My wife and I have always subscribed to the pay-it-forward plan. We do a lot of things for others without payment or promise. We have always been that way. As a result, we enjoy things others do for us – either to repay our past efforts or to pay-it-forward on their plan, so to speak.
Last week as a result of a repay, we got to go to a cabin in the Red River Gorge area in Kentucky. We were a bit early in the season as neither of us likes big crowds and our schedules keep us tied down during normal ‘peak’ times for traveling events. You can see blooming trees just starting to take off. Once on the peaks we could look down on the tree-tops for an eagle’s view of early Spring.
Many of you liked my earlier pictures of Spring near my home. I wanted to share a few more pictures knowing spring does not happen on a single date everywhere. Some of you are still looking forward to green and blooms and others are looking to summer already.
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.
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.
This Tuesday I wanted to feature a song by a good friend of mine. “Denham Street” was written by Bob Enderle. Bob Enderle died too many years ago. He wrote a number of songs that I really like. I am not a fan of most popular music. I don’t need to hear one more song about boy loves and loses girl, or how the singer wants to party and have sex all night.
Denham Street and many other songs he wrote are about social injustices we so easily overlook and ignore. This song points out how unfair, uncaring and mean our social policies are. He makes the song sound sweet while the dark lyrics dig into our consciousness.
I did a simple recording of this song. I started with some drum tracks and I played my 12 string Ovation guitar for the main instrument track. I added strings to reinforce the guitar. Once I sang the melody I thought it would be a good song for harmony. I added the harmony vocals and listened to the rough mix a few times.
After a few times through the song I turned off the drum track and liked it better without them. I worked on it for days. I wanted to ‘do the song justice’ and make it fit the image I have from Bob’s version. Sweet tragedy.
Here are the lyrics and my version of Denham Street. I hope you enjoy.
“Denham Street” Bob Enderle
Car alarms squeal on Denham Street Like coyotes howling at the moon. Tattered grey men look for some place to eat Teen age mothers search for her womb. Street lights shattered near the playground; Darkness hides an old routine. Cracks in the family, crack in the hall.
There’s an overpass over Dehnam Street Supporting Highway 95. There are no exits for Denham Street But it’s only a twenty minute drive. To the shops with plywood windows Through the alleys of despair Just another wrong turn and you’re almost there.
To every city there is a Denham Street And to everyone who grows up there There are few exits from Denham Street Fewer thoughts behind an empty stare. Social programs lack the funding Social consciousness has died. Solutions on the shelf have never been tried.
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.
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.
Jackals cover performed by MSK
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…….
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 AudioSolo 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.
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.
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.
MidiMike 