IT’S SUMMER!
Hello, folks! I trust you’re enjoying the summer. I’ve been reading a lot and watching old movies and TV whodunnits. Going for regular walks, too. Here are some of the books and shows:
Books
Crooked House, Agatha Christie
Chantecler, Edmond Rostand
Sculpting in Time, Andrei Tarkovsky
Reading or re-reading next:
Trustee from the Toolroom, Neville Shute
The God of the Machine, Isabel Paterson
The Great Ideas, Mortimer Adler
Our Culture, What's Left Of It, Theodore Dalrymple
TV Shows & Movies
Agatha Christie's Poirot — starring David Suchet
Agatha Christie's Miss Marple — starring Joan Hickson
The Moonstone (1972)
Whodunnit? (1975-1978) — hosted by Jon Pertwee
Secret Honor (1984) — starring Mr. Bookman, the librarian guy from Seinfeld
CURRENT EVENTS
The Sunshine Man has successfully evaded contemporary cultural topics to date. Topics including:
Trump almost having his head blown off
Was COVID-19 real?
Do viruses even exist? (See Dr. Sam Bailey and Jon Rappoport)
A new phenomenon for all ages: “He died suddenly” or “She died unexpectedly”
Parallel Structures (see Václav Havel)
My concentrating on joyful endeavors like music might well give an impression of obliviousness. Far from it! Perhaps I’ll take the elevator down into hell and discuss these topics one day. But not today. It’s too dark. I don’t want to feel dark today.
A LITTLE RYE — LYRIC VIDEO
A lyric video for A Little Rye will be released soon.
Film images are a boon for a musical artist. What an opportunity film gives us to enhance the artistic experience for an audience. The trouble is that film is a way different medium from music and words.
For me, the hardest part is in the choosing. What do I want the audience to see? You can make a live performance video, a lyric video, an action video with actors and actresses. You can make a surreal video, an animation or cartoon. If you can think it you can make it.
WHAT I’VE LEARNED SO FAR
Releasing music in 2024 is no picnic. There’s so much chaos in the world. What are people’s values?
The mainstream music scene is like an insane asylum with no staff. New mainstream music is rarely musical. Melody? Nah. Rhythm? It thumps! Harmony? What’s that?! The poor audience has been listening to computer programs for 35 years and they haven’t figured it out yet.
I stepped out of the mainstream culture in about 1988 and have no plans to go back. My goal is to build a connection with 1,000+ true fans. The influence of the mainstream is so strong that I have to continually remind myself to not stray anywhere near it. Almost everyone assumes that the mainstream music scene is about music. It isn’t.
AUGUST TO DECEMBER 2024
In December 2023, it looked like smooth sailing to release the next 3 songs in 2024. Nope! There’s work to do on each and I’ve had zero time to work on them. One song needs a few lines of lyric and a horn section added in. The following song needs some keyboards. Also, I might have the opportunity to ask an amazing and world famous singer to add her background vocals on that one. The third song is 87% complete—it’s a guitar instrumental. Here, I might have the opportunity to ask a legendary guitarist to play some of the guitar parts. Lotta strands. Lotta dough.
I’m going to become a recluse starting in August and see if I can get these tunes to the finish line.
Enjoy your week!
-Lance 🎸😎👍
“For I have seen the truth; I have seen and I know that people can be beautiful and happy without losing the power of living on earth. I will not and cannot believe that evil is the normal condition of mankind. And it is just this faith of mine that they laugh at.”
―Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man