Ghost Train RadioFamily Plot
Posted on October 22, 2022
Step inside
My newfound friend
Its the beginning
Not the end
There's a family plot
At the front of the house
Not a creature is stirring
Not even a mouse
The burial ground
Has been disturbed
Don't you worry
She's not perturbed
They say she wanders
Around at night
Giving the living
Quite a fright
The Late Arrival
Posted on October 20, 2022
We've been waiting for you
All these years
Patiently
As you posed
In store windows
For people to see
We knew it would take time
For you to
Acquiesce
Take these steps
Climb these stairs
To your eternal rest
At Home With The Aspens
Posted on October 4, 2022
There's an old house
Forgotten in time
Its lonely and cold
Looks so left behind
The old man who died
Had no kin to grieve
The house was his home
Grown over with trees
The Aspens have grown
Up through the floor
Into the windows
And out the back door
The house fully paid
There were no more bills
The tax collector sighed
For this house on the hill
Radio Silence
Posted on October 3, 2022
Beyond the hectic here and now
In time just like a dream
A thought a distant photograph
A peaceful autumn scene
There is only one time
Where stations come in clear
Where just the hum of white noise
Is all we want to hear
Let all thoughts and worries
Blow away in the wind
They shouldn't be the death of us
They'll come and go again
Find your peace this peaceful time
Where nature goes to sleep
Take a break, relax a bit
A harvest you will reap
Rust Train Radio
Posted on October 2, 2022
When the world seems full of woe and strife
On an autumn day - go outside
Smell the leaves rusting in the air
See the colors that almost seem unfair
Yes, miracles sneak past
How long will they last?
Do they have an expiration date?
Have I arrived too late?
Its getting more rare in this world
With so many hate flags unfurled
Just take a walk outside
To energize the love you have inside
Nature is your guide
Rekindle the spirit inside
Look all around and you'll feel
New hope with natures key
Sasparilla
Posted on October 2, 2022
She was a girl they called Sasparilla
She was pure gold and spicy sweet
Her smile drove all the men wild
When she'd pass them on the street
One day she was just gone
No one knew where she went
Some say they saw her board a train
T0 everyone's lament
Seems she went off to the city
Where she joined a punk rock band
No one knew she had it in her
No one really could understand
Just last year we heard her
On the radio station
Looks like she finally made it
In Nashville, and across the nation
You can take the girl out of the country
But you couldn't take the country out of that girl
I guess she needed time to find herself
And now her oyster is the whole wide world
She was a girl they called Sasparilla
She was pure gold and spicy sweet
Her smile drove all the men wild
When she'd pass them on the street
Pumpkin Hill
Posted on October 2, 2022
They say there's no gold left in these hills
I respectfully disagree
I see golden squash and pumpkins
As far as the eye can see
Mining's fine but not my thing
All that glitters is not gold
When autumn comes to town
These colors never get old
I mark each year
When the trees make their final show
Before they sleep
Before the year grows old
Effervescent Neon Light
Posted on October 2, 2022
Effervescent neon light
Will the leaves fall off tonight
One poor tree has lost its leaves
This yearly cycle sure does please
A finer coat I've never seen
These vibrant colors of the leaves
Effervescent neon light
Will the leaves fall off tonight
Bees
Posted on April 11, 2022
After fixing yesterday’s attempt at a song with vocal melody – I decided to try to write a song in the key of B – and I saved the song in Cubase as “bees” – jokingly. Then I wrote the lyrics – and like the guitar chords – they just flowed out. The vocal melody was easy as could be – its exactly the kind of song I can sing given my limited singing abilities. (I will most likely take voice lessons – but I really need to figure out how I want my voice to sound. I know I don’t want to sing opera, art songs or lounge music. I want edgy sounding singing – and am not interested in “pretty / choir boy”). But I digress . . . . Then the Cello / Bass and Piano just rolled out lickety-split . . . Then I remembered an Assemblage piece and Photo I took years ago that had a bee in it – and Voila!
Funny how this all works . . . its a cool journey for sure!
There was a crooked man
Who lived in a crooked house
He made a mess of everything
He really was a Class A Louse
He shot himself in the foot
He kicked himself in the ass
He kicked himself so hard
That he ran out of gas
There was a decent man
Who lived a life of love
He honored everyone he met
He was sent from heaven above
The people loved him back
They knew he really cared
The strength of love was everything
Everything he had he shared
There was a hive of bees
Where all the honey was made
The bees all worked together
The honey was the finest grade
The sweetest honey wins
The peoples hearts and minds
If you want some honey
You have to be very kind
My Small Recording Studio Success
Posted on April 10, 2022
I started recording with Cubase LE two years ago using a Focusrite 2i2 and I had no idea about mixing and just used headphones. I liked Cubase so much I purchased the Pro edition. Here’s what I finally ended up with – a zero latency home studio with great monitoring and mixes:
- Cubase Pro
- SSL2+ interface
- Yamaha HS-5’s for stereo mixing
- Avantone Cube for mono mixing
- Fender Mustang 50 watt amp
- Royer R10 and Shure SM-57 on the guitar amp
- SE Electronics VR2 for vocals
That’s it – very simple. I had done shootouts on all of the sub $500 interfaces and tried all of the decent microphones in the $500 ish or less class, and these won hands down.
Mike Seniors Mixing Secrets for Small Studios was the major breakthrough. Once I carefully read his book my home studio went from schmoe to pro.
The SSL2+ is quite a bit better than the UA Volt 276 that I have. While I like the Volt 276 ergonomics better, the SSL2+ preamps are the cleanest out of all of the budget interfaces. The MOTU M2 is pretty nice too, but even though the SSL2+ has a few things I feel they could have done better, nothing came close to it’s clean sound.
UPDATE
I finally settled on using the SSL2+ on the Fender GTX-50 Mustang amp with the Royer R10 and d booster and SM-57 and for vocals the SE Electronics Voodoo plus Rode NT-1 through the UA 276. Because with Cubase I can switch between interfaces in the software, I have Bern using this set up now for 8 months and love it.
Bottom line – experiment a LOT!
Ghost Train Radio 