Preface
"You compose. You perform. Your own music. Other music. You hear it. You think it. You imagine its being heard by receiving others. What others hear is indisputably the outcome of what you do - but what is your relation to their experience? Is it to imagine what it will be? To desire it to be a certain way? To enforce what it is? In different episodes, don't you yourself as receiver register your own output differently? Sometimes as cognition, as a syntactical/structural 'understanding'; sometimes as perception, a semantic identification; sometimes as a determinate feel to which no abstract signifier applies: experience as itself, an indivisible, internally absolute but externally indefinitive holistic ontological blob?"
- Benjamin Boretz - "inside in, outside out"
from "inside in . . . / . . . outside out" Open Space Publications, 2020
Texts
From Recent Arrivals
January 28, 2022
Silly Boy Blue - David Bowie [from Toy]
lifted by balloon
though
of waxfeathered wings
waxy wings
with feathers
feathered waxwings
Bombycillidae
Silly
Day Bomby
(Icarus)
I Don't Want to Throw Rice - Dolly Parton [from Hello, I'm Dolly]
clever album title Ms. Parton
fascinatingly violent image
throwing rocks at the bride
dynamite!
yikes!
Three Roses - Florence Price - Lara Downes [from Florence Price Piano Discoveries]
something like a Duke Ellington song
but without that swing
certainly has that salon piece warmth to it
how the chords fit in
the hands
sophisticated conservatism
in the stylistic not
political sense
or Chopin to Price to Ellington
specifically in
the way her melodies are presented (sometimes) as though they had been taken
apart and glued back together
With Douglas Ewart - George Lewis [from Rainbow Family]
electric sounds behave like a puppet of the saxophone
but one that is
more nearly worn than manipulated
like the orchestra vis a vis the
voices in Pelleas et Melisande
Recorded
January 22, 2022
Sidewalk Blues (Take 3) - Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers [from Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers - Chicago Days]
one imagines a whole act worked out for this
a show
orchestra
inventing showbiz
Stardust - Art Tatum [from Classic Early Solos]
turns everything into his trick
Soon in the Mornin'- Sid Hemphill [from Allen Lowe's Turn Me Loose White Man]
how the fiddle and banjo parts fit together is not clear
until you pay
close attention
the words part only shows up in bursts
a song
ripped from life
not sequestered into a nicely formed bundle
Meandering - Charlie Parker [from The Complete Savoy and Dial Sessions]
an ample meter for elbow room
stops in middle
You Go To My Head - Bob Graettinger, Stan Kenton [from Allen Lowe's Turn Me Loose White Man]
that is one crazy reed arrangement to get it going
like a stiff headwind
wild
That'll Be The Day - Buddy Holly and The Crickets [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
how many times does he say
that'll be the day
many
Ain't Nothing Shakin' - The Beatles [from First Live Recordings Volume 2]
brief as punk
the roar of them
liquefaction of the room
Bonnie Kellswater - The Irish Rovers [from The Unicorn]
a traditional song made stage ready
scrubbed and shiny
Don't Worry Kyoko - John Lennon and Yoko Ono [from Live Jam]
loose tuning and Yoko yelling
the band is a megaphone
making noise
is its purpose
frustration expulsion
as long as evacuation is
accomplished
function is fulfilled
any other qualities are
extraneous
the band
being pros of the business
can't no how
let go their knowhow
jamshred notwithstanding
everybody says
make more din
than everybody
as for Yoko
well she
found a way to try to get a message to her daughter
seems like a
reasonable use of her time
Serpentine Fire - Earth, Wind & Fire [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
big band funk
funk ain't punk
funk is invested in professionalism
one imagines gyration ready costumes
for go go
Second Movement - Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [from A Cassette Player]
two pianos pounded upon
Just Sit - The Young Fresh Fellows [from The Men Who Loved Music]
shred band and a reported dialog
I said she said I said
men song
men get
last word
Banned Rehearsal 307 - John E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Key [October 9, 1992]
dijeridus and cow bell
John is amused
a shaker
a tattap drum
tin cans with nylon lids
Toad Hall
dijeridu duo
only
competent in part
but sounding
new regime
piano twiddles and
whistle
have a nice brisk walk with drum
The Trumpeter in the Moon
a scary story
told in hushes
time all of it
we have
only that of it
that consciousness can experience
forever emptying
forever filling
but since consciousness invented time
it has
power to reshape it
at will
but only to the extent
that
consciousness
can experience it
music is the means
sounds full of dark quiet colors
qualities of nervous energy
dance
with other qualities of nervous energy
the dus are back
now many have wandered off
probably into the
virtual kitchen
the sound stopped
then a flute peeped
we're
back
calendars are a form of written music
it is not socially acceptable at all
to chew on microphone cables
a sonically engaging easy going social session
with toys and dus
John fusses in another room
bell time
Kuru the Cat
Trumpeter of the Moon
metaphysics
my journal entry of May 1, 1995 |
My Excuse Is All but Classic - Artist Not Listed [a Rescued Record]
bar braggadocio
talk cool
be
talk brags
cool
actually pretty entertaining
Diapsalmata - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded live at University Temple United Methodist Church on February 23, 2002]
its subject matter
is the quest to forge a new sense of the lyrical
while still recalling the old
in this new mind
minor 9ths are sentinels
music boxes
and algorithms
January 24, 2022
Mano a Mano - Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez - Cristina Valdés [recorded from her live stream on May 5, 2021]
1
drums of a type pitched cumulant
2
infiltration tracing veins underground mycology moves out
3
these are squirrels
nervous ground foragers
4
early one morning
a single ripple
a stern command
a
quiet response
5
otters! bears! big splash!
I'm here now
so peaceful
ah
Gradus 210 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [April 16, 2012]
proximity
number quantity-count
these divide experience
parts from other parts
circumscribing moments
quantity
proliferated beyond immediate apprehension
into many moves
through episode
into character
or presence
too many to count
and too many to apprehend
are different sorts of
numbers
Earplug Girl - Alone in Dead Bars (John Maiello) [recorded live at Victory Lounge on April 27, 2017]
gave me a really bad hug?
Magnuson Park 220116 - Keith Eisenbrey [January 16, 2022]
I thought I had lost this recording
made on my pocket computer
but
a search later in the week revealed its hiding place
great frogs in a
wetland area in Magnuson Park Seattle
Chi farà fede el cielo, Fvb 78 - Peter Philips - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]
ample park
with many gardens
Die Wohltemperierte Klavier, Band 1, Prelude and Fugue in E minor - Johann Sebastian Bach - Sviastoslav Richter
a wind blows in and through
Sonata in E Major, K. 162 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
repetition groups moments
quantities apprehendable
apprehendable
quantities
within meter space
generate apprehendable durations
Rondo in A Major, Wq. 58.1 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Miklós Spányi
self-inquiring music laid bare
Symphony in A Major, Op. 92 (#7) - Ludwig van Beethoven - London Symphony Orchestra, Edouard van Remoortel
starts up again and again
power up to shout to the skies
in 4 just
before it winds up for the end
there is a moment
when the voices
subside
to sort themselves out
and regroup
Impromptu in G-flat Major, Op. 51 - Frédéric Chopin - Claudio Arrau
clearly this is for singing
but tracing the path of the song is
problematic
it branches
{from my journal entry of February 19, 1996:
three-part
A dance will-o-wisp ends PP
B from below ariosos
baritone
A ends F}
January 25, 2022
Midnight Frolic Stomp - Williamson's Beale Street Frolic Orchestra [from Allen Lowe's That Devilin' Tune]
music enables dance
a social lubricant
the idea is
to dance
crazy
as the music sounds
oh the roar of the 20s
Dead Shrimp Blues - Robert Johnson [from The Complete Recordings]
falsetto "oooooo" talks with the high guitar strings
is this really in F-sharp?
Stormy Weather - Ethel Waters [from Allen Lowe's Turn Me Loose White Man]
between the high notes and the low notes a song is inscribed
Moanin' - Lead Belly [from Where Did You Sleep Last Night, a Lead Belly Legacy]
wordless melody in the raw
Goin' Down Slow - Billy Wright [from Allen Lowe's Turn Me Loose White Man]
blues band has a purpose
be the singer's greater gestures
see
George Lewis above
Dark Moon - Bonnie Guitar [from Dark Moon and Other Country Favorites]
is a rock&roller's vaunted distaste for Country Music a response to the absence of irony?
Sherry - The Four Seasons [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
yodeling in the new world
I'm Waiting for the Man - The Velvet Underground [from The Velvet Underground & Nico]
after the chord changing bit
it pulls right back into line
no
straying for a single minded mind
no nonsense tambourine
Elderberry Wine - Elton John [from Crocodile Rock B/W Elderberry Wine]
my copy has genuine 45 rpm vinyl crackle on it
wieeen (wine)
tieeems
(times)
England land of diphthongs
Bodies - Sex Pistols [from Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols]
these guys cling to their single mind doggedly
it has no attractive
force of its own
would fling them off in a heartbeat
Motel Room In My Bed - X - [from Under the Big Black Sun]
post punk
using punk single minds
as affect
within
songwritten song
country punk?
Dear Karen - Neal Kosály-Meyer [February 22, 1987]
Neal talks about rock and roll
Bruce
Cream Magazine
stuff
and more about Bruce
music through words
a song
I Don't Know How to Write Songs
songwriting as
first
a poem that is composed with a melody
as opposed to my practice
the lyrics are a given
a score
a stimulus
and the
music is crafted to engage with them
or
sudden songs
all at
once with barely a notion with which to start
another song in the same
key You Wanna Cut My Volume or
You Can't Turn Me Down
then he plays a cover
lots of
preface
a long involved preface
to
yup
a Bruce
Springsteen song
of the Spring Stine Clan
of the Phili Stines
Fire
a Sunday night
Anna was in Milwaukee
Neal
was in San Diego
it sounds like there was water dripping somewhere
Lucky Town - Bruce Springsteen [from Lucky Town]
I wonder if it might be the incessant machismo that rubs me the wrong way
perhaps its projected gender annoys me
if gender is the right word
here
Banned Rehearsal 463 side a - Isaac E, Anna K, Aaron Keyt [August 29, 1997]
piano plus percussion and pipeshrills
brief but they come back
rumble in the toms
ukulele
outside John can be heard
reeds and strings
shaker
A. Bundler sneaks in
Isaac
babbles happily
having the kids join us in session was an experiment on
several fronts
among them
was an experiment upon session doing
it certainly stressed the system
but having children stresses all
the systems
how did it effect what we became
dunno
there was
no control group
{from my journal entry of June 2, 2005:
less compositional more musical
flute tunes
unfortunate distortion
from the rattles and janglies
what sort of work?
fish charming
perhaps
this toy-organ violin duo is lovely though
a dense thicket
last few minutes really deteriorate though}
One of Those Days - Whitney Houston [from Just Whitney]
interesting in that this is not
at least apparently
addressed to
or concerning
a man
multi-layered production
mood song
Consider the Birds 6 - Keith Eisenbrey [February 3, 2007]
5 seconds long but packed
all of the sound is in the first 2 seconds
Division - Ian Bell, John Teske [from Embers of Discontent (original mix)]
a winding wad of string sounds
contained
See You At the Next Show - Your Mother Should Know [from demos recorded February 23, 2017]
epistolary song
it had been awhile
but mostly remembered the words
Banned Telepath 80 Tintinabulary - C, D, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Neal Kosàly-Meyer [January 17, 2022 - for Banned Rehearsal 1043]
the next train came
and there was nobody to speak of
we are not
the sounds we make
we have lost Lake City
we have found Lake City
once again
this potato needs your love
drums bells xylophone
cymbals
Bon jour mon coeur, Fvb. 79 - Peter Philips - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]
the voices take turns to pirouette
subdivisional metrics
all
clearly in some exquisite taste not our own
Die Wohltemperierte Klavier, Band 1, Prelude and Fugue in E Major - Johann Sebastian Bach - Christiane Jaccottet
love the non show-off tempo of the Prelude
the Fugue has a false double
answer
as though anticipating a stretto that never spins out
Sonata in E Major, Kk. 163 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
playing the topsy turvy game
with certain figures tightly joined
Fantasia in F-sharp minor, Wq. 67 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Miklós Spányi
fortepiano
clearly we're in the middle of some personal drama
the
voices may keep themselves straight
or they may be stirred beyond
sorting
a far cry indeed from the architectural grandiosities of Papa
Bach
never stable
ever troubled
Symphony in F Major, Op. 93 (#8) - NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini
figures are persons
engaged in an endeavor
we identify with them
shoulders to the wheel
brick by brick
step back
see
what we build
back at it
later at the Bierhall
our grand
burgher life
built with our own hands
seize it
speak of it
only to friends of the cause
Polonaise in A-flat Major, Op. 53 - Frédéric Chopin - Peter Katin
a very polite heroic fellow this one
dots his is
[from my journal entry of May 7, 1996
dry clear hard very nice}
Finnegans Wake, Chapter 6 (continued) - James Joyce - Neal Kosály-Meyer [from his live stream on October 17, 2021]
likeliest villain of the place
destroyed the church's lands
the
whole township can see his hairy legs
a pair of pectorals
breaks
barons boils
a white robe lifting the host
answer Finn MacCool
2 3 4 5
Poor Old Joe
6 7
rude roped drooped and driven
ornamanual recreation
8
they hate thinking they wait taking
9
hapless behind the dreams of accuracy
the eye of a needle
10
what are you nudging for
my diaper has more life in it
yes my buttercups told me
an ejaculation form the garden of the
soul
it is Dracula's night out
for there no men clatter
Home on the Range - Buddy Spencer Trio - [from Evans 78s]
with marimba solo!!
who carts a marimba out on the range?
this is
a winner
[Buddy Spencer, aka Frank Luther]
Somebody Loves Me - Bud Powell Trio [from Allen Lowe's That Devilin' Tune]
even when they're playing the tune straight it's crooked
intimated as
much as plunked
sneaking around inside the chords
Maggie Campbell - Robert Nightingale [from Allen Lowe's Turn Me Loose White Man]
fabulous light-sticked drummer!
train rhythm
a light chug chug
a train that dances light on its feet
Come On Little Mama - Ray Harris [from Sun Records The Definitive Hits]
more of that lit up train
this one's on bennies
(bump)
You're No Good - Bob Dylan [from Bob Dylan]
he doesn't sound comfortable
Day and Night - Nina Simone [from Sings the Blues]
jaw harp!
January 27, 2022Trouble, Heartaches & Sadness - Anne Peebles [from Original Funk Soul Sister The Best of Ann Peebles]
words music body(voice)
joined here
at an incandescence more
private than many
Field Day for the Sundays - Wire [from Pink Flag]
taking rock and roll apart
--------- - Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [from A Cassette Player]
on and in
somebody playing the opening of my chart
somebody
plucking something else
inside another
that's silly
out
In Session at the Tintinabulary
January 28, 2022
Two-Part Inventions in G Major, G Major, and G Major - Gavin Borchert [from 19 Two-Part Inventions]
These are the last three of the set of 19 Two-Part Inventions. I think I will be giving some of these 19 another try before I put them all out there.
Anybody's Fingerbook 3x3 C D A - Keith Eisenbrey
My 2020 composition project - a set of finger exercises
Joshua Tree Prelude 1 - Aaron Keyt
I think I got it this time. The tech problem has been solved.
Postscripts
Skaldmud's Doodle Gallery
doodles from my journal in 1987: