Category: Music


What Lies Ahead I Wonder?

Filed under: Communications, Current events, live, Music, open mic, Recording, Songwriting, writing — Leave a comment
June 24, 2020

Good question, thank you for asking. More waiting, I’m afraid. Waiting for the single to be released. Waiting for the time when live music becomes common again. I’m in no hurry if health is at issue.

The reason I am in no hurry is the positive news. The single will be released. I can still play live, as it were. I played my first livestream last Friday that went well until Conner’s camera died. We did get a chance to record a few videos. Waiting does not imply sitting around doing nothing. I have to admit though, that I had a few weeks of not being able to finish a thought at the beginning of this madness.

To answer the question however, quite a bit lies ahead. I’ll be releasing a video this weekend. There will be livestreams to come starting next week – I’m working on the schedule and material now. I play in the Poor David’s Pub Virtual Open Mic hosted by Rob Case every Monday. Check it out at 7 p.m. CT.

More singles will be released, but not on my schedule. The release of the Southern Plains Revisited album has also been moved back along with everything else. Hopefully by September.

So keep an eye out for my new video this weekend. And my next livestream coming very shortly.

Keep writing the songs that are in your heart.

Peace be with you.

paypal.me/danroark

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Livestream Tonight at 6 p.m.

Filed under: Communications, Current events, live, Music, writing — Leave a comment
June 19, 2020

I will be playing for about half an hour at 6 p.m. (CT) this evening (6/19). It’s last minute notice, but my son, Conner, had to finish setting up his new computer and connecting everything. We ran a quick test last night and everything seems to be set.

I’ll be streaming on the Refrigerator Records Facebook page, as well as my personal and music pages. I’ll begin with River That Flows, the song I’ve been trying to release as a single from the upcoming cd, Southern Plains Revisited (with Joel Nichols). But, thanks to Covid-19, the release has been delayed.

Included in the show will be a John Prine song – my first chance to publicly pay tribute after his passing. And a song I wrote after the shooting at the peaceful Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas in 2016.

Tune in at 6 and listen to some songs. It should be a good time.

Keep writing the songs that are in your heart.

Peace be with you.

paypal.me/danroark

 

 

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Single Release Delayed and a Poem

Filed under: Communications, Current events, Music, Poetry, writing — Leave a comment
May 29, 2020

For some reason which I not only do not know, but have no control over, River That Flows – the first single from Southern Plains Revisited – will be released on a future date. Please look for it and stay tuned.

While you’re here, a poem.

Moments

 

Transcending forests,

hovering above trees,

Romantic concepts,

Bringing men to their knees.

 

It is a hint of loneliness

with a dash of hope,

There is always promise

Where there is water and soap.

 

It is possible to trip

on a man’s heartstrings,

reach into his mind,

and repossess the memories

or help the mess unwind.

 

It could very well be a blessing,

or hinge upon a curse,

If he chooses to depend on miracles,

or simply expects the worse.

 

It comes to the magic of the moment

and how the magic is spent,

Between the meaning as it has been received,

and the meaning as it is meant.

 

Confusion enters the arena,

Yet joy wins out over all:

When everyone just goes for joy

decreasing the chances of a fall.

 

And when you see the magic

of the moment,

You realize you have it all.

_________________________________________________________

Keep writing the songs that are in your heart.

Peace be with you.

paypal.me/danroark

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The Road Home and Covid Dreams

Filed under: Communications, Current events, Music, Songwriting, travel, writing — Leave a comment
May 14, 2020

So I left Colorado on Friday morning – a beautiful day. The traffic was still rather light, but had picked up a little each day. It was a nice day for a drive. A damn long drive, but there you are. The weather warmed up, the air was clear, and the clouds were seemingly drifting through space and time. 

Radio reception cut out on the drive through New Mexico. I listened to the latest mix Conner sent me of the songs for the LA Session cd to be released later this year on Refrigerator Records. The songs sounded so good I was tempted to release it earlier, but everything in its own time. It is good traveling music.

The timing worked out perfect. Radio reception kicked back in when I finished listening to the mixes. A couple of hours later I was past Amarillo. Weather warnings began to interrupt the radio show. Rain, ping pong ball size hail, and sixty mile an hour winds were attacking the panhandle behind me. I was appreciating the fact that I had dodged that particular bullet. 

I appreciated that fact all the way to Hwy 380. The wind had picked up considerably by that time. Then I hit a little light rain. No big deal. I called Cameron to see if he was at his apartment in Denton. I was going to stop off, say hi, and use the bathroom. But soon after we hung up, the bottom dropped out. God’s way of telling me he didn’t appreciate my over confidence. 

On 35, visibility was reduced to having to turn on the flashers to warn those behind us. I worried about those whose common sense seemed lacking. I had to go around two accidents, the first of which I was almost in. But I arrived home with no incident in which I was involved.

I’ve been wearing a mask and social distancing the whole time. On one level of my conscience I’m getting used to it. On another level, I’m kinda tired of the whole damn thing. I would like to have a beer at the bar and then finish my show when the break is over.

In my dream last night, the trip – as well as events of the past few months – invaded that same conscience. There is a lot of jumbled parts that made an impression, but I don’t remember what happened. However, one scene struck me vividly. 

I was at a gathering of some sort. It was obviously pre(or post)- Covid 19. While the groups were away from each other, it was closer than six feet. I was walking through the crowd, saying hello to what seemed like everyone. I wasn’t shaking hands, but I was patting everyone on the shoulder. I got halfway through the crowd when I became horrified at what I was doing. Yet I couldn’t stop. Then I suddenly woke up with a shake.

I’d rather not have that dream again, if it’s all the same.

_____________________________________

Keep writing the songs that are in your heart.

Peace be with you.

paypal.me/danroark

 

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Southern Plains Revisited – The Beginning and New Single

Filed under: Communications, Music, Songwriting, writing — 8 Comments

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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Virtual Brewery Tour – World’s End Brewing

Filed under: Beer, brewery, brewing, craft brewery, Current events, Music, writing — Leave a comment
May 7, 2020

Picture taken at my last show at World’s End Brewing.

I was looking at my tour calendar that I had been ignoring and hadn’t crossed out all the cancelled dates yet. Fortunately, most of the breweries I was going to play are still surviving. I’m still hoping to play a few shows at the end of the month. But I thought I would feature the breweries here and give a shout out to them.

World’s End Brewing in Canon City, Colorado, was where I was to begin and end my tour. It was – after all – my World’s End Tour. It’s a great little brewery on the corner. Tom Martinez and his wife – a sweet couple – run the brewery. They have delicious food to go along with their tasteful craft beers.

Bavarian pretzel sticks go with almost any beer. Cactus Needles are strips of jalapeno and sweet onion, battered and fried, with blackened ranch. World’s End also has the usual appetizers with their unique spin on them. Don’t expect your usual fried pickles.

The entrees run the palate pleasing gamut from hot dogs and chili dogs, to Fish and Chips, wings and BLT, to build your own angus burger, salmon burger, a panini, to fruit and salads. Something to go with a variety of beers. Fortunately, World’s End has just such a variety. King’s Kona Stout is on the heavy end with coffee. They have a few fruit beers, currently Code Blue, Fairy Dust, and Frostberry.

The beer menu also usually includes a porter (Lethe’s Tears), a wheat beer (EJ-5), a kolsch (Reclamation), and a pale ale (Dragonspit). A few of my favorites – I have more – are the Suicide Blonde Bomber (blonde ale), Durty Leprechaun (Irish red ale), and the Dark Abockalypse (bock of course). Yet there’s more. When you’re in the area, check them out. If you can’t stop for while, grab some food and beer to go. You can order on the website before you get there. Either way, check out the beers they have. And tell Tom I said hi.

Keep writing the songs that are in your heart.

Peace be with you.

paypal.me/danroark

 

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Music in the Meantime

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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

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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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