This week’s podcast is the awesome new song by Shaman’s Harvest called “Dragonfly.” I have to admit I really don’t understand the lyrics (it’s hard enough just to find a good transcription of the lyrics), but the song rocks hardcore.  I see it as either a dying person wavering on lucidity or a prediction of the end of the world.

At any rate, I’m noticing my podcasts become more and more challenging, so I find myself pressed for time to record them.  (I give myself about an hour or so on Wednesday evenings).  Anymore, this includes time to learn the song.  That being said, this week, I compromised and did my own arrangement, because, while I know the song pretty well, the faster parts take a little rehearsing to sing along with.

And wouldn’t you know it, I kept screwing up, take after take, and finally I got a pretty good one, and I left out the bridge!  D’oh!  Oh well … here it is.  There are more “so-so” parts than usual, but there are some of my finer musical moments too.  That’s why I decided not to risk another take (even without the bridge.)  Enjoy!

Direct link to podcast video on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go11eRUM-Q4

One of my  new favorite songs is “Odd One” by Sick Puppies, and I had to do it as a podcast.  I really didn’t get the time to rehearse it like I wanted to, but it turned out pretty well despite that!

This makes the third week now using my Ibanez MMM-1 baritone guitar (which I love!), and the second week doing video but using the Sony ICD-SX700 to record the audio.  The new format is here to stay (merging of the old style with actual video of me playing) if I can get the video mixing process down to where it doesn’t take me hours … (Using Cinelerra, and am still learning the nuances).

Direct link to podcast video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_6iGR7CjGk

Not long after I first heard this song (by Alter Bridge) I decided I wanted to do it as a podcast.  Biggest problem?  It’s very rangy, so it was hard for me to sing.  Luckily I got new strings for my baritone guitar, so I was able to get it low enough to be just perfect.

This week you’ll notice that I finally got the hybrid down for the video — I have the intro screen, but I also videoed myself.  The recording was done separately (once again on my Sony ICD-SX700 voice recorder) and I linked them later.  The problem was it was quite difficult to the the audio and video to sync in rendering … but it’s fairly close (the program I used was Cinelerra).

Anyway, here it is.  It’s about as good as I have ever performed this song. Enjoy!

Direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vLW0CC6OOo

This week’s podcast consists of 2 similar songs — “Alone,” from my Triad album (which is one of my favorite songs lyrically because it reads like a poem), and “Love Song,” a cover of the song by my friend Phil Taylor.

Direct link (Alone): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHL3MfPilXo
Direct link (Love Song): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYK8KCRhKY4

This week’s podcast consists of the great “All Along The Watchtower” by Bob Dylan, immortalized by Jimi Hendrix, and “Pieces,” one of my favorite tracks from my Two Sides Of The Same Soul album.  I sing Watchtower with my band, so this is an acoustic take on it.

Direct link (All Along The Watchtower): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUVIhy7ds_s
Direct link (Pieces): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgT2mftVZ2Y

This week’s song is the ever-popular “Endless Rain” from my “Heaven” album.

Direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj5XqGVs8EQ

This week I chose to do “Careless Whisper” — a great song originally by George Michael that Seether was able to completely take to the next level.  I sing this with Town Crier, so it was a natural choice.

Direct Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvfnKyvzXNE

This week’s podcast is another two-parter. The first song is “Lightning Crashes,” a great song by [wiki]Live[/wiki] who I first heard live when I was in college in 1997 or 1998. I sing the song with Town Crier.  This recording was made before I really “moved in” to the song, so there are some variations that I no longer do.

The second song is “The Thirst” from my album The Threshold of Omniscience.  I originally chose the song as a podcast right after I wrote it.  I liked it so much, I just had to share.  It too, has evolved somewhat.

As usual, these songs were recorded by just me and my acoustic guitar in my studio on my Sony ICD-SX700 Voice Recorder.

Direct link (Lightning Crashes): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMTMsaaOyPA
Direct link (The Thirst): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdRT4jflN0E

This week’s song is “Irrational” from my Two Sides Of The Same Soul album.  This is a pretty dramatically introspective song (go figure) with a general free form, and it’s one of my wife’s favorites. 

Direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHiUv2Ws6-w

This week’s songs are “[wiki]Mr. Jones[/wiki]” (originally by the [wiki]Counting Crows[/wiki]), and “Bedroom of the Sun” by Me (on my album Triad).

The reason there are two songs this week is I decided to start doing one cover and one original each week.  I chose to do “Mr. Jones” because I sing it with Town Crier (it’s the last song in our first set), and “Bedroom Of The Sun” is just one of my favorites (it was also requested).

As usual, this is just me on my acoustic guitar, recorded at home in my studio on my Sony ICD-SX700 voice recorder.

Direct link (Mr. Jones):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwgkDVCK2wI
Direct link (Bedroom Of The Sun): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH5I0RsNBmM