March 2013's Cultural Songs!

For March there was an interesting combination of subject and style for the songs.  Danny Imig had suggested East Indian music, which is an awesome suggestion, but I don't know anyone else with a sitar.  I decided to widen it to cultural music, meaning traditional sounding music from any culture or country.  The subject came from Kraig Kelly and was An Epic Journey after a Long Night of Drinking.  Putting these two together makes perfect sense, right?

We ended up with three songs for the month.  Have a listen and vote for your favorite below!

Danny Imig - Gunga Dingleberry Goosestep

My comments: Danny gets a lot of bonus points for the title of his song.  He also gets bonus points for tuning up an 18-string sitar for the song!  Bonus points aside, the song has a really great Indian feel and sound to it. Danny did a great job with the style, which is good since it was his suggestion!

Brian Salapek - Tetris and Vodka

My comments: There was a skit on Sesame Street with Grover as a waiter in a Russian restaurant.  There were Russian muppets playing music and I thought I wanted to go for a Russian/Gypsy song.  In keeping stereotypes alive, I wrote my song about drinking vodka by the pint and playing Tetris.  That's what Russians do, right?  ...Right?  Oh, and I have a terrible accent.

Rene Zansman - Journey Out In My Backyard

My comments: Rene wrote a song about a dilemma as old as human kind.  What would happen if you were drunk with a time machine?  You would hit on girls from the future, of course!  He said he was going for a mixture of tribal music and Norwegian traditional music.  This song has a real Daniel Johnston feel to it, if Daniel was really into Screeching Weasel.

Vote for your favorite song!

April Song Annoucement!

I'd like to take this opportunity to announce the subject and genre for April 2013's songs!

Genre: Alt-Country

Subject: Robots

Alt-country is a pretty wide ranging genre to use.  Basically, it is any country style music that deviates from mainstream country music.  So in other words, GOOD country music.  You can incorporate influences from many other genres, rock and roll, bluegrass, even punk rock!

Also, how is that robot playing guitar with his cold metal claws?!  The world may never know...  Good luck everyone!

February's Winner!

In what I considered a pretty awesome month of songs, there was a clear winner that nabbed up a majority of the votes.  The winning song was Swamp Grass by Mark Maze, Nate Mahaffey, Graham Mahffey, and Steve Cummings!  Great work, guys!  The song was truly top notch, I really enjoyed it!

As first time participants, they were unaware of the amazing riches and prizes that awaited them as winners!  What a surprise it must have been to win such a wonderful prize!

It's a grabber thing to get the last pickle out of the jar!  Wowza!  I wish I had won this month!

Also, don't forget about your songs for March!  Soon the April song announcement will come out as well.

February's Songs!

February has come and gone and with it came some great songs!  As you may remember, the style (not genre) was All-Acoustic and the subject was "Craziness is like Heaven" which is part of a Jimi Hendrix quote.  I thought the quote was interesting and unique enough to make for an interesting addition to a song.  Basically I was just looking for that one line, or some variation of it, to be a lyric in the song.


So here are the songs for the month.  Have a listen and don't forget to vote for your favorite below!

Jack Eggleston - Pistolero

My comments:  A few days ago I asked Jack how his song was coming along and he said he wasn't happy with it but would still turn it in.  I don't know what happened, but I would be thrilled to write a song this good!  There is a lot of great stuff going on here both musically and lyrically.  I think Jack's songs have only gotten better!  So I guess what I am saying is, Jack is a liar.

Danny Imig - It's All Easy Stuff When You're a God

My comments: This is the first song Danny has turned in for the game and I am always excited to have new participants!  His song fits the style (all acoustic) but doesn't take the subject into consideration since it was written a few years ago.  That's okay though.  It's got a great Neal Young feel to it, both with the vocals and the guitars.  Great job, Danny!  I hope to hear more from you in the future!

Kayce Kelly - Squirrel World

My comments:  I knew I would get some good diversity in the songs with the subject, but I never expected to get one so cute.  Ladies and gentlemen, this is a squirrel love song.  They DO exist!  This song is great in it's simplicity and content.  Good job, Kayce, you adorable bastard!

Mark Maze and Friends - Swamp Grass

My comments:  Mark (mandolin and vocals) teamed up with his friends Graham Mahaffey (banjo), Nate Mahaffey (guitar) and Steve Cummings (guitar) to write this great blue grass song.  Did I mention that I loved the diversity this month has brought?  This is the first song Mark has turned in and I just love it, right down to the bong rip at the beginning.  Bongs are acoustic instruments too, right?

Brian Salapek - Ballad of the Trashcan Man

My comments: I am currently reading The Stand by Stephen King and the Trashcan Man is a character in the book.  He is a schizophrenic pyromaniac and I thought he would be great to write about.  The lyrics of this song for the most part are taken from one of his chapters of the book.  I tried to make a brooding and anxious building in the song that dissolves into a chaos at the end ("...and soon the day will burn").  I am very happy with the result!

Rene Zansman - Craziness is like Heaven

My comments: Like so many of his before, Rene's song this month is straight up pop punk.  He said that he had issues with his microphone so it sounds like an early Woody Guthrie recording without the talent and if he tried to sing like Ben Weasel.  I don't agree with the lack of talent because I think this is one of Rene's better songs.  I am a sucker for pop punk and like this one.

March 2013 Song Announcement!

I am probably a couple days late with announcing this but that's okay.  I've decided on the song for March!

Style: Cultural Music

Subject: An Epic Journey (after a night of drinking)

Cultural Music?  Basically, try to emulate traditional music from a specific culture, or country.  There are a lot of possibilities here.  I am going to go for Russian/Gypsy sounding music myself.

Thanks to Danny Sleeve, who suggested Indian music, for giving me the idea for the style, and thanks to Kraig Kelly for the idea on the subject!

Also, I hope everyone's acoustic songs are coming together, there are only a few days to turn them in!

January's Winning Song!

Jared Griffin wins the best song for January 2013!  Jared wins on a few other levels too.  He wins for the raunchiest and funniest song too!  Great job Jared!

Look at Jared, or Jyrell, with his new bling bling! What a prize! He sure deserves it!

For those of you who didn't know, Jared's wife, Grey DeLisle, posted about the song writing game on her tumblr account, which added over 50 new likes on Facebook and made a HUGE spike in visitors to the blog.  I am excited to have all the new fans.  Hopefully a few of you are song writers or musicians.

And don't forget about the songs for February!  Email them to me by the end of the month!

Fan Art!

Last February, the songs were Drugged Fueled Lounge Music on the subject of "The Circle Encompasses the Square." Inspiration was taken from a very interesting letter to the editor from our local newspaper. My wife really enjoyed the letter and the songs that came from it and created this wonderful piece of art! I hope you enjoy!

There is a lot of inspiration taken from both the letter and the songs.  Here is a copy of the letter:

Dear editor,

Warren rumbles from the cacophony in the chorus of the cries from its citizens. They rage "where is my representation (accountability)?" Puzzling (opaque) "nobody knows." When you don't know where your money is you don't have any currency (trust) which is about as far as you can throw their house (municipal building).

It is most transparent: The tripartite, the troika, or the power of three. Such outline forms an equilateral triangle. In the Greek: Delta; in English: change. Change was to remake the town to be a friendly face, instead, it's in your face.

In pretense a new city manager came about, who then brought in a new chief of police, the mayor, electorily challenged, prevailed, good change still is in the waiting; or a trend in motion continues until it ends. Unending is the grotesque attitude: the people don't (can't) count. So instead of uniting the community to grow, a division is brought about to stagnate; thus Worn.

Hard economic times finds the private sector deleveraging, not so in the public sector. The city manager took on an assistant, and gave out two tax hikes on residential/commercial real estate. The "chief" has not scaled back on the force, but gets a five percent increase in the budget. The mayor demands, "not to be interrogated," to answer to the people.

Don't insult by, put it in writing. That's been done, and face to face, multiple issues, multiple times, to no avail. When push comes to shove, the "shove" is, put it aside, or where the sun don't shine (on the dark side of the moon). Nope. The holy grail is not found here. Closest thing to holy water is the water closet -toilet water. So, for the "clowns to pack their vause(s) to leave the circus", include the chief of police.

The why of it, not transparent, an overt sign of inward operations: thus arrives a fourth dimension (side): who truly runs Warren? Therefore the triangle takes on the geometry of a square. The way of the why? In geometrical analysis: the square encompasses a circle, the squaring of the circle. These guys not only shoot themselves in the foot, when forming a firing squad the lineage folds into a circle.

Desire is for change. Be careful what one wishes for, you're liable to get your wish. Until the "fourth dimension" is no longer, no matter how much comes in the way of change, it will still be the time-worn town of pocket change.

So, to wish or not to wish?

Not much of a choice,

John L. Erickson

Warren

And here are the two songs from the month:

Joel Forsgren and Jonathon Baxter - When Squares Roam in Circles (Tripping Hazard)

Brian Salapek - Talk to Me (In Geometry)