Thursday, February 22, 2007

champion jack dupree, master on the keys, knew what this world needs, the next rhyme's up to you, i'm through


"When you open up a piano, you see freedom. Nobody can play the white keys and don't play the black keys. You got to mix all these keys together to make harmony. And that's what the whole world needs: Harmony." it's just a dang good quote, so there you go... (part of his story here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champion_Jack_Dupree)

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

"well, you can't be my lover, darlin, cause you ain't got the style..."

some people have asked why the band sounds kinda different in these posted songs... this isn't the band: it's just me! ain't that obvious?!?! :) notice the lack of decent guitar & male voice, for one thing, as well as significantly different energy level & production value... thank you for your comments, anyhow - it's fun to think someone as rowdy musically as i am could be construed to be a band! that's how the dusk devils started, after all... anyway, i have been having a blast perpetrating fast & rough songs upon a largely indifferent networld. here is another, an experiment with actual multi-tracking. this is really fun, i tell you! what other sane reason could there be for performing music than to express & transcend, even if it's in the manner of a clumsy, madly grinning, leaping tasmanian devil... "this is it, now, baby, we're gonna have a time tonight..." feliz dias, mis amigos...
ONDOWNTHELINE mp3 ...

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

"hapy valentime's day"


it's weird to not be giving a classroom full of kids valentines (or "valentimes," as many of them call them) this year.... i've given out mostly monsters & superheroes cards in past yrs, the simpsons more than once. it's fun to pick them, to address them, to give the extra-special ones to the kids who don't expect them... no kid in my class has ever been left out on v-day (unless religion forbids it): i was the kid who was left out, so i keep my eye on those ones in particular so that they feel someone's rooting for them, too... now that the school district says you can only give students store-bought, "healthy" snacks in schools, i think v-day school parties must be comparatively sad affairs, bereft of homemade frostinged cupcakes, cookies, and cakes dotted with red hots and conversation hearts. poor little kiddies. this standardization trend, including the food that goes into kids' mouths, must end sometime. all big bureaucracies must fall. here's to falling - to the fall of the unchecked powerful, to the falling into love. here's to my valentine, brian, who's one of a kind & has been there for me when i haven't deserved it, & with whom i've learned to be something resembling an adult... sort of... whether you got a special someone today or not, here's to you who read this, too, as well as a homemade valentine. may your life have love, which comes in many forms beyond the romantic (i didn't used to know that). dang, i miss teaching kids... it'll be good to get back.