You may remember that these songs were supposed to be for September. As it turned out, I was far too busy all month and ended up pushing them to October. Anyways, the idea here was to create a sort of theme song or jingle for a fictional TV show. This is a really open ended concept and didn't offer a whole lot of direction, oh well. I had a specific idea for my song when I came up with the notion. Every song is significantly different as you will hear. Have a listen and vote for your favorite below!
Danny Imig - Floyd "Rosy Fingers" Hamer: Private I
My comments: This theme song has so much that I love going for it. First, it's got an amazing cheesy 80's feel to it, with ridiculous drum rolls. And then it is also completely and wonderfully over the top. All of this makes for a good theme song for a show with the title "Floyd 'Rosy Fingers' Hamer: Private I". Good job, Danny!
Brian Salapek - Code Name: Riptide
My comments: I wanted to make my song sound like a song from a cheesy action show from the 70's. Messing around on the guitar quickly made me decide it should have a surf feel to it. After writing it, the hardest part was coming up with a title for the show. I just wish I had some horns to have thrown in to the recording.
Oiwind Wulvig - Biker Charlie
My comments: This is the first entry from Oiwind and it is for his TV Show "Biker Charlie." Charlie is a cat who likes to ride his Harley and has friends who like to party. Pretty awesome concept that reminds me of Toonces The Driving Cat from SNL. The music for this song is really great although it doesn't have a theme show feel to it.
Rene Zansman - The MopTop Family
My comments: Rene not only wrote this song for the fictional "MopTop Family" TV Show but also has come up with summaries for 5 episodes of the show. That's dedication lol! The song definitely has the cheesy theme song vibe to it, which I love. It's also pretty sloppy and silly but that's to be expected. I think it's a good concept here and could be great with more work.
Back on track with the monthly songs, we have an interesting happening in November this year. For the first time since 1888 we will have a THANKSGIVUKKAH! That's right, Thanksgiving and Hanukkah are on the same day. It's a pretty rare happening, too. Next time will be in 2070, then 2165 and then again in 76695. That's right, after 2156 this will not happen again until the year 76695. I did not mistakenly put an extra decimal in there, it's really 76,695. SO! In honor of this super rare occurrence, we will be doing songs accordingly!
Subject: Turkeys
Genre: Klezmer
Klezmer is best recognized as the dance music played at traditional Jewish weddings. There is a really great wikipedia article about it here with very specific information about the genre, it's history, types of songs, tempo, song structure, musical keys and the instruments traditionally used to play it.
This will be a very interesting month of songs but I really look forward to it. As Danny Imig points out:
"It's a weird genre but it's like Jewish wedding music, and, to my ear, sounds gypsy, Greek, Mariachi, or even Ska."
The style really has a lot in common with most eastern European music and is pretty open ended from there. Good luck everyone!
About half way through September, I had realized that my schedule was getting very busy and I wouldn't even have the time to start my song for the month, let alone finish it. Because of this, I pushed the songs off to October to make things easier. I figured, if I wasn't even able to do my own song writing game thing, I shouldn't expect other people to do it. As of now, things are on track for an October arrival of the TV Show Theme Songs.
One thing that I didn't even realize I had forgot was announcing the winner of August's Zombie Folk Songs! By a landslide, the clear winner was Danny Imig with his song, "I think I'm Married to a Zombie." I hope you don't think I was trying to not give you credit, Danny! Life just got in the way. Anyways, enjoy this catchy song again here:
And don't forget about the songs for October. Two months should be more than enough for some real materpieces!
For August we focused on the under appreciated musical style, Post Zombie Apocalyptic Love Songs, to the tune of Folk Music. Specific enough? Jesus, that is a mouthful. Okay! So there are a good handful of songs and they are all a lot of fun. Have a listen and vote for your favorite below!
Look at that shitty zombie drawing over there. Don't you just fall right in love with him? Forget the half face and the bloody fingers. I mean look at HIM. He's beautiful. You can now relate to these songs.
Jack Eggleston - The Comedy
My comments: Jack wrote a real epic here. It's just almost 6 and a half minutes long and has a pretty melancholy sound to it. I really enjoy the sound and feel but like most times with Jack I have a hard time understanding the lyrics.
Danny Imig - I Think I'm Married to a Zombie
My comments: Danny's song is both great and hilarious. The folk sty-lings come pretty well to him and the song has a great sound to it. I especially love the "giddy up" feel of the chorus. I love the lyrics and their potential double meaning. Am I looking too much into it? Maybe, either way. Great job as always!
Brian Salapek - My Zombie Girlfriend
My comments: Not very folky on my part, but I really like the sound of it. Add in a joke from Mr. Joe Ullo ("If I could write songs mine would have the title, "I used to go down on you but now you're the one who wants to eat me."") and WHAM-O! I can't help but to feel that the main guitar lead part feels like a Jack Johnson song. Oh well
Rene Zansman - Zombie Apocalypse Song
My comments: This is a two-part epic from Rene. The first part is called "Talking Zombie Apocalypse Blues" and takes up the first minute or so. It has a good sloppy folk feel with the harmonica and the vocals. After that it flows really well into part 2, "Zombie Love Song." This part is right along what I've come to expect from Rene. It's a pretty poppy acoustic song and is really catchy at times.
I had an interesting idea for September's song. Lets see how it work out and if it has results that are as interesting...
TV Show Theme Song or Jingle
There is no "subject" per say since there is no specific style of theme song or jingle to write. It could be an instrumental where there would be no real subject.
I plan on studying 1970's action show theme songs and making something really cheesy lol
For July we did cover songs and had as many songs as we've ever had, SIX! With all that great competition, it was hard to choose a winner. After two weeks of voting, the winning song was...
Rene Zansman - All the Small Things (Blink 182 Cover)
Great job Rene! I thought you did a great job translating this into a piano piece and obviously other people did too! I have to leave for work in a few minutes so there is no time to draw you a prize in MSPaint. Sorry! I really have been slacking on the "prizes" lately. Ugh.
And don't forget about the songs for August, the month is half over!
July's a busy month just like December so I cut everyone a little slack. Instead of having to write AND record a song, everyone could relax a little and just focus on the recording. For July, we did cover songs. It was strongly suggested that a significant change be made to the song from the original. Here is what our song writers (coverers?) came up with. Vote for your favorite below!
Jack Eggleston - Peggy Sue (Buddy Holly Cover)
Here is the original:
My comments: Jack took a classic and went with punk rock for the new genre. It's a great song that translates really well to the style. It even has a great lo-fi feel to it all. Jack says he thinks it's pretty crappy but it's crappy in a great punk sense of the word.
Curt Himes and Friends - Galway Girl (Steve Earl Cover)
Here is the original:
My comments: Curt was in town from Washington and I was bugging him about recording a song. It was quickly decided what song to do. One evening after work we had our only chance to record something before Curt headed back west. Leslie (drums), Curt (guitar and vocals) and I (banjo) sat in my backyard on some rocks and recorded this in a single take. I normally record the separate tracks and mix it all so this was a fun way to do a song, live. To add to the live experience, you can hear my son screaming in the background while playing on the swings.
Kayce Kelly and Leanne Bailor - Bad Angel (Dirks Bentley Cover)
Here is the original:
My comments: Kayce has the voice of a country singer no matter what he's singing. Even when it's a reggae song about Cthulhu. He called upon his friend Leanne to lend some vocals onto this track. I am not familiar with the original song but think they did a good job singing together. The song is a little sloppy at times but all in all I am happy with it and hope they work together again in the future.
Danny Imig - Something for Nothing (RUSH cover)
Here is the original:
My comments: I think Danny did the biggest change up for his cover song here. He took a pretty rocking RUSH song and translated it into a very pretty flamenco cover. The original lends itself to this style pretty well. I can just envision a beautiful dark haired and skinned woman dancing and clicking clam shells.
Brian Salapek - I Don't Want It (Ween cover)
Here is the original:
My comments: I really didn't change much of this song at all. I always felt it was a really beautiful song but it had a lot going on in it. Stripping it down to the bare bones was my attempt to put focus on the song itself and away from the layered approach of the album and studio version of the song. By the way, WEEN rules.
Rene Zansman - All the Small Things (Blink 182 Cover)
Here is the original:
My comments: Rene has been a Blink fan for a long time. I think any of his pop punk roots come from this band, so it's only appropriate that he did a cover of one of their hit songs. I love the approach of it being all on the piano. It has a few slip ups but that just adds to the charm of it all. I think Rene did a great job. The way he did the song was unexpected and I love it.
