Joyst JV-1 with Arcade Drip. Dedicated to Patty Brower (Blankenship), may you forever rest in peace.

Following Angels

This song is dedicated to my friend Bijan Panda. Panda is likely to be derived from word Pandit/Pundit/Pandat via Sanskrit word Pandita, meaning "Learned"/Scholar. It is pertinent to mention here the term Pandit is derived from the term Pand (पण्ड्) which means "to collect, heap, pile up", and this root is used in the sense of knowledge. The term is found in Vedic and post-Vedic texts. The first half of the song is an Indian classical dance style called Bharatanatyam and the latter half is meant for the actual prayer (Puja). I tried my best to create this song with the utmost respect to the Indian culture.

The Panda Puja

In honor of my sister-in-law’s birthday, who is a big Stranger Things fan (Lisie), it’s an homage to the Netflix series, who btw got us hooked on it too. We are all so looking forward to the next season!!

Stranger Things: What About Lisie?

Tango is a partner dance, and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. I created this song for my co-worker and friend Marisol for her and her husband Vanik. She is from Bolivia and he is from Armenia. They both love the Argentinian Tango and my hope was to create a fusion of their cultures and this iconic dance and musical form. The tango is about passion and struggle. Relationships from two different cultures are an extra challenge and I hope this song honors their relationship. Enjoy!

The Mahmoudi Tango

There's the Good, the Bad, but never any Ugly. I hope you enjoy this little homage to the Spaghetti Westerns...my favorite all-time movie. Jaime makes an excellent Lee Van Cleef and Gina is the "Blond Haired Golden Angel" who watches out for "El Portocarrero". This was done on the very 1st take using the Joyst-JV1, sure a little post editing but the core was done in one take...yes I love my Joyst-JV midi controller.

El Portocarrero

I'm dedicating this song to my friend John Mosch's mother Feliz. I don't know her condition at the moment but I know she's been struggling with her health. I wanted to make this something special in her honor. I'm using the flowers (bougainvillea) that John has as his Facebook background. This will be the final song in the Memories album/playlist. Also another done on the 1st take using the Joyst-JV1 Midi Controller which is sort of like a digital accordion type of musical device, just a slight amount of post editing in Garage Band.

Feliz

This is a song dedicated to a high school friend named Matt. I hope you enjoy this song. It's sort of a contemporary piece of guitar, piano and a little bit of wind instruments. "Le bon temps viendra", The Good Times Will Come. This is how I want to end the Dark Places album, in that the Good Times Will Come because that is the meaning of hope and the family motto of Griffith. Enoy my friend !

Griffith

This is mostly the same track as "Griffith" except I added an intro piano and I fixed the end of Griffith by removing the conflicting piano layer. It's a nicer introduction and close to this song.

Griffith Rising

This song is dedicated to my friend Bob Martinez (RIP), he was also friends with the great Carlos Santana. Apparently they were friends in high school here in the Bay Area. I've always enjoyed listening to Carlos's music because not only is he an amazing guitarist, he is also a really good human being. This is an homage to honor him. Several days after creating this track, I discovered that Bob passed away about a year ago. Somehow and someway I feel like maybe his spirit had something to do with me creating this song for him. Either way thank you Bob, your spirit lives on in my heart. You were a good friend and an amazing person. Now you are in Heaven with your beloved wife who you took such great care of while she was here on Earth.

Carlos

Open Your Heart

Ever wonder what animals are either thinking or dreaming about? I suspect they are thinking good thoughts and enjoying blue skies. Sometimes we need to learn from them how to relax and be in the moment.

Chillaxing

Happy Birthday Abbie - We hope you like your song. It's very magical.

Both Abbie Harlow and Caroline Harlow are great cousins when it comes to how they relate with our son Ethan, he loves hanging out with them and they are a great influence on him.  Now I have to think about a song for Caroline for her next birthday or possibly for Christmas? Maybe something either Justin Bieber and Harry Styles could relate to...it would be really cool if I could get some lyrics to it and get one of them to perform it....yeah that would blow her mind.

Abbierella

This is my first track performed with the Instrument1. Though it came out in 2018, it's an incredibly relevant and current instrument on the Midi controller/instrument front. I'm really impressed with it. There was very little editing made on this track. I am happy that I made track using zero clips!

Glass

Created this song for my long time friend Mr. Bryan T. Hackett. He done left California and moved out East to Texas. Yeah him and I don't agree on politics but even so we're still good friends.  I hope you like this song and perhaps maybe you will perform it or put your own spin on it. It could be a great way to open up a show...let all them Texans know who you are.  Enjoy Bro!!

Cowboy

This is for my great grandfather, James Ross Dodds Sr. who came to America from Rockcorry, Ireland. Apparently he was a stowaway on a ship though he was a storyteller so not 100% sure that's the truth.. However was also in charge of the 2nd crew of carpenters who built the Panama Canal who started in 1912 which we have lots of proof of.

Rockcorry

A tribute to one of my favorite rock bands of all times who happen to also be German. I took their song and gave it an orchestral spin. This is going into my album of cover songs.

Liebe Dich Immer Noch (Still Loving You - by the Scorpions - cover)

Mad World done Sumo style. I just love the original song as well as watching Japanese Sumo Wrestling.

Mad “Sumo” World (Mad World - cover)

A classical Indian raag. It's a such a beautiful piece.

Adana (Indian Raga) - Cover track

Dedicated to my friend Vlad from Kyiv and to all the Ukrainian People. May there be peace in Ukraine.

Peace for Ukraine (instrumental)

Working on this track with my friend Matt who is writing lyrics for this song. It will be one of our songs with the "Peace for Ukraine" album that we're going to release soon to raise money for Ukraine humanitarian efforts.

Bigfoot

Let's_Talk

99% from the 1st take using the Orba2 midi controller, just made some very small edits in a few key places but otherwise almost a perfect 1st take. I hope you all enjoy this song, it felt very emotional when I recorded it.

Somehow there are these clicks in the song that got added, possibly during the mastering.....not good. I need to compare to the downloaded Master file and to the original GB file....1st time that's happened.

Where Did My Love Go?

This is for my dog Steely, she was a bit of a goofball but very kind. I would like to think some of her personality rubbed off on me. Though she was imperfect in many ways, this is what made her almost perfect.

Horribly Imperfect

I dedicate this one to God. A few years back I had this weird conversation in my head with the superior force but not by voice, more like thoughts and images. It literally scared the heck out of me, thought my brain was going to explode but I learned a few things. What we call God, the thoughts are timeless and perfect regardless of past, present, or future. I came to the conclusions that our brains can't come close to the full comprehension of what or who is God, in terms of the bigger picture. While this was happening I saw a dust cloud in the desert like this image, with thoughts coming out from it like someone pulling a semi-transparent tissue after tissue from the dust cloud.

Dust Clouds

Pearl

Pillow

They Are Coming

Moszkowski is said to have been the forgotten man of music. Something inspired me to start listening to his music and perhaps this is where my inspiration came from for this piece.

Forgotten

There is something I really like about the sound of F5, yes give me some F5 why don't you???

Give Me Some F5

The Next Project

For Peace Sakes

Created with the Artiphon Orba. A funky beat.

Gnarly Digger

Morph

This track is dedicated to my coworker Risa and how we collaborate with each other and share ideas and eventually create a harmony and synergy with each other.

Retro Risa

Bunnies is dedicated to my co-worker Kelly, she raises bunnies. The bunnies are having an enjoyable day in the woods till Mr. Fox comes along. See if you can figure out what happens to the bunnies…

Bunnies

Virginia Travis, Robert Johnson's first wife of the infamous blues guitarist. We don't have a real photo of her but I can only imagine she must of looked similar to this lady.  She died in 1930 only a few years after they were married.

Mrs. Johnson

This is the first track on my 60's album, love the mandolin. A friend from Humboldt named Keith played one. Obviously this track is for all of the hippies out there, many of them struggle to make a living up in Humboldt County but they do enjoy nature and hanging with friends. If you want to live in the moment and aren't too concerned about accumulating lots of things then perhaps the earthy lifestyle is for you, to each his or her own.

Years of Tears

Jim Morrison meets Timothy Leary, Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters taking a bus ride on Further for their Magic Trip. Some of us didn't make it out of the 60's alive, this song is dedicated to those of us who didn't.

Merry Pranksters

I love music along with all other forms of art and passionate about electronic/digital music. I have been playing the guitar for the past 30 years and I back various Kickstarter campaigns for new types of midi controllers and other musical devices., I'm an instructional designer and a media content developer for companies like Cisco and Apple.

Milo Dodds

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