Back from the almost dead.
Howdy!
I’m certain most of you will already know if you are reading this right now so I say this on the off-chance that you don’t. In July of 2022 I had a heart attack. It was a minor one, I am told. Believe me when I tell you that a minor one is plenty bad enough that I never want to experience anything rated above ‘mild’. As far as experiences go, I had a pretty humorous and quite memorable heart attack. I will tell you about it someday soon. That being said, I owe my life literally to Derek Half-a-Mile Long and I am forever grateful that I chose to attempt involuntary death at his home. Some people assume that the have Ride-or-Die friends, I know I do.
A funny thing happens to you post almost dying from a heart attack. That is that your level of tolerating bullsh*t from people just goes away. I was angry a good bit at first, mostly at myself, but now it is just intolerance of people being disrespectful of other folks time and kindness. I tell you this to say that I offer no excuses for my lack of output of material over the past year and a half. I will not insult you with excuses. The fact is I just do not feel like trying to keep up with imaginary deadlines, trending patterns of social media output, the demand to keep up with folks whose attention span is less than 15 seconds, and self-imposed unnecessary stress to make people that have never cared in the first place take notice of my art.
I was writing and recording pretty steadily pre-heart failure and then things slowed way down in the healing. I focused my time and energy on getting in better shape, eating healthier, exercise, mental health betterment (spoiler alert: I didn’t get any better. I’m still adolescently goofy and silly.) The schedule of releasing material every 2 weeks or once a month was a decision I made and it was a poor one. The music I released wasn’t always at a level I wanted it to be and I should have known better. I do not think it is bad and I am proud of it all. I just needed to spend more time learning to mix and record to get the songs out in a manner they deserve.
Why am I sharing this? I don’t know! No, really, I want you to know that I have things in the works and I will begin releasing new music sooner than later. I will be retaining this very expensive website (considering how little I used it in 2023) for another year. More stories are to come as well. However, this time I am shooting for a few essays every other month or so instead of trying to create weekly and just send out crap to meet an imagined demand. I also will release new music very soon. I am planning an EP and a full length record. both will be preceeded by a single or two from the upcoming records. Here is what is to expect.
Brother Ray’s Presents: Sabado de Salsa
This EP is slated to come out late winter or early spring. It is the second entry into the imaginary world of Brother Ray’s Bar-B-Honky Tonk Juke Joint Social Club (Brother Ray’s… is an imaginary restaurant and music venue come to life with my first every solo record that was recorded at home during the Covid shutdown). This time our trip there will be on the third Saturday of the month, which is Salsa Saturday! Where as the first EP was based on the music of ZZ Top, the music of Brother Ray’s Present’s; Sabado de Salsa is inspired by the recordings of 1969-1980 Santana and draws from how that band so wonderfully combined Latin and Afro-Cuban music with Rock and Roll. The songs are meant to take you to Brother Ray’s dance hall opposite the restaurant where you will enjoy chips and salsa at your table, tasty Latin American inspired libations, and you can either watch the band or join in on dancing the night away as the music takes you on a voyage away from the work week and stresses of everyday living. A barrage of uptempo instrumentals, a beautiful ballad, an old favorite will keep you dancing the night away before closing the evening with a traditional Cuban song performed softly as the lights are romantically dimmed for you hold your special someone close and feel the rest of existence melt away. What a night it will be!
Blue-Eyed Rocksteady and Surf-Ska
This is a passion project that has lived in my mind since I was a teen learning guitar and realizing that I loved Caribbean music but never knew what it was called. I have always been drawn to how Jamaican music, in particular, sounded so much like 50s and 60s country music, 40s, 50s, 60s soul music and R&B but it also sounded so different. This record is meant to be my love letter to that. I love Rocksteady music from the mid 1960s and I love original Ska music from the early to mid 1960s. Rocksteady, for those that do not know, is simply Jamaica’s version of Motown, Stax, Philadelphia based R&B/Soul music. Ska is the same just a bit faster. Both styles heavily feature horn sections. I have written some really fun songs and instrumentals that I really enjoy and I hope you will too. This collection of original songs will combine the styles of music that make me happy when nothing else can do so. Look for this to come out in Late Spring or early Summer of 2024.
Thanks for your time. See you soon.