I’m gearing up for my 60th birthday, and if there’s one thing you do at this age is bury a lot of people. It seems there is always someone dying. This album of songs is all about my love of family, but at this age, I have lost so many elders. These are my stories about losing my grandparents, mom and dad, and few dear friends along the way. I’d also say it’s been really scary this post pandemic world we live in. So many wars and things to worry about. I find it stressful. This is the art that comes from that world.
Effervescent Stardust Dream – stupid fun sci-fi song about how much technology and smart phones have infiltrated our lives, but we love it.
Walter Cronkite – the news is scary stuff. I remember being a kid watching Walter Cronkite. It gave me a weird realization. I’ve been sitting on a warm comfortable couch watching the world at war my whole life.
Brony – I like bright colorful plastic toys. As many as possible. Everywhere. Now.
Gambling Man – this is a song about how hard life was for my dad after my mom passed.
Free Vaccine – this is the song I wrote after my dad and his wife died of covid early in the pandemic. It was a terrible time indeed. This song was removed from YouTube and Tiktok, and although I believe that it is within terms of service, it’s still too intense for social media. I can only guess it was removed because it is art. Art scares a lot of people. The kind folk at Spotify were brave enough to publish this song. If you’re badass enough to want to hear it, follow this link to Spotify.
Bad Guy – it’s not easy being the bad guy, but some of us are more comfortable taking on the roll. The only way is to have a thick skin and a sense of humor. You have to have fun with it. Revel in the disruption.
If I Ever Come Up Missing – my grandfather was always making up mythical stories about strange creatures that croaked, squeaked, and chirped around our old Maine farm house. The last time I ever spoke to him he was in VA hospital because my mom, who was caring for him, had a stroke, and he ended up in the VA. I phoned his room and he wove a yarn about running away with his nurse. He knew it was over for him without my mom. He created a myth around his death. He told me, “If I ever come up missing, you’ll know we ran away.”
In The Night – the winters are long and cold here in Maine. Do whatever it takes to stay warm and wait for spring.
Sugar And Spice – this is a love story about the classic huge biker dude with his incredibly hot biker chick girlfriend on the lam from the law on a crazy crime spree.
Super Spy – sometimes my wife drives me nuts by her natural contrary nature and that’s all I can say about this song. No, I’m wrong, I can say more. She has a perfect mix of deliberation and obliviousness that is an unnatural unstoppable force something like a black hole. The adversary incarnate.
Sack Of Rice – many decades ago when I lived in a home with a bunch of musicians and artists, a writer was moving in. Her grandmother raced over to our place to drop off a sack of rice so that it would be there to greet her granddaughter when she arrived. I remember it making my friend nuts that her grandmother had done such a thing. I thought it was sweet. I love Grandma magic.
Winding Wind – when I first met Miss Hazel we were going out for a short walk. Along the way I found one of those plastic Halloween bat rings on the sidewalk. I scooped it up and turned to Hazel and she put out her hand and I slid the bat ring onto her left hand ring finger. Suddenly a crazy winding wind began to rise, and we had to climb a rock staircase to ascend beside the local stone church tower to reach the street above us. We both felt the charge of electricity of that moment, and here we are a billion years later still doing the thing.
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