I can hear our dog Penny joining in with my melancholy chord organ playing.

Melancholy Chord Organ

I hear my mother, my niece Donna and myself at our chord organ. My nephew Jimmy is probably there as well. Mom encourages Donna to play but I take over with what I called spooky music. It was probably inspired by the last part of the Beatles song "I Am the Walrus." I argued with my mom because she wanted to move the microphone. I love the overtones the chord organ produced.

Spooky Music

The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, marked Quasi una fantasia, Op. 27, No. 2, is a piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven. It was completed in 1801 and dedicated in 1802 to his pupil Countess Julie "Giulietta" Guicciardi. The name Moonlight Sonata (German: Mondscheinsonate) grew popular later, likely after Beethoven's death. Here's my piano version of the first movement.

Moonlight Sonata (excerpt)

The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, marked Quasi una fantasia, Op. 27, No. 2, is a piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven. It was completed in 1801 and dedicated in 1802 to his pupil Countess Julie "Giulietta" Guicciardi. The name Moonlight Sonata (German: Mondscheinsonate) grew popular later, likely after Beethoven's death. Here's my chord organ version of the first movement. My appreciation of Beethoven came from viewing "A Charlie Brown Christmas.”

Moonlight Sonata Chord Organ

I heard this tune on the soundtrack for the film "A Clockwork Orange." It's originally from the album "Sound of Sunforest" by Sunforest.

Overture to the Sun

I probably began these musical sketches sometime in late 1974 or early 1975 when I was around 17 years old. I continued recording these sketches through the rest of the 1970's.

You can hear further developments of this song here: https://on.soundcloud.com/Rwhju and here: https://on.soundcloud.com/oHtHR.

Musical Sketch 04: Lovin' Is All That I Do

I probably began these musical sketches sometime in late 1974 or early 1975 when I was around 17 years old. I continued recording these sketches through the rest of the 1970's.

Musical Sketch 08: There's A Light In My Life And His Name Is Jesus

This musical sketch was probably recorded sometime during 1977 or thereafter. I continued recording these sketches through the rest of the 1970's.

Early Bohacz Music

Musical Sketch 23: Don't You Know That I Love You?

This musical sketch is a second iteration of an earlier one of mine: "Musical Sketch 14: This Feeling Is So Beautiful That I Can Hardly Take It In." This sketch was probably recorded sometime during 1978 or thereafter. I continued recording these sketches through the rest of the 1970's.

Musical Sketch 42: This Feeling Is So Beautiful That I Can Hardly Take It In

This musical sketch was probably recorded sometime during 1978 or thereafter. It was a second iteration of an earlier one of mine: "Musical Sketch 26: Don't Go Away From Me" available here: https://on.soundcloud.com/rQYU6. I continued recording these sketches through the rest of the 1970's.

Musical Sketch 43: Don't Go Away From Me

I wrote the song, sang, played all the instruments, if memory serves. I multitracked this recording with two tape recorders. The first recording made the basic track of upright piano with my vocal. I then played the recording back through speakers into a second miced recorder while I performed on another instrument and sang backing vocal. I continued to bounce recordings this way to include acoustic guitar, electric bass guitar, electric guitar solo. This process generated a lot of noise so I applied noise reduction many years later.

You can hear a further development of this song here: on.soundcloud.com/oHtHR.

Lovin' Is All That I Do

"The sun rises in the east and it sets in the west
And a day happens in-between.
Chroisyavana greets the dawning and the sunlight stretches in.
Hear the laughter.
Dinisdugavindaveda,
Everything is new when I am in tune.
Dinisdugavindaveda, oh!
The sun rises in the east and it sets in the west
And a day happens in-between."

I'm guessing I recorded this sometime in 1977 when I was 19 years old.  Inspired by mysticism, I wrote the song, sing, play all the instruments, if memory serves. I multitracked this recording with two tape recorders. The first recording made the basic track of upright piano with my vocal put through an amp to add reverb. I then played the recording back through speakers into a second miced recorder while I performed acoustic guitar. I then repeated the process to eventually include bass guitar. Perhaps I added the vocal last, I cannot recall. This process generated a lot of noise so I applied noise reduction many years later.

The image is a linoleum print I made in 1977 entitled "Figure-Ground of Being." Here's where you can see more of my artwork from the era: http://michaelanthonybohacz.name/college_pictures.html.

A Day Happens

Michael Davis and I wrote this musical sketch. Mike played electronic synthesizer and rhythm equipment that he had. I played some kind of organ.

Note to self: we probably recorded this in Mike's Chicago apartment on West School Street near North Racine Avenue sometime in or after 1979? Or was it the loft that Mike later rented on Division? near Ashland? I acquired my Strat after reading "The Heavy Guitar Bible" published in 1979.

Musical Sketch: Beth

"Time is 12:23, last place I wanna be.
When will it come?
I've been waitin' for an hour
And my stomach's feelin' sour.
How late's the train run?

He doesn't know we're up here.
He'll never guess.
We're gonna soak him in light.
Set the coordinates.

Clyde, Clyde, Clyde: read the writing on the wall.
When will it come? Writing on the Wall

She thinks she's got me on her pinky.
She makes me hot 'cause she's so slinky.
Clyde, Clyde: When will it come?
Writing on the wall.

The antigrav is on. Engage the brain caress.
When he starts floating up record the grok he gets.

Good evening Clyde.
We represent an advanced race of beings
From a space colony orbiting the Dog Star Sirius.
You may interpret this as a religious experience
But we want you to know that we are merely
Manipulating your brain patterns via quantum waves
To measure for the possibility of intelligent life
Arising on your planet.

I wake up on the train. Can't remember my own name.
When did the train come?"

I wrote the song, sang lead vocal, played electric guitar. Ralph Warchol played electric bass and sang backup. Michael Davis also sang backup if memory serves. Ralph got the drum track from an LP. I believe this was recorded in Ralph's luxurious basement before he acquired his quarter inch reel-to-reel 8 channel recorder. Also, we were recording at Faith Chapel Radio Recording Studio in Berwyn (yes, Svengoolie's Berwyn) at this time, if memory serves. This dates this recording because I had access to that studio after I began working there in January of 1981.

Here's where you can hear different versions of this song:
on.soundcloud.com/C3Zxz
https://on.soundcloud.com/Z4MZF.

Clyde Meets the Aliens

I wrote the song. Ralph Warchol and I sang all vocals, if memory serves. I cannot recall who played which instruments but I think I played acoustic guitar and electric bass with Ralph on all the rest except the drums, which was provided by an LP he had. This was recorded in Ralph's luxurious basement outfitted with his quarter inch reel-to-reel 8 channel recorder probably in very late 1982 or 1983.

"Heh! Oh Lord! I feel so faint.
Those fingers get a lot of exercise you know.
Believe me they would.
Do you have the itches in your ear?
I'm not too healthy though.
Quit banging on those keys, keys, keys.
I love you. Oh, oh, oh! Cody! Oh Ralph! Hud! Oh...

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X and Y and Z
I am a baby I am so big and tall.
I am a baby I am so small.
I run and jump and play with my dolly
And Ralph comes and plays with me.
He loves to run around in the field
Then he climb up in the tree.
Ow! Don't push me. I don't want to fall.
Just Help me up and get me on that branch.
Don't! Dont'! Don't! I don't want to go down.
I just want to stay up here all day
And be up near the sky.
I want to fly like a bird and be real high.
The feeling gets me happy and makes me feel so free
That when we're together we feel like a tree.
Do you remember that tree, North Riverside,
Down at that park?
We sat there for almost three hours
And oh, what a sight!
Such things you can see in a tree.
They tell stories, stories, stories, stores.
What I saw, oh what I saw!
Ooh what I saw!
Oh, my eyes can't believe what I saw!
The sky turned black
And the earth was shaking.
My feet couldn't stand
And my eyes were quaking.
What? Help me! Help me I cried! What?
Don't! No! It hurts so bad! Don't let me fall!
Look out! Hey! Help! Catch me!
We're almost there! No! Dont' shoot, no!
Don't shoot! It only hurts for a while
Then the pain all goes away.
Left, left, left, right, left. Left, left, left, right, left.
Right, left, up, down, oh, in, out, no! High! Low!
One, we are one!"

Ralph Warchol, his girlfriend at the time Jacqueline Kulawiak, and myself having fun in the recording studio. The acid started kicking in right at the start of this song. Jacqui shines with her improvised lyrics and melody. Ralph played piano and sang while I scratched in audio from a sound effects record. As recording engineer, I also applied tricks with the echo while Ralph played and we all sang. In this way we improvised with each other live. This was recorded at Faith Chapel Radio Recording Studio in Berwyn (yes, Svengoolie's Berwyn). I had access to that studio after I began working there in January of 1981.

Tripping at Faith Chapel

Trees Tell Stories

Myself having fun in the recording studio. I scratched in audio from a sound effects record while I played with the echo. This was recorded at Faith Chapel Radio Recording Studio in Berwyn (yes, Svengoolie's Berwyn). I had access to that studio after I began working there in January of 1981.

Shimmering Siren

If memory serves, this was the first song I ever wrote. I was around 9 or 10 years old. My brother Monte Paul Bohacz and I liked to sing it with our niece and nephew Donna McFarland and James Mefford, celebrating their pets Rusty and Tiki. Finley the fish was my pet. I didn't get around to recording this until 2024.

Rusty, My Favorite Dog

This song was selected for inclusion in the 2024 Psychedelic Film and Music Festival.

"I was born with a TV remote in my head
Because I could remember crawling over to the TV set and
Like wow man it was really something
'Cause I could tune in all kinds of things from everywhere and
I really liked the stuff that like put me on other planets
'Cause that kind of stuff was awesome and
I began to get so into that I took it as another plane of reality
Just as real no even more real than school and church and school and church said there were mysteries to dig out of the good book and
I started to see TV like that and pick up little clues to the universe that others couldn't quite see.

'Cause I've been imprinted by the TV programs like a piece of software ready to take what it can get.
'Cause the ETs have been contacting me for years now and I can tell you this
That there exists in the center of the universe a tetrahedron made of solid diamond I refer to as the Mystic Bone.
He's told me that the quasars are on the edges of the cosmos
Pouring out the flesh of the Gods in the form of a lava light like material that
Quite by accident seeds life on various worlds which someday will crawl to where the Krel stood up to see the MB in all its glory and I can see it all now."

I wrote and sang this song. I played multitracked instruments: my Ensoniq Mirage sampler-synth keyboard and my Yamaha RX5 Digital Rhythm Programmer. I mastered the recording with my Commodore Amiga computer with MIDI sometime in 1987 or '88.

Mystic-Twister

TV Madness

"Found her in the halls of the Art Institute.
I asked her out to lunch. I think she thought I was cute.
She had a look that almost knocked me down.
Next I find out she's involved with her boss at work.
He keeps getting older. I feel like a jerk
But I was determined to keep her around.
I bought her a ring to show I care.
I was so happy when she said she would wear it. Oh!
I call her my Bambino, Bambino.
If you're going to school feed Anthony.

Now she's bubbling over all of the time.
I tell her I love her. She tells me she's mine.
I even went out and bought her a little bird.
She wakes me up in the morning with a karate chop.
She's hopping into the car because she's going to shop.
She says to clean up the house if I could.
Any day we're gonna be man and wife.
Think I could spend the rest of my life with her. Oh!
I call her my Bambino, Bambino.
If you're going to school feed Anthony."

I wrote, sang and played all the instruments on this tune. The recording was made sometime around the mid-1980s. "Bambino" eventually ended up in my CD "Mostly Acoustic" available here: https://on.soundcloud.com/UssrPNYRW7yURbou5. Here's a link to the musical sketch that "Bambino" came from: https://on.soundcloud.com/D6mpALVnWBrgKV9aA.

Bambino

"She's a pushy little bitch that always gets her way
A nasty little number that will cauterize your brain.

She's a guttersnipe immune to all their hype.
She's a guttersnipe. She'a sees all through their tripe.
She's a guttersnipe.

With her ice cold act and her passions of fire
She will freeze you with a glance and burn you with desire.

She's a modern girl for a modern world.
She'll prove to you that you're really there.

She's so eternally cool, so terminally hip
In her bucket of love I'm just another drip."

We seem to have recorded this song more than any other. This is its fourth iteration, if I counted correctly. Michael Wayne Davis wrote the lyrics and I wrote the music to his words. He remarked that the music was a departure from what he wanted but he didn't come up with anything to replace it. I sang lead vocal. Mike sang backing vocal. This was probably recorded around 1986 or '87 if memory serves. The image is a still from the 1922 film "The Guttersnipe."

Here's where you can hear different versions of this song:
on.soundcloud.com/D9HYo
on.soundcloud.com/3ruvn.
on.soundcloud.com/JQVEydD63oNaGBoB7.

A version of this tune eventually ended up in my CD "Mostly Acoustic" available here: https://on.soundcloud.com/UssrPNYRW7yURbou5.

Guttersnipe

Guttersnipe 4

I wrote and sang this song. I played multitracked instruments: my Yamaha DX7 synthesizer keyboard and my Yamaha RX5 Digital Rhythm Programmer. I mastered the recording with my Commodore Amiga computer with MIDI sometime in 1987 or '88.

Here's where you can hear different versions of this song:
on.soundcloud.com/BfGqn
on.soundcloud.com/3wLUK
https://on.soundcloud.com/iQz9ySGsZ7sNpLQY8.

A version of this tune eventually ended up in my CD "Mostly Acoustic" available here: https://on.soundcloud.com/UssrPNYRW7yURbou5.

Black Whole of Love

Black Whole of Love (4)

"(Verse 1)
In the twilight of the silver screen,
A legend rose, unseen,
With a heart for tales untamed,
Roger Corman, they chanted your name.

(Chorus)
Roger Corman, King of the Bs,
You gave us tales wild and free,
From monsters deep to skies unknown,
In your world, we found a home.

(Verse 2)
Through "Little Shop of Horrors," fear and fun,
A blooming menace, second to none,
"The Pit and the Pendulum," a haunting sight,
You wove our dreams into the night.

(Verse 3)
With "The Raven" and its mystic lore,
And "House of Usher" by the shore,
Your films, a canvas of the strange,
In every frame, you made a change.

(Verse 4)
Through "Death Race 2000," a future bleak,
Your daring vision, unique,
From "X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes,"
You showed us life beyond disguise.

(Outro)
Now the curtain falls, the final scene,
Yet your legacy remains evergreen,
Roger Corman, forever be,
The King of the Bs, in our memory.
Roger Corman, forever be,
The King of the Bs, in our memory."

An homage to the late, great filmmaker Roger Corman. Trish Happel and I created the lyrics with ChatGPT and the music with Suno AI.

Roger Corman, King of the Bs

In the fall of 1991 Jon Navy electric guitarist, Chris Casilli drummer, myself on electric bass got together in Jon's loft, if I remember correctly, to jam.

Fall 1991 Jam #1

This track is the sound for my video art piece “The Machines Possessed Me (Abstract v2) Part 1.” The Abstract v1.5 won the Best U.S. Experimental Short award in the July 2023 Austin International Art Festival. You can view this video at https://youtu.be/8o3pu5wE1f0 and https://vimeo.com/435367103.

“Electronic Tonalities,” the source for this track, represented my earliest audio art and improvised electronic music. With this revised version my wife Trish Happel and I have augmented the original digitally. You can hear my original “Electronic Tonalities" here: on.soundcloud.com/JcXNWxZPhZ3EV7zN8.

Electronic Tonalities (Digitally Augmented)

I wrote this and Michael Davis and I performed. I sang lead and played my Fender Stratocaster. Mike sang backup and played electronic synthesizer and rhythm equipment that he had. We recorded this at Mike’s fourth floor loft located at 1231 North Honore Street in Chicago. An early log sheet labeled this recording with an uncertain date of April 15, 1982. Here’s where you can see a video of the recording: youtu.be/kItPo9csxfQ.

"So he has decided to have the operation.
Both he and his wife think it would be good to have it done.
He wonders if the sacrifice is worth it for his health.
But then reflects that he does not know what to expect at death.
The doctors crowd his room to hear the course of his intent.
They all discuss the meaning of this great experiment.
You'll have an artificial heart (repeat)
On the night before the big day is due.
He kisses his wife and says hello to God too.
The morning comes and they wheel him into place.
A blonde and chesty anesthesist puts a mask on his face.
The sights the sounds the smells they all go away.
He has a funny dream about a Shakespeare play
And a balloon that deflates.
Here comes his artificial heart.
Remove his other faulty part.
Insert his artificial heart.
I think the suturing can start.
When he can finally talk his wife comes to his bed.
She asks him if he still loves her. He says "Love's all in my head 'cause"
I have an artificial heart (repeat)
He has an artificial heart (repeat)"

Artificial Heart

Artificial Heart (1)

Michael Davis wrote this and the two of us performed. Mike sang lead, played electronic synthesizer and rhythm equipment that he had. I sang backup and played my Fender Stratocaster. We recorded this at Mike’s fourth floor loft located at 1231 North Honore Street in Chicago. An early log sheet labeled this recording with an uncertain date of April 15, 1982. Here’s where you can see a video of the recording: youtu.be/kItPo9csxfQ.

Elmer 40

Elmer 40 (1)

A version of this song won Best Psychedelic Song in The (2024) Psychedelic Film and Music Festival. I wrote this and Michael Davis and I performed. I sang lead and played my Fender Stratocaster. Mike sang backup and played electronic synthesizer and rhythm equipment that he had. We recorded this at Mike’s fourth floor loft located at 1231 North Honore Street in Chicago. An early log sheet labeled this recording with an uncertain date of April 15, 1982. Here’s where you can see a video of the recording: youtu.be/kItPo9csxfQ.

Clyde Meets the Aliens (1)

Enola Gay

Enola Gay (1)

I wrote this and Michael Davis and I performed. I sang lead and played my Fender Stratocaster. Mike sang backup and played electronic synthesizer and rhythm equipment that he had. We recorded this at Mike’s fourth floor loft located at 1231 North Honore Street in Chicago. An early log sheet labeled this recording with an uncertain date of April 15, 1982. Here’s where you can see a video of the recording: youtu.be/kItPo9csxfQ.

Black Whole of Love (1)

This story was inspired by "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" when Snoopy had a dogfight with the Red Baron. Our Webcor reel-to-reel tape recorder's erase head was faulty and this allowed me to experiment with overdubbing way before I had ever heard of the concept. Some sound effects was from the LP "Monster Shindig" released in 1966. I could have recorded this any time after October 27, 1966 (first airing of "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown") when I was 8 years old.

Snoopy vs. the Red Baron: Snoopy the Song Writer

I consider myself a fringe transmedia conceptual artist and have experimented with all kinds of media like drawing, performance, writing, music, painting, moviemaking, game design since I was quite young. I'd love it if you would check out what I've got going here in the sound department.

Bohacz & Frenz

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