"A Whole Day Off"

A Whole Day Off

1:  Vladivostok Girls                        31:24
2:  Palatine                                      79:37
3:  Music with Changing Stuff          72:41
4:  The Tilapia's Dream                   62:01
5:  The Crystallized Delusion           79:02
Total Time  5:25:29
All selections composed, arranged, performed, recorded, manipulated, treated and produced by Oenyaw.  Recorded July -November, 2005.  Equipment and software used: Epiphone Sheraton, DanElectro Black Licorace Distortion, Morley Volume Pedal, Line 6 Modulation Modeler, Line 6 Delay Modeler, Lexicon Omega Desktop Recording Studio, E Machines T2542 Computer (RAM upgrade 768), Cubase LE, Polderbits Sound Editor, All Audio Converter V1.50, Windows XP.
The cover photograph was taken by Carol Higgins.  We were in Pompeii the week after Christmas.   The ruins of Pompeii are populated with stray dogs that merely hang out while visitors and locals feed and take care of them, but I actually believe that the dogs couldn't care less about the annoying humans.

Vladivostok Girls
Communist Party was a band that never existed, never got past the planning/writing stage. Songs such as "Serfs Up!", "March Around The Square", "Ivan B. Goode", "Do The Trotsky", and "Vladivostok Girls" were never performed. This is not the original version, but a homage to a humorous idea which never materialized. The vision of a black and white filmed video of a teen dance show, with couples dressed in military uniforms, fatigues and work clothes. As the video come to the end, the camera pans back, showing the entire set and a backdrop of Eisenhower, Kruschev and Mao-tse Tung on a grey wall. The entire idea stems from a scene in the Porgy and Mudhead movie, High School Madness, whereas the rival high school is named Communist Martyrs High.

Palatine
An aural painting of Palatine, one of the seven hills of Rome, a personal favorite place. I find it hard to describe in words, so the attempt is through the music.

Music with Changing Stuff
A tribute to one of my favorite composers, Phillip Glass. Five movements based on minimalist themes. The process of recording and mixing developed into an attempt make the guitars sound like other instruments, and then returning to guitar sounds.

The Tilapia's Dream
Based on a discussion on the subject of fish contemplating their existence in a finite world, or a universe with a ceiling. What is the fish's view the water surface? I have been told that fish aren't capable of such complicated reasoning. My reply is that humans are not capable of time travel, have never come back from death, nor have they ever met their respective superior creators, yet we write about these subjects quite often.

The Crystallized Delusion 
A term in clinical schizophrenia which refers to an elaborate delusion or hallucination which remains consistent over a long period of time. This is also a construction piece. The tracks are made up of loops of note patterns which are the same played backwards and forwards, or musical palindromes. The loops are recorded, reversed, and then mixed together to create the delusions of a mixture of instruments which do not exist.
All selections copyright 2005 David Wayne Higgins.

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