Sting Owes Me Money

Continuing the Jazz injected pop-rock theme of Collect the Moment and Better do SOME GOOD this one references AJA though it could easily be ASIA. My time spent in AJA (Steely Dan) was about the same time we were dissecting preserved bodies in Otago Medical School. Playing live then I was channeling more of a Neil Young, Bob Dylan and THE BAND pre Americana country rock thing. But jump ahead 40 years and here we were just this last Saturday night churning out JOSIE from AJA in a set of originals and covers full of Jazz Chords and RnB beats. So this new song absorbs a lot of that stuff. 

HR Kiosk

Next to you, I feel a hero
The maintenance of normal, while you’re a trip to Cairo
Circa 2023 I’d like to paraphrase
Cause cities like that and Khartoum
Once set a soul ablaze

So book yourself into an HR Kiosk tonight
There’s gotta be an on-line guru who could shine a light
Infiltate you with guile
Make you think there’s actually an I in why 
Yeah yeah yeah

Time spent in Aja did it make me cynical?
Made me feel ok to rave 
And pull you off your pinnacle
Of course it’s arrogant to judge, someone on culture
But I see you circling thru the sky, with the eye of a vulture

Know you kinda inside out
So I’d try it with a hundred grand
I bet you on your virtual couch 
You’re lying on a slippery Sam

Course you’re going even lower - way below zero
Sayin’ hey let’s all be friends
Like Ghandi and Nehru
Your time at the Taj Mahal, did us no favours
After breathing in the rarified shrine
Where’s your reconciliation pavers

HR KIOSK

Instrumental, Production & Mix by Garddwr Porffor: https://soundcloud.com/garddwrporffor
Vocals, Vocal Melody, Lyrics by Nadia Selvaggi

The Revolt of Owain Glyndŵr

A dormant fire inside him did catch wind
with the loss of his land and honor
decreed by the English King

Students, archers, soldiers and even nobility,
saw the raised banner
and joined the uprising

Armed with a vision only few will see,
the last Prince of Wales vowed to
set his country free


Barefoot rascals --
or heroes who won't bend the knee?
That all depends on the victors who write your history

Castles, castles --
internal enemy!
Signs of England's Imperial conquest over thee!

England, England --
your sovereign, our public enemy!

Possunt quia posse videntur
Hear Owain Glyndŵr's four gold and red lion's roar

Mist-cloaked hills and forests, artful strategy
won Owain's men countless battles,
gold, livestock and weaponry

Now, those triumphs, or fleeting fleeting victories,
light the desire inside us
that longs to be free

Castles, castles, centuries old enemy
signs of England's Imperial conquest over thee

Castles, castles, looming over the Irish sea
Eternal reminder of who rules over you and me

England, England --
wickedness with impunity!

England, England --
enemy of liberty!

Owain, Owain, Owain Glyndŵr
The man, the myth, the legend --
they never did capture thee!

The Revolt Of Owain Glyndŵr by Garddwr Porffor & Nadia Selvaggi

I wanted to create a dreamy sounding track using only two chords, this was the result. 

Wandering In A Dream

Artwork : The Great Gathering
courtesy of Ikthadani.
Description:
"In spaces where time and distance don't exist, a gathering took place: it was those sent to change the worlds who attended and departed at once with a life oath to never be apart even when they were away. Traveling through liquid cosmic tunnels inside round spheres each arrived to their destiny armed with purpose, courage, and patience. Their heart, their home, and their memories lay dormant but brimming in the subconscious comforting them during long dark nights. Gradual awakening, encoded with superhuman DNA they altered the course of history wherever they went as they were meant to. And then, at last, there was home again: a refuge of deep peace and purity. Dances of cosmic life, elixirs of eloquent colours, caresses of true love surrounding the spirit with bliss, blue fires of music... home Welcome to 2012".



The Gate of the Dreaming Cosmos is composed in 2018 by Gavin Kwok. 
He was inspired by the concept of Flammarion Engraving for the use in CGI Animated Short Film "Sputnik " by Maxim Zhestkov in BIFSC.

Dreaming Cosmos (2018)

The New World

Back around 2015, I started taking guitar lessons from an instructor who was really into Bluegrass Music. I soon discovered that didn't have an aptitude for the guitar and didn't have a great desire to practice enough to make up for any natural ability. 
I did mention to my instructor that I had written a couple of songs and maybe our time would be better spent learning how to record these songs.
One day I tried to write a 'bluegrass" tune and titled it, "I've Done It Again." We recorded it. Years later, I wanted to revisit some of my earlier recordings and see what they might sound like with professional musicians. Nicky V. Hines, currently the lead guitarist with Shenandoah acted as musical director, guitarist, arranger, engineer, and producer for me on this finally finished new version. (Several versions have been posted on my SC page throughout the years. This will be the Spotify, Apple, Amazon etc version of which I shall make .002 of a penny every time it is played.) On bass is Martin Motnik currently a member of the popular European Heavy Metal Band "Accept." (Trust me, I have no idea how a country bumpkin like me ended up working with Heavy Metal - but I dig it.) On keyboards is the wonderful Tim McDonald , out of Nashville. On drums is another Nashvillian, Travis L.. Super people and very, very talented and experienced.
I like this version very much - musically. I think the mix is excellent (Nicky V. Hines) and I like how he took down the reverb on the vocal, it sounds a bit edgier, a little more vulnerable, and real. 
What's the song about? It's about not being able to take off the "masks" and take down the walls . Although "good lover" is sexual certainly sounding - we can mess up good love in other ways too - family, friends, etc. And, although we can deeply feel the pain of our actions, sometimes we just can't seem to get out of our own way. 
It is a song about being human. Thank you Nicky!

I've Done It Again

UnBoxed January 2024

Sweet Love Multiplication Variation on the original Boxy 2 recording November 2023
Original lyrics and vocal performance by the wonderful @diamondlajolie

[ d o w n l o a d a b l e ]

Wasichreibenmuss REMIX (Featuring diamondlajolie)

Downtown Lights

Escorrega - 19 - 5 - 2024

A jazzy blues celebration of the end of the 9-5 working week, unwinding to music in  a bar. Co-written with my friend Steve from South Africa. We sometimes played the little bars together in the mid 70's, and reunited for a song a few decades later via cyberspace! The guitar track is a phone capture. Steve was a tapper before tapping began: listen here to the guitar wizard in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQIUkbvMNnE

Guitar & instrumental composition ~ Steve Newman
Vocals and lyrical composition ~ Chris Okunbor

Unwinding      2019 Okunbor & Newman

Heading down a street called Main, just one thing on my mind
Shake off the troubles of the work day, I'm needin' to unwind
Goin' to a place where the sweet jive rules
Down at the house of blues.

Resonator steels are beaming spotlights
Harps bend and fire the fuse
Wails pierce the stillness of the winter night
Outside the house of blues
Mmm they're heating up that cold night air

Cruisin' down where the music rules
I know that you're gonna be there too
Swayin' to the rhythms of the old skool
I think I'm gonna join you at the bar of jazz & blues

When the jazz gets Friday night a-jumpin'
And the beer is bitter sweet.
Crowd is a hummin', bass is a-thumpin'
Carving up the heat.
Mmm we love to move 
with that old skool bluesin' beat.



Image of the rainy pavement from freeimages.com

Unwinding ~ Chris O & Steve Newman

Chris, hailing  from North West  Tasmania in Australia, is a singer-songwriter who pens originals, and  plays vintage music the way it used to be.  Her mashup of  Folk, Blues,  &  Americana  draws on a lifetime of  encounters with places, people, and the magic of nature;  echoing  a multitude of  global grassroots traditions. 
Traveling around carrying her “band” like a pack pony ~ lap-slide, banjo, uke, as well as a few plain ole guitars, she  regularly performs in Australia and Europe.
Growing up in Merseyside, England, Chris was exposed to the vibrant music scene of the late 60’s and 70’s,  and her music is has been influenced by  traditional folk, country blues, and  world music .
In 2016 she represented her State at the International Blues Challenge & National Women in Blues Showcase in Memphis,  and her second album,  “Wailin’ & Raggin’ the Blues” was  a   finalist for “Best Self-produced CD with the Blues Foundation , USA.  Her third album, “Twisted Roots & Twisted Highways” was  a finalist for Blues & Roots Radio Album of the Year in 2018.
www.chrisokunbor.net

Unwinding ~ Chris O & Steve Newman

Chris O (2)