MSK 4-15-2019
Metaphors and analogies
Comic plays and tragedies
Miracle cures and man-made disease
Sealed with handshakes and apologies.
You couldn’t tell an ancient shaman
From a clown selling snake oil remedies
Observing you see much in common
Debating the pain as you burn or freeze.
You chose the wrong path long before today
Fame and fortune have gotten you this far
Felt you deserved the status and glory somehow
But no amount of luck is going to help you now.
Family and friends give you all you ask
Generations of wealth demand compliance
Doors opened easily for a wink and a bow
But no amount of luck is going to help you now.
Miracle cures and man-made disease
Debating the pain as you burn or freeze
Sealed with handshakes and apologies
From a clown selling snake oil remedies.
You chose the wrong path long before today
Fame and fortune have gotten you this far
Felt you deserved the status and glory somehow
But no amount of luck is going to help you now.
Doors opened easily with a wink and a bow
But no amount of luck is going to help you now.
You took all that your power would allow
But no amount of luck is going to help you now.
Metaphors and analogies
Comic plays and tragedies
Miracle cures and man-made disease
Sealed with handshakes and apologies.
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Posted: April 16, 2019 in Poetry
Tags: #lyrics, #money, #opinion, #poem, #poetry, fame and fortune, lyrics, poem, power, verse
Usually in Southern Ohio we get Spring-like weather fairly early. Too early, in fact, for most of the flowers and flowering trees. Once the trees and flowers start to bloom we usually get hit by a cold blast and all the blooms freeze. The flowers wilt over and lay on the ground in frozen colors to die. The branches of fruit or flowering trees turn dead and brown.
This year was perfect. The late winter cold blasts did not last long and were not cold enough to do real damage. I would like to share some of the pictures I took yesterday in a favorite local park in my area but every highway and street in thee city is just bursting with color and shouting “SPRING”!
My camera at home, I took out my phone (like everybody else!) and took these pictures of the day. I hope you enjoy a few of these.
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Posted: April 9, 2019 in Photography
Tags: #beauty, #nature, #photo, #photographer, #photography, blooms, Camera, cherry blossoms, daffodils, flowering trees, flowers, fruit trees, Nikon camera, parks, seasons, Spring, weather
To be honest I do not have a bucket list though there are things that I expected to be able to do before I died. One of those items I really have not achieved, but I did get to take a first step.
Last year I was approved and certified for medical marijuana in the state of Ohio. There are only a small handful of dispensaries open in the state……. they are still way behind schedule. (this reminds me of a saying attributed to Mark Twain that I heard as a young adult. It is reported that he was asked what he would do if he knew the end of the world was coming. He quickly stated that he would move to Ohio. When asked why, he said that everything happens 20 years later there).
True still today, we are usually behind the rest of the country if not the world. So even though I had to drive hundreds of miles out of my way, for the first time in my life I purchased marijuana legally in Ohio. I figured by the time I was 30 years old politicians and citizens alike would wake up and remove the lies surrounding marijuana use and it would be legal for all.
I am not sure when or if this will happen, but I am not willing to take the risk in waiting. So I took the first step until recreational use is a reality. The experience was a bit bizarre, but I will get into that in a later post. Right now it is time for me to take my medicine.
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Posted: March 27, 2019 in Opinions and Observations
Tags: #criminal, #laws, before death, bucket list, criminal records, Mark Twain, medical treatment, medicine, Ohio medical marijuana, politicians
Can building “the beautiful wall” protect us from hurricanes crossing our borders?
Will the wall be high enough to stop tornadoes?
Is it long enough to stop the floods or forest fires?
Should it be smart enough to keep in the rain and prevent droughts?
Fake News = Fake Emergency.
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Posted: March 21, 2019 in Opinions and Observations
Tags: #democracy, #fire, #politics, #president, congress, droughts, emergencies, emergency, fake news, floods, forest fires, funding, policies, state crisis, veto
Another addition for my Cover Tune Tuesdays project. For those of you just jumping in, I am not covering songs from well-known artists you have already heard. I wanted to play some of the songs written by people I have known over the years. I can pretty much guarantee none of us thought we would be famous authors – mostly because none of us tried to be. Like many others, we decided not to put in the eternal time, money and thankless effort necessary to ‘make it big’ in the music scene.
This is a song written by Tom Gorman, Lori Niemi and Tom Robinson. It was written in 1980 and has been recorded and performed by many people in the core group of songwriters I have mentioned previously in my posts.
This time I recorded the song using my Martin 6 string guitar. I usually use my 12 string but since my bi-lateral carpal tunnel surgery last year and plain getting old, it is hard for me to do difficult songs any more.
I used my Ovation 12 string for the 2nd guitar parts so I have not abandoned it completely. I use Sonar Cakewalk – now by BandLab as my recording software. The haunting melodic sounds are from a program called Dimension Pro. I sang and did a little harmony here and there but that is the essence of the mix.
I would like to share some versions of this song with you and will post 2 other previous recordings. It is a good historical view. People change, equipment changes and the mood inspired by the song change over time.
"Jackals" (C) 1980
Straight hollow blocks of buildings haunted with lives
Scanning you with hidden silence
They house the hungry Jackals who go prowling through the angled
Paths of night.
Watch out for the hungry Jackals, they’ll dull you with lies
Making like they’re you’re best friends, while they’re sharpening
Their knives.
Stalking unwary victims they sidle up
Cutting you with cultured voices
And punctuating death throws with a fluttering of gestures and a
Sociable smile.
Watch out for those hungry jackals they stalk in disguise
They clutch your hands with such courtesy but there’s murder
In their eyes.
Running that dreadful gauntlet every day
Mixed in with the gentle people
A Jackal sticks his paw as a cohort jabs a claw out as you
Hit the ground.
Watch out for those hungry jackals disguised as they are
They’ll send you out to save the world but you won’t get very far.
Watch out for the hungry Jackals, they’ll dull you with lies:
Making like they’re your best friends…….
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Posted: March 19, 2019 in Cover Tune Tuesdays
Tags: #audio, #guitar, #microphone, #musician, #personal, #song, #songwriter, #vocalist, #vocals, 1980, acoustic guitar, audio recording, Bandlab, Martin Guitars, Ovation 12 String Guitar
As part of My Cover Tune Tuesdays, I wanted to do an acoustic version of one of my favorite Grateful Dead songs. The story I heard about this song is that Stella Blue refers to an old cheap guitar Jerry Garcia played when he was much younger. I tried to look up references but nothing conclusive so I stopped. I am not a reporter, after all.
In either case, this song has been an inspiration for me in many ways. As I get older, though, the message is much closer to home. I hope I will be able to dust off the strings for years to come, but I still find each moment I have to make and play music precious. Without it I would be insane, lost or dead (but not grateful)!
So I got out the Martin 6 string acoustic/electric guitar I got from my older brother and changed the strings. It was not enough to dust them off! Then I pulled out my Ovation 12 string acoustic/electric guitar and dusted off those strings. The Martin I ran a guitar cable to the Universal Audio Solo 610 mic pre-amp. After recording the main guitar track in Sonar by Cakewalk/Bandlab I used the Ovation 12 String guitar for a light/filler guitar track. I used a AKG C214 microphone plugged into the Solo 610 for recording the Ovation. Vocals used the same microphone and pre-amp set-up so it was a quick session.
All the years combine
They melt into a dream
A broken angel sings
From a guitar.
In the end there's just a song
Comes crying up the night
Through all the broken dreams
And vanished years.
Stella Blue Stella Blue
I've stayed in every blue-light cheap hotel
Can't win for trying
Dust off those rusty strings just
One more time
Gonna make them shine.
When all the cards are down
There's nothing left to see
There's just the pavement left
And broken dreams.
In the end there's still that song
Comes crying like the wind
Down every lonely street
That's ever been.
Stella Blue Stella Blue
I've stayed in every blue-light cheap hotel
Can't win for trying
Dust off those rusty strings just
One more time
Gonna make them shine.
It all rolls into one
And nothing comes for free
There's nothing you can hold
For very long.
And when you hear that song
Come crying like the wind
It seems like all this life
Was just a dream.
To Stella Blue Stella Blue
Songwriters: Jerome J. Garcia / Robert C. Hunter
Stella Blue lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
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Posted: March 12, 2019 in Cover Tune Tuesdays
Tags: #acoustic, #audio, #guitar, #music, #musicequiptment, #recordingstudio, #vocalist, #vocals, acoustic guitar, AKG, AKG C214, audio recording, Bandlab, Cakewalk, cover tune, Grateful Dead, lonely streets, Martin Guitars, multi track recording, musicians, Ovation 12 String Guitar, Robert Hunter, Sonar, strings, Universal Audio
On another note (LOL), I have been interested in Modals for a while. I think they benefit lead players more but I do find them interesting and useful. Recently I was looking at a YouTube channel where the post by David Bennett Piano answered the question, “are there any pop songs that use the Locrian scale?”. The Locrian modal uses a flatted 5th, which flies in the face of popular music and their rather vanilla use of scales and progressions. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6JBsOzOFaQ
The post was interesting and informative, but I bring this up because of the ONE example he could find. Granted, he stretched the definition of “pop”, but his reference was one of my all time favorite vocalists and artists. Bjork, formally with “The Sugar Cubes” is up there with Peter Gabriel for me. I think she is a true musical genius. Maybe because she does not limit herself to the confines of commercial music, and indeed, much of her material – especially her videos – is really out there. So am I. Anyway, could not resist spreading this reference around. Army Of Me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeAZ9DQZFz8
David Bennett is Patreon member (as am I) and is worth supporting.
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Posted: March 6, 2019 in Music Theory
Tags: #guitar, #music theory, #piano, #scale, Bjork, David Bennett, example, flatted 5th, Locrian, Modals, music industry, music production, Patreon, pop music, pop songs, soloists, Sugar Cubes, support local musicians
Given an odd set of circumstances that would give you the choice of listening to your favorite songs and bands on a really weak radio signal (cheap, broken or terrible stereo system) or listen to songs you don’t really like in hi quality sound?
Being an audiophile and passionate about great music this is a tough question for me lol.
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Posted: March 4, 2019 in Uncategorized
Tags: #audio, #band, #bands, #question, #radio, #sound, audiophile, choice, music, preference
As many of you know I am not a professional photographer. I describe myself as a guy who likes to take pictures. Yesterday my wife and I were walking in our yard as it was getting close to sun-set. We heard some birds just chattering away and saw a pair of woodpeckers and very close by but much further up in the trees there was a hawk perched on a limb. He just sat there watching us and everything around him.
I am not good with names so I do not know what specific birds these are, but for the last few years the hawks have made this their home. Before then I don’t remember seeing or hearing them around where we live. I have always had a love for birds and I have a special fascination with larger birds of prey. Amazed we did not scare him/her away, I went into the house to get my Nikon camera and 70-300 mm lens. My wife stayed watching the birds because it is highly unlikely I would make it back with the camera before they flew away.
Here are a few shots I managed to get when I returned. I hope you enjoy starting the day in flight.
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Posted: February 28, 2019 in Photography, Uncategorized
Tags: #nature, #photo, #photographer, #photography, bird watching, birds, birds of prey, DSLR, feathers, hawks, home, Nikkor, Nikon, Nikon camera, sunset, wildlife, wings, woodpecker
MidiMike 