Category: Communications


Southern Plains Revisited – The Beginning and New Single

Filed under: Communications, Music, Songwriting, writing — 8 Comments
May 14, 2020

Since the first single from Southern Plains Revisited will be released May 29 on Refrigerator Records (whether I play the show at World’s End Brewing or not), I thought I would fill you in on the beginning of Southern Plains. Cyndy and I have been married for twenty-eight years. We’ve been in love, as we say, since right after high school – where we were friends.

Our first date was during her senior year. I had graduated the year before. We went to see Rusty Weir at the Lone Star Opry House on Industrial in Dallas and had a blast, drinking – you guessed it – Lone Star Beer. Industrial is called Riverfront now. We had a couple of dates after that.

Then, in early ’76, we had a disaster of a double date. We had an okay time together. But the date sucked. We ended up in an apartment lying on the floor next to a couple who were getting excited by the movie they were playing of people doing things we had no intention of doing at the time. But the other couple seemed to be moving in that direction. Neither of us remember exactly how the date ended, but mercifully it ended.

Cyndy called me before Super Bowl Sunday and invited me to a party at a friend’s apartment to watch the game. There were Cyndy, myself, and Joel Nichols at Bruce and Charlotte Gibson’s apartment. We spent more time talking about music than watching the game. By the time the party was over, Joel, Bruce, and I agreed to meet again with guitars and beer to see what transpired.

Stay tuned!

Keep writing the songs that are in your heart.

Peace be with you.

paypal.me/danroark

 

 

 

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Self – Quarantine in Colorado and Other Musings

Filed under: Communications, Family, friends, live, Music, Songwriting, travel, writing — Leave a comment
May 13, 2020

I had planned on publishing a post yesterday. But with social distancing and so forth on the road, There just wasn’t a convenient time to whip out the laptop. I’m getting used to the WordPress app on my phone – I just hadn’t taken the time to check it out. Which is odd considering that time is the one thing I have too much of.

With states taking steps to open up, Sally and I didn’t know what to expect in the way of traffic on the way to Colorado. Of course Dallas and Denton traffic was increasing. Not too much traffic through west Texas, but then, why would there be? The rest areas had very few people, most of whom were either wearing masks or kept their distance. When we stopped for gas, the employees were wearing masks as were most of the customers. Most, but not all, were social distancing.

From Trinidad, Colorado north through Colorado Springs the traffic kept picking up. Enough so that we were caught in bumper to bumper traffic for a time in Manitou Springs. People are still being sensible here for the most part, but there are always those people. Some people were getting back to work in Colorado Springs which caused quite a bit of the traffic.

As for me and mine, except for the masks and social distancing, with the accompanying fear and paranoia, basic life has not changed much. Thankfully, Cyndy is still working and I have writing projects. Granted I’m not playing any live shows at the moment. But I can record videos, do some streaming, and work on new songs. My point is that we have always washed our hands. We have always been careful of door handles and so forth. And we keep a distance from people on a regular basis.

Be that as it may, we’ll see what unfolds. I don’t know if I will get to play what would have been the last show on my tour the end of the month. I’m going home the end of the week. Cyndy and I will come back up here the last week of the month for Cyndy’s vacation and what would have been my shows. We may not be doing much.

Governor Polis of Colorado has said that he would make a decision on restaurants on the 25th. The show at World’s End Brewing in Canon City  is scheduled for the 29th. Since I can set up back in a corner alcove, easily leaving 6-9 feet, I would really like to play the show. The customers are mostly local and probably haven’t left.

But after that, who knows? I have a few shows booked for July that I hope to play. But I’m getting recordings ready to release, writing new songs and other things. I’m not in that much of a hurry if it keeps me from being sick.

Keep writing the songs that are in your heart.

Peace be with you.

 

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The Tie-Dyed Mattress Topper and Pillow

Filed under: Communications, Current events, Fiction, writing — Leave a comment
May 11, 2020

Other colors available include red, green, purple, and rainbow.

I know, I know – with all the choices already available, what has not been done that could make a new mattress topper and pillow stand out? I’m here to explain that to you.

Both the mattress topper and pillow will be tie-dyed with your favorite color. As with other such products, both will conform to your body. The Tie-Dye mattress topper and pillow both have a heating and cooling system (patent pending). The control allows you to set the temperature. Depending on the headache and your body system, you can have the pillow on warm for your headache and cool for the rest of your body – or vice versa for body aches.

But wait, there’s more! The pillow has a music player pre-programmed for different moods. If you’re having trouble sleeping, it can softly play the drum solo from In a Gadda da Vida over and over. It can also play My Love Does It Good over and over, but be careful when you choose this option. If you choose it when you have a headache, it could increase the pain. Other songs for sleep available include songs by Dan Fogelberg and the Moody Blues.

You can also pick the song from the options for you to wake up to. Born to be Wild, Mississippi Queen, We Will Rock You, and the theme song for Shaft are among the available options. With an upgrade you can add your own tunes.

For an additional fee, you can get our proprietary patent pending feature known as the Wave. It slowly moves from side to side gently recalling the not so gentle waves of a waterbed. With a small upgrade, we include a color co-ordinated lava lamp whose movement will match the movement of the Wave.

Get the mattress topper and pillow that will take you back to the days of air hockey, foosball, head shops, and 8 ball pool. Watch reruns of the Mod Squad and bam! You find yourself agreeing with someone, raising up your fist and saying, “solid!”

Order today and get the special price of $199.99 or four equal payments of $52.

Do not delay – order today!!!

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Keep writing the songs that are in your heart.

Peace be with you.

paypal.me/danroark

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If It Wasn’t For A Woman

Filed under: Communications, Current events, Family, writing — Leave a comment
May 10, 2020

This song is dedicated to my mother, Aggie, my wife, Cyndy, my daughter, Jennifer, my granddaughter, Kelley, and all women.  

Keep writing the songs that are in your heart.

Peace be with you.

paypal.me/danroark

 

 

 

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When I was the Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Filed under: Communications, Current events, Family, Stuttering, writing — Leave a comment
May 8, 2020

At some point in my elementary youth, I had a three piece suit. The vest was reversible with two different colors, red and blue as I recall. I very seldom wore the vest on the red side of my own accord. It was around the latter seasons of Man from U.N.C.L.E. We went to a large church with several floors and an elevator.

I have always been able to carry on several trains of thought simultaneously. That’s why I stutter. My mouth doesn’t know which train of thought I want to vocalize. Between Sunday school and the church service, and after church while the grownups talked, kids had relative free time. And I was off on my adventures.

I didn’t really consider myself as Napoleon Solo or Illya Kuryakin. I was like a third agent. A secret part of the team as it were. It was easy to give the impression that I was successfully moving through crowds incognito. Very few of the adults knew me and they wouldn’t have given me another thought past “whose son is that ?”

I would slink onto the elevator – waiting to jump in just before the doors closed. Then I would slink from the elevator to the bathroom in the basement. I could slink with the best of them. Reaching the bathroom I whipped off my coat, quickly reversed my vest, and voilá, instant disguise. I had a pen – actually I had a lot of pens. Both of my aunts on my Dad’s side were elementary school teachers. They would give me a box full of the pens and fillers they had collected through the year. This particular pen looked cool when it was “reversed,” but only had imaginary functionality. It was how I contacted my fellow agents.

Having let the agents know my position and my plan I would slink out the bathroom and up the stairs (never take the same method of travel for the return trip). Then I would slink through the crowd (what did I tell you) popping up by my parents – and again, voilá – I was Dan Roark again. Amazingly enough, no one noticed the difference.

When we got back home I would go off and read a Hardy Boys mystery while planning my mission for the next Sunday. Basking in the glow of a mission accomplished.

Until we slink again….

Keep writing the songs that are in your heart.

Peace be with you.

paypal.me/danroark

 

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Music in the Meantime

Filed under: Communications, Current events, Music, Songwriting, writing — Leave a comment
May 6, 2020

A random shot of me playing when I did that kind of thing.

Of course, live shows are out of the question for an undetermined length of time. And my period of social distancing long distances has also been extended for an undetermined length of time. Our friend, Sam, was interred this morning in Ft. Worth and I’ll be driving Sally back to Colorado. That’s just the way things work during the accelerated circumstances of our present reality.

Yet things have to continue in whatever form they can. In a previous post, I said that I received numerous emails – and still do – that tell me all the things I can do while quarantined. If anyone else wants to learn online, they probably already have a teacher. Then they said I could release new music. And I said (if you’ve been following along) “that I could do.”

And that time is approaching. As I said earlier, my plan was to release the final studio session of myself and Joel Nichols as Southern Plains – beginning with Bruce Gibson and so forth – with two unreleased songs from my Chasing After Wind sessions that we played as Southern Plains, but I did all the parts. Then I bought a cassette to digital device that allowed me to revive most of the Southern Plains recordings. I was anal about recording practices, shows, etc. back then. After I add songs to complete Southern Plains Revisited, who knows what recordings I’ll have for future releases. I should release the first single from the cd in the next few weeks.

But wait…there’s more! Stay tuned…

Keep writing the songs that are in your heart.

Peace be with you.

paypal.me/danroark

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Foxes in the Henhouse

Filed under: Communications, Current events, Music, Songwriting, writing — Leave a comment
April 27, 2020

This song and video is dedicated to Sam Shank. May he rest in peace.

 

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On The Road – No, Seriously!

Filed under: Communications, Current events, Family, Music, Recording, Songwriting, writing — Leave a comment
April 24, 2020

I don’t mean I’m on the road, but I wish I was. I was supposed to start my tour the first of the month. The first half is shot to hell, and I’m not all that optimistic about the last half. And I’m just one of many.  When I say on the road, I mean by myself in my van.

When this all began, I immediately began getting emails about how I, too, could teach music at home online. If I had an inclination to teach music online, I would already be doing it. And where would all the students come from? It’s been said that there is an increase of online learning, but that is across all subjects. The total would also have to include all of those at colleges, high schools, and lower grades who weren’t learning completely online before.

Then they said to take this time to sell more merchandise (I’m a writer – I refuse to call it “merch” – more than just that once). Merchandise didn’t fly out the door before, even for performers with a much larger fan base than mine. Besides, some of those who might buy some stuff are out of a job and on unemployment.

Then there’s the streaming thing. Everyone and his uncle are doing Facebook Live, videos on Instagram, Zoom concerts, and so forth. I don’t have the time to see all the “live shows” because I’m too busy doing other things. So why would I expect a lot of people to be able to watch my “live shows”?

Then they said to release new material. Well that I can do. I was about to release my EP, Southern Plains Revisited, right before my tour began. Joel Nichols, Bruce Gibson, and myself, were Southern Plains. When the gig paid enough, we had bass and drums. Joel and I were a duo for most of the nearly twenty-five years of Southern Plains. With all the extra time currently available, I was able to digitize some of the cassettes and tapes from those days and now have enough material for a full cd rather than just the EP of our last recording session before Joel died. Possibly enough material for future releases. I’ll be releasing music from that project shortly.

My, son, Conner, and I put the finishing touches on the L.A. Sessions cd while in quarantine in Iowa a couple of weeks ago. It includes the remastered songs from my Hello Out There cd in addition to the rest of the songs from that session. It will be released later this year. We also laid down the basic tracks for another cd. Look for new songs throughout the next year. All songs and cds are on the Refrigerator Records label.

While I feel that the streaming game is not for me, that doesn’t mean I don’t want to play for you. When I get my home studio back up to speed, I plan to start a podcast so you can hear it anytime while you’re doing other things. I will also be releasing songs and videos along the way.

Come along for the journey. It’ll be fun!

Oh, and if you like what you read or enjoy what I do, please let me know – paypal.me/danroark.

Keep writing the songs that are in your heart.

Peace be with you.

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When A Window Isn’t A Window

Filed under: Communications, Current events, travel, writing — Leave a comment
November 20, 2019

I was driving to Chattanooga last Wednesday for my show on Thursday at Big Frog Brewing. I was approaching West Memphis when I put the window down to get something off of my hand while I kept the other hand on the wheel. I tried to put it up when it stopped and slowly went all the way down. In the midst of the up and down movement of the window, I heard a crunching sound in the door. Which couldn’t be good.

So I’m driving down the road at 70 miles an hour in 34 degree weather with no window. I pulled into a Love’s and parked in front of the door. I ran inside to the restroom and back out as fast as I could. I called my son, Cameron. He called around and found a Firestone on the east side of Memphis that was still open. If they couldn’t fix it, they could get the window up and tape it in place.

Another 50 minutes of driving in decreasing temperatures and I was at the Firestone. I just asked if they would get it up and tape it. Cameron and would fix it after I got home. They did the best they could – they said – but there was still a gap at the top. I stopped at a larger Love’s. It was either duct tape, electrical tape, or packing tape. A few minutes later, I was taping my window like the last package I mailed – except sloppier because of the angles. Yet it worked.

I drove on to Chattanooga and checked in at the hotel. I spent the rest of the trip feeling like I was driving inside a wind tunnel with the radio cranked.

Keep writing the songs that are in your heart.

Peace be with you.

 

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Bartow History Museum – Pioneer Days, No Power Needed!

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June 12, 2019

No power needed in a pioneer kitchen!

Now, if I may continue after being without power for over two days. And may I say – being without power sucks!

Moving on, after I left Hendershots coffee, with a large coffee safely snuggled in the cup holder, I headed for Cartersville, Georgia, where I had a reservation at the KOA. When I registered at the KOA, I asked if they had information on things to see in the area. He picked some brochures off the rack on the wall and handed me a few.

One of the brochures was from the Bartow History

Right half of room

Museum. I’ve spent a lot of time in museums in my life. Learning about history was a family project when I was growing up, and likewise in my family now. The museum about Bartow County sounded interesting. That, and it was a good place to hang out in air conditioning for a while.

The people who put the museum together did a very good job. It was, of course, based on the people of Bartow county, whom I knew nothing about. I was focusing on the history of the county as a microcosm of the country’s history.

Left side of room

There were artifacts I had never seen before. I’ve been in most of the museums in the east, northeast, and south. Many of them, particularly related to the Revolutionary, and Civil, wars, mentioned saltpeter. It wasn’t until I happened to drop by the Bartow museum, that I actually got to see a container that held saltpeter in it – with the saltpeter still in it. Saltpeter was one of the bigger businesses in Bartow county during the Civil war.

In the picture of the right side of the room is a loom. When I was in elementary school studying spanish/Spain, I made a serape on a loom a bit more modern than the one in the picture, but it functioned exactly the same. Unfortunately, our house burned when I was in high school. The only proof is a picture in the archives of the local newspaper.

I left the museum cooled off, entertained, and informed. The block by the museum looked the same as in the pictures I had just seen – albeit with different establishments. I walked to the first place that looked like it had a cold beer. Turns out it was another historical place of sorts. It was a crowded little pub with a friendly vibe. It was called The Ate 8 Track Bar & Grill. The walls around the bar had shelves filled with – you saw this coming, didn’t you – numerous 8 track players of all types and kinds. Nice place to have a beer and think about all I’d seen at the museum.

Keep writing the songs that are in your heart.

Peace be with you.

 

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