Project Notes

May 7 2007: I’ve been on hiatus from recording for awhile because in late March, my recorder’s hard disk decided to have and early retirement. On April 17th, my heart got a little “ticked off” about my years of bad eating habits, and gave this 47 year old Geezer Rocker a warning. A blockage in one of my coronary arteries was quickly removed and I’m fine but now, I have to take my medicines, exercise, and eat my veggies. I now have a stylish metal stent in my artery with a lovely filigree look to it. Anyway, it could have been a lot worse and thank God that with a few exceptions, I’m back to my old self, my recorder is repaired, and I’m ready to start recording again. Quick note: my songs are now in a different folder on music.philsee.com which is where the links now automatically go. The Open Fire/Phoenixx page is also in that sub-domain so if you bookmarked any specific pages, you will need to bookmark the new ones.

About the songs:

Get A Life: I incorporated three of my major influences, the first Montrose band which includes Sammy Hagar, Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple. It’s about irresponsible cell phone users.

Reality: Because he was probably my favorite writer, I made the music John Lennonesque. The lyrics speak for themselves.

Plant That Seed: I figure the world and especially America has been through enough in the last five years and for my self, I needed to sing a message of love, hope, and peace.

God In The Barn: An instrumental short and one of a few I plan on adding to this Late Bus project just to mix things up a bit.

Ascension: Another instrumental short and also based on the story I mention above. This one has spirit. We'll just have to wait until my wfe's book is published and then I'll explain it.

Her Old Apartment: I thought I'd revisit story telling songs with this one. It was a lot of fun building it.

Christmas Time: A little taste of all the rock styles I've loved over the decades. I recorded this on a new digital recorder and it may be louder than the previous tunes on this site.The lyrics are my personal feelings on Christmas and war.

I Want To Dance: This song pays homage to a time when Seattle was full of clubs where live Top-40 bands played strong danceable music. It was a great feeling to get out there, big PA speaks on each side, and feel the bass guitar and kick drum while you danced to INXS or ZZ Top, etc. You didn’t care whether or not you danced like a twit (Me), you had fun and you felt energized.

The Fieldhouse: The sound of this song reminds me of a room in what my friends and I used to call the fieldhouse (actually the Queen Anne Community Center here in Seattle). I used to practice Elton John tunes and original compositions on a weird half-upright piano in an upstairs room called the Teen Center. I liked that room because it was big and ambient and I could wallow there in my various crushes and feel my adolescent loneliness echoed back at me. While the song isn’t about the fieldhouse, it is about having to let go of things we don’t want to, like our youth, an unhealthy relationship, a bad habit, insert your story here. Since my wife and I have both had to give up things we loved, we collaborated on the lyrics and between the two of us I think we nailed the emotion.