SKySWiM on Facebook
5-28-10: I must apologize for being SO FAR BEHIND in my new songs! Don't lose hope, since I am getting on the ball with them once again. Against my better judgment, I agreed to recently work on two other artist's songs, which has taken more time than I expected. I should be finally wrapping that up in just the next few days.
My song, My Family of Latvia, should be my next song completed, and I should get back to work on it in the next few days. Due to various problems in translation, I decided to only do the song in ENGLISH, which will probably better please the majority of my fans. Apparently, it is hard to translate my words into Latvian, without losing the poetic beauty and feel of my English lyrics. This is based on feedback from some relatives in Latvia.
Also, a new song with the help of Anchor Mejans is already being worked on, called, Encrypt the Question. Once again, it will include strong "classical" music elements, but don't expect it to be orthodox by any standard!
I just realized that I never announced at my website that my song, Tivo My Message, was finished and is now online. But that is not the only good news with that song, since I made a cool music video of that song also!
That was not the only music video I made recently of my music. If you think We Like Snacks was a crazy song, you will got nuts seeing the music video of the song too! Don't forget that We Like Snacks was originally a kind of "remix" of my bizarre song, My Name is Special Edward, which might explain for why you hear Edward at the start, and see his infamous monkey more than once in the video.
Another thing I did recently, was do my own gothic cover of the famous song, Imagine, by John Lennon. My version is quite unorthodox. I also made a music video of this song, which points out the real meaning of the words, and how Lennon's own ideals are fully inline with the still future Antichrist talked about in the Bible, and the New World Order which is for the most part already in place.
Even though I am normally a software engineer as a career, I've been "in-between" positions for a while now. In the meantime, I've been getting more and more music gigs, and I have even gone back to teaching private music lessons. At least it helps to pay the bills.:-)
Ironically, thanks to my interest in the cutting-edge biblical teachings of Dr. Thomas Horn, I have somehow managed though this interest, to gain the interest of his son, Joe Horn, in my own music. Joe has graciously added me as one of his select artists to promote at his own music website, Artist Expressway. Wow, nice to be featured on their front page, no less! I cannot say that I agree with all the politics and how it is pushed by my fellow artists there, but I am certainly honored to be part of their organization. As a Christian, I am being given a chance to voice an important message to both Christians and non-Christians about important current issues that are not really being touched by too many other people, and use my music as a vehicle for such things.
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9-9-09:
We had a wonderful world premire performance of The Tortilla Fairy, at the Plaza central de Zacatlán, in Zacatlán, Mexico. You can hear the song by going here.
Two other compositions are well under way towards completion. A sequel to Cascade of Souls. Anchor Mejans
will once again be singing, this time in a work called, Tivo My Message. The other piece I will sing in Latvian, called My Family of Latvia. It will include guitar work by my cousin Jānis Janpavlis. I don't know if the song will capture it fully, but it is about my overwhelming emotions in going to my biological parent's country of origin, and meeting many family members there that I never met before. I want to go back soon!
2-5-09:
Lots of roadblocks regarding getting any of the 3 new tunes finished that I am working on at the same time. However, progress is being made on them.
On another matter, I have resurrected an old organization I started way back in high school in 1974, called, Trombone Union Forces. It is mainly a Facebook organization right now. See more details about Trombone Union Forces, or TUF, HERE.
| 9-15-08: I am way behind in updating this, but not that much new musically. I have been uploading a few old piano improvs from the early 1980s , Piano Improv #1 and Piano Improv #2. Still very slowly working on the "Torilla Fairy" and another song at the same time. The big news is, is that in July, I went to Europe for the first time. Even BIGGER news, I spent 5 days in Lativa, the country where both my biological parents were born, met quite a few of my relatives, and found ones I never knew even existed. They are begging me to come back again soon, since there is so much to catch up on. I am spending a lot of time trying to learn Latvian, and I probably will try singing some later songs in Latvian. I also visited Sweden and Denmark. My wife is part Danish, and we managed to find and visit the small city where her great, great grandfather used to live in that country. |
4-9-08
Just
got
back from a 5 day trip to "Nawlins" (New Orleans). It was a
great
trip, in spite of having to wade through the Bourbon Street frat party
people in the French Quarter. As corny as some of that old
time
dixieland styled jazz is there, it was really cool to hear it in the
few places that it was being played. I especially enjoyed
hanging
out to hear Jamil Sharif's band at the Maison Bourbon Jazz Club.
If I go back to Nawlins some day, I think I might just take
one
of my trombones with me, set a hat down in the French Quarter, and just
start playing. Even though musicians do that elsewhere, like
where I live, it just seems to be more appreciated in the French
Quarter than anywhere else, as long as it is the old fashioned jazz
stuff. LOTS of jazz trombonists with their hats out on the
streets, surprisingly. Maybe I will experience Turf War if I
try
this? :-)
Just a bit of updates/corrections since last blog:
Finished my remix contest entry for 46Bliss. However, I did not post it under my Goth Family Singers profile, but HERE, under my SKySWiM profile. It was originally just going to be a joke remix, but I heard far too many gems in the noise, so I polished it up, lessened the more obnoxious parts, and I think, made a worthy contest entry.
The "Tortilla Fairy" song has taken off into even stranger directions. After telling the song idea to some people at my church who are Mexican-American, they got all excited about it, and now are wanting to be part of it. Much of the instrumental music is completed, which was based on a musical sketch I made around 1992. If you can imagine an orchestra trying to perform a rock version of Spaghetti Western music in the style of the El Mariachi movies, you might have a ballpark idea of where the fringes of this are, if you are willing to substitute a tortilla maker in place of a guitar player. As goofy as this is, my Mexican-American friends actually think that this will be popular with many in the Mexican-American community. Not sure who is muy loco (very crazy) here, me, them, or all of us! :-)
Just a bit of updates/corrections since last blog:
Finished my remix contest entry for 46Bliss. However, I did not post it under my Goth Family Singers profile, but HERE, under my SKySWiM profile. It was originally just going to be a joke remix, but I heard far too many gems in the noise, so I polished it up, lessened the more obnoxious parts, and I think, made a worthy contest entry.
The "Tortilla Fairy" song has taken off into even stranger directions. After telling the song idea to some people at my church who are Mexican-American, they got all excited about it, and now are wanting to be part of it. Much of the instrumental music is completed, which was based on a musical sketch I made around 1992. If you can imagine an orchestra trying to perform a rock version of Spaghetti Western music in the style of the El Mariachi movies, you might have a ballpark idea of where the fringes of this are, if you are willing to substitute a tortilla maker in place of a guitar player. As goofy as this is, my Mexican-American friends actually think that this will be popular with many in the Mexican-American community. Not sure who is muy loco (very crazy) here, me, them, or all of us! :-)
| 2-29-08 A bit of late news, but I recently uploaded an even stranger tune musically than Everybody's Got a Web Page. It is called Cascade of Souls. Anchor Mejans came up with the vocal melody, whereas I did the lyrics and the rest of the music. It was inspired by the actual rant of an orchestra conductor at a concert dress rehearsal I was part of recently. The song creatively was like trying to figure out how to mix oil with water. Somehow, I finally could hear how symphonic OPERA could mix with a techno kind of beat and bass line. I also debuted my new Shires orchestra trombone on this one on the solo. Expect a kind of sequel to Cascade of Souls, with Anchor doing vocals again somehow once again on it. My next tune will be about the Tortilla Fairy. Is it possible that I finally lost my mind completely? :-) In the meantime, I am trying to throw together a remix contest entry under my Goth Family Singers alter ego. |
5-2-07
Just
recently finished the song, Everybody's Got a Web Page. It was
mostly inspired by much of the activities by people at places like
myspace.com and acidplanet.com. As wonderful as the Internet might be
in some ways, it has also provided mankind with yet another way to
avoid true human relationships and sincerity. Todd Larson of albinoSQUIRREL
provided the excellent guitar work. It seems that he did not mind my
glitching up of his tracks. I am planning to finally buy a half way
decent camcorder and some decent video editing software, so I can make
some song videos. Todd suggested that I make one for Everybody's Got a Web Page. I
might also do one for We Like Snacks, since that also
probably would go over well with the crowds.:-)
One
of my next tunes, hopefully one that I spend little time on, is a tune
about Synthetic Guitar Phobia Disorder. It is meant to be "aversion
therapy" for those who suffer from such an ailment, and who apparently
get sick when they hear non-real guitars in music:-)
There
is a collab still in the works with Iacobus of mD,
which I expect to be kind of Industrial Rock, with the working title,
Challenge to Reply. It originally was based on a 15 year old song
sketch of mine, but it changed so much, that I probably will still go
back to my original sketch and work that up as yet another song.
There are at least 3 songs I have on the back burner that are about half way completed. Not sure if I am crazy enough, but two of them originally had me PLAYING REAL BASS GUITAR! I will have to either practice bass again, or get a better bass player do the part.
Sorry that I have been so slow with coming out with new tunes. Remodeling of my home has been a NIGHTMARE that has actually taken over 18 months. That has taken LOTS of emotional energy out of me and my wife. I have been mostly focusing on playing classical trombone gigs. I would really like to try to pull off my tunes live, but probably try quite different versions of them, maybe even "lounge" versions:-)
There are at least 3 songs I have on the back burner that are about half way completed. Not sure if I am crazy enough, but two of them originally had me PLAYING REAL BASS GUITAR! I will have to either practice bass again, or get a better bass player do the part.
Sorry that I have been so slow with coming out with new tunes. Remodeling of my home has been a NIGHTMARE that has actually taken over 18 months. That has taken LOTS of emotional energy out of me and my wife. I have been mostly focusing on playing classical trombone gigs. I would really like to try to pull off my tunes live, but probably try quite different versions of them, maybe even "lounge" versions:-)
Looks like mixposure.com just gave me their top Song of the Day Spotlight Award for my Song, Nicht Mehr Wartend (No Longer Waiting). Here is a banner they gave me for it to brag about my win:-)
Apparently, my song
name was too long for them to put on the banner:-)
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Arnie Stanton plays on a Shires Trombone
Top Secret Link.
Click ONLY if you play :
