Oops. Did I mention Phase 1a?

I'm going to go back into the studio for a short
session. I posted the lyrics for a new song
"Lightning (surges)", and it improves the continuity
of the album greatly. Especially since two of tracks
didn't turn out well (#8 "One Lesson", #9 "Dino Gas")

So I'm going to basically throw out the CD's I have
( I made 26 copies, and handed out 6 - so 20 copies
going in the trash, ouch, but this one change really
improves the CD) . I'll post the latest Practice Tape
(Phase 1a) when I get it, and then archive the initial
Practice Tape (Phase 1).

I thought about deleting it, but then I realized that
that would be a mistake- I'm documenting the Making
of "An Ark In The Basement" in this blog and on my
website, and these changes are part of that process.

This change isn't going to set me back, schedule wise,
because I have a home recording of the song that I can
distribute along with the Phase 1 CD, until I get the
new Practice Tape, and then I'll redistribute the new
practice tape.

So, I'm going back to Checkerhot
Later,

Catfish
gwbowen@mninter.net

What Do You Mean "Practice Tape"

I've been referring to the collection of songs I currently
have for the "Ark in the Basement" project as a
Practice Tape, but I've been distributing CD's and
posting mp3 files. But none-the-less, it is a Practice
Tape, literally. The recording I'm doing is being
recorded on an ADAT tape. Once it is recorded,
it is mixed and mastered on the computer over at
Checkerhot, but what I walk out of when I'm done
with phase 1 is an ADAT Master tape, a backup tape,
and a box of (26) Work In Progress CD's, which I call
Practice Tapes (partly because I'm a Dinosaur who lives
off cassette tapes).

Further housekeeping. Track #9 (Dino Gas) and
Track #8 (One Lesson) on the Practice Tape are now
off the CD (They just weren't recording well- so they go
back into my song folder). When I finished up with the
songs for the Practice Tape, I had a couple minutes of
leftover tape, so I grabbed a harp and just blasted away
until we ran out of tape - it sounded pretty good and I like
the idea of ending the CD with a pure solo jam (not those fake
jams, but a real off-the-cuff jam) so, that's how the last
track (Catfish Bones Solo) came about. I promise to keep it
a jam, but I might do a couple different takes, and take the
best one for the CD (which is cheating, but just a little).

The new Track #8 is called "Lightning (Surges)", and I just
wrote it last week. It's really short and really simple, but
I like it. A lower quality recording is all ready posted as
Track #8 on the Practice Tape Link:

http://glennbowen.biz/cdlyrics2PT_8.htm

and here's the lyrics:

She looks like the lady who lives down the block,
a little like the gal at the bank
you hand her your CD, you say this is my soul,
she looks, she shrugs, she just says "Thanks"
and she don't understand, and you don't understand,
and I don't understand it, at all
And I am making a total fool of myself
and I will try to tear down that wall,
because lightning surges from her fingertips
I tell you lightning surges from her fingertips
I swear that lightning surges from her fingertips
and I would die if I could taste those lips
(harp solo)

can't get much simpler than boy meets girl.

later,
Catfish

Contact Glenn Bowen at: gwbowen@mninter.net

The Practice CD is Posted

The Practice Tape/CD for An Ark In the Basement is posted.

Go to my webpage: http://glenbowen.biz/index.htm
and look for the button that says "Listen to the Practice Tape"
The entire tape is on this link, along with the individual songs,
and lyrics. There is an RSS link too.

I have distibuted four CD's so far, and will distribute another
two tonight. Considering that I picked up the Practice CD's
Fri. aft and it is monday morning I'm doing pretty good. Of
course, some musicians are more difficult to get a hold of than
others. I haven't gotten any feedback yet, because no one has
had a chance to hear it.

I made 26 copies of the CD, which should be plenty for the
musicians I'm asking to be on the CD, but I'm obviously not
planning on handing out more than a couple CD's to
non-musicians. I apologize for this, but it is posted,
for anyone to hear - it is obviously still a work in progress,
but there's some good material here. If you do listen to
the entire practice tape, let me know what you think of it.

Catfish Bones
gwbowen@mninter.net

Back At It

Last Night I saw Kelly Joe Phelps, and an intro
solo act Natalia Zukerman. Good Stuff, but I had
an ulterior motive in going, also. I picked up the Phase 1
CD's (the Practice Tapes) Friday, just before the show,
and handed one out to a guitar player I know that I
want on this album. I was kind of nervous about
handing it out without listening to it first. But, for a practice
tape, it is really good, and I'm glad I spent a little extra to
get something good (not finished, not perfect, but good)
Next time I'll put more time in practicing the day before
I record, and leave my self more time to relax the day I record.
I handed out a Second CD at the Homestead Picking Parlor,
and I'll hand out one Sun morn to a guitar player, and a couple
more Mon Eve. Some of the other players/singers are going to
be harder to get ahold of, but I'm hoping that I will have
distributed most of the musicians' CD's next week.

Sun. evening at the Minnesota History Center, Liz Carroll with
John Doyle, 7:30. General Admission, tickets at the door
(3/26/06). A genuine virtuouso (Irish Fiddle).

A quick update - Solas on Sun was good, but Flook on Wednesday
at the Cedar was incredible - Irish music at it's best.
Next time I'll be Podcasting the Phase 1 - CD (the Practice Tape).

Catfish
gwbowen@mninter.net

Phase One - Recording Completed

I finished recording the demo tracks
for Phase 1 last night, and now the
tracks will be mixed down to a CD.
I only ordered 20 copies of this CD,
since its sole purpose is to distribute
to the musicians who will be on the CD,
(with a couple extra CD's) . So far,
I'm still on schedule, but I'm pushing
back the schedule for the actual CD
release (Phase 2 CD). I think I forgot
to tell you when the target date for
the actual CD release will be.

But moving on, all the song lyrics have been
posted. They are more or less in the order
they will be on the CD if you go through the
previous postings at this site.
When I get the Demo CD I am going
to podcast it again -there will be a link on this
blog page or on my webpage:
http://glennbowen.biz/index.htm
So for now, the only unfinished business is
to post the CD label information.

Title:

An Ark In The Basement
more songs in the key of D

1. Make A Miracle Happen
2. Born To Make That Little Girl Dance
3. To Make You Believe
4. Child Of The Gutter
5. Talking 'bout Robert Johnson
6. Rain Falls Down On A Freeman
7. Puppies In The Shade
8. One Lesson
9. Dino Gas
10. Staying With The Dog
11. Of Course I'll Fail
12. Building An Ark In The Basement

As always, feel free to contact me at
gwbowen@mninter.net

Catfish

Hey Man, Look What I've Done!

So I go into the studio again tommorow.
I should be able to finish up the Phase 1
Demo tracks, and have them mixed down
next week. I've been posting the lyrics
as I go, and I only have 1 lyric left,
and that's the title track. This isn't
the greatest song in the world or
anything, but I really like the lyrics,
and this whole album - all the effort
writing songs, going to open stages
testing out songs in front of people,
handing out demo CD's, networking
and jamming with other musicians,
arranging the Studio recordings,
etc, etc, etc is ultimately my own
personnel "Ark in the basement".

so, enough BS, here goes:

Building an Ark In the Basement,
Glenn Bowen, 2005

He's building an Ark in the basement
waiting for the waters to rise
I used to think he was crazy
but I came to realize
if you build an Ark in your basement
even if the waters don't come
you point to that boat in your basement
and say "Hey man, look what I've done"

And if you build an Ark in your basement
and someday the waters do come
you hop in your boat in the basement
and then, I guess you dont look so dumb

She's building a chapel in the attic
out of Play-Do, tin foil and toothpicks,
she won't talk too much about it
she knows that you'll think that she's sick

But she knows that she's married..to Jesus
and someday her Savior will come
they'll go up there to that chapel
then together, away they will run

I'm playing my harp in the forest
the Music, it doth soothe my breast
I'm playing my harp in the forest
sometimes I just need to rest

You know you can get so judgemental
and I'm not sure if I'll pas your test
so I'm playing my harp in the forest
I'm just out here doing my best

He's building an Ark in the basement
waiting for the waters to rise
I used to think he was crazy
but I came to realize
if you build an Ark in your basement
even if the waters don't come
you point to that boat in your basement
and say "Hey man, look what I've done!"


Catfish Bones
gwbowen@mninter.net

Staying with the Dog

So MNBOTNA (The bluesgrass weekend)
is going on. This afternoon, I got to hear
Monroe Crossing (1st tier bluegrass in my
book), the Fishheads (entertaining as always),
and Girl Germs, which was really pretty good,
and very entertaining - I'm going to try
and catch there full show sometime -it look
like fun. But the highlight is the songwriters
showcase. A small room with three talented
singer/songwriters, and a group of 20 or so
people sitting in. Its my favorite part of the
weekend (except that the writing is so talented
that its pretty overwhelming till you get your
composure back and say, hey I've got some
good songs too) . This year they had
Becky Buller (fantastic - she locks into the rhythm
so well that the song starts to breathe).
I hadn't heard of Andrew Savage before, but he's doing
some seriously good writing - its seems to be a lot
more acessible than the stuff I do too-which
is causing me to rethink my approach a little
on the next song I write.
Finally Mark Kreitzer. Mark is with the Middle Spunk
Creek Boys, and has a solo CD - all told I own about
6 or 7 CD's with Mark on it, and I all ready knew
the words to the songs he played - so I'm not objective,
but so what - I buy it cause it's really blanking good,
and hearing it live just makes it better. Its worth
tracking down the solo album for three of the songs-
you'll know them as soon as you hear them.

So I went home, showered, and then saw the Irish
group Boys of the Lough. again Excellent - so
there are too many superlatives in this blog,
so lets' bring it down a bit.

I read a cartoon about how the Katrina disaster
was going to be source material for a bunch of
washed up-has been Blues players, and I had
written a Blues song about Katrina that I wanted
to include on this CD. After going to this songwriters
session, I briefly thought about pulling this song
and subsituting in "I just met John Doe today",
but I'm sticking with it - its' a good song, and
its' the Blues, and my album should have this
type of Blues on it . One thing that is neat
about this song is you can just about identify
the very day I wrote this song from the words.

Staying With The Dog, Glenn Bowen, 2005

They looted my house yesterday,
today I sat and weeped
They looted my house yesterday,
today I sat and weeped
I hoped the waters don't come up
and drown me in my sleep

The waters' rising,
bodies floating like a log
The waters' rising,
bodies floating like a log
you don't give a damn about me,
I'm staying with the dog

I aint gonna leave my home
and wind up sleeping on the street
I aint gonna leave my home
and wind up sleeping on the street
I aint gonna leave New Orleans,
not standing on two feet

The waters' rising,
bodies floating like a log
The waters' rising,
bodies floating like a log
you don't give a damn about me,
I'm staying with the dog

I remember Tom,
when he came back from 'Nam
I remember Tom,
when he came back from 'Nam
He never found a job,
and no one gave a damn

The waters' rising,
bodies floating like a log
The waters' rising,
bodies floating like a log
you don't give a damn about me,
I'm staying with the dog

There is water everywhere
but it aint fit to drink
There is water everywhere
but it aint fit to drink
and you can call New Orleans home
if you can stand the stink

The waters' rising,
bodies floating like a log
The waters' rising,
bodies floating like a log
you don't give a damn about me,
I'm staying with the dog

This is the 11th of 12 lyrics for this CD.
which leaves just one more lyric to post
for the CD - An Ark In The Basement.

Next time - "Building An Ark In The
Basement" (the lyrics). Then I go into
the studio the third time, and I'll post
the order of the tracks when the
Phase 1 CD gets mixed down.

So everything's going along ok- but
like I've written before, it will in Phase 1.
It is Phase 2 when things get interesting.

Dino Gas

It's Friday evening, and I figured
I'd relax by doing a little blogging.
It's odd working on my site at 6:00
in the evening instead of 6:00 in the
morning. Anyways, Saturday, 7:30
in Hopkins, The Boys of the Lough-
is playing, - highly recommended-
I've got a front row ticket, so you
know I'm going to enjoy this. Also
all weekend at the Radison off 494
and Hwy 55 - the MN Bluegrass
and Old Time Music Association
Winter "musicthon" (all day and all
night Bluegrass) - so much Bluegrass
that at some point you got to go and
hear some good Irish music or play some
Blues (Floyd's Jam in Victoria Sunday
night). You can have a good time this
weekend if you follow this plan.

So I'm going back into the Studio again next
Wednesday, and I wanted to post another lyric.
[this is the tenth of twelve songs on the CD]
The parts in bold are sung as a
chorus, the parts not in bold are spoken
(its a little different format, but it works here).

Dino Gas, Glenn Bowen, 2005

Now a little bit of history, this is a song about back
when I was living in Missouri, and I was very poor,
and I was all alone, and just about as homesick as
you can get.

Give me some of that Dino Gas,
Give me some of that Dino Gas,
Give me a whole tank, got to make it last,
Give me some of that Dino Gas

So anyways, people talk about homesick, and about
how things get so bad that you really do get sick,
and you just want to turn around and go home,
and see someone you know, and be with someone
you care about.

Give me some of that Dino Gas,
Give me some of that Dino Gas,
Give me a whole tank, got to make it last,
Give me some of that Dino Gas

So, I'm driving along in my pickup, going down the
highway, feeling about as low as you can get,
And I start to think back to when I was a kid, and we'd
take these long driving vacations, and go in the station
wagon to North Dakota or some damn thing.

Give me some of that Dino Gas,
Give me some of that Dino Gas,
Give me a whole tank, got to make it last,
Give me some of that Dino Gas

Now gas stations used to try and differentiate themselves,
Shell had the giant shell sign, Mobil had the flying horse,
and of course Sinclair had the big green Dinosaur. And
a lot of times, we'd stop at the Sinclair station, with the
big green dinosaur on the side lot, get some gas, and eventually,
we'd get home.


Give me some of that Dino Gas,
Give me some of that Dino Gas,
Give me a whole tank, got to make it last,
Give me some of that Dino Gas

So, like I said, here I am in Missouri,
feeling as homesick as you can get,
and I see a Sinclair station. So, I pull in,
get a tank of gas, and, as stupid as it sounds,
as I drive away, I feel better.

Give me some of that Dino Gas,
Give me some of that Dino Gas,
Give me a whole tank, got to make it last,
Give me some of that Dino Gas

So that's the story, I got a tank of Dino Gas,
and probably four or five years later,
I headed back home.
That tank went a long way.

Give me some of that Dino Gas,
Give me some of that Dino Gas,
Give me a whole tank, got to make it last,
Give me some of that Dino Gas

anyways,
Glenn Bowen , aka "Catfish Bones"
gwbowen@mninter.net

Of Course I'll Fail

I went into the studio again last night,
and recorded four songs, so I'm right
on schedule with the CD. You might be
wondering why the title "Of Course I'll
Fail"? I'll get to that.

But I wanted to recap how I got to this point.
I've been playing Blues Harp for well over
ten years, and just in the last couple years,
I've gotten really good.

I've always written song lyrics, and about a
year ago I met up with someone at a
Songwriters Dinner,
(Minnesota Area Songwriters), and he
had a studio (Checkerhot Studio), I had
some songs and an excess of capital, and
in short order, I had a demo CD called
A Puppy At The Table.

I made up about 90 copies of this CD and
handed them out to any musician who didn't
move fast enough, but I still had 5 copies
left over.

To get rid of them, I sent them off to CDBaby,
and to my suprise I sold 1 CD (to a guy in
Maryland).

Of course when I sold the CD
I got worried that there might be a run
on these so I had another 20 copies made,
and they're in the trunk of my car right now.

So, I recorded a demo CD and I was pretty
happy with it, and a year's gone by, and
I've written a bunch of really good material,
I've tried it out on open stages, and people
seem to like it, and I've left the last band I
was in (The Dee Miller Band), and the next
band (The Blue Jack Trio) isn't getting up to
speed like it should, so I decide I'm going to
make a real CD this time.

Not another demo CD, but a honest to
goodness CD with other musicians and singers
and effects and arrangements and the whole
thing - a CD not just for a music lover in
Maryland, but one that any typical person
might listen to and even buy.

So building on one success after another like
I have, I've gotten to this Second CD.

So I'm going into the Studio again next Wed.,
and I'm going to start the session with "Dino
Gas", and then go to a song called "Of Course,
I'll Fail". This song is my response to
all those people who sit sit on their ass and tell
you that you'll never make it.

Of Course I'll Fail, Glenn Bowen, 2005

Of course I'll fail,
tell me something that I don't know
Of course I'll fail,
tell me something that I don't know
Of course I'll fail,
tell me something that I don't know
I'm going to try,
That's why I'm standing here tonight

Look what it took,
Look what it took just to get here,
Look what it took,
Look what it took just to get here
And here is no where,
it is nowhere they will tell you

Of course I'll fail,
tell me something that I don't know
Of course I'll fail, tell me something that I don't know
Of course I'll fail, tell me something that I don't know
I'm going to try,
That's why I'm standing here tonight

You better believe,
man you better believe in something
you better believe,
man you better believe in someone
you better believe,
man you betther believe in something
or they will drive
they willl drive you into nothing

Of course I'll fail,
tell me something that I don't know
Of course I'll fail,
tell me something that I don't know
Of course I'll fail,
tell me something that I don't know
I'm going to try,
That's why I'm standing here tonight

You better live
you better live the life you believe
you better live
you better live the life you believe
you better live
you better live the life you believe
'Cuz that man in the long black cloak,
he's gonna tell you to leave

Of course I'll fail,
tell me something that I don't know
Of course I'll fail,
tell me something that I don't know
Of course I'll fail,
tell me something that I don't know
I'm going to try,
That's why I'm standing here tonight

So I'll just leave on that encourging note:
Of Course I'll Fail

Glenn

Free CD for the Pod People

I've got up a couple hours early
before work for the last couple days
to "Podcast" my First CD. I'm tired,
but this time in the morning is the
only free time I have any more.
I then worked on it a couple hours last
night, and I got it (I think). I knew
when I heard RSS stood for "Really
Simple Syndication" that this was
going to be a royal pain, but like I said,
it works, its really cool, check it out.

TheFirst CD is called "A Puppy At The
Table", and it has (8) Original Songs,
with me playing Blues Harp on all
the tracks. There's some good harp
playing on it, and it's original material,
I'm not copying other peoples riffs,
like so many Blues players these days.

Windows' people - you need a piece of
software (freeware) to make this work-
you can get it at:
http://thirstycrow.net/happyfish/default.aspx
(read their directions -its pretty straight forward)

When you have this "aggregator" called HappyFish,
paste this address into it and play it:

http://glennbowen.biz/BowenCD1.xml

Then play it.
Let me know what you think:

gwbowen@mninter.net

This blog is now going to go into extra innings.
I'm going into the studio again tonight,
and I want to do (4) songs at the phase1
demo versions. I've been posting the lyrics,
and so here are the other two lyrics for
tonights session.

One Lesson by Glenn Bowen,

I was walking in the rain
last Saturday night
just walking with my dog,
but that's all right
I was walking with my dog,
last Saturday night
just walking in the rain
but that's all right

And the people who once Loved me,
they still Love me
and the people who don't
well, they wont
andthe people who are Wise
they will listen
and the people who will Rule
well they wont

Because there's only one lesson
that's worth living
There is only one lesson
that's worth living
There is only one lesson
that's worth living
and it's about Love
and Forgiving

Harp solo
Repeat last verse

Rain Falls Down (on a Freeman) by Glenn Bowen

So there's this guy out on a pier, and it's cold
and it's wet and it's raining, and he's not
catching a damn thing. But he looks like the
happiest SOB I've ever seen in my life.
Now I've never been one to shy away from
crazy people, so I'm like OK I'll bite, and I
walk up and I say "So, how's the fishing?"
"Pretty Bad, Pretty Bad"
"Think you're gonna catch anything?"
"Nope, no I know I wont"
"So...."
"Yep"
"So"

So the rain falls down on a Freeman
rain falls down on a Freeman
I say the rain falls down on a Freeman
Let the rain fall on me

Harp solo

So we're standing out there in the rain like that,
standing out there for quite a while actually, and
finally he says "You know, I just got out of Prison
today. I was there for Eight years. For Eight
years, the people who ran that place tried to
tell me Iwas an animal. For Eight years, the
people who lived in that place tried to turn me
into an animal. But I knew I was gonna get out
of there one day, and I was gonna leave a
Freeman. Now it's cold, and it's wet, and its' raining,
and you know why that is?

Because the rain falls down on a Freeman
rain falls down on a Freeman
I say the rain falls down on a Freeman
Let the rain fall on me.

later - Glenn Bowen (gwbowen@mninter.net)