I was so taken back at the compliments I got for my spiced carrot & lentil soup that I decided to put it to music and, as ya know , 'c'est la sauce qui fait la musique'  and who better to provide that than the fabulous https://soundcloud.com/ddjohn on clarinet.

https://youtu.be/cehZZESRFIk

Cumin seeds & chilli 
Dry fried
Cumin seeds & chilli 
Dry fried
Watch them jump around the pan
Jump around the pan
Then set aside

Add a little oil
Stir Fry
Add a little oil
And stir fry
Carrots, split red lentils,
And stock, though not essential,
Is advised 

Milk or plain water
I don’t mind
Milk or just plain water
Water’s fine
When you’ve finished with the blender
There’s something to remember
Before you dine

The cumin seeds & chilli 
Dry fried
The cumin seeds & chilli 
Dry fried
If you want some razzle-dazzle
Just add a sprig of basil
Yeah that’s nice

Cumin Seeds & Chilli (feat. DDJohn)

https://open.spotify.com/track/3dPaPD819h1OuFm9C5Goga?si=YXojaSYFSQSYE7lS3uG05A&utm_source=copy-link&nd=1
http://www.continental-collision.com
https://continentalcollision.bandcamp.com/track/the-route-to-tomorrow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMiidrWf6sM&list=OLAK5uy_mC-35nmJO3s19Cjj5Aet7UP0XGkLu3ido
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2moo0YwEYPM

Music, piano, bass, guitar solo and programming drums & synths: Rodolfo Planes (@rplanes)
Lead & backing vocals & lyrics: Mark J. Bennett
Backing vocals: Cecilia Mastropasqua: @cemastro
Rhythm guitar: Gonzalo J. Ares: @gonzalo-julian-ares

Featuring backing vocals by Cintia Galeano 

Image (view of Edinburgh from Gullane, Scotland): Courtesy of Douglas Corrance

This was my third collaborative song with Rodolfo, which we started in 2020. The original instrumental piece he gave me sounded like determined optimism and at that particular moment the pandemic made its way into anything I wrote although the beauty of the song is that anyone can bring their own interpretation to its meaning. Its original title was ‘Camino a Mañana’, that I translated as ‘The Route To Tomorrow’ - I guess I liked the alliteration - even though it was a bit of a tongue twister to sing.

I instantly loved the rhythmic punch of this track and recognised early on that it would require a punchy lyric and vocal. Initially I sung the harmony vocals that Rodolfo devised, but as we later developed into the band ‘Continental Collision’ it made sense to draw on all of the talent available in Ce and Gonza, and here introducing Cintia Galeano. Huge thanks to my wonderfully gifted collaborators, you helped make this song shine. I was stunned (as always) by Rodolfo’s attention to detail, his glorious guitar solos and particularly the drumming throughout. Although I might not add to the instrumentation personally, Rodolfo always encourages me to give him feedback. I am particularly fond of this collaboration and each time we work together I learn so much more. Hope you enjoy it too and many thanks for listening. 

Finding the way,
To get through night and day,
Is just too much.
Making your way
Once more through the fray,
Without losing touch,
Is too much,
For me, yeah.

Waiting in line, 
With no hint of a sign,
Is just too much.
Pretending I’m fine 
Knowing that you’re not mine,
It’s too, it’s just too much,
For me,
All of the time.

This is the route to tomorrow,
Beg, steal or borrow,
To getting through to the other side of all this sorrow.
This is the route to tomorrow,
That I have to follow,
To make it through to the other side of all this sorrow.

I’ll be OK, 
Whatever they say,
I can take it.
Know I can’t stay,
Gotta get me away
From here.
Before it gets too much for me, here.

I can survive,    
I might even just thrive.
If I make it.
I’m still alive,
Watch me as I arrive,
At the other side of all this pain and sorrow  

This is the route to tomorrow,
Beg, steal or borrow,
To getting through to the other side of all this sorrow.
This is the route to tomorrow,
That I have to follow,
To make it through to the other side of all this sorrow.

The Route To Tomorrow - Continental Collision (featuring Cintia Galeano)- Now on Spotify!

Happy Valentine's All you Hardcore believers in Love! 

A beautiful bluegrass/country song recorded by J.D. Crowe, written by Steven F. Brines and James B. Smoak, interpreted here with a simple acoustic guitar, piano, vocals and mandolin complements. A long time favorite that we think was wonderfully suited to Nat’s gentle voice in lead.

Vocal Copyright 2022 Daniels & Durgy
Vocals, Piano, Acoustic guitar, Stand Up Bass, and Production - Nat Daniels
Vocals, Mandolin, - Craig Durgy
Mechanical Copyright Brines/Smoak

Lyrics:

When you say you love me I don’t know what you mean
But it seems like I should
So if I say I’m bruised and torn and other loves have warned me
You won’t mind if this one is for good

I don’t know if I can take it if we can really make it
I’ve never known a love without an end
But if you really think we can then you can share my blanket
And we’ll see what happens then

When your coat falls from your shoulders in a heap upon the floor
And the door behind is closed
I don’t know if I can stand it it’s an awful lot to handle
Taking count of all the things I know

When you say you love me I don’t know what to say
I’m afraid to go along
Afraid that you might hurt me unable to be certain 
Afraid that I might turn and you’ll be gone

So I don’t know if I can take it ..if we can really make it
I’ve never known a love without an end
But if you really think we can then you can share my blanket
And we’ll see what happens then
You are more than a friend...
I guess... we'll see what happens then....

You Can Share My Blanket

A big thank you to „The Neighbor“ for playing the guitars and to SuZanne Ledwith for this great and special vocal appearance, thank you so much…
Please take a closer listen to her work, it's amazing:

https://soundcloud.com/suzanne-ledwith 



Bubbles

1.
Some bubbles don’t have the slightest clue
What public relation is capable to do
That  we don’t really know what we want
Because the real free will is not at hand
Some bubbles are just notorious
They tell you that they’re great and glorious

If you believe in what they’re bubbling of
If you believe in what they’re bubbling of
If you believe in that 
If you believe in what they are bubbling of

It still might just be
A product of the PR-industry

2.
Some bubbles think they’re superior
Consider all others inferior
They’ll never ever gonna get it why
Other bubbles can be LGTBI
Some bubbles are just really dumb
Thinking their leaders have the biggest trump

If you believe in what they are babbling of
You think you’ re entertained with lots of laugh
If you believe in that
If you believe in what they are babbling of

This works everywhere the same
Think!
Propaganda was it’s name
All of us just might be 
Influenced by the PR-industry

3.
Some bubbles are just smaller than
Other bubbles who are taller and
Some bubbles are just intolerant
They’re not indifferent `bout the difference
Some bubbles are just really tough
They never ever seem to get enough

If you believe in what they’re bubbling of
If you believe in what they’re babbling of
If you believe in that
If you’d believe in that

This works everywhere the same
Think!
Propaganda was its name
All of us just might be 
Influenced by the PR-industry

out
But if you’d think that there is something more
That there’ s a force that is in all of us
There might be a chance for us
If you believe in, if you believe in
Love

Up in the North
Down in the South
Deep in the West
And far in the East

Bubbles (ft. SuZanne Ledwith and The Neighbor)

How many time have you held the hand of the Devil and kissed his lips, traded your dreams for a pocket full of lies and what would you give to go back there and change that moment in time.....would you kiss the lips of the Devil again just one last time.....join me ....

The beast is my Les Paul  and i promised her that i would set her free in the new year , so being a man of my word here she is in all her glory...The beast kisses the devils lips...Its another fun song... Paly it loud if you really want to meet the Beast ...

JOhnny

Kiss The Lips Of The  Devil

Well we have been working on this little number for a while!  
I sent a rough, very basic track to Finn last summer, just some chords really.  @finn_eces weaved his magic, wrote the lyrics, and a song within a song, and sent back this amazing folk-rock opera.  
We spent some time, shooting it back and forth, grappling with it's size, but we finally realised it needed to get bigger or go home.  So we turned to @dairv-dubbleyew and he helped rev it up all the way to 11!!

Music & Production: Finn Eces & Philleann
Electric Guitars: Dairv Dubbeyew
Lyrics: Finn Eces
Mixed: Philleann

Photo by Isaak Alexandre Karslian courtesy of unsplash.com

From a Queen Falls a Crown (Finn Eces, Philleann & Dairv Dubbleyew)

This is the third and final part to the piece.

Thank you for listening and I hope you enjoy.

Trumpet And Wind Ensemble - Part 3

Some original latin jazz with Barcelona's Sam Mendez on flute and Sergio Parraga on latin percussion.  Follow these wonderful creative musicians:

https://soundcloud.com/santi-caballero
https://soundcloud.com/sergioparraga

Reached #17 on the Hot and New playlist in the Jazz & Blues category

Thanks as always for your generous time listening, for your comments and for your shares.

Secret - Sam Mendez / Sergio Parraga / Jamie Rhind

My old mac  dieth a death so here's a bit of a kitchen table bash around .   My fingers are not what they were so i play what i can find.  someday I'll probably wind up bashing out a beat with my head on the refrigerator and singing along. I hope you are all well. If you're dead you'll obviously know it's nothing to worry about...                                I woke up this morning or at least I think that I did...I found my medication and I wrestled with the lid....my bathroom mirror is telling me that I'm not half the man I used to be.....

. I've got a hole in my gut I'm really feeling my age, I'm paying the price for my wicked little ways, I was out last night with a woman from the moon, she says that better days are coming and they're coming soon but I ain't half the man I used to be.

Half the Man. ( Stevek )

Mes Failles (My Flaws)

"Up in the Gallery" (German: "Auf der Galerie") is a short piece of fiction written by Franz Kafka. It was created between November 1916 and February 1917 and published in the collection „Ein Landarzt“ (A Country Doctor) in 1919. The story offers two versions of a scene in which a young man watches a circus ringmaster and a woman on horseback. (Wikipedia)

The picture shows a section of: At The Circus Fernando, The Rider
by Henri Toulouse-Lautrec (1888)

Public domain translation by Ian Johnston (November 2003)                     


Up in the Gallery

If some frail tubercular lady circus rider 
were to be driven in circles around and around 
the arena for months and months 
without interruption 
in front of a tireless public 
on a swaying horse 
by a merciless whip-wielding 
master of ceremonies, 
spinning on the horse, 
throwing kisses and swaying at the waist, 
and if this performance, 
amid the incessant roar 
of the orchestra and the ventilators, 
were to continue into 
the ever-expanding, gray future, 
accompanied by applause, 
which died down and then swelled up again, 
from hands which were really steam hammers, 
perhaps then a young visitor to the gallery 
might rush down the long stair case 
through all the levels, 
burst into the ring, and cry “Stop!” 
through the fanfares 
of the constantly adjusting orchestra.


But since things are not like that,
(Since things are not like that…rep.)         

since a beautiful woman, in white and red, 
flies in through curtains 
which proud men in livery open in front of her, 
since the director, 
devotedly seeking her eyes, 
breathes in her direction, 
behaving like an animal, and, as a precaution, 
lifts her up on the dapple-gray horse, 
as if she were his grand daughter, 
the one he loved more 
than anything else,
as she starts a dangerous journey, 
but he cannot decide to give the signal with his whip 
and finally, 
controlling himself, gives it a crack, 
runs right beside the horse with his mouth open, 
follows the rider's leaps with a sharp gaze, 
hardly capable of comprehending her skill, 
tries to warn her by calling out in English, 
furiously castigating the grooms holding hoops, 
telling them to pay the most scrupulous attention, 
and begs the orchestra, with upraised arms,
to be quiet before the great jump, 
finally lifts the small woman down from the trembling horse, 
kisses her on both cheeks, 
considers no public tribute adequate, 
while she herself, leaning on him, 
high on the tips of her toes, 
with dust swirling around her, 
arms outstretched and head thrown back, 
wants to share her luck with the entire circus—
since this is how things are, 
the visitor to the gallery puts his face on the railing and, 
sinking into the final march as if into a difficult dream, weeps, 
without realizing it.  (rep.)

Up In The Gallery (Kafka, 1919)

Piano player, singer,  righteous upright bass & concatenator of disparate factors.

Cumin Seeds & Chilli (feat. DDJohn)

burn.it.smith