22 Dreams

Pretty flowers bloom in night skies And at season’s end, so they must die Never to breathe their song again Nor sing their charms and wishes Never to live the love that they were  Always eternal requiem… I see the flowers floundering Watching their petals drop in pain Hear their heartbeat run with mine Heart them dance to the war hero’s march tune We shall celebrate their art once more  Always eternal requiem… And as people match and separate In tact they leave their stamp of hate Love is forgotten in the ashes of war And that’s when I blacken my face once more And walk the lonely crematory fields  Always eternal requiem… To congregate and meditate In shadeless stony fields of slate The distant sound of hazy cathedral bells A clear reminder of your own private hell The lowest phase of a star once known  Always etermal requiem…   Words & Music Copyright Ross B c.1990.1997.2006....

Society member Pennie Lennon , along with her partner Bruno Koenig , run a singer-songwriter night right up at the heart of the Blue Mountains, at the old Imperial Hotel in Mount Victoria.   You can’t miss the Imperial, it’s a foreboding white pub/hotel to the right as you’re coming up from the east into Mount Victoria.    More information about the gig and the pub, and contacts, are in Pennie’s words at the bottom of this article.   Mount Victoria is about a fifteen minute drive west of Katoomba and sits at a regal 1000 plus metres above sea level, or 3,500 feet.   Pennie and Bruno, of the duo My Hearts Dezire, run this gig every Tuesday night.   It invariably features a full night of performers and 3 songs are given to each act with more songs given to a feature act for the night.   Most of the performers are local singer-songwriters although occasionally Sydney people come up for the gig, which in this instance, comprised of ZaraMeow and myse...

I've uploaded a freshly recorded track onto MySpace, a song called Secrets that I'd written some six years ago. It's the last of my "production" songs that didn't make my Sea in June album of 2006, partly because I felt that it was too much of a musical and thematic departure from the songs that comprised that album. The other reason for not including Secrets on that album is that it's quite a "big" song, ie quite linear and almost complex, thus deserving in my mind a standing on its own. I plan to put this out on an EP with some other recordings that are subsequent to the album. Pleasingly it only took us about 2 1/2 - 3 days to record this song. I was expecting the recording to take a little longer. I teamed up again with Stewart Havill who recorded and engineered the track at his Sound Dog Recording Studios in Lane Cove. Stewart created the drum track with my assistance, otherwise the track is totally my performance. Stewart again a...

I rarely get around to listening to the radio these days.  However I've recently succumbed to the aural airwaves because the CD player in my car tends to chew out more CDs than it accepts. I enjoy listening to CDs in the car because that's usually the space where I can unobtrusively practice my singing, which I imagine, sounds invariably like a dog barking, or a coyote howling. So with my CD player playing up on me I tune into the radio where I hear what are likely to be new releases, but I'm so out of the loop now I wouldn't know which songs are new or which of those are five or so years old. What annoys me so much is that the songs I hear are hideously stupid. I can't believe that most of the tripe you hear passes off as "music", the lyrics are dumb and so is everything else. Perhaps I set too-high standards, or expect high standards from that which I listen to. The song that is really riling me at the moment is this thing called 'Raise the a...

Ah, my first foray into youTube! I'd just registered onto this ubiquitous website this evening, through my work computer (after hours, of course!;), and posted my own video filmed last night on my fujifilm camera at a gig at Kellys on King Street in Newtown. Thanks Gav for filming a song for me! That's Pete Thompson on djembe, a gentle giant, fine drummer, Master Chiropractor. The song? 'Every Girl Just Wants To Be My Friend' written back in 2002. It was written very quickly, coming to me utterly spontaneously during a bout of classical piano practice. Is it autobiographical?? Fundamentally, No!! ;) Some of the sentiments however, particularly in the middle eight of the song, continue to hold some resonance for me. It's not the most perfect performance of the song but the energy and spirit was good, and we got the crowd rollicking and buzzing with it. The guitar could have been eq'd better. ..ah what the heck...it's merely a corny country song anyway!! The ...

Thursday night, 10 July, I forced myself out of a self-imposed stint of isolation to attend my first gig in about 5 weeks. This was a singer-songwriter night at the Raglan Hotel in Alexandria, a pub I've walked past on many occasions (and not thinking too much of the place) and stepped inside for my first time last Thursday night. I liked the low-key, old-style ambience and aesthetically pleasing lack of renovation. A good place for a decent beer and to hear some great music. Not only was it my first gig in so many weeks (I played bass on this particular gig) but I was also offered three gigs during the course of that particular day, two with my duo with Brig and another solo for next Sunday. I suppose that's life's way of telling me that my period of hibernation is over, and to get out there and back into the action! The first performer was David Griggs . He convenes the songwriter nights at the Raglan on Thursdays and performs sets at the beginning and end of each night....

I've posted a new recording of a song of mine called 'Sea in June' on MySpace; it will play first as you enter the website www.myspace.com/rossmusician . 'Sea in June' has been recently re-recorded (its third incarnation!) featuring my dear friend Brigette on lead vocal. The song was recorded and engineered by Stewart Havill at his Sound Dog Recording Studios at Lane Cove in Sydney. I haven't written a 'proper' song in a long while - mainly because I've moved and evolved onto other things both musically and creatively; songwriting doesn't interest me anymore though that can always change. This song, 'Sea in June', is my personal favourite of the songs I've written and the one piece I'm genuinely proud of. I like the other songs too though ‘Sea in June’ holds special credence for me. It's a gentle piece that pretty much sums up everything I ever want or need to say in two verses and chorus. Here are the lyrics to 'Sea...

So here in Sydney this weekend under glorious autumn skies we hosted the S3, or, as is widely known around the local omniverse, the ‘Sydney Song Summit’, staged at the Hordern Pavillion surrounded by the leafy Moore Park environs. Now I got mates running a stall there, good mates, good people, one of them is a guy I play with though I chose to stay away from this event. No doubt there is much good information available for songwriters and aspirants of all shapes and sizes, so fair game. I love songs, and I hate them! I mean songs are my life goddamn it, but to me songs fall into 2 categories, the inspired ones by inspired artists, and the rubbish that gets peddled about by “professional writers” and songwriting “teachers” and the like. I mean, I receive a monthly newsletter created by my aforementioned friend who I perform with occasionally that is full of good information and anecdotes. My abhorrent objection comes when names get bandied about proclaiming a new Messiah has arrived, ...

Here are the lyrics to a song I've recently recorded and posted on myspace ( www.myspace.com/rossmusician )... the song won't go on any album and musically is like early-Church in the verses, and bares more than a passing similarity to Don Walker's (Cold Chisel) 'Conversations' from their 'Breakfast at Sweethearts' album of 1979. The song is about peace and love, but it may not appear that way at first glance....go to myspace to listen! Regards, Ross End of a Civilisationist Copyright Ross B 2008 I’m not one to cry about some building crashing down or the stars and stripes that shoulder their capital foundations I love it when I lose my money better to blow it now before the inevitable post-wake looting! I’m just an end of a Civilisationist an end of a Civilisationist I’m just an an end of a Civilisationist blow it now, tomorrow we’ll be gone (tomorrow we’ll be gone) I drive some trendy car, I couldn’t give a shit realms and realms of A4 paper premium du...