Posts Tagged ‘#perspective’

“Be Your Man”

Posted: July 18, 2020 in My Tunes, Poetry
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Some will listen to you
But you will never talk.
They’d rather play games
In circles made of chalk.

If they thought about it twice
It would have been clear right then.
But faced with the same choices
They’ll make the same decision again.

It wasn’t difficult
I didn’t need a guide
I only had to ask
To know who you were inside.

And that’s when I stood up and laughed,
“I completely understand”.
She said “I don’t want to be your woman,
But I’d love to Be Your Man”.

Nobody thinks life is simple
But it would be nice to get a break.
Give everyone a fair chance
And learn from your mistakes.

It doesn’t take a genius
To know when you are in love.
For me it was your gentle touch
And everything you‘re made of.

And that’s when I stood up and laughed,
“I completely understand”.
When she said “I don’t want to be your woman,
But I’d love to Be Your Man”.

Another Look Back at the Music Business

Posted: February 5, 2020 in MUSIC, Poetry
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It’s a hand grenade of high frequencies
Placed right between your eyes.
Easy to guess now where it came from;
Years of rock and roll caught you by surprise.

So much harder just to sit and talk these days
In a thin blue funk of purple haze.
Forcing the rhyme within tired rhythms
Simple technologies each a new craze.

You’re in it. You’re on it.
But can’t admit that you want it.
You buy it. You waste it.
Much more than a phase. It’s the New Craze.

It used to take talent and a lot of hours
People loved you for who you are.
Now it’s the beautiful, the extreme
Making a grab for your last dollar.

You need a law degree, and some Marketing
Even web design or sound engineer.
Craft miraculous songs but it won’t matter
Without looks and cash there is no career.

You’re in it. You’re on it.
But can’t admit that you want it.
You buy it. You waste it.
It’s just the New Craze.

“Tired”

Posted: June 14, 2019 in Poetry
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© MSK 6-9-2019

Grand Tetons MSK

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!

Recovery

Posted: May 7, 2019 in Opinions and Observations
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In February of last year I had bi-lateral carpel tunnel surgery. I wrote about this in an earlier article. The surgeon slices a wide muscle apart to make room for everything else in your hand that slides underneath. The muscle bands grow back together when you heal.

Some people thought I was crazy for doing both at the same time. I was working and had insurance and could have strung out the surgeries over the majority of a year. I had a couple thoughts on the process. If I strung it out I would not be able to play guitar, keyboards or drums for a long time. I know from past experience it takes a while to get your ‘chops’ back when you have not played your instrument for a while. I also knew I would need up build up strength and flexibility after surgery.

I also did not want to have one ‘bad’ hand while my right hand was healing. I would be unable to do a lot of daily stuff anyway, so I might as well do them at the same time.

I have lived with a number of left-handed people all my life. I often tried to mimic them by trying to use my left hand for simple tasks. It also gave me a different perspective on a lot of seemingly unrelated things. After allowing my hands to heal and stitches removed I thought this would be a good opportunity to ‘train’ both hands during physical therapy exercises. So I treated both hands the same. I did the exercises but I also used both hands as evenly as possible to get dressed, eat, and stay alive while my hands were healing and getting stronger.

So as a little challenge, try using your non-dominant hand for everything you can for one week.

Brush your teeth. Write a letter. Comb your hair. Carry a full cup of tea or coffee. Tie your shoes. As much as possible. I really got much better with my left hand during recovery. I did not try to imitate my right hand movements; that just gave me a headache. Rather I looked at my left hand and back at the task and let my hand decide how to move. Give it a try.

“Your Words”

Posted: April 29, 2019 in Poetry
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                                                                                                   (C) MSK 4-28-2019
 I listen to your words
 Over and over as if I had not heard.
 Why am I hypnotized?
 What holds me finally realized.
Your voice gives them meaning
 Half way through the day I realize I’m dreaming.
 Can’t say I understand
 Things don’t usually end the way they’re planned.
Listening to your words
 In the dark of silence it all sounds absurd.            
 Lost without the story?
 Turns so clear so deep so true to me.
There’s no other way to say it.
     It is in the sound 
 In the melody
 The voice as it carries.
 There’s no other way to say it.
 Opens the heart
 Pounds the soul
 The heart as it buries.
There is no denying the power
 As it overwhelms and begins to devour.
 The dreams I’ve known forever
 Lie in the softness of light and strength of a feather
There’s no other way to say it.
     It is in the sound 
 In the melody
 The voice as it carries.
 There’s no other way to say it.
 Opens the heart
 Pounds the soul
 The heart as it buries.

A Simple Gift

Posted: December 11, 2018 in Poetry
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          I see you are disappointed by the answers

          But it’s really the questions that you ask.

          Critical of the way things look

          Yet you will never remove your mask.

          So what if you keep painting masterpieces

          Clearly no one else will ever see?

          Surrounding yourself with splendor

          Makes you lazy and rarely sets you free.

                   So let me leave you with this;

                   It is but a simple gift.

                   Friendship is the only thing

                   That can reach across the rift.

                   Soon you may face the edge;

                   One you cannot cross or could not see.

                   Only friends will tell you when to jump

                   Or when to just let it be.

         

          From nowhere you are puzzled by a memory

          So clear you question who you are.

          You have heard it a million times before:

          You are the center of a fallen star.

                   Soon you may face the edge;

                   One you cannot cross or could not see.

                   Only friends will tell you when to jump

                  Or when to just let it be.

                   So let me leave you with this;

                   It is but a simple gift.

                   Friendship is the only thing

                   That can reach across the rift.

Appreciation and Perspective From “The Touch”

Posted: June 5, 2015 in projects, Video
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I want to give you an idea of perspective on some of the articles I have posted and will continue to post going forward.  This is the first video I have posted and while it is rather BORING, it is so informative at the same time.  I guess I have recorded original tunes since the very late 1960’s.  I recorded everything.  I deleted a lot!  But I recorded everything I could.  I experimented and adjusted and re-did and failed a few more times than I succeeded in the early days to be sure!  I also got into photography and then into video recording.  I practiced the mundane over and over until I got the exposure right, then with video until I could zoom and focus manually.  I joined the photography club in high school and learned to develop and enlarge my own pictures – something I thought was close to magic back in the day!

I shared earlier that I used (and still own!!!) what I think was the first personal computer to come out with built in MIDI ports – The Atari ST!  I used a software program back then to record the MIDI tracks and I could generate SMPTE time code and send a signal from the Atari to sync it up with recording machines (I had the Yamaha 4 track CASSETTE recorder during most of this).  When I talk about old technologies and how we used to record songs (or develop pictures…) It is hard for some to understand the challenges we had and the lo-fi quality of the final mix or product.

I want to use this video as an example of many things I refer to in this blog.  In this video, you will see what I saw when looking at the Atari computer monitor when I was playing or recording tracks.  Keep in mind this is all MIDI equipment available years ago.  The song I posted earlier will now be stripped of all guitars, vocals, effects and additional live sounds you heard on the full mix.  As you watch the video you will hear the sequences being played back live into the VCR input.  I took the monitor video out and connected to video in of the video recorder so this is a straight feed for both.  In the recording software, each “instrument” has a separate track.  Drums are all on one track with additional percussion sounds on different tracks, and as a reminder, each note (as triggered from my DX7 keyboard) represented a different drum/percussion sound coming from a drum machine.  You can hear the metronome from the Atari ticking away in the back ground as it is set to record.  As each track plays you can see the musical notes light up depending on the intensity of the track information.  You can also see the tempo of the song, the names of the tracks and the measures and beats as they click by.

The main piano sound is probably familiar to many of you even if you are quite young. It is the classic Piano Tine sound from the Yamaha DX7 synthesizers.  This video should also give you a sense of quality and resolution available at the time.  It might be difficult to hear the difference in song recording quality today, but we are all familiar with video resolution and HD cameras and large screen TV and computer standards available now.  Just think how this applied to the audio quality back then and then play some really old songs you grew up listening to.   It gives a better appreciation and perspective for some of the classic songs that seem to live forever.