Everyone's Strange, a family song

this song inspired by my son

who has been begging to get a microwave 

going on a dozen years now

We're working on it, I told him, the other day.

He said,

If it's that hard to get in the car, 

drive to Target, and buy a microwave, 

then I don't ever want to be an adult!

So my husband went to Target to buy a microwave

but came back without one

because they didn't have the kind he wanted.

Like I said, we're working on it.

a song by Floozy:

tad neuhaus, guitar

joanna dane, vocals

Breath on the Tip of a Storm

tad neuhaus, guitar
joanna dane, vocals

just keep going along

like you’ve been doing right there

nothing to be afraid of

with continuing right along

right down that path down the way that you

strumming just keeping going like that

 

it’s been a strange week

it’s been a strange month

it’s been a strange year

it’s been a strange strange life

i'm feeling a little sad today

looking at this little screen

making me feel so empty

gotta make a shift

maybe next monday

i’ll make a little shift

  

in a way i’m invisible

invincible indivisible

in a way i’m as fragile as a

breath on the tip of a storm

Mid Winter Survival Dance Song, Johanastan, circa 1953

new year's song, traditional Johanastan

happy new year again

we were by here not long ago

one more trip around the sun

our time is almost done

happy new year again my friend

Vintage Houdini! circa 1920: Ways of Hollywood

Happy New Year, Houdini!

tad neuhaus, ukelele

joanna dane, vocals

A Spontaneous Tribute to Pauline Oliveros 1932 - 2016

loren dempster, cello

tad neuhaus, guitar

joanna dane, banjo

the devil's truth

tad neuhaus, guitar

loren dempster, cello

joanna dane, vocals

mama don't want to know a thing about you

and the way that you stab her heart

forsaken child of the devil's truth

for shame for shame the devil's truth

oh floozy you can't drive too fast

along the road back home

while mama stands at the gate

while you slip through the door

before you could say how sorry you are

for all the disappointment you've conjured

you didn't grow up like your mama wanted

instead you turned out just like her

forsaken child of the devil's truth

for shame for shame for shame

the devil's truth

the devil's truth

Hope to See You at Take Me to the River!

tonight!

grand kakalin

kaukauna

tad neuhaus, guitar

joanna dane, vocals

where is the river song

tad neuhaus, guitar 

joanna dane, vocals

On the Long Prairie Highway

tad neuhaus, guitar

joanna dane, vocals and flute

it is gone through the city

late to the broken evening

dreaming of 6 bells chiming

on the long prairie highway

the past looming larger

then every scrap beside you

i never know to never wander

in the long mountains

among pastures in the doorway of heaven scent

over the long vast breath

on the magic carpet ride

finding me turning around turning round

breathing in and out

inside of you

never never wonder

why is love how

it has to be

please

beside you baby oh i

wonder never wander

inside beside child of high sky wide

i’ll be back

back inside

child child child child child

child

oh my my beautiful child

never never never never never

never wonder why

why love is how it has to be

baby

why it has to be

baby please

never never never never never

wonder why love is how it has to be

please

beside you baby

oh i wander

never wonder

inside

beside child of high sky why

i’ll be back back inside

i’ll be back back back back back

i’ll be back back back

i’ll be back inside

child

towards the end of mile four

playing banjo in the empty parklet

as the end of the festival grew near,

people walking by averting their eyes

three kids gave thumbs up

a friend of my son said hi

a thin man stumbled in

laid down to sleep 

with his pack

between me and his head

a young hobo screeched to a halt

with a blanket, a lunch box, a washboard

and something dripping from his bag

he asked me to watch his stuff

while he went to pee

i said sure enough and kept on playing

two clean cut guys set their chairs real close

mind if we listen? they asked with a smile

and i kept on playing

Rare Strawberry Moon - Always a Work in Progress

listen to a new improvised song by 

Tad Neuhaus, Loren Dempster, and Joanna Dane:

Our practice is to spontaneously make songs,

lyrics lifted from my notebooks

sung to whatever Tad starts playing on guitar.

That seems to be the easiest way.

And now Loren joins us with his cello.

Every song is flawed and unique,

of the moment,

a bird flight,

a cloud rolling,

a river flowing,

a rare strawberry moon.

"For me personally 

strawberry moon 

at 38 seconds 

sounds pretty bad on my end 

for a few seconds, 

but the cello solo sounds good.  

Overall blog post worthy.

Maybe it would work
for you to call it 

a work in progress 

or something like that 

to explain your process?"

Loren Dempster on Strawberry Moon

Working Our Way Towards Marigold Wings

tad neuhaus, guitar

joanna dane, vocals

the light shining in my window

i see you floating above me flying high and wide

in your marigold wings

oh those long wings

flying marigold wings
flying so high

right to the far stretches of my distant lonely heart

i’ll find you

i swear i’ll find you

no matter where no matter what no matter
i what must i do
a what must i do
a what must i do

smile wide

and fly awhile

straight towards

my heart

22 blocks wide

some like me trying to get close to you

just beat my drum

call my line

take my hand

fly my kite

deep inside i believe

in the long history

of these old stories that keep

coming round

all you have to do is call me
i'll step right up i'll come running

yes i will yes i will to see you
oh it's getting so late,
it's getting late yeah, 

oh it's getting kind of late

it's time to go

the universe song

go ahead and dance to a universe song:

tad neuhaus, guitar and drum machine

joanna dane, vocals

What a haunting thing

To look deep into the stars

And to realize we are nothing more than

A speck on a speck on a speck on a speck on a speck on a speck on a speck on a speck of dust that’s invisible to the naked eye and even more insignificant than that.

If we go deep inside, smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller,

We encounter the vastness of the stars.

And what is this connection between this internal infinity and this crazy idea,

the reflection of the universe expanding backwards in time?

Someday we’ll pass back through the swinging doors

And the only thing that will be left will be the echoes of our stories

Echoing and fading

Echoing and fading

Echoing and fading

Until there is nothing left.

Illustrations for "Improvisational Essays" and Thoughts on a Project Near Completion

with an accompanying song:

I didn't know there was going to be so much about hearts and the llama drawing was a complete surprise.  At over 200 pages, it's less than 2/3's the size of the first collection and yet it feels bigger, though the memory of how big the first really was has surely been diminished with time.  (Or enlarged?)

I have spent the last several weeks with this and now I'm almost sick of it.  I keep telling myself it will be done when I look at it for two straight days without making a single change.

The pace of change is slowing.  Still everyday, I'm adding pages and making corrections.  The end though, is very close.  

And then what?

Andrew gave me a giant blank journal.  I opened it and wrote, "What should we consider when embarking on a journey?"  

And that has led me here, to the end of a book made of the fragments of a writing life, an art school teacher.  Much has been left out.  Many things repeat.  Rhythms ebb and flow.  When I was arranging the pages and struck with an idea for a drawing, I would scribble it on extra long paper, so for a while there flapped: "A drawing of Egg and Sperm"

?

What to do when returning from a journey?  How to both end and begin?  Maybe someday, I'll dream up some way, but for now, it's more fun to ask questions.

Does it matter if ants have hearts?  Hell, yes it does!  And I still don't know the answer.