A few years back, Dan Gaffney and I started a project with local Rehoboth musician Xavier Alexander. Here’s how it happened… Xavier had been in and out of mental hospitals for the last few years, being involuntarily committed by his family, he began showing up at WGMD radio broadcasts with his guitar and singing songs that has written.

He eventually came on the radio on Dan’s morning show to be interviewed and to tell his story. A year or two later, we decided that I would produce an album for Xavier that included new interview segments, in a way to tell his story.

Though we never finished an entire album, 5 songs were recorded and about 26 minutes of interview audio were captured that spring day at WGMD studios in Rehoboth Beach. Shortly after these sessions were taped, Xavier found himself back in the hospital (after a brief stint of moving some of his possessions including his guitar to the radio station).

Though we haven’t worked with Xavier since, these following recording tell a powerful and haunting, beautiful and scary portrait of a tortured artist at work. I recently unearthed these recordings, and not knowing what to do with them, since the album project is not happening, I’ve decided to post them here and at a few other sites. Although I own these sound recordings, the songs are owned by Xavier and I would not in any way try to make anything from them. I just want you to hear them. Therefore, I’ve uploaded these songs to playlist.com and below you can listen to the complete session the way we envisioned it that day.

Here’s the link to the Playlist.com playlist…

http://www.playlist.com/standalone/34398795

Here’s the direct URLs to the MP3s –

“Backwards Dreams: The Music and Words of Xavier Alexander”
By: Xavier Alexander

Words and Music written by Xavier Alexander
Acoustic Guitar and Vocals by Xavier Alexander
Interview by Dan Gaffney
Recorded and Produced by Jared Morris
Concept: Dan Gaffney/Jared Morris
Recorded at WGMD Studios in Rehoboth Beach, DE 2005

1. Backwards Dream
2. About Backwards Dream
3. About Mother Earth
4. Mother Earth
5. About Cover Your Smiles
6. Cover Your Smiles
7. About Keep Chasing Pretty Face
8. Keep Chasing Pretty Face
9. About On The Right Track
10. On The Right Track
11. About Xavier Alexander

Heard this morning on the WGMD Dan Gaffney morning show - “Dover” by John Flynn of Hockessin

Hear it again - John Flynn - MySpace

John Flynn website

Here are the lyrics -

Dover                                    By John Flynn

 Elijah was a sergeant, 42 years old
from Mesa Arizona, Elijah won’t grow old
Patrick was with C Troop, Second Armored Cav
His buddies all remember how Patrick loved to laugh
Seth was from East Brunswick, just a newly wed
Somewhere in New Jersey a young widow bows her head
Daniel was from Boston shipped out from Fort Bragg
His mother got back Daniel with a folded flag  

Chorus:
Oh big airplane bring’em down easy
Out of the Delaware skies
Oh big airplane Dover is waiting
to welcome the  heroes you fly… home

William was in Anbar, combat engineer
1^st Marine Division, William isn’t here
Alan rebuilt bridges for Battalion B
Next to cause of death they wrote the letters I E D
Gussie was a scrub nurse hailing from Fort Bliss
Gussie had a spirit this world’s gonna miss
Jeremiah’s son cries on his mamma’s knee
There was no armor plating on his dad’s humvee

Chorus 

Scrubbed wooden pallets with white straps cinched over
Long boxes of flag draped aluminum
The C-5 is crowded when it lands in Dover
The honor guard boards and makes room again

Making straight for Nineveh, just like Jonah’s whale
Holy truth you swallow, overseas you sail
Precious is the cargo sacred was the gift
offered in the sandstorm from which your wings lift
Those who would pay homage can’t watch you set down
Behind barbed wire sentries miles from their town
No one breathes to question this silent parade
Except for the anguished loved ones left to say

© 2005 Flying Stone Music

I’m always interested in tech stories. I’m a little bit of techie, I suppose. I like to read about the newest contraptions, the new trends, new improvements in technology. I don’t often do the topics about technology on the air, so, maybe I’ll post some on here… I mean you’re on our Web site, so you at least have a computer, so they may be interest to you.

The Record Industry, RIAA, is angering everybody today with the latest story about unauthorized music copying. Now, I fully agree that trading, giving away, stealing people’s mp3s, bitTorrent-ing songs, copying mp3s off of other peoples computers, iPods, giving away CD-r copies of songs and e-mailing mp3s is stealing and for the most part wrong. It’s so easy these days with record stores online, amazon.com, Best Buy, Walmart, half.com, iTunes, CDbaby.com, and countless other services and stores to get music, and get it cheap, that trading songs amongst your friends is wrong. CD sales are down again 20% this holiday season because kids, adults and everyone seems to be trading music. To curb this trend, the RIAA is now saying that copying/ripping a CD that you purchased into your computer is illegal.

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/28/AR2007122800693.html

So, according to the RIAA, if you go to Walmart(s) and buy the new Barry Manilow Christmas CD, take it home, put it in your PC, rip it to iTunes and jam it on your mp3 player or iPod, you are “Breaking the law” - cue Judas Priest.

I’ve never illegally downloaded a song, call me an mp3 saint. Everything that I have was purchased legitimately at a record store, online, at iTunes or actually given to me by the artist. However, I have copied CDs to my iPod, to listen to in my car, so that these rare CDs I just bought don’t get scuffed. According to the RIAA, that is “unauthorized” - Even if no one besides myself ever touches my iPod or even hears it. It’s not illegal to listen to a CD in my car, but, it is illegal to listen to a copy of that CD. It’s akin to the debate in the 1980s regarding copying that Air Supply record to a tape and listening to it in your car.

A similar debate came about regarding the ownership of Roms of video games about 10 years ago. A lot of people figured out how to “rip” the rom images of old Nintendo and Atari games. Nintendo of America threatened lawsuits and shut down a myriad of Web sites offering free download of Roms of old Nintendo Games. Their legal said “it’s only legal to own a backup rom if you already own the cartridge” - that you could, in effect, own one backup copy, anything else was illegal. It was actually the same problem as the problem facing the music industry. Lots of unscrupulous people were downloading Rom images of brand new Playstation games and Nintendo 64 games, and either playing them on video game emulators on their computers or creating a CD-rom and playing them on mod-ed Playstations, or later, Gamecubes and Wiis.

It’s essentially the same problem. People want to own the content without paying for the right to own it. Whether it be DVD movies, music or video games…. The digital revolution, the lack or a hard copy, has created a generation of people who feel entitled and don’t want to dish out any cash for other people’s work. Bands just starting out feel like they have to give away their music to get any attention, established bands like Radiohead are offering their music for “whatever you want to pay for it” for publicity because their real CDs aren’t selling. The RIAA thinks that telling people that creating back-ups is illegal will help curb this behavior. But it won’t.

It’s a losing battle, but thousand of digital thieves have caused these reactionary tactics.

Has the guidance of environmental guru Al Gore resulted in Madonna repenting for years of having a gigantic carbon footprint?

Yes, it’s true, the Material Girl, Madonna, was spotted flying from New York to London on a commercial jet:

The singer, who turns 49 on Thursday, is said to have surprised passengers on a recent flight from New York to London by injecting herself with a vitamin shot in her arm.

Nutritionists said that such a drastic practice could have potentially harmful long-term effects on her health.

The singer is said to have refused food on the seven-hour flight and only drank bottled water.

Maybe Al Gore and Live Earth taught her something afterall.

LauraLea and Tripp Fabulous at the Rusty Rudder last Friday night.

OK, so I don’t get out much at night anymore, but I did go out in Dewey last Friday night with a friend of mine to see a band and have a drink. The band was good and worth seeing, LauraLea and Tripp Fabulous, and this is where I want to call them a “cover band,” but that wouldn’t be fair (or even correct), since they’re just playing to the summer beach crowd at the Rudder. (They have a CD of original acoustic music that’s pretty good).

Not that there’s anything wrong with bands that do cover tunes. They’re pretty entertaining. I can remember going to see the Beat Clinic around the State a decade (and almost another decade) ago, and without a doubt the best night was always that rare night when they would crank out “Like a Virgin” to an appreciative crowd. Anyway, it was a good time at the Rudder, but it was a little different.

What? The Rudder has a dress code? When did that happen?

I have to say that I was surprised the Rudder has a dress code. Now, it may have been in effect since the late 90’s for all I know, but still, it was surprising to me. And, for the record, I’ve jumped off the stage at a Dead Kennedys concert in the mid 80s, but I was a little shocked at what I saw on the dance floor. I was going to continue, but let’s just leave it here because I’m starting to feel old and like I need to go yell at some kid to get off my grass….

Is this the person I want to get advice from on how to live my life?

When Madonna says “jump,” you’re expected jump. Just don’t expect her to do the same for you:

Madonna thanked Al Gore, the brainchild of the nine concerts across the globe, “for giving the world the wake-up call it so badly needs and for starting an avalanche of awareness that we are running out of time”.

She said: “Lets hope tonight’s concert and the concerts going on around the world are not just about entertainment but starting a revolution around the world. If you want to save the planet let me see you jump.”

But Gore apparently forgot to give Madonna her “wake-up call” about the “revolution:”

Watching the veteran star lap up the adoration, her entourage could, however, be forgiven for exchanging slightly jaded glances - having witnessed her jet in for the concert from New York.

For her 2006 World Tour, she flew by private jet, transporting a team of up to 100 technicians and dancers around the globe. Waiting in the garage at home, she has a Mercedes Maybach, two Range Rovers, an Audi A8 and a Mini Cooper S….

…Madonna alone has an annual carbon footprint of 1,018 tonnes, according to John Buckley.

So basically Madonna churns out “more than 100 times the average amount of waste produced by Britons in a year.”

Madonna don’t preach, ’cause you’ve made up your mind, you’re keeping your footprint.

If Al Gore is right about the global warming, he’s pointing a loaded gun at the Earth right now.

“Live Earth” is here! Al Gore’s worldwide rock concert event/assassination plot, is expected to draw about TWO BILLION attendees/viewers worldwide. That translates into possibly a MILLION extra cars and busses, jammed in traffic on roadways across the planet, creating an explosion of greenhouse gas emissions (that Gore feels threaten us all), while simultaneously creating more trash than any of us could ever conceive.

But there is a bright side, Gore is so busy trying to kill the planet, he doesn’t have time to run for President:

“I’m involved in a different kind of campaign to try to raise awareness of what I truly believe is the most serious crisis our civilization has ever faced.”

Yes, Al, raise the global warming awareness by dramatically increasing the factors that you think cause it…genius…I can’t believe you lost Florida to GW.

UPDATE: OTHER PEOPLE HAVE FIGURED OUT THAT LIVE EARTH WILL KILL THE PLANET!

The most conservative assessment of the flights being taken by its superstars is that they are flying an extraordinary 222,623.63 miles between them to get to the various concerts - nearly nine times the circumference of the world. The true environmental cost, as they transport their technicians, dancers and support staff, is likely to be far higher.

The total carbon footprint of the event, taking into account the artists’ and spectators’ travel to the concert, and the energy consumption on the day, is likely to be at least 31,500 tonnes of carbon emissions, according to John Buckley of Carbonfootprint.com, who specialises in such calculations.

Throw in the television audience and it comes to a staggering 74,500 tonnes. In comparison, the average Briton produces ten tonnes in a year.

The concert will also generate some 1,025 tonnes of waste at the concert stadiums - much of which will go directly into landfill sites.

The article is a little lengthy but well worth the read.

From WGMD News:

Michael Jackson is in the market for new vacation home – and he’s been looking here on the Eastern Shore. His publicist says the reclusive pop star has indeed been looking in the St. Michael’s area, but no deal has been struck on a property. She says Jackson isn’t limiting his search to the Chesapeake region but looking in a variety of areas.

Location of St Michaels, Maryland.

It was kind of nice knowing that he was all the way in Bahrain….

Who was it that said that a decline in culture will ultimately bring an end to that society? Do you remember hearing that American Idol were in talks to bring Paul McCartney on the program as a celebrity judge? Sir Paul declined their generous offer. Well, what would’ve been the point? No one would have known who he was anyway.

What? Jared you’re insane. I remember hearing a story about a 15-year-old girl, whom after the Wings retrospective CD “Wingspan” was released, was asked if she knew who The Beatles were. Her response “No,” then she was asked have you ever heard of Paul McCartney, “Oh, isn’t he the guy from Wings?” 

Today I did an informal poll of all young looking clerks at different area stores today, all within the ages of 19-22, and (hold your breath) none of them could name the Four Beatles. 

“The Beatles saved the world from boredom,” George Harrison. 

How soon the world forgets, Dark Horse. The best I was able to conjure was one 19-year-old at the Bose outlet who could name “John Lennon and Ringo.” Just as a basic music knowledge quiz, I asked him if he knew who Bob Dylan was. He responded, “of course I do… I’m in a rock band.” (YOU’RE IN A ROCK BAND AND YOU DON’T KNOW WHO THE BEATLES WERE???) …calm down…

You may often wonder why music has become so inane in the last decade or so. There’s your answer. I shudder to think about what the next generation of music will be like. Those who’ve never heard of The Beatles. The Beatles, only the band that every single pop and rock band owes everything to. 

How can school, parents and media have failed these children? It’s an important piece of pop culture, nay, social history to be informed about the fab four. If you don’t know the material, at least know the names. 

It’s easy guys, it’s just like remembering the gospels. Ringo, George, John and Paul. I mean heck… If you know the name of the last pope, you’ve got two of them. (Next Step: there’s George Martin, Phil Spector, Billy Preston, Ravi Shankar, Dhani Harrison, Linda McCartney, Yoko Ono, Pete Best, etc etc etc.)

There’s no hope for the music industry and there’s no hope for culture. You’ve forgotten The Beatles.

It is, isn’t it?? Guess I slept through February and March only to awaken this morning with little but farce in the news. A candy bar is banned from the airwaves and now Prince is being accused of questionable behavior during his half-time SB show. LOLOL! Please!

Hands up those who thought his ’symbol’ guitar was suspiciously transformed into a phallic symbol? Okay…look in the mirror. See your arm? Better put it down…now. It is…was…a guitar and the most interesting thing about it is the unique design. Looked more like a banjo with pony-tails, I thought…and how easy was this to play, anyway? How about the marching band…with fluorescent piping outlining their bodies? Anybody think they magically were not wearing any clothes?

The only flaw in his/their performance or attire was his doo-rag-doo-rag-doo-rag-do, which was more of a “don’t”. Otherwise, his performance was brilliant, the marching band (and their uniforms) terrific…geez, it didn’t even look as though the rain touched any of them. The only reason I even watched the SB and well worth the wait.

But…if there is anyone who sees the guitar in a like-manner as the clothing/equipment police maybe you’d best check your own and if it does look like that guitar run…do not walk…to your nearest emergency room.