Somewhere Over Milwalkee

Scot Halpin died on February 9th . He and I had been friends sense grade school. He was most famously known for his playing with The Who in 1973 during their Quadraphinia tour. He had been an artist all his adult life and had made his living traveling in the art fair circut. I flew to Iowa, where we all grew up, and then traveled to Indiana, where Scot lived, with our friend Steve Teraberry, to spend some time with his family and get together with old friends from around the country.

So it seems as though i have been doing a lot of thinking and dreaming at night after Scot died. I couldn't describe it and it was becoming frustrating but i finally can up with a metaphor for how i have been feeling. It seems to be all about memory and memories. I think of shared memories as if two or more people are tethered together like a kite and you are both keeping the string taught because it belongs to both of you. When one person leaves the string starts to flap out of control and fall. sIo you have to real it in and it become only yours.
I wrote a song that started with notes i made on my trip and turned into wondering about the sun and how I am so much more conscience of it and where it is in the sky. I also realized how much the particular light influences a memory.

The snow

that they said was coming didn't really materialize. mostly slush. But i did have a flat tire and then had to be jumped. This time of year is quite often filled with issues like that for me.

I wanted to talk about some of the music writers i have been talking to. i belong to two sites where we post songs that we write and then other members listen and comment on what they think are the strengths and weaknesses of the work.
Phil Marshall belongs to Songramp and from the very first day i joined has been one of my strongest supporters. Phil is a funny and talented song writer.I would say that he is a bluesy folk singer. his thing is to really try and get a live sound. He also is a regular contributor to the goings on with the site. Forums and such. Check out what he does.
Another person that i have actually written a few songs with is Warren Smith. Warren writes odd and interesting songs about living in the burrow's of New York. He and I also wrote three songs under the name River Rats. We both grew up along the Mississippi river back in Iowa and Minnesota and one of our songs reminded us of midsummer river festivals and the excitement of see our friends play on a big stage in the ever present "battle of the bands"
Some other Artist you might want to check out are, Tom Atwood, Steve Craig, Norman Bradley
and Mac Charles.

tim