Lyrics with few words but lots of passion. Prophetic, in some cases but sad throughout. This kind of pain is even more difficult to watch. I put it to a slow bluesy ballad with sparse chords and vocals. It is still a haunting tune to me. I only have old reel-to-reel recordings copied and recopied over the years but it still paints the mood very well.
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Posted: May 30, 2023 in #poetry, Poetry
Tags: #audio, #lyrics, #midimike, #music, #musician, #ovationguitars, #personal, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #poetrypod, #recording, #relationships, #songwriter, #sound, #vocalist
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Posted: May 23, 2023 in #poetry, Poetry
Tags: #lyrics, #michaelskennedy, #midimike, #midimike.com, #musician, #personal, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #poetrypod, #songwriter
I have referenced members of my originals band many times in this blog. I was fortunate to meet Tom Robinson in my senior year of high school. It was a rough time in my life. Just finding people even similar to you was difficult let alone finding friends. TR and I became friends immediately. He let me borrow a guitar so I could learn how to play and we could play guitar together. That became the core of a song-writing community that would span decades. A number of local musicians, songwriters and interested observors orbited that core. Separate core members were discovered and their songs were also shared.
I moved up to Dayton, Ohio and became part of the Merchants of Death. (….story to that name and it is really cool but no time for that now) With percussionist/vocalist Tom Gorman and bass guitar genius Mike Wheeler, TR and I blended the Cincinnati sound with the Dayton sound. This was my first real band in that we only played out a few times for friends and family, but we listened to each other. We wrote great songs together. Members filled in for core members as needed. I recorded almost everything with two Radio Shack condensor microphones (that I still have) sitting somewhere on a coffee table on my 4-Track Tascam/Teac reel-to-reel tape deck. Yes, this was 50 years ago.
We got back together on-line during the Covid 19 lock down. The latency was difficult but the connection was priceless, and we started jamming regularly. Eventually we were brave enough to meet in person and had a blast dusting off the old tunes. From that we decided to begin where we left off and started to record our first album project entitled Reinstated. Thinking the ‘Death’ reference in our name was a bit too close to home, we refer to this project as The Merchants.
We have a collection of original songs and a few tasty cover tunes that we perform in our own style. I think you will like a number of these. The project includes 18 songs (18!!) and that might give you the impression that we are done. As logical as that might seem for a bunch of old guys, we are already recording our second album project!
TR was goofing around with some old pictures and I decided to make a short video to introduce the Reinstated project release. Unfortunately I do not have a whole lot of flashy media from those days but there are some pictures that are worth a thousand words. To visit Youtube click here.
I have an easy web page that links to most media streaming services so you can get an idea what we were playing last millenia. To hear more of The Merchants – Reinstated, click here.
Thank you all for the years of listening and sharing. MIDIMike.
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Posted: May 19, 2023 in MUSIC, My Tunes
Tags: #hearnow, #localbands, #lyrics, #michaelskennedy, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #personal, #poetry, #reeltoreel, #singersongwriter, #songwriter, #tascam, #teac, #themerchants, #themerchantsofdeath, #video, #vintage recordings
Here are lyrics I wrote to be as much a country song as a parody of country songs. Even back in 1981 I was reflecting on spending most of my time growing old. Another song of mine performed with my first real band, The Personal Touch.
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Posted: May 16, 2023 in #poetry, Poetry
Tags: #audio, #lyrics, #Martinguitars, #michaelskennedy, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #personal, #personaltouch, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #poetrypod, #recording, #recordingstudio, #songwriter, #sound, #vocals
Starting with my usual contradictory statement of the obvious, the chorus covers a curiosity I noticed as a teenager. If I was looking for a pen, for example, if I thought the pen was blue but it was actually a different color, I would never find it. Even if it was out in the open on a table in plain sight. I will blind myself to the object I am looking for by an incorrect memory of the wrong color.
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Posted: May 9, 2023 in #poetry, Poetry
Tags: #lyrics, #michaelskennedy, #midimike, #midimike.com, #personal, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #poetrypod, #songwriter
I posted a few pictures as Spring started to burst out from Winter’s hold a few weeks ago. I am glad that even though we did have three or four nights where it went below freezing during the nights, that most of the flowering trees and blooms survived. Usually we get a late freeze and it wipes out most of the early bloomers.
Here are a few pictures from my local city park I have featured before many times. These pictures are untreated or processed. This is how you would see the park if you took a walk there today or tomorrow. Enjoy>
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Posted: May 5, 2023 in Photography
Tags: #Cincinnati, #CincinnatiParks, #cincyparks, #lindnerpark, #michaelskennedy, #midimike.com, #nikon, #personal, #photographer, #photography
I literally wrote the majority of this song soaking in a hot bath tub. I have always been an over-achiever. Play harder than the others, stay longer, think smarter, do it over again. Stuck in someone else’s loop. A feeling of putting all the work down. Stay warm. Quiet. Light as a feather. No deadlines.
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Posted: May 2, 2023 in #poetry, Poetry
Tags: #lyrics, #michaelskennedy, #midimike, #midimike.com, #musician, #personal, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #poetrypod, #songwriter
I had been walking around my back yard and noticed I could not see any goldfish swimming in the pond.
The next day I looked out the window and wondered again why I could not see them. I apologize for the poor quality of the video below but it was shot through my kitchen door.
I am not surprised anymore by the unusual things I see in my yard and adjacent city park. I thought this was pretty cool until my wife said he is probbly eating the fish in the pond. I still think it is pretty cool!
I can’t find all of the fish but was happy to see quite a number finally come out of their hiding spots.
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Posted: April 28, 2023 in Opinions and Observations, Video
Tags: #blueheron, #fishpond, #goldfish, #michaelskennedy, #midimike, #midimike.com, #personal, #video, #videographer, #wildlife
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Posted: April 25, 2023 in #poetry, Poetry
Tags: #lyrics, #michaelskennedy, #midimike, #midimike.com, #personal, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #poetrypod, #songwriter
A friend of mine has a humprous response to a serious subject. Dave Young wanted to start a Me Neither Movement in support of the Me Too Movement from the time he read about it.
With my help he created a song parody to help introduce viewers to the Me Neither Movement.
Time for a llittle fun and music! Here is Dave Young’s:
MIDIMike.
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Posted: April 21, 2023 in MUSIC, Photography, Video
Tags: #audio, #meneither, #metoo, #michaelskennedy, #midicontroller, #mididrums, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #video, #videographer
MidiMike 