The song, Squints on a Triple, is based on a true story: my daughter Jennie beat me in a game of Scrabble by putting the word “squints” on a triple word square on her last turn. Scrabble fans know that putting the letter “Q” on a triple word square generates many points; having the letter “Q” […]
Archive for the 'Music' Category
shadows burn video
23Jun08Shadows Burn was written and recorded in 2007 and previously posted on this blog. I just shot and edited a YouTube video, including me walking all over Collegetown and the Cornell campus, (with historic shots of the Brandon Avenue sidewalk in Ithaca, NY prior to its obliteration and reconstruction in June 2008) as well as […]
manifesto of love
10Jun08Manifesto of Love is a song that I wrote in 1983, based on an interest both in manifestos and in gospel-tinged piano-oriented rock. The current arrangement adds guitar, drums, bass, and a touch of organ, but pretty much preserves the original feel of the solo piano. As has become usual, you may find links to […]
shrinkwrap
24May08I began Shrinkwrap in late 2007 and finished it early this year as a poem; only later was it set to music, unlike most of the other songs I’ve written, which have started as musical ideas. I created some animated sequences (frame-by-frame in PhotoShop) and tried out some keyframe-triggered effects while editing the video. Susan […]
ballad of the barnes
13Apr08We drove down to Merion, PA during Spring Break, to visit the Barnes Foundation before its extensive collection of artworks is dismantled and shipped to Philadelphia. I made a short movie with my Flip video camcorder of the trip; of course this meant I needed to write a soundtrack for the movie. One thing led […]
ran thru my mind
16Mar08Ran Thru My Mind represents another experiment with live recording and videography. This is another “old” song (written circa 1980), but recorded for the first time in March 2008. Unlike the “live” recording of Almost Doesn’t Count, this one has some basic tracks (drums, bass, piano) pre-recorded on GarageBand before the “live” guitar and vocals […]
almost doesn’t count
25Feb08I wrote Almost Doesn’t Count in 1978, so this recording marks a 30th anniversary of sorts. After trying a few arrangements with drums, bass, and so on, I decided to just play the song live, using a single mic and acoustic guitar, pretty much as it was originally written. I asked Susan to film the […]
one life
24Jan08I temporarily stopped writing songs in the mid 1980s in order to concentrate on other stuff; it is only recently that I started writing again, and even more recently that I started recording the songs. One Life was one of the first songs I wrote after such a long hiatus, and I’ve been recording it over […]
just another
30Dec07I wrote Just Another (Bad Dream) sometime in the early 1980s, and recorded it using just an electric guitar and nominal drums and bass last July as a first trial application of my audio-midi interface, microphone and garageBand software. It has one of my favorite lyrics.
some new and old music
28Dec07I’ve been recording original music using garageBand software loaded onto a salvaged eMac. I guess these are works in progress: Tunnel of Love was written in the early 1980s, while Shadows Burn is a newer composition (2007). Both songs were recorded in 2007.
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