Tough times, indeed.
After my mom died from the Coronavirus in a nursing home, and after seeing bodies piling up in refrigerated trucks in New York, my frustration level with the willfully negligent
Republican Party of Trump was boiling over.
Short of voting him out in November 2020, there was little any sane American could do about our rudderless leadership in this crisis.
I reached for my music and found it made me feel better; that's the best I could do. This EP came together rather quickly for me.
The pandemic, which caused all of us to hunker down at home (those of us lucky enough to have homes), had one silver lining for me.
A couple of old friends got in touch with me out of the blue, and we ended up collaborating on a couple of these songs.
Frank Molina was my best buddy back in the eighties. We were in a couple of bands together; he is a killer drummer. He now lives in the Bronx.
He was able to send me a couple of Ableton Live projects he had been working on. "The Republican National Convention" is the result.
It features the scary, screaming voice of Guilfoyle, the crazy lady (and sexual predator) who was alone in a TV studio screaming for six minutes into the cameras
at the "virtual" Republican National Convention, another low point in the history of our country.
Another musician friend, Bill Allen, got in touch with me out of the blue. I hadn't heard from him in 34 years!
He's the nicest sax player / guitarist you'd ever want to meet, with a Tennessee drawl that goes down like butter.
He came over and blew sax all over the opening track, "Today", as well as adding some quick improvs to "The Republican National Convention".
We had a great session outside, wearing masks and staying socially distant. In fact, here's a shot of the "studio".
It was a gorgeous day, and I later joked that it was the nicest studio I had ever worked in!
I also got help from Andy Hollinger, who added mandolin and slide guitar to the lighthearted "The King And Queen Of Hearts",
which had been written on the same patio by myself and my old friend Glenn Williams, just before the pandemic struck.
It's a bit of a love song for my wife and, indeed, for all the loving couples I know who are lucky enough to have each other in these troubled times.
The trouble with "topical" music is that within a few years, the "topic" has faded from memory and the music is no longer relevant.
Let's hope that this EP is no longer relevant as soon as possible.
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