#story | MidiMike

Posts Tagged ‘#story’

It’s Easy To Die – It Doesn’t Get Much Darker Than This

Posted: July 23, 2015 in My Tunes
Tags: # mixer, #audio, #creativity, #death, #digital, #effects, #harmony, #inspiration, #itunes, #keyboard, #lyrics, #Midi, #music, #musician, #personal, #piano, #poetry, #recording, #recordingstudio, #retro, #singer, #song, #songwriter, #sound, #story, #studio, #vocalist, #vocals, #writer

It may take a few times through listening to this one. A number of my songs might seem quite alien at first. I hope you let them grow on you. (OK, that sounded kinda creepy LOL!) This is a textured song where I did all the sequencing and drum programming. There are no guitars on this song. Most of this is Atari days using the Proteus 1 tone generator an the RX 15 drum machine. I also use sounds straight from the keyboard(s) I use as controllers. In this case it is the Korg Trinity V3. Other than the vocals, everything is recorded via MIDI and plays back live sounds from the keyboards and tone generators (along with effects and other goodies). From start to finish this is a dark piece. Sparse percussion with a rolling sequenced bass line. You have heard my wife before on “All Night Long” and “What I do at Night” and this is another one of her gems. The intro and break vocals are from Phyllis Ann, who toured with The Personal Touch and sang on “The Touch” and “Our Bodies Move.” As the song begins I try to use multiple melody lines in various instrument voicings to lay the chordal structure. Plucky guitar sounds come from the Korg. Slow trance – lulling you closer. Then the message; “Who’s Following You?”. But the subject quickly settles on the main issue; death. Too many of us are waiting for that dream.

“It’s Easy to Die” (@) MSK 1990

I wonder, I wonder who

Who, is following you.

It’s easy to die

You just close your eyes.

And then once the dream begins

It will never end. My friend.

Don’t put up a fight

Just follow the light.

It’s not too hard

And once the dream begins

It will never end.

Chorus:

It’s easy to turn

Your life into lies. My friend

And once the dream begins

It will never end.

Repeating Dreams and Common Themes

Posted: July 19, 2015 in Opinions and Observations
Tags: #creativity, #dreams, #family, #flying, #inspiration, #inspire, #journey, #life, #lucky, #nighmares, #observation, #personal, #story, #writer

After speaking with a number of people over the years I have gotten the impression that I have a few lucky and maybe rare experiences. One of the common conversations revolve around dreams or rather nightmares. Some people have nasty dreams, wake during the night and other symptoms. Other than what I will describe below, I do not think I have EVER had a nightmare or what people would describe as a bad dream.

I do have repeating dreams or dreams with common themes. As a kid, going to the playground was always a treat. Some kids play harder than others. Our family used to compete on how fast you could get going on the swing so you could jump off and land the furthest from the swings! I wish I had some of that wear-and-tear back, but it was a lot of fun at the time! So we would swing really fast, let go and jump as far as you could and get back on the swing and do it again. The closest thing I have had to a bad dream is the dream of swinging as a kid. Everything is the same. Sometimes lots of other kids (I had a big family so us and a few neighbors was a lot) sometimes I am swinging by myself. Beautiful day and I swing really fast and when I get to the fastest/highest point I jump. But now I can see that I am at the edge of a hill, and as I am soaring off the swing the ground below me is dropping off really fast and I am in effect getting higher and higher, even though the swing set is still right behind me at eye level. I am panicking at this point and cannot believe it. Before I have time to think of something to do I notice I am not falling at all but gently soaring, looking down at the valley below. The two seconds of adrenaline are gone and I am enjoying a beautiful view on a sunny day.

If you are brave enough….Give me an idea of dreams (or nightmares) that you have. I think it might tell us a lot about our blogging community.

Update and Appreciation

Posted: July 16, 2015 in My Tunes
Tags: #12string, #acoustic, #audio, #charity, #create, #creative, #creativity, #family, #fire, #gofundme, #guitar, #inspiration, #loss, #love, #lucky, #lyrics, #music, #musician, #performer, #performers, #personal, #poetry, #recording, #singer, #song, #songwriter, #sound, #story, #thanks, #vocalist, #vocals, #writer

I wanted to give everyone an update on my musician friend John (whose house was damaged in a fire). Lots of effort and a lot of good news, even in this sad event. John will be in town soon and will be able to look over the damage and take inventory of the surviving furniture and gear. Until then Alisa has organized the gofundme project http://www.gofundme.com/johnvaneaton which has raised $10,000 so far in less than a week. I think that is going to make a big difference in the next few days and weeks.

There are a number of people still working on cleaning and restoring items that were rescued in the search and recovery phase. Once John gets to look at the various projects, he will have a better idea of how to get back on his feet. We hope to have information from the team that is working on organizing a benefit soon.

https://midimike.com/2015/07/11/please-help-spread-the-word/ this is the original post about these events.

I’m also in the process of writing a song about the events using some guitar chords my wife was playing with recently and a little jam I was working on. Thank you all for getting the word out and helping as much as you can. I have come home from those salvage missions and realize everything that I have could be gone in moments. I am not rich, but the music and memorabilia would be irreplaceable. I will need them when memory loss really kicks in!

This song is for John, everyone who donated money and time to help him and all of you really cool bloggers. I’m going to post the lyrics first while I polish the song, but it will be up shortly.

“A Very Long Night” © 7-13-2015 Lyrics MSK Music MSK/ELK

Traveling for business

He is often out of town

From country to country

One city becomes the next

It wasn’t until he got the text

With pictures from the news

That he knew this was the beginning

Of a Very Long Night

He wasn’t home when the fire started

Everyone says it could have been worse

As we watched, broken hearted

Each tear became another verse

Unable to return any time soon

All my friend could do was watch

Phone calls and e-mail

The news from home was grim.

Some say it was best for him

Being out of town.

Some say it was best for him

He didn’t see it burn down.

Some say it was best for him

Not to see the damage from the flames

Some say it was best for him

As all that water did the same

It was a good thing he wasn’t home that night

It was a good thing he wasn’t home all right

It was just the beginning of a Very Long Night.

Pauline – Yesterday

Posted: July 14, 2015 in Opinions and Observations
Tags: #birthday, #cancer, #death, #family, #father, #goodbye, #life, #loss, #love, #mom, #music, #musician, #personal, #songwriter, #story, #writer

Yesterday was my mother’s birthday. The first birthday since she passed away last December.

I spend a lot of time blaming my mother – and parents in general for my musical interests and open minded philosophy. They each gave me a lot. But my parents divorced in a day when that was not accepted or supported. Six children and single mom. Everything was a struggle. During all of the less fortunate times she managed to plug away toward her goals with her gentle influence. We would do a lot of things other kids would not dream of and she encouraged many of them. But we never wanted to hear her say to us she was disappointed in us……. Having her disappointed was the worst punishment imaginable.

There is no way to know how she guided each of us through early years and then through puberty, early teens and inevitably into kids who knew it all. I am just now putting them together piece by piece, here and there. When my younger brother Chris got really sick I lived close and visited regularly. I was his medical power of attorney and took care of his end of life affairs. Radiation, Chemo, feeding tube, surgeries. Emergency rooms to ICU to Hospice he never lost his smile and wonder. He appreciated everything. At the end I described him as mentally, financially, physically and emotionally exhausted. It takes resources to fight back and he just did not have enough left at that time.

My mother also found out she had a number of cancers. She chose not to take the normal treatments. She chose not to have the normal tests. She chose me to help her with end of life like I did for Christopher. She did not roll over and play dead if that is what you might be thinking. She read and stayed up on current events. She exercised and researched better foods and diet. She got out and enjoyed the change of each season and the change in weather.

Pauline was more interested in making us comfortable and taking care of her extended family than she was in complaining or moping. She controlled her pain and as it got really bad she wanted to be able to have final word; to be able to think and communicate for fear she would have a stroke or complication and not be able to tell them not to resuscitate her. She feared being a vegetable more than anything. She was smart and educated and proud. That was something she did not want to endure. She did not.

When I grow up, I want to be just like her. Birthdays don’t mean much to me – ask my kids – but this one did. Happy Birthday, mom.

Sharing Loss – Please Help Spread The Word!

Posted: July 11, 2015 in Opinions and Observations
Tags: #charity, #daughter, #family, #fire, #gofundme, #guitar, #help, #life, #loss, #music, #musician, #personal, #piano, #signal, #story, #studio, #studioengineer

I have shared a number of experiences that have been about loss. Unfortunately, when you get older, you have more experiences watching the achievements of a life’s work and loves dissolve. There are many types of loss and a personal friend of mine has been going through a very difficult time. I just needed to share my experience and thoughts. Over these posts I have often mentioned working at local music stores and the benefit of knowing some awesome people. One of the friends I worked with for years and formed a great partnership “co-owning” the music store with all those years ago has had a devastating loss. As social media is …. he found out from friend’s texts and e-mails that while he was traveling, his house burnt down. His job is demanding and a lot of people depend on him to be there. He could not get home and as we all need to do from time to time; he had to rely on his friends and family (many times they are the same thing). He is still away and has not seen his home other than on the news and through social media.

I would like to let you know that we have successfully completed the ‘search and rescue’ mission. We got anything we could out of the building during the days of rain with holes in the roof. It was a scramble with trusted friends. We hauled ass and a bunch of other things. Some musical instruments are damaged beyond use or repair and some have hope of restoration or managed to remain untouched by the whole thing! He is a musician and like me has an insatiable love for art, music, friendship and making the world better than it would be without us in it. This has got to be devastating. For me, carrying out each old and precious instrument or piece of gear, had a deep impact. Others worked on his art and personal belongings. I have heard their stories and all have a deep sense of loss. No one was hurt. Many things can be replaced. But as the fire and then the water took their toll, a lot of his life’s work did dissolve.

We are working now on cleaning and saving as much as we can. As my daughter Alisa, who runs my blog, practically grew up in the music store and all my friends, she has known John Van Eaton almost her entire life. She is creating a positive use of social media and spreading the word through this and other avenues. We will have a number of benefits to raise money and support to help him work through this until he is able to come home and the resources he will need once he returns. I will post more info as details come in and thank you – fellow bloggers – for letting me share this with you. The sharing allows healing.

For more details or to contribute to his fund, see below. MIDIMike

http://www.gofundme.com/JohnVanEaton

The Value of A Musician – A Cautionary Tale

Posted: July 8, 2015 in Opinions and Observations
Tags: #audio, #band, #bass, #creativity, #guitar, #inspiration, #itunes, #journey, #keyboard, #love, #motivation, #music, #musician, #observation, #performance, #performer, #personal, #piano, #recording, #runningsound, #singer, #sound, #Soundengineer, #soundman, #speakers, #stage, #story, #studio, #truth, #vocalist

As a member of a cover band, I was given the opportunity to add something to my personal profile on the band web site. I added a statement that went something like this; “we will play anywhere for free…..we just charge to move the equipment in and out”!

If you think about it, you would have to pay an awful lot of money to have ‘professionals’ move that much equipment. Then they have to pack it all up and take it back at the end of the gig. I have played keyboards, guitar, percussion and back up vocals in most of the bands I performed with. Sometimes I also ran sound at the same time! I was carrying so much gear for myself that I probably had more than the sound guy! Once you haul equipment out of your house (I did not have duplicates, so what I used in the studio I had to tear down and take to the gig, set it up, tear it down, take it home and set it up in the studio again) and set up the gear you are all hot and sweaty and exhausted and now get to play for 4 plus hours, pack it all up and take it home. Ahhhh, the glamourous rock and roll life. Knowing all that, I think most people would be amazed at how little the local band playing the bar scene gets paid for all that work. Maybe it is confusing because we call it ‘play’. If I figured out an hourly rate I would probably get really depressed!

We also had to practice, individually and as a band. No weekends free…. you get home at 3 or 4 in the morning and have to recover most of the day, then you play that night and do it all over again. I always worked at a day job and still do, so this was about all the free time I had. Now time for family, writing and recording projects and hopefully a little time in the sun.

Is it fun? Absolutely. I am an introvert and very shy in public, but it is a thrill to perform with great musicians and have the audience appreciate what you are doing. I would not give it up, and if I were a bit younger I would still be out there. At one point I told the band members that I would quit gigging out when I turned 50 – or my van broke down, whichever came first. My van did break down first, but our light guy fixed it himself for free. So I kept playing out. Way past 50. I recently stopped because tinnitus (a ringing in the ears from long exposure to loud sounds) got pretty bad in the last few years. I only play out for special occasions these days, but it is still a blast.

Girl from Arlington Heights

Posted: July 6, 2015 in My Tunes
Tags: #12string, #acoustic, #audio, #cdbaby, #create, #creativity, #dreams, #guitar, #inspiration, #inspire, #itunes, #love, #lyrics, #motivation, #music, #musician, #personal, #poetry, #recording, #retro, #singer, #song, #songwriter, #sound, #story, #studio, #truth, #vocalist, #vocals, #writer

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/dark-energy/id962943592

This is another acoustic guitar song with me as the vocalist. This is a true story that I took creative license with and made into something more than it was for the effect. This song really is about me getting a ticket while driving around town. This was many years ago, so the details are always suspect, but I was driving local roads and might have been distracted but as the traffic ahead of me slowed and then rapidly came to a stop …… I didn’t! Unfortunately I ran into the car in front of me – at very low speed – but to fast and to late to stop in time. The police officer gave me a citation for ACD, which I suspect, most of you safe drivers might not know what that is! Around here that stands for Assured Clear Distance. It is the driver’s obligation to make sure to have enough distance between you and the vehicles ahead of you to stop in time to avoid doing what I just did. This was my first accident and it was all new to me. While I am waiting to get my citation and then reviewing the event afterwards I thought ‘how am I going to explain this?’. So I came up with a rather funny romantic embellishment and wrote a song about this experience. The song also has an interesting intro and break. A number of my songs will have unusual time signatures. For the musicians out there, send me a message if you know what time signature I used.

Walking Man Part 2 – Pack A Lot Of Punch

Posted: July 4, 2015 in projects, Video
Tags: #atari, #audio, #band, #create, #creative, #creativity, #digital, #dreams, #guitar, #Midi, #music, #musicequipment, #musician, #performance, #personal, #recording, #retro, #song, #sound, #story, #studio, #tech, #video, #vocalist, #writer

For this project, we needed a few volunteers and some inexpensive themes. We took advantage of the resources available. Ric worked as an auto mechanic so we started there. I made a couple cameo appearances but the story is about working hard and no time for creating and performing (you have heard this theme before !) During the Jeep ride up the hill you do not see the driver (Gorgeous George…) but he is still in the Jeep as Ric appears to be pulling it (and metaphorically his career) up the hill. George is pulling in and out on the clutch so there is real tension and sometimes Ric is literally being pulled back by the Jeep. Who needs acting skills!

When we moved to the live Personal Touch segments it is the duo before Phyllis Ann officially joined us. You can see Ric is kicking bass pedals and controlling an accompaniment system. On his guitar you can see him tap two silver round pads. The one triggers a drum crash from the accompaniment system he is controlling. The other pad triggers a drum pattern change to a drum roll for as many times as he taps the pad. He is the lead vocalist for the song and yes, he is also playing guitar…….. I am playing my Arp Odyssey, a Yamaha electric piano and my Yamaha DX7 and doing back-up vocals in this video.

For this I think we went into the club the day of our regular performance and shot the raw video segments for the Walking Man video. We played other tunes for other projects but there is no real audience and we only had to set up once to do the video shots and perform later that night. I try to be within budget (usually none….) and also with no wasted effort!

For a duo, we packed a lot of punch. Not only because it was just two of us in the beginning, but also in the space we could fit. We had no live drummer or bass player. I could play guitar and sing and when I was not playing guitar (and indeed, in some songs I would play guitar and keyboards) I could play keyboards and/or control the drum machine that I programmed.

Ric sang and played the guitar and almost all lead guitar parts as he also controlled the accompaniment system that had preset drum patterns, bass pedals, and a foot pedal and switches that let him add backing instruments like strings or piano sounds and at the same time determine if the backing instrument chords were played Major, Minor, 7th etc. We fit anywhere, as long as they had tall ceilings LOL!!!

The Walking Man Intro

Posted: July 1, 2015 in projects, Video
Tags: #atari, #audio, #band, #brother, #create, #creative, #creativity, #death, #digital, #life, #midimike, #motivation, #MTV, #music, #musician, #observation, #performance, #performer, #personal, #project, #recording, #recordingstudio, #retro, #runningsound, #sound, #Soundengineer, #soundman, #story, #studio, #studioengineer, #tech, #video, #writer

Believe it or not, MTV started off as a media outlet for – VIDEOS! It was not what it is today. Music videos were still relatively new and there were not that many out there but they started being produced in numbers once MTV provided an outlet for them. The Chicken or the Egg thing all over again. I did not own any video equipment, but I was familiar with photography and music, so it was a natural interest for me. Back then, cable companies were starting to set up monopolies in various cities throughout the US and we were in the Warner Amex territory. As part of their agreement with the city to provide cable and other services, Warner Amex made some of their equipment and channels available to local citizens. They provided training and allowed non-profit citizens to go through camera and editing training and once completed you could schedule use of their equipment to create content for viewing on their Public Access channels.

I was one of the first (my card was # 000090!!) to sign up for the training classes. I would borrow their equipment and film bands and live performances, family growing, along with a number of other projects.

My first project was to make a video that introduced the idea and benefits of the Public Access program, (we hoped if we had a complimentary message it would be good for PR and relationships with the people that administered the program, (we were right). and a music video idea we had been working on. This is by definition low-budget and is dated by equipment and resources available today. But it was a learning experiment and was a lot of fun. To do a lot of what we did it took a bunch of planning and trial and error. I had been playing keyboards for a very short time and there are a bunch of mistakes, I was new with the video editing and production, but not this was not bad for the first release. Usually, I am also the cameraman, but filming my own band required additional operators. I edited the video from the collection of raw tapes and a live performance of the song.

This video features my younger brother as the narrator and the music is from the duo I was in at the time called, “The Personal Touch.” The intro theme is a musical piece called “The Big D Jam”. The video is based on a song the guitar player wrote called “Transaxle“. We took vague ideas and filmed them all. Then edited them into something semi-cohesive! There are a bunch of funny stories that went into the making of Walking Man but I will spare you for now. The end credits use a song of mine introduced earlier called “The Pleasure Tax“.

As with many of these blasts from the past, there are lots of good memories and a number of painful ones. Looking at this video again so many years after, I see my youngest brother Chris in his healthy days doing the narrative part introducing the musical video before health problems including throat cancer took their toll. This is when we thought we would last forever….. there was no end in sight. We do not last for ever. For him, the end was so close to the beginning. We all have our vices, but with legal ones like tobacco and alcohol killing people every day, we all know someone that has been affected by the results. Here is the real message we should be sending; These drugs may not kill you. You will not lose ten years of your life. You will survive – and grow old – and suffer – for decades, with a disease that is eating you from the inside out. I am glad I was there to help him a little as he faced the end. I would have given anything to find another path for him, but he knew where he was going. It did not stop him and neither could I.

A Nation United…..Finally!

Posted: June 26, 2015 in Opinions and Observations
Tags: #America, #American, #change, #daughter, #dreams, #equal, #family, #harmony, #inspiration, #inspire, #journey, #life, #love, #lovewins, #marriage, #marriage equality, #marriageequality, #observation, #personal, #proud, #samesex, #scoutus, #story, #truth

Even though I am very concerned and interested in the political challenges of our time, I do not venture into those topics in this blog. My opinions are my opinions. I have my reasons for voting the way I do. Most of you have your own reasons for your private thoughts.

…….. but today I want to acknowledge the announcement by the Supreme Court. You may not agree with me – but in my humble opinion that does not make you my enemy – and I am CERTAINLY NOT YOURS! I am not gay so this does not affect me personally, but it has directly affected one of my daughters. What we have done in the past to many great and loving people was just wrong.

I am so thankful and happy this long battle for something so simple and assumed by so many as basic human rights has been decided. There is a much longer battle ahead. Like prejudice and racism, this is not over and is not easy to implement. We still have so far to go, but let us enjoy this major change and how our country continues to move in the right direction and knows it is in our best interest as a nation and as a people to treat every citizen equally.

I cannot stop smiling!

MidiMike

Available on iTunes and CD Baby

Social Media

MSK original Songs

Posts Tagged ‘#story’

It’s Easy To Die – It Doesn’t Get Much Darker Than This

Repeating Dreams and Common Themes

Update and Appreciation

Pauline – Yesterday

Sharing Loss – Please Help Spread The Word!

The Value of A Musician – A Cautionary Tale

Girl from Arlington Heights

Walking Man Part 2 – Pack A Lot Of Punch

The Walking Man Intro

A Nation United…..Finally!

Archives

Available on iTunes and CD Baby

Social Media

MSK original Songs

Posts Tagged ‘#story’

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