That time again. If the computer will let me complete this. I need to
upgrade the computer, I've had this for 10 years, by today's standards
I'm using a Cotton Gin technology wise.
Opinions are like farts, everybody lets one rip from time to time and
some feel better. A lot of big stink about nothing and some of them
they actually shit themselves.
The other day, I gave an interview to Diggy Kat for a later edition of
his show 2 Flurries From Awesometown and it was early in the morning I
woke up and probably rambled on a bit too long. But he's a great
editor, he edited my Townedger Radio show and I'm sure he'll do a great
job editing the interview. I did tell him that the state of rock and
roll is in dire straits and in need of new blood and new bands taking
the same three chords but with a different set of words to make it their
own and hopefully become the next Beatles, Zeppelin, Nirvana or
_____________________ (add your favorite band's name in the empty
spot). Corporate radio is too intent of playing the same 40 songs over
and over from 20 years back and then some. There hasn't been a Nirvana
that came out and grab a crowd although you make a valid argument for
The White Stripes. Too bad that today's singers and songwriters have to
whore themselves out to The Voice or American Idol and get ridiculed by
the likes of Nicki No Talent Minaj or Adam Levine. And even if you do
win that contract from 19 Records (which actually the demographic age
they are targeting) you have to do it their way or you're tied up and
can't record. The music industry has been a dirty mess, always has
been, and only the lucky and the real talented get any staying power.
While the rest of us work our daily jobs and on the side record
something that won't get played outside of my own stereo or a net radio
station. But it still feels good to hear Wolfie on Lucky Star Radio or
Dear Lisa. But in a world of Corporate controlled FM stations or an
indifferent DJ on public radio here, I don't get airplay anywhere else.
But I continue on with the hope that somewhere out in a far away
country, there would be some dedicated die hard fans that would seek me
out, like Sixto Rodriguez did. He made two long forgotten albums for
Sussex Records and while he was big as Elvis in a far away country, he
was toiling away trying to make ends meet up in Detroit. But they found
him and he managed to get back into playing once again in his advanced
age. Looking For Sugarman is the movie that was based upon fans seeking
out a long forgotten artist. And basically it's the last thing I would
love to have. The chance to be rediscovered and resurrected. But then
again, I'd probably would a better chance winning the lottery or
becoming President.
It's strange looking back and making original music since 1980 and
having a big catalog of albums and ideals. The novice that thought up
Town's Edge Rock was 22 at the time and had his life ahead of him. In
some way the band could have been another Replacements or better yet
Husker Du, loud noise, crashing drums, ringing guitar and words.
Getting revenge on a girl that I thought would be my wife but ended up
being a mom of 3 at age 18, and having a good friend play All Over Now
at their reception would have been to see the reaction. But basically
the band that would become The Townedgers would be a very secretive cult
styled band that hardly gets a dust speck on the net in the past three
decades of doing this. But I'm sure I'm not the only one; there's
plenty of other bands and musicians who never left the garage or bedroom
to be heard. But I could never lower myself to audition just for
consideration on The Voice or Idol. Call it pride or stubbornness but I
was too much of a punk to even think about it. Knowing me if I had to
face a Nicki No Talent, I just yell in the mike and go LISTEN and then
aim a fart in their direction.
When you're 22, you think you can never grow old, eternal youth all the
way. I thought that too but now 32 years later I'm now 54 and now
coming into the final stage of my music career. Everything ends,
nothing lasts forever except for the music. The long hair hippie is
rapidly losing his hair, and the rock and roll dream is just that. And
there's really nothing left to prove. Forthcoming Trains still remains a
album to tout and I can give interviews and hyped it up and net radio
will play the choice tracks. And I continue to say it's one of the best
albums that I ever made. And have hope it will get noticed.
We all get old. The musicians that have stayed in this town are older
too. Some still wear their tiedyed Grateful Dead T shirts, some have big
pot bellies, some have lost their hair and most are now grandparents
that the only time they ever did play is jam sessions on the weekend.
The music has changed and not for the better. Most new stuff is
processed dance beats, influenced poor rapping with their Nu Metal and
adds Korn or Red Hot Chili Peppers as source points. Or over do it with
Autotuner or the Don't Yell At Me voice that seems to wow them on Idol
but annoy the rest of us. People bitch about Dave Grohl and how he's
all over music but to me, he's perhaps the only thing that is a
throwback to old time rock and roll and that he is learning about the
old time music of the past. His HBO series is highly recommended. Rock
and roll has always been borrowing off bands that influenced us and the
greatest of times the 50s through the 80s they borrowed from bluesmen
and then we borrowed it off them be it The Yardbirds or Otis Redding or
garage rock in particular. Today's gang borrows from rap or RHCP or The
Foo Fighters or Nirvana although the early influences can be heard be it
The Beatles.
For the Townedgers or myself, my influences have always been Buddy
Holly, The Who, The Velvet Underground and the lesser known. As well as
old country or vintage garage rock via Nuggets. And of course Jerry
Jaye how many other bands would cite him as influential or Bill
Amesbury. I always been adamant about who influenced me all the way
down to Lonnie Washburn a local dude that played at the school show and
wowed me to get off my ass and get a real drum set and learn how to
play. And then take it one step further. It's a shame I didn't go
after this dream and learn how to play and write music when i first got
my drumset years ago but then again I was too busy being a kid and not
taken it seriously. Till after after high school and then trying to make
up for lost time.
I look at my albums as my own kids, of course I have at least 30 of
them! And like most children some I like a lot, some are the black
sheep but still kept on the shelf and a couple went out of print since
they served their usefulness but not anymore. What I call dead albums.
Every one has a personality of their own. But at a certain time they
were my reaction to the world or what I was going through.
At this stage of the game that is my life I have come to the conclusion
that I may have said as much as I could and make it relevant. It took
me five years to come up with something after Pawnshops For Olivia, I
was burned out, the album was great but nobody was playing it and bills
had to be paid so I gave it up and tried to fit in with a new
relationship and tried to compromise. When that didn't work, I
returned to what I knew best and No Exit became the first new album in 5
years. And then Forthcoming Trains.
For the old guy that's me, somebody is going to have to take up the
slack and try to turn three chords and the truth to their own music and
although everybody has used the same three chords over and over I think
that there will be a new band with old rocking ways that might get us
back into the promised land without having to hear Foreigner's
overplayed music on Corporate Rock Radio. But the new bands have their
work cut out for them. It's not going to be easy, not in this day and
age but with the right persistence and attitude anything can be
possible. But the classic rockers are now old men (if they're not dead),
and relying too much from their past just to rehash things and add a
bonus disc of remixes. Which is not the same thing at all. And the
major labels are not going to support you at all, if your first album
bombs you won't get a chance to record a second. A far cry from the 8
albums that it took REO Speedwagon to make it and it took Journey at
least five to break the door open. To which they're still enjoying the
big check that Don't Stop Believing gives them from being played every
minute of the day. If today's band can write a song like that, you might
be set for life.
For the rest of us we move on, recording and hoping that something gets
played on the radio. Or at least in somebody's player. If and when the
new album gets finished, I'll take a long hard look and decide to see
if this is worth another year of promoting and performing, or we send
people off with one last parting gift before being committed to the ages
and they blow my ashes out into the wind. To the newbies, your music
is competing with the history of recorded music and chances are, it's
not looking good for you. But hold out hope that you can defy the odds
and make it into the radio spotlight and at least make a margainable
living at best. It's not going to be easy, you might lose your friends
or your high school sweetheart in the process. But at least you have
managed to do it your way without the embarrassment of being schooled by
Nicki No Talent or being voted out of Idol or The Voice.
Or hope you have fans in South America that come across your music by accident.
Saturday, 28 February 2015
Saturday, 21 February 2015
Recording the new album Session 1.
So begins the task of the next Townedgers album and according to
script Hilary ensures on it. Four songs done and basically the wonders
why I'm doing it in the first place. The remakes of Just To Satisfy you
might not make it to the final product. Tackling a song like It's My
Time, and trying to hit the high lonesome notes that made the original a
powerful statement was a job upon itself, I wished there was a higher
octave singer around hit the high notes on The FRIENDS coda but with limited resources available I think I did all right.
Three new originals came up, Better off alone was written on the spot
after hearing about Steve Earle breaking up with wife number 7 (I wrote
that last night as well as a biting little number called I Know about me
don't know about you, which the first take didn't work, so another came
up after the serenading the neighbor next door peeking into the window.
A song basically about who I am and having to deal with bullies
growing up, it was a thumb at the nose at the naysayers. Or being a
free spirit at hand, always somebody out there going be jealous of you
no matter you say or do.
Different Paths, came from putting some old lyrics I never used to a new melody to which the fabled Jack Orbit helped co write back in 83. I don't think I had anybody in mind when that set of words were jotted down but I might have wrote that up while taking courses at Kirkwood. Unfinished I added some additional thoughts in the second chorus. I may take another stab of re record the thing since it sounds a bit ragged. But not too many people are going to hear it anyway. Just like the rest of my recorded legacy. Hindsight tells me that maybe I should have brushed up on my Jimmy Buffet and move to Florida and rub it in to the shivering midwest. But then again, I'm more interested in having my own originality. Even though it was never a money making venture.
For production, Richard Dennanbaugh had prior commitments and I didn't want to venture out into getting unknowns so what better person to understand me and music than Martin Daniels, who's not a novice at all. He's been a part of the Townedgers and my recording career since The Art Of Deception (1998) and he could find time to do this as well. His fingerprints are all over Pawnshops for Olivia and Long Time Forgotten. By doing four songs acoustically we didn't have to dink with the controls or try to set the amps so that the vocals don't get buried in the mix. As the sessions go on and on I look to add more electric guitars to forthcoming songs. The cover versions of Just To Satisfy You or It's My Time sound like a good idea at the time, both are simple with the exception of Time which on the recording by George Hamilton IV he's got the Nashville Edition backing him up and there's some very high backing notes on the part of Friends of Mine and trying to carrying out on the word Friends. And certainly late in the day was not the best chance to do such a song, after singing and playing for four hours straight. I kinda wished I never blew my voice out yelling at ball games or being a human beatbox growing up. However there's not many female singers available that can do this without charging a 100 dollars for session playing. So I drink a bit of lemon tea and hope that I can at least capture the moment without screeching or straining the vocal chords. Otherwise it becomes an outtake.
Basically the first session was Me singing and writing them out and Martin capturing it on tape and making suggestions as we went along. There is hope that Geoff Redding can break away from his busy life and help out, but I also have Mark Glarington on the sidelines ready to come in if needed. I'm certain more people will come into play, Diggy Kat or Russ Swearingen providing backup support. If things go quickly and smoothly like Forthcoming Trains, the album will be completed within a month. So far, the record has a personality like Pawnshops For Olivia, very folk sounding and very little to deal with mad drumming of the past. In fact the older I get to more straight lined the drumming is. A far cry from Town's Edge Rock and the Paraphernalia Tyrus years.
Regardless, of what songs to cover from the Townedger Catalog or what new songs will be used. Like a puzzle I have to pieces spread out, all I have to do is put them together and see what the end result will sound like. It should be interesting.
Different Paths, came from putting some old lyrics I never used to a new melody to which the fabled Jack Orbit helped co write back in 83. I don't think I had anybody in mind when that set of words were jotted down but I might have wrote that up while taking courses at Kirkwood. Unfinished I added some additional thoughts in the second chorus. I may take another stab of re record the thing since it sounds a bit ragged. But not too many people are going to hear it anyway. Just like the rest of my recorded legacy. Hindsight tells me that maybe I should have brushed up on my Jimmy Buffet and move to Florida and rub it in to the shivering midwest. But then again, I'm more interested in having my own originality. Even though it was never a money making venture.
For production, Richard Dennanbaugh had prior commitments and I didn't want to venture out into getting unknowns so what better person to understand me and music than Martin Daniels, who's not a novice at all. He's been a part of the Townedgers and my recording career since The Art Of Deception (1998) and he could find time to do this as well. His fingerprints are all over Pawnshops for Olivia and Long Time Forgotten. By doing four songs acoustically we didn't have to dink with the controls or try to set the amps so that the vocals don't get buried in the mix. As the sessions go on and on I look to add more electric guitars to forthcoming songs. The cover versions of Just To Satisfy You or It's My Time sound like a good idea at the time, both are simple with the exception of Time which on the recording by George Hamilton IV he's got the Nashville Edition backing him up and there's some very high backing notes on the part of Friends of Mine and trying to carrying out on the word Friends. And certainly late in the day was not the best chance to do such a song, after singing and playing for four hours straight. I kinda wished I never blew my voice out yelling at ball games or being a human beatbox growing up. However there's not many female singers available that can do this without charging a 100 dollars for session playing. So I drink a bit of lemon tea and hope that I can at least capture the moment without screeching or straining the vocal chords. Otherwise it becomes an outtake.
Basically the first session was Me singing and writing them out and Martin capturing it on tape and making suggestions as we went along. There is hope that Geoff Redding can break away from his busy life and help out, but I also have Mark Glarington on the sidelines ready to come in if needed. I'm certain more people will come into play, Diggy Kat or Russ Swearingen providing backup support. If things go quickly and smoothly like Forthcoming Trains, the album will be completed within a month. So far, the record has a personality like Pawnshops For Olivia, very folk sounding and very little to deal with mad drumming of the past. In fact the older I get to more straight lined the drumming is. A far cry from Town's Edge Rock and the Paraphernalia Tyrus years.
Regardless, of what songs to cover from the Townedger Catalog or what new songs will be used. Like a puzzle I have to pieces spread out, all I have to do is put them together and see what the end result will sound like. It should be interesting.
Friday, 20 February 2015
It's My Time
Gather around men, who I grew up with
My old friends that I used to scruff with
I need you round me at this time
You've all had your turn to cry
An old friend stood closely by
FRIENDS OF MINE-stand by me, cuz it's my time
It's my time
IT'S MY Time
Gather round girls that I used to play house with
Come here girl I first kissed on the mouth with
I need your tenderness so kind
You've all had your misty eyes
An old friend stood by to dry
FRIENDS OF MINE-please stand by me cuz it's my time.
Written by John D Loudermilk 1967
Done by my offshoot band The Wapsipinicon Dreamers for a aborted album, I first heard this from George Hamilton IV who passed away last year. The dark and starkness is the beauty of this song and makes me think of long ago forgotten girls that grew up in my neighborhood, that I walked some home from school and played baseball/football with the guys and sucked at it (See the lyrics to Home for further subject matters).
George Hamilton was a teen idol later a country star and would record folk songs from the likes of Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen and Gordon Lightfoot to name a few.
I guess this song is of needing a outlet of comfort but for the past couple hours it got me into thinking about my childhood past . I tend to think my high school years were the darkest of my time, basically of letting a bully make my life a living hell at time. To which I still wonder about the aforementioned Gregory K, closet geek turned gooney goon the past two years of high school and wondering what i had to make him to be so Goddamned jealous of me. Penis envy maybe? Hell, he was a janitor at Kresge's years ago and I'd be in the dollar bins and he be smirking up at to me. Hindsight should have told me to go tell the manager about him not doing his job. What bothers me to this day that I never stood up to the douchebag, although when we first met, I think he didn't have this anger toward me until a something went too far and he went ballistic and wailed on me after study hall and I just laughed at him. Hindsight should have told me then and there to nut punch him or go after him like I do on my drums. One of us would have not been alive if that happen. However, after school I could not get away from him or his late flunkie friend Rick O (RIP) or having Gregory either throwing tomatos at me on the way home after a football game or him shooting a air gun, which should have been reported at that time, but I kept it inside. Felt sorry for the guy who's Love interest had a bigger size than he. But I never stopped to think that he'd be so jealous of me for even living, when he had the love interest to which he would post all over his car, (of course it never last, teenage love never does). I suppose it was a good thing we didn't have social media back then. It would have been ugly. I probably would have shot him, then shoot myself and then kick his ass to Purgatory. He would dealing with a vengeful spirit.
Although he still lives in this area, I have yet to see him. Time and age might make us look different and perhaps wisdom comes into play as well. I wish him well but I do wish back then I could have stood up for myself and nut punch him. I probably sleep better at night.
My old friends that I used to scruff with
I need you round me at this time
You've all had your turn to cry
An old friend stood closely by
FRIENDS OF MINE-stand by me, cuz it's my time
It's my time
IT'S MY Time
Gather round girls that I used to play house with
Come here girl I first kissed on the mouth with
I need your tenderness so kind
You've all had your misty eyes
An old friend stood by to dry
FRIENDS OF MINE-please stand by me cuz it's my time.
Written by John D Loudermilk 1967
Done by my offshoot band The Wapsipinicon Dreamers for a aborted album, I first heard this from George Hamilton IV who passed away last year. The dark and starkness is the beauty of this song and makes me think of long ago forgotten girls that grew up in my neighborhood, that I walked some home from school and played baseball/football with the guys and sucked at it (See the lyrics to Home for further subject matters).
George Hamilton was a teen idol later a country star and would record folk songs from the likes of Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen and Gordon Lightfoot to name a few.
I guess this song is of needing a outlet of comfort but for the past couple hours it got me into thinking about my childhood past . I tend to think my high school years were the darkest of my time, basically of letting a bully make my life a living hell at time. To which I still wonder about the aforementioned Gregory K, closet geek turned gooney goon the past two years of high school and wondering what i had to make him to be so Goddamned jealous of me. Penis envy maybe? Hell, he was a janitor at Kresge's years ago and I'd be in the dollar bins and he be smirking up at to me. Hindsight should have told me to go tell the manager about him not doing his job. What bothers me to this day that I never stood up to the douchebag, although when we first met, I think he didn't have this anger toward me until a something went too far and he went ballistic and wailed on me after study hall and I just laughed at him. Hindsight should have told me then and there to nut punch him or go after him like I do on my drums. One of us would have not been alive if that happen. However, after school I could not get away from him or his late flunkie friend Rick O (RIP) or having Gregory either throwing tomatos at me on the way home after a football game or him shooting a air gun, which should have been reported at that time, but I kept it inside. Felt sorry for the guy who's Love interest had a bigger size than he. But I never stopped to think that he'd be so jealous of me for even living, when he had the love interest to which he would post all over his car, (of course it never last, teenage love never does). I suppose it was a good thing we didn't have social media back then. It would have been ugly. I probably would have shot him, then shoot myself and then kick his ass to Purgatory. He would dealing with a vengeful spirit.
Although he still lives in this area, I have yet to see him. Time and age might make us look different and perhaps wisdom comes into play as well. I wish him well but I do wish back then I could have stood up for myself and nut punch him. I probably sleep better at night.
Wednesday, 28 January 2015
Thoughts From The Townedger January
I have a need to pay automobile loan but thought I take care of a few thoughts and feelings on my mind.
I turned 54 on Saturday and celebrated it the usual way, going to junk stores to find records and 45s. Came up empty outside of a Steeleye Span Story. Most 45s were scratched up. Usually St Vincent De Paul's 45s are always scratched up.
This month I have remixed and remastered my two 1989 albums, Moonlight Chronicles and Floodlands and I can finally say it's great to hear the end result. The drums stand out much better, the highs were polished off (the early reissues the highs were way too harsh) and I could actually hear the harmonica on Gravel Road Memories. And the goofyness that is Miss Baloney Brain which is the only attempt at speed metal. The problem of the original 4 track was that the overdubs bled into the original vocal track and every attempt to correct it would have a wash effect on the vocals. Conferring with Martin Daniels was that I have to balanced the drum track to fit with the vocal part on the four track and try to find a happy medium. Originally messing around with it turned out to be a quick mix and mastering of it and I can finally say that these two important pieces of the puzzle albums are now back in print. I may attempt to do some more correcting of past projects for updating. Don't know which ones.
The pre 1989 stuff is still dicey and the early albums suffer from weak vocals and wild drumming but I'm itching to finally grant the Rock n Roll Made Me What I Am Today and the S/T album a divorce and let them have their own album space. But they were recorded on hour long cassettes and there's plenty of fat to be trimmed to make the records work. RNRMMWIAT was rushed out (I had a job offer to join up a bar band at that time) and the S/T album was really forced and labored. Town's Edge Rock, the songs worked well, but So Much For That was really the first effort I made to make a listenable rock album while trying to play like I did for Paraphernalia Tyrus, good intentions but it hasn't aged very well. Neither has Living In The Twilight Zone which the only decent songs came from said album was Be With Me and Bar B Q. The rest sounds silly. Which is why I never issued it via CD outside of my own listening pleasure.
Thanks very much for Deb Rasmussen for making the cookie dough treats and Steven Rasmussen for the best made maid rites too. I gave Steven production credit for 2007's Highway Home album for helping me out during the busy season but the this guy can cook up great food. He should be a chef.
Every album that is planned I consider it to be the last album. One never knows when your time is due and Forthcoming Trains was a fine effort. Fitting Finales, the next album will be conjured up eventually and I'll take about a couple weeks and then some to do the songs. I have gotten positive reviews from folks who have heard it. As I get older I tend to refine some of the earlier songs I have done, and covering myself is a compliment that the songs ain't so bad. But I really wanted to revisit Midnight Run, from the 1985 album. It's really not a tough song to do, although it's situated in a 1/2 beat. And Just Enough Love done the second time around is more polished and I didn't need to do all those drum rolls as before. But I still needed to do the cymbal accents at certain parts of the song.
Having a cat around the yard. Still awkward, still trying to make it feel welcome around here and tolerate it around the house but Callie seems to taken everything for strive. I do admit she's a very smart cat although she doesn't realize I came this close to taking her butt to the humane society after finding two of her buddies in our makeshift cathouse the other night. Haven't seen the other two but Callie remains determined to hang around.
I still think I have a couple years of good music left inside of me before hanging it up. I do not intend to be a bald headed goatee wearing old fuck trying to impress the young crowd, not that I have done that in the past, but I don't seeing growing a face full of steel wool singing songs at some dive bar 10 years from now. I don't know if Paul McCartney needs to but I do think Bob Dylan needs to retire if he's going around doing Frank Sinatra standards.
I was asked about the one that got away. Looking back into my life I have had a very poor track record of choosing the right girlfriends. It goes all the way back to 1975 and Jeanette Ratliff and then Janice Berns later, which really fucks things up for me. Amy in 1982, she was a trophy girl, petite and tight but she had a boyfriend and I was the other guy. Which wasn't about to work, she was with him 5 years later. If I was interested in somebody I'd write a song and give it to them instead of asking them out directly. Which explains why I wasn't with nobody most of the 1980s. And the lack of dating really hurt me when I did have girlfriends. And being set in my ways back then didn't help either. Hell, I was trying to impress a fucking stripper in 1990. That led nowhere. The thing with Isabella really soured me for dating ever after putting up with her antics, I won't say she was the worst I've been with but the worst relationships I had were with Gemini women (although Gemini guys make great bandmates). I can't say if the girl in my PR class at school was the one that got away, I've been looking for her ever trying to explain my situation to her. But I don't think we'll ever meet again. I think the best girls I been with was Belinda and Nicole. At least I wasn't competing with some other guy for their affections.
I don't know what it is about them or what the audience thinks but for the second time I asked the fans of what cymbals to use for the next album and the end result was Zildjian over Paiste again. I still have yet to use my Innovations Paiste cymbal (may have to do that on a live album) but Fitting Finales will have the cymbal lineup used for The Road Less Traveled and the snare that goes back to the bar band days. In other words vintage stuff.
I rarely tout this site outside of references and song lyrics but next month I'll clue in on some more vintage classics and the usual song writing lyrics and stuff. And post live in the studio shit if and when I get up there to record. Then till bills must get paid.
I turned 54 on Saturday and celebrated it the usual way, going to junk stores to find records and 45s. Came up empty outside of a Steeleye Span Story. Most 45s were scratched up. Usually St Vincent De Paul's 45s are always scratched up.
This month I have remixed and remastered my two 1989 albums, Moonlight Chronicles and Floodlands and I can finally say it's great to hear the end result. The drums stand out much better, the highs were polished off (the early reissues the highs were way too harsh) and I could actually hear the harmonica on Gravel Road Memories. And the goofyness that is Miss Baloney Brain which is the only attempt at speed metal. The problem of the original 4 track was that the overdubs bled into the original vocal track and every attempt to correct it would have a wash effect on the vocals. Conferring with Martin Daniels was that I have to balanced the drum track to fit with the vocal part on the four track and try to find a happy medium. Originally messing around with it turned out to be a quick mix and mastering of it and I can finally say that these two important pieces of the puzzle albums are now back in print. I may attempt to do some more correcting of past projects for updating. Don't know which ones.
The pre 1989 stuff is still dicey and the early albums suffer from weak vocals and wild drumming but I'm itching to finally grant the Rock n Roll Made Me What I Am Today and the S/T album a divorce and let them have their own album space. But they were recorded on hour long cassettes and there's plenty of fat to be trimmed to make the records work. RNRMMWIAT was rushed out (I had a job offer to join up a bar band at that time) and the S/T album was really forced and labored. Town's Edge Rock, the songs worked well, but So Much For That was really the first effort I made to make a listenable rock album while trying to play like I did for Paraphernalia Tyrus, good intentions but it hasn't aged very well. Neither has Living In The Twilight Zone which the only decent songs came from said album was Be With Me and Bar B Q. The rest sounds silly. Which is why I never issued it via CD outside of my own listening pleasure.
Thanks very much for Deb Rasmussen for making the cookie dough treats and Steven Rasmussen for the best made maid rites too. I gave Steven production credit for 2007's Highway Home album for helping me out during the busy season but the this guy can cook up great food. He should be a chef.
Every album that is planned I consider it to be the last album. One never knows when your time is due and Forthcoming Trains was a fine effort. Fitting Finales, the next album will be conjured up eventually and I'll take about a couple weeks and then some to do the songs. I have gotten positive reviews from folks who have heard it. As I get older I tend to refine some of the earlier songs I have done, and covering myself is a compliment that the songs ain't so bad. But I really wanted to revisit Midnight Run, from the 1985 album. It's really not a tough song to do, although it's situated in a 1/2 beat. And Just Enough Love done the second time around is more polished and I didn't need to do all those drum rolls as before. But I still needed to do the cymbal accents at certain parts of the song.
Having a cat around the yard. Still awkward, still trying to make it feel welcome around here and tolerate it around the house but Callie seems to taken everything for strive. I do admit she's a very smart cat although she doesn't realize I came this close to taking her butt to the humane society after finding two of her buddies in our makeshift cathouse the other night. Haven't seen the other two but Callie remains determined to hang around.
I still think I have a couple years of good music left inside of me before hanging it up. I do not intend to be a bald headed goatee wearing old fuck trying to impress the young crowd, not that I have done that in the past, but I don't seeing growing a face full of steel wool singing songs at some dive bar 10 years from now. I don't know if Paul McCartney needs to but I do think Bob Dylan needs to retire if he's going around doing Frank Sinatra standards.
I was asked about the one that got away. Looking back into my life I have had a very poor track record of choosing the right girlfriends. It goes all the way back to 1975 and Jeanette Ratliff and then Janice Berns later, which really fucks things up for me. Amy in 1982, she was a trophy girl, petite and tight but she had a boyfriend and I was the other guy. Which wasn't about to work, she was with him 5 years later. If I was interested in somebody I'd write a song and give it to them instead of asking them out directly. Which explains why I wasn't with nobody most of the 1980s. And the lack of dating really hurt me when I did have girlfriends. And being set in my ways back then didn't help either. Hell, I was trying to impress a fucking stripper in 1990. That led nowhere. The thing with Isabella really soured me for dating ever after putting up with her antics, I won't say she was the worst I've been with but the worst relationships I had were with Gemini women (although Gemini guys make great bandmates). I can't say if the girl in my PR class at school was the one that got away, I've been looking for her ever trying to explain my situation to her. But I don't think we'll ever meet again. I think the best girls I been with was Belinda and Nicole. At least I wasn't competing with some other guy for their affections.
I don't know what it is about them or what the audience thinks but for the second time I asked the fans of what cymbals to use for the next album and the end result was Zildjian over Paiste again. I still have yet to use my Innovations Paiste cymbal (may have to do that on a live album) but Fitting Finales will have the cymbal lineup used for The Road Less Traveled and the snare that goes back to the bar band days. In other words vintage stuff.
I rarely tout this site outside of references and song lyrics but next month I'll clue in on some more vintage classics and the usual song writing lyrics and stuff. And post live in the studio shit if and when I get up there to record. Then till bills must get paid.
Wednesday, 14 January 2015
A Long Time Forgotten
We marked the 10th Anniversary of A Long Time Forgotten. Hard to believe time has flown by so quickly.
2005 was a new chapter in The Townedgers Music History, or yours truly. I ended up buying a new Guild Acoustic guitar from Bruce Stanley at Segal's Pawn Shop for about 400 dollars and it turned out that I have used that guitar more than the Yamaha acoustic that was the main go to guitar for acoustic songs. I also ended up selling my Yamaha drums to my best friend's son Matt who played them for a while and decided that this wasn't the way to go in life. I ended up blowing about 4500 dollars on a new DW set. All maple shells. The four track that I have been using died, so another 250 dollars was blown for a Made In China portastudio.
Originally the sessions started out in August of 2005 under the working title Mixed Blessings and done with Colin Richardson at a Ames studio on a couple weekends but I wasn't too impressed with the results and only Nevada Streets was saved for inclusion on A Long Time Forgotten. Another song Rolling And Tumblin was issued as a single only. I have no idea why I didn't include it on LTF. Perhaps it didn't fit the format although it would have been a decent album opener.
I struck up with a conversation of a dude at the pawnshop named Rhett Morrison, a twenty something that had his eye on music production. Rhett and Martin manned the recording. While I listed Jack Orbit and Mark McClelland as the other participants, it was basically myself doing all of the guitars and drums. McClelland would leave after a disagreement about band direction. Martin Daniels and Geoff Redding helped with backing vocals. The main recording of LTF was done during Thanksgiving weekend and ended two weeks later. Drums were added on December 8 and on the 9th. With a new four track it was hard to get the right drum sound and it shows on Jeanette 30 Years Later, A remake of the song originally done in 1990 on Nice Weather We're Having. Desolation Angels, another remake from 1992 Drive In Blues sessions was also tacked on. While I didn't care much for remakes, it seems that when I did revisit a past song that the new versions were a lot better the 2nd time around. Three songs from Mixed Blessings were redone and I think all three were a lot better as acoustic songs rather than the electric songs. Please Don't Leave Me was picked as a single and did so so on the local college radio station and some net radio stations as well. Man Out Of Time, originally known as Elizabeth Greene, was written about a co worker that I had a crush on but of course she had a boyfriend, so much for that. The electric version was done as a slow brooding grunge number but the acoustic version was stripped down and more to the point.
Everyone's Agreed was a cover of the Stealer's Wheel song and done with a strange effect sound. While the loud drums seemed like a good idea at the time hearing it now really is distorted and in need of a mix. When Gareth Cullers mixed it, he took out all the bottom of the guitars and added more treble. The only time I liked the big drum sound was on To Understand The Sun. It's been noted that when I hear the playback on the mix, that there's an extra sound at the end of it. I've heard that our house might have spirits and that a odd vocal can be heard or a odd sound. But rest assured we have friendly ghosts around here.
Diggy Kat, my good friend and music colleague has always said that A Long Time Forgotten is his favorite Townedgers album ever, at least from him. I think it's a good record but some of the songs I have problems with. Easier Said Than Done was a anti Bush/Cheney protest number about the forthcoming of Wal Marts taking over (in fact they were building two Wal Marts in this area) and the flood of Made In China crap but it should have been done better or had better lyrics. Teen Dream Nightmare, is another oddball song that Geoff Redding wrote the lyrics in the style of Pictures Of Lily by The Who or Girl In A Magazine by The Brains. But not as memorable as either one.
Despite that the best songs was A Touch Of Gray which was about turning fifty and seeing our hair going south and expanding elsewhere and our body and mind winding down. I wouldn't say it's a song about death but a song of seeing ourselves no longer young and the things I used to do I can't do anymore. Which is also suggested in The Things I Used To Do, which was yet another song about missing a chance to find the girl to settle down with. Which begs the question who was the one that got away. The answer may surprise you. There was a girl that I had in Public Relations class at a junior college who had her eye on me and I never thought much about it, till I saw her with a friend at a bar one night and she smiled at me for a while. But I smiled but never made an effort to do anything about it, till she got frustrated and walked out with her friend almost in tears. I remember she said that he wouldn't do anything about it. Well, next day I decided to see if I could find her at the college and hopefully get a second chance. To which I never saw her again after that.
I also enjoyed One From The Heart, which may have been another rewrite of Things I Used To Do. But the last verse instead of hoping for another chance with the one that got away, basically life has turned me this way and that perhaps I wasn't cut out for an relationship with anybody. Or in other words, be careful what you wish for.
Troy Paiva's colorful night photography was perfect for the album cover, whereas the inner Cd book had a picture of some old drive in speakers at an abandoned drive in. The album was issued in January of 2006.
I didn't intend for the album to be mostly acoustic, but I figured it was much more easier to record than the mess that was Mixed Blessings and only Nevada Streets was good enough the make the final cut. But strangely, I would start to do more songs with acoustic guitar for later albums, namely The Townedgers Christmas Album which was done a couple weeks later but issued in 2006 since it was too late to put a Chrsitmas album at that time. So I guess you can say that A Long Time Forgotten is The Townedgers' Unplugged. And for better or worse it would be a start of a new era.
Songs:
Everyone's Agreed (G.Raffery/J.Egan) 2:50
Jeanette 30 Years Later 4:30
The Things That I Used To Know 3:38
Love Me Like You Used To 2:45
Touch Of Gray 4:40
Lateness Of The Hour 3:52
Desperation Angels 3:40
Nevada Streets 5:10
Please Don't Leave Me 3:33
One From The Heart 3:14
Easier Said Than Done 4:41
Teen Dream Nightmare 3:00
To Understand The Sun 5:35
Man Out Of Time 3:20
Songs written by R.Smith
Recorded 11-25 through 12-9 2005 Lake Wandu Studios aka The Hoarder House Springville IA
Recorded by Martin Daniels, Gareth Cullers and R. Smith
Produced by Rodney Smith with Rhett Morrison
Nevada Streets Recorded Aug 2004, Produced by Rodney Smith and Colin Richardson
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2005 was a new chapter in The Townedgers Music History, or yours truly. I ended up buying a new Guild Acoustic guitar from Bruce Stanley at Segal's Pawn Shop for about 400 dollars and it turned out that I have used that guitar more than the Yamaha acoustic that was the main go to guitar for acoustic songs. I also ended up selling my Yamaha drums to my best friend's son Matt who played them for a while and decided that this wasn't the way to go in life. I ended up blowing about 4500 dollars on a new DW set. All maple shells. The four track that I have been using died, so another 250 dollars was blown for a Made In China portastudio.
Originally the sessions started out in August of 2005 under the working title Mixed Blessings and done with Colin Richardson at a Ames studio on a couple weekends but I wasn't too impressed with the results and only Nevada Streets was saved for inclusion on A Long Time Forgotten. Another song Rolling And Tumblin was issued as a single only. I have no idea why I didn't include it on LTF. Perhaps it didn't fit the format although it would have been a decent album opener.
I struck up with a conversation of a dude at the pawnshop named Rhett Morrison, a twenty something that had his eye on music production. Rhett and Martin manned the recording. While I listed Jack Orbit and Mark McClelland as the other participants, it was basically myself doing all of the guitars and drums. McClelland would leave after a disagreement about band direction. Martin Daniels and Geoff Redding helped with backing vocals. The main recording of LTF was done during Thanksgiving weekend and ended two weeks later. Drums were added on December 8 and on the 9th. With a new four track it was hard to get the right drum sound and it shows on Jeanette 30 Years Later, A remake of the song originally done in 1990 on Nice Weather We're Having. Desolation Angels, another remake from 1992 Drive In Blues sessions was also tacked on. While I didn't care much for remakes, it seems that when I did revisit a past song that the new versions were a lot better the 2nd time around. Three songs from Mixed Blessings were redone and I think all three were a lot better as acoustic songs rather than the electric songs. Please Don't Leave Me was picked as a single and did so so on the local college radio station and some net radio stations as well. Man Out Of Time, originally known as Elizabeth Greene, was written about a co worker that I had a crush on but of course she had a boyfriend, so much for that. The electric version was done as a slow brooding grunge number but the acoustic version was stripped down and more to the point.
Everyone's Agreed was a cover of the Stealer's Wheel song and done with a strange effect sound. While the loud drums seemed like a good idea at the time hearing it now really is distorted and in need of a mix. When Gareth Cullers mixed it, he took out all the bottom of the guitars and added more treble. The only time I liked the big drum sound was on To Understand The Sun. It's been noted that when I hear the playback on the mix, that there's an extra sound at the end of it. I've heard that our house might have spirits and that a odd vocal can be heard or a odd sound. But rest assured we have friendly ghosts around here.
Diggy Kat, my good friend and music colleague has always said that A Long Time Forgotten is his favorite Townedgers album ever, at least from him. I think it's a good record but some of the songs I have problems with. Easier Said Than Done was a anti Bush/Cheney protest number about the forthcoming of Wal Marts taking over (in fact they were building two Wal Marts in this area) and the flood of Made In China crap but it should have been done better or had better lyrics. Teen Dream Nightmare, is another oddball song that Geoff Redding wrote the lyrics in the style of Pictures Of Lily by The Who or Girl In A Magazine by The Brains. But not as memorable as either one.
Despite that the best songs was A Touch Of Gray which was about turning fifty and seeing our hair going south and expanding elsewhere and our body and mind winding down. I wouldn't say it's a song about death but a song of seeing ourselves no longer young and the things I used to do I can't do anymore. Which is also suggested in The Things I Used To Do, which was yet another song about missing a chance to find the girl to settle down with. Which begs the question who was the one that got away. The answer may surprise you. There was a girl that I had in Public Relations class at a junior college who had her eye on me and I never thought much about it, till I saw her with a friend at a bar one night and she smiled at me for a while. But I smiled but never made an effort to do anything about it, till she got frustrated and walked out with her friend almost in tears. I remember she said that he wouldn't do anything about it. Well, next day I decided to see if I could find her at the college and hopefully get a second chance. To which I never saw her again after that.
I also enjoyed One From The Heart, which may have been another rewrite of Things I Used To Do. But the last verse instead of hoping for another chance with the one that got away, basically life has turned me this way and that perhaps I wasn't cut out for an relationship with anybody. Or in other words, be careful what you wish for.
Troy Paiva's colorful night photography was perfect for the album cover, whereas the inner Cd book had a picture of some old drive in speakers at an abandoned drive in. The album was issued in January of 2006.
I didn't intend for the album to be mostly acoustic, but I figured it was much more easier to record than the mess that was Mixed Blessings and only Nevada Streets was good enough the make the final cut. But strangely, I would start to do more songs with acoustic guitar for later albums, namely The Townedgers Christmas Album which was done a couple weeks later but issued in 2006 since it was too late to put a Chrsitmas album at that time. So I guess you can say that A Long Time Forgotten is The Townedgers' Unplugged. And for better or worse it would be a start of a new era.
Songs:
Everyone's Agreed (G.Raffery/J.Egan) 2:50
Jeanette 30 Years Later 4:30
The Things That I Used To Know 3:38
Love Me Like You Used To 2:45
Touch Of Gray 4:40
Lateness Of The Hour 3:52
Desperation Angels 3:40
Nevada Streets 5:10
Please Don't Leave Me 3:33
One From The Heart 3:14
Easier Said Than Done 4:41
Teen Dream Nightmare 3:00
To Understand The Sun 5:35
Man Out Of Time 3:20
Songs written by R.Smith
Recorded 11-25 through 12-9 2005 Lake Wandu Studios aka The Hoarder House Springville IA
Recorded by Martin Daniels, Gareth Cullers and R. Smith
Produced by Rodney Smith with Rhett Morrison
Nevada Streets Recorded Aug 2004, Produced by Rodney Smith and Colin Richardson
Friday, 9 January 2015
Dear Lisa
Dear Lisa it's me again
The truth is that I don't understand
What you look for in a man
And the time we spent back in the past is now long gone
And there's nobody such as you
But you know this is what I do
Playing in bands to make a living
And possibly giving.
Dear Lisa, it's you know who
Here I am your biggest fool
I'm at the front door let me in
It's good to see your living again but living in sin
I know someday we're going to pay
On the day of reckoning
I try to fight it but really
I was more than willing
(really)
Dear Lisa, one more night
Before the train comes down the line
Takes me back to the other side
It'll be the last time I'll see you smile
(the last time we'll smile)
I don't like being the odd man out
But I figured this is about
You were the best girl I ever had
For a day and a half.
C2008 Townedger Music Emporium
Sometimes writing a song can take on new meaning, be it from the past or a relationship that ends too soon. This is from Pawnshops For Olivia, an album that took shape after reconnecting with a west coast girl and talking of the times that we spent together. The record itself is an emotional roller coaster of feelings of love had and lost and even if the results would have been different, we were doomed to fail. Especially if she never experienced a winter in Iowa which she ended up getting phenomena for about three months.
Some variations between truth and fiction. I thought the line about Plane flying into the sky was a bit personal and didn't fit the song well, so I changed it over to Train coming down the line. The line on the second verse Here he is the biggest fool was changed to Here I Am Your Biggest Fool and I think the original line it's good to see your face again but changed to see your living again. To fit the but living in sin part. (I could have used But we are living in sin instead now that I think about it now). But the final verse concludes that I was the odd man out and for that time spent together was the best girl I ever had. For a day and a half but in reality it was more like a week and a half, maybe longer. We'll never tell.
My good friend Diggy Kat continues to play this song at regular intervals on Lucky Star Radio from time to time and I always get a kick out hearing this on the radio. And slightly over 2 minutes it gets to the point and fades out. One of the more hook driven acoustic numbers I ever done. And suggests to me that perhaps I should keep most of my songs at 2 minutes long..
2019: Lisa still looks as beautiful as ever and has gotten better with age. As of this writing she has found herself a new love and lives out somewhere on the west coast. She was one of most exciting blind long distance dates I ever had, But I think she knew I wasn't the one as she took me to a couple of the Portland record stores up there. And she knew that the midwest wasn't for her when she came to visit, she certainly didn't like the cold and snow. The dead giveaway was her look on her face when she saw the music room, and the drumset and the guitar and all them cymbals. Despite another trip to Portland in 2000, I knew I lost her. We did keep in touch off and on before she decided she wanted to move on and close the chapter to our friendship. It's never easy but I think in the long run, it was the right decision.
She still has her long red hair. I'm still losing mine.
The truth is that I don't understand
What you look for in a man
And the time we spent back in the past is now long gone
And there's nobody such as you
But you know this is what I do
Playing in bands to make a living
And possibly giving.
Dear Lisa, it's you know who
Here I am your biggest fool
I'm at the front door let me in
It's good to see your living again but living in sin
I know someday we're going to pay
On the day of reckoning
I try to fight it but really
I was more than willing
(really)
Dear Lisa, one more night
Before the train comes down the line
Takes me back to the other side
It'll be the last time I'll see you smile
(the last time we'll smile)
I don't like being the odd man out
But I figured this is about
You were the best girl I ever had
For a day and a half.
C2008 Townedger Music Emporium
Sometimes writing a song can take on new meaning, be it from the past or a relationship that ends too soon. This is from Pawnshops For Olivia, an album that took shape after reconnecting with a west coast girl and talking of the times that we spent together. The record itself is an emotional roller coaster of feelings of love had and lost and even if the results would have been different, we were doomed to fail. Especially if she never experienced a winter in Iowa which she ended up getting phenomena for about three months.
Some variations between truth and fiction. I thought the line about Plane flying into the sky was a bit personal and didn't fit the song well, so I changed it over to Train coming down the line. The line on the second verse Here he is the biggest fool was changed to Here I Am Your Biggest Fool and I think the original line it's good to see your face again but changed to see your living again. To fit the but living in sin part. (I could have used But we are living in sin instead now that I think about it now). But the final verse concludes that I was the odd man out and for that time spent together was the best girl I ever had. For a day and a half but in reality it was more like a week and a half, maybe longer. We'll never tell.
My good friend Diggy Kat continues to play this song at regular intervals on Lucky Star Radio from time to time and I always get a kick out hearing this on the radio. And slightly over 2 minutes it gets to the point and fades out. One of the more hook driven acoustic numbers I ever done. And suggests to me that perhaps I should keep most of my songs at 2 minutes long..
2019: Lisa still looks as beautiful as ever and has gotten better with age. As of this writing she has found herself a new love and lives out somewhere on the west coast. She was one of most exciting blind long distance dates I ever had, But I think she knew I wasn't the one as she took me to a couple of the Portland record stores up there. And she knew that the midwest wasn't for her when she came to visit, she certainly didn't like the cold and snow. The dead giveaway was her look on her face when she saw the music room, and the drumset and the guitar and all them cymbals. Despite another trip to Portland in 2000, I knew I lost her. We did keep in touch off and on before she decided she wanted to move on and close the chapter to our friendship. It's never easy but I think in the long run, it was the right decision.
She still has her long red hair. I'm still losing mine.
Wednesday, 7 January 2015
Donnellee
Donnellee
Driving on the highway I’m heading nowhere
I feel somewhat a bit rejected
Of thinking of someone that I’ll never see again
From a day long ago and forgotten
She never told me of her intentions
Of if she’s going stay or if she’s going
Or what she really wants or what’s she know
And I feel like we’re going in circles
Circumstances beyond our control
Ain’t nothing we can do about it
But sit back, sit back and wonder
Donnellee, Donnellee
Can’t you see, can’t you see
What you mean, mean to me
Donnellee, Donnellee
I know that there’s something here to address dear
So many years of hit and misses
It takes so long just getting to this
Liking someone just to take the risk
And I do hope that the feeling’s mutual
Of a connection that is actual
And don’t you think that this could be a wonder
When we’re together late at night
Holding you as we turn out the light
In sight it must be right
To even think we can take this to flight
And so it comes down to the final scene here
Of what you feel inside and still believe in
You seem to think that you’re the victim
Giving up and then abandon
It’s not that I quit caring anyhow
Or share the fact that it’s always something
But I sense the fact you and I are grounded
In our ways so set that they can’t be changed
Same old reasons that can’t be explained
But all we do is go through the motions
Why can’t you for once mean just what you say?
C2007
Sometimes changing the words to Donna Lee when I play this live but this comes from the Highway Home album (2007) and basically a combination of two songs combined into one. I had a co worker that was actually named Donnellee but that song isn't about her. I was trying to write a perfect country song with an acoustic slant and this was the end result. The final verse may have been referenced to Isabella, the woman that I based a half year relationship of mostly downs and not ups on. The more I sang out the words, the more bitter they become to the last verse, unlike the first two verses of a promising love. I may have based this on a E harmony or Match dot com commercial of finding true love but in knowing myself, I tend to be the biggest savatager of relationships. History has shown that quite well.
Driving on the highway I’m heading nowhere
I feel somewhat a bit rejected
Of thinking of someone that I’ll never see again
From a day long ago and forgotten
She never told me of her intentions
Of if she’s going stay or if she’s going
Or what she really wants or what’s she know
And I feel like we’re going in circles
Circumstances beyond our control
Ain’t nothing we can do about it
But sit back, sit back and wonder
Donnellee, Donnellee
Can’t you see, can’t you see
What you mean, mean to me
Donnellee, Donnellee
I know that there’s something here to address dear
So many years of hit and misses
It takes so long just getting to this
Liking someone just to take the risk
And I do hope that the feeling’s mutual
Of a connection that is actual
And don’t you think that this could be a wonder
When we’re together late at night
Holding you as we turn out the light
In sight it must be right
To even think we can take this to flight
And so it comes down to the final scene here
Of what you feel inside and still believe in
You seem to think that you’re the victim
Giving up and then abandon
It’s not that I quit caring anyhow
Or share the fact that it’s always something
But I sense the fact you and I are grounded
In our ways so set that they can’t be changed
Same old reasons that can’t be explained
But all we do is go through the motions
Why can’t you for once mean just what you say?
C2007
Sometimes changing the words to Donna Lee when I play this live but this comes from the Highway Home album (2007) and basically a combination of two songs combined into one. I had a co worker that was actually named Donnellee but that song isn't about her. I was trying to write a perfect country song with an acoustic slant and this was the end result. The final verse may have been referenced to Isabella, the woman that I based a half year relationship of mostly downs and not ups on. The more I sang out the words, the more bitter they become to the last verse, unlike the first two verses of a promising love. I may have based this on a E harmony or Match dot com commercial of finding true love but in knowing myself, I tend to be the biggest savatager of relationships. History has shown that quite well.
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