Love Conquers 2004

I’ve been buggin’ since I haven’t finished any new tunes since last November. Finally I added two more verses to Love Conquers All.

I wrote this little ditty for last year’s Valentine’s Ecard, but I could never write it to its fitting artistic conclusion without the right inspiration-or desperation. But hey, just wait a year, young songster; then you’ll have plenty more axe to grind. And voila. Three minutes, but a narrowband friendly 1.7 Meg.

The mix is a bit shabby, so is the orchestration, but hey, it’s all in a day’s work. I had to do away with the on-the-fly fx and automation because it overtaxed my little compy in the rendering to mp3.

But it has some nice open D bottleneck action, and the empty bottles are back. It was tough drinking four beers at once at different rates to get that pentatonic scale right.

I bought a Pummice-like sponge today.
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Last weekend marks the 40th aniversary of the Beatles’ arrival in the states. Not super newsworthy but it makes feelgood copy and it’s a great excuse to push the brand down our throats.
But that’s okay; who doesn’t love the Beatles? Probably the same people who pull wings off of flies and takes candy from babies, that’s who.

Here is some nice multimedia about those early Beatle days. They look so young, like little babies. Around five minutes into the first interview section (is that Cmdr Riker in the background?) we get to hear an early take with Pete Best at the kit. And yes, he was a lizzard.

I could not hardly make heads or tails of
This.
But I know at least two New Zealand vegetarians and one guy who always yells Hare Krishna everywhere we go. Their comments are welcomed.

The recent winter storms back in the states have made last weekend a sad one for me.

Dr Kurt and Mamie Jeter, both church youth counselors years back when I had great times at the Franklin 1st United Methodist, have lost their daughter, Katie. She was killed in a car accident two days ago on a college road trip. Katie was 19, about the age of some of my younger students at the University of Dresden.

I must admit, I hardly remember little Katie. The most time I spent with her was when I was about thirteen or so. She could not yet talk at that time. I used to ask her, “did you see what Katy did?” Katydids are these grasshopper-like bugs we have back home, also there was a fairy tale called “what Katy Did”, so I thought it funny at the time.

I am pretty sure that at least one or two times I said to her as she was just a babe, “you is one ugly baby!” in this crazy voice. She found that funny, regardless of whether or not she understood what I said; she was a basket of sunshine. I thought she was absolutely adorable.

Mamie, Kurt, I’ve sat and I’ve counted how many friends and family I’ve lost in my life; it took almost the both of two hands. But no loss is greater than to not die before your own children. It is a sorrow I cannot fathom, and I cannot provide any words as salve to your pains.

I bid you grieve to the fullest. It is your right. And then at somepoint remember that you are still alive.
Then walk on.
That your footfall be divine verse.

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cough cough cough.

Beer plus microscopes equals art.

Lord Bishops Rocks Dresden with Lordly-yet-Bishoply Sex Rock. When you’re a lord and a bishop, you’ve got two whole estates covered. You have serfs, a nice fiefdom, vassals, but you can also move diagonally, sell indulgences, and move for excomunication. Throw in a zebra-striped fez, some metal, and a dollop of sex, and you have a Lord Bishop show.

The two opening bands, Projekt Plazebo and Dosenbier, both rendered a good draw. D-bier more than P-P, which is why they played second. That was kind of a shame. In my opinion, Projekt Plazebo was ten times better than Dosenbier (which, by the way, means beer-in-cans).

PP had a much more compelling sound. The odds are against them. The singer looks like one of the guys from Blankton Forschung, a local hiphop act, and the drummer looks like a bemohawked Billy Bragg. So they looked scuzzy. What’s more, their band name sucks. There already is a well known punk act called Placebo, with an androgynous vocalist who sounds like Geddy Lee. But their music was melodic and interesting, and the vocals were musical and merited attention.

Dbier, on the other hand, sounded mundane and trite. They rocked out sloppy unimaginative punk riffs and bl?dly blared out hack lyrics extolling the virtues of cheap Felsenkeller beer (in a can, of course) and drinking beer out of cans. Reads: Die ?rtze likes beer.
Their one redeeming value, in this context at least, was that they sang in German. So I guess they connected with their fans, seeing as they are German and stuff.

Well, it has been two and a half years since I played drums for LB and then parted on bad terms, but I cannot deny it was a daisy to see the old lad again. Yep, I was not the only ex-drummer there. Gero showed up, as did our drummer from Dude Dude Chick.
I must admit, as chaotic and unsound as it was to hit the road w/ LB, right on the first downstroke that old bug bit me and I remembered exactly what a blast it was to crank out them beats to such rocking hits as “You Got a Great Ass”. Free booze, awfully friendly gals, no money, car breakdowns, barfights, nights in jail… It brought tears to my eyes.

I got some scans too, so click
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Singing boosts your immune system. No surprise there. Why, I shudder to think what shape I’d be in without Dude Dude Chick.

Whew. That was an ordeal. But now I am back online. And man, was I ever a-jonesin’.