unhinged
What have I been doing lately? Since the ending of last semester, I have, semi-guiltily, been on a mission to keep my musical output going. I discuss this drive-to-do-music in my web page about the vcvetudes I did at the end of last semester. I also followed these up with a few more semi-ambient pieces that it seems I haven't listed in my blog yet, the
But these pieces don't address at all the crunchy political themes that are blanketing our lives lately, hence the semi-guilt. Jill has been doing amazing pottery work, and she has also become a dynamic force in the Scatchet Head Water District and the Island County Marine Resources Committee. She's doing things to make the world better! Me? I'm sitting around making droney sounds...
So I thought I might dust off my guitar and pretend to be a young rock star again and craft a 'political statement' song/video, like the Republicans piece I did several years ago (sadly still relevant), or some of my earlier fun-guitar-pieces like Social Distance, Secret Meetings or the FDT set of pieces (among others). But everything I could imagine lyrically for a new work was either way too angry or too much a hackneyed social realist piece of "relevant" music.
Jill suggested that I simply use recordings of the political figures I wanted to expose to ridicule, and unhinged was born. This was done shortly after Nikki Haley handily lost the New Hampshire primary to Trump, and Ron DeSantis dropped out of the race to endorse Trump. The clips from Haley and DeSantis are verbiage critical of Trump. The recordings of Trump are, well, they speak for themselves.
As I was finishing this piece, a judicial report exonerating Biden from withholding government documents was published, and in the report much political hay was made out of a statement as to Biden's elderly memory and cognitive abilities. Yes, Biden is old, but LISTEN TO ANY ACTUAL WORDS that come out of Donald Trump's mouth. The man has some serious cognitive dysfunction. Maybe this silly piece might remind people of what a dangerous moron Trump is. I do like my guitar solo in it, too!
Hope you get a kick out of this one.
Brad Garton
February, 2024