THE “A” TICKET

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Born in NYC, but I grew up in Southern California from age seven. Technically poor (but happy), our family went to Disneyland at least once a year, we just purchased the lower priced tickets. A version of equality, or inequality? We all get in but don’t get the same experience. Hmmm, sounds like America’s pay-to-play no free access system was ingrained through Corporations who later took over government. Gatekeepers EVERYWHERE you turn punching your ticket and taking your money. Sounds like our daily life today: water was free, etc. They’ve monetized EVERYWHERE you want or have to go. Anyway, in those days it wasn’t a one-price universal-pass. They hadn’t yet figured out with a flat universal access more people would come at one price and they’d make more on the food and gift store sales. Kind of part of what’ I’d do for our whole economic system if you gave me the opportunity: streamline free-access. Capitalism sometimes takes a looong while to get smart, then gets stupid quickly, then like a light bulb coming on, because somebody remembers what worked best, smart again. There’s NOTHING new in capitalism. It’s how it’s implemented, or not, that determines how much American Dream every American gets. In the Disneyland buy each ‘Ticket era” the ‘bad’ boring short-line no-wait rides we’re A Tickets (Like Iceland is green and Greenland is ice to keep people away or attract them, it’s a timeless deceipt), and the best long-line long-wait rides like the Matterhorn rollercoaster, we’re E Tickets. Maybe that was for the Entitled class. The A-mazing Mr. Lincoln, was an A ticket, we always quickly sat down to hear his famous A-ddress “Four score…” and to rest our feet. So I was basically going with that mechanical President Lincoln vibe. The sweetest thing about Disneyland? It gave us all pure family time and wonderful memories I am enjoying again 50 years later. It’s forever and A Ticket! Thanks Walt! I’ve always had more fun in the cheap seats. Digging out the Disney-Lincoln voice half a century later proves I am a good listener, pay attention, and never forget.

MAKE THE CONNECTION

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This is a radio theater song. It started without a name, and it needed music. Tim Ellis and I did a rough draft of this song months before his death. I asked him to give me something with a big electric guitar that said “And now…it’s time…”. He looked at me and handed me the guitar. I looked at the guitar for a moment, then banged it out. He nodded then made it sound 100 times better. Later after Tim passed I’d take that guitar sound and repurpose it for the song Our Turn in Pro Tools with Dean. This connected the two songs in purpose and music in the opera: It’s Our Turn (to Save America)-Sign RTDNOW.COM.

THE AFRICAN SAVANNAH 

Now, for the red meat. Months later, I was watching one of those relaxing animals shows before bed. The ones with each link in the food chain preying on the next. “Oops Mr. Alligator, watch out for Mr. Hippo, he’ll bite you in half!” Like a public handing, we all stare in rapt attention hoping to see this actually happen. As I gazed across the broad African Savannah watching animal Darwinism unfold in rapid procession, across all species, it made me think of all the people we have in America and how in business, and politics, and in society, the one with bigger teeth prey on the small fries. In the animal kingdom they rarely kill their own: only humans do that routinely. Back to the story, that’s where the two personalities, American Spirit Hall voices I use, in call and response, come from. We have two broad categories of People-Animals in America: the live and let lives, The Givers, who are always being preyed upon, by The Takers. Until the givers all band together to put those murderers of our American Dream in jail, or put them out to pasture pronto. Like in our 1st Declaration of Independence, and now what I’m empowering 300 million of my countrymen and women to do in our 2nd: Declaration of Independence. RTDNOW: Redeem The Dream Now.

MAKE THE CONNECTION

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This is a radio theater song. It started without a name, and it needed music. Tim Ellis and I did a rough draft of this song months before his death. I asked him to give me something with a big electric guitar that said “And now…it’s time…”. He looked at me and handed me the guitar. I looked at the guitar for a moment, then banged it out. He nodded then made it sound 100 times better. Later after Tim passed I’d take that guitar sound and repurpose it for the song Our Turn in Pro Tools with Dean. This connected the two songs in purpose and music in the opera: It’s Our Turn (to Save America)-Sign RTDNOW.COM.

UNSCRIPTED IS BEST

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The ‘song’ had to transition from the intro to the second half: so I vocalized and Tim embellished, a wild guitar riff. Basically its what I remember great guitarists doing to warm up when nobody was paying attention: fun and unscripted. Add in the Thomas Jefferson quote and that was the warm up part of the song.

GREAT TIMING: TRAINING WHEELS STILL ON

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For the back end of the song I read a speech, no music. You’ll note my timing is tight. I have good timing. But my timing on full-band songs was like having spotlights flipped on pointed to my ears, everything was so bright, sound-wise, all at once, blinding. I’d written most of this on my favorite $99 nylon string guitar I bought at R&B (Rhythm & Blues) Music when my son was taking drum lessons. When you first write a song you’re just wandering a bit finding which timing you like. My creativity outstripped my learning curve: I was moving so fast I left out the three months to nail it down part…I just picked the best song I’d written that week and rolled into the studio and said “Like it?” Great timing with a band, like Tim Ellis my producer was known for, takes many, many years, of skill and practice. I was in my third studio/band year: the big band training wheels were still on.

THE UNIVERSE HAS SPOKEN! 

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But where’s the music? I was speaking to thin air, which wasn’t bad; everybody says I speak better than sing. But its an opera (not the boring ‘Amazing Mr. Lincoln’ robot.) so we dove into my music library and I made the leap connecting this song, in spirit, to my song Walking With Giants. So we took the piano track (one of 20) and pasted it in whole, no edits. As we listened to it, the room went still, with a double Wow mental exclamation moment as an OHHHMMMM silent energy filled it. A buzzing filled our brains with excitement. That’s why I don’t need to smoke Pot. The universe had spoken! Tim and I just stared at each other. It fit perfectly as-is. In total length and cadence timing, it all fit…perfectly. It was as if I spoke and the piano played after, the way music is supposed to be created, so that the piano notes can accent my ‘melody’ line and place proper emphasis with my words. This was the type of magic occurring in Kung Fu Studios on my music project on a regular basis. Emphasis ‘rhythm’ it seems is personal style. I’d been doing business presentations for 35 years to the point I did them in my sleep and would have real out of body experiences in meetings as my delivery cadence got everyone into the same rhythm and I watched from the top of the room. I just transferred this skill to my opera spoken word. That’s what you hear in this speech, done in one take, no edits.

TONIGHT ON MASTERPIECE THEATRE 

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JP Garu’s beautiful piano made it feel like one of those old history TV shows “TONIGHT! Alastair Cook’s MASTERPIECE THEATRE!!! Tonight we visit Ancient Rome to speak with Julius Caesar before he stole everyone’s ears, then we’ll leapfrog to jolly old England to sit beside Sir Winston Churchill as he delivers his famous NEVER-Surrender speech. We will fight them on the shores, in the skies…an articulate Rocky Balboa “Yeah, just tell me when and where!” I love both characters, one real, one fictional, because their words were just a ruse to pull their opponents in, then both delivered in the ring smashing them!” While I made the quote above up for humor’s sake, that’s what my minds eye remembers, kind of how it got spoofed on SNL, and how it felt to me when I was young. So this all felt really cool to me. Actually, I love it. When Morgan Freeman hangs up his “Morgan Freeman-Morgan Freeman: God made Earth when I narrated it!” shoes narrating everything on the planet, I want to do some of that work, if you can call it ‘work’. History Channel / BBC America / Smithsonian Channel / Disney: give me a call!

DON’T BE POOR CATATONIC TOMMY ANYMORE: SIGN RTDNOW.COM

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Townshend basically sang about societal problems. Like deceit and the silent ongoing trauma we experience as its depth is revealed. And how non-confrontation screws us up like his famous rock opera character Tommy. He retreats into his fantasy world like 300 million America’s have to avoid the truth have. I'm singing about the solutions to our national trauma of learning we’ve been sold out. So now’s the time, stop being Tommy, and please Sign RTDNOW.COM with me it's our turn to save America. Like JOHN HANCOCK, I am the first signer of our modern declaration and my signatures the biggest. And to keep leaning on Pete's genius, (He's like a 'rock-n-roll' Winston Churchill when you put his best lyrics together) although I may be trying his patience, "Who's Next?"