This Guy Is Awesome

There's no getting around it. Ronald Jenkees has mad keyboarding skills.
Watch this youtube video and tell me I'm wrong.

:)

How To Write A Song III

These videos are definitely labors of love. They take a lot of work to put together, but they seem to be beneficial...and I'm learning more about Adobe Premiere Elements. Like, it's youtube upload button is a big fat lie. It neither uploads nor goes to youtube. I had to import into MovieMaker...but that's another story unrelated to this.

I wrote THIS song and filmed the whole process.

It's called Except, Perhaps, The Human Heart.
It's not a real upbeat number, but it is a song. And when you need to write 50 songs in 90 days, every little song counts. :)

Naked Baby of Teen Spirit Fame Now A Teen

This just seemed really interesting to me.
I'm sure there's a song in there somewhere.

The article of the boy who's private parts made rock history.

Paul Weseterberg, My Hero, Releases 49 Minutes of Music For 49 Cents

Paul rules.
Period.

I'm listening to his 49 minute track right now. It may have lots of slop, but it's Paul's slop, so it's probably better than most. In fact the first "track", "Terry, Who You Gonna Marry?" is quite catchy.

What a great idea. This is up there with Radiohead's "pay-what-you-want" scheme. Clever.

Write A Song, Then Pass It Around...

I found this at NPR and thought it was incredibly apropos.

Here's a link to the full audio article. It's pretty cool. It sounds a whole lot like what collaborators at 5090.FAWM.org are doing.

Here's the creator's website: Telephono.org

I'm emailing this guy for sure.

Radiohead Makes Video With No Camera

This "video" is pretty cool.
I heart radiohead.

See it here (hosted by Google).

Some Good Reading For Songwriting

Starting with this article in the New York Times songwriting blog Measure by Measure, An Uncommon Thread.

The best of Nerd Rock with Weezer.

A new blog I discovered called Songwriting Zen. He's also a fellow 50/90 participant.

Another 50/90 participant has a great title for her blog...The Shy Singer/Songwriter.

Some tips of Self-Producing Your Own Music.

A 639 Year Performance!

Now, I've been to shows that seemed a little on the long side. Around the bands 2nd or 3rd encore I was heading to the parking lot. But SIX HUNDRED AND THIRTY NINE YEARS!!!

You have to read this article.

That John Cage was one cagey guy.

Steampunk, Melodicas, and Dub Reggae, Oh My!

Well, it's funny how things turn out, isn't it?

I started this month (well, last month) with the intention of writing three Steampunk-themed songs, and having a grand unveiling upon this very website. However, in attempting to pin down the genre of steampunk in a musical style, I seem merely to have chased it away. Instead, this month has produced two pieces of music that I shall share with you.

The first MP3, entitled "Further", began as a Steampunk piece. I figured that acoustic guitars and organs would have a lot of interplay in times where steam ran amplifiers, and so I set about attempting to create a cathedral-like space in which an acoustic guitar gave way to an almighty organ (fnarr, fnarr). What happened next, I'm not entirely sure - it may have been the fact that I've been listening to a lot of Porcupine Tree lately - but the time signature became slightly off-kilter, the bass became busy and the structure more epic. Add in an organ/electric break and you get something which I'm actually very proud of.

The other thing I want to share with you this month is an experiment, brought on by the fact that I obtained a melodica. Firstly, I love experimenting with the flow of an album - songs which, unless you look at the track number, you aren't certain are new songs. Secondly, melodicas are big in dub reggae.

Yeah, I can tell you're worried now. But it's okay.

Anyhow, this track begins with a hard cut and an Am chord. That means that any other song that ends on Am could, in theory, be hard cut at the last note and segue into this one. To play with flow even more, this track transitions into a straighter rock piece - now that, I'm not finished writing. You get a little taste of the verse riff at the end of all the dubness.

Whew. On to next month - and 50/90!

MP3 1 Further
MP3 2 Dub Experiment

Help Me Be Good

Here's a new one... don't have a recording of it yet, but I'll put up a link as soon as I am able. Looks like the last tune I wrote was Nothin' All Day back in January, so this is a welcome addition. I'm truly amazed and impressed with you all and the songs you've been writing! Keep up the great passion!

Short commentary/introduction:

We're all affected by bad decisions and/or mistakes. The person who makes the mistake suffers, but also the folks in their circle of influence sometimes pay a price. This song thinks a bit about those on both sides...

Thanks for taking the time,
John
p.s. Thanks for all you do with the site, bro...

Help Me Be Good
words and music by John Natiw

He woke up on Sunday and made one last mark on the wall
The last time he lived as a free man he couldn't recall
Since then it's been nothin' but dodgin' these big iron doors
Tryin' to stay out of trouble and settlin' scores

They gave him his old clothes and said 'don't you ever come back'
The rest of his life and a Bible tucked into a sack
Twenty one years to forget all the things that he'd done
He walked through the front gate, his face turned up into the sun

And he said...

Help me to be just a little less angry and misunderstood
I don't want to waste my whole life sayin' 'you know that I would if I could'
Give me the strength, Lord, to do all the things that I should
I guess what I'm sayin' is help me be good

The day that they took him away she was too young to know
Why a man that she wanted to stay said he still had to go
In the years that have past pain and anger have come home to live
In the place of a man who just didn't have nothin' to give

She thought to herself more than once 'he can go straight to hell'
Then a voice from the front room said 'momma, can I get the bell'
Twenty one long years of thinkin' 'bout what might have been
She turned to her son and said 'go let your grandaddy in'

And she said...

Help me to be just a little less angry and misunderstood
I don't want to waste my whole life sayin' 'you know that I would if I could'
Give me the strength, Lord, to do all the things that I should
I guess what I'm sayin' is help me be good

[instrumental verse]

Help me to be just a little less angry and misunderstood
I don't want to waste my whole life sayin' 'you know that I would if I could'
Give me the strength, Lord, to do all the things that I should
I guess what I'm sayin'... is...

Help me to be just a little less angry and misunderstood
I don't want to waste my whole life sayin' 'you know that I would if I could'
Give me the strength, Lord, to do all the things that I should
I guess what I'm sayin'
All that I'm sayin'
Please hear me sayin'...
Help me be good