Naleena said:
**** it!!! What are the voices saying in "Joe?" I wasted so much time listening to that freakin' song trying to figure out what was being said!!! **** you, Bard!! :club: I was starting to wonder if I should play it backwards or grab a doobie!!! WTF????? **giggles** A word of warning folks, it is addictive....lol
I loved Dog Moon too. The first reminded me a bit of Loreena McKennitt's world sound. I so love her music. But Joe to the cake...I'm still playing it as I write. WTF is that guy saying?????????? And what are those kids at the end? I felt like Joaquin Phoenix in Signs waving his hand at the tv to the oblivious spanish kids near the aliens "Bomanos little children! Bomanos!" ...lol
I could say more but why make you read through a long post? Love your music. Your definatley talented and very creative the way you mix and play. Great job! If ya ever decide to do you tube let me know, I'll put you in my fav's right along side Ozzy and Hammerfall.
PS Do you have any other songs? I noticed only the two listed.
Yes It's saying Joe, the song is about and partially written by my friend Joe who is no longer with us. It's a terrible sad story what happened to Joe, he was one of the kindest people I've ever known. I've never told anyone the story I'm about to tell, this is more catharsis for me then anything so please don't feel obligated to read it.
Joes Father was a ******* Guido ****** bag who I suspect was in the witness protection program. He was la costra nostra all the way, I saw him kick a guys ass in middle town suburbia once when I was a kid for taking a parking spot. The police wouldn't touch him and he was the president of the Italian Catholic federation. He Just floored this guy into a bloody pulp. His son Joe was this meek creative artistic type of person, he reminded me a lot of Christ in many ways because of his gentle demeanor. Joe's fathers abuse caused him to withdraw farther and farther into serious drugs abuse, meth, LSD. PCP anything that would alter his mind to escape the prison he was in. He was suffering deeply.
The thing about Joe is even from the age of 14 to the age of 20 while suffering this abuse he was very productive as an artist. Music, singing, composing, acting, painting and sculpting, he was incredibly talented. I was to young to realize just that he was supper talented, not just some high school stage singer but world class. He could have wiped the American Idol stage if he desired it. His nature was so meek that I never really took notice of how large the talent pool was until much later. By that time I realized drugs were not for me and I became a sober person. For my own survival I had to cut the people out of my life who were using any kind of substances. I had completely turned my life around and was going to seminary to be a servant of God. Little did I know that would involve being subservient which is not in my nature but that's another story.
Joe's father forced him into the military after we lost touch, he was discharged the second week of boot camp on mental medical but honorably. The Navy told his parents look, this guy couldn't harm anyone let alone kill the enemy. They sent him home. His mother died of cancer the same year, the day of his mothers funeral Joe's father tossed him out onto the street. Now Joe was 21-22-ish bu this time, he was no kid so he headed off to new york. He lived in the village and made his living as a busker and a music teacher until 1995 when he started using drugs again. This time the dope really screwed him up, rather it was a bad batch or just chemically unbalanced he couldn't take it. He became mentally ill and from what we can piece together became a ward of the state of NY on and off. By 1996 he was homeless in Manhattan and all of us, Joe's friends had lost touch with him. We gathered to speak with his father but it was of no use, he just didn't love his son in any way period.
I received word from my friend Paul, the drummer I had worked with over the years for music projects on and off and a friend from middle school that Joe was dead. Forgive me there are many tears in my eyes at the moment, I will try to be clear. Joe had died in an abandon subway shaft completely alone suffering from schizophrenia. His appendix burst but the ambulance drivers and paramedics refused to go down into the subway tunnel because of all the homeless, drugs etc. They just left him there to die in pain completely alone. By the length of his nails on the autopsy report we suspect he lived 4 to 7 days after his appendix ruptured. Joe still played guitar, his axe was sitting next to his body when they recovered it. He would have had to keep the nails on his right hand well groomed, all string players have to. We have to service the nails daily or every other day in order to play. His were far to long to fret a guitar.
When I received the news in 2006 I was shocked and I was grief ridden for quite some time. Joe became foremost in my mind above everything in life with the exception of my son. I thought about him constantly, daily, every time I played which is every day. By new years 2010 I decided to do something proactive about my grief and record one of his songs. After 20 years the only riff and lyrics I could remember was form this tune titled "Mexican lecture #134." The song is his riff, the words that are whispers are his words form the grave so to speak. The big grandiose guitar movement that is the second part of the song is my interpretation of his ascension into the heavens to be free of life's bonds and suffering. You will note the change at that time from the Minor to the Major Mode giving it a "Happy" sound.
No one should die like Joe did. People shouldn't make babies if they are not going to love them and raise them to be decent people. The only solstice I have in all of this is Joe's asshat father died of Cancer so I know the son of a ***** suffered. That makes me happy, I know that's sick but it is what it is.
