I'm a songwriter, short story writer, essayist, musician, husband, both a cat and a dog person, and these writings will be a fun mixed up jumble of all of me. Thanks for popping by.
This weeks prompt was Stir and I must admit this one was harder. Partly because it just didn't flow and partly because life was in the way.
We’re Cooking Key: A Writing Prompt: Stir Standard Timing
Open the Wine Stir up the sauce grandma’s got a spoon in her hand The kids get lost
We’re cooking. Yes, we’re cooking. Baked apple pie Blues on the hi fi We’re cooking
Winters here it’s cold in the snow going to make some love (tonight) cause it’s 20 below
Chorus Bridge You’ll need ten cups of apples pealed and cored one cup of sugar don’t spill it on the floor You’ll need a teaspoon of cinnamon four tablespoons of flour half cup of water shouldn’t take half an hour.
You get a cup of quick oats another cup of flour cup of brown sugar quarter teaspoon baking powder. We’re going to melt all that butter a whole half a cup cause our hearts are only happy when we’re filling something up
Hello everyone-
It's been to long. What have you been up to?
I've begun a challenge which I found on a FB group which I was invited to join. It's a songwriting group. Every week someone gives a new songwriting prompt and everyone in the group writes something which has been inspired from the prompt. Then they do a little video. It doesn't have to be anything super produced. It's just an exercise to keep our creativity flowing well.
This weeks song writing prompt was Sour; as a matter of fact, it was the first one.
Every week that I am doing it I will try and post that song here, but y'all have to realize that it's not going to be the best song ever. These are just a weeks worth of working on it.
Here is the first week's.
Two Tone Toxic Terry
T.A.Marty
Key: A blues
Songwriting Prompt: Sour
Verse I
Two tone toxic Terry
was a whole lot of something
and little bit scary.
He’d gamble and rob
steal your breath
Mess with him and
you’ll be close to death.
Mean as a hornet & ugly too
but I know his secret and
I’ll tell it to you.
Chorus
Now I’ve soured milk and honey
got a little bit of coffee and even less money
I’ve seen eagles fly and the country get crummy
Seen people die and some think it’s funny.
Verse II
He wasn’t always mean and sour
He was born in the middle of a flower
Him mama smelled of Jasmine
His Pa smelled of Rose
played outside all day
till the bank came to foreclose
Threw them all out
out in the cold
then and their he vowed not to be controlled.
Chorus
Bridge
He took to fighting and calling names
Got so good should have been an Olympic game
Take from the rich give to the poor
wanted from coast to coast for his delusions of grandeur.
The other day I had this great gig of which I can’t even begin to say how excited I was about. I got to open up a show for an Emmy award winning vaudeville duo who also happen to be great old friends of mine.
They asked me to open for their show at a new local hot spot called, ‘The Jive Mill’.
The Jive Mill is owned and operated by Noelle and Christopher Roberts. What began for them in 2012 as a hope for building community and broadening the arts has culminated in a wonderful, large, and vibrant performance space.
Not only was I fortunate enough to play here I also got to open for the Nortons; although, we didn’t get any footage of my portion of the show I sure got some great stuff of their show.
What is vaudeville?
A short answer is it’s entertainment. Music, acting, clowning around. Before television and radio any sort of entertainment was great. Small bands of traveling musicians went around and entertained the masses. You can trace the evolution of where we are at today to those same wandering folks. Lucille Ball, Red Buttons, all three styles of clowns come from those times. If you want to go down a little Youtube hole check out any of those, or just watch the video of the show. Here.
This weekend I had a couple of gigs One which was expected and one which was not expected. Each one had it’s wonders and happiness. I have included a brief video which has stuff from the first gig at Kinney Creek. Next week there will be another video. My pal Dedrick Benz from birder fame played with me on the first one but wasn’t able to for the second one because of previous obligations.
The first one was at a place we play at quite a bit called, Kinney Creek Brewery. **LINK** While physically intimate in size it is large in character and spirit. They make all of there own beer and some pack quite a punch at around 4.5 % to around 8%. They also have two life size Jenga games, a life size Connect Four, and a game called Hammer Schlagen which you really should try. It’s great fun. This happened on Friday from 7-10.
The next day I played the same hours but at a joint called, ‘Five West’ **LINK** Five West is located almost outside of town by the county road which circumvents our city. Olmsted County 22 if you’re interested. It’s in a new building which is made to look sort of like a garage you might bring the car in for a tune up at. By that I mean to say the walls on one side are all garage doors which in the summer (presumably) they go up and you can eat and drink outside. A larger place than the previous gig they have 13 televisions on sports channels and a large full bar. Now don’t confuse this with a sports bar although it does have high ceilings and can get loud too. It is a place you will want to dress up a bit to go to. The food is among the best in the city, and so are the drinks. They have a daily happy hour, a late night happy hour, and they serve breakfast. I have tried the shrimp tacos and loved them.
It’s a little hard to do sound here because they pack quite a crowd and it can get a little noisy. All of that aside though. I had a brilliant time, and the little children who were there did too. I had a few of them dancing to the music. I just love when that happens. I think I should take some cues from the Okee Dokee Brothers, and Jack and Kitty Norton and learn some children’s songs not to mention writing a few. I got quite a few compliments at this place but didn’t get any video from the gig itself but I did get some photo’s. Which will be included in this post.
My set up at Five West
Well, here’s to you. I wish you all the best in everything you do. Lets not forget to mention happiness and groovitude as well.
Here is the first of the two videos I’ve worked out. Both are from the Kinney Creek Gig. This one is a song called, “I’m not laughing now” by the great Cam Waters.
Next weeks will be a video of a tune I wrote about a billion years ago when the dinosaurs were still roaming around.
Both of these videos were recorded at a bar with a full crowd, so it is intimate, warm, and does have some crowd sounds.
It is so great to see y'all. I hope everyone's doing well. The weather here in Minnesota is still cold, but it could be way worse. It's just snowed a bunch and it was a wet heavy snow so it's been warmer. Believe it or not snow helps to insulate and makes everything warmer.
Well for the third year in a row I've entered the Tiny Desk Concert Contest that NPR sponcered. My entry was just under the wire and is just below, so you'll be able to watch it.
The song is called, "Powder" and was written about a friend of mine who disappeared in the powder drugs. She lost herself and I've no idea what happened to her. I wrote this song in response to it.
I hope you are having a great and wonderful day.
All my best.
The other day I got a GoPro Hero 4+ for my anniversary gift. We usually don’t go for the gift thing, but seeing as how it was our first year wedding anniversary we went for it. She got a Fitbit Blaze which is actually pretty neat. It’s not really my style, but I am so glad that she likes it. It makes me happy that she’s happy. I have been searching the inter webs for an attachment for my motorcycle so I can have some fun recording where I drive. While I look around for this I decided to bring it with while we took our little pooch for a walk. Her name is Marley and she just loves a walk. It was around 20 - 30 minutes long, so I sped it up. I figured it’d be fun to watch us walk around our little neighborhood in the sunshine.
The song you’re listening to as we walk is just a blues jam in A, but if we need to name it I think we should call it ‘Walkin the Dog’. I did all the tracks with my old Gibson L-1. There was no mic but the one on my iPad and my DAW was Garageband. I needed it to be simple so… here it is. Walking the Dog. I’m wishing you a happy happy day.
