On the 30th anniversary of our performance with NRSB at Bogart’s in Cincinnati, I want to share a vintage video of that once and only performance. All original songs by members of this incredible band. I am so glad this was captured by hand-held camera out in the audience! Thanks DR.
Part I
Part II https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCv8NrHglpk&list=PL6nW06rbKPIo97mbrFsrAWed2OUaDvMkF&index=12&t=0s
We were just a bit ahead of our time.
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Posted: July 19, 2019 in Video
Tags: #30yearsago, #battleofthebands, #Cincinnati, #contest, #drummer, #drums, #harmonies, #harmony, #keyboard, #Liveband, #livesoundreinforement, #Midi, #midimike, #original songs, #vocalist, #vocals, 30 years ago, anniversary, battle of the bands, Bogart's, keyboard controller, keyboards, live audience, Live performance, live recording, Michael S Kennedy, MIDI controller, Nixon, NRSB, original music, originals, Reagan, Satan Buddha, vintage recording, vintage video
Building upon my earlier posts of a night out with Crash Landing, I continue with the first part of the second set.
In future posts I will detail mixing/recording process and Live Sound Reinforcement techniques. For now, enjoy a few songs from my old cover band.
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Posted: July 16, 2019 in Cover Tune Tuesdays
Tags: #acoustic guitars, #bass guitar, #coverband, #drummer, #drums, #guitar, #keyboard, #Liveband, #livesoundreinforement, #mixingboard, #stage, #venue, #video, #videographer, #vocalist, #vocals, audio recording, clubs, cover band, festival, keyboards, lead guitar, live audience, Live performance, live recording, local bands, LSR, Michael S Kennedy, musical video, support local musicians, vintage video
I hope you get a laugh from my latest song, “Tired”. It definitely has a ‘senior point of view’. I thought of naming it “Retired”, but this seemed to fit better.
I posted as a poem but once I put it to music and the song arrangement came together I had to make cuts and edits. I will post the new lyrics here for convenience.
“Tired” © MSK 6-9-2019
I’ve been thinking all day of when I get you home
After everyone has gone we’re finally alone
Like a good dog I’m gonn’a give you a bone.
I’ve heard his mouth running all over town
Talking shit about me and calling me a clown
I’m headed over there now to put him down.
Hold that thought
‘Til I get back
I’m feeling rather tired
And it’s time for a nap.
Think I better
Slow it down.
Rewarded or punished for decisions we make
Climbing this mountain is a piece of cake
Just another day or so beyond the lake.
Hold that thought ‘til I get back
I’m feeling rather tired
And it’s time for a nap.
Dream what you remember
Remember what you dream.
After all these years
It’s almost the same thing
I bought three books and can’t wait to start
Two of them are very close to my heart.
I’ll read them all tonight, then put more in my cart.
I’ve been thinking all day of when I get you home
After everyone has gone we’re finally alone.
Like a good dog I’m gonn’a give you a bone.
Hold that thought ‘til I get back
I’m feeling rather tired and it’s time for a nap.
Hold that thought ‘til I get back
I’m feeling rather tired and it’s time for a nap.
With lyrics in hand, I mapped it out to a drum arrangement I already had. No other instruments….. While I fit the lyrics to the drum arrangement the melody immediately fell in my lap. It is backwards for me to have a melody first. Usually I write the melody listening to the chords. This is like reverse-engineering if you know what I mean!
This was not a simple fit, so the drums also had to be edited and changed for the rhythm of guitar and vocals. The drums are not finished and need a lot of work to smooth out grooves here and there, but it is solid enough to work with for now.
I don’t practice or play for hours a day anymore. I rarely play for more than is necessary to record my demo songs. It can take me a while to play the guitar (and keyboard) parts I need for new songs. Everything is slowing down after 65!
I played a Martin acoustic/electric guitar with no overdubs or additional guitar tracks. The bass guitar is added using my MIDI keyboard and a computer plug-in sample-player for a great sound. I added some playful vocal harmonies and that was it. Arrangement done, it will take me a couple weeks to clean up the tracks and do a mix. Or maybe a bit longer than usual now that I think about it!
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Posted: July 12, 2019 in My Tunes
Tags: #acoustic, #acoustic guitars, #harmonies, #harmony, #keyboard, #lyrics, #melody, #mixingboard, #original songs, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #writing #poem, acoustic guitar, clown, expectations, humor, keyboards, Martin Guitars, Michael S Kennedy, MIDI controller, MIDI drums, multi track recording, original music, originals, retirees, retirement, tired
My recent post was about a tree in my neighbor’s yard that has been dead for a while and a large part of it fell into my garage.
Our daughter lives a few houses away. A different neighbor’s tree fell and landed on her car and took out the steps to her deck. We are lucky no one was hurt. It was a perfect time for a bad thing to happen!
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Posted: July 9, 2019 in family
Tags: #family, #lucky, #lucky to be alive, crush, damaged car, dead tree, fallen trees, home, insurance nightmare, totaled, tree through windshield
I live in the center of a medium sized city. I do not live on a farm or out in the wilderness. That is why it is so cool to see so much wild-life coming through our yard.
I wanted to share some pictures of our visitors over the weekend with you. This has been a great year for rabbits…. bunnies are jumpin’ all over the yard this year. I think the hawk was eating mulberries off the ground and munching on a few flying insects.
These visitors are in addition to the regulars; ground hogs, chipmunks, squirrels everywhere, raccoons, possums, owls, wood peckers and other birds.
We also get appearances from coyotes, wild turkeys, and red foxes among others. It is becoming a regular zoo!
Unfortunately, we also had another surprise visit. The building next door has a couple trees that have been dead for a long time. Piece-by-piece the rotten branches have been falling. Last Saturday we had another ‘piece’ fall. This time into our garage.
WE are still alive and did not get hurt. Fortunately, there are only 10 days or so when the Jeep is not in the garage and the tree fell on one of those days!
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Posted: July 2, 2019 in Photography
Tags: #photo, #photographer, #photography, #photograpy, #zoo, birds of prey, coyote, damage done, fallen trees, foxes, hawks, home, inner city living, insurance, Jeep, owls, rabbits, raccoons, smash, visitors, wild turkeys, wildlife, wood peckers, yard
My wife and I have a communication problem. Over the years we have managed to keep this from being a marriage problem. I am sure it would have driven other couples crazy.
I have a really bad habit of mixing pro-nouns; names, cities, sports teams. To give you an idea, I would call up my wife and say, “… pick me up at Home Depot when you are done”. She would call and say, “where are you”?
“I am waiting for you outside”, would be my reply. ……… she would then ask if I meant Home Depot or Lowe’s ……. yep. This is where I mess up all the time. I might say it with confidence, but I use the wrong proper name way too often. I am at Lowe’s.
My wife interchanges nouns. She will ask me to hand her the book. After a few seconds she gets impatient and wonders if I am listening to her. Again, but louder, she will ask me to hand her the book. I have scoured the immediate area and see no book. I will ask her if she means the glass and she will say, “that’s what I asked for”.
This does not happen all the time or we would be dead already. But it happens often.
I translate for her; she translates for me.
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Posted: June 29, 2019 in Opinions and Observations
Tags: #family, #language, #marriage, communication, couples, relationships, solutions, translate
This is an early recording of a Cincinnati band “Chakras”. I recorded them back when I used the ADAT digital tape recorder. It does not have the ‘bling’ of modern recordings but I think you will enjoy the performance.
https://www.facebook.com/chakrasrock
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Posted: June 25, 2019 in projects
Tags: #bass, #bass guitar, #Cincinnati, #demo, #digital, #drums, #effects, #guitar, #keyboard, #recording, #recordingstudio, #Soundengineer, #stories, #studio, #studioengineer, ADAT, Alesis, Chakrasrock, Cincinnati bands, demo tape, Digital Audio Tape, historical recording, keyboards, local bands, MSK, MSK Studios, multi track recording, Nikon camera, original music, originals, pictures, songwriting, violin
I post about my past and what I see in the present. I post what I have done and I try to post what I feel. That is what we all want to read: feelings. Experiences. Humor and all the rest.
I have learned a lot. I have forgotten way too much. I regret little but would like to change the past if I could. But I learn.
I mentioned I have been in Management of Sales – Service – Marketing for decades. A post or two will jab at bosses and managers that knew nothing and the ones that were great. One of the worst managers I ever had taught me the most. He mentioned that he had to change the way he thought about many things. His mother was struggling to live and suffering for a long long time. He would visit her regularly and help where he could; no matter how inconvenient.
Eventually, he began to talk in terms of ‘having to see his mother’, of responsibility and burden. He told a number of us that it wasn’t until he realized this might be the last time he could talk and laugh and remember with his mother, that everything changed. He did not HAVE to visit his mother, he was given another chance to. Every one became precious.
As a member of a fitness gyms over the years, I took Yoga, Pilates, and martial arts training. I tried for years to meditate as suggested by all. I simply cannot stop my mind and concentrate on nothing. My brain does not shut off at night when I want to go to sleep. I could not focus long enough. Then a fill-in Yoga instructor that was not very good at all suggested that the idea is not to block all thoughts and make your mind blank……
But as thoughts and ideas come acknowledge them – and then let them go. “I know you are there and I will think about you later” kind of a thing.
Great advice from the places I would expect it the least.
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Posted: June 21, 2019 in Opinions and Observations
Tags: #family, #lessons, #Martial Arts, #Tae Kwon Do, #work, advice, employers, health, meditation, pilates, relationships, unexpected, Yoga
I posted another you-tube segment of Crash Landing playing cover tunes at a gig in Cincinnati back in 2002. This is the last segment of the 1st set. I tried to break them up into chunks so they are not huge files.
I ran a straight line out from the mixing board. Few live recordings are perfect, and over the years I tried a number of ways to get a good mix. Keep in mind I record all the time so this was not a special occasion and I don’t even think I told the band members we were recording.
I am still collecting new photos from friends and relatives and will add them to future posts. So sit down and grab your favorite beverage and listen to a great live band!
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Posted: June 18, 2019 in Cover Tune Tuesdays
Tags: #bass, #bass guitar, #Cincinnati, #cover, #drummer, #drums, #guitar, #harmonies, #harmony, #keyboard, #Liveband, #livesoundreinforement, #midimike, #mixing board, #mixingboard, #music, #musicequiptment, #musician, #sing, #singer, #singing, #vocalist, #vocals, #Yamaha, cover band, cover tune, DW drums, fender guitars, Gary Jefferson, gibson guitars, keyboards, Korg, lead guitar, Live performance, live recording, LSR, Michael S Kennedy, multi track recording, music industry, music lovers, music production, musical video, musicians, support local musicians
© MSK 6-9-2019
I’ve been thinking all day of when I get you home
After everyone has gone and we’re finally alone.
Like a good dog I’m gonn’a give you a bone.
I hear his mouth running all over town
Talking shit and calling me a clown.
I am headed over there now to put him down.
But I’m feeling rather tired
And it’s time for a nap.
It’s been years since I retired
And it’s time for a nap.
Rewarded or punished for decisions we make
Climbing this mountain is a piece of cake.
Just another day or so beyond the lake.
Dream what you remember
Remember what you dream.
After all these years I found out
It’s just about the same thing.
I bought three books and can’t wait to start
Two of them are very close to my heart.
I’ll read them all tonight, then put more in my cart.
I’ve been thinking all day of when I get you home
After everyone has gone and we’re finally alone.
Like a good dog I’m gonn’a give you a bone.
But I’m feeling rather tired
And it’s time for a nap.
It’s been years since I retired Sleepy from my morning snack.
You can see I’m rather tired
And it’s time for my nap!
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Posted: June 14, 2019 in Poetry
Tags: #fans, #life, #love, #lyrics, #personal, #perspective, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #writing #poem, #Yamaha, Adobe Premier, aging, crowds, dancing, Korg, music lovers, relationships, retirees, retirement, songwriting
