in June 1965 a 21 year old Al Kooper was invited by producer  Tom Wilson to watch a Bob Dylan  recording session...that day he and the musicians( including guitarist Mike Bloomfield who with his skill intimidated Al away from the guitar ) were recording Like a Rolling Stone..somehow  Al Kooper managed to bluff his way onto playing the organ ....It is a well known and great story.. if you dont know it listen to Al  tell it on the YouTube clip below it is  a very entertaining listen the way he conveys it ......

This song contains 2 snippets of his tale but it is best to listen to the whole thing on YouTube.
I wrote this  little mess of a song about that day;  organ included ( but I think I need to turn it up more)....
....here it is warts and all....
....and here's to being  brave enough to find our own Al Kooper moments....

https://youtu.be/FZGN7T70rgY?si=VNz2SOguiasdJ4xV

photo  of Al Kooper and Bob Dylan 1965 Newport Folk Festival  taken by Robert Corwin


Turn Up The Organ

A long time ago a bunch of players they be playin’
Tom Wilson, he gave Mr. Kooper a chance
All action reaction, so bold, I’m just sayin’
Al put on his big boy musical pants
He had thrown down his axe when he heard Bloomie riffin’
He couldn't compete with those guitaring lines
Saw a Hammond B-3 over there by its lonesome
Moved them keys to the beat, he was one eighth note behind
The sound that he shaped, it made that tune sublime

So turn up the organ
Play it loud
Bring out your inner Al Kooper
Turn up that organ
Make your momma proud
Slide in a melody
Turn up your organ
The moment is now
Extract that inner Al Kooper
And maybe you can make some history

Sometimes your world needs changing
Embellish, embolden its tempered tone
You can turn your common into a classic
Get out of that head and get into the zone
Let's mould it, shake it, sometimes even fake it
The unguarded moment, get closer to fine
Simple, transcendental, intercontinental 
Starts with a word, a note, for me a rhyme
A one in a million, once in a lifetime sign

Turn up the organ
Make it loud
Channel your inner Al Kooper
Turn up that organ
Let's wow the crowd
A 5 chord symphony
Turn up the organ
Now take a bow
Pull off a ballsy Al Kooper
Turn to the music, it's all a mystery 

Once upon a time, young Dylan rhymed 
in studio B back in 65
Once upon a time, Like A Rolling Stone
Made brick by brick and tone by tone
Once upon a time, a new sound got in
From a skinny kid, who let him in?
Oh Al, you're not on the session list
What you doin’ over there? You a guitar player
Not an organist 

Turn up that organ
Make it loud
Channel that inner Al Kooper
Turn up the organ
Make your daddy proud
Refine and remedy
Turn up the organ
Who says it's not allowed?
Be fearless like Al Kooper
Turn on to music, turn up your life
And make some history 

How does it feel?
How does it feel?
How does it feel?





Turn Up The Organ

*Listen w Headphones
Media today reminds me of Sergio Leone when he turned gentle eyed Henry Fonda in the most evil and scary villain of all time in Once upon a time in the west (1968) the opening scene! Crazy how much media has shifted ...

TV Shows / Movies
YOU
MMA
Dexter
The100
Dahmer
Ed Gein
Hannibal
John Wick
Cop Shows
Happy Days
Breaking Bad
The Last of Us
Stranger Things
Game of Thrones
The Walking Dead
Married with Children
------------------------------
Video game series
GTA 
The Last of Us 
Red Redemption 
-------------------------------------------------------

Lyrics
No you are not watching a program on television
They got you downloaded eyes glitching and twitching

Brains battered down by cops shows reruns
Fun replaced by guns and body bags ain't no fun

Screaming like sexual frustrated maniacs 
Drinking booze nod along long as your screen ain't cracked

Hyper sexualized teen Kelly Bundy, chaos on the scene
Dumbed down no clue she was just only fifteen

Stalking and killing like Joe in YOU
Fixated on Game of Thrones eyes stuck like glue

Wheel like a Hamster Rock and Roll like a Guinea Pig 
Guts and violence dropping faster than dead bodies by John Wick 

Breaking all sorts of taboos yeah we're god damn right
Rooting for the bad guys say my name like Walter White

How did we go from Happy Days to this?
From Jukebox dreams to a media abyss
No fun memorabilia just blank stares and twisted bliss
How did we go from Happy Days to this?

All eyes on Heisenberg he's chasing the fame
While Pinkman is to blame pounding your brain like a trauma train

Little minds molded slaughtered like chickens 
I kid you not child intertainment not save the plot thickens

Just like The Last of Us no good options only bad
Even video games weaponized yeah it's sad

Teaching kids roadkill is okay like GTA
Intertained by a pain simulator instead of playing a game

Stranger Things got us normalized
Zombies replacing humans to de-sensitize 

The 100 the next chapter cannibal cuisine
Eggs and bacon with Dexter and Hannibal's routine

Swiss cheese morals holes drilled deep
Chopping topics faster like Dahmer no time to weep

Wait, you're still alive? 
Okay fine fast forward to 2025

Like wild horses smoke screens eating dust
Riding an endless rodeo trying to dodge those violent tusks

Fighting the beast like a MMA fighter with naked fists
Dear lord how did we go from Happy Days to this?

From pedophilia to necrophilia that's the screen
Sensationalizing Epstein and Ed Gein's dreams

How did we go from Happy Days to this?
How did we go from Happy Days to this?
------------------------------------------------

*Picture Claudia Cardinale.

Music, vocals / Suno AI
Music, lyrics, remix / LS 2025.

Happy Days [Lyrics in description]

"Peaceful Piano" is my new original composition to help you relax and focus. This soft, calm instrumental melody is perfect as background music for studying, working, or meditating. Enjoy, and let yourself be carried away!

Peaceful Piano

LYRIC VIDEO: https://youtu.be/m9FO6rO_8hE?si=3Cs9fsmZ51OU70vv
This Song can Happen when a girl ponders & weeps over the state of the Human Species ~~
Happy Holidays 2025 !!!
Hope Everyone Likes :-)
©2025 Donna Dior


STARMONY

'talkaholism' with Seafoam Sweater Girl

SSG: guitar, lyrics, vocals, art
Scotty: cuica, maracas, claves, fender squire 3/4 bass, epiphone mandolin, epiphone casino electric guitar

I called you up - to talk to myself 
I don't want to listen - to nobody else 
I'm so self-serving - and deserving of it all
I only chose you - 'cause you answer when I call 

And God damn - I love the sound of my own voice
I'd listen to it, day and night - if I had the choice 
And I do - 'cause I've got you
Yes I do, I've got you - and you do what I want you to 


Now I make sure - that I spend a little time 
Hyping you up - make sure you know that you're mine
My chosen One - my favorite friend
The only one who will listen 'til the end 


I called you up - to talk to myself
I don't want to listen - to nobody else
I'm so self-serving - and deserving of it all
I only chose you - because you answer when I call

talkaholism (with Seafoam Sweater Girl)

Sparky B. - vocal, piano, organ
Mat Planet - guitars 
(thanx Mat)


Songwriter: Jeff Lynne
1979 ℗ EMI Blackwood Music Inc.
© Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

________________________________________________________________

Don't Bring Me Down

The Attention Burglar

This is a song written right after the Haiti Earthquake in 2010. Knowing that my son was headed there to assist in the aid and rescue I stayed up much of the night doing research on where he was headed. His accounts to me were helpful in finalizing the song. Particularly about the corruption that bled into the rescue efforts and the logistics of it. Much had to go through a sort of gangster hierarchy. I also lived with a Haitian refugee back in the late 70's and heard much from him. I'm sure, like any historical account there is some distortion but it was written honestly and in concern for the people there and of course my son and his companions. Take it for what it is. My simple folk ballad as I saw it then.

Lyrics :

They came down to the shores
and they welcomed their masters
and they dug up their gold
in the yoke of the frenchmen who couldn’t care less for the life
of the beautiful island

and for two hundred years
generations of slaves
fought to break all the chains
whose weight was far far too great for foundations so weak
on the beautiful Island

and the struggle began to throw off their burden
an unbearable weight too much for a woman or man
let alone little children

when freedom was won
and the plunder was transferred
to Jean Jacques the black ruler
who's fever for gold was burning far too high
for the beautiful island

and the shackles were cut
and all the gold braided
but they made epaulette
for the shoulders of tyrants who’s weight was far too much
for the beautiful island

they say the best kind of slave is the one who don’t know it
an unlivable life too much for a woman or man
let alone little children

and charity rained
and soaked into the mountains
and added its weight
to the coffers of rulers who’s greed was far great
for the beautiful island

and they cried by the shores
for the lives that were buried
with a ton of misfortune
on the backs of the ones who could no longer hold up the weight
of the beautiful island

is it justice that shook down the walls of the prisons
are the cries at the shore finally to be heard
can such a great weight be lifted from women and men
let alone little children

Beautiful Island  ( song for Haiti )

Always

I first met Lucy years ago, maybe four at the time, who's mother is friends with my daughters.  Her eyes were her most striking feature, deep-set, blue, somewhat melancholy, and could look straight at you, unblinking, as if probing your soul.  I was mesmerized.  Fast forward to March 2025; Lucy is now friends with my granddaughters and visiting them when I happened to be visiting as well.  I was playing guitar for them, playing the songs I had written for them, and when I had finished, Lucy looked at me and ever so sweetly asked if I could write a song for her.  How could I refuse?  I quickly improvised something in E-minor as she seemed like an E-minor kind of girl.  She gave me a thankful smile for my effort, was glad to be included, and the little improvisation quickly forgotten shortly thereafter...or so I thought.  Several months passed,  I was in my music room and starting to practice when her little song popped out saying "hello, remember me?"  Then and there I set about to finish what I had started for Lucy and now present to you, my first song of 2026, a dedication to a mysterious little girl with unforgettable eyes.
Thanks to Adobe for the picture of a little girl who is not Lucy, but looks a little like her when we first met.  

Lucy's Eyes

Polygraph - track 8 from the album Closing Ceremony (2020)

---

Polygraph - Lyrics

You were the everything
You left here in the spring
I know you, babe
An imploding fireball

I was a broken one
You were a setting sun
I know you, babe
Or I have to believe I do

I don’t know the dream you had
That made you hesitate
I don’t want to
I don’t want to

I don’t know what made you call
The devil to the gate
But I still love you
I still love you
Babe

There was no photograph
There was no polygraph
But you know me, babe
Or I have to believe you do

I don’t wanna live a life
Without you in the space
I don’t want to
I don’t want to

The universe, it turned away
And laid it all to waste
But I still love you
I still love you
Babe

Closing Ceremony

Polygraph

U M B R E L L A B I R D S

The new album BACK TO LAND: out now 🔮

Umbrellabirds is Sam Blickhan, Lewis Daly, and Alex Hunt. The band began as a long-distance recording project when Sam Blickhan and Lewis Daly began exchanging demos in 2013. Alex Hunt heard these sparsely beautiful demos and initially signed up to produce, but was soon recruited as a full band member. The intricate, autumnal debut album was recorded in 2014-16, the product of many late nights and countless miles of travel. Oda Almås played strings on the self-titled debut. Shortly thereafter, the band began work on their second album—Closing Ceremony (2020)—featuring a bigger sound and a wider collective of musicians including Shyam Prasad on drums, Will Harvey on strings, and Cath Day on clarinet. Their third album—BACK TO LAND—was released in November 2025, further developing their signature indie-folk sound. Umbrellabirds have been played on BBC 6 Music by DJ Tom Robinson and featured on the BBC Introducing Mixtape.

Listen on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, Tidal, and Deezer.

Polygraph

Umbrellabirds

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