Heartland

As most of you know, Cindy and I relocated to southern Indiana. That’s an area that is known as The Heartland. This is John Mellencamp territory; in fact, he was born on Seymour, about 20 miles from where we live.

My wife (aka: friend/muse) suggested that I do an album with a “rural” theme. The actual word she used was Agricultural, but I decided to broaden it a bit. So, I started to look around the area to see what there was in the way of inspiration.

In my universe, if you go looking for inspiration, you WILL find. It’s there; you just have to spot it and be open to it. There was the wind farm right around Lafayette; there’s the Muscatatuck River which runs less than 2 miles from our house; there’s the Blue River and the Wabash, both of which have historical connections. Of course, the green fields of corn and soy abound and stretch for miles and miles. There was a lot of beauty, a lot of heritage to draw from.

Then came the writing. With the help of a lot of photos and video footage, I was able to capture, not only the essence but the motion of many of these places and things. Working instrumentally meant that I could use a wide variety of musical colors from the sonic palette; it also gave me an opportunity to incorporate my two steel string guitars: a 1971 Martin 12-string with the “high” strings removed, and a 1950 Harmony Archtop that I got at an auction just before we left New York State.

When the recording was done, I sent the mixes to my good friend, and former recording partner, Scott B. Adams to be mastered. The result is a lovely sounding tonal picture of the amazing variety of the landscape of Middle America.

Should you be interested in sampling (or purchasing) any of this new music, check out CDBaby .

And to watch the video of “Wind Farm” go to Windfarm .

It’s almost like a ballet with wind mills.

One more thing: there is a new opportunity for anyone who feels led to support me as an independent musician. Patreon.com is best described as a Kickstarter-style campaign, but it’s ongoing. For more information on how it works, go toPatreon .

THE STATE OF THINGS: Ramblings from an unstable musician

While the economy continues to stumble along, and our brilliant legislators can’t quite seem to agree on a common definition of the word “compromise”, let us pause and reflect.

…

OK, that’s enough of that. The point is that life goes on. And on.

During this time of “on and on” I continue to write music, and Cindy continues to create her farm, and we continue to enjoy ourselves. And every day is a gift.

For instance, just this week we pulled some fence posts out of the ground to be used for the upcoming goat shed. Cindy dug a few more rows in her strawberry bed; I wrote and recorded (at least) two new songs. Then on Fridays we sit down to watch a video while eating homemade pizza. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Sometimes we turn on the radio to find out who is pointing fingers at who, and who is fighting a war against who, and who is generally making noise with their mouth without really saying anything useful. And then Cindy goes out and checks for eggs, while I get on the phone and talk with a friend who gets me laughing really hard.

So, are we that unconcerned about what’s going on in the world around us? Are we purposely ignoring events on a global scale?

No and no.

Frankly, there are two ways one can look at the world: you could see it as a constant downhill skid that started with a certain couple in a garden a long time ago or one could simply see it, as Mr. Spock said in Star Trek VI, as the universe unfolding as it should. The former can be very depressing; while with the latter one likes to think that there are always possibilities,as Captain Kirk said in Star Trek II.

Is anyone noticing a definite pattern?

OK, Tom, so is there a point to all this? No. Or maybe I should say maybe. Someone said that the problem with life is that it is so Daily. If that is so, then bring on the day!

Or put differently:

 

2013!

Fa who foraze, whatever that means. Welcome, welcome New Year’s Day.


2012 was an amazing year for us. As most of you are aware, we moved. After 25 years in beautiful Chenango County, New York, we relocated to beautiful Washington County in southern Indiana in mid-July. We moved away from the tiny town of McDonough, to the equally tiny town of Vallonia.

Musically, 2012 saw the issue of my “Back in the Window” instrumental CD and the “God Bless the World” vocal CD. And I wrote 22 new pieces of music, including some anthems, some songs, and a few really unique pieces that will see the light of day later this year.

Since arriving in Indiana, I have become the choir director of First Christian Church in Salem. That’s a Disciples of Christ church, which has a lot of similarities to the United Church of Christ, where I spent the last 8 years.

On the farm, Cindy and I built the first of a series of sheds; this one being the chicken coop, wherein she maintains 3 chickens. We also have one cat that patrols the grounds: rodent control. We’ve spent a lot of time building inside too. We completely re-did the kitchen, and most of the office. The front room closet-extension is next.

This move has been really exciting, but it has its down side. We’re a lot further away from all our family and friends in NY now, however we are a lot closer to our daughter and her family, which includes our two grandchildren. We’ve already visited them near Chicago 3 times and they’ve been down here several times also.

2013: from a personal perspective, I am planning on a really fun, really productive year. From a larger POV, the world can be such a difficult place; no need to go into detail- just listen to what passes for news anymore. Despite the way things seem, I am still just enough of a 60s person to think that we could possibly make even a little step closer to Peace on Earth. I like to think that the music that I create will have its own small effect towards that lofty goal.

Happy 2013 to all my friends, fans, & family.

On Thanksgiving Day 2012

I am thankful for my family: in particular, my wife of 41 years (and counting); my daughter and her own family; my mom, still going strong at 84.

I am thankful for all my family, even those who might be less then thankful about me. I am thankful for having grown up with a brother and a sister; for all the wonderful nephews and nieces that I have as a result. I am thankful for having had a dad who was also a friend and a mentor.

I am thankful for having been allowed to work at my music for all these years; and thankful for every one of the musicians with whom I played and worked, those who influenced me, those who encouraged me. Thankful for close friends: Doug Rose, Joe Connolly, and Scott B. Adams, all three of whom I have had the privilege of creating music with.

I am thankful that there are people who work hard to achieve peace in the world.

I am thankful that I have today, and the prospect of tomorrow.

I am thankful for my faith, and I am thankful because of my faith.

Lawrence of Arabia

In a few days, the 1962 grand epic film “Lawrence of Arabia” by David Lean, and starring Peter O’Toole and a cast of huge names (Omar Sharif, Alec Guinness, and Arthur Kennedy), will be re-released in an all new digitized format. This movie is not only celebrating its 50th anniversary, but also celebrates the life of one of the amazing people in history.

Thomas Edward Lawrence was born in 1888; he was the son of a Lord but his father never married his mother. As World War I unfolded across Europe, there was an equally intense conflict in the Middle East, particularly centered in Arabia, Syria and Turkey. Lawrence, who had spent his early professional life as an archeologist in that geographical area, found himself as a lieutenant in the British army in the position of cartographer in Cairo. Through his archeological studies, he had also become conversant with several Arabian languages and dialects, and in 1916 was publishing an Arabic newspaper through which he tried to gain attention to the Arab struggles for freedom, not only from the Turks but from the British also.

T. E. Lawrence had a definite distaste for the limelight and for bloodshed; however, his role in the Arab Revolt covered him with both on a daily basis. He was a most reluctant hero.

During this war, Lawrence kept a journal of his thoughts and observations, and eventually published them in a book called “Seven Pillars of Wisdom” which was finally published 1926.

In 2009, after having read Seven Pillars for a second time, I was impressed with Lawrence’s use of imagery and poetic language. In homage to the Seven Pillars of the title, I chose seven particularly beautiful phrases from the text and composed instrumental music to express each short segment:

• Silences of Stars
• Off the Pilgrim Road
• Granite Spires
• The Mirage Had Begun to Dance
• The Hallowed Ground Re-echoed
• Circle Beyond Circle
•  Last light of the West/Dance of the Sunbeams

These pieces, amounting to around 23 minutes of music, are collected on a CD which I also titled “Seven Pillars of Wisdom” and are available through Amazon .

There is also a video presentation of section 2: Off the Pilgrim Road, on Youtube .

I hope that you will take a few moments and watch the video, and share it with friends.

And although the film is somewhat fictionalized, it is amazing how much of Lawrence’s writing, and some of his dialog, are included in the context of the film. If you haven’t seen it, go see it (or get it when it’s released on DVD. If you know the film, now is a good time to watch it again.

Settling In

When we moved to Chenango County in upstate New York, there was a gentleman who regularly asked us if we were settling in…for about the first 5 or 6 years he asked us that.

Now we find ourselves in a new area, southern Indiana. We’ve been here now for about 2 months, and the answer to the question is: Yes, we are settling in.

In many ways, it’s like starting all over again from scratch. None of the acreage around the house was plowed up for a garden; much of the lawn was overgrown; there were no structures that would house any animals so we had to build one. Musically, because I know so many people all over the country, I wasn’t at so much of a loss, although having to establish my teaching studio is going to be harder than I thought. After all we were in our last location for the better part of 25 years.

The internet has been very useful in helping me find names of organizations and people; my email program has been working overtime these 8 weeks.

Composing music and working on recordings has taken a back seat to getting the homestead in working shape. In the past 2 weeks I have begun working on two songs: a new baseball song and a church anthem. It feels good to get back to it.

We have met so many really nice people out here in the Hoosier State, many of whom have helped us out in ways that surprised even us. Like for instance, how many people do you know who have two (2!!) neighbors who own backhoes with bucket loaders? It restores one’s faith in humanity.

So, yes, we continue to settle in, and continue to rebuild our rural paradise in a whole new geographical and social setting. As things unfold, and we finally break all the ties with New York, we will begin to see this Midwest reality as normal. Until then…we’re still settling in.

Thirty Seven Cents!

There’s a song from the Musical “The Pajama Game” in which John Raitt’s character sang:

“I figured it out
With a pencil and a pad I figured it out!
Seven and a half cents doesn't buy a hell of a lot,
Seven and a half cents doesn't mean a thing!
But give it to me every hour,
Forty hours every week,
And that's enough for me to be living like a king!
I figured it out.”

(Song written by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross)

(The workers at the pajama were asking for a raise, and this song carried their message.)

So what difference could 37 cents make to me? Well…I’m glad you asked.

About 3 months ago I received a Royalty statement from OCP (Oregon Catholic Press). A royalty (for those who don’t know, is a payment for use of a writer’s work; in this case a song. My friend Bobby Fisher made a recording of one of my songs on one of his CDs a while back, and because he re-wrote some of the lyrics, I receive about 75% of the available royalties for that song. That means every time OCP sells one of these CDs (“If We Dare to Hope”), I get 11 cents, and 6 cents for each copy of the song book for the album.

That royalty statement I received 3 months ago told me that I had accumulated a royalty balance of $24.95, but OCP doesn’t make any payment to artists until it’s over $25. So when a new statement arrived today showing that they had sold 3 CDs and 1 book (!!!!) I had 37 cents added to my balance, and a check for the total ($25.32) was included.

I sometimes am dazzled by the big bucks that some composers of my acquaintance must be getting. The fact is that 37 cents doesn’t mean a hell of a lot; but if I was to make 37 cents every day for the next year, the total would be over $135. Again, not a lot, but not bad for one song.


By the way, Bobby’s CD is still available If We Dare to Hope

Life as a Church Musician

I go to church. I go to the UCC, First Congregational Church in Norwich, NY. I am a church musician.

Now under normal circumstances, that last statement would preclude that I am either the organist or the choir director or both. I am neither.

My position is Music Ministry Associate.

Being an Associate always reminds me of Wal*Mart because all their employee name tags say “associate” on them. I don’t have a name tag…what am I talking about? I don’t even have a blue vest! So what is this oddball position?

At UCC, First Congregational Church, we have an extremely talented and knowledgeable choir director, an outrageously talented organist, and a wonderfully gifted bell choir director. This photo shows us all with Pastor Joe.

So what I get to do is all the things that these three don’t have the time or energy to do. And believe me, as far as I’m concerned, that’s all the fun stuff.

Briefly, I get to write and arrange a lot of music, play the guitar as solo and accompaniment, preview all the choir music, work with the web site, do music outreach to other churches, and substitute for singers in the choir and sometimes for the bells too. Along the way, I have also completely refurbished the music office, weeded the music collection, and purchased some new instruments for the church, and done quite a bit of recording.

If that weren’t enough, I have written a Christmas cantata (The Child) with Pastor Joe Connolly, and we are planning on writing an Easter cantata for 2013.

And if THAT weren’t enough, I created a church music seminar called “Water from the Well” to which we invite well known church composers from all over the country to come and work with us.

I was offered this position back in 2007 and was given the opportunity to write my own job description. How many times does something like that ever happen?



And now it’s ending, and I am sure of two things:


1- It has been a great ride.

2- This situation is probably never going to be duplicated.

As relocation for my wife and I becomes a reality, I will be looking around for another church position, which (I’m sure) will be vastly different than this one, and (I’m equally sure) just as rewarding.


Note: I will be releasing a new vocal CD in a couple weeks. I will post an update on that here sometime in early May. In the meantime, I’ll remind you that my music is available through Amazon, CDBaby, Rhapsody, iTunes, Spotify and dozens of other outlets. You can usually find them by typing “Tom Rasely” into the search bar of any of those sites. Plus, there are 10 videos at Tom's Youtube

Spare Time

How’s that 1981 hit tune by Styx go?

Oh yes: I’ve got too much time on my hands. Well, I don’t know about the “too much” part, but I do have a goodly amount of time during the week to pursue a lot of interests. So, you’re probably asking yourself: what does a musician in the middle of nowhere do when he’s not doing music? And here’s the answer…


First, you have to understand that our home is more of a Hobby Farm than anything. My wife is the farmer. I sometimes refer to myself as the hired hand that lives in old trailer out in the North 40. It’s not that bad; we don’t have 40 acres.

This year, we expanded our chicken flock to 11 layers, of mixed breeds. That makes for a lovely selection of eggs. We also built a fairly large shed for the goats that arrived last summer. Between that and putting up fencing, and repairing our hoop house, there was enough physically demanding activity to keep me occupied for a few days…weeks…etc.

Some of you may be aware of my vintage sci-fi space movie collection. I have strange space adventures films and TV show episodes from 1926 on up. Most of them are from the true classics between 1950 and the late 60s. “Aelita, Queen of Mars” (Russian, 1924) and “Woman in the Moon” (German, 1929) are black and white silent pictures that are absolutely precious. The 3 Flash Gordon serials with Buster Crabbe are favorites, and they led me to experiment watching “Star Wars: A New Hope” in black and white. You can try that by going to your settings and taking the color bar to the extreme left. This film has an entirely different feel to it in black and white.


My interest in the Civil War stems from an invitation from my good friend Douglas Rose to work on a video about the battle of Gettysburg. As things unfolded, I not only have read a lot about this conflict, but also have visited 5 or 6 battlefields; and I discovered that I had several relatives who fought for the North (Pennsylvania regiments), two of whom were wounded at Gettysburg.

The Marx Brothers are my all-time comedy heroes. I have all the movies that they were in with either 3 or 4 of the brothers. When I desperately need to be brought back to Reality, I put in one of their films.

Thomas Lawrence (AKA: Lawrence of Arabia) is also a hero of mine. Having read the Lowell Thomas accounts, and seen the 1962 film, I went on to read several other reliable histories about this amazing man. I even made a sojourn to his cottage in England called Clouds Hill.

Whenever I can take a few days off (really off), I try to get to see a major league baseball game. I’ve been to Fenway (Boston) twice, Wrigley (Chicago), the Astrodome (Houston), Turner Field (Atlanta), the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium (The Mistake by the Lake), Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia), the Rogers Center (Toronto), and Camden Yards (Baltimore). I really don’t care who plays: I mainly want to see a game well played; it’s a beautiful thing!

Life is never dull, never stagnant. One of these days, I’ll expand on what my church music job entails. That’s a good story all by itself.

While you’re waiting, I’ll remind you that my music is available through Amazon, CDBaby, Rhapsody, iTunes, Spotify and dozens of other outlets. You can usually find them by typing “Tom Rasely” into the search bar of any of those sites. Plus, there are 10 videos on Youtube

So you see, it’s not all music out here in the Nowhere.

Inspiration

Where does an idea come from?

Recently on Facebook, I posted that I had written 62 pieces of music during 2011. That’s more than one a week! I should be exhausted. But I’m not. I find it exhilarating, and inspiring.

Inspiration is a much maligned word. It gives people the impression that ideas come from some mystical place like out of the clear blue sky. And I suppose that sometimes happens…or at least SEEMS to happen.

There is a truth: if you seek you will find. That’s another way of saying, keep your eyes open. Keeping your mind open at the same time helps too.

I’ve been inspired to write music by a friend’s last name, by the suggestion of a fellow music teacher, by marriages, by playing a ”wrong” chord, by the necessity of filling up a CD’s worth of music.

The photo above was taken one night as I was returning home from a day of teaching guitar lessons. As I crested the hill above East Pharsalia NY, this is the sight that met my eyes. Incredible. I immediately came home and was inspired to write…nothing. I just thought it was pretty.

On another night returning home from teaching guitar lessons, I was listening to the radio, and heard what I thought was a choir singing nonsense syllables. What with the static of the radio, the noise of the road, and the heater going full blast, I eventually found out that it wasn’t nonsense, and it wasn’t even a choir. But when I got home, I sat down and wrote a piece of music with nonsense syllables called “Dmm Dmm” for a capella 5-part choir. I refer to it as an instrumental song for chorus.

So, where do ideas come from? Anywhere, everywhere, anyhow and everyhow. Sometimes they show up when you aren’t looking specifically for them, and sometimes they do. Sometimes they result in something, and sometimes they don’t. There’s no pattern, no formula. But one thing is definitely true: if you are ready for a new idea, you’ll spot it quicker and clearer when it does come.

Here are some of my latest inspirations Tom's inspirations

The March of Time! 2011 in Review

2011 is now history. But what a lot of things happened this year!

JANUARY led off with my annual insult from ASCAP, the royalty collection agency. Each year I fill out an application for their ASCAPlus award, and have gotten it for the past 15 years. It’s their unspoken way of saying, “We didn’t track any of your airplay because you’re just not important enough, so we’ll throw you this bone.” I love these guys. Also, in January, I played a concert at Danby Federated Church, near Ithaca, and got reacquainted with my old friend Ed Enstine. And on the 9th of January, I turned 60.

FEBRUARY brought a lot snow and lesson cancellations. But I was making good progress on my choral song cycle “The Best of Times” based on writings of Charles Dickens.

In MARCH, the church choir was preparing for our Easter music. And it was in March that I made the first of 5 church visits as part of our music ministry outreach at UCC, First Congregational, Norwich. On top of that I played guitar in the pit band for “The Robber Bridegroom” at Morrisville College. What a blast to play that much bluegrass/old-timey music!

APRIL was the month that I finally heard my string quartet played, thanks to Deb Mineo-Devine and students. And I was working hard on completing my “Back in the Window” project. You can read details about that in the previous blog post. In MAY that album was released on CDBbay.com. Also in May I presented my 2-day blues seminar at Norwich High School for the Music in our Lives class.

In JUNE, I was contacted by the Greg Kunde Chorale asking permission to perform the world premiere of “The Best of Times in an October concert; more on that momentarily. Also in June, I submitted a new Christmas carol, co-written with Pastor Joe Connolly, to a contest. I generally avoid contests, but I took this as a challenge just to see if I could write such a piece. This June, my wife and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary.

In JULY, I treated myself to a new sound system. I went from 80 watts to 300 with my Yamaha Stagepass system. An amazing machine! Also in July, the CD “Journeys” was released. This is a collection of lovely songs that I wrote with my good friend, Douglas Rose.

AUGUST was really busy with performances. The UCC music department hosted Water from the Well II, with guest composer Joseph Martin. The Chenango River Theater presented 15 performances of “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” (music of Neil Sedaka), with me on guitar. The Earlville Opera House presented a fund raiser concert “A Summer Guitar Summit” in which I played the role of project director. And to top it all off, I played a noontime concert in the downtown park in Norwich for the BID.

SEPTEMBER was almost relaxing; although there was a goodly amount of guitar lessons as well as the church choir reforming after its summer break. Also, Scott Adams invited me to work on yet another Christmas album for the Logos Bookstore chain with him. We took my solo guitar project “Holy Night” and added some beautiful orchestration, with the help of superb cellist Chris White.

In OCTOBER, I played an art opening at the Chenango County of the Arts gallery. And the Greg Kunde Chorale did sing “The Best of Times” on October 30th at the St. Louis Church in Pittsford, NY. I was invited to give a pre-concert talk on the piece, and it was well-received.

NOVEMBER tends to be a quiet month, and outside of teaching and church music, I treated myself to two new Shure microphones: an SM57 and an SM58. Lovely.

Then DECEMBER brought yet another opportunity to play for the Chamber of Commerce Business-after-Hours at the local bank. That’s always fun. And then of course, the Christmas Eve music, which included the premiere performance of that Christmas carol I referred to earlier, “One Angel Sings.” It didn’t win the contest, but it worked perfectly in our service.

In all I wrote about 65 pieces of music this year, about half of which were recorded, and the other half were for choirs. The search for a workable online distribution for these pieces will be a definite focus for 2012, along with a new vocal CD to be released in late April.

Best wishes for everyone in 2012!

SOMETHING NEW, SOMETHING NEWER

Another new CD?? Yes!!

A friend of mine encouraged me to create a listing of every piece of music I’ve ever written. It starts with my 1959 opus “The Robin’s Song” which I wrote in the back seat of the family car, on a piece of notebook paper. That list is now over 355 compositions, ranging from 1 minute in length to a whole symphony!

My real writing career started just as I was going into college for music, 1969. At that time, I remember watching and listening to my Dad working through the writing process of his choral song “The Lamb” which is a setting of the William Blake poem. This piece took him over 2 years to complete. What any good composer or writer will tell you is that a piece of music, or a book or a poem, isn’t so much written as it is re-written.

As I developed as a guitarist, I began writing instrumental “songs”. The pure definition of a song is a piece of music with lyrics, because a Song implies a Singer. That was easy to accommodate since the guitar had become my musical Voice.

In 1988, my partnership with Scott B. Adams began, and so did my real maturation process as a player and a writer. In 1993, we released an album on cassette called “In the Window” that featured 7 new songs by me, 2 new songs by Scott, 2 songs co-written by me and (bass player) Dan Lovett, and one traditional hymn. This album was never released in CD format, although a few of the tunes were used on compilation CDs later on.

This year, I conceived the idea of re-creating (re-writing) that project. I decided to record my 7 songs in fresh new arrangements, and added one older tune, plus 5 more new ones, and re-named the album “Back in the Window” as a nod to our past efforts. 13 songs that you can make up your own words to, if you like.

The front cover features a photo of a window that stands on a small hill in our back yard: a sort of “Gateway to another world.” You can’t see them, but there really are green fence posts that support the sides of the window; in this photo I managed (accidentally) to lose them in the background; so it looks photo-shopped, but it isn’t.

This CD was recently posted at CDBaby. There you can sample individual cuts, or download the entire album.

It will soon be available through Apple iTunes, Amazon, Napster, Rhapsody and a lot of other internet outlets. Enjoy the music!

NEW CD, OLD CD, NEW CD

In 2001, I recorded my very first solo guitar CD. It was a Christmas collection entitled “Holy Night”, and was completely recorded “live” in the studio; meaning that each song was played through with no overdubs, no editing, and no extra instrumentation.

Earlier this year my friend, and musical partner, Scott Adams, asked me if we could remake this album with a string orchestra dubbed over it. The challenge was intriguing. So we got together and created a string orchestra using mostly keyboard strings; however, to add depth and realism to it, we called on our friend, and master cellist, Chris White.

Chris had played on our “Acoustic Traditions” CD and also the “Moonlight Concert” CD. He had previously joined Scott on two other recordings. Chris is a natural musician, being able to read music and also being a very creative improviser. We needed both those talents.

With charts sometimes scribbled out on a torn off piece of legal yellow pad, and mostly made up on the spot, Chris gave us melody duplications, harmony lines and fleshed out a lot of the chord structures in the keyboard string parts.

15 cuts were recorded in less than 11 hours. By every bit of conventional studio wisdom, that is impossible; but we did it.

The resulting album will more than likely be re-titled, and will be released as a private issue for the Logos Bookstore Association- a non-profit trade association comprised of 20 independent Christian bookstore members- in December. You can find out more about a Logos near you at http://www.logosbookstores.com/
Then click on “find a store” at the top of the page.

Other new CDs in the works include an instrumental collection called “Back in the Window” (due out later this year), and a vocal collection called “New Love Songs” (due out in spring, 2012). Also, the original “Holy Night” solo guitar CD has just been added to cdbaby

In the meantime, I hope you visit http://www.rasely.com/ and also invite other people to “like” my Musician in the Middle of Nowhere page on Facebook.

What the Musician in the Middle of Nowhere Does in His Spare Time

This summer, my music partner Scott B. Adams and I released our latest CD “Country Roads…Beaten Paths”. You can find more information on that at http://www.orchardbeat.com/

Also, this summer, my wife and I built a goat shed, and fenced in the grazing yard for them. This took about 3 weeks to complete. We also re-covered our hoop house. This is what it looks like:

 
It was suggested to me, a long time ago, that I should develop interests in something other than music, just so I didn’t dissolve into a one-dimensional person. Through the years, I found an interest in the Civil War, and consequently discovered that I had two relatives who were wounded at the battle of Gettysburg. I began following baseball again; I had played as a kid and have always loved the game, and now I try to attend a major league game every other year as a vacation.

Another hobby of mine is collecting sci-fi space from the 50s and 60s. The black and white are the more desirable, but the whole pre-Star Wars genre is extremely entertaining. I have over 125 titles now. I found that watching the Flash Gordon serials from around 1940 was very enlightening when I heard that it was the model that George Lucas used. Watching Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope” in black and white gave it an entirely fresh look. You should try it sometime.

When I need a break from all that, I revert to my collection of Marx Brothers movies. I can watch them over and over again and they still make me laugh out loud. Or I lose myself in one of the novels of Charles Dickens, one of my all-time favorite authors.

Between my guitar teaching, my church position as Music Ministry Associate and my occasional performing and recording, I get to do a lot of music. But sometimes, just hanging out with the chickens and the goats is very relaxing. Here’s a video of our youngest goat Ruby “helping” me work on the goat barn.

FIRST DANCE

Way back…and I mean Waaaaay back in 1965, when I’d only been playing a year or so, I wrote my first instrumental song. It was called “First Dance”.

The fact is that it didn’t have a name for a long time, but I eventually came up with “First Dance” simply because it was my first tune, and because it was in ¾ time, a waltz.

Throughout the years of recording instrumental music (beginning in 1988), I never had a chance to record this particular song. As I prepare material for a release later this year of instrumental music, I decided that “First Dance” should have its first recording.

The CD will be called “Back in the Window” and will be a reconstruction of all my instrumental songs from the Eutycus Records release “In the Window” which was produced in 1991 as a cassette only. Songs like “Forever in your Heart”, Higher up, Higher In”, and “Was a Man” will be included, along with 2 or 3 new songs.

I consider myself very lucky/blessed to be able to do the work I do. And I hope that “First Dance” will be a song that will possibly get your feet moving. In the meantime, I invite you all to visit my listings on cdbaby which will lead you to all my other CDs.

SOMETIMES "HALFWAY" IS ENOUGH

Over the years, I have written songs that never had a place on an album.

Now they do.

The album is a CD called “Halfway” and is now available on CDBaby as a digital download.

These songs run a rather eclectic range of styles, from pop to folk to country. There’s a romantic ballad or two, and a few humorous songs. All of them are catchy and easy to sing along with. Some are quite emotional and others are autobiographical.

There are musical threads that hold them all together, but the lyrics also have a certain consistency to them, since they all come from the same source, and express my own particular world view. For instance: in the song “Halfway” I try to demonstrate that it’s all right for a guy to say he’s sorry; both “I Love This Town” and “Little Place in the Country” explain why I choose to be “In the Middle of Nowhere”. “Baseball: It’s America’s Game” was my response when Major League Baseball started playing again after 9/11/01, and “On This Silent Night” is a prayer for world peace.

Someone once asked me how I knew if any of my songs were good; I answered that I knew they were good because I had finished them. After more than 50 years of creating music I like to think that I know when a tune is worth completing or not. You can decide for yourself; give a listen HALFWAY

PLAYING THE GUITAR: A CHICK MAGNET?

I don’t think this is what Dire Straits had in mind in 1985 when they wrote:

Get your money for nothing
Get your chicks for free.

Although…

You do hear it said that playing the guitar is supposed to be a chick magnet. Come to think of it, back in 1966, when I first started to teach the guitar, I had a young lady who I thought was really (REALLY) cute. It turned out that she also had a crush on me. Who knew? Not me, that’s for sure. Anyway, in 1971, I married that girl, and she’s the one who took this photo. We’re coming up on our 40th wedding anniversary this year!! So…well, I guess it DOES work.

The chicks are all part of Woodchuck Acres self-sufficiency program. Some of these chicks will stay and some will be sold. Dare I say it, some might become dinner; but not today.

In the words of one chick I know: peep, peep, peep.

PREPARING TO PLAY A SHOW

On April 2, 3 , 4, 7, 8, and 9 I will be playing guitar in Morrisville College’s production of “The Robber Bridegroom”. This is a Tony-Award winning musical from 1974 that starred Patti Lupone. It is based on a story by Eudora Welty, and is completely in old-time country and bluegrass musical styles. This should be a lot of fun.

The music director, Doug Keith, sent me the score and I have started to work on it, thanks to a handy CD that came with it. As always in Broadway scores, there are some strange rhythms, some oddball time signatures, and an occasional weird key signature- what guitar player in his right mind plays in Ab minor???? That’s 7 flats…that’s the most you can have.

Well, my plan is to walk into the first rehearsal at least 85% performance ready. This saves a lot of time for everyone. Since the music is fairly simple, this should be no problem although there are always surprises.

The performances will be in the theater in the student center on the main campus. I hope to see some of you there.

BEST OF TIMES

Charles Dickens was not a musician. You might have already been aware of that little piece of trivia. The fact is, though, that Dickens had a very musical ear. He also had an incredibly cinematic imagination, which is all the more amazing since the motion picture camera wasn’t invented until 25 years after his death!! [FYI: Louis Lumiere is often credited as inventing the first motion picture camera in 1895.]

So what’s all this got to do with the Musician in the Middle of Nowhere??

Over the years, I have read all the novels of Dickens (there’s around 30 of them), and am now reading through them all again, along with a lot of extra material, such as the travel books, short stories, magazine articles, etc. And as I was reading, I noticed several passages that would make terrific texts for music. So I started to extract them, adapt them, and versify them. The result is that I have composed a set of seven choral pieces (SATB) with piano accompaniment that I am putting under the general title of “The Best of Times”.

The seven passages are from The Old Curiosity Shop, American Notes (2), Pictures of Italy, Martin Chuzzelwit, A Christmas Carol and (of course) A Tale of Two Cities.

I didn’t plan on a rendezvous with any particular event, but the odd fact is that 2012 will be the 200th anniversary of Dickens’ birth. It’s a nice way to celebrate one of my favorite authors.

Here are a couple of pages from “A Small Tyranny” (taken from the first chapter of Martin Chuzzelwit)

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO AGAWAM

July 16, 1982 was a ridiculously hot day.

 I got in my car to travel to a small independent church (I don’t have any record of the name). I had talked to the Pastor on the phone and worked out the date and all the particulars. When I got there I found that they weren’t expecting me…at all. They had no idea who I was. The Pastor had no recollection of our conversation. I was about 250 miles from home, and it was about 105 degrees.

Well, they let me play two songs during their evening service (instead of a full concert), and sent me on down the road with $25 in my pocket. I had also booked a coffeehouse called the Lighthouse (!!!!) in Windsor Locks, Connecticut for the next day. They were expecting me and sent me back home with an extra $50 in my pocket.

In 1982, the price of a gallon of gas was around $1.30, which still put a strain on that $75 I made.

Sometimes you take a ride on The Road, and sometimes the Road takes you for a ride.

I look back at things like this (oh, don’t think for a second that this was an isolated event), and I get this strange bittersweet feeling. I laugh because the alternative is too emotionally draining, even after all these years.

The bare bones fact is this: everything that I’ve experienced has helped to get me where I am, and make me who I am - today; and I like where I am, and who I am, today.

Sidebar: as soon as I get the arrangement worked up again, I will be posting a performance of “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” on Youtube.