My motherboard on my computer screwed up last week and I had to send the whole thing back to sweetwater music. Luckily it is under warranty and will be fixed for free but I am in new waters. For the past 10 years I have had a recording studio setup on my property but will be without a recording set up for the next 4-6 weeks. I will be curious what I do with the 3-10 hours a day I spend recording........ Today it was looking through my videos and came across this one. I rarely listen to my songs or watch my videos once I finish putting them to wave/mp3 files or on youtube because I have a continual stream of new songs coming out. I think I may be reflecting on stuff I did during this break. It may be good to go back and listen to stuff I have long forgotten about. It may inspire new ideas.
When I recorded this song I had no idea what was coming out of me. On playback, it brought up my memories of living through the Newark New Jersey riots and seeing a man stabbed to death in front of me and then the murderer trying to kill me. This all took place when I was 10 years old. Needless to say it messed me up in many ways both physically and emotionally. I went online and found a bunch of pictures fromt the riots and randomly put them to the music. I did overdubs on this song. I played the guitar and drums on my feet and then overdubbed the vocals and harp at the same time. Those buildings you will see were the ones I played my harp in after the riots ended. I got lots of reverb variations in them. I spent countless hours in them and named my first band after them- The stairway blues band. Walter
---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Was that the tune that won the contest? I thought this was the best video that was entered in the contest. The song was heavy duty and the pictures reinforced the message.
Hi Joe_L: No it didn't win. I think it got honerable mention. I won it a year or 2 earlier. John Hall picked the winners that year but the newark riot video was entered in a year where the forum members voted. Thanks for the compliment! I am still drifting back to those days as I type after watching the video this afternoon. It was a strange time to be a white kid. All hell broke lose. I remember the mafia coming down all the streets in our neighborhood, gathering our fathers together and handing out rifles/shotguns to them. They had battle plans in place. I also remember our fathers getting out their wwII souvengier lugers and loading them up. The men patroled the streets and our mothers tried to keep us kids inside laying on the floor. Luckily no actual rioting hit our street but I went to bed hearing guns, tanks, screaming and sirens. My aunts car got turned over and burned. Luckily she got out ok. I wandered out of the house and down to washington ave, the main drag, and that is where I witnessed the murder. I pray no young children ever have to go through such a thing but I know they are everyday in the crazy world of ours. It was like being in a war zone. Walter
Stan: Thanks and yes the pictures are disturbing but exactly the way I remember that period of days of kaos. The trip was I did a google of pictures of newark riots and I just loaded each picture from left to right until they filled up the song and they often match the words.
here is the video I won the contest with a year or 2 earlier. this was in my old studio.
---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
For what its worth, I voted for that video. It might have been too heavy for the casual viewer.
I lived in Chicago before and after the riots in 1968. I also lived their during forced school integration. Lots of bad stuff went on in those days. It still goes on. Hate and ignorance are pervasive in society.
Thanks Joe. Sorry you had to live through all that stuff. I have often been told my music is too depressing to listen to. A good part of my life has been depressing. I would imagine most peoples lives have been too but our society teaches us to supress that stuff. I work in the school with the lowest graduation rate in Ohio and have been around this kind of scene most of my life. When people ask me if I like my job I say- I hate going to work but couldn't see myself working anywhere else once I am there. I am glad my way of music didn't propell into making it big because I would have missed out on doing the work I do. I pray someday there no longer will be places like I work, no hopless teens getting pregnant, going to jail, giving up on life, living in hungry, abusive homes..... I need to sing about things like addiction, teen pregnancy, murder, hopelessness, poverty, anger, gangs, hunger. I like to get goofy too, but not near as much as I do blue. Singing about this stuff keeps me happy and positive. Without doing this my life would be like my songs often tell. Todays blues are for the most part way too light and generic for my taste. I am glad I had the life I did. It drove me to escape into a different way of doing music. If I had a wish, I would wish every musician could let go of their fears and doubts and let a spontaneous song come out. I am talking about their inner truths that are not shared normally. For me, that is the blues. Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Walter - I had life easy. I wasn't one of the kids who was getting hassled. I wasn't being moved into a school where I knew no one. I was able to stay away from gangs and drugs. I went to school. Got a good job. I've got a great wife and family. I have hair. My life has turned out far better than I ever would have thought or expected.
Singing about the reality of life is what the blues is about. As you know, life isn't always pretty. People that dig deep into the music know that it's not all about "my woman has left me".
I am happy for you Joe! I am a lucky man too! Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
