Beckenstein: guitar parts, musical composition and mixing @jonathan_beckenstein
Wheelwright: other instrumental parts, musical composition, vocal, vocal melody and lyrics

Fictive Sisters https://fictivesisters.bandcamp.com is a transatlantic online collaboration between Wheelwright and Jonathan Beckenstein. Notes for the Fictive Sisters curious appear after the lyrics below.
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Man running from burning building
He says why does everyone, everyone have to be on a journey
What if I don't want, I don't want to be on a journey

And you can fight the flames
Try to salvage what remains and tell yourself you're someone good
But there's a part of us that's wild
Doesn't want to be rewired to live in tidy neighbourhoods

Man running from burning building
He says why does everything, everything have to be for a reason
What if I don't want, I don't want to know if there's a reason
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Image credit: Unseen Histories unsplash.com/@unseenhistories
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The ongoing online collaboration between Jonathan Beckenstein and Michael Wheelwright has been named Fictive Sisters.

Fictive Sisters does not have an SC page and so all tracks will remain exactly where they are on SC. This is also the plan as/if/when we ship new ones, and all Fictive Sisters tracks will of course continue to be free to stream on SC - so no change on SC at all really.

We have though setup on bandcamp https://fictivesisters.bandcamp.com and corralled a selection of past and present tracks into Immaculate Distraction, an album-type-thing, so anyone who wants a download (of a single track or the whole lot) can now obtain the original files for a modest consideration.

bandcamp

Wild (with Jonathan Beckenstein) (Fictive Sisters)

For Luke White: August 1979 – April 2025

Try Again - Big Star

words and music K Gennery
image courtesy of Joel Durkee Unsplash
Thank you so much @monnodb for the voice at the end.

My sister and I cared for mum in her own home for the last ten years, going every day. Mum had been diagnosed with vascular dementia. This song is more about what I could see coming, the bad days, as at this time mum was still more lucid than not. Daphne Gennery passed away peacefully on the 30th of August 2025 at the age of 95, in her own home, in her own bed.....something that she always wanted....no hospital or care home.

Lyrics:
on the other side of nowhere in between the nothing she cries
a flicker of a memory drifts into longing and dispair why?

gone is the laughter from feeling to just being
existing in complete isolation
eyes open wide all but dead deep inside
just a shell of the woman

she sits in the darkness alongside delusions and agitation
time shift is a constant through the window to the garden
she stares avidly

gone is the laughter from feeling to just being
existing in complete isolation
eyes open wide all but dead deep inside
just a shell of the woman


gone is the laughter from feeling to just being
existing in complete isolation
eyes open wide all but dead deep inside
just a shell of the woman

shell

words and music K Gennery
photo, crowd at the chambers open mic night

Tony King
1972-2025
For many years Tony ran the Chambers open mic night in Folkestone Kent. He was a top bloke, kind and supportive to each and every performer. As an example, the audio at the end of this track is taken from a video of me having just finished playing one of my songs. You can hear, at the time I couldnt as I was at the other side of the room, how encouraging Tony was, always complimentary. Tony loved life, was a happy chappie and kept himself extremely fit. He swam the channel, the sea from England to France some 21 miles on more than one occasion. Guess this proves we never know what life has in store for us even if we look after our health. Tony will be deeply missed not only by his loving family but those of us that got to know him through his wonderful open mic nights.  

Lyrics.
say goodbye to a kind hearted man
i didnt know him well but it was easy to tell.
a warm smile and grin youd be welcomed on in
to his music show a gentle hand to guide you on through

theres no rythme or reason to soon to be leaving
so young to get taken hearts left aching
theres no rythme or reason to soon to be leaving
so young to be taken hearts left breaking...in two.

say farewell to a father a father and a friend
he swam 21 miles thought what the hell ill do it again.
these things are damn hard to understand
but you have to try to recall the joyus of times.

theres no rythme or reason to soon to be leaving
so young to get taken hearts left aching
theres no rythme or reason to soon to be leaving
so young to be taken hearts left breaking...in two.

theres no rythme or reason

Rhyme or Reason

Can you stay awake?

https://music.apple.com/us/album/simple-note-single/1845375052
https://open.spotify.com/intl-ja/album/5JjrnraTY1LSORTGM3Iemg
https://touchofthewood.bandcamp.com/track/simple-note

Simple Note

That whas fun Guys, realy nice Result my Friends
Schmitty - Gitarre
Lofi Menta - Bass https://soundcloud.com/user-672449547
Joerxworks -Saxophon https://soundcloud.com/joerxworx
Ratzzzz - Keys

Lunatics 242 / funk up da Grandfather / Lofi Menta - Schmitt-Joerxworks & Ratzzz

wait by the window
pray through the sight

for a dollar
in my pocket
for my country
who’d have thought?

don’t stand by the window
outmanned and alone

after drinking
(check my cheekpiece)
i can hit it
(pull the bolt back)
without thinking
(keep my hands loose)
what i’ve done

i’m waiting now by the window
i don’t know how to get home

for a dollar
in my pocket
for my country
wrong or right

after drinking
(check my cheekpiece)
i can hit it
(pull the bolt back)
without thinking
(keep my hands loose)
what i’ve done
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Thanks to Janine Levinson and Cheesemont Paisely-Paisely for early listening and encouragement.

Special thanks to Wheelwright for sage editorial advice.

Image by Chandler Cruttenden via Unsplash



Window

I had left the pastorate in 1985 but many friends remained in the little town of St. Francis, Kansas.  One of them was a woman who found love again after the death of her spouse.  I composed this song for them and officiated their wedding and as far as I know, they lived happily ever after.  
Then came the wedding of my oldest daughter and she requested the song be done for her and Thor (yes, his real name;) That was 27 years ago.  
This past summer, I had suggested the song to Axel and after hearing my rough, 35 year old demo, he loved the song straight away, but wanted to change it up a bit.  The song I had written was done in a more devotional 4/4 meter, he wanted to bring to it the flavor of a Celtic dance.  Enter Mike Fox who gives the lyrics a definitive voice and excellent guitar to the backing track.  I loved the track art Axel had created because it resembled the wedding of my 2nd granddaughter Grace at the end of September, a lovely garden ceremony in Oklahoma City.  It resembles it right down to the kilt another son-in-law wore by request.  They didn't use the song as part of their ceremony, but I dedicate this new version to Grace and Ethan and wish them a lifetime of happiness and fond adventures together.
Thank you Axel and Mike for lavishing your talents on my songwriting efforts.  I am truly honored.  Hear more of their fabulous music creativity @soundcloud.com/axel-m-501052973, and @soundcloud.com/michael-fox-925325997

Gathered--Lyrics:
 What are we gathered here for, what have we come to see?
Two people who believe that a better life
Is lived together not separately.
Father we ask you blessing upon the union of these two,
That the vows they are both confessing
Will bind their hearts to each other and You.

Bridge:
And it's more than just "tying a knot" and it's more than just getting "hitched"
We're seeing two hearts being sewn together,
We're witnessing it stitch by stitch.
It's the miracle of seeing two become one,
Though the two are really not the same,
Like the paint and the canvas are separate until 
The Artist joins them in a beautiful frame.

Instrumental Interlude

Repeat Bridge

Repeat Verse:
What are we gathered here for, what have we come to see?
Two people who believe that a better life
Is lived together not separately.
Father we ask you blessing upon the union of these two,
That the vows they are both confessing
Will bind their hearts to each other and You.
Will bind their hearts to each other and You
Will bind their hearts to each other and You.

Gathered-A Wedding Song (Axel Menningen, Mike Fox, David Dunham)

Lots Of Everything

Hey… Thanks for dropping by. As a young boy, around sixty years ago, I used to like to listen to old people as they rambled on with stories about their lives. I really enjoyed those stories. I am an old man now, and I tend to ramble on, as well. This song is about that…. as I wake up to a chilly autumn morning. I have been busy ‘buttoning things up’ for winter. Collecting seeds, preparing garden beds, raking leaves, moving stuff inside, winterizing my home, getting winter gear ready, and other such sundry tasks, some of which I had forgotten about, like filling a tub with gardening soil and compost for planting seeds next spring. So I put the tub right by my front door. Ha. I have mixed feelings about heading into another long mountain winter. Throw old age into the mix and boy, am I having fun. I have also been sitting outside quietly, as flocks of birds fly by. Some flocks temporarily stop here to rest and feed, before winging off. It is fascinating to watch the dynamics of the flocks and how different kinds of birds interact. There are high flying geese, cranes and ducks overhead as well. All those birds are vocal, and when I am outside working, I tend to whistle along with them. They don’t seem to mind. The relative harmonious balance of it all is so refreshing to watch. Although a robin, or two, in the mountain ash always seems to be chasing other robins away from the berry laden tree. There are more berries in that tree than all those robins could ever eat, and I watch as the chased away robins sneak back into the tree. Some older birds die here in the yard, as they are no longer up for the long migration ahead. Sad to see. I often find one or two of them, dead each year, huddled peacefully in the deep grass, or hidden elsewhere. It has also snowed several times here in October… Hope you’re doing well. Mark  

Simple Note

Touch of the Wood