Posts Tagged ‘#story’

A Song in the Making Part II

Posted: February 26, 2016 in My Tunes, Uncategorized
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As Part II of this series I will post the rough version of the heart of the musical components starting with the Piano and basic arrangement of the new song, “My Heart Is Silent”.  © 2016. Click here to read Part I. 

For the Piano we are using an 88 wood weighted keyboard controller.  It is an older Yamaha KX88.  As you will remember from the MIDI series posted earlier (LINK) the KX88 makes no sound at all.  While it has the play and feel of a real piano, it sits on a keyboard stand and I use the MIDI OUT to connect through a router I have straight to the computer.  In future posts I will go into more detail on how the sounds are generated and what I am using to get each sound. We recorded a few passes and because this is MIDI, I had the ability to move pieces around as we focused in on the arrangement.

The piano player listened to a glorified ‘click track’ I created with a MIDI drum controller from my Alesis Control Pad.   It has 8 assignable trigger pads and a cymbal trigger that can be set to trigger sounds from any MIDI device, but again I am going straight to the computer and using internal sounds for the drum parts.  This way we can record the piano part with the correct tempo even though there are no other instruments recorded yet.  This also makes editing easier if everything fits within the measures.  When we rearranged the sections I  ‘cut and paste’ parts from one place to another just the way you would with a Word document.  This makes life much easier for the recording engineer (yours truly).  If this was recorded with a microphone and without the click track it would be awkward to work with.

The KX88 also has sustain and volume controller pedals attached, so to the piano player it acts and feels quite natural.  Mack E. is my partner in creating this new song.  He read the lyrics I wrote to “My Heart Is Silent” and asked if he could take them home and work on the music.  This is a theme he has had in his personal arsenal for a while.  He played a bit with the tune and came up with a melody for the lyrics.  We worked on the arrangement until we were happy with it and here is the rough version of the piano chords.  We will add other instruments and vocals later but for now we have a good foundation for the song so we can build support instruments to fill out the song.

 

Nothing Personal, Your Job Has Been Eliminated

Posted: February 8, 2016 in Opinions and Observations, Uncategorized
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There are many times when there is no time.  Projects get pushed back, things that are important to me get put off.   The things that I love get thrown onto the back-burner or get turned off altogether.  Last week was another one of those, but I would like to let you know why, as I have been off line for a lot longer than I wanted.  I miss you guys.

Last Friday began as a great day.  I go into work on Fridays and the first time I meet co-workers I say “happy Friday” with a big smile.  After years of this it spread throughout the company and everyone greets others with a smiling “happy Friday”.  Ten minutes into the day everything changed.

In the last fifteen years I have worked for the same company.  However, the owners and president have changed many times in that period.   On that Friday morning I was summoned by HR.  Once in the conference room with senior staff I realized this would be my last day and that I was being terminated.  Mergers and acquisitions – nothing personal – your job has been eliminated.  I was escorted out of the building and sent home.  In a weird coincidence, I got a winter cold that day and it got worse as the week went on.  I am still not back to normal but feeling almost human, so I wanted to let you know why I have been out of the loop.

For the first fifteen minutes or so driving home I was quite angry.  By the time I was half way home I was happy to have a day off – made only better by the fact that I did not have to go back to work on Monday.  I love the people I work with.  I love doing what I do – did.  The newest owners took all the joy out of that and it was stressful in so many ways that I came to hate going in.  Problem solved.  Just not the way I wanted to solve this particular problem.

I called my wife and let her know.  I felt it was coming for a while now and we were preparing for this a little bit here and there, but it still caught me off guard.  We have to make some dramatic decisions; income, insurance, bills, resume updates, and on and on.  All when I was really not feeling healthy and energetic.  Moving slow and needing lots of rest.

I am a logical person as I have tried to portray on this blog, but as you all know (great friends that you are) I am also very emotional.  This is what helps drive some of my creative projects – seeing two sides of the same story.  So;

Here I am

Unemployed

Too soon to retire and possibly too old to get another job in a similar position or pay.

Many of us are facing the same thing.  I am not alone in that.  These challenges are everywhere.

When my daughter Alisa came over that day she wanted to show me an older blog post she had discovered from one of my blog friends.  I read the post slowly and so you understand how much of an impact it had.

http://mynameisjamie.net/tag/midimike/

This is one of the most precious and sincere posts I have read.  It hit me hard not only because I truly needed to read this – on THIS day, but the beauty behind it is truly remarkable.  I try every day to affect others as positively as I can.  I want to think that the world is a tiny bit better because I am here.  I don’t know any other way to say this, so I will stop there.

As I read the post and listened again to the attached musical performance I felt more and more.  More of her pain.  More of her wisdom, more of her gratitude.  Each new emotion uniquely tied to a tear as I cried.  A week later while writing this I am again brought to tears.  Many of us have no idea how important our actions – good or bad – affect others around us.  I never wrote a response as my list got longer and longer and less important things took my time and attention.  I will try harder to focus on the important things.  Not as an apology but as a promise.

I am not sure what the near future will throw at me.  I cannot guarantee how much time I can steal for things I truly enjoy and appreciate, but I thank each of you, as you have no idea how important your thoughts, support and comments are to me (and maybe others as well).  Thank you for sharing and allowing me to share with you.  WE are not alone – we are a community.  Family.

http://mynameisjamie.net/tag/midimike/

 

 

 

Start to Stop Again

Posted: February 3, 2016 in My Tunes
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There were a string of original tunes in the early 1980’s.  Some you have heard here already.   These were very profound times in a lot of ways.  Real work worlds.  Kids.  Relationships.  Marriage. Responsibilities.  Debt.

This song was not written in one or two sessions.  It took quite a long time to make this fit together.  I Often find snippets in other writings and combine with others to make a full song.  This is one that I may have done that with as there are so many different topics and observations.  Part of my challenge in writing songs people can relate to is being able to state the obvious in a clever, funny or different way.   So I would think of these ‘one liners’ and write them down.   Some were my normal trite stuff, but a few were well said and became part of these lyrics.

I like to play a few different ‘voicings’ or positions on the 12 string and take advantage of open strings or cool octaves when I can.  (it also reduces the hand-cramps you get when holding down all those strings!!)  In some chord changes you can play the same chord in different positions back-to-back and it sounds like you are playing different chords.  The guitar part is sparse and melodic.   It sets the mood during the intro.  Allowing the intro chords to ring out with a slow rhythm lets the 12 string shine all the more.  The lyrics paint a pretty good picture of life experiences I had during that time.

Don’t think you can’t help out my  friend.  Because we try, we control the end!

Tease Me With The Truth

Posted: December 7, 2015 in My Tunes, Uncategorized
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Lack Of Concern ©

You look from behind me, Baby
At what I’m going toward.
Seeing what you want to see
And then you look no more.

Tease me with the truth baby
Don’t tempt me with a lie,
So if you want to play games
I’ll just walk on by.

It’ a lack of concern
Or a lack of control
Is it in the heart,
Or deep within the soul?

You’re not making love with me
You’re just wasting time
Always taking theirs, aren’t you
But I won’t give you mine.

My tears are in your hands
My heart is open wide
But everytime I look, I see
There’s nothing left inside.

Tease me with the truth, Baby
Don’t tempt me with a lie,
So if you want to play games
I’ll just wave bye-bye.

 

A Lack of Concern

Posted: November 23, 2015 in MUSIC, My Tunes, Uncategorized
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For another look into the times, Lack of Concern is a gem in a time capsule.  These were good times.  I was still working at the music store.  Playing with toys, buying a few here and there and energy I can only imagine looking back, LOL!   It was a period where a lot of music was written and performed.  Lots of projects.  Learning as much as we could.  Showing it to others!  That was the fun part.

The words in a number of my songs are important to me.  In the same way I have been told that aromas and fragrances can help recall a specific event in the past, lyrics do for me.  They are a portal that allows a connection to create itself again.  With that memory brought to the surface I can recall many of the events that inspired thoughts that somehow managed to become poems or lyrics.  I surround myself mentally in the time.

“Tease me with the truth, baby, don’t tempt me with a lie” is one that puts me back at that time, in that mood.  This song contains a number of those portals.  This song asks the basic question; … ‘do you know what you are doing and still do it, or are you completely unaware of what you are doing?”.  I just love the upbeat arrangement in this song.  For this song I had the Yamaha DX7S, their updated model and a drum machine.  My wife Ellen and I do the vocals. I play acoustic rhythm guitar parts and Shawn my buddy! comes over to play the lead and decorative guitar parts.  I just let him run wild during the entire song and pick the gems to accent parts of the song.   This may be the only time I have recorded this song.  It is also one I rarely play out, but I think it is catchy in its own way.

What Have You Done For Them Lately?

Posted: November 20, 2015 in Opinions and Observations, Uncategorized
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download

I was recently speaking with some friends and the topics floated around like they normally do.   We finally spun into accomplishments and major things each of us have done.  As each of us look back on our lives there are things we have achieved and successes we are proud of.

I would like to tell you something I did that may have been the most important and long lasting of any.  My family and group of friends love to camp.  We go to parks and national forests, friends get-a-ways and even in our back yard. In fact one of the local county parks uses our camp sight as the background picture for their web site.  One night we had just finished cooking for everyone over a controlled fire and had a feast.  The sun was down and we built up the campfire so it was going pretty good.  Many of the campers were stuffed and sitting in deep chairs and settling down for good company and conversations.  I was standing with my back to the fire talking with someone and enjoying the evening.  I sometimes refer to having eyes in the back of my head or getting the ‘spider-sense tingling’ that something is wrong.  What in memory seems like the same time, I heard alarm and excitement from the group of people sitting close to the fire.  It quickly rose to a definite panic.  Not really knowing what the concern was, I turned around facing the camp fire.  I saw that my youngest granddaughter – very young at the time – had been standing near the fire facing someone in the chairs and did not realize she had backed up too far and had tripped backwards into the center of the fire pit.   People watching were unable to get out of their seats and you could see the panic in their eyes.  I turned quickly and reached down.  I grabbed her shirt in a bunch with one fist and pulled her as hard and as fast as I could.  I slammed her into my chest and gave her a great big hug before she even realized what had happened.

The group relief was ear shattering and was more alarming to her than me plucking her out of the pit.  I think back and consider escape from the amount of pain and suffering for a life time to come.  I thought for a while that this is why I was put on this planet – my work here is done.  Of course it is not and there will be many more stories to tell, but maybe none that made the world a better place like that one quick knee-jerk response.

I would like to hear your most remembered action that made a huge difference to someone else. Let’s celebrate and share those accomplishments in this post.

My First And Only Selfie!

Posted: November 12, 2015 in Photography
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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Back before it was the thing to do, my wife and I took this picture.  Literally.  One of us aimed it and the other one snapped the photo.  But this was a special occasion.  This is one of the few photos of our wedding.  We got married in the winter in a local park overlooking the city.  It was an extremely small wedding, but we did have a few uninvited guests.  There were a couple of reporters looking for something to write about on a day when there is nothing to write about.  They saw my wife and myself, with our daughter Alisa in hand, as we were reading the wedding vows that we had written to each other and  exchanging roses. We were standing under the small gazebo in the freezing cold; as calm as you please.

They came up and started a conversation, I figure they thought we were just a couple of crazy people that wanted to know what the heck we were doing.  When they realized it was a wedding ceremony, they decided this was something to write about!  They took our pictures – the only others taken of our wedding – and wrote an article that ended up on the 1st page of the People – Events section.  The article was warm and friendly and captured the humor that you can see in our selfie.  If it is true that the bigger and fancier the wedding, the shorter the marriage will be…. we got it made!

Windows 10 – My Frustrating Journey

Posted: November 2, 2015 in Opinions and Observations
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I have been a bit distracted lately.  I have a computer at home that I use to record music and to create the sounds I use with the MIDI controllers.  That is all I use it for.  I update the recording software and the plug-ins that I use, but other than that I have not done any updates since I got everything working reasonably well.   I subscribe to; don’t fix it if it ain’t broke……..

My office computer is another story.  I keep it up to date – within reason – and I try to get all the current drivers, etc.   I use it for everything you use a computer for including playing my audio mixes and working on videos.  So I recently upgraded to Windows 10.

Immediately I could not play audio files or video clips with attached audio.  Nothing changed on the sound card and it shows everything working properly.    Try to play an audio or video file though and the music player crashes.  I gave Windows some feedback. I am dead in the water.   Almost a month ago I got another update (I am checking daily if not more often for an update that will fix this bug) and it worked.  No problem playing audio or videos.

Two days later no audio again.  I sent more feedback and no helpful response in return.  Not unexpected.  I work for a company that uses software updates for our products and I understand how a few can be affected but almost everyone else does not have an issue or problem.  Things are very complex these days and even though devices and programs are GENERALLY easier to use, they are dependent on so many other factors and variables.  I go through the trouble to Reset Windows 10 and install all my programs again.  Still no audio.  A few days ago there is an update and I can again play audio.  Last weekend I was playing music all the time in celebration (yeah, I was in a kind of ‘cold turkey’ for you more senior readers….).

Today I log in and no audio again!   ARRRGHH!  I try to be patient but I think I am ready to trade my Windows 10 in for my old Windows 7!   Sometimes it’s all a numbers game.

Mr. Charlie Told Me So

Posted: October 22, 2015 in My Tunes
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Thinking about a recent post where we shared our first concert experiences, I was reminded about my first concert to see The Grateful Dead. I was fairly young and the environment was overwhelming and exciting.

We used to play one of their songs called “Mr. Charlie”. The Grateful Dead are off beat by nature and this is one of their songs most people have not heard.  I recorded this cover song a couple years ago and decided to pull it out of the ‘deep-freeze’ and post it for the fun of it.

When I was in cover bands, we were pretty much forced to play main stream or currently airing songs.  I would suggest the unknown songs often but understood when we played only a few.  This one never got the approval either, but the core group used to warm up on this one and I just like the flavor of the song.

Credits to The Grateful Dead.  This is my Ovation 12 String guitar and I do a little harmony.  Hope you have a little fun with this as well.

Forgetting Your Name

Posted: October 8, 2015 in Opinions and Observations
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I have pointed out on more than one occasion that I have a difficulty remembering names and dates.  This took its toll in my History grades for sure, but also had dramatic effects growing up and through adulthood.  For this I do not apologize other than try to work on ways to reduce that block.  I also acknowledge it and inform others that it is not intentional.  In two minutes I will forget your name.  It is nothing personal.  If I had a pen and paper I would write it down and if I can discretely enter in my cell phone I do.  If not, your name is gone.  I will remember your voice and the conversation.  I might be able to remember your face, but that is not guaranteed either.

Fellow bloggers’ names I will trigger more by the Picture/logo/Avatar and tag-line than the personal name.  From time to time I will post songs and lyrics from members of the center core I mentioned earlier.  I will feature other artists I have worked with as well. For many, I simply do not know the names of the many band members I have recorded or worked with.  I hope they will contact me so I can give them credit for all their works and talent.

To that point I do not overlook or diminish the writing partnerships I have had.  In the early years we did not think of copyrights or co-authorship.  We never discussed mechanical licensing or royalties.  Digital rights weren’t even a dream in the Product Development plans.  Pay-per-Click (PPC) wasn’t until years in the future.  Yet, here we are.

I feel I need to mention that my brother C David Kennedy has been referred to in a number of my posts while relaying the earlier years of poetry and song writing.  He is especially proud of his involvement in a few songs I have previously posted; “Red on Your Blue Suede Shoes”(c), “Quiet Nights”(c), “The Pleasure Tax”(c) and “Miracles in Your Hand”©.

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