Song A Week 2016 - Picture of Me with Aaron Ellingsen and Jeanne Tolmie

One of the best things about doing this blog is using it as a catalyst to get together with friends and see what happens. Aaron Ellingsen, Jeanne Tolmie and I are frequent collaborators and it was fun and interesting to get together and have a run at this song.

Picture of Me is a song I wrote a few years back that will be released on my upcoming album New Blues.  The studio version is a pretty cool stripped down arrangement - just accordion, Marek Tyler on drums, and my daughter Chloe Lampman singing backups.  This version - which we jammed out and recorded in about an hour or so - has a Cajun folkey feel thanks to Aaron Ellingsen's fiddle arrangement. 

 Picture of Me 

Do you remember that picture of me in a wheat field with that lean brown dog

his hound dog dink was lipstick pink and a red-tail hawk flew over and gave us a wink

And the Alberta sky was as blue as the Aegean Sea

do you remember 

remember that picture of me

And the Alberta sky was as blue as the Aegean Sea

will you remember

will you remember me

And a great long soft white cloud like a feather

stretched across the sky

And it was two hours and twenty-five minutes

before I said good-bye

Do you remember 

do you remember that picture of me

will you remember 

will you remember me

Do you remember 

do you remember that picture of me

will you remember 

will you remember me

Do you remember that picture of me in the bright white light with a galloping horse

my eyes were two black holes

portals to an underworld hotel

where the menacing ceilings hover over cold cold beds

like conquering aliens from the darkness over head

and dirty curtains guard the windows where we sleep

will you remember

will you remember me

And a thick soft swollen grey cloud like the belly of a whale 

filled the sky

And it was twenty-two years twenty two days

two hours and twenty-five minutes

after I said good-bye

Do you remember 

do you remember that picture of me

will you remember 

will you remember me

Do you remember 

do you remember that picture of me

will you remember 

will you remember me

Song A Week 2016 - #1! - Blues In The Bottle

In 2012 I attempted to do a song a week blogpost.  I didn't quite make it, weeks were missed as the year unfolded, especially towards the end.  Still, it was ultimately fruitful in that the construct spurred me to play more music and create a body of work.  I did a fair amount of research on the cover songs I did and found out some interesting stuff, I think some of the posts were a good read, some of the songs were good performances, and most importantly it was a catalyst for collaborating with other musicians and artists who I admire and love to play with - Rachelle Reath, Marek Tyler, Emily Goodenough, Eric Gallipo, David "The Great Giffoni" Gifford, Grayson Walker, Jeanne Tolmie, Troy "Big Bubba" Cook.   It was very cool to track the hits on the blog, where they came from in the world, which posts were most popular, and I cultivated a YouTube presence which was turning out to be the legacy of the blog after it ended.  

Then the weird Google shit hit the fan.  My account was screwed around with and the videos, though they were still on YouTube, would not come up in a search. It was pretty much impossible to get them to come up, even with very specific searches.....and it still is.  This year my wife Betty-Ann has endeavoured to re-post the blogs, an attempt to fan the dying embers, an act I am grateful for.  At the same time it begs the question....why not get off your ass and do it again.   
                      

 Dum-Dum.             Dingaling.             Ding Dong. 

I'm running late!  It's goddam January 12th!  What the fuck.  Here's the first one.  When I first picked up the accordion one of my prime influences was the Holy Modal Rounders. Their irreverent, humourous, raw approach to old folk and hillbilly music gave me the license to have a go.  Here's a song I've known for years but never played until a couple of weeks ago. Blues In The Bottle.

Here's the whole Holy Modal Rounders album that I was listening to at the time on a worn out cassette....first song is Blues In The Bottle

I haven't done exhaustive research, but I believe this is the original version of the song, recorded by Prince Albert Hunt's Texas Ramblers  in 1928.  It was also recorded, and is perhaps better known, by the great Lightnin' Hopkins.  I would venture a guess that The Rounders were listening to this version.

Here's me doing the Holy Modal Rounders' Same Old Man last time I did this song a week biz.

And this is The Dogbreath Brothers channeling the Holy Modal Rounders Black-Eyed Suzy.....beer-fuelled and live to 4-track cassette yo. (Click link below the pic)

click here: BLACK-EYED SUZY - THE DOGBREATH BROTHERS

The Good Mule - December 14, 2012

Couple of weeks ago I was contacted by Rod Matheson who has embarked on a film-blog project called  Everyday Music - 1000 Musicians, 1000 Songs, 1000 Days. Rod was going to be in Victoria filming musical acts for his blog and thanks to Nick Lyons acting as a matchmaker, I was fortunate to be one of the people included.  I got together with Rachelle Reath and Marek Tyler and we laid down this version of The Good Mule.  This song falls squarely into the group of songs I have written which I have labelled Middle Age Laments, or alternatively, Mope Pop.  A year and a half ago we recorded a really nice version of it with the superfun/superimpractical 7-piece band The Euphorians and I am happy with the way it has translated into the 3-piece.  Thanks Rod, Nick, Rachelle, and Marek.

click here to hear: THE GOOD MULE - THE EUPHORIANS

The Good Mule

The crazy adventure

was less adventure, more ordeal

was less crazy than it was senseless

mundane and uneventful

I could scratch a grain of truth

from the hard scrabble of the day

it's my nature to perservere

I'm a good mule

And suddenly

I was one degree fatter

suddenly

I was one degree sadder

suddenly

I was closer to the dirt

suddenly

I was travelling beneath the earth

and suddenly

I was flying in the sky

where the birds in heaven could hear my sad cries

The road to ordinary

is one paved with pavement

no medals are awarded

for getting out of bed

and nobody clapped

when I flapped my tongue

And suddenly

I was silent and slobbery

a victim

of incremental robbery

suddenly 

my tongue fell out on the ground

and suddenly there was no more sound

The Blog Faltered - To The Ghosts - June 13, 2012

The blog faltered.  I failed to adhere to the construct. There was no song last week.  It was a busy week, but the real problem was my wife was away and all order, routine, and structure crumbled.  Subsisting on all meat pizzas, salt & pepper squid, and salisbury steaks; unclothed, unshaved, guzzling red wine by the box, subscribed to the 24 hour Charlie Sheen channel, marathon phone sex with a Moldavian heiress, filth, squalor, freestyle farting.  I meant to do the blog one night, but instead drank a bottle of wine and played sad songs for 3 hours.  There were two rehearsals during the week for the show we had with Cloudsplitter and  I recorded this song at the end of one of them....I had the potential to do the blog last week but never did!

Our friend Clifford Doerksen died an untimely and tragic death in December 2010 and flying home from the memorial service in February 2011 I composed this song, in its entirety, in my head.  When I got home I typed it up and promptly forgot about it for 6 months, until I stumbled on it again and started working on it.  Realizing the melodies I was coming up with referenced The Carpenters' Top Of The World, I checked out those chord progressions and messed around with them. I believe this is the kind of secret songwriting shit I'm not supposed to reveal.

Amongst many other things, Clifford was a brilliant, hilarious, and ruthless writer and reviewer. Here's an article remembering him that also contains many links to his writing:  

click here: CLIFFORD

And here it is, To The Ghosts, to Clifford....

with Rachelle Reath - violin and backup vox,
Emily Goodenough - viola
Marek Tyler - drums 

To The Ghosts

His heart lay panting on the floor

his mind just walked out the back door

into the winter's night

to fight the good fight

if he could still distinguish wrong from right

Did someone step on a crack and break his back

did someone say give up, turn back

The stolen years

will not be restored by our tears

and our memories will fade from grey to black

Whether we say yay or nay

the night is followed by the day

To the departed and their ghosts

we raise one too many toasts

then stumble numbly on our way

Skeleton - May 23, 2012

Though I wrote this song about a year ago,  it still feels a little fresh and new, maybe because I haven't performed it live a zillion times. This version of it is recorded with Rachelle Reath on violin, Emily Goodenough on cello, and Marek Tyler on the drums. We have been rehearsing for our first show in this configuration June 9 at The Fort St. Cafe with Vancouver band Cloudsplitter.  Emily just learned the song tonight, so kudos to Emily I say.  Anyone got a name for this sweet combo? Bring it on - let the blog comments rain down.

Here we are playing the song

Skeleton - David P. Smith

The skeleton in my closet he knows how to party

down by the river amongst the debris

There we discuss alien conspiracies

trailer park lesbians, UFC

How it feels to see your reflection in a glass of whiskey

Whiskey rivers swum like public pool lengths

dreamlessly sinking in quicksand beds

Unresolved nights became resolute dawns

the angry sparrows twittered as the sun grew strong

Days begun orange, then turned to blue

with periods of brown forecast for the afternoon

Fat robins feast on freshly turned worms

starlings flit and swoop like sci-fi insect swarms

A little brown bird lies still on the street

near the passenger door to the left of my feet

Maybe, maybe, maybe he's asleep

The skeleton in my closet likes to go out on the town

likes to paint it red, he really likes to get down

Sometimes he gets so down I find him crawling around

And I say

if you piss in the carburetor, the car will stall

if you piss on the temple floor, the walls will fall

you can piss your pants, buddy it's your call

You can do what you want, I'll pick you up when you fall

The digital satellite unit casts a hideous shadow on our house

while I recline on the sofa in the costume of a louse

While on the TV, weeping women flee

the good doctor eats a live chimpanzee

and the air is alive with fleas' disease

The skeleton in my closet pulls me aside

he says 

brother got a minute, I need to confide

you see, my dreams all cower like scared cats in the rain

and I don't mind feeling numb, it means I don't feel pain

but it scares me being numb, in case I don't feel again

It was a sad good-bye to the jugglers and clowns

went working for the man in a jackhammer town

Now I have a daughter and I have a wife

and this is the foundation on which I build my life

The skeleton in my closet says he's feeling tired

says it's hard to care, says he feels uninspired

And I say

put your pants on one leg at a time

open the curtains and let the sun shine

every minute in the world a hundred ten people are dying

Sing a song, stop crying

Sing a song, stop crying

you 

Whiskey, You Are Not My Brother - New Song - May 1, 2012

Remember that post about a month ago before we played with Black Valley Gospel at Crace Mountain?
Whether you do or don't, the night of that show David Chenery proposed a collaboration of a sorts between us.  He wants to record some of my older material and give it the f*@!#!?! Black Valley treatment!  I was both honoured and excited about the proposal.  Initial song ideas include some Dogbreath Brothers tunes - Stay Away With The Whiskey, Look In Your Heart, and Bent, Broke, Busted 'n' Blue - plus Last Trip To Vancouver from the Eelgirl EP and a heavy version of the instrumental Jackass Path from the Hurtin' Dance Party album possibly with a spoken word piece.  Crazy shit!

I started working on a song this week and it seemed like maybe it could fit this project.    I've keyed it so Chenery could easily do manic vocals an octave above what I'm doing.  This is really a sketch of the song. We'll run it up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes.

Check out the video - my head looks like a sock puppet

******Stardate January 13, 2016:  the collaboration with Chenery did not come to fruition.  However, I did a minor tweak on the lyrics, a major tweak on the arrangement and feel, and went on to record the song with Mike Hall in a combo with drums (Marek Tyler), cello (Hank Pine). Live off the floor don't you know, to fabulous 1/4" reel to reel.  Stay tuned....I'll post it soon!

Whiskey, You Are Not My Brother

Whiskey, you are not my brother
do not stand so near
take your hand from my shoulder
do not whisper in my ear

There is a place
where black is dark
dark, dark blue
where you are misshapen and made obese
by all that does not fill you

Whiskey, you are not my brother
do not stand so near
take your hand from my shoulder
do not whisper in my ear

There is a place
where the river is deep
deep, deep green
the waters are opaque, they are viscous
they appear to be serene


Whiskey, you are not my brother
do not stand so near
take your hand from my shoulder
do not whisper in my ear

The Lonely Astronaut - March 25, 2012

Yes, Nanaimo is a hard, hard woman, but that's not going to stop me from heading to The Hub City next weekend to play a show at Crace Mountain.  This is a big show, the end of an era, as Superprince Adam and Superprincess Lyndsay move along to new frontiers.  Aaaaaargh!  Also on the bill, Black Valley Gospel with their infernal devil music, and I've got a sweet little combo together for the show featuring Rachelle Reath on violin and vox and Marek Tyler on the drums. 

At the end of our rehearsal on Saturday, we did a one take recording of our song The Lonely Astronaut.  In the great tradition of songs like Rocket Man and Space Oddity, the song uses outer space as a metaphor for loneliness and alienation, while making direct lyrical references to Hank Williams (hey music fans, spot the reference and win a surprise gift!) and The Five Man Electrical Band.  Below are links to our performance of the song, as well as to a larger orchestral version by The Euphorians, recorded live off the floor in   my basement by boy genius Mike Hall.

Here's our take from the rehearsal

click here: THE LONELY ASTRONAUT - THE EUPHORIANS

The Lonely Astronaut
The astronaut stands on the shores of an alien sea
believes he can hear the children laughing now with glee
But in the realm of irrational perception
he was once crowned national champion
while the commotion caused by his emotions
made him renowned in his hometown

When he left home he became well-known
for sporting a massive biblical beard
'til that fateful night he was trussed and sheared
by a drunken balladeer

It was then that he decided to travel to the stars
leave behind this world of buildings
pocketbooks and cars

In a world where the sky is green and the trees are blue
and there's no one for a trillion miles but you
it's wise to doublecheck your supplies
and remember
it takes gravity to cry

What a waste, what a waste
when your tears float into space
instead of falling
instead of falling down your face
what a waste, what a waste

Now Nature abhors a crybaby
as much as she abhors a vacuum
so astronauts you must not succumb
to the commotion of your emotions

I'm a stranger here on this place called Earth
and I was sent down here to discover my worth
I'm a stranger here on this place called Earth
and I was sent down here to discover my worth


The astronaut stands on the shores of an alien sea
believes he can hear the children laughing now with glee



and what the hell, here's Bowie doing Space Oddity