A three-part, a cappela version of the CSN&Y classic "Find the Cost of Freedom" by The Brother Sisters, released some years ago in West Virginia.

You Can't Be Lost

"Find the Cost of Freedom"

A living room, first-take, rough draft of "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen (minus one of his verses)  aug18.2022

"Hallelujah" - rough draft

"Dragon Ramble" is by Douglas Eye and The Scribblers, my current working, singer-songwriter band title (sept2022). Now, I need, like ... you know, an actual band. Because what you'll hear is me on my reverb-soaked Guild classical guitar, and some extemporaneous guitar doodlebugging. And what happens next, when you set a guy loose in Garageband for an hour.

"Dragon Ramble" by The Scribblers

A homage to my Italian family roots on my father's side

‘OH! IMBROGNOs’
(sung to “O Susannah”) by douglas john imbrogno

They came from Southern Italy / To make themselves a life.
Eugenio Imbrogno and/ Caterina Napoli as his wife.
In Italy, they had 3 kids. / The family began to grow…
Three boys born in Calabria: / Luigi, Eduardo n’ Duilio.

CHORUS:
Oh, Imbrognos! / They used to be quite rare!
Now, if you just look around / You’ll find them everywhere.

They crossed the wide Atlantic … / The first thing they could see
Nearing Ellis Island was / the Statue of Liberty.
Eugenio found a place to live. / They went from boat to train.
In a place they called O-hio. / And a town they called Lorain.

A gas station they came to own./ Three more kids made six.
Bob, Teresa, and Loretta / were added to the mix.
The kids grew up and moved away. / Grandkids began to sprout.
Eugene and Catherine’s offspring / kept coming out and out.

CHORUS:
Oh, Imbrognos! / They used to be quite rare!
Now, if you just look around / You’ll find them everywhere.

They’d gather for the holidays, / spaghetti everywhere …
Around the table on West 33rd… / Arguments would fill the air.
On Christmas in the basement, / long tables filled with food.
And some of Grandpa’s homemade wine, / which was sure to change your mood.

Before you ate a single thing, / Grandpa and Grandma stand…
And all those kids & kids of kids / would lean to kiss their hand.
Oh, my dear Imbrognos, / Recall where it began.
Deep in Southern Italy /With a woman and a man!

CHORUS:
Oh, Imbrognos! They used to be quite rare! Now, if you just look around You’ll find them everywhere. 
(SING: repeat 2 to 3 times till end…)

'Oh! Imbrognos'

A quickie version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," recorded on my plugged-in Guild classical guitar played through a Fishman amp, with probably too much reverb. For a family gathering in order to get my recalcitrant siblings to sing along ...

"Somewhere Over The Rainbow"

TUNE: 'GLADIATOR SONG | by The Silent Gondoliers

INSTRUMENTATION: Douglas John Imbrogno on guitar, cheap CASIO keyboards, a bodhran I picked up ages ago in Connemara and with a little post-recording Garageband needle noodling.

NOTES: I first composed this instrumental in 2008, after returning from a trip to Italy with my son and his cousin. You can hear it on my Youtube channel 'ITALY' playlist, accompanying a slideshow of photos titled 'A TIME AGO' shot during our travels. After hearing the tune again in 2023, I liked it so much I decided to make an experimental/impressionistic new music video out of it. You won't really understand the sound of rain and hail about 2/3rds of the way through without seeing the music video: www.thestoryisthething.com/archives/12900

VIDEO FOOTAGE: All the footage is mine, shot — if I think about it — in 2023, in West Virginia and Washington, D.C., except for the concert shot of upheld cigarette lighters — um, I mean cellphones — at a Jonas Brothers concert in Lexington KY, to which I accompanied my offspring.

MORE: For more of my original music, type 'garagecow ensemble' into Spotify or Apple Music. And visit my Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/douglaseye

SEE RELATED POST AT: https://thestoryisthething.substack.com/p/four-for-your-contemplation

GLADIATOR SONG by The Silent Gondoliers

An homage in word and song to the love of my life.

Garageow Ensemble

'Stars and Planets (Laurie's Song)'

In the debut issue of "Mountain State of Mind," a podcast of the Charleston Gazette-Mail, host Douglas Imbrogno talks with long-time West Virginia community activist Michael Tierney and Dr. Luke Eric Lassiter, head of the Marshall University Graduate Humanities Program at the South Charleston campus, about their West Virginia Activist Archive project. See a companion article to this podcast in the Feb. 7, 2016 edition of the Sunday Gazette-Mail, titled "Looking at activism in West Virginia, past and present": http://www.wvgazettemail.com/life/20160207/looking-at-activism-in-west-virginia-past-and-present

Mountain State of Mind - Episode 1 - West Virginia Activist Archive

Sister Mary Pellicane in Charleston, W.Va., has been a nun longer than most people have been alive. On Good Friday, 2016, she marked her 70 years as a nun with the Sister of Cenacle. She reflects on her life growing up in New York City and what attracted her to the quiet life of convents and retreat houses. This is a companion podcast to a story in the March 25, 2016 Charleston Gazette-Mail by Douglas Imbrogno, titled "NOT A SOUND: The Quiet Life of a Nun Who Can't Stop Talking": bit.ly/1MGmWKE

NOT A SOUND: 70 Years a Nun

Maestro Grant Cooper is retiring after 15 years as conductor of the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra. In this "Mountain State of Mind" podcast, he reflects on the art of conducting, both with and without a baton. See a link to a companion article in the May 6, 2016 Charleston Gazette-Mail at: http://blogs.wvgazettemail.com/mountainstateofmind/

Image by KENNY KEMP | Charleston Gaztte-Mail

Art of Conducting with Grant Cooper

Bhante Yogavacara Rahula gives a guided meditation at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Charleston, W.Va., as part of a visit sponsored by The Meditation Circle of Charleston. http://themeditationcircle.com). Visit Bhante Rahula's blog at: http://bhanterahula.blogspot.com

Bhante Rahula Guided Meditation | October 2016

Bhante Yogavacara Rahula gives a talk on meditation and the role it plays in Buddhist practice, during a visit to Charleston, W.Va., on Oct. 14, 2016, sponsored by The Meditation Circle of Charleston (http://themeditationcircle.com). For more on Bhante Rahula and his teachings, visit http://bhanterahula.blogspot.com

Bhante Rahula Talk on Meditation | 10-14-16

An excerpt of a talk given by Ven. Ajahn Sumedho on the occasion of a visit to Washington, D.C. The talk was co-sponsored by the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, D.C. Sample: "What is it that’s aware of inhaling and exhaling?... Through  this kind of investigation, this awareness or mindfulness, we begin to have the insight knowledge into consciousness knowing itself."

Ven. Ajahn Sumedho

Bhante Jayasara, a Theravadan Buddhist monk from the Bhavana Society in High View, W.Va., gives a Dhamma talk on "making meditation part of one's livelihood." The talk was part of a day retreat at the Peace Tree Center for Wellness in Huntington, W.Va., sponsored by PeaceTree (https://www.peacetreecenter.com) and The Meditation Circle of Charleston WV (http://themeditationcircle.com). For more on the Bhavana Society Buddhist monastery and retreat center, visit http://bhavanasociety.org

Bhante Jayasara Dhamma Talk at Peace Center Center May 27, 2017

HERE IS A PORTION of a talk given by Ven. Ajahn Sumedho on a recent visit to Washington, D.C., his first trip ever in his long life. The talk, given July 1, 2017,  was co-sponsored by the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, D.C., and the Thai Embassy. Ajahn Sumedho is the senior Western representative of the Thai forest tradition of Theravada Buddhism.

Ajahn Sumedho on mindfulness and meditation

Stories and farewell essays of creative people exiting West Virginia and the resulting angst, pushback and gloom over the state’s declining population and outflow of talent have become a depressing staple. They deserves a descriptive title: Dear John-boy stories? Departure porn? Such tales of woe and sayonara fail to focus on the people who have decided to stay. Or portraits of fine souls not born here, but who chose to come — and then stayed. Like 79-year-old painter Robert Singleton, who lives on a mountaintop in Hardy County, W.Va. This is a story about a man who had one career as an abstract expressionist, then hit a wall. What to paint? Clouds. That’s what he wanted to paint. Then, he met Elizabeth Kubler-Ross and everything changed. Then, came the really hard stuff, as he helped to shepherd a host of friends and loved ones out of this life with her guidance. And the painting stopped. Then, one day, across the Atlantic in Germany, an East Berlin-born musician stumbled on his website. Therein, lies a Mountain State tale. Here is the companion article to this podcast:
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/_arts__entertainment/hma-artist-paints-his-way-back-into-the-light/article_7edf33a7-2f3f-5d12-8942-00e2d5aed664.html

The Man Who Paints Clouds

A sampler of original songs written and performed by Douglas Imbrogno and friends.

01 Party In My Heart

An interview with Bonnie Stewart, author of "No. 9: The 1968 Farmington Mine Disaster" (West Virginia University Press, 2011) on the 50th anniversary of the disaster that killed 78 miners in Marion County, West Virginia. See companion story by Douglas Imbrogno in the Nov. 20, 2018 edition of One Hundred Days in Appalachia: https://www.100daysinappalachia.com

Conversations: With Bonnie Stewart on the No. 9 Farmington Mine Disaster

"Silent Night for Piano and Treated Guitar" by Douglas John and the Front Porch Lights | http://thewebtheater.com | http://thestoryisthething.com

"Silent Night For Piano and Treated Guitar"

Here's an instrumental track I made today, two tracking my Guild classical guitar. Calming music for crazy days.

Music for Sheltering in Place: "Two Guitars, One Heart"

“BRING SUNSHINE WHEN YOU COME” goes out to families who’ve suffered loss from Covid-19. And to those risking your lives to help others, as well as those on the front lines of aid, who’ve run toward the disaster, not away. May everyone’s sunshine return in time. Peace. And thank you! And may all who listen: Be Safe. Be Well. Stay Home. | apr13.2020 |

THIS SONG IS BY THE SCRIBBLERS, a band and music-video project and FOUR-to-ONE Production of TheStoryIsTheThing.Com and Douglas John Imbrogno. DETAILS: https://www.thestoryisthething.com/2020/04/13/songs-of-comfort-songs-of-home-bring-sunshine-when-you-come/

I’M RELEASING THIS SONG into the wild with the Creative Commons License: “Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND.” This only allows a person to download it for free; and to share it on social media and with others so long as you credit TheStoryIsTheThing and The Scribblers—but the song can’t be changed in any way or used for commercial purposes. That means non-commercial purposes are cool. (Let me know if you use it anywhere!)

"BRING SUNSHINE WHEN YOU COME" by The Scribblers

HERE IS A SHORT AUDIO INTERVIEW with Joe Turner about the West Virginia native up into a Vietnam War-era pilot. Originally published on West Virginia Public Broadcasting on Aug. 21, 2019, upon Turner being inducted into the West Virginia Aviation Hall of Fame.

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