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Wirrow and Wrainy in Wrainy's starflower hut. :D

Watercolor and pen

The title pretty much says it all. Normally, this is how I spend my evenings, but when I heard this song, I just had to get up and dance in the middle of the day. I'm a terrible dancer, by the way, which means this record is extra silly and extra fun.

I had this idea while I was in New Orleans. I wanted to try and make a sort of PSA about how to wear your hitRECord button fashionably. It's supposed to be cheesy and ridiculous, so please don't be offended. :)

I made a little video today for amferraro's amazing song, "my heart carries stones." It took a while, but it finally uploaded. :)

A lovely fountain we walked by.

Firstly, I want to say that this was done with nothing but love. When I released the feigning interest vid a few months back, some people thought it would be funny to remix it in with other videos. When Joe released this record about re-RECs, someone suggested I use that video, so I did and kind of hung on to it for a while. I revisited it tonight, refined some of the edits and voila! It's meant to be funny, so I hope no one takes offense at all. I love making re-REC albums and have been diligently releasing them for months.

This is an old Appalachian spiritual from the 19th century that's in the public domain. It sometimes goes by the name Down to the River, but the first written versions used valley instead of river, so that's what I did here. It was sung by slaves working the field and first appeared in a book of slave songs in 1867. suzyrene brought it to my attention on tumblr.

I love this song and added some oooohs over the verses. I think this is a great song to build on, and I would love to hear other voices on it +harmonies. It just begging for a whole chorus of people. I tried coming up with a harmony after I composed the ooooh harmony, but it wasn't working, so I figured I'd throw it out to you guys.

The lyrics - roughly - are below. I didn't deviate hugely, but they're not 100% accurate.

As I went down in the valley to pray

Studyin' about that good old way

And who shall wear the starry crown

Good Lord, show me the way

Oh fathers let's go down

Let's go down come on down

Oh fathers let's go down

Down in the valley to pray

As I went down in the valley to pray

Studyin' about that good old way

And who shall wear the robe and crown

Good Lord, show me the way

Oh mothers let's go down

Come on down don't you wanna go down

Come on mothers and let's go down

Down in the valley to pray

As I went down in the valley to pray

Studyin' about that good old way

And who shall wear the starry crown

Good Lord, show me the way

Oh brothers let's go down

Let's go down come on down

Come on brothers and let's go down

Down in the valley to pray

As I went down in the valley to pray

Studyin' about that good old way

And who shall wear the robe and crown

Good Lord, show me the way

Come on sinners and let's go down

Let's go down oh, come on down

Come on sinners and let's go down

Down in the valley to pray

As I went down in the valley to pray

Studyin' about that good old way

And who shall wear the starry crown

Good Lord, show me the way

I've loved this song ever since it was released, and I listen to it and sing along with it every day. So tonight I decided, what better way to show tia and megan how much you love their work than to record yourself singing along with it. And voila!

I first noticed this collab a long time ago and knew I wanted to contribute, but wasn't sure how to go about it, because I didn't want to say it in text or video.  

I want to make something very clear: this isn't a 'woah-is-me' record. This is more of a statement on self-perception. I think we all have days where we wished we could fix this or change that about our appearance. I know I have, especially when I was younger. We can become very harsh critics, picking ourselves apart, dissecting every perceived flaw. And in today's society it is possible to 'fix' some of these perceived imperfections via surgery, which it seems like more and more people are turning to. Which, in my personal opinion, is unfortunate. As someone who admittedly enjoys looking at both beautiful men and women, the people I find the most attractive are not perfect by traditional standards. There's something unique that sets them a part, something different, something that they probably considered a 'flaw' at some point in their life. 

I have, at one time or another, felt all of things I wrote over this self-portrait. And there are still things about my appearance that I don't fully enjoy. I'm never going to be BFFs with my freckles, for example. But I have embraced them to the point where, even if given the opportunity, I wouldn't alter them.

What I eventually want to do is create a two-frame image with an honest self-portrait in one frame, and a distorted one in the other, to show how we can become so easily deceived by our own perceptions and criticisms. So in that way, this picture could probably best be described as 'notes' for that project.

So, if you do choose to heart this record or, especially comment, please be aware that this is not a current reflection of how I feel about myself and my appearance. I chose to do a self portrait of myself because it was the easiest and most honest way to send the message.

A reading of Two Swans, a poem by smweed

A reading of librarygirl6's poem Laundromat.

I really loved the reading and piano piece suzyrene did for pamagotchi's poem Paris and wanted to try putting some visuals to it. It was difficult to find images of Paris in winter, but I did my best!

For missamerica <3

For Issa's mugshots collab. I wanted to do something with the great video records that came from this, so tonight I had a little fun. :D 

Dans un bois solitaire, composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It's one of two songs he composed in French, and it's a deliberate imitation of a French chanson. I recorded this one day when my nephews were over, so you can hear them a bit in the background at the beginning. Anyway, it's something of a small triumph for me as learning this piece took a lot of work. Even when casually composed, Mozart's pieces are still challenging.

My (rather lengthy) review of the RECollection (plus a few rambles about my special button and a dream I had last night).

I got a little silly with my reRECs this week. :P

I talk about Halloween memories, my favorite Halloween activity, and what Halloween means to me!

I really liked Joe's reading of this piece, but I felt a female VO might be an option to have as well. 

A reading of 'Nightsfall' for Day Glo's collab. I did two takes.

A nice picture I took of a rose today (it smelled as glorious as it looked).

All of the great footage being uploaded for OWS has really got me inspired, and tonight after singing through some music for another project, I sat down at my computer and recorded this impromptu performance of one my favorite songs. 

This Little Light of Mine is a public domain song, often considered a children's spiritual. What I love about it is how the simple lyrics (and I only used one set, the most famous, here) can be interpreted in a great many ways. For me, the song is about making your voice heard and your presence felt, and for that reason it's the song I think of whenever I see groups of people protesting.

Was doing some singing tonight and learned this song, from the 1918 Puccini opera Gianni Schicchi. It's public domain in the US. I sang it in E flat and added some effects. This was really just for fun. 

O mio babbino caro,		My dear father, 
mi piace è bello, bello;	        I like him, he's beautiful, beautiful;
vo'andare in Porta Rossa	        I want to go to Porta Rossa
a comperar l'anello!		and buy the ring!
Sì, sì, ci voglio andare!	        Yes, yes, I want to go!
e se l'amassi indarno,		And if my love is in vain,
andrei sul Ponte Vecchio, 	I would go upon Ponte Vecchio (the old Bridge in Florence),
ma per buttarmi in Arno!   	only to jump in the Arno (the river in Florence)
Mi struggo e mi tormento!	I long for him and torment myself
O Dio, vorrei morir!		O God, I'd like to die!
Babbo, pietà, pietà!		Father, have pity, have pity!

I came across this poem, The Way We Love, by Babbish tonight and was absolutely inspired. It needed to be a song. And the lyrics reminded me of a song you might hear in a musical. So I wrote tune for it. I'm actually working on a harmony to go with the melody here, but I would love for other people to join in with instruments and such. 

When I heard Krrr and Erin's splendid rendition of this, I just had to sing along. It's a little rough, so I can redo or release stems if anyone's interested. 

Since we're still having some problems with the dashboard and recommendations page, I think that making re-recommendation albums and videos have become even more important than usual because they're a great way for us to find records we may have missed. 

I thought I'd make a tutorial explaining some of the nuts and bolts of re-RECing in general, and then talk about how I make my re-REC vids. 

Hope this is helpful!

I've loved this image ever since rejjie released it. This is actually my second time coloring it. The first time, I used colored pencils. It turned out well, but colored pencils don't scan well, so I didn't posted it. This time I used fine point Sharpies, and I like the result!

This is my epic hitreDOODLE I did today! There were actually more swirls, but I cropped the picture because I wanted to center the hitrecord as best I could and because I think you kinda get the point.

Colored version of Strawberries by OhPattyG. Done by hand with sharpies. 

I actually thought the effect on the back of the paper was pretty cool too, so I'm uploading it as well. 

Whenever I write music, I think of the notes I'm writing as planets. So I decided to expand on that idea tonight and drew this. :-D

I did a basic edit of Soul & Serotonin from the Fall Formal. I hadn't seen any edits yet (doesn't mean that there aren't any), and I really loved this performance, so I decided to give it a try.

I see this more as a very basic first step. There's a lot more that could be done. I don't establish the setting at all, like I've seen a lot of other cuts do (and very well, might I add). When it comes to editing, I focus almost solely on finding different angles and cutting to the music. There are no cool effects like layering or multiple shots in a screen. Also, I have no standards when it comes to the quality of footage. I tried to use every resource I could find (and if I used you and forgot to resource you, let me know).

With this particular cut, I found myself really taken in by Tasha's amazing presence on stage. That woman knows how to eye fuck an audience. So you'll see a lot of emphasis on her throughout.

I was in a singy mood today and lalala-ed to a Tchaikovsky piece called "The Crown of Roses." I didn't sing the lyrics because I don't know the Russian lyrics, and the appropriate English lyrics were written sometime in the last 50 years, which means they may still be under copywrite (there's another set that's not, but I don't like those lyrics).

However, I think of my voice as an instrument, the same way a celloist might think of their cello as an instrument, so to me, lyrics don't matter, just the music. I added some echo-y special effects for fun.

I really loved pprescott's tiny story and was inspired by the tiny films both she and azarkowski put together. I sort of combined them here/added a few more things, did some editing, etc. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I wrote and sang this tonight. Yay! Would love it if people added more stuff to it. 

The pool/music bumper used in my reRECs this week.

When I read Pammy's great poem, The Hanging Tree, and saw that she pictured it as an Appalachain folk song, I immediately found a tune in my head and recorded it.

I put together this short video tonight, inspired by the Outsiders Collab and Emily Dickinson's poem, "Nobody knows this little rose." It was published anonymously in the Springfield Republican in 1858 and is in the public domain.

Emily Dickinson was a great example of an outsider in my opinion, because she never went outside. She was a recluse and spent almost her whole life in her home. She was considered a very strange woman by her community. Themes of death and solitude are prevalent throughout her poetry, and this piece is no exception. She is the rose who is so easily picked and discarded - only insignificant things like birds and bees will miss her. I think many people who are outsiders and disconnected from the larger world might identify with that sentiment. 

But my favorite part of this poem is the first two lines - "Nobody knows this little rose/ it might a pilgrim be." The tragedy of this poem is that this rose may be on a spiritual journey before it's plucked and left to die, but nobody knows. To them it's just a rose, in much the same way Emily Dickinson was just that strange woman who never left her house in the minds of her neighbors. 

I feel like this poem is appropriate for the Outsiders Collab because - to me - it's about how society so easily disregards and discards people without taking the time to understand what journey they may be on. 

Nobody knows this little Rose -

it might a pilgrim be

Did I not take it from the ways

And lift it up to thee. 

Only a Bee will miss it - 

Only a Butterfly, 

Hastening from far journey -

On its breast to lie -

Only a Bird will wonder - 

Only a Breeze will sigh -

Ah Little Rose - how easy

For such as thee to die!

This idea was simoultaneously inspired by three collabs: RE: Work, RE: Loops, and Days and Ends. I was thinking about how to capture the repetitive, cyclical, mundane loop that can sometimes be the 9-5 office work week. I originally conceived of it as a text - albeit a very bare bones text - and then decided to represent it visually. 

Most of it was shot on my iPhone (and on location - fancy!), with the lunch and computer screen portions shot on my little Canon Powershot. I used Krrr's "Quirky, " but I'm open to suggestions on musical changes or any changes/thoughts/suggestions you guys may have. 

It's not often that I come across the chance to actually sing in Italian on hitRECord. But lo and behold, Matthew Lister did a beautiful version of Bella Ciao on his guitar and I had to sing along. Had to. Now, I didn't check my Italian, so the pronunciation may be iffy in some spots, but here's the lyrics I went with:

Una mattina mi sono svegliato,

o bella, ciao! bella, ciao! bella, ciao, ciao, ciao!

Una mattina mi sono svegliato,

e ho trovato l'invasor.

O partigiano, portami via,

o bella, ciao! bella, ciao! bella, ciao, ciao, ciao!

O partigiano, portami via,

ché mi sento di morir.

E seppellire lassù in montagna,

o bella, ciao! bella, ciao! bella, ciao, ciao, ciao!

E seppellire lassù in montagna,

sotto l'ombra di un bel fior.

Tutte le genti che passeranno,

o bella, ciao! bella, ciao! bella, ciao, ciao, ciao!

Tutte le genti che passeranno,

Mi diranno «Che bel fior!

One morning I awakened

Oh Goodbye beautiful, Goodbye beautiful,

Goodbye beautiful! Bye! Bye!

One morning I awakened

And I found the invader

Oh partisan take me away

Oh Goodbye beautiful, Goodbye beautiful, Goodbye beautiful! Bye! Bye!

Oh partisan take me away

Because I feel death approaching

Bury me up in the mountain

Oh Goodbye beautiful, Goodbye beautiful, Goodbye beautiful! Bye! Bye!

Bury me up in the mountain

Under the shade of a beautiful flower

And the people who shall pass

Oh Goodbye beautiful, Goodbye beautiful, Goodbye beautiful! Bye! Bye!

And the people who shall pass

Will tell me: "what a beautiful flower"

I was inspired to do this after reading a wonderful poem by thatwasnotveryravenofyou. It'd be cool if other editors wanted to come in and add more footage. I have raw files galore - around 40 minutes of reading this, numerous takes, etc. The song is what lies ahead by megancarnes and hopefully I'll be able to resource it. <3

I found out this evening that one of my favorite love poems ever - A Quoi Bon Dire by Charlotte Mew - is in the public domain. It was first published in Mew's first collection of poetry, "The Farmer's Bride," in 1916.

So, I decided to do something a little more active than just post the poem - I decided to do some readings of it, three to be exact! The text is as follows (and I hope you will find as much beauty in it as I do):

A Quoi Bon Dire - Charlotte Mew, The Farmer's Bride, 1916

Seventeen years ago you said

Something that sounded like Good-bye;

And everybody thinks that you are dead,

But I. 

So I, as I grow stiff and cold

To this and that say Good-bye too;

And everybody sees that I am old

But you. 

And one fine morning in a sunny lane

Some boy and girl will meet and kiss and swear 

That nobody can love their way again

While over there

You will have smiled, I shall have tossed your hair. 

I was inspired by Kampaign's amazing version of the "Star Spangled Banner," and decided to record a version of The Battle Hymn of the Republic. It was written around the time of the Civil War. First came the tune in 1856 by William Steffe, and in 1861 Julia Ward Howe, a well-known ant-slavery activist, penned the lyrics that are most often used today. 

I like this song because it fits into both the America theme and the Bible theme. Howe's lyrics link the judgment in Revelation with the American Civil War. The US, I think, has a reputation in some areas for being very devotedly Christian, and the Bible has been used on both sides of the political arena throughout American history, so I think it's a fitting piece. 

I just sort of sang it low and added in some harmonies (there are five tracks - I can upload each separately if needed). Below are the lyrics I used:

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;

He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:

His truth is marching on.

(Chorus)

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

His truth is marching on.

I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps,

They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;

I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps:

His day is marching on.

(Chorus)

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

His day is marching on.

I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:

"As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal;

Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,

Since God is marching on.

(Chorus)

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Since God is marching on.

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,

With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me.

As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free,

While God is marching on.

(Chorus)

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

While God is marching on.