Four Months, Twelve Remixes

From June to September, I dedicated all my spare time to feeding my music hobby/obsession. Once I got a new song idea in my head, I had a hard time focusing on anything else until I could produce the track. Recently, however, I've put music-making on hold, so as not to neglect the family and the day job too much.... I'm not sure when I'll be able to get back into the "studio" at this point, but until then, here's a summary of all the stuff I've made so far...

The Left Is Making Me Nervous. This is what got me started. It's a political parody of Making Me Nervous by Brad Sucks.

You Are 57. A gift to my parents celebrating their 57th birthdays. I talked about this one in an earlier post, where you can also watch the music video I made for it.

Saturday Is Old. This is a mash-up of This Is Old by State Shirt and Saturday by DJ Vadim. State Shirt called it crazy in one of his blog entries.

No Rainbows At 33. Inspired to do this one when a friend of mine requested that I write them a birthday song after watching the You Are 57 video.

He-Man Has The Power. I made this for Rhett & Link's 80s themed community building exercise. It's about He-Man. Some crazy kids in Australia thought that it was appropriate material to use in a Twilight parody video.

MJ Packed All Up In My Brain. Another entry into the above-mentioned CBE, mashing up three different Rhett & Link songs with Bad, Beat It and Billie Jean. It was good enough to receive an honorable mention from Rhett & Link.


Have A Good Trip. A farewell ditty dedicated to my sister and brother-in-law as they moved out to Colorado. Artemisstrong remixed it here.

Bright Morning Stars (Simple Guitar Mix). My contribution to ccMixter's Secret Mixter Summer 2009, featuring the Tom Waits-esque vocals of Anchor Méjans.

Mermaid Anchored Down Under. Another Anchor Méjans-inspired remix.

Cases Of A Misused Apostrophe. While thinking about one of my biggest pet peeves and They Might Be Giants, I came up with this song, dedicated to English teachers and punctuation enthusiasts everywhere. Instrumental stems provided by Brad Sucks.

Madeline Is Nine. Celebrating my daughter's ninth birthday. Fellow ccMixter artists, Tenny and @nop felt compelled to create their own remixes for Maddie here and here.

Peace Around The World. My remix of Brad Stanfield's cry for peace. Special Note: All of my other stuff makes use of other people's instrumental samples, but on this one, I composed and recorded the instrumentals, myself. A first for me!

You know, I guess I have enough here to make an album... Would anyone buy it?

You Are 57

Okay, I know two weeks is a long time between blog posts, so I apologize to my readers for the brief sabbatical. Not to make excuses, but I do have a lot going on in my life. Between work, family and church, there's not much time for anything else. Not to mention my budding music career.

Recently, with what free time I do have at my disposal, I have been busy recording, mixing and editing the following piece of artistic genius in honor of my parents' 57th birthdays.



At the release of this video, I am anticipating about a dozen, if not dozens of inquiries to come pouring in. Listed below are the questions that I know everyone will be dying to ask. Or not. These could just be coming from the voices in my head.....

"You Are 57" FAQ

Q: How did you come up with the idea for this song?
A: My parents turned 57.

Q: What is that thing that keeps popping out in the top left corner in some of the frames?
A: A Scrabble board.

Q: Who was filming? Couldn’t they keep the camera steady?
A: The camera was mounted on a tripod, but apparently either the Scrabble board or the camera couldn’t stop dancing to the music (perhaps caused by a predefined image stabilization setting, or something, I don’t know). I didn’t realize what was going on until after I was done filming, at which point I lacked the time and energy to reshoot.

Q: Why do you have a Scrabble board on your wall?
A: In a house full of small children, game boards are often put to better use as wall decorations, rather than playing games on them.

Q: You're not pulling a Corey Vidal, are you? Is that really you singing?
A: No, no. That is my voice you are hearing.

Q: Where did you learn those dance moves?
A: Before shooting this, I reviewed my “How To Dance Like A White Guy” instructional guide.

Q: Did you just do the Macarena? That was sweet.
A: Yes, I did. Thanks.

Q: What characters are on your t-shirts?
A: Top left: Orko; Top right: Figment; Bottom left: Beaker; Bottom right: Pacman ghosts

Q: How did you find the time to make this?
A: When you have a dream, and that dream is to make a cheesy song and video celebrating your parents’ 57th birthday, then you make the time.

Q: This song rocks. I want to listen to it everywhere I go. Where can I download a free MP3?
A: Here: http://ccmixter.org/files/cuajitoben/21212

So, was the lack of recent blog entries worth the wait, or have I lost you as a reader, in which case you aren't actually reading this....?

If your question was not included in the above FAQ, and you want it answered, please ask away in the comments section.