The Bad Joke Fish strikes again

Making his presence known by incredibly annoying fits of high pitched squeaking, the tiny rodent who disrupted an entire state fair by inhaling the helium out of the kids’ balloons became known as: Deflater Mouse...

Facebook message to Kerryn Tredrea (Australian poet)

Kerryn,

Before signing off for the evening, a few thoughts are passing through my head and moving in your direction- perhaps you can see from this project how I go about putting together a song. I love doing this more than pretty much anything (aside from practicing and playing the guitar which I'm pretty good at). I would do it for days on end "but for the work I've taken on (Joni Mitchell, Free Man in Paris)." It would be fun if I produced something that became viral but I'm not expecting wealth or fame to ensue- I will be 62 years old in July and it would be a miracle if I ever break even monetarily. However, in the past few years I've started to take the concept of "the Muse" more seriously. For one thing, she made me write a novel, a project that was not on my to do list. And, in truth, I've had a lot more opportunities to play and do creative music in the past few years than I would have thought likely when I turned 50, so who knows what else may happen? But the clock is ticking and we don't have unlimited time. I tell myself, "Whatever you're going to do, you'd better go ahead and do it!"

So once I have a musical idea, I start recording different parts, guitar, bass, vocal and drum loops (I play everything except drums on these things and I pick the beat from a library of grooves. Some of my friends tell me my use of percussion is boring but it's the best I can do without a talented human drummer with lots of free time over to my house. One can edit the drum loops which I do sometimes but I'm pretty happy with a strong and repetitive percussion groove.)

As with our joint venture poem/songs, I don't try to put the whole song together at first, just get beginnings and verses and choruses or some hot guitar riffs recorded. Sometimes I envision the whole structure at the front end but often I leave that question open. I listen to the recordings over and over as build up the parts. I can copy and repeat parts in different sections of the song, which saves a lot of time (although all of this is mentally labor intensive.) I also clean up the music electronically by dragging parts around to get them aligned neatly with the beat where they're supposed to go (so I don't have to worry about playing things perfectly). I'll often replace a "bad" note with a "good" note from somewhere else in the song. Over time, I'll 'hear' additional ideas and will try them out. I'll replace parts that don't have good tone quality with redos to make them stronger.I've been doing this for about 6 years now, so I've developed a set of skills. Even so, I'm a fairly crude sound engineer compared to professionals and a lot of amateurs who dig deeply into the technology. My strength is I'm creative and play passionately. And smart and literate, of course, just the facts, Ma'am, as Sgt. Joe Friday used to say on Dragnet.

But those are your strengths, too. I don't think your songs are too complex. I listened to a lot of Bob Dylan coming up. It's OK if a song is very simple but it doesn't have to be, does it? I like complex words juxtaposed against an insistent groove. Your poetry is real and exciting, it's great to work with- I hope you'll just continue to write what you feel. Trust the Muse. I believe all criticism is arbitrary; my opinions, and I do have them, are products of my wiring and experience. They have some kind of foundation and internal coherence but they aren't right and wrong. But in my opinion, you are a terrific writer. I also think you're an outstanding human being, yes, you are, you can deny it, but it's true. You're quite an interesting person, Ms. Lash, you probably think you're a mess and don't realize the degree to which you stand out in terms of courage, moral integrity, compassion, intelligence, cheekiness, honesty and humorous artistic eccentricity. I'm an introvert and after a long day of focusing on the people who consult me professionally, I'm picky about who I engage with beyond superficial hanging out: Congratulations, you've made the cut (go ahead and throw something). Lucky you, I've started writing a little about how I create and record music and ended up delivering a speech haha.

Anyway, I wish I had more time to work on singing- I've improved and I know how I could get better, but Time is always our Nemesis, no?

Regards,

Owen

Banana sandwiches

Peanut butter and bananas is a southern US tradition. My mother, Virginia R Scott, used to make sandwiches of peanut butter, bananas and white bread. I also liked bananas on white bread with mayonnaise! But I stopped consuming mayo many years ago. Another snack was made by slicing a banana into two pieces (the long way) and putting peanut butter in between the slices.

"Why do you play music?" Linked In Guitar Players group thread comment

"Without music, life would be a mistake"- Friedrich Nietzsche.

As a kid, I loved the sound of the guitar, especially electric guitar, and I couldn't think of any other acceptable way to make a living besides playing the guitar. Eventually, I became discouraged and came up with one alternative career, being a psychologist/therapist. After a very long hiatus from playing, I rediscovered my passion in 2005 and began practicing diligently. To my surprise, the things I've learned as an adult took me past the barriers of my youth. I've kept on improving and I have no intention of ever slacking off as long as I'm still breathing. Thanks for asking.

In other words,

we're all ants. We're all Sisyphus. But it's not about getting the ball to the top of the hill and making it stay there. It's about being engaged in pushing and watching it roll back down.

Life is what happens when you engage with it

The human world is a vast, dynamic network of people living out their lives. Everyone has a small part to play in keeping the ball rolling.

I'm my own viewer

A clear example of hiding in plain sight.