrics to songs myself, those rarely go anywhere. But it seems like whenever someone else pens words to music I end up adapting the music to them. I've done a number of them, and never really put the mp3s out there with the vocals. But there are enough that I thought one day I would collect them in an album dubbed Vocal Delusions, meaning I would have to be delusional to think i can carry a tune.

Another thing I often do is re-record things as I get new equipment. And I do have a re-worked version of this song. But after relistening to an old CD my dad had made, I found that I like the older version better. Don't get me wrong, I will probably try to reproduce it with more fidelity to the original another time. But not all sounds can be so easily reproduced from one old synth to the next. So this week's song of the week, an older remastered, but not reproduced version, is in honor of Taco Tuesday on Cinco de Mayo, and for lyricist and mix master Marty Hegedus, and all the Wizzbangers.

The Wizzbanger Song Lyrics

Song of the Week, May 15th, 2020

Remember what I said last week about songs with lyrics I write not going far? This is one of those. While the music itself is one of my personal favorites, that I used to love to play on the piano often, they lyrics never got past the refrain. This is actually the 4th evolution of the music. And this one itself goes back 21 years. I'm not very fast and loose when it comes to trying things. Alchohol, again, if you remember from last week, is the extent of my mind altering experimentation. Though in college I did not inhale, lick stamps or sample magic fungus. But true to my libertarian leanings I was fine with and often ended up around those that did.

Another clue, or pattern, in my song of the week selection was to at least at first, select one from each album. And what are albums anyway? Something old people had collections of in various mediums before everything all at once could just be on one thing in one place. The album this song came from I called Road Kill Buffet. Why that? Well, after the first few, which were assembled from a lifetime of creation, from those that were my personal favorites, and had deeper inspiration, all the songs on this album were what was left over, that i though was worth re-recording. That is until off the shelf, which was literally all those left after this album which I would have been ok with letting fall off the shelf into the garbage can, but minor ocd kicked in to get all works recreated.

And so yeah, all its songs have liner notes, thematic to the album title, yet without any actual association to the composition of the songs themselves. So without further blabbering on here's the last "liner notes" I had for this. WARNING: contains explicit language.

Green Eggs and Wham! Lyrics

Song of the Week, May 22th, 2020

I've had plenty of time to focus and train my thoughts on projects whether they are at work, in the yard, or on the web. This train rolled into the parking lot a couple months ago. I kept wanting to get a picture of me in it, but i settled for near it. And the image struck a chord (pun intended) with what my next song of the week should be. I have one with a train in the title, so I figured I'd put the two together. The song itself has a rhythm to it that reminds me a little of a train chugging down the tracks. The feeling it evokes in me is that of mindlesslly running down the tracks life lays down in front of us. I do like routines, but every so often I have to look up and around or before I realize it I've lost too much time doing nothing.

Song of the Week, Early, Special Edition, May 27th, 2020

I do typically take breaks, or have breaks between bouts of creativity and new song composition. The last such spurt of creativity came in the summer of 2016. Most of my Destination Unreachable album was created then. At the beginning of 2017 both my dogs passed away within a few weeks of each other. While it it didn't directly affect my desire to create music, indirectly it didn't help it either. In 2016 when I still had them and was composing this song I definitely had them in my thoughts while doing so. I always had this song I used to sing to them when i woke up, or returned to them.

I love my little puppy Echo, oh yes oh yes! I do,
I love my little puppy Nova, oh yes, I love her too!,
I love both of my puppies, I love you yes I do,
I love you even when you pee or drop a puppy poo.

Yeah, I know it's silly. But it was my song for them, our song. There are so many tales I have of the tails. I won't even try to put them all down here, for now. But I have so much I want to never forget that from time to time I'll probably update this particular entry with links to every adventure with them I can remember, with pictures if they exist. Until then I'll just start with one, related to the photo for the entry.

The Great Blueberry Hunters Adventure

Song of the Week, June 5th, 2020

The weather has been pretty nice this last week. And it feels like spring finally sprung. So I didn't really spend much time thinking about this week's song of the week. It has been nice to be outside, do yard work, walk around the borough, and overall just not being in front of a computer all day and night. So for those who called, and didn't get me, this week's composition is appropriate. Before I get into why it is called Leave a Message I would like to give some insight into a common structure in things I record.

When I record there's ususually some part of the song it starts around. Often it's a melodic place holder for vocals, which I have noted before, that I don't really do. The verse, refrain, verse, refrain, solo, verse, refrain fade variety is very common among my works. That gets put down in the sequencer along with a no frills drum machine track that I think I can work with later. Then I lay down a harmony track with whatever synth sound I think compliments the melody waveform used. This is followed up by a very simple bass track. That's 90% of things I've written. At some point I played around with a second melody track, like a duet, which I also would not sing. When I did this it was purposely mixed to make it hard to know which should be listened to, an audio equivalent of those colored dot paintings that they say have some alternate image in them. In this song I frankensteined this concept by making the second melody the baseline which are almost always very boring in my works.

"Ah ..." you're thinking, and you're right. Although I had not made my choice and found a teaser post yet, the Anime Bassist needs to be STOPPED post did bring this song to mind as my only not entirely predictable quarter or eighth note monotonous baseline, of which I do have one song purposely containing just that. So why is it called Leave a Message? It was written at a time when I carried a pager, which was programmed to page me everytime I got a voice mail. I was managing tech support at Erie Computer at the time, and well, Erie, the city at large, was very needy. I developed a nasty conditioned stress response, because it was bad news, all the time. The harmony actually came first in this song during creation. But you can barely hear it in the recording. But it was written on the piano, whose keys got banged very hard, very angrily, very fast, very loud, you get the point. It wasn't long before I planned an exit from that. I made my last manager decision to outsource myself 40 hours a week to one customer, turned in my pager, and to this day I still put black tape over the handset on phones so I don't see RED leds indicating voicemail.

Song of the Week, June 12th, 2020

Long before I composed this piece, when I was composing in college I had neighbors and friends often comment that most of my creations sounded like video game sound tracks. I just assumed it was because they were all instrumentals, at the time. So when Lemmings on the Macintosh came out its no surprise that its soundtrack appealed to me. Now I recall this particularly repetive theme, or musical "mantra" if I may say, was definitely something inspired in the game. There's about an 8 second loop in one level's song where the melody's voice is scarily similar to the one I used, along with a close resemblance to the melody itself in that section. But what surprised me this week is that I found another level, with another segment, that freakishly resembles parts of another song I wrote like 20 years later, and had no conscious knowledge of when writing it. It's like there was a memory fragment that subliminally programmed me. I was grinning ear to ear when playing that level. Oh, and, well, I never made it to this weekend to finish playing the Lemmings game I shared on Facebook earlier this week. I lost about 12 hours over 3 days completing 30 levels, loving every second of it. When I was recording it I definitely had Kung Fu the tv show on the brain, along with Mortal Kombat the movie (and its video game). I kept an image of Lemmings winning the tournament in outlworld to save the Earth instead of Liu Kang in my mind. Hence the "temple" in the name. 44 just seemed better as a number, as if to indicate there might be other mantras to be created later, and it is a subsitute for 4:4 time which the piece is written in.

Song of the Week, June 19th, 2020

Over the years, friends and I have gathered together and engaged in miniature multiplayer offline role playing games(old school MMORPG). We would typically gather every other week. But in this age of COVID-19 we just gather on Discord lately. Mind you, it is not on the level of larping, and it barely qualifies as role playing since most of the times we never really got into character for "in character" dialogue. It was mostly a reason to engage in tactical gaming and though excercises where we used highly adapted or entirely self created gaming rules. If not enough fighting was involved, ninjas typically would appear.But there was this one time ...

I would say of all of us, my brother normally is the least in character, even when he's not the ref. But this one time, even as the ref, he sponteanously (not a word I use about him in this context, ever) burst into dialogue, in character. We were in a scenario where non of the player characters were particularly wealth and or equipped, with a vehicle anyway, so a cab came into play. My mind immediately went to Benny, the cab driver on Mars from Total Recall. Always around, there to get Quaid where he needed to go. But as a npc in a plot, my mind drifted to John Parker from Buckaroo Bonzai. I think from there, that was the spark that triggered my Brother, but he can weigh in if he wants. Regardless, rastaman (black lectroid John Parker) + cabbie man (Benny the informant posing as taxi driver) = Rastaman Cabbie Man, and the song, along with lyrics popped into my head.

Now while there are lyrics, I have not had time to actually lay down the vocal track. So I will only share the instrumental tracks this week. If or when I do add the vocals, I will update this entry.

Song of the Week, June 26th, 2020

So where does this never leave your wing man title come into play. Well, I can't dance, among other things. And whenever I go out with other people I always feel like the third wheel, or at best, the guy you bring along to make yourself look good when beer goggles haven't kicked in yet. And so the song has some less than serious melodic parts in it, mixed with those that are a little more serious. For me those represent being at the club, as the wing man, where when serious, it's all about looking good by proximity effect to the Adonis being guarded by, of course, the wing man. When it's not serious, that's those times that Adonis is shaking is head and thinking he really should be denying he even knows you, three times, like the apostle Peter.

Then, after coming across that study on beer goggles earlier this week, my mind kept vectoring into Top Gun. You know the scene already right? No? It's the one after Maverick gets taken out by the Viper/Jester team after leaving Ice Man, as his wing man. After which, Jester comments to Maverick in the locker room, "That was some of the best flying I've seen to date, right up to the part where you got killed. You never, never leave your wing man".

Lastly, that led me back to my favorite SNL skit of all time, Adrian and Barney trying out for the one dancer position at Chippendales. I only wish I could dance half as well as Barney. And re-writing the scene from the end of Top Gun to bring the inspirational image in my head to greater clarity, it would go like this. Adrian: Barney, you can be my wing man anytime. Barney: Bull shit, you can be mine.

Song of the Week, July 3rd, 2020

I'm not going to say this is the first song I wrote because I can't honestly remember which was first anymore. However, this one I know does date back to at least 1985. I specifically remember writing it in spring of that year and playing it a lot in the summer just after vacationing in Maine that year. It was the summer of the great road trip, every kid's dream right? Well, not exactly. So I turned 16 12/27/84 and got my drivers license. Then my parents drafted me into a multi-state, multi-national (yeah, I know, it was just Canada) six week vacation where guess who got to do a lot of the driving?

So it is not surprising that this entry is from the Road Kill Buffet album, having sprouted into existence in this period. Amazingly there were no road kill events on that trip. Though it was a very early creation it never made it onto my early albums. It never felt worthy of that to me. And it was way too happy. By the time I started forming albums my music had become much more dark and minor, so much so that it became part of a challenge to write less songs in minor keys. But that's two entirely different songs to talk about in the future.

On what I thought would be a sad note (pun intended), I finally got rid of my piano last week. I tried to donate it, but no one would take it. The Erie Philharmonic wouldn't even take it, even if it came with a $300 donation to their organization. Waste Management would take it, but only if I got it to the curb. I'd love to have seen them try to put that in the truck as my one large item for the week. But I couldn't get it to the curb alone in this current environment. I finally found someone to haul it away, and though he was only going to charge me $225 to rid myself of it, I paid him the $300 the Erie Philharmonic turned down and wished him a happy father's day.

Song of the Week, July 10th, 2020

I went many years between my last two years of creativity. The last album I came up with, Destination Unreachable, was kicked off with a very angry creation called Megapath of Destruction. It is one of the rare few with lyrics (not written by me) and one of the rarest where I actually sing. But that song will be for another week. But since it was the last song of a particular period, the Off the Shelf album period, I know it is where the last album starts. Destination Unreachable took a long time to complete. It spanned a 3-4 year period from 2013 to 2016.It was the second song for that album, and the first with creative influence tied to the theme of the album name. And so it is the title track for the album.

This period was most associated with year nine of my contract employment with the Forquer Group where I was augmented staff for, somewhere else. Mind you I always wanted to be a full time employee for, somewhere else. But it never seemed a reachable goal. Are you starting to see the influence now? It was about 95% complete when I was getting ready for my annual end of contract use of vacation, and I was left wondering if it was going to be renewed or not. I had been interviewing, but not with much optimism. To my surprise I was offered full time employment. But it wasn't for the role I had been filling. Regardless, there's 5% of this song that sticks out to me as somewhat optimistic. And I never fully realized where it came from until last week. The interlude between my formulaic verse refrain framework contains one of the less angry, more optimistic movements from last week's song of the week, No Tread On Me.

All I can think is that this point, and change in my life, marked a change in the mood of the compositions that came later on the album. While I'm not going to go so far as to say they're all happy or in major instead of minor keys, I will say that the percentages are definitely much more balanced (another completely different theme for another song). I'm not sure what influence will strike me next, or when I might compose again. But if I had to predict what that mood would be, I predict it would be snarky or satirical.

Song of the Week, July 17th, 2020

The creative inspiration behind most of my music is rarely directly from anything specific. But this week's creation is the exception to the rule. It has a very different intro than any of my other songs. And it is due in large part to the scene in Escape from LA where Cuervo Jones arrives at the Happy Kingdom. Little did I realize earlier this week when I decided this was the song for the week, that it was going to be a week that came crashing down on me like the dystopian future of a John Carpenter movie. I broke things. Things did not work as planned. I was really getting in tune with Cuervo Jones and Jake the Snake by Thursday. I wanted to use the Sword of Damocles myself.For those of you unfamiliar with the movie plot, that's the satellite that has the ability to render all electronic devices anywhere on the planet useless.

In my head, I was taking the scene to another level, and putting one of my own table top rpg characters in the ride. I envisioned a giant monster truck worthy of a roughly 9' tall K'zin (think giant anthromorphized tiger). They would come into scene on a road from behind a crest in a hill. Strange multi-color lights and and goofy music getting brighter and louder. I didn't at the time, but after being around my brother's Maine coons, I tend to think of that character as a giant anthromorphized tiger with the goofball personality of a Maine coon. It's all the better in hind sight. I envision as Bart (the character name) in that "Bartmobile" come over the crest of the hill, he's there, rifles raised like the Cuervo Jones clip. He kicks in his goofball music, puts the disco ball on over drive, rides into the Happy Kingdom, thinking of nothing but riding the roller coaster and shooting rounds up in the sky.

Bartmobile, Mobile motorcade entering Happy Kingdom, Arms raised and pumping, thus the title Be Mobile

Song of the Week, July 24th, 2020

So why is this song's title in all capital letters and looking like an acronym? It is because it is a table top role playing game inspired attempt at a work with thematic movements tied to three separate elements. It centers around the climax to a long campaign run by a friend whose villian was known for the longest time to me as he who shall not be named. All were pretty good at role playing that for a long time because I'm pretty sure if they didn't that friend running the campaign probably would have engineered something in campaign to show them the error of their ways.

That climax involved three elements as mentioned. The first being he who shall not be named. The second was the Empire. No, not the one taken over by Palpatine, but probably just as evil, as I perceived it in campaign. And lastly, the third element of course are the heroes. I actually do have some lyrics, and some ideas for voice over narration. Much like the Jeff Wayne Musical War of the Worlds. But I am definitely no Jeff Wayne, and do not have a voice like Richard Burton.

Again, so why is it EOF? Well it's the end of F. And so as to not tempt fate, he whose name begins with F will not be invoked. As most players do, they tend to remember things that involved their characters, along with the major campaign points. In a variation of the second element variation I always keep in mind that it was my character, the bastard son of Ironhelm, who actively resisted on behalf of the heroes, taking full advanted of the magic shield of Ironhelm to succeed in resisting the vampire king's attempt to mass hypnotize the heroes, to their downfall. It climaxes with the ingenious way to "kill" an undead vampire king. The staff of life was used to resurrect him to the living. And once no longer undead, he was dispatched to final death, though I'm not sure by whom. I believe it was one of the knight heroes of the campaign, possibly the green knight.

Song of the Week, August 1st, 2020

I did not forget the song of the week. I just couldn't decide whether or not to share the version of this week's song that included vocals. As mentioned before, I have no delusions of any vocal aptitude. But this is a drinking song, so I didn't feel like I needed or wanted any for it. It was composed in roughly the same period as last week's song. Parts of it are very much the bard's tale version of the battle hymn inspired by the defense of Xandor, last week's EOF, the defeat of the vampire king, lord of the night, and all his beasties and minions.

The rest of it though, is very much the, ahem, bard just having been out of college, playing table top rpgs, and amping up the henpecked husband tv trope lyrics in context of the rest of the song. And no, don't go there to look that up on tvtropes.org, at least not until after you've listened to the song. Otherwise you may end up trapped there traversing trope reference link to trope reference link until you fall unconscious.

No offense is meant to any of the wives. In the years since this was written the married have come to outnumber the unmarried of those of us who used to get together. Before I joined our group of players, two of them got married. Gamer gals do exist. Talk about critical success on the loot table! All jesting aside, the other wives are all just as understanding. It's been a long standing practice for them to say hi to the group by spousal proxy. After which, everyone's response is to say hi back through the same spousal proxy. So to all the wives, "hi", and thank you for not leashing the lads with the balls with magical links.

Song of the Week, August 7th, 2020

There's good news and bad news this week. The question as usual is which first right? Well I'll give the good news first. It is that this is not the longest song I have ever written. The bad news is that is very long, and after I put in some good effort last week to finalize the lyrics for EOF I came to the conclusion that EOF will probably get shortened by about four minutes to work better, which would make this song the longest, some time in the future.

To keep in with the unto now unrealized trend for picks in the last month this title was selected for its roots in role playing. There was a time where it was somewhat disheartening to get together and not actually game. And while that trend lengthened, and for a while deepened discontent, it now isn't really that big a deal, for me at least. Though actually gaming would be nice every now an then. More or less, even more so with C-19 social distancing, we just catch up with each other online on my brother's discord server.

As I have been known to do, some titles do have alternate meanings. Hence the image selected this week to represent it. If you aren't really sure what that means because most of your relatives are not veterans or currently serving, those are rocket propelled grenades. I found this quote while looking for RPG trivia.

Shortly afterwards, it sounded as if the rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) were landing dangerously close - so close that I immediately dropped to the floor, prompting an unflinching Congolese man in the lobby, who had obviously endured much worse, to jokingly say, I see you do not enjoy the beautiful music we play here in the Congo. It is still one of the most reassuring things anyone has ever said to me in the midst of a crisis. - Canadian Doctor Samantha Nutt

Song of the Week, August 14th, 2020

There are so many great images for 18 wheelers that when I knew I was going to select this song this week, I had a difficult time choosing one for the post. So that's why I teased out the hint more than usual. And for those of you who saw, and wondered, the one that does not belong with the others is Cledus Snow's 18 wheeler from Smokey and the Bandit

And here's what distinguished it from the others. It is an 18 wheeler. In the context of it's movie it is actually delivering delight (Coors Beer). And perhaps dubiously and conspicuously missing, in association with the album of mine it comes from (Road Kill Buffet), it does not possess the often credited "No animals were harmed in the production of this film" by the Amercian Humane Association

By comparison, Optimus Prime is not actually an 18 Wheeler, is delivering nothing except perhaps destruction in his wake, and no animals were harmed in the production of that movie. In Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, Master's ride, while it may have once been an 18 wheeler, is technically now on rails, and therefor a train. It too is delivering destruction, and perhaps passengers, but definitely nothing you would consider a consumable delight. It had potential for road kill though. It too did not receive the AHA certification. And lastly, the war wagon in Mad Max: Fury Road is definitely an 18 wheeler, is definitely delivering destruction, but still is delivering no delightful edibles. And interestingly enough, it did receive the AHA certification.

And yes, I chose the artwork of the semi with a Cowboy star and a skull warning on the grill intentionally. As an Eagles fan that's my way of wishing the Cowboys are roadkill on the Eagles road to their next super bowl. Hopefully the NFL season happens because I always enjoy the Cowboys Eagles rivarly. May the best 7-7-2 team win the division then the Super Bowl

Song of the Week, August 21st, 2020

After some major fire fighting of network wide issues recently I felt particularly burnt to a crisp. And this title happened to reside on the ablum in the album rotation used for selections. It didn't hurt that there is no shortage of really awesome photos from the Burning Man festival teased out Tuesday.

So what's with the Lute, err, Loot then burn? Well, Blaze is the name of the character I created in a GURPS based RPG campaign. And of course he was a bard, which is not a stretch for me to play. But why Blaze and why a fiery image. For those not familiar with the GURPS system, it adds some flare to the usual RPG stat systems with things called advantages and disadvantages. So to be the awesome bard I wanted him to be, and a mediocre fire mage, I had to counter-balance that with some really awful disadvantages. Pyromania was on of them.

To be fair and not just have a disadvantage that just randomly was held against my character, I amped (see where i went there with that one? to 11, with full pyro!) it up into his personality. He routinely likes setting fire as part of the fight against bad guys in their lairs. The downside to that is, that is where all the loot is. And as my partner in that campaign often reminded me, "Blaze, it's loot then burn". To which I was thinking in character "I thought you were making a song request before the fun began"

Lastly because he is a bard, and tales of heroism should be celebrated, a rocking representation for record had to be created, hence Blaze of Glory. Mind you Blaze really never did much of the work. And he does appreciate his partner, Merrick (my friend Andy's character). And just to prove it as a player, in character as Blaze, this selection does have an accompanying work, a dramatic reading of Legend of the Five Fingered Friend. So bonus creative work this week!

Song of the Week, August 28th, 2020

This composition was a challenge from the peanut gallery, to create a work that was not in a minor key, which was my habit until then. There is a companion work called One Winter Day, in a minor key. And while the melody is not particularly similar, the framework of how verses, refrains and interludes is patterned are simlar. Regardless, I equated Summer with happy, and a major key, and Winter with melancholy and a minor key, and both works were created. You'll have to wait until winter to see the later as a song of the week selection.

Much more recently than when the song was written, I tend to associate the two songs with the "had puppies" days and "no longer has puppies" days. And one of the things I associated with the "had puppies" days were the vacations spent in Winterport, ME with my parents. I always felt that my vacation from work was so that they could vacation on The Landing. It was the only place I ever let them off leash outside. The image accompanying the song this week is of them, on one of those vacations, waiting to run happy and free, on "One Summer Day".

Song of the Week, September 4th, 2020

Ok, so why did I tease out Rollerball as a hint and now have a photo of my late Grandmother Alice? Because every time I listen to this song now I like to remember the time my family went rollerskating at Alfonse arena one summer long ago. My grandmother was leisurely rolling along, whistling, and happy to be with family. So while I originally came up with the underlying piano parts to this song with my late friend Alec, in a half hearted (there's a pun there) attempt at a song about a crush he had on a young lady named Carrie at the time, most everything else, particularly the "whistling" voice on the synth was all coming from the fond memories of my grandmother.

With my grandmother in mind, I also snagged some covers from my grandmother, unplugged, on the ukelele, from my dad's archives, which I saved from cassette for him many years ago. Hopefully the links I create here for that don't perform too poorly. It may be easier to download and play them, rather than trying to stream them. So once again I have bonus material. The first, Because I Care is my original work. The others are songs my Grandmother liked playing

Song of the Week, September 11th, 2020

So yes, I have a song title of "Swamp Cat". And why this song is titled that requires explaining. But for those friends I game with, it's known by a specific character and campaign. For those that follow my song of the week, it's a character I've already introduced, as behind the prior selection of the song Be Mobile. Bart, the 7'11" 450 pound anthropomorphized cat, ended up on a water/swamp planet. And so he needed a Bart sized ride since the Bart Mobile isn't amphibious. So now envision Bart on a watercraft suited for his size. That would be a fan boat for sure. But it wouldn't just be any old fan boat. Now imagine a fan boat more along the size of a pontoon boat, with at least two, probably quad fan motors. And don't forget the disco ball, because no ride would be complete without one. With that in mind, that's exactly what I was thinking when I wrote this piece. Think giant cat man, driving a disco ball lit quad engine fan boat, with a giant firearm with bandoliers forming an X on the chest, jamming to some song so loud the bass generates shock wave ripples in the boat's wake as it moves along.

The image just about captures what Bart probably started with. But there definitely would have been a Swamp King sized chair on top of the cabin, and the disco ball hanging off an improvised foremast, likely topped off with a paint job that made the whole thing look like an Anglerfish. Yes, that's very loud and obnoxoius, but that's how Bart rolls, or flows in this case.

Song of the Week, September 18th, 2020

Sometime shortly after the movie The Incredibles came out, there was an article written on our company intranet. It was about outstanding, "superhero" like service, as reported by people receiving it. I was among those as having not just service that is our usual above and beyond, but also more. This was in 2005, just about the age where WIFI use in the home started going from maybe one laptop connected, if anything, to today's crazy number of personal devices. Our company policy has been fairly accomodating when remote employees use business provided service and equipment in the home. But one problem that came up a lot in this era was that people would remove the company provided router (which was not wifi capable) and put their own in. This generated all sorts of support issues given we can't support what we don't know is even there (new personal router). And before our company started providing WIFI capable routers I often guided people on how to connect their wifi routers, daisy chained (properly) through ours, so that we could best maintain visibility and support of their ability to do work on the work related system. This made them happy, like BoB Parr in The Incredibles.

That shout out by a co-worker I helped suprised and motivated me. This was also about the time Stan Lee's Who Wants to Be a Superhero show was on the air. So I began imagining superheroes from the company I was contracting with which of course needed their own theme song. And thus E Men was born. For those who don't know me, the company I was contracted with and now am employed with, begins with an E. This is also one of those songs for which I have some rudimentary lyrics for, or in mind, at least for some parts of the refrain, with unrefined ideas for the verses. So given that it's an insurance company, if you didn't figure that out or know it about me or The Incredibles references, its various themes go between those with tension, and those with confidence and resolution. Oddly enough, there is an actual comic that came out called the E Man, who had E=MC^2 emblazoned on his chest. And the Simpsons had Every Man with the big E on the chest. So when I came across the post on Facebook about the Megamobile coverage, I knew this was going to be the song for this week.

Song of the Week, September 25th, 2020

Song of the Week, October 2nd, 2020

The past several weeks have been very exhausting for me. This last week, while it seems like I have had more time to rest and recuperate, has had it's moments. Much of what IT is doing right now during the adapation to working from home and remote workers in general ends up involving the team I'm in where we administer firewalls and other perimeter security devices. There was no "flattening of the curve" on my work load. It spiked and remained at a new plateau for about five months. There were plenty of times that things broke and broke badly. So unfortunately, the situation I'm poking fun at with the cover art may be deserved somewhat, when people look to us first when something is broken. But it has in the last two weeks been the catch all, even for things that are not us, to the point where I literally did have multiple fire calls where the only thing presented was the symptom, with absolutely no trouble shooting and independent verification. So since I actually have a song called Without a Trace, on the Destination Unreachable album, it was very appropriate this week. For those not in IT or tech savvy, a trace route is a tool which identifies every step something takes along the way in the network world. Think of it like the tracking orders on shipping sites like Fed Ex, UPS, etc... And what I was running into this week would be akin to claiming the firewall (your doorman, say at a hotel) blocked (did not allow delivery) for a present you sent. And no one bothered to even check the shipping info which clearly showed the package was not even picked up yet off your mail drop, because while you told your partner to put it in the mail, they actually did not. Now envision 15-30 minutes of arguing with the doorman when he says it's not his fault your friend didn't get you present, and he's seen no such package arrive. That's this week for me, multiple times. And while I didn't realize it until now, the accordion in the song does kind of go with Ned Flanders' avante guard French motiff.

Song of the Week, October 10th, 2020

This is one of my personal favorites. I love the honky tonk piano and the odd jazz syncopations. So why Bart, Will and the other guy? Well, if you've been following my weekly posts you already know Bart is my character, and he's in no way at all inconspicuous. For those that are just seeing this now, Bart is a 7' 11' 450lb K'zinti, or cat man. And in the particular session associated with this song, he was going some, well, awkward looking dancing on the disco floor to provide a distraction, which he did very well. And Will? Will, while not particularly conspicuous as a human, was conspicuous in another way, at least to some class of adventure goons. He is a psionic, and an extremely gifted and experienced one. When another psionic, even the least gifted and experienced, reads his auro, it stands out in a giant way much like Bart does physically. And the other guy? Well, like the art chosen this week, there are two people, and you don't see that third guy. He might have been in the move if they panned out. But like those characters from the movie "The Other Guys", Bart and Will kept anyone else from even thinking or realizing there might be someone else. It was the perfect cover for the necessary, dicreet observations. I know the other guy has a name, and I think I remember it. But I choose not even to try to put it here, because then he wouldn't be the other guy. He'd be that guy.

Song of the Week, October 16th, 2020

Artist: Khristopher K. LaChance Title: Vanguard CD: Migrations Revision: 5.0 Date: 11/13/98

Origin:      Wow! Five revisions. Yes, and there are really more to come. Temporal Joyride was one of the first songs to be written on the synth first instead of the piano. Vanguard was the first. It goes way back to my high school days after my Casio synth was stolen. I bought a Korg DW8000 and was having fun playing with all the new cool sounds I could make. At this point I still had no drum machine so I found other ways to keep the beat. If created a sound that had a reverb that only played well when time was kept. I liked it a lot. I liked the sound for the song so much that there were various other melodies spawned from it. When I went shopping for a new synth, besides the basics like a sequencer, a drum machine, and multi-timbral capabilities, the last benchmark for a candidate synth was that I could produce a similar sound. The inspiration for the melody actually comes from a super hero role playing adventure a group of my high school friends played. The place where a solo might normally occur is where I composed several short movements. You know, like in the movies when a particular theme is always associated with a character. The song was initially titled Quest For Freedom (All the characters in the adventure but mine were captured). There are five seperate themes for the five characters; Wolverine, Arcane, Mongoose, Vibe, and Aerosmith. We named the band of heroes Vanguard. Hence the song's name.

Song of the Week, October 23rd, 2020

It's that time of the rotation in the song selection for one from the Off the Shelf album. At first I had a hard time even remembering what I had in my head when I was writing this. But it came back to me pretty quickly. It is another one of those inspired by a character which may be familiar to those following this by now. Rarely do I get first impressions with characters that are even ok, let lone pretty cool. But I like to think Bart's first appearance was one of those, and this song came from how I felt about that.

Just as a reminder, Bart is that giant man cat alien, from Be Mobile, Swamp Cat, and most recently Bart, Will and the Other Guy. All of those came after Free Loader. In his first appearance, some may have first thought he was a Freeloader. But as the graphic chosen for this week's selection hints at, as a giant cat man, he was strong, and like John Henry, would have given any mechanical loader a run for their money. It's also no mistake that I chose Ripley in a cargo loader and said she fought like a Boss. Because in Bart's first appearance, he showed up at a Star Port looking for a ride. He ended up at a starhip named the Defiant, whose captain's name I can't even rembember now, because when he first came across her, he forever only called her "Boss Lady". He convinced her somehow that he could load cargo for free as payment for passage.

I tend to think of Bart as influenced by Asian culture, given the martial arts in his background. So some of the melodic phrases have a somewhat oriental flavor. They also have some goofy flavor of what became repeated and expanded upon in the later works for him. But the voice that I used that always sticks in my head and evokes a particular thing, which would be really goofy for this giant cat man, is the voice that sounds like the mouth harp hat you would see snoopy and woodstock walking to in Peanuts cartoons. I'm 100% certain that at some point while loading cargo he had that exact voice and melody in his head. He's silly that way. Bart's not too bright. He's like a blend of Dumb and Dumber and The Cable Guy.

Song of the Week, October 30th, 2020

Ok, here we go again with another table top RPG inspired work. And again it involves Bart, the K'zinti. If you haven't figured it out by now, realize that he's not so bright and about as goofy as a Maine Coon as far as personality goes. So what happens when you a giant man-cat falls into credits, besides the Bart Mobile, and the Bart Boat? The Bart Crib, yeah baby! Freeloader no more, it's time to get groovy, like a cool cat. Unfortunately being from an alien culture, he doesn't really get that Austin Powers is a satire.

Aside from being wall to wall groovy with shagadelic carpet, it's also one giant scratch pad. And while there were other images I looked at for this week's image as being a little more groovy or man-cat cave evoking, this one does have a little hidden meaning for those in the RPG campaigns with him. The philosophy of a certain alien race (not his) is centered around three ideas, mind, body and soul. But at one point an RPF (referee player character), played by my brother, was explaining the cultural struggle of this other alien race. Two opposing factions, both accepting of these ideas, but with very different ideas on how they combine together, represented these ideas by a triangle. One looked at it more like a pyramid, with the base at the bottom, stable, with one point at the top. The other looked at it more like the triangle with two competing ideas, balancing on one point at the base. Given the RPC was a believer in the latter, Bart gravitated towards and sought to find the concept of balance in all things. So this is why the crib, is triangular, with the inside point being the pivot for balance. Obviously someone must have been yanking his chain, or all the accent pillows would have been balance on their points too. His guess would have been that it was super teacher dude, who would have explained if identified as the joker, that it "balances" out the room!

Song of the Week, Novermber 6th, 2020

This work has gone through a number of revisions. And it is an older work. You might be able to hear the original piano composition underlying all the added layers. Originally I had two melodic phrases stuck in my head. The first was some part of the what I recall of as the Soviet national anthem. The second was the harmonica cue from a Clint Eastwood movie, a fistful of dollars, I believe. My original title for the work was Komrade Cowboy. I never personally liked it much at the time, compared to other songs I was producing. So that's likely how it ended up on The Roadkill Buffet album with a new title. It was also probably right about that time that I first saw the movie Gulag, which is among many things, was about an American's escape from a Soviet gulag.

One of the more gruesome points of the movie was when the escape was being planned, Malcom McDowell's character (an Englishman) was explaining to David Keith's character (the American) that you always plan to bring a third person for a rather ghoulish reason. The hard part is that while one person (McDowell's) really knows his stuff about escaping, the other two aren't experts. And they are both given the impression that the invitation to participate in the escape is genuine. What neither really knows is that one is being "packed as a sandwich" so that when their food runs out, they get weak and die, that the remaining two can cannibalize the third to make it the rest of the way. And it's been a long time, and I may be mis-remembering, but I'm pretty sure they called that a "siberian sandwich" in the movie. And it is likely why I penned this title. Now keep in mind, I am not really so morbid as to have chosen it with actually thinking the item on the roadkill buffet was a frozen human corpse. I tend to think of some Siberian chicken trying to cross the road for some unknown reason gets in a samurai showdown with some Russian cowboy imitating Clint Eastwood, which is then left dead on the Siberian roadway to end up the made for tv movie, frozen dinner entree.

Song of the Week, November 13th, 2020

For those of you who understand networking, you can probably understand how this title is a play on words. For those of you who don't, STP, a.k.a. Spanning Tree Protocol is a protocol that prevents what essentially amounts to the digital equivalent of a feedback loop on a network. The fastest way between two points on a network isn't always a straight line. This work reminds me that like in a network, in life (sometimes) getting stuck in a loop can be as tiring as a Star Trek time looping deja vu episode. For me, it took nine journeys through the same 1 year contract loop that was probably behind this song.

I believe this was probably the last song I wrote prior to getting the news that my contract position at the place I was working was not going to be needed any longer. After many applications over years I got hired as a full time employee directly. Now that's not to say every song written since was happy, though most were. I do have one work not yet on any of my albums. I may share that one later this year. It's a sad song, for a reason. I had totally forgotten I wrote it, and despite the mood and memories it evokes for me, I do like it

Song of the Week, November 20th, 2020

I found myself seeking balance in many things this week. I have been spending a lot of time searching animal shelters for that one rescue that catches my eye. When I'm not looking for a rescue I'm refreshing my usual AKC breeder pages in a search for my next companion. When I get stressed, puppy and dog training videos calm me. So I my jaw literally dropped when watching that Cesar Millan video on how to train a dog not to jump. Right in the middle of it, as he does with many other tactics and strategies, rattles of them in threes. Then, out came body mind heart as the order to work that problem. Exercise to drain the body of excess energy, Distraction training to keep the mind focused on the owner, and heart to see the dog settle into being a follower, instead of the leader.

So yet again, I have found a song that does go back to table top gaming for inspiration. And it's a famliar source by now, Bart the K'zinti. As a refresher, for the selection a little while ago, The Bart Crib, I referenced a little about balance, being that alien philosophy he adopted, that uses the triangle balanced on one point. If you go back to that, I did reply to my original post, to throw a reference to my brother's artwork which illustrates both that balance of mind, body and soul, along with the referee played character that introduced him to it. Aside from the song being a very early work, and in a minor key, it actually is intended to have tension in the themes. It does so to represent the struggle that it takes to balance successfully, as opposed to resting on a base of the triangle. Or as Bart and some aliens would suggest, is resting, out of balance on one aspect of life

Song of the Week, November 27th, 2020

Often I am challenged to write songs for people. Veg Out! is no exception. I liked to play a lot. Often I would play when things got boring. I often fight the urge even now out of courtesy for other people. Most people don't care to listen to others practice (i.e. the cliche of the kid practicing loudly with the drums, the trumpet, the guitar, etc...). When I was younger I didn't bother with courtesy.

One of my friends was doubly annoyed. When role playing was at a stand still, and I was not involving myself, I proceeded to fall into my pattern and I went to the piano and began tinkering with new melodies. I suppose it was upsetting to him on three fronts. First because I was making no effort. Second because I decided to do something else. And lastly because he couldn't escape the "noise". He quipped that if I was going to do something else, then I should at least do something that everyone else could participate in. He said this knowing that I was the only one musically inclined.

Being a smart ass at the time I called his bluff. I wrote this piece as a duet so anyone could participate. The challenging part was writing a part that never stopped that anyone could play, all while creating a melody that didn't bore you to death. Well, I succeeded in writing the part that never stopped, but I couldn't prevent the melody from being boring. So I went the other way with it. Since we were bored to death anyway I wrote the song so it would allow anyone to veg out so to speak.

Appropriately it is the last song on Migrations. It can put you to sleep if you let it. I would advise you to skip this song if you are driving a vehicle or operating heavy machinery. If you don't find yourself nodding off you may find yourself past your exit or your mind on something else.

Song of the Week, December 4th, 2020

This is one of the first handful of songs that I wrote. It dates back to at least 1984 in my sophomore year of high school for the original piano version. I used to love playing this one. In general it's a very happy song, which given the mood of my total body of works, it is now in the minority. I can't recall entirely who I had a crush on when I wrote it. It was probably one of two or three people. By fall of 1985 in my junior year I was crushed a number of times, and it took a very long time for me to get out of the resulting negative creative funk, probably about 10 years. Even through the various evolutions and remasterings I've never been quite satisfied with how it plays when I'm listening rather than playing it. But lately when I do listen to it the feelings evoked make me feel good, and I don't immediately get downer vibes from the crushed feelings that followed. So when it came to naming, or more likely, renaming this song, when it got relegated to the Off The Shelf album, it seemed appropriate to call it Before the Fall. I've been trying to avoid some of the darker works when deciding what to share each week. Some "balance" will probably result as the dark days of winter are reached, giving me an oppotunity, or least an excuse to the them out there and over with.

Song of the Week, December 11th, 2020

I lost all recall as to why this song landed with this name. But I'm going to guess or just say now that it's probably because I was having a hard time deciding on whether or not it should go on the Road Kill Buffet album and didn't have time left on a CD album for it. Or maybe I thought it wasn't quite bad enough to be relegated to Off the Shelf. It was written after Before the Fall, from last week. So maybe the somewhate minor, melancholy, meandering melody was me at a turning point between still being willing to stick my neck out and take chances on relationships, where I might get lucky, or become a menu item on the Road Kill Buffet. I never thought too deeply about what Johnny Cash's I Walk The Line song is about. But all week I had his song in my head while I was looking at the image for this week's entry. Maybe one day I will no longer be so cynical, and as Johnny Cash sings, and as the chicken it illustrating, I will walk the line to reach out to someone again.

Song of the Week, December 18th, 2020

So, I did say Winter is coming. Given this Friday will be darker than next Friday, though winter will not officially arrive until Monday, I have selected one of my most dark and depressing works this time. The Road Kill Buffet is the album to pick from in the album rotations, and it had this song come immediately to mind. Aside from evoking doom and gloom, it does have, or to be more precise, it does not have one thing all my other songs do, a rhythm track. I have no recollection or even any vague idea of what deep depressing time or event in my life made me puke this out. So while I was looking for something to tie it to going forward, in honor of being a Road Kill Buffet piece, I came across a particular piece of art by Pieter Bruegel the elder: The fall of the rebel angels and it's accompanying poetry by Thomas of Celano (1200 – c. 1265). I know that the fall of the angels in catholicism is not the day of wrath. But when contemplating this art, there's a very odd and conspicuous number of animals, road kill if you will, that happened this artist's The Fall of the Angels. So it seemed to me like it was a day of wrath, or Dies Irae (for those animals). I know it's not Mozart, or Verdi, but this is my requiem for those that met their fate on the roadside.

Song of the Week, December 25th, 2020

I love my little puppy Echo, Oh yes oh yes I do, I love my little puppy Echo and her sister Nova too,
You both make me very happy I never knew such love, I never asked for anything from the Man above, yet
He still gave me you and I am forever grateful, you both love me my best friends

I love my little puppy Nova, Oh yes oh yes I do, I love my little puppy Nova and her sister Echo too,
You both make me very happy I never knew such love, I never asked for anything from the Man above, yet
He still gave me you and I am forever grateful, you both love me my best friends

Song of the Week, January 1st, 2021

This is the companion work created at the same time as One Summer day. As noted previously, while the melody is not particularly similar, the framework of how verses, refrains and interludes is patterned are simlar. Regardless, I equated Summer with happy, and a major key, and Winter with melancholy and a minor key, and both works were created. I waited until Winter to share it, to make the timing more appropriate. While I have many photos of me and my dogs on vacation at Bald Hill Cove, ME, I don't really have any of them in Winter. Anything longer than just heading out the door, doing their business and coming back in would have led to them freezing instantly with icicles hanging off of them like in a cartoon. Small dogs (Echo 9lbs, Nova 7 lbs) have very little tolerance to being out in the cold. Since I have no Winter pictures of them I choose this photo from an interesting scultpture in Winter. It seemed to capture the mood of the song, and my currently associated memories with it.

Song of the Week, January 8th, 2021

While Guardians of the Galaxy first debuted in the comics in 1969, shortly after I was born, Gatchaman's animated series debuted not long after in 1972. It wasn't long after that when someone had the brilliant idea to make the American version of Gatchaman complete with all the usual western Marvel-esque costumes and flare. Thus G-Force was spawned. I forgot how much I liked that series. It might have been because I was very young, but I didn't even really notice the save the ecology, watch out for bad technology themes weaved into the story arcs. That may have been by design, but it was not even close to being thrown in you face like Captain Planet. In hindsight I can see where many of those later cartoon series have some roots. I watched many of those, but most don't come close to G-Force in my favorites list. I suppose I probably owe much of my love of the Transformers to G-Force, where G-Force members all combined their ships to make the Fiery Phoenix. The series may have been a little too early, aired in the 1970s, to have been part of Ready Player One. But now I have an excuse to see if any of G-Force made it in the movie, even for only a momentary cameo. All of these probably serve to some degree as influences on my musical style. Danger Rangers 2583 is likely just my musical expression for all of that accumulation. I can easily imagine an animated series with this as the opening theme, for adventures some of my friends and I played in their own, home grown system, StarQuest.

I'm not sure which of the heroes I wanted to be at the time, but after researching I definitely see myself as #5

Song of the Week, January 15th, 2021

I do kind of like the latest evolution of this older song. But at that time it was redone I wasn't as happy with it as other songs evolving at the time. And it is among all the works that I never really had titles for, that usually ended up with entirely made up titles on The Roadkill Buffet albmum. Also at that time what I considered an album was anything loosely associated that could fit on a CD. But I had so many works like this that I couldn't fit all the road kill on the buffet. So this title got relegated to the Off The Shelf album. So it not only shares the titless characteristic of The Road Kill Buffet titles, it has the dubious distinction of being on the Off The Shelf album where all songs I never particularly liked ended up.

In other words, I disliked it so much it didn't get pushed off the shelf, it got pushed off the buffet, and put on the shelf. The only thing I really thought about it at the time was that at least it's not as bad as that song I titled On the Floor, which I don't like so much it fell off the shelf. So consider this a warning. On the Floor will eventually come up, and I apologize now for it in advance.

Song of the Week, January 22nd, 2021

I never got this song quite the way I wanted. I wanted a particular special effect, but couldn't quite get it. The intent was to have something that would evoke thoughts of tiny mechanical bugs, where some sci fi heroes would be battling the death of a 1000, or probably a lot more bugs. This does partially come from an adventuring campaign I never actually was part of. But it also has some inspiration from a number of movies, like Aliens (where the bugs were xenomorphs) and Wild Wild West (where the bug was Big!). There was also a bit of the TV series Stargate SG-1 where the replicators are probably my closest image I think of. The two movements go back and forth, representing the back and forth between heroes versus bugs. Ultimately the heroes win, because, when heroes lose, no one wants to watch those kinds of movies or imagine a story like that. It's like what one of my friends said about the movie Rob Roy. If Archie doesn't die in the end he's not going to be very happy. And Archie does die, spectacularly.

Song of the Week, January 29th, 2021

So one of my brother's theories about squirrels that we joked about for quite some time has been that squirrels are a collective hive mind species. We joke that only one given squirrel at any time has the token to use the processing power of the collective. This is how we explain that whenever you observe a squirrel, say while driving, they just appear to stop in the middle of the road, completely unaware of their impending doom if they don't get the token back from the collective to move out of the way. I'm usually a pretty good, defensive driver. I can't actually ever recall turning a squirrel into jam on the road kill buffet, with no credit to their hive mind survival reflexes. But I have come close and do specifically recall one close encounter.

I remember driving down Old Sterretania Road one day, and coming across a squirrel attempting to cross the road. Mind you, this was me driving me Miata which has a very low ground clearance, and was already notorius for the famous road kill encounter that spawned the albmum name ultimately. A co-worker were in a racing rally. I was the driver. He was the navigator. And for those of you unfamiliar with rally racing, it is the driver's responsibility to ensure that all segments of the race are driven as precisely close to the speed limit with no deviations. It went like this:

Bill Stewart: "woodchuck ... woodchuck!!!"
Me: "dead woodchuck"

So what happened on that encounter with the squirrel? Well, He stopped at a position in the middle of the road that would have put it under my right side tires. Fortunately I thought, he stopped! Great, as long as he doesn't get the token back, I can avoid him. I swerved, and I don't know if my skills weren't elite enough, or if he re-engaged, but I saw him in my rear view mirror about 5 feet off the ground in an uncontrolled spin, with another almost squirrel body sized object flinging off in another direction. It was his tail. It landed, was immobile, but in a seated position. About 3 seconds later, he ran off the road, probably to complain to the collective that the token hand off was too slow

Song of the Week, February 5th, 2021

I wrote this song in July of 2013. For a long time I thought it was the last song I had recorded. I have since found one song I wrote in February of 2017. Regardless it's been a while since I felt motivated enough to record anything that my sparked my creativity. Lately I have been tinkering on the keyboard once or twice a week. It's been enough for me to realize that if I treated it like work I could produce more. But I'd rather not play if it's work.

July 2013 was a transition point for me at work. Pinging things was something I did often. Hundreds and thousands of routers and computers to ping to find out where traffic was not flowing well. It evokes memories of the good times, where pings and trace routes proved I was right and those pointing fingers in other places were not. Lately though I tend to remember the scene in The Hunt for Red October where Remius is signalling Ryan with "one ping, one ping only please". However, in the last year, there have been many times where (aside from being the villian) I sympathized with The Plauge from the movie Hackers. "In short, Duke, a shitstorm."

Song of the Week, February 12th, 2021

This was one of my first handful of songs I ever composed. The original piano work was also one of the very few I ever took the time to archive in sheet music. I entered it along with three other songs I wrote in the 1986-1987 time frame, in the annual Pennsylvania Reflections contest. I won 1st-4th place through the district level and 2nd-5th place at the state level. The prior year I won 1st place where the theme for the contest was "From Liberty's View" in honor of its centennial.

For reasons I won't get into, I was very bitter and angry in a lot of 1985-1986. This song was probably the first in a long line of songs composed in minor keys with dark overtones. My parents would probably recall me as a very outgoing, extroverted child growing up. But right about this time is the time when I converted into full introvert, extreme INTP myers briggs personality type by the time I was in my freshman year in college. They key part of INTP being the I, for introverted.

So being full of angst and introverted I ended up not really being much of a conversationalist in social situations, if I even involved myself in them to being with. I effectively employed the silence by engaging the cone of silence, not to keep things private with someone else, but rather to simply not have to hear or say anything to anyone else. I'm not so extreme like this in the last 15-20 years, but I do still tend to contemplate my words and avoid idle chatter. But on occassion, when it's something I'm passionate about, ask me how I really feel, and it would be difficult to shut me up.

Song of the Week, February 19th, 2021

Facing the Wall is probably the first song I wrote that I liked, a lot. I absolutely loved playing this on the piano. The current evolution on the synthesizer has no where near the same appeal to me. If I ever get realy into taking recording to a new level, this would probably be one of the first I try to reinvent. I wrote this in the spring of 1985 after Intercom, a catholic spiritual retreat for youth.

One of the exercises in the retreat was meant to make everyone uncomfortable, where one of the leaders of the retreat was monologuing like a super villain, cracking a literal whip for sound effect. This was after everyone was lead into a dark room, and everyone was asked to face the wall. He patrolled around the room, cracking the whip, talking about how terrible it was to gossip, make fun of people, pressure people to do dumb or wrong things etc ... One by one people were led out of the room. I'm guessing that those left in the room until last were supposed to feel more guilt or shame. I don't recall being the last, but out of 30ish youth, I was probably in the last five to leave the room. When people were escorted from the dark room, they were all given a candle to light an hold, so that those returning from the room would be welcomed and put at ease. It was probably to demonstrate how being nice and welcoming was the way to be.

However, that message never really stuck to me as they probably expected. When asked they were surprised I wasn't as traumatized at many who went through it. I pointed out that it was never my way to do such things, and that I felt everytime the whip cracked I felt vindicated, that I was a victim of much of what was being monologued about, and those doing it were being confronted, not me. So that's why I chose the teaser, that if you don't control your own mind, others will. Peer pressure has never weighed on me. I always endeaver to do what is right, because it is right. And while I had considered other art images with people facing a stark wall, I chose the rabbit facing the wall. Bunny is innocent.

Many years later I ran over a bunny with a lawn mower. It was not harmed, and that was only the beginining of a longer faith affirming story involving a bunny I now refer to as Miracle Bunny. I may share that story in the future. As a footnote I would like to mention a certain friend's wife who is known for "warm and inviting" candles in their home's windows, like those on the retreat

Song of the Week, February 26th, 2021

This is probably my least favorite creation. It was actually better in the original analog recordings. Back when I had a Korg DW8000 I managed to approximate a decent kettle drum voice. I had no specific inspiration, and I was just exploring what I could do with that kind of voice. It had a much better feel to it, a caribbean type aura about it. But when I started re-recording things on the Ensoniq MR76 it couldn't quite get those kettle drums right. They were wrong enough to not even use them. The substitution of a basic piano voice wasn't much better.

Most times you could know I don't like a song if it ended up on the Off the Shelf almum. There are some exceptions. But I care so little for this one that if being "on the shelf" is unliked, you can imagine why I named this one "On the Floor". On the bright side, Spring should have arrived by the next time we hit this album in the rotation. And I have been mostly selecting songs in the dark of winter, that aren't my favorite, best, and or uplifting. I haven't intended to save the best for last on every album. However, many of those that are left, are among my favorites and best on each album.

As for the image this week, sadly, no that isn't an old photo of Echo. But it sure looks like her. I figured as long as the music wasn't something I cared for much, I'd choose and appropriate image of something I do like, or reminds me of something I love. I loved catching Echo sleeping on the floor, and then twitching her legs while dreaming. I'm sure she was chasing rabbits, squirrels and chipmunks in her dreams.

Song of the Week, March 5th, 2021

I had to resist very much in order not to post the song of this week on Wednesday given the song title for this week's song of the week. Every once and a while I end up creating a voice on the synthesizer that ends up having a song written almost entirely around it. There was no real inspiration for the song, but I did write it around the time that the movie Addams Family Values came out. The odd, sometimes merry, sometimes eerie arpeggios reminded me of that creepy smile Christina Ricci delivered as Wednesday upon exiting the Happy Hut. With spring nearing, and having moved past most of my least liked creations, the upcoming weeks' selections should land on many of my personal favorites. Less doom and gloom. More smiling!

Song of the Week, March 12th, 2021

I remember writing this in 1984 in my 10th grade electronic music electives class. It had nothing to do with any assignment or actual electronic music as the class was being taught by Mr. Wickham. The actual class was more about going around and sampling sounds around the school with a reel to reel recorder, and then editing and assembling them into something musical, which Mr. Wickham liked to point out was any type of organized noise. So banging on telephone pole guide wires, which as an interesting trivia factoid, is how the Star Wars weapons fire sound effect was created, along with flushing toilets, improvised drumming on anything, and many other wierd sounds were "organized", a.k.a. music. I didn't do so well on most of that. Instead I spent a lot of time in one of the practice rooms working out the basics of this song.

There was no particular inspiration. It was mostly an excercise in playing something other than what was in my piano lessons. Now imagine one of those time travel or infite dimension explanations given in many shows about the subject. I don't remember much about this exact time, but what I do remember is that this class is what set in motion one of those "fork in the road" type nexus events.

I made my choice and went on the field trip. The next day I was called to the principals office, under one of those looks like you might get suspended kind of violations. The principal asked me questions, my side of the story (I know, awesome right?). I described it pretty much as above. He then asked the teach who had basicaly brought him and me into this if my rendition was true. And the first word was "yes", and the second word was "but" followed by the implication that I knew her opinion and that I should have heeded her guidance. So what happened next was probably one of my favorite "mom" moments in my entire life. It's important to note at this time that my mother has always worked at the school and/or school district I was being educated in. She's an educator of many things. The principal made a quick call on the phone, and my mother entered the room and joined the conversation. He then repeated all of what I just mentioned, for both sides of the story. She then asked one question and said one thing. Was he given a choice? To which there was the "yes" and "but" response. Then she said, "In our family, when someone is given a choice, they are allowed to choose." I was asked to leave the room at that point. I love you mom.

So what made that such a nexus in the infinite dimension theory? Well as a result of that, the math teacher then started exercising abusive power. She did not let me take that math test the next day. She said I had to study in class more. It was one of those fall behind at your own pace, or get ahead at your own pace type of environments in those years. Well she did everything to slow my pace. She insisted every one of my study halls be hijacked, to study as a second class every day. But no matter how prepared I was, my ability to basically advance into advanced math classes in high school was eliminated. Until that time I pretty much had the same 30 people in my classes for 11 years. I was part of the gifted class curriculum, all honors and advance placement courses. But because my math track had been derailed I now, for the first time, had classes with other people, and life was very different that senior year.

Song of the Week, March 19th, 2021

So there's this saying from the farmer's almanac, if spring comes in like a lion and it goes out like a lamb right? Work this spring has started like a pride of lions. So I'm hoping it ends like the flock of sheep you try to fully count before you doze off in a peaceful sleep, and not like the silence of the lambs. I didn't think there would ever be any chance of a vendor coming close to how frustrating the one who inspired this work was. But let's just say there is another contender. I may have to write an adaptation. I chose the image of a tornado for this song this week. But the tease earlier this week is probably closer to how I perceived the level of destruction. Tornado's are like a 10 out of 10. Godzilla takes it to 11.

Megapath of Destruction Lyrics

Song of the Week, March 26th, 2021

Given the origins of this song I thought it appropriate to share this as this week's song of the week. I really need to find The Ten Commandments on cable somewhere so I can watch it. It's still one of my favorite movies, and of course the soundtrack left an impression on me. The tease earlier this week was the Overture, and as I recalled one of the musical phrases I adapted is pretty close to its main one. The scene from the art this week is of course, not from Exodus, but rather the tempation of Christ. I really enjoyed playing the original evolution of this song on the piano, a lot. Every time I have gone through some evolution in my recording capablities it has always been one of the first to get remastered. That's how it ended up on my first album, Flight of the Raven.

Origins

Song of the Week, April 2nd, 2021

Jesus Changes Disco Into David

1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Mary, the mother of Jesus, was there

2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.

3 When the music was gone, Mary said to him, They have no more music.

4 Woman, why do you involve me? Jesus replied. My hour has not yet come.

5 His mother said to the servants, Do whatever he tells you.

6 Nearby stood six Peavey accoustic amplifiers, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial jamming, each capable of twenty to thirty watts.

7 Jesus said to the servants, Fill the amps with disco; so they connected them to music from the 70s B.C.

8 Then he told them, Now turn them up and blast it at the master of the banquet.

9 They did so, to 11, and the master of the banquet heard the disco, that had been turned into the psalms of David. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who amped up the disco knew.

10 Then He called the bridegroom asideand said, Everyone brings out the best music first and then the lesser after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.

11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

Song of the Week, April 9th, 2021

In my junior year of high school, 1985-1986, the National PTA Reflections Program contest theme was From Liberty's View. This was the centennial year celebrating the Statue of Liberty. I entered, and won. It was the first song I ever put down on paper. This was required as a musical entry in the contest. It was also the first for which I wrote lyrics. I did send a recording, but did not sing the lyrics. I like to joke that I probably wouldn't have won if they heard me singing, because my playing was and still is, way better than my vocals. The one thing that stands out about the awards ceremony was what one judge said to me. She said If you had entered the lyrics alone as a poetry entry, you would have won 1st place in poetry too.

I do not recall what or even if there was a theme for the contest the following year. But I did enter five songs in 1986-1987, and swept 1st through 5th place. I don't think I was really that good. My guess would be that the competition was just that thin that year. I never went to band camp in high school. I had already got all of that nerdiness out of my system by then. I was an alto sax player for a few years, in middle school. In my last grade of middle school, I ended up as the youngest person in the high school jazz band. I vaguely recall being invited to some regional, school, maybe district 12, related band. All I remember is one of the songs for that concert was Raiders of the Lost Ark, which I though was pretty cool. That was probably the last of my sax playing.

My father has taken up learning to play piano again, as a hobby, on the grand piano he restored, as a hobby, last year. So I though this week's selection would be a good opportunity to finally get some digital archive of my contest entry made. The link is a PDF that has the score entered in the contest. As I was inspecting it, I noticed that it was actually a photo copy from the original spiral bound sheets I used originally. I found the originals, with those annoying spiral hanging chads. If I live to be 120 I might get a chance to enter it in another contest, for the bicentennial.

Contest documents and original score

Song of the Week, April 16th, 2021

I know self diagnosis can be dangerous and wildly inaccurate without adequate education and experience. But this isn't meant to be serious, or diagnostic. It's just reflection and introspection about self observations. I have quit some online games cold turkey. And none of withdrawal symptoms resulting from that came anywhere near as close to the pains felt when I both my dogs I had for 17 years passed away within a month of each other a few years back. Since their passing I have during periods engaged in online gaming again as a time sink. And I know that when the day comes that I get dog(s) again, I'll be like, what is online gaming?

Song of the Week, April 23rd, 2021

When I was making the choice of what to post this week I had a little spring in my step. Little did I know that we were going to get snow in late April. So the song I picked had some high tempo tension. You know? It's in like a lion out like a lamb right?

This piece was originally almost entirely inspirationless. Having played the piano from early childhood in elementary school, I thought it completely laughable that as an Electrical Engineering student that I was able to take a 100 level Musical Composition class 101, never mind that only two years prior I won the PTA Reflections contest for From Liberty's view.

The composition was originally a multi-part classical minuet on piano. It's first digital recording was done using a harpsichord voice. Many years later it evolved into what it is now. I kept the original melody as the introduction to the rest of the song, which is mostly the same melody but with a much more contemporary rock edge.

Given it never had an official name, it ended up where all the other misfit nameless orphaned songs do, on the Road Kill Buffet album with a completely made up name. Given the classical nature of its origins, renaissance seemed fitting in the name somewhere. And since it was one of the last on that album, I used most of the usual road kill critter species in a name. So this one was left with roast as the last part of the title.

Song of the Week, April 30th, 2021

Everytime I see this title on the Flight of the Raven album I swear it's on the wrong album and should be on The Road Kill Buffet. But I'm guessing that it's not for one of two reasons. One, it may have been the first song without a whole lot of inspiration behind it, and I needed one last track to fill the CD. Or maybe it was something a little deeper. My career has weaved in, out and around internet service providers, getting people on the internet, and enabling people to work from home on the internet. And though this was written in the 1990s, well before the internet saturated everyday culture, I may have still recognized it as the time sink successor to television. Now when I listen to this track my feelings simply gravitate to thinking of the masses in society just being brainwashed by the puppet masters.

All beliefs, habits, tastes, emotions, mental attitudes that characterize our time are really designed to sustain the mystique of the Party and prevent the true nature of present-day society from being perceived.

1984 - George Orwell

Song of the Week, May 9th, 2021

I found an interseting description in the Wikipedia link for neurosis. It stated the Neurosis may be defined simply as a poor ability to adapt to one's environment, an inability to change one's life patterns, and the inability to develop a richer, more complex, more satisfying personality. When I was growing up I was totally oblivious of many things that are typical of teen peer pressure and popular culture. And while I was in college I was more or less aware of such things, but never paid them much attention. Essentially I went from being not hip to being hip, but not cool, but it never bothered me. Today I still feel the same, but I sometimes wonder if I'm just set in my ways and can't be woke. But I do think I have awareness of the wokian social justice narratives. To the extent that I am aware of, and bothered by such things, this song is an expression of that hip neurosis. In other words, it is Hip Neurotic.

Song of the Week, May 14th, 2021

The El Mariachi Trilogy has to be one of my favorite movie trilogies of all time. Being a table top gamer, and then an online gamer, this doesn't get much better than what I imagine some other set of gamers that happens to be movie producers came up with. We've had an ongoing set of bad guys that show up from time to time. They are loosely based on figures that look like bandits from the american southwest and old Mexico. At some point they got tagged with the label the Frito Banditos. Well, the three in the art on the song this week are definitely not the Frito Banditos. They are more like the player characters who went to save the town a la Kurusawa - 7 Samurai, but with a light, 3 Amigos style.

As for the song itself, it was more an experiment with playing along with a rhythm I don't usually play with. There isn't anything particularly memorable or inspirational associated with it, and that is how such songs end up on the Off the Shelf album. If I were to try to link another image to this song it would probably have something to do with Andy on the beach in Mexico at the end of the movie The Shawshank Redemption.

Andy Dufresne: Yeah. The funny thing is - on the outside, I was an honest man, straight as an arrow. I had to come to prison to be a crook

Song of the Week, May 21st, 2021

This is one of the few creations that has a known, simple pop culture inspiration. If you couldn't tell from the teasers this week, it was Farscape. The series is one of my favorites of all time, beating out other past title holders like Babylon 5, Fringe and the Stargate Franchises. And as you might guess, I like science fiction based shows. And while it held my top spot as a favorite for years, it wasn't until recently that an unexpectedly funny, non-science fiction parody came along to take the title from it. Chuck has taken that title, and I really need to watch it again just to catch all the easter egg moments and to make sure I didn't miss any of the many cameos.

As for the art chosen to go with the title this week, that is Gigi Edgley, a.k.a. Chianna, from Farscape. I love all of the characters in Farscape. And I wouldn't call her character my favorite on the cast. I really could not choose between any of them. They are all rich and fantastic. However, if I could choose one scene that made me laugh, cry, and stand up and cheer, there is one. And there are only a couple of other sci fi scenes that make me do that every time. This one I'm thinking of but haven't been able to find is the scene where the ensemble is making some escape. They are jumping out guns blazing (hence Jumping the Gun) in some tight hallway/broom closet fight. And most specifically I absolutely love Chianna in that scene. She's shooting dual pistols, in true Hollywood style. The scene that tops my list is from Babylon 5. My number three is also from Babylon 5

Susan Ivanova : Who am I? I am Susan Ivanova, Commander. Daughter of Andre and Sophie Ivanov. I am the right hand of vengeance and the boot that is going to kick your sorry ass all the way back to Earth, sweetheart! I am death incarnate, and the last living thing that you will ever see. God sent me.

Delenn : [Delenn's fleet arrives after Earth Alliance attacks B5] This is Ambassador Delenn of the Minbari. Babylon 5 is under our protection. Withdraw or be destroyed!

Earth Force Officer : Negative! We have authority here. Do not force us to engage your ship.

Delenn : Why not? Only one human captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari Fleet. He is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else!

Song of the Week, May 28th, 2021

I don't specifically recall what the direct inspiration for this week's title was. I do know its first evolution as a piece on the piano was composed in the middle 1980s sometime between August of 1985 and February of 1986. I know this because it was one of those handful of songs I submitted in the national PTA Reflections contest.

I honestly couldn't tell you what place this song took because all I remember is I submitted five songs that year, and I swept first through fifth place. I don't even know what the theme was unlike in 1985 where it was From Liberty's View, which I won. This particular year all I can guess is that either the theme was too dull to inspire anyone, or everyone was like Hey, it's open tryouts at the talent show, and guess who you get to follow? ... Robin Williams. Yeah, not exactly a lot of people in their teen years composing music for national PTA contests I guess.

This song also has not evolved much beyond its original piano evolution. This I believe is it's third evolution. I can't remember what electronic piano or organ voice I used for the part accompanying the piano voice. But the theme its used for evokes a bit of an angsty James Bond kind of vibe for me. Thus the image selected for this week. This was definitely after the fall. And I would go so far as to say it was the first of many angst ridden songs written in minor keys, a period that would last for years ...

Song of the Week, June 4th, 2021

Titles on the The Flight of the Raven album are some of my early, favorite works, titles I deemed worthy of being on a first album. Many are inspired by table top role playing gaming sessions in science fiction settings. After graduating from the University of Maine in 1991, and settling in at my first post graduation job at Erie Computer, I began getting together with my brother and his friends from college. Or maybe they were his friends from gaming sessions where occassionally college studies broke out? Either way, early on we gamed for years. Then we mostly just got together and sometimes gaming would break out. And during the pandemic where we couldn't realisically get together in one place, we get together on Discord. Often we would either cook and and meals together, or order out. I do miss that part. Watching Leo eat his cooking isn't the same as us eating his cooking.

If you had not noticed from the other posts teased out on Facebook, the inspiritation for the song this week is centered a little bit around guns. Specifically I recall two sessions with a particularly long fight sequence. The first centered around the rescue of the son of the character of one of the players. The second I believe ended up with one of the bad guys, or someone, actually unwittingly opening the door to a building for a wounded character for another player.Regardless, whenever we reminisce about old sessions, and particular fight sequences, this song gets in my head. It is fairly lengthy like the fight sequences. But unlike Hollywood guns, my brother was fairly disciplined about making us keep track of rounds fired and reloading.

The image for this week is that of Keanu Reeves in their promotional poster for John Wick II. And I love the John Wick series. I haven't really given much thought to what my favorite movie trilogies are, as I do for television series. But there are very few that would top this trilogy. And I believe I read somewhere that Keanu Reeves said as long as they keep paying to go see John Wick movies, he would keep making them. I understand there's a fourth in the works. I can't wait. I personally would find it very difficult to top the fight scene in Casablanca with Halle Berry and her two German shepherds.Let me hope that I will be surprised, and they do.

Song of the Week, June 10th, 2021

A lot of people didn't like the ending to Quantum Leap. I loved it. Unlike the television series Andromeda, which should have ended the series after Kevin Sorbo's character ends up with his mother at the end of season 4, I thought this ended very well. As far as series' last episodes go, it is one of my favorites. My favorite, which made me laugh and think, yeah, that's about right, was the series Merlin. This song must have been written when I was in a pretty good, nostalgic mood. Often people think that if they could turn back time they would change things. I like to think I would go back to the times that I was happy, and not change a thing.

Sam: I'm gonna tell you a story, Beth. A story with a happy ending. But only if you believe me.

Beth Calavicci: And if I don't?

Sam: You will. I swear you will. But instead of starting with, "Once upon a time," let's start with the happy ending. - Al's alive. And he's coming home.

Beth Calavicci: Oh!

[Beth starts crying]

Song of the Week, June 18th, 2021

Either I did not have enough room for all the Road Kills on the buffet, or I disliked this song so much at the time that I relegated it to the shelf. And this week it is coming Off The Shelf. Even by my standards it seems very tense and depressing. It has one movement with about 20 seconds where you might think, oh, there's some light at the end of this tunnel. Then it goes right back to being depressing.I'm getting close to the end of my catalog. THere may be several more weeks to post. So hopefully the later ones will be less like this one.

Song of the Week, June 25th, 2021

Within the context of reverse engineering, to slice and dice is to break a body of information down into smaller parts or to examine it from different viewpoints so that you can understand it better. I have done quite a bit of reverse engineering, and I have a pretty good knack for it. I wish I had recalled something sooner rather than as I am writing this because one of my favorite characters in a sci fi show played by one of my newer favorite actors basically had the super hero ability to essentially figure out what and why other heroes superpowers worked. That would have made for the ultimate teaser. The character and actor I speak of is of course Sylar played by Zachary Quinto in the NBC series Heroes. He may be the new Spock to many. But to me he will always be Sylar.

I can't recall exactly why or what inspired me on this song. But I do link it to hacking and reverse engineering. I probably named it during the period when I was playing Star Wars the Old Republic online. Two of the character classes, agents in the empire, and gunslingers in the republic. It is also probably why my first thought went to the character Benicio Del Toro played in the latest Star Wars movie, DJ. I would so love to see more of that character, with that actor playing it.

Song of the Week, July 2nd, 2021

The is not much I have to say about this one. It was easy to reproduce with Audacity on the Ensoniq MR76. But I don't recall it being anything more than an exercise on producing something very formulaic. I rarely change the names I use, but it turns out that I have been spelling chimpunk incorrectly for years, as chipmonk. So I took the liberty of correcting it. There are an awfully lot of images on the internet for chunk chipmunks. I chose this one because my dad has been feeding them peanuts, along with a plethora of other wildlife, for years. If he misses putting out peanuts even for one day, they all hangout on the back porch, staring at him through the windows until they get their peanuts.

Song of the Week, July 9th, 2021

Haupt and Springs, not to be confused as Hauptandsprings, were the two generals in the bad guy organization at the heart of a science fiction campaign my brother was leading. As he trickled out clues about this organization which he dubbed Warhammer, these names were so intertwined and always mentioned in proximity among some players that this was really just one villain, Haupandsprings. Springs was primarily the one who executed the bad guy plans. Haupt was the one who came up with the evil mastermind plans.

The title this week comes from a particular gaming session when the players were getting a little exasperated at the number of obstacles that this campaign kept presenting. There were plans within plans within plans ad nauseum, which can be demoralizing because at some point as the good guys, you want to overcome. I'm not sure what the original similes were, whether it was Russian nesting dolls, an avocodo or something else. But at some point the character of our friend Ralph bemoaned that it was more like an Onion, which we were peeling, layer by layer, being rewarded with and acquiring nothing but tears. Hence Ari's Onion.

Song of the Week, July 16th, 2021

The first evolution of this song was written my first year in college at the University of Maine. And it had a very different title. As happens often in college when strangers become friends they give each other nick names. We had a Tex, a Junior, a Twiggy, a Bunger and many others. I never seemed to get one. In my memories it sticks out like Tom Cruise's character being the only Outsider that didn't have a nick name. He was just Steve Randle. Two Bit, Soda Pop, Pony Boy, Johnny Boy, Dally, Darry, and ... Steve Randle, lol.

It almost made me want to invent my own nick name, but that's just a recipe for disaster begging for rips from the others. That is essentially what the original lyrics of this song were, one big rip on my room mate at the time, who like me didn't get a nick name from the peanut gallery. So he had decided he would call himself The Ruler. I assume that was because his middle name was Reginald, which loosely means ruler's advisor. The original title for this song was Bruce Rules. The lyrics for the original we co-written by Jon Snyer from the room next door. He was your stereotypical college recreational pharmacology major. After college, when trying to remaster the song, I liked it, but the lyrics and title had to go. So it pivoted from a mocking of my room mate, to a statement of faith. I retitled it God Rules, and rewrote the lyrics. I never got around to actually laying down the vocal track, but one day I might. Until then, you will just have to try to hear it in your own voice while it plays. Please understand that the drug references are a carry over from Jon's lyrics. I did not inhale, second hand highs only.

The ribbing didn't stop at the song either. He did eventually get a nick name picked by the crowd. Every time he insisted on being called The Ruler, he just ended up getting called Meter Stick. Ironically, while searching for an appropriate image for this week, I came across this meter stick. The irony is that it is a hand made wooden rule from Skowhegan Wooden Rule. Skowhegan is the town in Maine where my room mate was from.

Lyrics for God Rules

Song of the Week, July 23rd, 2021

There is nothing complex or difficult about this song. I wanted to write something. It was summer. I did not want to put a lot of effort into it. I was lazy. Slow drum track, check. Simple chord progressions, check. Predicatble bass line, check. Simple harmony, check. No real solo or instrumental between movements, check. Still, I like it. It is very relaxing because there are no unexpected musical curveballs.

Full credit for artist is in the image. It is uncanny how much of what I did during summers between grades in school is captured in this one image. I climbed apple trees, and ate many an apple from them. The color is not right, but that bike looks an awfully lot lot my Silver Shadow. Fishing was always on the list of things I could spend time doing. The sword, well, there has been much role playing in my life, childhood and adulthood. I grew up near Walnut Creek, so there is that too. I can't say that I ever paid much attention to squirrels at the time. Nor did Penny Wise get me to follow that paper boat, though having spent many summers in Maine where my father's side of the family is from, I was quite familiar with Stephen King growing up.

Song of the Week, July 30th, 2021

The last few Fridays I was on vacation for the first time in a couple of years. I visited my parents. I drove, making it an 800 mile road trip there and another on the way back. The timing was such that much of the route had been under dry or drought conditions, just before the remains of hurricane Charlotte rolled up the coast. The result was that despite being a long road trip, there was none of the usual road trip bugs all over the front of the car. So given that this week the Road Kill Buffet album is in the rotation, and I encountered none, I selected the one song on that album appropriate to the need.

The Radiator Waiter had to be called to the table. Fortunately I knew exactly what image I wanted to use, from Mad Max: Fury Road. Coma-Doof Warrior (also known as The Doof Warrior) is a blind guitarist who was part of Immortan Joe's militia, riding and playing a flame-throwing electric guitar upon the Doof Wagon. He is portrayed by Australian musician iOTA and appears in Mad Max: Fury Road. "Leading us into battle was Coma The Doof Warrior."

I can't help but see him as the waiter, on the road, standing on the radiator, leading the parade of road killing machines. Someone must have ordered Creme Brulee because he's ready to torch dessert to perfection. The song itself is far from perfection which is how it ended up on the album. I vaguely remember its original evolution being written sometime in my sophmore year in high school. I was evidently very melancholy in that period.

Song of the Week, August 6th, 2021

When it comes to ravens I am reminded of Huginn and Muninn, aka "thought" and "memory", the two ravens from Norse mythology that were the global recon wings for Odin. I also find it curious that the smaller, similar crow, in a group is called a murder of crows, but a group of ravens is only an unkindness of ravens. I would have that bigger would have been badder. This song was among the first created on my Ensoniq MR76, along with Regulate the Rage. It was not based on an earlier piano creation. The multitrack digital sequencer and thats ability to compile many smaller, and thus much more easy to perform, pieces in layers, made it possible for me to produce something truer to, or with more fidelity from, my mind's ear.

The Raven was a handle I chose for myself in the early days of the internet. In hindsight, I was blogging, but that wasn't even a word for it, on topics which made people think. I would select a topic, then in thought exercises, debate both sides of the premise. It provoked some interesting responses from those who read them. In most cases, the reader's perception of me was influenced by whether or not they projected their own position on the topic as "with them" or "against them". And that missed the point. For me it wasn't about winning or losing, pro or con, right or wrong. It was about the debate, and the path to enlightenment. Playing the devil's advocate was and continues to be an enjoyable past time for me.

Song of the Week, August 13th, 2021

I may have tinkered around with other melodies before this one, or maybe even written one other before this song. But this one is the first that was recorded and survived into later evolutions of equipment. It was probably written between 1983 and 1984 somewhere, the summer before starting high school.Every time I compiled a tape of my songs, or a cd of my songs, or an online grouping of my songs, this one always fell to the bottom of the list of what I would consider to be my favorites. Even titles on the Road Kill Buffet album were preferred over this one among the least liked. During the last evolutions where I upgraded to equipment and re-recorded or remastered songs, this song was the last of my backlog that I did. So after remastering all the remaining titles except this one, I came up with the album title Off The Shelf. It was made up of all the songs I didn't think were worth having "on the shelf" to play. And with this one being the very last one on that album, it ended up as the title cut to the album.

Song of the Week, August 20th, 2021

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

Or as Dieter would say on Sprockets: "Now's the time on Sprockets when we dance."

I can't help but think about what we could learn today if everyone watched Footloose. It seemed silly to me back when it came out that any place would ban dancing. Fast forward decades and we're basically banning people from living in public. I hope, that like in the movie, some rebellious teenagers will wake up and shake off the shackles of some of the modern stupidity going around. It's worth noting that in the movie, the town with the ban never did give in. The kids left the town. It makes me wonder if this country is headed toward that cliche dystopian messed up society where people are actually trying to escape, the USA to Canada or Mexico, instead of just threatening to leave.

Song of the Week, August 27th, 2021

When I was thinking of what to say about this song my mind first jumped to the classic Frogger video game. Then it went down a twisted path. Think revenge of Frogger kind of twisted. Then I came across this meme graphic with Kermit behind the wheel. And that let to me asking what's for breakfast? Remember that 1990s commercial, "pork, the other white meat". If you see where I'm going, yes, that means bacon for Kermit. Watch out Miss Piggy!

Song of the Week, September 3rd, 2021

In my 2nd year at the university of Maine two cool dudes enrolled and the room across the hall in the 3rd floor of Knox Hall. One of the first things they did was construct a full size bar in their dorm room. Most nights there was a party going on. Every party night ended with two songs. The 2nd to last song was Twilight Zone by Golden Earring. The last was always The Devil Went Down to Georgia. Their names were Andrew and John. One of my favorite memories was of John involved Justin Strzelczyk, a.k.a. future starter for the Pittsburgh Steeler as an offensive tackle.

Justin called the phone on 3rd floor west of Knox Hall. As was typical, people in the alcoves never answered. But Justin was a stubborn, persistent person. It rang and rang and rang and rang. You get the point. John answered. Justin demanded he go get his girlfriend, on a completely different floor ... John said no. To which Justin said do you know who I am? To which John said something to the effect of, who cares. At which point Justin said I'm 6' 5" and something like 250ish pounds, and I'll kick your ass if you don't get her. To which John replied something like I'm 9' 7" and something like 500ish pounds, I'd like to see you try, and hung up.

AJ's Bar and Grill Lyrics

Song of the Week, September 10th, 2021

Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.

--Pope John Paul II --

Song of the Week, September 17th, 2021

Often people remark about how Turkey makes them sleepy. When I originally composed this song it had a trippy sort of feel for me. It relaxes me and helps my mind focus, as the initial meditative aspect of it eventually yields to the cliche nap after Thanksgiving dinner. More often than not, it's not even Turkey that does that to me now. Being diabetic it's really the mashed potatoes and stuffing that knock me out. In the battle of bed time carbohydrates beat the snot out of tryptophan everytime for me.

Song of the Week, September 24th, 2021

I never thought that when I started sharing a song a week that it would have gone on this long. At best I thought I would get partially through it, until life went back to normal. Pandemic life is still abnormal, and this is the last song I have to share from my collections.Is that a warm and inviting light at the end of the tunnel? Or is that a freight train? I do not know the answer. While I do sometimes just sit and improvise for a few minutes at a time, like when I'm waiting for the dryer to finish it's job, I have not really finished anything new since about 2017. I do have two mostly complete ideas I have been slowly been compiling. Neither will be getting shared next week, nor any time soon. But when they are done I will.