View from East Tennessee

Songs

November 1st, 2004 at 10:51 pm (Entertainment)

Below are some of my old songs. Disclaimers: First, these songs were written/performed from the mid-eighties through the early nineties, during the era of rock anthems and power ballads by bands with big hair, so keep that in mind as you listen. (I tried the big hair thing. The problem was that my hair grew out instead of down. I looked like a Chia Pet.) Anyway, the songs sound outdated because, well, they are! Call it nostalgia.

Second, most songs were recorded at home on inferior equipment, unless otherwise noted, so they generally don’t sound very good. And while Audioblog is a great service, streaming songs over the internet further degrades their quality. If you’d like to get a copy of an actual MP3, email me, and I’ll send you one.

Third, I’m really not all that good, anyway. I mean, there’s a good reason I became a nursing home lawyer. And when all of those old rock bands start needing our services (think Kiss in wheelchairs), I’ll know how to speak their language. How many times do I have to tell you, Mr. Simmons, no breathing fire next to the oxygen!

Anyway, here they are. Click on the link to play them, right click to download them.

Gotta Do

I wrote this around 1993 or 1994 and recorded it at the 16-track studio (it might have been a 24-track studio, I can’t remember) at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale while I was a student there. I did all of the vocals, the rhythm guitars, and the bass. My audio instructor at the time, John Portuondo, played the drums, and a guy named Rick, who graduated from some guitar tech institute somewhere and whose last name evades me, improvised — yes, improvised — the solo. We made a video of this song as well, and the video got some play on the cable access channel in South Florida.

Us Again

I believe this is from 1989 or so. I remember that the t.v. show Beverly Hills 90210 was popular. I never watched the show, but I remember it was one of several things I noticed that was capitalizing on the power of high school nostalgia. I recorded the thing with a 4-track recorder and a sequencing keyboard. Pardon the digital skip toward the end of the MP3 file that occurred when converting from tape.

Midsummer’s Daydream

This is me playing an old Triumph (Rik Emmet) instrumental on a friend’s guitar. I don’t quite do it justice, but it’s a beautiful song.