Copyright 2024 Joe Stroffolino

Lots of people moving to the state of AZ
The desert seems like a nice a nice place to be
The only problem is there’s not enough H20
One day you’ll turn the tap and it’s not gonna flow
The climate keeps getting drier every single year
I guess we’ll have to take fewer showers and drink more beer

If you can’t stand the heat maybe you should get out of the kitchen
Maybe this isn’t the right place for you.
The sun up in the sky is 93 million miles away
But it feels a lot closer on a hot Arizona day

There’s not enough snowpack on the mountains up high
They say the Colorado river’s running dry
They’re ripping up lawns, replacing them with rocks
Instead of going barefoot, you walk around in crocs
The polar glaciers are melting in to the sea
I wish that they could scoop up an iceberg and drop it down on me

If you can’t stand the heat maybe you should get out of the kitchen
Maybe this isn’t the right place for you

Most of the rain falls in the summer
Monsoon season can be a real bummer
You get a big dust storm, they call it a haboob
You can watch scary videos on You Tube
You’ll be driving and suddenly you can’t see
You gotta make sure you don’t crash into a cactus or a tree

If you can’t stand the heat maybe you should get out of the kitchen
Maybe this isn’t the right place for you

A long time a ago, it must have been tough without air conditioning
People just had to sit around all day moaning and bitching 
Now the biggest thing we complain about is our high electric bill
As we lie on the couch watching Netflix enjoying the comfortable chill

If you can’t stand the heat maybe you should get out of the kitchen
Maybe this isn’t the right place for you
The sun up in the sky is 93 million miles away
But it feels a lot closer on a hot Arizona day

Can't Stand the Heat

Invert the tree
strung with tiny crosses and stars.
A wintery embrace.
All edges frozen.
Atmosphere in fear.
Molecules hesitant.
Roots reach to sky black.
Inhale the dream chemical.

Unstable ratio.
Awake still.

Sympathize the radio static.
Dig down the leaves.
Find the interference
down the herbicide path.

She hovers again, in memory.
Pale chin on the asphalt.
Breath ripples the reflections.
Follow the shambled row.

Hear them from open windows.
Still tadpoles evolving.

Unslept dawn of mockingbirds.
The light bleaches meaning
to blind headlights nocturnal.
Dissipate steam and silhouettes.

Disorient the crossroads
and return with the rain.
Step back to retrograde.
Some satellite prediction.

Return darkness' bloom
to the shelf with the cigarettes
and where death, so sweet
integrates
at the edge of creation.

Words by Riley Robinson

village of coello

an old song about something that happened a very long time ago

Little Boy, Where Are You?

Hey Billy, where are you?                  
Your mama wants you back home
Unlocked the door, walked into the night
Nobody knew you were gone
And I was just a kid myself
That cold September 1970
Little boy lost to a mean old world
It was the first time that death touched me
Where are you?                                   
Little boy, where are you?                     

The neighbors combed the streets and yards
The police they drove down
Brought his pillow out for the sniffer dog
As they searched their way through our town
A crowd gathers by the river's edge
Somebody yells, “Hey man, do you see just what I see?”
Face to the sky, he floats on by
It was the first time that death saw me
Where are you?
Little boy, where are you?

Tonight, when I close my eyes, all our yesterdays, they're slipping out of view    
No one to pull us back from those twists and turns that we're heading to
Over 50 years have slipped away from a darkened day that no one can undo                  
No playtime or pretend, goodbye, my friend
I remember you

A man pulled him from the water
His mother's scream it echoed in my head
Remember, I was only six when I witnessed this
I couldn't read what the papers said
I felt the sadness stretched across the yards
As the season changed and the guilt came tumbling down
Our childhood games all rearranged 
Until it was our time to leave that town
Where are you?
Little boy, where are you?
Where are you?
Little boy, where are you?

Little Boy, Where Are You?

Way overdue for something new but I've been living in exile without the usual, albeit modest, setup I'm used to. So this might be pretty rough. And it's full of the usual horror at political realities and way full of schmaltzy velveeta. 

Guitarist note:  I don't have amps at present and was struggling to find a decent direct sound. There is a *free* VST plugin by Neural Amp DSP and online libraries of tone prints, also free, that came to the rescue. Highly recommended.

it's alright for you as long as it's alright
you don't mind what they do in the broad daylight

it never could be you

but you don't see the way you're blinded
they'll never drag you down to the places meant for those

do you feel the color of your soul
when you live with love suspended hiding in a hole
the moment is yours but you don't believe 
you won't believe what lies there ripening 
growing in your mind without you knowing

now it could be you

and as you feel the weight of the binding
you know they're dragging you down to the places meant for those

to liberate the light of every heart and mind
you can say it never paying any price

there's a little part of everyone that knows 
we're only playing separate lives 
till true faith arrives

if there's every gonna be a change 
let it start right here

you know it could be you

It Could Be You

Apocalypse

This is a remix of a song I did with Jeff Roberts and Rekha-Iyern [Fe] a few years ago.  I'd always felt it could've used a better mix since I didn't know jack shit back then about mixing.

Was lucky enough the first time around to have the great Jeff Roberts on bass and this second time, my EZDrummer 2 hacking was replaced by the mighty K2 and the Three- Ken Karasek on the drums. So thanks again to both those guys.


Bass, synth, a little rhythm guitar and all the groove you can handle - Jeff Roberts
Vocals, Lyrics - Rekha-Iyern [Fe] )
Lead and rhythm guitar, talk box , synth, music composition, mix, production - TexMex Shaman
Drums - K2 and the Three - Ken


Lyrics - REKHA-IYERN [Fe]
Give it Up '25

Oo Yeah
Ahn Yeah
Hey Hey
Hey Hey

Give it up Baby
Don't ya say maybe
Cuz' you know
It makes me
Totally crazy
And

You want
To give me
All of your love
You know it's true
You do me so
You do me so good
Baby I need
Your love

Give it up, Baby
Never say maybe
Cuz' you know it
Makes me feel
Totally, crazy good-good
Oh, Yeah-Yeah

You know you want to
Give me, your love, love, love
It always, makes me feel
So good, good, good
You touch my woman

Oh, Eh
Hey, Hey
Hey-Hey
Hahn, Oh
Ho, Ho, Oh

Babe, I need
Your good love
Your man-man in my
Woman-hood
Oo-Oo-Yeah

Give it Up '25

Lyrics:

nothing is scarier
 than facing myself

peeling off the layers
 like fruit on a shelf

monsters crawling out 
from under my shell

and no one seems to hear me 
when i cry for help

but i’m taking  all the darkness 
that was woven  into me 
and turning it  into something 
greater

 i want to laugh  'til my ribs explode
i want to feel every crack  in my bones
i want a ring from my baby
 i want to forget  all about new york

 i want to laugh  'til my ribs explode
i want to feel every crack  in my bones
i want a ring from my baby
 i want to forget  all about new york

 i want to laugh  'til my ribs explode
i want to feel every crack  in my bones
i want a ring from my baby
 i want to forget  all about new york

i glamorized my sadness
 like decor on a wall

tears dripping down my cheeks 
tsunamis flooding the hall

but i’ve met what’s underneath 
and i greet it with grace

i’ve got people who would take me in 
when i can’t find my place

but i’m taking  all the darkness 
that was woven  into me 
and turning it  into something 
greater

 i want to laugh  'til my ribs explode
i want to feel every crack  in my bones
i want a ring from my baby
 i want to forget  all about new york

 i want to laugh  'til my ribs explode
i want to feel every crack  in my bones
i want a ring from my baby
 i want to forget  all about new york

 i want to laugh  'til my ribs explode
i want to feel every crack  in my bones
i want a ring from my baby
 i want to forget  all about new york

i don’t want the past to haunt me
 i was born with so much light
 before something 
died inside

but i found this superpower 
of flipping things around 
when life gives me lemons
i smoke them to the ground


LEMONS (Demo)

Not everyone is on holiday, even in the heat of summer. Some still work while the city falls silent, stretched under a long, empty day. I can’t tell if the man expects something to happen; to me, it feels like nothing will happen today either. Anyway, everything's good.

This is the third in a series of eight easy, acoustic, rather short, and deliberately inconclusive tracks, assembled by combining new ideas with reworked older material, adding parts and sounds along the way.

Part 1 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-1-night
Part 2 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-2-dawn
Part 4 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-4-late-afternoon

Composed by Michele Ansani (2020-2025 - this is a remake with a lighter sound and standard guitar tuning of a piece I already posted last year: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/imperfections).
All the ambient noises are taken from public sound archives. Female vocals are courtesy by Black Octopus.
Posted on SoundCloud: 2025, August 23.

In case nothing happens - part 3 (noon)*

Ispirato al Quintetto per chitarra n. 4 in re maggiore G.448 Fandango di Luigi Boccherini
Una collaborazione con Massimo Cellerino, goditi il ​​suo lavoro su https://soundcloud.com/massimo-cellerino
Confrontare: https://youtu.be/mX6P4Rh-tWA?t=104

Il Fandango

Produced in the
ARAPA Music Studio
Sydney - Australia

LEMONS (Demo)

ØCTØBER