complete schedule for this 5-day event at http://mittenfest.wordpress.com/

I'll be playing in the earliest part of the evening, New Years Eve, at 5:50, sandwiched between two great bands, HALLWAY and THIS IS DEER COUNTRY.  Other artists that night:  ANNIE PALMER, WHITE PINES, CHRIS BATHGATE, and MATT JONES, among others.

This event supports a great cause, 826michigan.  Perhaps you've seen their "robot repair and supply" logo and wondered what it's all about.

No doubt you'll be there.  What better way to start off the year than doing something good, that's also fun?

- Peter

p.s. my 2009 Christmas song, "Santa (Is Gonna Get You)" has been posted to assault your eardrums and aesthetic sensibilities. 

Here are the original lyrics for all ten demos from The Authorless Project. 

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1.  Shutter Speed                       

Since you want an easy out again
To spin around your spider's web this truth
    I'll weave a better lie than even you
    You'll weave one too and we'll both make it through

This silk and wire has taken my desire
Shining brightly up there in the corner
    I'll leave you here to collect your thoughts
    Not ever know the real reason we fought

    I'll leave before I sink into my bones
    Walk home through the fallen rain alone
Since you went the easy route again
You'll spin around a mirror's facing you

I'll knit together my life after all
I'll fabricate the meanings to my use
    You claim I knew the outcome all along
    That wanting things to turn out right is wrong
    
    I wish we hadn't turned our hearts to stones
    We walk home through the falling snow alone,
     Alone.

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song notes:  I wrote this song deep under the spell of Jason Lytle from Grandaddy.  It's one of those rare cases where I wrote the music, sat on it for a day or two, then wrote the lyrics.  I had a terrible time recording the vocal, just could not get rid of this horrible buzzing sound...turns out my audio box was not being recognized and it was actually recording through the tiny mic built into the monitor, and including all the vibrations from the monitor cooling fan!

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2.  Reservations

You'll mend your broken heart
But first you must betray it
A glue stronger than love
Is not something to play with

Each bloom has withered up
Tonight the wind is weary
Both friend and foe forgiven
I'll take you as we are

You still could find a way
And send your feet toward home
I haven't changed at all
But I'm easier to live with

You still could find a way

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song notes:  I imagine this as written/sung from the perspective of a lone research scientist at an Antarctic outpost.  He gains perspective on his past life and mistakes through his solitude, the lone human in a vast waste of wind and ice, sitting at a desk and journaling his thoughts.  I like the remote, icy sounds and the mouse-clicks that pan around the stereo field.

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3.  When Night Falls

[instrumental]

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song notes:  Not a lot to say about this one.  My intent was to write lyrics to it but as of yet, none have been set down.

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4.  Open Letters

What's your next move
    'Cause this movement  -- is boring  
This ecstasy's
    A little taxing  -- let's taxi
        To a stop -- I'm bleeding
        You never even  -- tried hearing
        When I spilled secret -- transmissions
and
    lost
        sounds…

  What was going around underground
  Is coming all the way back down

I'll pile words
    Unheard -- on doorsteps
Letters unread
    In neat stacks -- stacked feelings
        In bundles -- bundled off to
        Far corners -- cornered into
        Colonnades of -– figures and
fad-
      ing
        facts…
   
  Beliefs that have since given birth
  To these runaway patriot acts

So steer me squarely
    to stand out – I'm not gonna take
This sitting down
    I'll speak my mind -- in time
        To your rifle bark –- lack of all art
        You ought to end all –- the wars you start
        Work at your own damn –- mini-mart
I
    want
        peace

  You leave the weaker with broken hearts
  You leave when meeker hearts have gone dark

What's your next move
    Standing near you -- we can't agree
but we both see
    This disconnection -- is terminal
        Emotional  barriers -- removable
        Your economics -- don't value me
        Try opting out -- to coex-
ist
    with
        me

  Songs are sung to bridge distances
  My mouth to your ears please consider this…

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song notes:  this was a simple jam I recorded in Garageband, an early stab at mic'ing my acoustic bass.  Much later, I recorded the vocal, after I had forgotten how to play the music.  Yet still later, I painstakingly re-taught myself the music, then the vocals (which are phrased kind of oddly).  So it's a fairly reverse-engineered song.  I perform it live every once in a while.

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5.  Citizen Smoke

Ember dangling from her lip
Ashes in her casual flip
Into our lungs the smoke will go
Is she pretending not to know

She never wants to go go go
Anywhere where the smoke won't flow
Consumer power means we breathe
The particles of consuming need

At the bar to see the band
Yellowed Teeth asks "What's your brand?"
Eyes are tearing, hard to breathe
Lungs are gray from another's greed

He doesn't want to know know know
About your lack of comfort now
He wants to smoke another pack
Addiction compensates for lack

They make it hard to draw a breath
They share a bit of their own death
Why not a place where  air is clear?
I hold my respiration dear

She never wants to go go go
Or correlate what the ashtray holds
Air pollution, asthma rates
Citizen Smoke be considerate

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song notes:  I consider this an anti-cigarette "P.S.A." of sorts.  A fairly silly song, but one with a serious message about the right to smoke vs. being considerate of non-smokers.

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6.  FM Radio, 4:00 PM

She must think I'm a wild beast
Who would tear her up in my teeth
Maybe at one time she was right
But I'm better now better now

She must think that I talk too much
That I sing too loud am I loud enough?
Maybe I'm just insecure
Indecisive or just a bore

She must think I'm another liar
Like the guy who saved her from the fire
Below my navel where my master lives
My head on backwards got my brain on skids

She must think I don't like her much
She may look at me won't she ever touch?
Maybe this is all just a crush
Someone saw her kissing such-and-such

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song notes:  This is one of my oldest recordings, caught on a video camera with a single cheap mic dangled from a chandelier.  You can hear my roommates in the nearby kitchen.  It's not a parody song exactly, but sort of a comment on the whiny, male-dominated "indie rock" that was crowding up the college airwaves when I wrote it.  This demo was released on "JOMAS: The Journal Of Motion And Sound" by Outside Circle Collective in 2004.

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7.  Passing Lane

Well you can't collect everything you're due
The sheer weight of it would go and bury you
And you can't spend your life like transparent glass
You'll reflect and transmit everything you pass

Well you can't expect the world to cradle you
Find your good points like a mother will do
And you can't spend your life in a windowless room
Still ignoring the sounds of industrial doom

Well you can't avenge every violence you've known
You'll just leave your own trail of broken homes
And you can't live your life in the passing lane
Assuming each car is someone new to blame

Well you can't collect everything you're due
And you can't expect the world to cradle you
And you can't avenge every violence you've known
If you can't even remember which sins to atone

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song notes:  This is a song I was very excited about when I wrote it.  I performed it a lot, but then sort of fell out of love with it (too preachy) and now don't even remember the chords.  I think it has lots of potential and even some fun lo-fi production, but is in need of a paradigm-shift of sorts.

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8.  Improvised Track

[instrumental]

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song notes:  This song was cut-and-pasted together from a single take of keyboard improvisations, and as such suffers from some timing problems.  However I really like some of the ideas at work in it, and can imagine it being a gorgeous, post-rockish instrumental when all is said and done.

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9.  Dream Domain

Last night I walked
with a star in my hand
It didn't burn the flesh of my palm
I gave it to a man
who asked me for an alm
He said he'd lost his arm in the war

You came to me
in the moment of a dream
You said, "Can I stay for a while?"
I said okay,
and you're still here today
Inside the dream that brought us to be

In the moment of a dream,      
in each eternity
I'll live in this cage as I please
Within our boxes,
we are left to be free
Who declared you the Grid over me?

In the moment of a dream,
starlight burned up in my eyes
I am eroded of all memory
No person place or thing,
no bird to beat these wings
We are outshined by what we've defined

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song notes:  Dream Domain still gets lots of live play.  This was my effort at arranging a "finished version" of the song for possible inclusion on album, complete with a protracted drone section at the end.

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10.  Job Security

Don't take the interview                                             
They'll notice your tattoo
They'll check your references
Test you for substances

Just stay young with me
Forty hours of love a week
I've got great benefits
And bonuses for overtime

        Submit the questionaire,                                       
        Be scrutinized and analyzed
        They'll file your heart away,
        Muzzle your soul with privacy

Don't type your resume
Cover letters make me crazy
Don't read the classifieds
My love will never downsize

Just stay young with me
Stay on, I'll double your rate
Twice the love I ever gave
More than your form can contain

        Accounts receivable,
        Duplicate to personel
        They'll line your cubicle
        With medals of conformity

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song notes:  This is one of my most popular live songs.  So popular, in fact, that it used to be somewhere on every setlist.  I have been suffering a personal backlash against it lately, so it has stayed home when I play out.  But when I listen to it objectively, I can see why people like it.  I like it.  The spoken part was recorded spontaneously during a phone conversation with my girlfriend of the time, and left in this lo-fi version.  Later on, I started singing it live as well, so the current live version is a hybrid of the original and this off-the-cuff recording.

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overall notes:  I don't have tabs for any of these demos.  They are super rough, which is semi-intentional, as I'm hoping one of the first things participants in AUTHORLESS do is to take ownership of the songs, re-cut them and take them one giant leap away from the scratchy lo-fi versions I cut.  Even if they remain lo-fi, I'm hoping this will jump-start the process.

Round one of AUTHORLESS is well underway, and I've even gotten to hear a few of the results so far.  Looking forward to more!

Check the other "AUTHORLESS" blogs for more info and ideas!  Most of the "rules" or guidelines I wrote up initially have been scrapped, things are much more "no holds barred" now.  So have fun. Drop a line if you'd like to be involved or if you have any questions.

- Peter









 

Here are some links to the artists I'll be performing with later this month:

1.  Paleo (myspace) and more Paleo (one of the most bare-bones websites I've ever seen.  Somehow it is totally appropriate.  Spend some time listening to the 365-song "Song Diary.")  Paleo was interviewed in the last issue of TapeOp magazine.  If you are into home recording, that's like being interviewed in the Bible.

2.  Jesse Stephanopoulos (myspace)  What is squiggly, jiggly, noisy, alluringly uncomfortable, and oddly cozy all at once?  What expands your mind while it compresses your eardrums?

3.  Catherine Midway (myspace) Catherine Midway has a secret identity.  By day she calls herself "Berry Noxon" and she sews and stencils customized clothing with flames, wolves, and subversive sayings.  She is quiet like lightning.  It is the thunder that makes the noise.

4.  ...more Stargrazer (facebook) All kinds of oddball tracks that didn't quite match the tone and timbre of the myspace page.  Did you know that you can also download every last MP3 on my myspace profile player for free?  I got all generous in my old age.



8 PM Wednesday, October 22 at Basement 414

414 E Michigan Ave
Lansing, MI 48933

[it's in the alley behind The Nuthouse, go towards the giant brick smokestack, then continue to the end of the alley.  Don't worry, it's legit -- Andrew WK played there!]

Stargrazer is making a transformation:

I'm not playing shows at bars anymore.  Lots of reasons.  But it all boils down to my music not really being "bar music."  Instead of being disgruntled and disenfranchised, I am embarking on a local tour:

The Quest For Oil.



Here's the gist of it:  I want to play music in out-of-the-ordinary places.  In the woods.  In your backyard.  In a gazebo in the park.  In a tree.  On the top of a parking garage.  Under a bridge.  An announcement of the location will go out to fans of the Stargrazer Facebook and Myspace pages, maybe a few days or a week in advance (check the comments to this blog if you're afraid you missed an announcement - I'll duplicate the posts there).  Then, at the appointed time and place, I will play an unamplified set for about 45 minutes or so.  There may be surprise guests/other secret fun!  And I pledge to start on time.

This will happen about every two weeks.

There's no obligation.  You don't have to RSVP, there's no charge, and you can come and go (or not) as you please.  I'll be debuting lots of new material, giving away prizes, and generally showing gratitude to folks who show up. You might want to bring a blanket or a folding chair.  Or a picnic!

So, if you want in, you can become a fan of the Stargrazer Facebook page or the myspace page... you'll be in the know!

Get ready, 'cause for the first round... we're going to the beach!

"Authorless"

The Authorless Project offers 10 song demos, each with points in it's favor of being nurtured into a full-grown song – and each with points against.  It is the proposal of The Authorless Project that interested musicians, writers, and recording artists of all genres, ages, and backgrounds treat these "root" demos as if they were their own:  free reign is given to re-record, rearrange, re-write or re-mix the root demos.  Ten members have been selected for round one, their participation is of course optional:

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ROUND ONE:  In the first round of Authorless, these ten demos will be distributed to ten musicians of all stripes and experience.  These first-rounders are free to re-record – or even re-write – any or all of the songs.  They can focus on just one song, split songs into more than one song, or combine songs.  They are free to "cover" a song in their own style – or to work with only the existing root recordings.  They're welcome to mix-and-match, cut-and-paste, stir, augment, fracture or alter the entire context of the song (or songs).  It can become a string quartet or black metal.  It can be deconstructed into obscurity, or lovingly/roughly translated into any mood(s) that suits the participants.  Heck, you can turn an instrumental into spoken word if you want!

The catch is, you only have two months to complete your part of the project.  If you don't have the time, just aren't feeling it, or don't want to participate for any reason, just pass the root demos along to someone else. 

ROUND TWO:  After the first sixty days, our next round begins.   Round One picks whomever they want to be in Round Two.  The new recordings and all the root demos are passed on to the next set of authors, and the same rules apply:  Anything goes.  Preserve the song, augment someone's ideas, or mutate it.  After another sixty days, all the results, plus the results of round one and the root demos, are passed on to the Round Three participants.

ROUND THREE – ROUND SIX: Same as the preceding rounds.

ROUND SEVEN:  All recordings from rounds 1-6, plus the original root demos, are sent to Satellite Park Studios for Paul Roessler to sort through, mix, add and subtract from, and finally master into the final "Authorless" album, tentatively called "Losing My Voice."  Who knows what amazing forms these little seedling songs will grow into?

LET's NOT CALL THESE "RULES," BUT…

1. Nothing is sacred in these songs – no matter how much anyone changes them, I still have the original song so nothing is lost, have no fear about changing ANYTHING.  I'm actually very interested to see how this ends up.

2. At any point, anyone can jump into a round:  for example, a 4-tracker in the Corn Belt who reads about The Authorless Project in a blog and is excited by the idea can jump into a round, download all available files, and add their creative voice to the mix.  A DJ can add any of the material to their mixes, and share their results.

3. That begs the question, where will all these tracks be stored online?  How will they be accessed?  Well, we have lots of options:  we can host it, or we can use file-sending applications to easily share work with eachother.

4.  How is all this going to get paid for?  An excellent question.   Anyone who can is asked to donate their time and skills, however a PayPal will be set up for donations and all participants are asked to contribute what they can, I'm suggesting $25-50.  But don't let my modesty impede your generosity!  Also, for tracking purposes, everytime someone completes their addition to the project, they should send it back to me.  I'll post mp3s for easy reference by anyone, perhaps on iTunes or that SnoCap player on myspace, people can buy downloads throughout the project to keep tabs (I dunno, maybe bloggers…?) and it can go into the PayPal to pay for the mastering.

5.  Tracking is very important!  Keep notes on what you did, even if it's really obvious.  We'll need all this info to know who get's credit for what.  And please submit your name/performing name, a mailing address, and a reliable way to reach you, like an e-mail, a phone number, or an agent.

6.  Stick to the 60 days!  If you don't get anything done, oh well, too bad.  Remember, anyone can jump into any round at any point.  The important thing is that the next round starts on time, so this project can become truly widespread in a short period of time.  You can tie up loose ends if you can get everything to Paul before he constructs the final album.

7.  For ease, let's say the project begins on July 1, 2007 and ends on July 1, 2008. That's when everything is due at Satellite Park.  If it's not done by then, it's not gonna get done.  But you could still finish up on your own and keep your version for comparison to the Paul's final product. 

8.  The idea is to use the community model.  this is like the Telephone Game, just with songs.  The originals are meant to become something entirely new.  What one round changes, the next round could change back!   There is no requirement that things always progress.  Regression and even total rebirth are also valid choices.  Bits and pieces of the original "root" demos could creep back in and out.  Imagine it like many generations working on a huge painting together.

9.  This is what happens to "folk" music (on a longer scale):  songs and rhythms get adopted by various groups and altered, copied, and dispersed.  They become many other songs, take on new and unrecognizable forms – like the Afro-Cuban musical cross-pollination.  Is every song just echos of the first intentional drumbeat?  We're just trying to weather and warp these ten root demos in twelve months instead of centuries!

10.  Authorship becomes completely lost.  Yet we can all take pride in something that we created together.  From the inception, The Authorless Project is about relinquishing ownership.

11.  Please enjoy this project and let it fire your creativity.  Do anything you want!  I am grateful to everyone who participates, and can't wait to watch what happens.

12.  That's all!  I hope this is inspiring, and good luck!

For my part, I will use this twelve months to finish some of my own unrelated music projects, earn money, and tackle the daunting task of graphic design and layout for "Losing My Voice."

I'll use the time up until July 1st (the kick-off of Round One) to promote The Authorless Project and let the idea sink in a bit with the Round One participants.

Peter Richards
April 11, 2008