Chapter 4: Mississippi Moonpie

Showbiz Misszzip big-time hits are relatively few and far between. From my hometown B.B. King rose to rule the Blues. Up in Tupelo ["…rahwt nexta Onepelo"—Richard Prior (as “Mudbone”)], the king of Rock-n-roll invaded Memphis to take his throne of grace…land. John Grisham wrote his own ticket, while Oprah not only took over the television world but also claimed the letter “O” in the name of her kingdom.


These lofty lords of Olympus and their marble movements notwithstanding—[Amadeus 1984]…


In my day, anyone daft enough to spout off about dreams of fame and fortune might as well have been verbalizing about a personal encounter with Big Foot and the Keebler® elves.


Needless to say I was considered weird by most, cool by many, and unrealistic by but a few of those whose opinions actually counted. Such an environment—for one highly motivated to succeed in spite of overwhelming opposition—germinated seeds of my ambition that grew into an addiction to music making.

Chapter 3: That Said (Sounds Like You Got You a Problem)

…sounds like…a problem.


Saturday, November 01, 2008…


After completing a relaxed morning routine (getting up for a 6:30 A.M. back-stretch and breakfast an hour later in front of the TV), I had entered the recording studio and dutifully resumed my search through song-files, to find candidates to fill an album supportively for "SIDon 'S'on the Map". I came across a file tentatively titled "Drum Experiment 010908". It held my attention long enough for me to plug in and overdub a test melody.

Chapter 2: A Theist and an Atheist (the 2nd Cut is the Deepest)

Stop me, if you've heard this one. A theist and an atheist walk into a bar. The theist asks, "How're you doing, Cal?"
The atheist gruffly responds, “I don't appreciate your asking; let's keep our conversations restricted to only professional matters from now on."


Cut to "The Mμne-Pi Parables"—cut: two …“(Humming) 'cross the Chorus of Gleeful Idiocy". It takes place at a cosmic cocktail party, where believers and non-believers are gathered, and inevitably related discussions arise. The listener will be transported into this surreal soiree where surrounding dialogue will vary from staunch literal Bible beliefs to defending current contemporary consensus morality to extremely firm disbelief and dismissal of anything deemed religious. Streams of expressed candid opinions pan out across the soundstage counter-intuitively underscored with ominous incidental music.

Chapter 1: ‘SIDon ‘S’on the Map’ Ten-Years-After Story

Ten years ago, I was wrapping production on “The Men in Martian Ice”—SIDzCarbonatedMilk’s second release. This was almost a decade after the first †official Carbonated Milk release: “Please Don’t Harmonica”. “PDHM” narrowly missed pick-up by Motown™’s then brand new Jazz label Mo-Jaz™. Ultimately they chose to build their label on Smooth Jazz offerings. “PDHM” was Jazz/Funk-Jazz-Rock fusion—formerly known as Fusion—that was heavy influenced by my late-late childhood idols: ††Return to Forever, featuring: Chick Corea. For “Men in Martian Ice”, my strategy was to choose a more popular idiom that would as well hold my interest. …especially my love-interest: synthesizers.