Friday, January 30, 2015

What Good Examples - First Draft

I've been wanting to write this one ever since it happened to me months ago and finally I've started. This will certainly be one of the songs I want to do for my spoken word/music project. I can't wait to get the time to have my music friends collaborate with and turn this into something.......if I'm lucky. At any rate, I've got to try. Why else write it if I can't do it? Tired of waiting for it to happen, time to make it happen.

You came flying over three lanes hell bent on making it into the exit
Unfortunately I had the audacity to already be in said exit lane
Forced to apply your brakes to merge behind me you voiced your displeasure manually
Hand gestures began to fly and naturally I returned them in kind
Not the best presentation of who I am but hey, when in Rome allow yourself to sink to the lowest common denominator
Why not after all, I’m only human you know
At the bottom of the ramp I stopped at the red light waiting to turn
You came flying in beside me in your minivan hurling curses in my direction before you even screeched to a halt
Then the real fun began
According to you I’m overweight
More than that I’m bald, wear glasses and apparently you don’t much like the way I dress
At least that’s what it sounded like to my ears since my windows were still up
I used body language to let you know how feeble your insults were how little sense they made
That’s when I noticed the little pre-teen sitting next to you
I noticed because she took up your battle cry and started to weigh in on your behalf
You have to ask yourself just how much life experience can someone that young have to use in a battle of the witless like this
Turns out not much
Mostly she had some neck rolling and generally just a loud mouth
Not much gravitas added by her lack of years
In a dream I followed them to their stop then proceeded to jump out of my truck and snap kick her side mirror to shreds
Merely to instruct them on how insulting people in your car isn’t so anonymous and that we are responsible for our actions
Maybe next time they’d be more careful with the words they chose
Maybe next time they wouldn’t throw rude gestures with careless abandon
Maybe next time they’d think twice about behaving so poorly
Maybe………………………..
But then I woke up and realized that even if I were able to talk to them calmly and politely they probably wouldn’t be open to listening, to learning, to becoming better people
They wouldn’t be able to see this great, grandiose example I was trying to show them
More likely they’d call the cops and I’d be the one to get in trouble
I might even get shot at, this is Oklahoma after all
The light turned green and as I started my left turn I glanced quickly into my rearview mirror and saw my son looking at me with questions in his eyes
Man, what good examples we had shown

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

John's Song- First Draft

Here are some new lyrics that I wrote today. As it happens I was listening to an old episode of the Razorcake podcast and a band was singing in true punk fashion about a great lie. My mind took that to a different place and I was thinking about saying to my son "I hope you have a great life." I'm not exactly known for writing things that are super positive or really touchy-feely. These words were born as if this were something I would be leaving behind for him, basically as advice for him to live his life by after I've gone. Anyway, this is something I definitely want to put to music and have out there primarily for him. If anybody else likes it then that's a bonus as far as I'm concerned.

John's Song

Whether I live for a hundred years
Or die tomorrow
I just want you to know
I only wish the best for you

Always remember
I hope you have a great life
Whatever you choose to do
Whatever path you take
I hope you have a great life

I'd rather be around for a long time
But I'm unable to choose
There are no promises
No guarantees for anyone
So listen closely to what I say
Take my warning true
Follow what your heart tells you
Do what makes you happy

And always remember
I hope you have a great life
Whatever you choose to do
Whatever path you take
I hope you have a great life

Don't wait for what you want
Have faith in yourself
Go out and make it happen
Don't waste your time your life

Always remember
I hope you have a great life
Whatever you choose to do
Whatever path you take
I hope you have a great life

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Friday, January 23, 2015

medicine

medicine

All my medicine is gone again
The highest bidder disappeared
I’m left alone with my fear...
The things I love don’t stay
Melting in the days heat
The odor lingers in my mind
Battered and bloodied
Unsure of who I am
When will the future get here


Just something new that came to me the other day. doesn't mean much, just scattered thoughts and phrases.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

I Remember When............................

I started thinking about the time I saw the changing of the guard at the President's Palace in Lima, Peru. There was a big iron fence keeping the public at bay and plenty of heavily armed police around. My wife told me that there were snipers concealed on the roof watching the crowd. My thoughts then morphed into something else, another direction and this was born.

Watching the guard changing
Shiny uniforms flashing color
Pomp and pageantry
Smartly stepping in unity
Heroes like this
Couldn’t do any wrong
Under heavy arms guards stare
Snipers concealed on the roof
What you don’t see
Most definitely can kill you
No sudden movements now
No cries of liberty
Better watch what you say
The company you keep
These are strange days
Citizens can disappear
Like the rights we gave away
In the hope of guaranteed safety
Yeah that thing doesn’t exist
Quality of life marches away
And all we do is sit and say
I remember when…………….

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Sunday, January 11, 2015

One Word

NOW!
One word
Spoken in anger
Immersed in frustration
Boiled over to the top
One too many times
None are happy
None in the right frame of mind
None enjoying their day
How does this happen
Necessary or not
Now becomes why
Why did this happen
Where did I fail
Where did we fail
Did we fail
One thing left
Sorrow remains
Lie goes on
Lessons learned or not



Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Friday, January 9, 2015

notmovingpictures Episode 029: Computer Down, Two Flat Tires And More



Although it's taken me some time to return to podcasting I'm finally back with a new episode of notmovingpictures. This one is me solo recorded right after midnight on New Years Eve/Day. I haven't been podcasting or writing or doing much of anything online because not long after the road trip to Judas Priest my laptop (or rather my lifeline) died on me. Everything is on there as I discuss on this episode. In the meantime I've had the chance to consolidate all of my music in one room for the first time in eight or nine years. Well really it's not just the music, it's a lot of old things as well. Doing so made me realize that I used to have much more and I'm not sure where it all went over these aforementioned years. There is also talk of finding an old friend, having two flat tires (and replacing three in total) as well as my idea for a spoken word project. What will the future hold? You have to listen to find out.

Closing Music: Freedom Club - Haunt You

Email: notmovingpictures@gmail.com Twitter: @notmovingpics
Blog: www.notmovingpictures.blogspot.com

Older episodes can also be found @ www.archive.org, just search for notmovingpictures

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Ten For Tuesday Episode 074: Am I Late?



It’s been a while but finally Ten For Tuesday is back. My laptop died and I haven’t been able to get it fixed. Unfortunately a lot of my files were on there so I’ve had to make do with my tablet. Since it’s so close to getting this thing out in time I decided to do it the easy way. I selected five songs each from the 2014 samplers that Dirtnap Records and Dirt Cult records (both located in Portland) put out. Besides, liking their music as I do, makes it a great idea to pay tribute to them for giving back to the fans. And yes I did forget to mention Dirt Cults website on the podcast so remember it’s www.dirtcultrecords.com. Do yourself a favor, go there and to www.dirtnaprecs.com and pick up some cool music. Wow, I oughtta become a paid announcer I’m so good and smooth at this stuff. Never fear, another episode is already in the works. It feels good to be back.

Of course my tablet and the WiFi at work conspired against me to make this a little bit more late. Such is life.

Dirtnap Records
Sonic Avenues – Lost And Found
Mind Spiders – Make Make Make Make
The Estranged – Fatalist Flaw
Missing Monuments – Answer The Call
Steve Adamyk Band – Careless
Dirt Cult Records
Feral Trash – Ghost In You
Iron Chic – White Lies
Blank Pages – Shelter
Catholic Guilt – Bygones
Needles\\Pins – Losing Your Mind

Ten For Tuesday is a podcast dedicated to playing the music I couldn't find anywhere else. The music I like varies from style to style, genre to genre and era to era. You will hear punk, ska, rock, Americana, metal, country, rockabilly and more from all over the world. It doesn't matter if it's a major label or indie as long as I like it then it gets played. The motto is Less Talk More Music which means you won't hear me waxing poetic for fifteen minutes between songs. At TFT its all about the music...and me of course.

Email: tenfortuesday@gmail.com Twitter:@notmovingpics
Blog: www.notmovingpictures.blogspot.com

Old Episodes can be found by going to www.archive.org and searching for Ten For Tuesday

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.