#Frail Autumn,, #GarageBand,, #Lyrics, #music, #Retirement Projects, #songwriting

Plans ahead…..

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The FRAIL AUTUMN project from now on…..Get Serious in a Different Way.

JANUARY 1st was supposed to be the start of re-recording at least 10 of my self written songs. December illness of dizziness (possibly inner ear infection or crystal shift in the semi circular canals of the ear) followed by a nasty bout of hard hitting influenza (still lingering today, although very much subsided) led to inactivity musically.

Last night, with a bit more spirit and gusto, I shoved on some headphones, opened this ‘Plans Ahead…..’ blog collective, published last October, of intended songs for an album/CD, picked up my bass guitar and began to play bass patterns and riffs (off amp) that have been intentional future add ins/ons for each of the songs. I can also hear in my mind more melody and interweaving rhythms to add that are not there currently. A few need a completely new rhythm pattern. One or two are crying out for violin, cello and other considered ethnic strings.

The songs need a massive overhaul to achieve a cohesive ‘Frail Autumn’ sound. Lyrics, verse/chorus/bridge/middle 8 add ons, total rearrangement, dynamics by actually mixing the sound, etc. No small task. But definitely an exciting and achievable one.

What did surprise me was that, after not listening to any of them in earnest for a few months, I actually found I fell in love with the songs all over again. That sounds like bragging. Or pride. In myself? I despise those traits, so try hard to avoid such presentations. Then I realised a lightbulb moment. ‘Love?’ These songs are all an inherent part of ‘me, myself, I’. Summersville. You have to find something to love about yourself. It’s essential.

Also. When you choose to pursue something…..anything…..you have to enjoy and find interest in what you are setting out to do. Any undertaking would be really difficult, in order to accomplish the realisation of finality, if you suddenly found you had no desire for the task. A nurse lecturer taught me that valuable lesson when I was choosing a subject for a dissertation. Choose wisely she said. You have to live with your subject for a long time. Ain’t that life in a nutshell!

So, over the coming weeks to months, now with health coming back, I will focus purely on the Frail Autumn project. Music recording with additional supporting artwork (photography/penmanship/video) for the intentional CD and online music platform presentations.

So, yes, a break from blogging (so frequently) is still on the cards. I just didn’t want to leave my blog adventures with the last blog being about negativity in illness. I would rather someone new ‘happenstance’ onto my site and see the positivity in a project being undertaken to realise one’s dreams.

SO IF YOU ARE ‘HAPPENSTANCE’ NEW TO MY BLOGS? THE SONGS ARE ON AUDIO BARS BELOW.

PLANS AHEAD……

Bullet Points.

i) Get the whole FRAIL AUTUMN vibe consisting of a more unique sound with driven, cleaner, clearer, brighter songs. Lose the current muddy sound, my playing apathy and frustration due to lack of my instrumental playing skills, elongated non-changing start to finish dirge born from a consistent GarageBand drum beat and lack of vocal emotion that I create on many occasions.

ii) I simply can’t play all of these instruments I have been applying to songs. So don’t play them then Gray! Okay, I’ll take my advice to me. Electric guitar, keyboards and drums are totally out my skill’s capability. So need to use my bass guitar, acoustic guitar, one straight forward vocal of verse and chorus and the GarageBand drums’ choice from their library (as a needs must choice). This allows a strong base to build on. Any additional layering on top can be done properly as time goes by. This Apple system allows an easily applied future additional change. Anything can be added to improve each song. No analogue tapes anymore thank heavens. But each song has to sound decent with just my own contributions. If it is only acoustic guitar, bass, vocals and GB drums…… then so be it.

iii) Vocals. Sing with conviction. Don’t just capture a tune and sing blandly. Get self harmony’s sorted properly too. Also. Find a singer or singers to do extra tone and textures too. For both lyric harmony to my main vocal, maybe a duet? Or give a song to someone else for singing a main vocal. And the ‘Oooh/La La’ type backing harmonies have to be done for warmth and dynamics provision.

iv) Instrumental layering ‘out in the field’ and away from The Den. Buy an external hard drive to use. I can carry this about. The small M2 Mac computer, microphones, headphones, audio interface and Akai MIDI keyboards are very easily transportable. As are the small Bluetooth Apple keypad and mouse. All can be put in a bag. I can then record others’ contributions. Also, airdropping songs to others to add to.

v) Truly consider keeping my playing of ‘one note melodic’ keyboard playing for additional dynamics to the base melodies. Many bands do this very effectively. It will add texture and tone. *And really important….* is to set up the key of the song in GarageBand when starting a new song. Generically they use C major. Not all songs are in that key. So of course they end up sounding weird because external and internal key structures aren’t synchronised. One huge mistake I have done in all these songs recorded so far! I may have got away with a couple. But play in E, A and D a lot.

vi) If some of this additional instrumentation is not possible over the coming months? Don’t beat myself up about it with frustrations. Just re-focus to reality, live with the limitations and do my best. Others have commitments and lives to lead. I’m retired and can apply time more freely.

BOUGHT AN EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE. A 2TB ONE WHICH WILL HOLD PLENTY OF THE PROJECTS.

USEFUL SONGS……

1: 18 YEARS WAS 50 YEARS AGO. (First line: It’s the season where the reason is to chase your dreams. Blow your blues away).

Fills removed. Smoother version.

(It’s essentially about FRAIL AUTUMN as a project and philosophy. So….is there anything in this introductory lyric that impacts? Nope. So how to become a better phrased opening lyric? Set the song up to tell the story of how I am feeling about life now? This is a personal story of my own current feelings. Some of the lyrics do stray and sound muddy on the choice of library voice in GB. Remember! Don’t do maudlin if some lyrics are changed!! Positivity is key in this. No looking back on these lyrics and saying to myself ‘Get a grip!’ Acoustic version so much preferred for my current emotional considerations though. But by changing and dropping out the percussion ‘fills’ to basic beats after recording the song, it sent the acoustic guitar strumming out of synch. REMEMBER TO WATCH FOR LATENCY ON EXTERNAL INSTRUMENTS TRYING TO CATCH UP WITH THE INHERENT ONES. Must watch this type of mistake. Really evident at the start! Also an electric version alternative, already recorded but really rough, could be cool too.

2: EDDIE JUST LOVES TO DANCE. (First lines: We saw him on the dance floor. Loved the moves).

Eddie……

(Thought of changing Eddie the Dancer to a female. But then why not promote guys dancing on their own with aplomb, beautiful body rhythms and total abandonment….akin to Northern Soul competitive fashion. But do not change the rhythm of this one to a Northern Soul vibe. Prefer a Latin laid back coffee and cigars rhythm to Soul. A dude lost in the trance of drum/percussive rhythm. Think Kid Creole and the Coconuts first album. Change some lyrics though to create a stronger sounding word inclusion for singing. Lyrics are coming across muddy and realise I’m not singing with purpose on any of these songs).

3: YEAR ONE. (First Lines: We smash the clock faces and try to turn them all back. Wipe out all traces. But tick tock….the clocks keep ticking).

Year One. Change the bouncing rhythm.

(I have rewritten this as a completely new version from the XCerts’ rendition, with my own melody and lyrics. But.. I don’t want to save the bouncy nature/vibe as I recorded it recently. I have written extras not included here. It has haunting inclusive harmony in both chorus and verse. It changes the songs vibrancy completely. So. Give it the more driven backing melodic version in my mind with guitar riffing and swooping keyboards prominent. A more solid drum presence too. I have the bass guitar melody I haven’t used yet too. Actually, the bass lines should anchor the whole vibe to build on. It drives nicely).

4: STOP THIS HEARTACHE. (First lines: How many years did it take to find your dream. Crawling on your hands and knees. Crazy days? Indeed…).

Stop this Heartache. No levelling of any instruments and therefore not mixed at all.

(I like the arrangement. And the tune inclusions of keyboard parts. Needs a back beat to prominent guitar drive though. Didn’t put my bass line in this though. Why? I believe it jarred against the other inclusions. Couldn’t be bothered to rewrite the whole bass vibe again. Need to rewrite a new bass melody then. Also. This is a drudge on listening again. As with all these songs this has to lose the muddy recorded, the pathos of struggling efforts and emotional tired nature and become so much brighter….and so much clearer and cleaner. Could be a decent song).

5: WIND OF SORROWS: MOVING TO THE RHYTHM OF LIFE. (First lines: I don’t know why I’m living in a sea of heartache. I should be high living up and having a party).

Move into the Rhythm of Life. Sounds the wrong tempo now I listen again. Maybe even the wrong key too.

(Wind of Sorrows lyric at odds with Rhythm of Life vibe. Need to change the chorus lyrics accordingly. Chorus born from the Move into the Rhythm single I wrote anyway. I have left the past behind now. I do like the disco type Heart of Glass Blondie undercurrent. But the whole song sounds flat though. Maybe the wrong key. Or not set up properly by having the C major song key inherent. But as I keep telling myself….this is borne from my lack of skills playing unfamiliar instruments can also produce flatness in sound).

6: OLD MAN. (First line: Old man, your life’s been wasted. Too bad it crumbled round you).

Old Man. Tempo too slow and needs a complete overhaul concerning much needed additions. The key and quirky nature are fine.

(Update older lyrics and add more interruption instrumentation to this. Tell a story. Yes….Ideal for one off interruption melody. It has two augmented chords in the verse leading to a melodic chorus. Augmented chords that provide the weird lilting nature. Can I feed off these with Wurlitzer/Fairground pathos? I can’t play keyboards!! Also. I keep thinking of mimicking early psychedelic 1960s sounding songs. But that’s just silly! Far more likely a Muswell Hillbillies sound by The Kinks is a better vibe. Probably gave me the inspiration to write it in the first place to be honest).

7: NO LONGER HAUNTED OR ACHING WITH THE MEMORIES. (First lines: There’s a million with shotguns. Pointing right between my eyes. They don’t seem to understand. When it’s three in the morning and ghosts keep calling me, back to my past experience. Where I’m bleeding all over again, with my friends).

(A million with shot guns. I can’t add much more lyrically to this first verse of the song. I do have second and third verse lyrics and need to see if apt or relevant. Like the change of tune I created from the original one. So keep it. More easy to sing. Do love the keyboard inclusions on this. Make sure to photograph the GB settings when I tweaked the individual instrumental sounds).

8: NOVEMBER, THE STEREO AND YOU. (First lines: November, the stereo and you my friend. I’ve still got that photograph showing us kissing).

November, the stereo and you…..my friend.
Testing how to record vocals wrongly. Here is too much echo presence. Again November, the stereo and you as an example. Vocal and acoustic only.

(Base the whole song around the bass tune I have written. It has a complete mood all on its own. I have recorded this song completely wrong from the style I really have in mind. I want interspersed cello and French horn on this one too).

9: OUT OF TOUCH. (First lines: Living in a World with no imagination. Living in a World where there’s nothing to shout about. I don’t wanna know What if? I don’t wanna know What if’s? I just don’t wanna know).

Out of Touch as a strange little ditty. On acoustic it has more gravitas. Again, a GarageBand experimenting situation of learning technology.

(At present only linked to the chords of a quirky little be-bop instrumental because it was a GB experimentation. Nothing like the acoustic version I sing. Bass line sounds good enough though. Quite a nice rhythmic drive on it too. A whole rethink on this one needed. Have a complete song though other than a middle 8. Nice chorus…, but questionable high key melody to reach).

10: LIGHTEN UP. (First lines: I could be the one to seize the day. Live my life in impossible ways).

Sudden End on Lighten Up
More Guitar based. Lighten Up.

(It’s a weird experiment this one. But do like the possible catchy dance rhythm to this. Add key changes and a chorus hook. Lyrics too. May work nicely).

11: STARS ABOVE THE DUNES. (First lines: I remember stars above the dunes. That September rain when we got soaked through. All those summer days and the lazy, hazy, crazy afternoons).

Stars above the Dunes.

(Really fond of the guitar riff on this one. Just may need a different melody that suits the instrumentation.

EXTRA, EXTRA, EXTRA.

LITTLE EXPERIMENTS WITH GARAGEBAND LAYERING.

ONCE UPON A TIME (MUSIC). THE INSOMNIAC’S SONG……..

ONCE UPON A TIME (VOCAL).

TODAY. DRUMS AND ODDITIES EXPERIMENT.

52 thoughts on “Plans ahead…..”

    1. Cheers cookie. I am going to re-record them now though. I live rurally and the electric supply is okay. But can get electric crackles that show up in song parts from time to time. The condenser mic is the biggest culprit. So want a fresh start. Also, need them okay for Bandcamp. Speaking of Bandcamp. I had a spare hour the other night. So settled and listened to your two albums alongside some old Echo and the Bunnymen songs on YouTube. I don’t usually have much time to spare. But it was so nice to be able to really focus on some other music for a change. Had to go to Sound Cloud for your first album. Listened on Bandcamp to the second one. I’ll give your compliment back to you. You too have a great catalogue of songs now and there aren’t any wrong moves with yours either. I’m getting real faves of yours now too. Bring some more to us all. Cheers cookie.

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  2. Love this ‘note to self’ style of notes, Gray. You are keeping very detailed explanation and musings of changes you may make to each song. This is excellent! And kudos on getting that new external hard drive, I will look at that too! I know I could use one to reduce the load on my MacBook. Excited that you will get out and about a bit. Cheers!

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    1. I write notes to myself as a separate entity at times. Put myself as an enquiring mind on one side of an interrogation table whilst my other self sits on the opposite side. ‘What’s next on the plans then Gray?’ ‘Who knows where the story goes’ I answer. ‘Not a great answer that is it!’ says the interrogator part of myself. Continuing with the two personality theme. I am going to write a whole new lyric to the electric version of 18 years was 50 years ago. First line will be… ‘You look like an angel all dressed in black’. Opposite to my Cinderella self in the acoustic version as ‘looking like an angel all dressed in rags’. Black has great connection meaning to the clothe style of an edgy rock and roller. 😊

      The hard drive had thousands of positive customer comments. So went with that choice. 5TB is more expensive, but GB can be pretty harsh on memory I think. Worth looking into the 2TB at around £65, on offer with Amazon presently, if you think it is plenty of space for what you need to store.

      My daughter is moving house over the next few days. So will definitely be back and forth and out and about. She lives about 130 miles away! Going down there today to take shed loads of cardboard boxes for packing. Angie’s shop has a plethora of them from deliveries every week. Ideal situation. Cheers Sheila.

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      2. Just back and my daughter, her partner and the four grandchildren have all now been together to see their new home. A larger house from the two bedroom house before. So all very excited. Now they have the key, so are taking it easy over the coming weeks with moving in bit by bit. Should be a glorious Christmas for them all.

        All the thinking and doing of today regarding driving and box delivery, new lyrics buzzing in the brain and TB storage considerations from different sources? I have also adopted a kitten called Franky. Yes. Men can multi-task. 😊 Cheers Sheila.

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      4. I surprise myself with my Amazon wish list when I take a look a few days or weeks later. Why, I ask myself, did I put ‘that’ certain choice on my wish list? I never remember and then laugh…..Bourbon. Blame the Bourbon.

        Franky? Go listen to Frank Turner Sheila. My daughter named him Franky after Frank Turner. I bought the vinyl of the Be Kind album. And it still haunts me as a piece of brilliant collective songs. Premonition by one year written lyrics and music to how we all felt and experienced the Bug. Spooky! So Franky the Kitty is to become The Cat with a tip-top Hat…..he is definitely a Cosmic send.

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  3. I could put together a poem with just your titles, Gray….I did in my head whilst reading lol…

    sounds great to me…then again you would only know what finish you had in mind…

    blew the blues lol…😉
    🤍🙏

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    1. That’s a good idea Destiny. Singing all the titles of the songs written over the decades as one collective lyric for a single song? Or write them as a single poem? I couldn’t do the poetry. Haven’t the skill. Now you have me wondering what story all those titles would tell. Or even a few of these fourteen song titles. If you had a go, you’ll have to let me know what you can produce Destiny. And, yes, if it all made sense it would be good fun for you to wrap it all up in a ‘flourish bundle’. 😊🙏🏽

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      1. lol, you should try it, Gray … a single poem will work. Your titles could very well tell a story of life over time…
        I take your comment as consent to use your lines (with due credit to you). It will be interesting to put together….I’d like to try it and will share it here first if that’s okay…

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      2. Of course Destiny. Hopefully it won’t harm your own fantastic poetry wordage. 😊🙏🏽 If it does……remove it quickly and say your blog site was ‘hacked’. 😆 🙏🏽

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    1. Cheers Sheila. Last night, pootling with the bass guitar over a few of these tracks was nice. But interestingly, I could suddenly hear the full picture to these songs, changes needed in the rhythm choice and type of song vibe and also extra instrumentation like strings of cello, violin, for whimsy. Need a couple of real rock and rollers though.

      Angie has now succumbed to the flu bug! Coughing for a few days and then this morning…..’Bam’. She was saying that here in the local hospital it is almost like a pandemic with the numbers going down with respiratory and flu symptoms. Think it is like it in many places. It’s crazy! I think I picked it up when visiting the surgery last Friday about the dizzy stuff. It’s wear a mask time again I believe. Thank you for your well wishes. Much appreciated.

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      2. All Angie can think of is not being able to go back to work on Monday! She has a holiday week off currently. Sod’s Law is alive and kicking still. I think you call it Murphy’s Law. May be wrong.

        This bout of flu is very close to the experience we both had when we got Covid. Wiped us both out back then. But Angie tested yesterday and was negative. So even the flu virus is getting pretty nasty. We both got flu as teenagers I seem to remember. My Mum, (Angie called her Mum too….so our Mum) was an absolute star in looking after us both. We were completely devastatingly wiped out back then too. Maybe both our body’s built an inherent flu fight back immune system back then. And have come back now to fight the good fight all over again. The body’s resistance machinations are a work of art. Mitochondria…..as you said. Given to us by some universal force. True! Cheers Sheila. I will tell Angie of your best wishes.

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      3. Yes, Americans do use the phrase Murphy’s Law (though it sounds Irish to me, haha!) but Richard and I say, Murrey’s Law. More smiles on that!

        I remember those icky flu and COVID days (weeks for Richard and me), thankfully more than a couple years ago now. It’s almost hard to nurture oneself during those times too, though one knows it is needed.

        I hear Angie about missing work. She loves what she does (and I would too), and she derives a lot of joy just from being in her shop. I soo get that.
        Feel better soon!

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      4. Angie says thank you for the well wishes. She has phoned in to say no to going in early week, so being sensible. She now has the shop next door to her main shop, so has been using it currently for an ‘office’. Her and Jon (business partner) are deliberating what to do with it. There is an artisan baker who is keen to sell his bakery from the front of the shop, leaving the back to be an office. In December, they both thought it would be an ideal Christmas themed area to expand with festive stick. But festive stock has to be ordered in July! Or you are too late. Crazy how soon you have to consider Christmas planning when owning a shop.

        I have just been to the surgery for blood tests. The whole caboodle! I asked for them last week so as to rule out possibilities of infection, Lyme’s disease, hypothyroid, anaemia, etc. I am no worrier at all, but last year was a bit of a roller coaster. Culminating in this weirdness of feeling ill. So at least I can have benchmarks.

        I read an interesting piece on COVID 19 attacking cardiac specific mitochondria and upsetting their efficacy and performance in protecting the system. Reading the scientific inclusions always went over my head 90% of the time and required a few hours (or days even) of working it all out. Now, I just don’t do that anymore. But what I did take from the article was the merry dance of modern chaos that can exist within a body’s for’s and against’s. Thank the stars I am no longer in the role needing to investigate!

        Cheers Sheila.

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      5. Oh, yes, Gray. I can fully sympathize why you don’t want to read/study/investigate anymore (on the health stuff). It’s quite a maze! There are tons out there (now) on heart/cardiovascular issues and COVID. I swim in those reports/studies and it’s overwhelming. I get the high-level enough without digging into the granularity of it. Enough to not want it, and keep immune system as healthy as possible to ward it off.

        That is interesting about how early shops must order for Christmas! I know we see Christmas things in stores here the day after Halloween! (It used to be around Thanksgiving)!

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      6. Stock has always been a foresight problematic for her shop. When Covid was rife, she was the hub for the community’s supplies. They initially thought it would be less, but ended up more. Hence the need to move to larger premises. People were asking for items that they found difficult getting elsewhere. That period of showing an extremely professional and safe way of handling the situation has remained in the mind’s of many individuals still now.

        Interestingly, I read a Stephanie Butland book called ‘Lost for Words’ about a Yorkshire bookshop getting people to email their problematics with the situation during Covid lockdown. What was read in a few paragraphs determined the book choices the bookseller and her staff would make to provide well being when read. A Book Pharmacy! How brilliant is that. Much better than reading the ‘gumf’ of dry science. So your recent determination to read with avid interest again may be benefited by a fiction based choice every so often. 😊😉

        Cheers Sheila.

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      8. She took blood beautifully Sheila. Much better than I ever did. Taking blood? It’s a gift from the stars. Me? They had a night where they had turned themselves off. I was useless at it. Too much nerve degeneration on my fingertips from playing bass guitar, so difficulties locating the perfect spot. If anyone working alongside me on the ward was better skilled…….they got the job each and every time.

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      9. Ooh, sad to hear about nerve degeneration, Gray. Glad to hear the phlebotomist drew your blood easily. It’s great to have a baseline for future reference.

        That pharmacy book sounds interesting. I just finished a fictionalized biography type book and am working up a review of it. So, I am good with reading fiction for awhile. I used to read fiction a lot many years ago. After the internet began I became fascinated with just how much there is to know in the world, and I dropped reading fiction. But in this case it was important for a few reasons.

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      10. The fingertips aren’t sensitive due to guitar playing. So it was difficult to pick up on veins that were not prominent. Also, we had some amazing blood taking nurses and health care assistants on the ward. Patient comfort is paramount. So the best is best when available.

        I don’t read very much non fiction anymore. Too much over the years. So nice to take a break from the discipline. Fiction allows escape. So it’s very welcome. Watching films is the same. Fiction rules.

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      11. Oh, but the fiction book I just read will stick with me for a long time. So, yin and yang of escaping from present times. I keep seeing stuff all around me that points to needing to be aware and hyper vigilant. Maybe it’s the fires in CA. I don’t know.
        I understand about letting the best nurses work on you. Cheers, Gray!

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      12. I did just read your blog on the review of the book Sheila. Well done too. Nice response from Michael. I also read a few Amazon reviews and it seems Michael’s book is very well received. And sad to hear of your own troubles when a child.

        And I am also shocked at the situation regarding the USA fires. So can truly understand your vigilance in all matters nowadays. Take care Sheila.

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      14. A fellow nurse gave me a book once on Dao and its link with quantum physics. Yin Yang of interconnection between particles very much far apart and with no visible connections. Einstein called it a spooky phenomena. I can’t say I had a clue as to what was discussed, because, as with all spiritual concepts and how deep they delve into explanations, it all becomes really difficult reading material for myself to understand.

        Ego is similar. Not in the straight definition sense. But when discussed in the deeper psychological arena difficulties arise in understanding. My favourite word for inter or intra participation with each other is ‘harmony’. Harmonious nature is a nice straight forward belief to hold onto. And has connections with quantum nature maybe. Connections suddenly appearing out of the blue with unknown others and getting appropriate yet unlooked for responses without actually knowing why. As said. Stuff happening out of the blue so to speak. Harmony? Respect for others beliefs, as long as they belong under the umbrella term of ‘do not harm’. Or something harmonious emanates out into the world riding on the backs of good vibes. I don’t believe ego would do no one harm. Isn’t it all about self belief and promotion in one’s ambitions? Rather like self motivation? Om. 😊 All the best Sheila.

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    1. Thank you Brenda. I hope you are feeling better too. It has been a rough old wintery time hasn’t it. The World has gone mad with extremes it seems. Currently, as your emoji, it is cold! Got logs on the fire. We had a smattering of snow here yesterday morning and disappeared by lunchtime. Frosty white episodes too.

      Angie is now currently suffering. And locally it is hospital admissions numbers up. They keep saying 5x the usual numbers for this time of the year.

      Hope you are still keeping warm Brenda. Flu and aftermath of symptoms gives the chills even with full on CH on blast. All the best.

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      1. Thanks Gray. Woke up to fog this morning. My flu has developed into a chest infection, so now have antibiotics. I’m still off work next week to recover/rebuild my strength. I’m now finally starting to feel better, and my appetite is returning, which is definitely good.

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      2. So good to know you are feeling better. The chest infection is always a post flu nasty. I’m taking over the counter liquid ‘bull bashing down walls’ medicine to break mine down. Good you are on the antibiotics. That is far more sensible than my method. Also pleased you are taking a work break. Angie is taking a break too next week. Her symptoms are still full on. Well wishes Brenda. Oh! It’s good you cannot go outdoors then….you may have got lost in the twilight fog zone! And visited creepy haunts. What a blog that would make hey. 😊

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      4. Thought of the Brenda castles in spooky ghostly scenario vibe when you mentioned fog. If York? The cobbled back streets. London is Scrooge Christmas Eve gloom and followed by snow on Christmas Day for my choice. The Moors and the Conan Doyle Baskerville Hound. Isn’t it strange the fog scenarios we think of in different places. Take care Brenda. All the best.

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  6. Spooky action at a distance. Yes, I am versed on this and it is the subject of my 5th book! Ha!
    Harmony is a great word to explain this dance if Energy, and ego (give take, receive give and so on), Gray. Expanding stuff!
    Do no harm. Wonderful mantra. And at the base of the physician’s oath (in this country anyway), until Big Pharma started funding medical schools! Then it’s profit at all costs, sadly.
    But on that note… I just got a job! I’m working on my first project presently. A presentation for a health initiative! Woo-hoo!

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    1. Congratulations on the job. Brilliant news. Right up your street subject wise too. Woo-hoo indeed. 😊

      All these avenues to look into concerning different positive and negative dances? Music to be paramount this year. That is a nice dance to attach to. Hope Richard is finding inspiration too. Cheers Sheila.

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      2. I know someone who has made 190 albums using AI music. Adds his vocal melodies on top of the AI music. Records an album over one weekend. Used to play in a band we knew in our era back in the 1970/80s.

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      4. Are you linked with Bandcamp Sheila? If so Daffodill is where the albums are. Richard may find it of interest. Dill (Stephen) was in bands called God’s Toys and ‘I’. . They were a class act back when we all knew each other in our home town. Those days of punk, new wave and ongoing into the New Romantics stage were very heady days indeed. We all played in and around the Midlands and then a few of us played around the UK. London gigs were very enjoyable at that time. There is now a museum in our old town dedicated to Coventry’s musical heritage. Of course the band called The Specials were the ultimate culmination to it all as they found massive success. They are still very much revered. Dill’s music is not straight forward Sheila and he experiments massively with very many genres. As said, Richard may find it of interest due to the AI element to all the albums. Cheers.

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      6. I did see a couple of Richard’s new AI videos recently. I did wonder if that was what was meant by you. But thought about the recent knowledge of AI music too. It seems AI is materialising in many arenas currently. Just read a blog with its inclusions this morning.

        Even a Google search brings about AI results. I found it interesting, and yet alarming, that music could be produced so very quickly.

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      8. It has been growing for a while now. I listened to Dill on a podcast last year talking about the whole idea. You ask AI to make up a song in the style of…whatever genre. I should also imagine asking ‘What would The Beatles Let it Be sound like with a Mozart sound’, etc. is being done too. Weird.

        But Dill asks to get specific areas required to mix together and then writes his tune and lyrics over the top. I don’t know where all this technology is going nowadays. Give me an acoustic guitar, and my voice feeling okay and that’ll provide me with happiness every single time.

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      10. Good to know both your views Sheila. When I heard Dill’s podcast last year, I was intrigued to understand what he was speaking of. As a technophobe it was a bit alien to my thinking. I initially just ignored it. On FB uploads he was saying ‘Another album’ ‘Another album’, with increasing frequency. I was amazed at his proliferation and then suddenly AI understood. Dill is a genius in my eyes concerning his musical endeavours. So even with AI I see his individuality. Dill is essentially a vocalist. So needs to have musical instruments at his fingertips. I actually, when seeking songs….don’t.

        Myself? As someone who is hands on, I like to feel the ambience of touch. Know that I am contributing to the actual instrumental musical sound. The GarageBand drums in their library make me frustrated that they aren’t my own contributions. Hence the purchase of the electronic drums. If I can play just a djembe on the tracks it would be far better than finding some AI substitute.

        Modern thoughts on music reality doesn’t personally sit well. I feel that SPRING, the first FRAIL AUTUMN project, has to go back and hit basics. So am going to write a bunch of new rustic songs. The ones that have been written already can be revisited later in the year for Summer, Autumn and Winter inclusions. Four projects this year. With his prolific nature, I’m sure Richard would approve. 😊

        So tomorrow I am going to pick up the guitar and get inspired somehow. Inside my head already is a bunch of new ideas ready to chase the winds of ‘see where they go’s’ and ‘they will find their own stories’. I do have a fair few midnight song ramblings sung into the iPad mic. Just need a bit of belief attached to them. Then….watch them fly. Richard would understand. Yourself too. Cheers Sheila.

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      11. You’re right, Gray. Richard would understand better than me. Remember, I am just a singer. Sometimes I am Richard’s muse, raw demo singer, and sometimes he ask me to do the vocal phrasing and melody, much to my chagrin as it makes me anxious and I don’t feel I am good at it.
        Perhaps one day, we will experiment with AI music. We will give Dill a listen, because you highly recommend him. Cheers!

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