Starship Prog returns!

Yes, it's more "Internet Radio from OUTER SPACE......"! Join Captain Thunder and the rest of the crew as they go where no one with half a brain would dare! (Once again, I'll be playing Sub Commander Fugue ;-)

There is nothing quite like Starship Prog. Using drama, tongue-in-cheek science fiction, and comedy all wrapped in a message, the music is presented in a way we of the cast strive to make both entertaining and inspiring. We also present cutting edge progressive rock music that you won't hear on your radio. Starship Prog is drama and music mixed together to create something brand new.

Catch the coolest radio show on the internet Friday nights at 10pm EST and Saturday at 2pm EST on Progressive Positivity!

a look at 'Aftermath'

Aftermath is essentially an introspective, semi-delicate and lively piano solo set against electronic textures. Once again, my love of film music helped lead me where I wanted to go with this piece. I kept thinking of writing the opening title music to a movie, imagining various scenes and establishing shots that the music would fit well with. (I wont mention what worked for me, because you may want to visualize your own images ;-)

The entire piece is in 5/4 time, and the main theme (played by the right hand) works around a left-hand ostinato that sets up a rather ambiguous suspended chord harmony during the opening and ending sections. The middle section changes things up a bit, with the introduction of some new harmony and an improvised solo. I must confess that in the middle section, I couldn't quite play those right hand runs over the descending, complex left hand pattern without a awful LOT of practice, so I simply played them separately and overdubbed it! But hey, this is electronic music, so traditional rules don't apply, right?

Listen to Aftermath

a look at 'Dark Dream'

Dark Dream is a short little spacey, atmospheric soundscape that stars off with a bang! I wanted to mix various sonic elements of short duration that fade in and out, and the challenge was placing them exactly where I felt they needed to go. Some electronic composers are really good at doing these, and now there are lots of production music libraries available where you can find soundscapes (as well as on most any new age album). Who knows, maybe I'll even put one together someday...

Listen to Dark Dream

Real music for Jesus...

Since this is the Easter weekend, I thought I would say a word about film composer Maurice Jarre, who died a couple of weeks ago. Jarre composed lots of brilliant scores, but my favorite of his has to be "Jesus of Nazareth", the TV mini-series of the late 70's. I remember seeing it back then as a kid, and it affected me deeply. But aside from the story, it was Jarre's wonderful musical score that drew me in, and really captured the essence of this movie. To this day I still get goosebumps when I listen to it.