those opening two lines are a punch in the gut.  powerful writing.  im continuing to be incredibly impressed.

I bought this children's guitar at GoodWill for less than $15... I put $6 worth of good nylon strings on it.  And then I just played it.  Maybe I'm out of line... especially since I set the levels too high when recording it.  But there's something about this recording: I guess beauty is in the ear of the beholder...

Children's Goodwill Nylon Guitar W Levels Too Hot

into the night

Special Guest Bix Bixler vocals & lyrics recorded in Mesa, Arizona.  Music tracks recorded in Modesto, Ca.  Featuring... Petal Steel Guitar solo. Dobro Acoustic Guitar solo. Mandolin solo & Rhythm.  Accordion Background. Banjo Rhythm.  Godin Acoustic guitar Rhythm. Acoustic Bass. Trap Drum set.

Backroads

Gandil Parade

My Righteous God

Composed, arranged, performed, and produced by:
Carlos Vivanco & Jason Mowry
Final mix by Jason Mowry
@asleepwithheadphones
@lazydadamusic

Joy Of Life

Joy Of Life by Carlos Vivanco & Jason Mowry

Heaven (video on youtube)

A little backstory is needed here.

A few years ago I hung up my old guitar for good, having finally lost patience with my own decades-long inability to do any serious practice.  Not long afterwards, one of those things that only ever happens to other people, happened to me, when the nice consultant explained that the source of the pain was a large tumour in my throat.

During the fun and games of treatment over the subsequent months I made a few deals with myself regarding how things would change if we came out of the other side alive and reasonably intact.  One of these was a commitment to getting my old guitar out again and working at it;  the quid pro quo being a new, decent guitar in the event that any signs of progress appeared.  I even held out the hope that I might start scribbling out a few songs again, not having done so for many, many years.

That I now have ever so slightly more than one decent guitar hanging on my wall is not a reflection of the degree of progress, just my tendency to re-interpret the rules of the game sometimes....

A few weeks back, the nice consultant explained that he didn't want me ever to darken his door again as he could see no need to continue the checkups.  For the best of reasons.  

No "All Clear"s in this game of course, just probability curves, a fact sadly demonstrated, also few weeks back, when a very brave lady who was not so fortunate as I, lost her own battle with cancer.  She was Dame Deborah James.  A teacher, who, in the words of her family, shared her experience of cancer to "raise awareness, break down barriers, challenge taboos and change the conversation around cancer.  Even in her most challenging moments, her determination to raise money and awareness was inspiring". 

This is one of the first songs I wrote after picking up the guitar again.  The lyrics are odd in places … that morphine, it lingers in the bloodstream you know.... :) and you may apply to them what metaphors you wish.

I decided to make the quiet, simple, one take, live version of “Genuflection” offered here as a small personal tribute to the bravery of Dame Deborah.  It is far from perfect, but not far from the heart.
_________________________________________________________________

Genuflection

As sensibility subsides, my spirit lies
In shattered fragments, scattered with the roses at my feet.
A plastic destiny confides what was never meant for real;
An unholy desecration that is scarcely incomplete.

A storm-tossed foreign sea, has driven me
To the reef, with smiling Lucifer’s contaminant collusion.
My bloodshot welling eyes offer thin disguise;
Translucent as the glass before my naked self-delusion.

A sleet-swept breeze hit my bright horizons.
I’m on my knees, black moon rising.
Sweet salvation, my long lost friend,
I’m on my knees,… again.

Fractured rainbows hold the storm, heaven-sent;
Kaleidoscopic essence of the life behind the deal.
Enraptured scarecrows take the form of a living testament
To the martyr’s psyche slowly being broken on the wheel.

Earth gathers dry husks as they fall, and Charon calls;
My antimony confidante, gasps breathless at the shore.
The coin I proffer him today secures my solitary way
To the shadow that’s imprisoned me so many times before.

A sleet-swept breeze hit my bright horizons.
I’m on my knees, black moon rising.
Sweet salvation, my long lost friend,
I’m on my knees,… again.

A sleet-swept breeze hit my bright horizons.
I’m on my knees, uncompromising.
Peace of mind? I left him way behind.
I’m on my knees,… again.

Genuflection

Brosellian 23722

Jo Richter @sonic-textures a.k.a. Sonic Textures and Silent Stretches produced a really fascinating soundscape with poetry that he offered as an open collaboration. Here is the link to the original:
https://soundcloud.com/sonic-textures/concatenandus?in=sonic-textures/sets/open-for-collaboration
Here is a link to a version which Stonerjazz @user-911083679 added to. My remix is working from this one:
https://soundcloud.com/user-911083679/song-0049wav
And if you'd like to hear one more iteration of this open collab, here is a great one from Nic: https://soundcloud.com/nic_nic_nic/concatenandus-nic-version 

I was quite fascinated by Jo's poem. See below for the lyrics.  I added the full text back in after chopping up some elements of it to create this soundscape, and when it the words sit on top they line up in some very interesting serendipitous ways.

I also have just released a version with soundscape only and just snippets of words left in the background, in case you'd like to hear without the poem overlaid:
http://soundcloud.com/tea_are_sea/photographs

---------

Lyrics / copyright jo richter:
concatenandus - (on the meaning of wind generators in fashion photography)

she kept wondering about all those photographs
that show flowing hair and wide, wind-swept robes
until she understood: those ropes connect halves
of a self that's caught and its dasein-based scopes

what is my real size if it's not epidermical skin?
the reach of my voice? my status, hierarchical clout?
my environmental footprints, global, within?
my life's agenda? some will being lived out?

what is my true reach into psyche, space, time?
which pasts do shape my tribulations and loves?
she thought of herself as a poor poet's rhyme,
as a reflection of life in a stock photograph.

a stranger wave of understanding hit her
when she unfolded into the moment -
she was not singled out, her whole world was with her
she was connected in a well-worn arrangement

of events manifest: she yelled out with joy:
birds nest in my hair, my feet walk the ground
this self tried to bind me, this gravitational ploy
but beyond all that hassle, spins a world that is round

Words & Photographs: Concatenandus Remix with Jo Richter's full poem

My Weather Songs Do Not Make Sense

Hurricane in a Teacup

Music from the Hill- Indie rock from near Oxford, UK.
Latest Nightshift review Nov 24 http://nightshiftmag.co.uk/2024/nov.pdf
Nightshift review Oct 2023 Top Track http://nightshiftmag.co.uk/2023/oct.pdf
Nightshift magazine demo review (Nov 2022): 
http://nightshiftmag.co.uk/2022/nov.pdf
Nightshift demo review from Jan 2022: http://nightshiftmag.co.uk/2022/jan.pdf
https://linktr.ee/arrowsofthesun

My Righteous God

Arrows of the Sun

Recent comments

Neon Dayze

the stellar lifetimes

JTSunrise

JM Antoni

Related tracks