5:46 minutes

I do some weird things with recorded music creating sound tracks.

For example, on “Children” I used three different pieces of music.

The main piece of music has instrumental with it and angelic voices of women. It is a cover by Sandra Turley. It’s 118 BPM and in C major. I changed that to 129 bpm to match the G major Three Dog Night version of “Prayer for the Children.” The piece that is overlaid and causes the most dissonance with the Tabernacle Choirs version in C major and 118 bpm. I change the bpm to 129 to match Three Dog Night.

So I can get all the beats per minute to match just fine or close enough.

I had some other covers but they were in minor keys. So I didn’t use them.

Audacity allows you to change bpm and key.

I measured the clips with an online tool: https://tunebat.com/Analyzer

But when I open each file in Audacity, it never matches the same reading. So I count the steps difference and relatively increase or decrease the pitch. It never matches. A guessing game.

I would have liked to have gotten all these into C major like the main vocal part.

Prayer Of The Children

by Kurt Bestor

Can you hear the prayer of the children
On bended knee, in the shadow of an unknown room?
Empty eyes, with no more tears to cry
Turning heavenward, toward the light

Crying, “Jesus, help me
To see the morning light of one more day;
But if I should die before I wake
I pray my soul to take.”

Can you feel the heart of the children
Aching for home, for something of their very own?
Reaching hands, with nothing to hold on to
But hope for a better day, a better day

Crying, “Jesus, help me
To feel the love again in my own land;
But if unknown roads lead away from home
Give me loving arms, away from harm.”

Can you hear the voice of the children
Softly pleading for silence in a shattered world?
Angry guns preach a gospel full of hate
Blood of the innocent on their hands

Crying, “Jesus, help me
To feel the sun again upon my face;
For when darkness clears I know you’re near
Bringing peace again.”

7:24 Minutes

Thought I’d share this conversation with Ed Jenkins who did the male voiceover for “Longday”:

Ed Jenkins
Mar 19, 6:15 AM

Oh wow, that sounds amazing! Whoever you got to voice Kahira really puts me to shame.

Steve’s reply:

Female voiceover is Chloe Wigmore: Fiver talent because of Covid. I’ll be improving the visuals and some sound effects. So it will go through another iteration. And your voice is perfect for what we’re doing. Don’t compare. It will only bring you unhappiness and dissatisfaction. Of course, anxiety can be a great motivator.

Never use Chloe as your benchmark. Just look and see if you improved your own journey. When you see someone at the top of the ladder, you know they didn’t fall there.

The original 2017 short story “Last Planet from Planet Longday” is a 45-minute read. I took one scene as an excerpt – the one you just made. It was the scene with the most interesting dialog. It’s about 4 minutes. Visually boring.

But the script was lost. I had a transcript made. That took one day with Fiver talent in India. I built an MP3 as reference for pronunciation of fabricated names and places. The synthetic voices are Amazon Polly. That probably cost 15 cents.

“Last Rocket from Planet Longday” is a sci-fi conversation between a marooned man and woman. In reality, I think they’re two of my internal voices. Self-talk.

Longday was my first video attempt and so dismal my son Levi and brother Brad (both creatives) gave it a thumbs down. I didn’t do another video for an entire year. It was long and I used male and female synthetic voice for the voice track. I had no money for voice talent at the time.

I decided I’d adopt the mantra “Embrace Mediocrity.” And I started producing one “mediocre” video per week. This version of “Longday” is my 129th video.

Jade the poetess said: “I love the rocket video. The voiceovers are amazing.”

4:23 minutes

This poem is dedicated to Julie Hadley.

On 3/19/21 6:34 AM, Jade Rawlings wrote:

i LOVE “fallible” the music is perfect, your voice with the feminine voice is really great and flows amazing! “the solution… run, run until you ache in your side, and then laugh at the fright that made you run” that line hit me hard. i want to get that as my next tattoo.

i resonated with it, because something in me tells me to run when i’m afraid but something in me says dare them to try harder.

so many times have i looked into sadistic empty eyes and laughed with a mouth full of blood, taunting him, “if your going to hit me, hit me harder. because hesitation is a dead mans game” almost wishing he would have the courage to end my suffering, but he was never so kind, or maybe he just wasn’t brave enough. “laugh at the fright that made you run” that was powerful. that was timeless. my soul connected to those words. thank you for being a genius.

I replied:

Your words are encouraging.

“Fallible” was made for two people in particular. It helps to have an imaginary audience when building something like that. You and me. And anyone like us.

I’m glad you think I’m a genius. It only counts when you say it. Because it takes one to know one.

4:37 minutes

GONE TO TEXAS

In 1830, William Dewees wrote to a friend, “It would amuse you very much could you hear the manner in which people in this new country (Texas) address each other. It is nothing uncommon for us to inquire of a man why he ran away from the States! But few persons feel insulted by such a question. They generally answer for some crime or other which they have committed; if they deny having committed any crime, and say they did not run away, they are generally looked upon rather suspiciously.”

When Southerners began leaving their homes, many would simply scrawl “GTT” with chalk on their cabin doors or fence posts — for “Gone To Texas.” In time, GTT became shorthand for “at outs with the law.” Frederick Law Olmsted wrote that residents of other states “appended the initials to the name of every rascal who skipped out.” In 1884 Thomas Hughes observed, “When we want to say that it is all up with some fellow, we just say, ‘G.T.T.’ as you’d say, ‘gone to the devil,’ or ‘gone to the dogs.’ ”

“Gone to Texas” lyrics and vocalization by Steve Teare.

Introductory guitar solo: Edie Van Halen from “Beat It” by Michael Jackson slowed to 136 beats per minutes.

Intro drums “Crazy Hard Rock Metal” drum track excerpt.

Story voice: “The Gunslinger” by Stephen King

ZZTop sound alike: “Texas Techno” by Audionautix

Outro music: “Skinny Leonard” by Audionautix

Illustrations and interpretations by many artists of “The Gunslinger”

GONE TO TEXAS

Over yonder Skinny Elijah

should oughta heard him play

rockin’ in the tool house

Hurricane Cowboy

y’all Gone to Texas

playin’ like there’s no tomorrow

solid rhythm so fine

y’all Gone to Texas

Behind the wranglin’ rocker

plumb pushin’ upbeat

reckless riff rockin’

Gone to Texas

playin’ like there’s no tomorrow

fixin’ to be a legend

might could change the world

Hear what I say

Gone to Texas

Gone to Texas

playin’ like there’s no tomorrow

Gone to Texas

Gone to Texas

over yonder Skinny Elijah

should oughta heard him play

rockin’ in the tool house

Hurricane Cowboy

playin’ like there’s no tomorrow

Y’all Gone to Texas

Y’all Gone to Texas

Y’all Gone to Texas

playin’ like there’s no tomorrow

3:51 minutes

Mary Teare & Steve Teare honor Kurt Teare

2:39 minutes

DEEP

Last night as I lay in the black of night, away from the collective consciousness of the world, deep in slumber, I had a dream:

We danced with our hearts close,
rather than separated by oceans of defenses,
of pretenses, of fears,
of towering walls of mistrust.
So afraid of the other’s truth.

Rather we pulled each other in close.
And placed our warm hand on the thumping heart of the other
and talked and shared,
and trusted and cared.

I deep into you. You deep into me

We stripped “naked.”
Dropped our defenses;
forgot our pretenses;
lay waste to our fears and flattened those towering walls.

Our souls bare and defenseless to each other,
exposed to the gaze of the other for just a moment…
or an eternity.
Protective of one another.

You deep into me. I deep into you

Our eyes were open like those of a newborn babe
gazing on the world for the first time;
our ears waited patiently;
our arms open, beckoning, eager to be filled;
our hearts already full.

I deep into you. And you deep into me.

Mmm…

Then, I turned to go deeper into my dream, but instead I blinked and squinted at the bright light of a new day peeking through my bedroom window. It was already morning.

And I realized, oh, it was just a dream… and I was very sad — for it was a sweet, sweet dream while it lasted.

2:43 minutes

SOFTER….
Come to me with the sweetest embrace,
teach me how to be tender,
at the shore of the ocean,
waves gently lapping our fingertips,
do you want to dive in?
tell me you do.
tell me,
tell me,
tell me softer.
Look into my eyes,
caress my cheek like milk porcelain,
Open your mouth,
whisper my name,
sweet poison on your tongue
holy holy holy
cannot save you now,
is it a sin to love me?
is it a sin i long for you?
let me fall on my knees in worship,
sweet kisses of my lips,
close your eyes,
do you feel me?
my sweet breath on your neck?
softer,
softer,
Till all my pain is gone,
Till my dying heart is brought back to it place,
push and pull like the waves…
do you want to dive in?
tell me you do.
tell me softer.

WATER

smooth surface
deep water
slide a hand
slapping sound

ripples
circles
ever expanding
bouncing

down deep
there you are
siren
mermaid
temptress

the deepest abyss
still has a bottom
Let’s go there
float
illuminate
dance in slow motion

Do you hear the music?
It sounds your name
gentle and soft
silent communication
interlocking fingers

private
bubbles