While people are wringing their hands, gnashing their teeth, and hoarding toilet paper over all the happenings in the world right now, our kitties headed for the sky and did some feline flying to stay above it all. Kitties know how to have fun in times of trouble.
Flying Felines
Music and Lyrics by Timothy Price Guitars: Timothy Price Bass: Timothy Price Percussion arranged by Timothy Price
Felines flying one by one
Felines in the sky today
Here they come having fun
Felines flying
Felines walking on the air
Flying up, down and all around
They found a way to fly away
Felines flying in the air
Going high in the sky
Going nowhere
They’re going nowhere fast
Felines flying in the air
Through the sky they walk on air
Felines flying in the sky
Felines in the air so fine
They know where they are going
Up with the birds in the air
Felines flying in the sky walking on air
In the air they are so fine walking on the line
I haven’t posted a parody in quite a long time. I’m sure there are many people who think it would be just fine if I never posted another parody. But life presses on, and I love making parodies, so another one has come to fruition. Besides, I could not let this opportunity for a parody pass me by.
It all started on New Years Day when Wade came over for black-eyed peas. We prepare and eat black-eyed peas every New Years Day for good luck (Laurie does most of the cooking). Wade and I went for a walk to Beaver point. Wade had never been to the river in Corrales, and he noticed the jetties along the riverbank. He commented that the river bank looked like Normandy with the large, jacks-shaped iron jetties along the edge of the river.
While I was explaining how the jetties were installed by the Conservancy for flood control, I pointed out a knot in one of the large cables that used to run through a line of jetties. I explained that La Llorona was the only one around here who had enough strength to tie a knot in a 1 1/4 steel cable. Wade asked “Who? I’ve never heard of La Llorona. Is she like ‘My Sharona?'” I said no, but realized at that moment that La Llorona was a perfect parody for “My Sharona”. You may know the song by The Knack? I was surprised I hadn’t put La Llorona and “My Sharona” together before now. It’s such an obvious fit. I wrote the lyrics and recorded the parody of The Knack’s music the next day. But it took a lot of thinking before I came up with an idea for a video.
It might have been right around Epiphany that I had an epiphany to employ Lego® figurines for La Llorona and her children. I knew we still had a lot of Legos out in the infinite shed of doom, so I plunged in and found some Lego figurines that were more than happy to play the parts. I also used photos of Muertas from Albuquerque’s annual Dia de los Muertos Marigold Parade in the video.
La Llorona
Lyrics: Timothy Price Music: The Knack Vocals AWB
Ooo, she lost her little ones, her little ones When she drowned them in the ditch, la Llorona! Ooo, then she tried to run, tried to run Turned around and killed herself, la Llorona.
Never stops looking, gave them up, crying all the time She can’t give them up, her wet embrace will break your spine Cry, cry, cry, cry-cry, woo!
L-l-l-la Llorona
Come a little closer, she drown you in the ditch Close enough to scratch your eyes, la Llorona She is a mystery, always crying, look and see Running down the ditch she shrieks on high, Llorona
Never stops looking, gave them up, crying all the time She can’t give them up, her wet embrace will break your spine Cry, cry, cry, cry-cry, woo!
L-l-l-la Llorona L-l-l-la Llorona (Yeah!)
When’s she going to give it up, give it up She’s just crying all the time, la Llorona Is it just infanticide, infanticide Or is it murder in your mind, Llorona?
Never stops looking, gave them up, crying all the time She can’t give them up, her wet embrace will break your spine Cry, cry, cry, cry-cry, woo! C-c-c-c-c-c-c-cry, cry, cry, cry-cry, woo!
Aaaaah-oooh, la Llorona Aaaaah-oooh, la Llorona Aaaaah-oooh, la Llorona
Here’s some “My Sharona” trivia: “My Sharona” was recorded in a single take in the studio and released on the album “Get The Knack” in June 1979. It sold over a half a million copies in record time for the 70s, and became the fastest Capital Record debut to reach gold since the Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand” in 1964.
Tomorrow is Epiphany, the 12th day of Christmas. I wrote a version of the Twelve Days of Christmas using the bosque animals that starts with the 12th day of bosque Christmas. Special guest Suzette Presti was gracious enough to do the vocals. Enjoy.
The Twelfth Day of Bosque Christmas Lyrics by Timothy Price Vocals: Suzette Presti Arrangement: Timothy Price Guitar, bass, percussion: Timothy Price
On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Twelve coyotes crooning
Eleven flickers flitting
Ten finches feeding
Nine seagulls sailing
Eight badgers burrowing
Seven cats a purring
Six crows a cawing
Five beaver slaps
Four geese honking
Three cranes in flight
Two owls to hoot and
A pterodactyl in the Tangle-Heart Tree.
I have a series of photos taken in twilight at the Salton Sea that I was trying to decide how I wanted to present them. I finally decided to write a song and create a music video with the images. I took advantage of this wet, rainy, muddy Black Friday to record the song and put the video together.
Red Cape on the Edge of the Salton Sea Lyrics and Music by Timothy Price
Standing on the edge Of the Salton Sea Dancing in the darkness Destiny
Wrapped in a cloak Releasing red Wakening spirits From the salty beds
Twilight glows Off the shore Cape swirls Disturbed forlorn
Ceremony’s twilight Apparitions conjured Silhouettes dancing in the night Dusk turns on A golden somber Silence calls Ghosts asunder
As a special treat for Halloween, Lane and Tristan perform “Classical Gas For Two Chairs” which involved exorcising the spirits that possess our counter stools. Lane is First Chair and Tristan is second chair. I added a percussion track and an “on-hold”, “elevator”, Muzak-like track for counterpoint. Happy Halloween!
I recorded coyotes yipping and howling in the bosque and wrote a song to go with the canine chorale. It was dark when they went off on their bosque flashmob; however, whenever the coyotes start yipping and howling right at sundown we never see them as they are hidden in the brush and undergrowth in the bosque. The coyotes do flashmob howling quite often, and they sound close and often howl from all sides. I don’t have videos of coyotes; therefore, I used photos I’ve done of coyotes, plus videos of me and the guitars I played on the song.
About the guitars. I finished building the Black Tele last week. I built it with standard Tele pickups, so it has a nice twangy sound to it. The blonde jazz guitar is a Guild A-150B with a DeArmond Rhythm Chief 1000 floating pickup.
COYOTES Lyrics and Music by Timothy Price
Coyotes howling in the night Canine chorus Offers up a fright
Binomial chorale Reverbs through the trees Like a bosque flashmob Surround sound and for free
Dusk falls Latrans he rejoices Yipping, screeching, howls A cacophony of voices
Chile season is upon us. We put up a sack a green chile from Wagner’s Farm here in Corrales this afternoon, and while we were waiting for the them to steam after bringing the freshly roasted sack of green chiles home, I got inspired to finish the music video for my Capsaicin Cub song. The video is meant to be funny, so some aspects are a little different.
Below is a photo of the chile guitar and chile bass I used in the video. They are built by Dean, but I had a photo of chiles printed on a skin by Curtis Osborne at The Village Printshop here in Corrales earlier in the year, and we stuck the chiles skins on the guitar and bass. I got the guitar and bass on eBay at very good prices; therefore, I was expecting to use them mainly as props. As it turned out, the guitar and bass are very good instruments. I played the chile guitar on the recording of Capsaicin Cub used in the video, but Ron Blood played the bass line using his own electric bass guitar. However, I have played the chile bass on many of the recordings I have posted this year.
After pealing, cutting off the heads, and removing the seeds and veins from the green chiles, we normally put them in quart-size Ziploc bags, flatten the bags and freeze them. Since we have a lot of recipes that take three quart-size bags of green chiles, we decided to freeze some of the chiles in gallon Ziploc bags with the same amount of green chile as three quart-size bags in each gallon bag.
The Conservancy tore the beavers’ dams out of the clear water ditch again. As you might imagine, the beavers are upset. The Angry Beavers asked the AWB to post “Bite ‘Em On The Old Shin Bone” again to remind everyone about how unjust the Conservancy is destroying the beavers’ hard work. Let alone messing up the ecosystem the beavers create with their dams.
Today’s video is original music I wrote using a prayer by fellow blogger Michelle Marie for the lyrics. On December 7, 2018, Michelle Marie posted Still… Small… Voice on Tell Me About Itat https://tellmeaboutit.co/2018/12/07/still-small-voice/, and I had a feeling there was an issue with her daughter, Alex, who has serious health problems. I commented that her prayer was beautiful, but sad, and asked how Alex was. Michelle Marie responded that she had been very sick and in ICU the week before. Michelle Marie mentioned that Alex just wants to lead a normal life. I could certainly relate to that having had a lot of health issues myself over the years. I didn’t realize the gravity of the situation until Michelle Marie emailed me with details. Alex almost died.
After getting the full story, I was inspired to write a song using Michelle Marie’s prayer for the lyrics. I was trying to imagine what is was like for Alex to be in ICU clinging to life, and started working on creating an etherial lullaby. I finished recording the song on December 15, 2018, and sent it to Michelle Marie. When I learned that she plays piano, I transcribed a short version of the flamenco guitar into piano and sent her the sheet music. She sent me images to use in a video, but I had to think for a long time how to do a video to go with the music. I finally came up with what I believe is a suitable video. Here’s my version of Michelle Marie’s Still… Small… Voice.
In David Byrne’s movie “True Stories” there’s a music video to the song “Wild, Wild Life.” Chad’s gravity defying stunts and Liz’s jumps made me think of Wild, Wild Life. The problem with stunts in the limited space of our dance room/photo studio is that both Chad and Liz jumped so high that they got above where I was framing the photos in several shots.
Off Center & Not Even 