Amusement day. 
Sweet. Cotton candy blowing.
Youth day burning, 
Sunburst color of growing.
When I was a little boy.
I had never felt the bore.

Sniffling smells. 
It smells like a nasal spray.
Don't eat your snot. 
Hang tight, not to slip, 
not to get lost again.
Please stay here a little more.
I don't want to go till the fireworks.

What A Day

What Do We Need To Touch The Stars

An early iteration without all the fannying about
Sami's v nice guitar playing

Tenkawa

(Free WAV Download available here under '••• More'; and eventually, as part of a future solo album)

Greetings my friends. I admit up front, this is a strange write-up… culminating from years of trying to navigate a world that no longer makes sense to me. And maybe that’s a good thing. We all needed a wake up call to just how ineffective and unsustainable it all is? And the last few years have provided examples of that… in abundance. 

Speaking of abundance (or in this case, lack thereof), Cheer and I have been discussing this one a lot lately; specifically in regards to the shops and restaurants we frequent. I finally gave up on building a DIY, music-centric desk I designed, because none of the local hardware stores had enough of the pieces in stock. We’ve watched our favorite Romaine lettuce disappear from the shelves, to be replaced by something half the size and twice the cost. Several of our favorite restaurants have closed permanently, and the wait times at others is painfully long now. 

Apparently, shop and restaurant owners can’t get anybody to work for $15/hr when it costs $30/hr to afford rent and groceries now. (How could we have ever predicted or prevented that? One might speculate.)

It’s enough to make the average mind go a little panicky. “Why don’t you have that in stock?”, ‘Why did the price on this just double overnight?”, “Why have we been waiting for 20 minutes just for the menus?”. All of these are very real, and very concerning… specifically if we never stop to question how much of that thinking is the result of being programmed to think like consumers our whole lives.

How often have you heard a commercial say something along the lines of “You deserve this because you are worth it.” Or “You should fear this. And our product/service can protect you.” Or “You should take this prescription, despite the list of side effects being longer than the list of benefits.”

I suggest we ask ourselves ‘Am I thinking with the mind of a consumer right now?’, and then be very willing to let those developing thoughts roll around in our heads for a while. 

Cheer and I concluded (with minor alarm) that we are both profoundly brainwashed by ‘consumer’ thinking; and it shows every time we feel a sense of panic in the store. Sure, things are a bit more scarce than they were 5 years ago… but does anyone (old enough) remember 30 years ago, when the stores contained half of what they offer now? (And none of us were freaking out over a lack of choices then). How about a time when you couldn’t have something shipped to your door overnight (many of us can still remember a time when 6-8 weeks was a decent shipping window).

Maybe the path to changing this paradigm is for us to get out of that ‘consumer’ thinking, and focus more on a ‘grateful for all the amazing things we have’ kind of thinking. I can still go to the store and choose from an abundance of fruits and vegetables, a teetering display of chips and dips, a bevy of beers from around the world. There are still more choices than my simple brain truly wants to think through, even if they are sold out of the Smoked Salmon and Ketchup flavored Cheetos I was specifically looking for.

So my plan going forward is to TASER myself (at least psychologically) every time I catch my brain being consumery. And the goal is to reach a point where I’m not thinking “It’s not fair my favorite restaurant closed.”, but instead thinking “How cool is it that I had that experience; and got to support the family that owned and worked that restaurant.” 

We’ve reached some critical tipping points that are well on their way to determining our future; and I believe a healthy attitude (dipped in gratitude) is the thing that’s going to keep us from gnawing each other’s faces off over the long haul. Them’s my weird thoughts for the day. Take em with a grain of salt (assuming the store carries the brand you like). I hope you enjoy my latest musical offering, ‘I’ll See It When I Believe It”. :)

WTF! The Musical

I'll See It When I Believe It

Modes About Me Ft. Temp Friend Agency [Album Teaser]

Coming soon...

Music: Mark McClellan "Modes About Me"

Vocals/Lyrics: Mark McClellan "Modes About Me" & Vincenzo Velasco "Temp Friend Agency"

Mixed/Mastered: Ryan Wiesner "True Sound Studios"

https://soundcloud.com/modesaboutme
https://soundcloud.com/tempfriendagency
https://tssrecording.com/

Modes About Me and Temp Friend Agency - Buffalo Avenue (Album Teaser)

Vocals, vocalise by Nadia Selvaggi
Instrumental by Anomon (Gary Courtland-Miles): https://soundcloud.com/gary-courtland-miles

Note from Anomon/Gary Courtland-Miles: 
"Recently I reached out to fellow SoundClouder and Vocalist Nadia Selvaggi, @nadiaselvaggi , wondering if she'd like to collaborate on one of my pieces. And Happily she said yes! 😊

After a few weeks of Listening, she zeroed in on my favorite Orchestral Fusion compositions, Cosmic Cycles*. And as I expected, her thoughtful, lyrical and powerful Vocalise certainly takes the piece to new Cosmic heights.

We're delighted to present it today. 😊

May you enJOY."

Composition © Gary Courtland-Miles 2022
Vocals ℗ Nadia Selvaggi 2022

© Gary Courtland-Miles & Nadia Selvaggi 2022

Photo : A Majestic Island Universe / NGC 1365
© NASA by The Hubble Space Telescope

Cosmic Cycles by Anomon & Nadia Selvaggi

Compose by. Chris.ZøBro 
(Original Version)

Broken Butterflies

Nakedverse and me have been meaning to do a Motown inspired track for a while now , and here it is , the last in a 5 track EP we have been writing together now for about a year , details to follow . Please go and visit him https://soundcloud.com/nakedverse
Lyrics :-
There's nothing like the sweet revenge of
Time and patience as the karma
Catches up with everything they've done
Can't you see it in the news now
The veils are lifted from your eyes now
If you look away it does no good

Dominoes fall
One by one and
Knock each-other down

Perhaps its in my love of justice
Or my twisted sense of humour
But my smile gets bigger everyday
To know that we can turn the tables
Maybe to rewrite the fables
That they forced on us , here comes that day

Dominoes fall
One by one and
Knock each-other down

Oh Oh woah 
Just like dominoes

There's nothing like the sweet revenge of
Time and patience as the karma
Catches up with everything they've done

Dominoes fall
One by one and
Knock each-other down

Oh Oh woah
Just like dominoes
Goodbye bad times
Just like dominoes

Nakedverse/winkandwoo 2023

Just Like Dominoes

Just Like Dominoes - Nakedverse & winkandwoo

Boffins Are Baffled

HELLO GARETH MA MISSION EST SECRÈTE
JE VAIS LA JOUER DISCRÈTE À LA 007
MESSAGE CODÉ FAÇON DOCTEUR NO
POUR QUE TU SOIS LE SEUL À ME COMPRENDRE À DEMI-MOTS PAROLES PAROLES BAMBINO BAMBINO

BONSOIR GARETH ALSO KNOWN AS GARY DEAN
TRICOT CROCHET MACRAME & MAGIC BEAN
YOU GOT ALL THE TRICKS THERE’S NOTHING YOU CAN’T MAKE INCLUDING THE MOST SPECTACULAR BIRTHDAY CAKES
I WISH IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY SO YOU’D HAVE SOMETHING TO BAKE

MAIS CE SOIR GARETH C’EST PAS LA MIENNE C’EST TA FÊTE 50 CANDLES TO BLOW JUST REMEMBER TO FORGET
THE YEARS MAY FLOW BUT TIME MEANS NOTHING
LET ME WISH YOU THE BEST THROUGH ANDREA AND DEAN

HELLO GARETH SURVEILLE TON ASSIETTE
CAR KIRSTY N’EST JAMAIS LOIN POUR RÉCUPÉRER LES MIETTES
SI CET ENDROIT ÉTAIT PLUS COOL CETTE SOIRÉE SERAIT PARFAITE FALLAIT S’Y PRENDRE À TEMPS QUANT AU GÂTEAU CHER GARETH 
TU AURAIS DU AU PATISSIER DONNER TA RECETTE SECRÈTE

ET CE SOIR GARETH C’EST PAS LA MIENNE C’EST TA FÊTE 50 CANDLES TO BLOW JUST REMEMBER TO FORGET
THE YEARS MAY FLOW BUT TIME AIN’T NOTHING
LET ME WISH YOU THE BEST THROUGH ANDREA AND DEAN

KAREN, TONY, AND SIS MARIE-LOUISE
SORRY IF MY SONG DOESN’T MAKE YOU FEEL AT EASE
IT’S LIKE A PRIVATE JOKE SOME KIND OF A SECRET
ONLY MEANT TO BE SHARED BETWEEN ME AND GARETH EXCEPT OF COURSE FOR BELLA AND HUMPHREY IN HIS TUXEDO

ET CE SOIR GARETH C’EST PAS LA MIENNE C’EST TA FÊTE 50 CANDLES TO BLOW JUST REMEMBER TO FORGET
THE YEARS MAY FLOW BUT TIME AIN’T NOTHING
LET ME WISH YOU THE BEST THROUGH ANDREA AND DEAN

MISSION SECRÈTE (Lyrics) Song for Garett

Chapter 136 of 266
Chapters released every weekend. All TAFFETA tracks are created within seven days.

I use a complete hybrid of organic & electronic sounds within the scope of the Taffeta project. Nothing is out of the question and no limits are set on how things may evolve one way or another.

If you want to hear everything that has come before:
The TAFFETA Albums are available for free on Bandcamp.
Released in 15 part/chapter increments:

TAFFETA Vol. 8 is now available exclusively on Bandcamp: belialpelegrim.bandcamp.com/album/taffeta-vol-8

COVER YOUR TORSO WITH TAFFETA! Check out the official TAFFETA t-shirt!
belialpelegrim.bandcamp.com/merch/belia…feta-design

The TAFFETA Playlist is always kept up to date:
soundcloud.com/belial-pelegrim/sets/taffeta-a-266-part-musical

MISSION SECRÈTE (Lyrics) Song for Garett

IMRE LODBROG