Song Begat Song

The-Breeders-2017-1506960535-640x360a few days ago i heard a song by the breeders (above) called wait in the car. the sparse use of chords & unison styled vocals motivated me to write a similar type of song so i could record it with my beep goes the weasel bandmate: angie wolford. our song is called all work and no play. it’s a little slower, but we had fun recording it.

You’re Old Enough Now

reptiledysfunctionhappy birthday chloé! 15 years ago, one of our friends got me a collection of old photos with really inappropriate captions for my birthday. mikwright.com puts all of these images in books & on napkins & various other products. i know chloé will always be a little girl to her parents, but then i thought to myself “she’s old enough now,” and just wanted to share the same joy that someone shared with me on my birthday! the above image is courtesy of mikwright.com.

Motel Mancini… It’s A Band!

hazelwell the carpets are clean, beds are made, the drapes are dusted, and there are plenty of towels. that means motel mancini is almost ready to turn on the VACANCY sign at homer’s! what is motel mancini you ask? it’s not actually a motel– it’s an acoustic trio made up of myself, chris mull, and clay vinyard. together we’re gonna play originals and covers that you may not remember right away, but after awhile you might go “oh yeah! wait, hold on… who did this?” we’ll dim the lights & grab our guitars june 9 (that’s a saturday) 7:30pm at homer’s coffeehouse. mark it on your calendars now!

Tools Of The Trade

tradetoolsi had a few hours to myself tuesday night, so i got out some gear to work on a song. i started out with the rock-1 pattern on the casio VL-TONE. things got progressively weirder with each track i put down. the last thing i added was an insanely high falsetto effect using the roland voice transformer. i sound like a woman in the 1930′s who is trapped in the jungle.

Pea Coat Buddies

2in1christy dropped by homer’s monday. it was below freezing, and i realized we were both wearing navy style pea coats! when i asked chloé to take our picture, christy turned to check on her 4-year-old son. he was unusually quiet right at that moment, and that’s when the mischief typically starts.

Easter 2018

solidendurostime, life, and circumstance were stacked against us, but matt hawkins, me, josh fairman, and tommy wooldridge finally played together as the enduros easter sunday at overland park lutheran. the church was going through serious changes two years ago, including some departures and arrivals in wailin’ wall. that was the name of the worship band i’d been playing in since 2009. those of us that stayed around thought it would be cool to change the name to the enduros. easter morning we played:
Come On Up To The House
Let My Love Open The Door
Because He Lives Amen
I’m Gonna Sit At The Welcome Table
Ain’t No Grave

Egon, Peter, Ray, and Me

meandtheghostbustersdie hard ghostbusters fans will take notice of symmetrical book stacking and say, “just like the philadelphia mass turbulence of 1947!” - yeah, that’s a line from the movie. i made a kamikaze trip to 1984 in springfield yesterday. i indulged myself and played old games like elevator action, omega race, sinistar, and mappy– and those were just the games in the basement! there was also the ghostbusters room where slimed books were stacked, threats were painted on the door, and a scary ghost appeared in the mirror if you rang for a desk attendant.focused michael and reecemichael geeding and his girlfriend reece showed up after i’d been there for a couple of hours, and we scored pretty good on our favorite games. i’ve known michael’s parents since high school, so he sort of feels like my own kid.

Peanuts In Polyester

disco-snoopy-1978-1oh boy. here’s another page from 2 warps to neptune. as i was scrolling past a buck rogers night light & marc bolan pictures, i literally laughed out loud when i saw snoopy dressed like john travolta. i remember colorforms. i think my folks might have even got a box of them for me and my sister– not the disco set! i would have been too old to play with that one in 1978. i was too busy growing my hair over the top of my ears.

The Wisdom I Never Knew

kirksguidetowomeni was cleaning the lounge before mom & jim’s recent visit a couple of weeks ago, and found this book under the futon. i remember that it was an impulse buy at a local half price book store. there is a ton of space related metaphors & puns in this thing, but there’s also some insight: on page 18 the author claims that kirk “follows four guiding stars:
1) always say yes
2) awaken her passion
3) care for your exes
4) increase her self esteem”

aye captain!

Chloé & Elton

chloeandeltonthanks to chloé, kismet, and an 80′s songbook i heard an elton john tune that i never knew existed– chloe. it appears to be a fan favorite with 200 thumbs up and only 6 thumbs down on youtube. we watched the music video on my phone during a lull at homer’s. the morning was sufficiently twisted afterward.