The Wonder of Life

We look at Life as if it is a wonder and yet, from the Universe's
point of view it is irrelevant and it treats life with disdain.

Posted via email from 88 Kilos of Sunshine

The Nature of Music

The musician preserves emotion in transportable form, allowing the
listener to enjoy that emotion whenever they desire.

Posted via email from 88 Kilos of Sunshine

Identity is optional

you have never felt so real as you do now.

Posted via email from 88 Kilos of Sunshine

Play This song Now

 

 

http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_3921671 

Posted via email from 88 Kilos of Sunshine

America I - The home of the Brave

Let's face it - America's not everybody's cup of tea. Brash, loud, rude, arrogant... it's all the things people love to hate. It's also clear that we're just lealous.

Posted via email from 88 Kilos of Sunshine

In search of meaning

This morning I realised that the world will end, and that the only
evidence of our existence will be on the few spacecraft launched into
deep space. In all of this it's also true that my reality is all that
matters, because there is nothing more.

Posted via email from 88 Kilos of Sunshine

Our Greatest Error

Dear Captain Zork,
Thanks for the brief message. I understand the wheels of bureaucracy
roll slowly and thank you for your efforts.

You will be encouraged to know that I have found a powerful tool for
the Leaders. On earth intelligence is met with derision which coerces
the majority to seek failure in academic pursuits.

This may seem a short sighted strategy but it has some wonderful
consequences. The most importantly, it makes for a large body of badly
informed buyers of hair care products. It is possible to sell anything
to these vain creatures as long as it sounds vaguely scientific.

The Leaders can use this technique for near limitless fundraising.

I hope this helps to grease the wheels.

Posted via email from 88 Kilos of Sunshine

The World Machine

Dear Captain Zork,
Your silence worries me. I can only presume that you are busy getting
the return organised.
Hawking has made some dangerous statements and his camoufflage is
fading faster by the day.
This world runs on lies, the dominant species' greatest invention. If
applied in the right way it makes heroes of cowards and leaders of
fools.
Perhaps we should adopt this as a new strategy.
Please mention me to Babs, I miss her and remain,
Your faithful servant.

Posted via email from 88 Kilos of Sunshine

Giant Shoulders

Over the last few days I have received far too many e-mails with a theme calling on me to be proud of my white skin, mainly because of the achievements of some of my supposed ancestors.

 

You would think that my friends would know better, and would know not to send this tripe to me.

 

The truth is that I understand that they are scared and emotional, following on from a fairly tumultuous few weeks. We have, far too often, heard some or other politician ascribing blame to those of us with paler features. Either way, I did feel that it was worth replying to these in a more general manner. Perhaps somebody is listening.

 

For me there can be nothing more vacuous than to feel special because of something that you did not achieve personally. In this instance people are basically saying that a white skin makes you clever. It is of course quite logical that the majority of people who say this will not be able to explain how we get from relativity to branes. It is also quite likely that I just lost that half of the crowd...

 

People who espouse this philosophy will also want to point out the historical input of white folk, but will obviously neglect to inform their waiting audience of the contributions of a large community of non-white contributors. Without these contributions Europe would still be wearing bearskins and hugging trees. If you don't agree with this then you quite probably have a myopic view of history.

 

In short - you're not special if you are descended from Isaac Newton - you are special if you ARE Isaac Newton. The only things in this world that make you special are the things you achieve for yourself. Stop trying to catch a shine from your ancestors and start bearing in mind that the genetic difference between races is inconsequential.

 

PS - if you had to look up any of the words on this post then you should rather spend time on education than distributing opinion

Posted via email from 88 Kilos of Sunshine

Imaginary Friends

Dear Captain Zork,
You sure sent me to a strange place. It is filled with contradictions
that are sometimes beautiful and often horrifying.

For instance; if you have an imaginary friend you must make sure to
convince others of its existence. If you can accomplish this, people
will give you money for nothing and you won't even be taxed. You can
even dress funny and get away with it.

I still long for return and hope that you can get the paperwork sorted.

Yours, in hope of repatriation,
88KOS

Posted via email from 88 Kilos of Sunshine

Dear Captain Zork

Dear Captain Zork,

it's been a while since I reported back. Earth is a strange place and it took a while to get settled in. The first 13 years were good, but between year13 and year20 I kinda got lost. My reports will be more frequent in future.

 

kind regards

88KOS

Posted via email from 88 Kilos of Sunshine

Rise, Lazarus!

February and March 2010 will be the forgotten months. What started as a numbness in my legs in early Feb turned into a serious back problem for most of the next two months.

 

It was a miserable time, brightened only by painkillers and the odd diazepam. It seems to be over now. For the record, I should have listened to Dori and gone to a chiropracter sooner.

 

So now, we're back and there's some new music out.

 

I have changed how this will be delivered. From now on the music will be stored at www.reverbnation.com/88kilosofsunshine 

 

It will still be free and you can download and share as much as you'd like.

 

I am still not really capable of spending too much time recording, so the output will slow down, but 6 weeks of bedrest will provide ideas and hopefully I get the chance real soon to put them into action.

 

Be patient, and listen to Tim.

Posted via email from 88 Kilos of Sunshine

Necessary Evil Part 2

  
Download now or listen on posterous

necessary_evil_3-4.mp3 (4235 KB)

Necessary Evil, the second version. I changed it to 3/4 (as prog rock as I get) and it worked, it also suggested more harmonics and backing and came out (at least to mymind, better than the first version. Download for free and enjoy. 

Posted via email from 88 Kilos of Sunshine

Necessary Evil

Necessary Evil 1  
Download now or listen on posterous

necessary_evil_1.mp3 (5822 KB)

I fell in love with her when I walked into the Std 6 classroom, and I carried that crush for years. I couldn't help the feeling and I couldn't change it, and even when I fell for others she remained somewhere in my heart. I was there when she married and I wish her well.

Well I guess it's kinda late

I'm getting tired of tempting fate

but while loving you is a necessary evil

that's what I'll do

I wait on the seashore

the wind in my hair

pulling me towards you

like a beast to its lair

I dove into the water

I feel it surround me

I strive for the surface

temptation finds me

free from my longing

I stand before peace

round me a storm is raging

I wait for release

Posted via email from 88 Kilos of Sunshine

Habe die Platte noch im Keller!

A friend, Justin, posted the following on FB:

"Check out: Ziza - a couple of tracks i helped write. Real musos, talented singers, a real
studio and mastering by a master! Keep an eye out for the music videos
coming soon.."

and it's well worth checking out. Justin does amazing work and it's always good to follow his activities.

One of my all time favourite albums is Working Nights by Working Week (if you want to sneak a listen here's a track with a fanvid on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwGcAAagTt8 ) and Ziza reminds me of them so MUCH that I'm an instant fan. The Working Week track will sound dated, but that's the 80's for you, it could infect anything. I still have the vinyl and must remember to ask Tim to source a cd version.

But Justin's post also had me thinking (as you do when driving the lawnmower between the pack of dogs). Real musos? and when are you a real muso? Truth is it led to at least a day or two of introspection while I second-guessed myself to the Nth degree.

In the end I realised that I had never thought of myself as a musician, simply because I have some very big limits. For one thing I'm not all that good on guitar and secondly, while I can sing, my voice has some pretty big commercial limits. The other major constraint is that I do not really speak music and so I always find myself a little confused when dealing with real musos, for goodness sake, I can't even read the language!

So the point is moot personally, but it makes me wonder what I'm busy with here. For one thing, while I am not a musician, I am a songwriter (limited to some genre, but still), and a good one at that (well, you HAVE to believe in yourself), and it has always ended there. I liked taking the songs to a conclusion with others, but life caught up and now I get to do it all myself.

So having solved this for myself (by avoidance) I have to wonder what it means for others. What is a real muso? Answers, anyone?

The first few days.

Resolutions was the second recording in this release cycle. The first had been a recording of Khun Sa surrenders. Khun Sa surrenders is an instrumental track and will be released later.

Both these songs were part of a learning curve. I had, with the help of Jeff Fletcher (and a thousand thank you's would not suffice) of One Mighty Atom, got my recording gear together and was finally in a position to get started.

And for a change I read the manual. Possibly not as well as I should have, but I gave it more of a go than I might usually have. I started with Reaper as DAW and have so far resisted Jeff's persuasion to join the Ableton religion, although the only barrier is money.

Reaper has some limitations in the MIDI department and I also needed something that I could use to produce loops quickly. For this purpose I selected Fruity Loops, mainly cause Thato Mabotja's inspired work showed off its potential.

I'm enjoying the songs, which probably means that I have reached my goal and with the blog and posterous (thanks to Darren), it makes it possible to release on the fly.

It also allows the music to breathe a bit and grow. It's a wonderful mix of "live" and "recorded". I can release a song onto the web, re-record it and re-release, all in a matter of minutes and without paperwork, lawyers or greed becoming part of the process.

An upcoming example will be "Necessary Evil". There will be three releases, one in 4/4, and two in 3/4. At least they do not necessitate a double album.

The struggle continues, hey Taz?

Fiat Lux!

Of course it's a dark song! It was written at a very bad time. I was just out of basic training and I'd been transferred to a place the Natal Mercury referred to as Hell Camp. When I watched Jacob's Ladder the first time it reminded me of this place so much that the horror came back.

I survived and eventually prospered, thanks mainly to Ian Culpin, who saved my life (literally) and Craig Gillings, who saved my soul. The debt I owe them can never be repaid but I remember them every day.

Straight and Narrow (recorded as Resolutions) did not come to me overnight and in truth was not some cathartic self psycho-analysis. It was, in the main, the pethidene. No, seriously. Like most of my lyrics the words appeared effortlessly. The tune is as simple as could be.

Craig had a guitar and we spent many hours playing together. He knew all the songs I should have known and I hope one day we will record some of them together. In particular I remember his rendition of Cry me a River which remains my favoutire to this day. So many sunsets, so little time.