Saturday, December 19, 2015

Still here.

From the numbers of people viewing the blog, maybe I should do a tour of Russia and China.  I haven't written for a while, working new job, in a completely new universe.  The paychecks are a bit smaller, but the conditions beyond anything I've ever experienced.  Not to mention actually having weekends and holidays for the first time in over ten years.
In the music department, many changes.  I've recorded two discs worth of material that I'm about to completely redo.  I've been studying Joni Mitchell, guitar tuning and playing technique, the tracks are sounding different, of course.  What I enjoy most about music is that I always have more to learn.  A friend, of whom I consider to be s better musician recently stated that he was "still trying to learn how to play guitar".  I feel the same way.  With the intervention of revelations like Cmaj9th tunings, it's like opening a door to a big room, where every step I take brings about more light.
The website is coming along, slowly, but coming.  Dave has taken over again, and having to learn what was done while working a job where he is training employees as well as raising a new daughter.  Kudos to him for everything.
I do have a reason to start playing gigs. I need the money to buy few new guitars.  I'm looking at a 9-string Schecter, an Italia electric sitar/guitar, and a fretless electric.  I refuse to use 'bill money", so gigs may be coming, which can only have a positive impact.
Ta ta for now.

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

A new life

This year has been unbelievable.  A major illness, a new career, a catastrophic event in the home which has totally changed the way I live, and a very interesting change in the demographics of Oenyaw.  A year ago, I would have probably been able to accept a prediction of these events, while not have been able to predict them myself or provide details.  I will say I have become stronger physically and emotionally due to the changes, and that I'm looking forward for all that may happen next.
I only give details on Oenyaw on the blog, so I'll attempt to explain what is happening without even trying to figure out how things are going the direction at present.  There seems to be a significant change in who, or the location of who, is listening.  After years of an Oenyaw audience being five to ten friends listening with two to five others in the world checking it out, I now find myself being followed by a much larger group of people in southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia.  I find myself looking up cities that I never knew existed to get an idea where they are.  There's a smaller number in India and Africa, but the change has led me to the equator, for the most part.  Another stunning (from an ignorant American point of view) aspect of this new demographic lies in the realization that many of them are Islamic. They seem to be a very loving group of people, which is getting more and more difficult to find in this country.
In conclusion, I welcome this with an ecstatic feeling, knowing that my music is being accepted by a group that I never would have thought to have been interested, much less accepting and (hopefully) understanding what I'm trying to accomplish as Oenyaw.  I only hope it continues (and escillates).
BTW, album 41 is complete, I just need titles.

Monday, August 31, 2015

Oenyaw rebuild

I've started a project of recovering all the Oenyaw music data files, then saving them as wav files, as opposed to only mp3 files at 256kbs.  It's a mountain, but moving along rather quickly, or quicker than I thought it would.  There have been a few surprises.  Such as there are numerous tracks that were actually one take mono recordings.  It didn't remember that "A Quiet Evening With a Few Friends" was recorded in three sessions.  Some of the tracks are requiring multiple increases in gain, while others are do loud that it blows the headphones off of my head and takes a while to recover.  I'm planning on putting the tracks on clouds, sending to internet radio stations, ect.  Any and all suggestions will be appreciated.  Thanks.

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Five new discs

There are five discs that haven't made it to the site yet.  "Drawings From the Ancient Gallery" contains tracks using various methods (guitar, midi, synthesizers, percussion software).  Tracks are "based" on poems by William Blake.  "Conversations With Apollo", "A Charming Evening's End", " Music for Colonoscopy Preparation ", and " Elements of Involuntary Memory" are exclusively electric guitar.  I am presently preparing for something new, and will write more when it's all up.

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Typee

A musical interpretation of Herman Melville's novel.  Odd coincidence is that there are 35 chapters in the novel, and that this was my 35th disc.  I attempted many different versions, the final is 35 named tracks, which will hopefully make it on the site someday.  It's all electric guitar, by the way.

Conspiracy Therapy

I recorded this one while finding short wave tracks for the Mortician.  It's a lot of noise, but what the heck.  I had to use it somewhere.  Call it a psychology experiment.

Waiting for the Mortician (... or someone like him) Open Mic Night at the Vogon Poetry Club

The title is a mouthful.  It's my tribute album. I have mentioned before that my favorite Beatles song is "Revolution #9", I have numerous references to Douglas Adams and The Firesign Theater, and a long standing love for " Bullwinkle and Rocky", so here it is.  The title is a dead rip from "Waiting for the Electrician(...)", and then there's the idea of a night club on a different Planet where Vogon Poetry is featured.  The voices throughout are backwards tracks from radio broadcasts (shortwave, AM & FM), as well as a speach by President Obama.  Their were initially over 50 tracks, which were combined for obvious reasons.  Many of the tracks titles are from various sections of " The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy ", with a few different titles, one is the only line ever used by both Firesign Theater and Monty Python's Flying Circus, one then there's "Revolution #9" backwards.
The overall idea stems from too many weird gigs, including walking into a corner bar and finding a dysfunctional group of people on stage arguing and playing.  I would be hard pressed to describe how I did this one.  I would have to go section by section of each track to figure it out.  I consider this to be the Oenyaw comedy album, laid out like an all night musical play.  I really enjoyed making it, and still laugh while listening.  It, too, is being repaired.

Excuse Me While I Talk To God

There is only one way to describe this one, a sound track for an impossible movie.  The tracks are quite different than any other Oenyaw disc, so I'll describe them separately.  I did the disc as a movie soundtrack, but the usual Oenyaw occurance is the tracks become quite long.
  "Opening Titles", " Happy in the Afternoon ", " Virtual String Quartet", " Ending Credits"  composed using Finale, transfered as midi file, played by computer
  "Ignition", " Spell for Manufacture and Use of Magic Carpet":  Electric guitar
  "Chaise Lounge Cha Cha Cha", " So Much Work for Such Frivolous Results", "Conjuration of the Bats":  Percussion using Beatcraft software and electric guitar.
  "Our Lady Babylon and the Beast Whereon She Rideth":  the percussion track was a straight 4\4 rock track that I could not do anything with, what sounds like a synthesizer is electric guitar, and the two piano tracks is actually one tracked sliced and diced and rearranged, then presented as electric and acoustic pianos.
  I'll have to continue this later, because I'm in a coffee shop, so I don't have access to the disc, and the website is in the process of repair.
  The cover is a photo I took while driving from St. Petersburg to my home in Greenville.  It looked like one cloud was hiding something while looking over it's shoulder while the other was attacking with outstretched arms.  The title is a cynical remark I would think anytime a person would tell everyone to bow their heads in prayer.  Overall, it's arranged as a movie, which would cover the inner conflicts of growing up in a religious family, leaving home, and exploring other religions, only to find that the they are all the same.

Back with the remaining information.  A few of the tracks were completed using free as synthesizer software downloaded a few years ago.  "Pleasantly Awoken", "From Greenland's Icy Mountains", "Anabiel Sparkles", "Posture and Discipline", " Sebalim", and "The Alchemist Supreme" were all of this method.  "So Much Work for Such Frivolous Results" uses synthesizer, percussion software, guitar and bass.


Wednesday, August 5, 2015

A Life in a Day

This is a twenty-four hour piece.  I wanted to make a statement.  Something that describes how boring everyday life is.  Each disc is six hours, and combined work is twenty-four hours.  The first part is divided into two, I could figure out how to join them.  The remaining three parts are six hours each.
Part 1:  Persistence (What ever it takes)
Part 2:  Solitude (The Polar Bear within)
Part 3:  Stress (Dealing with it)
Part 4:  Simplicity (All that matters is)

All I can say is that it worked for me.  I considered editing/changing part three because it stressed me out listening to it.  Then I realized the name and theme and thought "!".  I stopped there.

A Quiet Evening With A Few Friends

Yes, I'm going to finally update this monster.  Two or three years behind.  I've been busy.  Changing careers, ect.  Now looking for gigs, ect.  On with the show!
Overall theme is a dinner party with an assortment of characters from literary works.

Arrival. Short piece, (4:31).  Distorted guitar.  I was going for the feeling Popul Vuh got in "Nosferatu" when the carriage arrives at the castle.

Ayesha.  (15:36). Guitar loop, describing the young woman in "The Satanic Verses."

Conger. (7:42). A character from Phillip K. Dick's story "The Skull".  I consider this to be the best time travel story ever written.  A very laid back piece.

Zira. (23:04). The ape scientist in "The Planet of the Apes." Performed on bass guitar.

Billy Pilgrim. (49:32). The main character in Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five".  A lovely theme for a wonderful book.

Rheya. (7:12). More bass guitar.  The wife that appears in "Solaris".

Bartleby. (38:17). Herman Melville's short story " Bartleby, the Scrivener".  Withdrawn and isolated.

Margaret Walton Saville.  (54:11). The sister of Robert Walton, of course.  From "Frankenstein".  As close to the emotions of the letters I could come.

Moon-Watcher.  (42:53). The ape in " 2001:  A Space Odyssey".  More on the Zira-based bass theme.

The Round Table. (1:20:15). A very long, quite circle of fifths.  The dinner music for this precarious group.  I hope to redo this theme sometime in the future.

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Back again

It only took a week to figure out how to write new posts on the phone.  While on the phone or tablet, I am automatically logged in on my Google account. I have to go incognito to log in otherwise.  Kind of symbolic, I guess.
I have recorded a number of discs that have never been mentioned on this blog.  The computer at home has a dial-up connection, and keeps telling me to update the browser.  When I attempt that, it tells me it's already updated.  Needless to say, I'm way behind.  I won't be able to post the covers, but they are on the music site.
I also have a bit more spare time, which I can't really explain right now.  If you are reading this in North America, Russia, Europe, Asia, or wherever you are, sit tight.  Information is forthcoming.

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Oenyaw and the modern world

I'm using my tablet for the first time, getting use to the keyboard. I plan on working on the website.  That's it for now. More later when I get more familiar with this thing.  I seem to be getting more views now.  Please respond.

Sunday, June 28, 2015

working on #40

So, I'm thinking.  I need to start playing gigs again.  I wonder if anyone is really looking at the website.  I wonder if the music is being listened to.  I'm thinking of renaming everything.As you can see, I'm really bored.  Feedback, please.

Saturday, May 30, 2015

#39

Quoting two LA rockers from the early 80's:  David Lee Roth "I hear all these songs about falling in love and falling out of love, so I decided to write a song about robbing a liquor store"; Frank Zappa "One can be assured that a love song will be much more popular than a song about celery".  Arlo Guthrie has compared song writing to fishing.  Some you catch, some get away, and some you wish you had let go.  Finally, Holst said "Never compose anything until you can not compose it".
 To me, art is about being creative.  Creativity relies on the intent of the creator.  If an artist creates something new, that the artist has never seen, heard or heard of, then it is art.  Creating something new van take years, or minutes, depending on the inspiration and perseverance of the artist.  There are no limits to creativity other than the restrictions placed on the artist from within the mind of the artist.  Inspirations can come from any source.  Books, movies, events, interpersonal relationships, bad days, food, ect.
I have recently become ill, and I am in need of a certain medical procedure.  It's an interesting procedure that I will be asleep for, and will find out what is next on the agenda after the all of the results are in.  As far as the procedure, it takes one day at home to prepare for it.  So in the name of artistic creativity, I decided to do a piece of music for it. "Music to accompany a colonoscopy prep" is almost complete.

#38 title

I have titles for all of the tracks.  I can't decide on the album title.  I don't know if it will be "Someday you just won't wake up", "A Portrait of Death" or "Sore Loser at Ping Pong.". Suggestions or comments are appreciated.

Friday, May 22, 2015

Someday you just won't wake up

I'm finally finished with disc #38.  Seven months.  I haven't spent this much time on one disc since I began Oenyaw ten years ago.  18 tracks, the theme, as the title states, is a humorous side of dying.  Ironically, I have been sick the entire time I've been working on this disc.  It took a long time to come up with the titles, and I was looking at a DVD of a movie, and the scene titles fit perfectly.  I cut a few tracks out, added a few more, edited half the tracks, I didn't think it would end.  I need to catch up on putting the covers and tracks up soon.  Late night, so TTFN.

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Sunday

Much to do.  Finish #38.  Work on work.  Can I do an album tomorrow?  Challenge!

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

TV 2015

I hate television.  I'm not kidding.  I stopped watching tv 40 years ago and I've enjoyed every minute of it.  When I travel, I'm in a hotel room, it's the only thing I have to occupy my time, and usually after two days, I'm happy I stopped so long ago.  The weird thing about it is that the most of the programming has never changed.  It's no wonder that the country is brain dead.  I'm going to read another book.  Goodnight.  BTW, o would really like to know who in Turkey, France, Poland and China are reading this.  Please leave a comment sometime.

Monday, May 4, 2015

OMG!!!

I just realized that I haven't written about any of my music for nearly two years.  Strangely enough, but no surprise, this coincides with when I began my career as a dietary manager.  I've got a lot of catching up to do.  On the Oenaw site, http://Oenyaw.net, there are four more albums.  "Excuse Me While I Talk To God", "Waiting For The Mortician, Or Someone Like Him" (subtitled "Open Mic Night at the Vogoon Poetry Club"), "Conspiracy Therapy", and "Typee".  The website was redone by Jeremy Tyre, of whom I can't express my appreciation and gratitude enough.  "Excuse me..." is what I called a soundtrack for an impossible movie.  Not the traditional Oenyaw. Midi compositions, synthesizers, drum tracks, ext.  "Waiting..." goes even further, containing short wave radio transmissions, samples, different instruments and even a speach by fearless leader.  "Conspiracy Therapy" is 8 hours of noise, short wave radio leftovers I couldn't help but doing something with.  "Typee" is traditional Oenyaw, based on the Herman Melville novel.
There are three more that haven't made it to the site yet. "Visions from the Ancient Gallery" contains more synth and midi's and is roughly correlated with William Blake poetry.  "Conversations With Apollo", is traditionally Oenyaw as well as the newly finished and for some reason incredibly difficult to finish #38 which still doesn't have a title.  I've considered many humorous variations about death, but it just doesn't seem to be working.  Maybe I should consider  rebirth as a theme instead.

Here I go again

 I may be taking Oenyaw to the next level.   I saw The Who last week for the first time.  I was watching Pete Townsend play guitar and thought "Anyone who thinks they can do that is an arrogant, disillusioned idiot.".  This is after seeing Paul McCartney in October.  Last night, the ultimate view of rock'n'roll, a TV commercial with Ringo Starr selling shoes.
I read a book a couple of years ago which stated that the term "rock" as in you rock me, as well as "rock and roll" was synonymous with the word "fuck".  This means that every time you see a slogan with the term rock, you can replace it with the word fuck, and  it doesn't change anything.  So, "old people rock", "kids rock", "Jesus rocks", "conservative republicans who attend mega churches and hate gays lesbians blacks Hispanics advocate the sale of handguns and purposefully run over turtles crossing the road rock" can be changed to say, well, you get the idea.
All this brings me to an exciting way to begin marketing Oenyaw, or I should say myself, is the proud proclamation "Oenyaw doesn't rock."  I woke up this morning, ate my breakfast, watched some educational show with some guy singing a rocking song about going barefoot, "Let your feet be free" and thought "enough."
Basically, after  finishing my 38th mega album (the term I am now using for my mp3 discs), is that it's time Oenyaw came out of the closet.
If you are reading this, please respond.