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| Fort Stevens State Park, Oregon |
"'So they spoke,
and a wicked intent prevailed among my companions.
They opened the wallet,
and all the winds erupted,
and a wild
gale seized them
and bore them wailing away from their native country
back
out on the open ocean.
But as for me, as I awakened,
I turned it
over in my blameless mind,
whether to throw myself from the ship
and
perish in the sea
or endure it all in silence
and remain among the
living.
I remained and endured
and lay back down in the ship,
hiding my head.'"
Homer - from "The Odyssey" translated by Charles Stein
Texts
Special
Lockrem Johnson, March 15, 1924 - March 6, 1977, was a Seattle-based composer, pianist, publisher, one-time Coney Island calliopist, and beloved educator who made something of a splash on the national stage with his 1951 one-act opera A Letter for Emily (based on an episode in the life of Emily Dickinson). He was a pianist for the Seattle Symphony and taught at both The University of Washington and Cornish School of the Arts, where he served as director of the Music Department in the 1960s. In short, he was kind of a big deal in the Seattle classical music world before his untimely death, just shy of his 53rd birthday. I had the good fortune to meet him once a few months before that, in a long and treasured afternoon during which he gave me both a score to his Fifth Sonata and a welcome and timely boost to my teenage self-esteem. Since then I have performed his music on many occasions, especially his 24 Preludes, but also the Fifth Sonata, and the song-cycle Songs in the Wind.
Recorded
June 3, 2023
Zoo 070903 - Keith Eisenbrey
a visit to the bird house
waves of twitters
with waves of
kid chatters
the door closes
check for clinging birds
siamangs sing their songs
rooms have sound prints
we are walking or standing
in an
environment
with others
so engaged
miniature dramas of
conversation fragments
hey
ear of fox
on to the ocelot
then to the hush house
squash blossoms
the confusion with
siamangs
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| Seaside, Oregon |
Fireflies - Benjamin Boretz, Dorota Czerner [from Open Space 29]
the black river shimmers away from the weary thought
translucent
complete night
Jesu, meine Freude - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded October 18, 2019]
it amazes and amuses me
that the tonal hierarchy implied by the imported
melody
remains intact
in spite of the radically other-derived
harmony
beneath it
Totem 49 - Sascia Pellegrini [from Totem V]
tones enter and exit
but their enterings and exitings
are merely
events
and event
is not the point
a pond of calling beings
calling beings
wolves and moons
The Flatt Pavan, Fvb. 284 - Giles Farnaby - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]
I will play this game here
I will play this game there
I will play
this game anywhere
I like this game
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with clavichord
one can articulate
with the speed of a harpsichord
(or better)
plus
all the dynamic capabilities of the piano
(albeit differently
voiced)
plus
the intimate presence of a lute or guitar
Waltz in G-flat Major, Op. 70 #1 - Frédéric Chopin - Garrick Ohlsson
showing off the dress before the dance
in a sense
its subject
matter
musically
is vanity and frippery
but so clearly drawn
brought to life
Lied ohne Worte in A minor, Op. 38 #5 - Felix Mendelssohn - Edmund Battersby
concerns itself with virtue and higher things
but is
ne'ertheless
melodramatic yet
withal
Song 6 - Charles Ives - Kia Sams, Russ Warner
concerns itself
with a sentimental version
of a proper life
Cold Morning Shout - South Street Trio [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
man these guys had practiced
some seriously tight ensemble they got
going there
the sort of song
I could imagine
one of those
mechanical carnival orchestra machines play
or perhaps the Bickleton
calliope
Don't Worry About Me (Take A) - Erroll Garner [from Erroll Garner on Dial]
finds a way through the crowd
to this lovely tempo
yes it's a
lounge-y tempo
in questionable taste
but he lives here
it is
his home
she sells this song
and then wiggles its little tail
I Love You So Much It Hurts - Ray Charles [from Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music]
he did love to play
that sassing back at the soloist backup singers
thing
it isn't
'til we get to their verse
that we realized
just what a corny song this is
Penny Lane - The Beatles [from Magical Mystery Tour]
suburban life
the post war dreamscape
Border Song (Holy Moses) - Aretha Franklin [from Young, Gifted and Black]
the backup singers underline
and articulate
highlight
Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World (Live at the Roxy) - Ramones [from Leave Home]
to scour out the cobwebs
tempo transposition
I Was Just a Stupid Dog To You - Nina Simone [from Fodder On My Wings]
creating self as a character in your story
Prenda Del Alma - Los Lobos [from By The Light of the Moon]
an attractively laid back melody
an ensemble of guitars bass and
accordion
The Basement - Pete Rock & C. L. Smooth [from Mecca and The Soul Brother]
verbal proficiency
but also
checking in with the greater
promulgated culture
free floating
Empty Sky - Bruce Springsteen [from The Rising]
armored in amplification
Robber's Roost - Head For The Hills [from Robber's Roost]
a whiff of Goat Rodeo
competence to no purpose
beyond demonstration
every move practiced
and nailed down
show ethnic
Track 2 - Beast of the Sky [recorded live at Sound Effects Coffee Shop, October 26, 2012]
easing into the song proper
through long electric guitar tunes
vocal
is a forced roar
more an effect than anything further
Stack - Ease [from Letters]
sounds like they believe the copy in the Sweetwater catalogue
Waltz - Robin Holcomb [from One Way Or Another]
a song that relies on its poem for meaning
is brave indeed
Pavana, Fvb. 285 - Giles Farnaby - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]
this melody has a train
like an elegant gown
music's polite place
in this company
is decorative
a fabric art
Jonestown Blues - Gus Cannon (Banjo Jo) [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
open question
is the singer the hero of this blues
or is the banjo
Wait Till You See Him - Blossom Dearie [from Blossom Dearie]
keyboard admirably restrained
doesn't try to be the whole ensemble
Ecars - Ornette Coleman [from Ornette on Tenor]
once through the opening hedgerow
whole lotta cookin' happening
not laid out like a garden
not plotted like a thriller
more
of a twisty mountain road
taken fast
at near peril
I'm In No Condition - Dolly Parton [from Hello, I'm Dolly]
a state of being
sheep observer herding
everybody back
and out of the barn
processed
sheep bleat
with the rhythm
of their bleat
need
rooster squawk
we visit the creaky geese
honking among
themselves
so
what might be the point of all this
in regard to music
might be moral
is our expression
rooted as deeply in our
selves
as the bleat is
in a sheep
does our expression
if not so rooted
serve to benefit our fellows socially
as
we presume
the bleating of sheep benefits the herd socially
that is
are we even as serious about what we do
musically
as sheep
when they bleat
some of the geese may have been ducks
Disturbance at the Heron House - REM [from Document]
news item song type
the sense of which
loses itself in rhyme play
but danceable
though that may not be quite right either
99 Girls - The Young Fresh Fellows [from It's Low Beat Time]
a reference (song title)
to a local strip club
they work so hard
Combat Rock - Sleater-Kinney [from One Beat]
selling an attitude
here folks
have it
Banned Rehearsal 725 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Neal Kosály-Meyer [September 17, 2007]
so that
what is not speech
might speak for itself
past
bellows
an electric guitar duet
undergirded by washtub bass
sparkled by bells
inhabited by marimba
Track 2 - Black Plastic Clouds [recorded live at Sound Effects Coffee Shop, October 26, 2012]
some firm downstrokes
by way of announcement
enter off center
so that
a trajectory forms
toward some end of segment
start over
Gradus 317 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [August 7, 2017]
a three rung deal
in preparation for a chapel gig
since Neal
persists in rehearsing
the pitch-set of the second rung
is radically different from that of the
first
the motion between
is stark and clear
which is
generally not the case anymore
with the rungs in the standard
sequence
skipping rungs
is to play freely
upon projected or extended time
reeling the far future
back into the present vessel
and we take another leap
other notes
other figures
disjuncture complete
a combination of notes
is essentially a cipher
without musical
reality
until a path is found through it
the path is the music
Maroon - Taylor Swift [from Midnights]
she's quite fond of the descending tritone
Why Aske You, Fvb. 286 - Giles Farnaby - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]
dissected melody
scalpel of figurations
the flow of its parts
Moses Was Rescued by a Negro Woman - Rev. Webb [from Goodbye, Babylon]
an advertisement
for a book
a list of characters in the bible
and their deeds
and who were used in biblical history
per
the book being sold
emphatically delivered
Introduction/Chance It (live) - Miles Davis [from 'Round About Midnight]
the notes go by fast for sure
but there is a clear flow to it
the squiggles all go places
Relax - The Who [from The Who Sell Out]
they don't seem entirely comfortable in this song
though they try
and the crowd cheers their memory
I wonder what would happen
if he
didn't over-accentuate the lines
more or less the way he did on the
record
but
utterly recomposed the feel of his path through the
words
in other words
sing it
not like an accusation (his
habit)
but
as though he actually cared about the answers
would that be trademark eschewel?
I'm All Behind You Now - George Straight [a Rescued Record]
greeting card sentiment
or epistolary text
printed on a slow dance
with cowboy hats on it
Riding In My Car - Woody Guthrie [from Woody's 20 Grow Big Songs]
adds beats as necessary
or rather
suspends beats out of the tempo
It Was A Good Day - Ice Cube [from The Predator]
in the life
diary entry
written on a beat
After Beethoven - Christopher DeLaurenti [from Famous Intermissions]
those left on stage
extemporise an orchestra
in the face of a
customary disregard
the social sounds
of the former audience
provide its cover
nothing to hear here folks
move along
Biguine - John Teske - Beth Fleenor, John Teske
dips toe
then leaps
This Time of Night - Chastity Belt [from I Used To Spend So Much Time Alone]
pop music
and its adjacencies
has become
that music
that habitually fills its recorded space
sometimes
under
pressure
melody in notes
that are each indicated
with agogic specificity
a line
between points
and their angles
Ya Llegué - Christina Aguilera [from Aguilera]
glissando tail off
down from last notes
Taylor Swift does a
similar thing
In Session at The Tintinabulary
June 5, 2023
Banned Rehearsal 1077 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer
The last few minutes of our session failed to record
but what is there
is quite fine
Postscripts
Skaldmud's Doodle Gallery
some listening journal doodles from 1995
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