For song #4 of the 50/90 Challenge (2020), I chose to do a Classic House track, and I must say it’s my favorite. Or maybe each current song is my favorite, right? And after I received some invaluable feedback from a professional DJ, I made a couple of edits and reposted it on SoundCloud. I may continue to work on it as I gain more skills or just might start with something new. Anyway, here is where I am on the producer track:
Screamie Birds Music on Internet Radio (#50/90)
One of the members of our 50/90 community hosts an internet radio show podcast on Spanish Rock Shot Radio. And he’s including some music from some of our 50/90 creations, including Space Disco Party, a Screamie Birds track.
You can play it here. Note: Screamie Birds is track #22:
First 3 Songs for #50/90 (#House #Music #Production)
My approach for 50/90 this year isn’t to see how many songs I can bang out in 90 days. Instead, I’m trying to see how many different styles of “House” music I can “master” and, therefore, focus on the genre and the quality of my productions in Ableton Live and Logic Pro X.
So far, here are the 3 songs I’ve written/produced/posted on 50/90 via SoundCloud:
Keep It Movin’ (Classic House)
Space Disco Party (Space Disco)
Catch the Moment (Deep House)
New Beginnings (#50/90 #poem #lyrics)
Yes, it’s the 4th of July, Independence Day for the U.S. but also the first day of 50/90 (the write 50 songs in 90 days challenge). And so a poem came to mind during the night, raw, for sure, but, inspired by “The Making of Frozen II” on Disney Plus, I post it as part of the process of 50/90.
New Beginnings
Surrender the old
Trust in the beginning
Embracing the new
In spite of the blues
These words to the wise
My fears not disguised
This time feels different
Body older and fragile
Relying on me no longer
My spirit is stronger
The old self-reliance
Becomes a castle of silence
My heart beats a longing
For what I know not
Showing up and suited
Desire deeply rooted
Stories and sounds on keyboards I write
What the muse whispers to me in the night
Gearing up for 50/90
Fifty-ninety begins July 4th and lasts through September 30. The challenge is to create 50 songs in 90 days. I think it will be an awesome way to focus.
Yesterday, I posted on my travel blog some thoughts about my childhood and how when we visited my step dad’s family in California’s Central Valley, I would leave the women behind in the living room talking about babies to sit with the men on the front porch talking trash about drinking, the neighbors, and other stuff I can’t remember while making home-made ice cream.
Anyway, that got me to thinking about how hanging out with musicians in places like FAWM and 50/90 and Sonic Academy is like hanging out with the guys on the front porch. While there are women there, the majority are men. And that’s more than okay.
I also notice that when I’m involved in podcasts and live videos in these communities, we focus on the music. Nothing else exists other than a passing comment about having more time to create music. There’s no politics. And it’s so refreshing.
So I’m thinking that maybe if I focus on the next 90 days, that when it’s over, all of this might be over. Or in a better place than where we are now. And if not, October brings Rocktober and November brings National Solo Album Month (NaSoAlMo), the music version of NaNoWriMo (instead of writing a novel in a month, you write an album). Maybe *then* it will be over. If not, then there’s Christmas and New Year’s and then maybe it will be over or mostly over in 2021.
2019: the Year of Many Firsts for Me in Music
It’s that time of year when we start looking back over the year to see how we did in whatever we’d hoped to pursue or accomplish at the stroke of midnight New Year’s Eve the year before.
So, as I start to look back on 2018, I realize there were many firsts for me musically. And while February may have brought my second FAWM, July through September enticed me to try my first 50/90 (write 50 songs in 90 days challenge). During that time, I even took on the challenge of trying out Ableton Live 10 (Standard Version). I’m now upgrading to Suite with so much more to learn yet.
All of that was so much fun, making friends and sharing music with other musicians, I couldn’t resist participating in my first Rocktober (Rock cover songs done your way) in October. Now I’m counting down to the next FAWM, looking forward to meeting up with some of my new friends, to see what they’re doing musically, and to see how far I hope to come by February.
Listening to some of the songs I wrote/produced this year, one of my favorites is Pop the Clutch:
The Artist’s Rule Blues (#lyrics #poetry #50/90)
When I was young, I wanted to run
Seeking adventure around every corner
I never knew who I was back then
The family I had was really a foreigner
That’s when my search began
for the real piano man
Mama gave me a piano
Daddy strummed the guitar
I sang in the choir
I never got very far
I had the Artist Rule Blues
Rule #1: the hardest of the three
Rule #2: stability for me
Rule #3: playing like a fool
Obedience calls for always being true
As life wore on, I could no longer deny
The need to look that man in the eye
The one responsible for my very life
The one who now had a different wife
That’s when my search began
for the real piano man
Mama gave me a piano
Daddy strummed the guitar
I sang in the choir
I never got very far
I had the Artist Rule Blues
Rule #1: the hardest of the three
Rule #2: stability for me
Rule #3: playing like a fool
Obedience calls for always being true
I found him on a mountain
We sang all night and day
Of one thing I’m quite certain
His love made me want to stay
Mama gave me a piano
Daddy strummed the guitar
I sang in the choir
I never got very far
I had the Artist Rule Blues
Rule #1: the hardest of the three
Rule #2: stability for me
Rule #3: playing like a fool
Obedience calls for always being true
Skipper’s House (#lyrics #poem #50/90)
Skipper did you know
That we’d be moving on
Leaving it all behind
Not knowing what we’d find
We built you a castle
Befitting of a king
You were so special
We’d do most anything
It’s no longer ours now
Good-bye Skipper’s house
Skipper did you know
Losing you was such a blow
Shadow howling every day
Searching for you in every way
We built you a castle
Befitting of a king
You were so special
We’d do most anything
It’s no longer ours now
Good-bye Skipper’s house
Skipper did you know
Daisy imitating you as she goes
Wearing the crown
She does you so proud
We built you a castle
Befitting of a king
You were so special
We’d do most anything
It’s no longer ours now
Good-bye Skipper’s house
Skipper did you know
We’re waiting impatiently to go
That place we long to be
Your love setting us free
We built you a castle
Befitting of a king
You were so special
We’d do most anything
It’s no longer ours now
Good-bye Skipper’s house
One Year Ago (Today) Original Song #50/90
I posted the original lyrics written in the wee hours of the morning as a tribute to my father’s passing, one year ago today in the John Wayne and Jacqueline post.
Then I took the story and wrote an EDM track, with stripped down lyrics, compete with groggy vocals, all recorded on GB on the iPad with earplugs in the living room so not to awaken the house. Here’s the outcome:
John Wayne and Jacqueline (#lyrics #poem #50/90)
They drove down to Tijuana
He asked her do you wanna
They headed for the courthouse
To pledge their love as man and spouse
Today one year ago
He left us don’t you know
How hard to say goodbye
I cannot even cry
Drowning in the lies
Until the day I die
They drove up to San Francisco
Amidst kisses and moonlight glow
Cable cars under the stars
Waiting to be sent off to war
Today one year ago
He left us don’t you know
How hard to say goodbye
I cannot even cry
Drowning in the lies
Until the day I die
Waving good-bye to the ship
Under the Golden Gate Bridge
Promising to faithfully wait
Surrendering to chance or fate
Today one year ago
He left us don’t you know
How hard to say goodbye
I cannot even cry
Drowning in the lies
Until the day I die
A handsome stranger stepped in
Deep blue eyes, an Elvis grin
Promised her the moon
She couldn’t help but swoon
Today one year ago
He left us don’t you know
How hard to say goodbye
I cannot even cry
Drowning in the lies
Until the day I die
Little baby on the way
Did not stop her walk of shame
The letter started with “Dear John”
His wife and child now were gone
Today one year ago
He left us don’t you know
How hard to say goodbye
I cannot even cry
Drowning in the lies
Until the day I die
Life goes on
I must be strong
