Heart of The Earth (Da-Ow) is a song inspired by the native legend that the playground that is now referred to as Lake Tahoe is where the Earth’s heart was to be found and that, if you had inner peace, you could feel it beating there. I never did feel it beating. Perhaps I should go back now.

Drowning Again is a song about drowning. Rather, it's a song about getting brief glimpses of salvation and thinking that you may just make it after all, to then eventually be forced to realize that you, indeed, will not. And, ultimately, about resignation. 

Making More Robots. A snappy little jazz tune that I imagined being played over the sound system in the factory where robots make more robots.

Make Even More Robots is the song that plays when they want to step up production...

The Devil's in the Details. The concept originated in a conversation with my cherished friend Elizabeth wherein I attempted to explain the challenge of keeping instrumental music from sounding redundant.

Eerie Sunday Afternoon is a song I wrote on guitar over 30 years ago and never played until now. It was written on a strange Sunday afternoon when I was young, arranged on a strange Sunday afternoon last November, and rearranged to the current piece on what was the strangest Sunday afternoon of all.

El Gringo Loco Grande is the sound of a large Irish man having a nervous breakdown in Ciudad Acuna, Coahila de Zaragoza, Mexico. This is the Mariachis trying to help me fall in love with Spanish music while I was trying to teach them jazz.

For Elizabeth (Lizzie's Lament 2) was written for a woman whom, in spite of all that life has thrown in our way and will no doubt continue to, I will always love.

Forever is a Lie is a rather melancholy tribute to the pain that the word “Forever” has the potential to inflict. In one way or another, that word has never entered my life without leaving a scar. It doesn’t sound like a particularly sad song. Not on the surface.

Sliders. The obvious mental imagery is that of recording studio pots and pans and levers. It's actually about sliding. Downward. Could you stop? Should you?

Mantis. Strange, beautiful, and frightening. A beast that lives 90% of it’s life dormant, camouflaged as a stick, with the other 10% spent in acts of violence capable of bringing down creatures several times it’s size. (A bug that can catch and kill a bird?) Nonetheless beautiful to me.

Runed Weekend has an almost medieval/madrigal flavor, giving way to an urban jazz bridge. I wrote the body of this song on guitar in 1971. No one ever expressed an interest in performing it with me. I believe it’s just as well. Now I get to hear it the way it should’ve been played.

7844 - The Zaragoza Suite is a song inspired by my affection for the northern Mexico state of Coahuila. The people were kind to me and I offer this piece as a small tribute to a culture that accepted me as no other had.

El Bambino Latino is a rather zany further exploration of my love of Latin-influenced jazz. Less polished than most of what you'll find here but definitely focused on fun.

Extraction - A soundtrack piece for sure. The scene is the surgical extraction of valiant but fallen heroes of an unnamed conflict.

Dented  This is a long number that, in my opinion, earns every minute and measure of it's tenure. Although the graphic intro depicts a vehicular "incident", no doubt of a certain level of carnage, the song itself is about the remainder of that day, if not the remainder of that life, and the sometimes eerie tale of the survivor. Evermore  dented, if not damaged, by the event.

It Never Was is one of the strangest pieces I have indulged. A follow-up of sorts to "Forever is a Lie" and the concept is that "If that never was... what else wasn't"?

Let There Be Mel - A loose tribute to a musical hero of mine, the late, great Mel Taylor. (The man who taught so many of us dinosaurs how to play the drums.)

One-Eleven - An experiment that took place on 11/1 and concluded at 1:11 a.m. Rearranged into the present form on 1/11/2007. One of my earlier purely digital pieces that wrote itself as I watched. Well, O.K., not really.

Strung - an experiment in taking something "organic" and morphing it into some nearly completely "synthetic". From finger-plucked nylon string guitars into bombastic "1970's arena synth".

Outland The title cut is a musical panorama piece that offers traditional musical architecture in a completely sci-fi landscape. No idea what I'm talking about? Put it on and close your eyes. 

Crack'd Blue Marble a song that imagines the Earth hurling itself, flawed as it is, through the expanse. With glimpses of its own imperfection and the damage we've caused notwithstanding. Harmony gives way to cacophony, while nonsense hands itself back over to logic. All of which yielding to a sad and futile energy.

Been Missing You (But My Aim's Improving)  
The title is pretty self-explanatory. Not an un-pretty composition, yet one about chasing, seeking and hiding at it's root.

Hammer of Karma is about the concept of Karma and the weight of guilt, not just its toll. The four song suite takes you from expectation through realization and the attempt at atonement, and finally to coming to grips with the reality that one actually does pay for their misdeeds and that the price is dear indeed.

This piece is inspired by a glimpse of optimism arriving with the realization that something beyond control is about to happen. Ominous previews take the form of “What if…” questions as portents lead to the conclusion that The Wheel is bringing around what actually went around, rather than what was perceived as set in motion.

A look into the heart of the guilty and the realization that the machinations of what is taking place are retribution for acts unsavory. The mind digests, with trepidation, that Karma is a harsh reality and that its full weight is coming to bear in one unstoppable wave after another.

The sad realization that any good deed is inadequate in the face of the wake left behind by unnamed treacheries of the heart. Attempts at atonement were futile efforts and any forgiveness for indiscretions was perceived rather than valid. Harm done is done and evil is not cancelled by good except in the mind of the purveyor. This is also a piece about the futility of good deeds arriving on The Wheel once fate has begun the process of equalization and the restoration of balance.

Helplessness, hopelessness and resignation. Some events truly are unforgivable and with wide-open eyes, realization of that universal fact becomes inevitable. Is this hell? Sadly, no. In hell you know what to expect.

Maori Madness   An aggressive interpretation of the beauty and fearsomeness of cultures primitive and unchanged. The Maori knew things we still have yet to learn. Oh, to see Easter Island at midnight under a full moon just once…

Robots Day Off  The third piece (“Make More Robots”, “Make Even More Robots”) examining the “life” of the androids that will inevitably one day have a part in our daily lives.

Minotoreador  A loosely-based sequel to “Minotaur”, this piece plays with the proposition that the poor cursed soul who is doomed to life in a cruel maze with the head of a bull was earlier in this life or in a previous one, a bullfighter. Little wonder that it is, at times, rather confusing.

Karmic Chaos   Structuring the maddening concept of sorting good from bad, virtue from evil, and impossibility of it.

What’s With Her Eyes?  Uncharacteristically somewhat lilting, this song is about human attraction, connection on a deeper level, and one unforgettable moment that burns itself into your soul.