Dancing about Architecture

Martin Luther King, Jr./Bob Dylan (with Joan Baez) mashup for Martin Luther King day:

Click here to listen to I’ve Been To the Mountaintop/The Water Is Wide

The Martin Luther King sermon is from the night before he died.

“If not, then why are we here?”. Click here to listen.

Listen to an excellent interview with Lisa Germano on PRI’s Studio 360 (uses RealPlayer).

Please, Lisa, come and do a concert in the Twin Cities.

“Ghost” is a collection of 6 pieces I wrote last year.

Heavy metal Christmas song. The lyrics are by Eugene Field (1850–1895) and I wrote the music (and recorded the song). Merry Christmas and to all a good year!

Click here to listen.

JEST 'FORE CHRISTMAS

[Chorus]

Before you settle in for the long-awaited, super-sized weekend, take a trip to downtown St. Paul for the Tuesday Salon on November 21 at 7:30 p.m.

We have three very interesting and diverse solo performances. Stan Woolner will play his own composition on piano; Paul Reiners displays his chops on the laptop; and spectacular clarinetist Kate Berning-Alfred joins us to play a piece by Jeff Lambert. Also featured will be Chris Granias and Carei Thomas on dueling pianos.

Tuesday Salon, presented by the American Composers Forum with support from Zeitgeist, presents today’s composers and sound artists in the Twin Cities area, ranging from New Music to New Jazz, from Avant-garde to Avant-pop, from Euro-American to Non-Western traditions.

the next TUESDAY SALON
Tuesday, November 21 * 7:30 p.m. – Featuring works by CHRIS GRANIAS, JEFF LAMBERT, PAUL REINERS, and STANLEY WOOLNER, and performances by clarinetist KATE BERNING-ALFRED and CAREI THOMAS.
Studio Z, 275 East Fourth Street, Suite 100 in St. Paul
Admission: FREE and open to the public

This is a protest song: Click here to listen to “Whatever”.

WHATEVER

Verse 1:
G…………………………..
Cov-ered in a cloak of de-cen-cy,

C……………………..G…………..
Liv-ing in the land of the brave and free,

G…………………………………
Drink-ing the nec-tar of sweet suc-cess,

C………………………G…………
Step-ping o’er the bo-dy of Ten-der-ness.

Prechorus:
C……………………………
And it doesn’t matter what you do,

A…………………………….
And it doesn’t matter what you say,

Verse 2:
Trapped in a place that does-n’t know me,
An-gry wind blows through the streets of this town,
Back home, the flood wa-ters are now gone,
Back home, there’s black pes-ti-lence in the well.

Prechorus:
And it doesn’t matter what you do,
And it doesn’t matter what you say,

C………………………………
And it doesn’t matter what you think,

E………………………………..
And it doesn’t matter who you could be.

Chorus:
C omit 3………………………..
The truth is whatever they say it is,

C omit 3………………….
The lies are whatever they do.

R.I.P. Joe Strummer. God bless Mick Jones.

I wrote and recorded a children’s song for Halloween:

You can listen to it by clicking here.

Actually, I didn’t write the words, only the music. The lyrics are by James Whitcomb Riley (1849–1916).

It’s sung by the monsters who live in my attic. Sometimes they sing out of tune. I asked them to try recording it again and sing a little bit more in tune this time (please!), but they said that they were “too tired”.

LITTLE ORPHANT ANNIE

Verse 1:
E7…………………………………………..
Lit-tle Or-phant An-nie’s come to our house to stay,

F#m7………………………………………………….
An’ wash the cups an’ sau-cers up, an’ brush the crumbs a-way,

E7………………………………………………………….
An’ shoo the chick-ens off the porch, and dust the hearth, and sweep,

F#m7………………………………………………………
An’ make the fire, an’ bake the bread, an’ earn her board-an’-keep,

E7…………………………………………………..
An’ all us oth-er chil-dern, when the sup-per-things is done,

F#m7……………………………………………..
We set a-round the kit-chen fire an’ has the mos-test fun

Am……………………………………………..
A-lis-t’nin to the witch-tales ‘at Ann-ie tells a-bout,

Chorus:
Am7………………………..
An’ the Gob-ble-uns ‘ll git you

C6…………………
Ef you Don’t Watch Out!

Am7………………..
Ef you Don’t Watch Out!

Verse 2:
Wunst they wuz a lit-tle boy would-n’t say his pray-ers-
An’ when he went to bed at night, a-way up-stairs,
His Mam-my heerd him hol-ler, an’ his Dad-dy heerd him bawl,
An’ when they turn’t the kiv-vers down, he wuz-n’t there at all!
An’ they seeked him in the raf-ter-room, an’ cub-by hole, an’ press,
An’ seeked him up the chim-bly-flue, an’ ev-er’-wheres, I guess;
But all they ever found wuz thist his pants an’ round-a-bout:-
An’ the Gob-ble-uns ‘ll git you
Ef you Don’t Watch Out!
Ef you Don’t Watch Out!

Verse 3:
An’ one time a little girl ‘ud allus laugh an’ grin,
An’ make fun of ever’ one, an’ all her blood-an’-kin;
An’ wunst, when they was ‘company,’ an’ ole folks wuz there,
She mocked ’em an’ shocked ’em, an’ said she didn’t care!
An’ thist as she kicked her heels, an’ turn’t to run an’ hide,
They wuz two great big Black Things a-standin’ by her side,
An’ they snatched her through the ceilin’ ‘fore she knowed what she’s about!
An’ the Gobble-uns ‘ll git you
Ef you Don’t Watch Out!

Verse 4:
An’ little Orphant Annie says, when the blaze is blue,
An’ the lamp-wick sputters, an’ the wind goes woo-oo!
An’ you hear the crickets quit, an’ the moon is gray,
An’ the lightnin’-bugs in dew is all squenched away,-
You better mind yer parunts, an’ yer teachurs fond an’ dear,
An’ churish them ‘at loves you, an’ dry the orphant’s tear,
An’ he’p the pore an’ needy ones ‘at clusters all about,
Er the Gobble-uns ‘ll git you
Ef you Don’t Watch Out!

MAKE magazine has a lot of cool articles on music. The current feature is on vacuum cleaner music.