SKySWiM on Facebook
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 :
