Lazy Sunday CCXVI: Weird Piano Music

There is little I love more than playing and singing my humorous original songs.  But a close second is subjecting my readers to my bizarre short piano compositions.  So, why not look at back at some of my weird piano music?

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

Phone it in Friday XLI: YouTube Roundup III

The first “week” of the new school years is nearly in the books, and yours portly is probably a puddle of exhaustion by this point.  After a summer of sleeping in late, taking afternoon naps, and sitting around in air-conditioning, getting back on the move is certainly good for my physical health, but not necessarily for my sleep-deprived mind.  Will I finally develop healthy habits during the school year?  Probably not.

But what better time (and pretext) for another installment of Phone it in Friday: YouTube Roundup Edition?  I’ve actually got quite a bit of new stuff on my YouTube channel, to which you should definitely subscribe (I know for many readers, “subscribe” is a dirty word—God forbid we support our favorite content creators!—but trust me, it’s totally free to subscribe to my YouTube channel).

So, all preambles and bitterness aside, here are some of my recent uploads:

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Open Mic Adventures XLIII: “Greek Fair”

Back on Thursday, 20 July 2023 I made a pilgrimage back to Lula’s Coffee Company, which for several years before The Age of The Virus was the epicenter of a flourishing of musical and cultural activity in Florence, South Carolina.  Then the management dragged its feet on resuming open mic post-pandemic, and I largely wrote it off as a venue.

Fortunately, I am overcame my stubborn resistance and occasionally make it out there for open mic night.  It is a long way from my home now, so I don’t get out there much, but I found my most recent visit to be quite rewarding.

My buddy John Pickett and I played “Greek Fair“; I regard this song as the best I have ever written.  Others have proven more popular, but I’m really proud of this one.

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Lazy Sunday CCXV: TJC Deep Cuts

It’s been the Summer of Deep Cuts for yours portly, as I’ve been digging deep into my songwriting book to play tunes that I rarely play live.  It’s been a fun experiment, as I can see how my songwriting has evolved (or not!) over the years.

That’s it for this quick, almost-back-to-school, musical edition of Lazy Sunday!

Happy Sunday—and Happy Listening!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

August 2023 Bandcamp Friday: Bandcamp Friday Returns!

Well, here we are again:  another Bandcamp Friday, which means I hope you will consider pitching in a few bucks to buy my music—or my second book!  After a long hiatus over the summer months, this celebration of indie musicians is back.

The first Friday of a bunch of months in 2023—February, March, April, May, August, September, October, November, and December—will feature this pro-indie music observance, a day on which Bandcamp waives its usual 15% commission on sales.

In other words, when you buy my music, almost 100% of it goes to me, instead of almost 85%.

Currently, my entire discography of ten releases is $9.50a savings of 45%, which is not bad for ten releases.  That’s $0.95 per release—not too shabby!  To purchase the full discography, click on any release, and you’ll see the option to purchase all of them.

You can also listen to a ton of my tunes on YouTube (and it’s free to subscribe!).

I’m also selling all of my paintings for $10, with free shipping in the United States, regardless of how many you purchase.  They’re one of kind, so once a painting is purchased, it’s gone.

I’ve also joined Society6, a website that lets artists upload their designs, which can they be printed onto all manner of products (like this throw pillow, or this duvet cover).  Why not get a bookbag with a mouthy droid on it?

I only get 10% of the sales made there, but some of the stuff looks really good—I really want these notebooks with my “Desert View” painting on it (now SOLD!).  Some of them are straight-up goofy, like this church doodle I made celebrating the presidential pardon of Roger Stone (the description for the piece is “Anger your friends with this doodle commemorating the presidential pardon of America’s most dapper political operative“).

I have a few new paintings from my highly unsuccessful foray into selling at the Lamar Egg Scramble, and I have two new doodles for just $5 each:  Robo Talk 23 No. 1 and No. 2.  I’m also working on quite a few more doodles for Society6, which will also end up here.

My first book, The One-Minute Mysteries of Inspector Gerard: The Ultimate Flatfoot, is $10 in paperback, and just $5 on Kindle.

My second and newest book, Arizonan Sojourn, South Carolinian Dreams: And Other Adventures, is $20 in paperback and $10 on Kindle.

Thanks again for your support!

Happy Friday!

—TPP

Open Mic Adventures XLI: “Serenade for a Sleepy Student No. 2”

This time next week, readers are going to get a brand new song from yours portly (indeed, by the time you read this post, it should already be on my YouTube channel; if you’re subscribed, you’ve probably already seen it).

In the meantime, I decided to take a brief break—don’t panic, Ponty!—from the live performances to feature one of my short Red Tardy Slip compositions.  It’s the sequel of sorts to another piece, “Sleepy Student’s Serenade,” which I will likely rename to “Serenade for a Sleepy Student No. 1” if I ever record and release this self-indulgent project.  This one, of course, is entitled “Serenade for a Sleepy Student No. 2.”

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Open Mic Adventures XL: “Parada”

I’ve just got a couple of more open mic nights before I get into my school year schedule and become a slave to the grind, but I’m going to do my best to keep pumping out the goods.  This time in two weeks, I hope to have a new song uploaded for your delectation; stay tuned.

In the meantime, I’m continuing my deep dive into my obscure deep cuts, songs that I’ve never managed to get recorded in a studio.  Some of these songs are very good; some need some polish.  Whatever the case, I’m realizing that I have enough material for another EP, and I might need to get back into the studio.

This week’s feature is “Parada.”  I wrote “Parada” in 2015 during a particularly fertile period of open mic attendance. The Spanish word “parada” roughly translates to “stop” or “bus stop/station” in English. I wanted to capture the notion of lingering in a moment—stopping a poignant moment in time, trying to freeze it in place as long as possible.

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Open Mic Adventures XXXIX: “(I’m in the) Business of Love)”

After a brief hiatus, I’m back with more tasty jams.  I’ve dedicated this summer’s open mic excursions to performing my “deep cuts,” which is a bit of a misnomer, as most of these tunes have never been “cut” to  a recording at all!  Fortunately, I need constant content to feed the insatiable appetite of the YouTube beast, so it gives me a good excuse to play these forgotten pieces.

I wrote “(I’m in the) Business of Love” back on 7 February 2019, one week out from Valentine’s Day.  The song is about the woes of a “beta male provider” who is just looking for a little “transactional romance.” Is there any topic more tragically postmodern than that of the “nice guy” finishing dead last in the reproductive sweepstakes? This song is a humorous exploration of that phenomenon.

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Lazy Sunday CCIX: Original Music, Part II

By the time you’re reading this post, I should be about an hour or so into a long drive to Indianapolis, where I’ll be visiting my older brother for a week.  We’ll laugh, we’ll cry, we’ll vomit—well, probably not those last two, unless I overindulge on the chicken sausage dogs he picked up for the Fourth of July.

In the spirit of keeping Lazy Sunday lazy, here are three more pieces of original music from Open Mic Adventures, the series that keeps on giving:

  • Open Mic Adventures XXVIII: ‘Song of the Bigfoot’” – “Song of the Bigfoot” is designed to be a simple étude (a “study”) for acoustic guitar to help students learn the notes on the B and E strings.  It also teaches note durations, with quarter, half, dotted half, and whole notes.  I like the slightly mysterious sound of this simple piece.  Listener consensus says that the guitar version better captures the mystery of the piece, and I agree, but I like the more robust piano version, too.
  • Open Mic Adventures XXX: ‘Chorale for a Sleepy Wednesday’” – I composed “Chorale for a Sleepy Wednesday” during one of my planning periods.  I thought it would make a fun sightreading exercise for my Middle School Music Ensemble, and eventually I’ll upload their full recording of this piece (audio only).  When I write chorales, I tend to do so as a music theory exercise, so it was fun to see my more astute student-musicians notice some of the stepwise motion in this little piece.
  • Open Mic Adventures XXXI: ‘Carousel’” – I wrote “Carousel” as a Haydn-esque little gigue or dance in 3/4 time.  My Middle School Music Ensemble students nominated two possible names, “Carousel” and “Ambata,” and “Carousel” won the day.  I promised the student who proposed “Ambata” that I would composed that piece, and I still need to do so.  I already have a good sense for what it will sound like in my head.

Happy Sunday—and Happy Listening!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments: