Tag Archives: This Is Big Green

What’s in the box? (part 2)

Here we are again, man. Week is almost over and, what the hell, time to get back on the blog again. Get right back up on that bronco! as Lee Majors would say. Yee-haw … and the rest of it.

Big GreenSo, where was I? Oh, yeah. I was offering explanations for all of those 7 million songs on our new album, Cowboy Scat: Songs in the Key of Rick, now appearing on iTunes, Spotify, etc., etc.  I believe I left off with “Awesome Hair”. Oh, Governor Scott’s got a glowin’ dome. Governor McDonnell’s got some slop on his top. And so on. Here’s some more ‘splainin’….

Evening Crab Nebula – A resurrected song from Matt’s holiday mix tapes past, re-worked and repurposed to tell part of “cousin” Rick’s wacky election story. Picture a high-paid, low-I.Q. consultant, giving Rick his best advice while standing on one foot. He’s singing this freaking song.

Falling Behind – The news is not good, Rick. Not good at all, man. Look at the polls. Dropping back behind God knows who. T’ain’t never lost a-fore, but there’s a first time for everything. Banjo solo!

Limping Back to Texas – Cousin Rick goes back home to collect his thoughts and a have a little talk with his maker, who sounds strangely like a two-bit Levon Helm impersonation. (You can even hear Salvation Army horns in the background … and a banjo!)

Devil Romney – An embittered Rick rails against a somewhat unaccommodating God as the final nail is sunk into the coffin of his presidential ambitions. Dang you, uncle Jebus!

Endorsing Newt Gingrich – Just what the title says. Rick gives his endorsement to the former speaker, with obvious ulterior motives. Real cranky little country jam.  

Come Back Mean – Dang! Losin’ elections sure can make a man ornery. Next thing you know, a cowboy is likely to go home and do anything he likes … like shut down Planned Parenthood … like force ultrasounds on pregnant women. Deep in the heart of you.

More later. Just watch.

What’s in the box?

Lots going on these days. New podcast, new album, new burnish on Marvin (my personal robot assistant) … everything is new around the hammer mill these days.

Big GreenThis might be a good time to talk about our new album, Cowboy Scat: Songs in the Key of Rick … namely, what’s on it, what complex themes, tortured melodies, and convoluted stories are behind each track. Isn’t that the era we live in? The age of the “back story”, where every reality show has interview sequences in which the stars talk about how they feel about the bogus melodramatic scene they were just in? Yeah, well … we’re not doing that.

Here’s a little run down of the tracks, until I run out of breath. (There’s twenty-one of them, for pity’s sake!)

Fed Up – This is the opening manifesto, the raison d’etre for Cousin Rick Perry’s political ambitions, in which Rick lays out his grievances with the federal government, creeping socialism, intrusive gravity, and what-not. Style: real, down-home country music, served up on a chipped blue plate, just the way you like it. Haw.

This Cracker’s in Paradise – Cousin Rick has a dream about being president, singing “Jesus came a-voting, and I have reaped divine right.” He shares his vision for the first term of the eternal Perry Presidency. Style: funky power ballad. Or something.

Savin’ Myself for America – All right, so running for president isn’t a dream. Turns out it’s hard! But Cousin Rick is determined, right? Style: hint of Roy Orbison rockabilly.

North Camp Pasture – A dirge-like ode to Cousin Rick’s hunting camp formerly known by another name, and the sordid history that follows him like a rabid dog. Style: folk ballad.

Sing, Rick Perry, Sing! – The story of Rick’s rise from young man on the prairie to politician to the crackhead Governor of prayer. Style: well, it varies a bit from country walk to primitive dance to 60s rock sing-along.

Awesome Hair – Hey, who can deny it? Cousin Rick has some fabulous folicles. How does he do it? Only his hairdresser knows, and he’s dishing up the recipe in this number. Style: swing with the Satchmo dial turned up to seven.

To be continued…

THIS IS BIG GREEN: July 2013

This is Big Green – July Jubilee 2013. A special two-hour Big Green podcast, featuring 1) Ned Trek XI: The Space Libbies – Beaming Down to Ayn; 2) Put the Phone Down: Matt and Joe consider problems with the sun, damage at Spring Farm, and other issues; 3) Remembrance of things past (not Proust); 4) Song: Nothing But Time, by Big Green; 5) Big Green considers evident racism, among other things; 6) Live impromptu performance: All I Want, by Big Green; 7) Ideas for promoting Big Green’s new album, Cowboy Scat, in outer space; 8. Song: In Your Dreams, demo version, by Big Green; 9) Exit.

An arrival of sorts.

It’s here, it’s here! Great gob in Heflin, it’s here! What’s that? No, of course I’m not talking about the royal offspring, recently delivered of the Duke and Duchess of whatever-the-hell. Something far more important.

It's here, it's here!What is it? My wristwatch of course. I thought I left it in the local watering hole, but it’s here, in my sock drawer – it’s here! Now if I could just find my socks. (Note to self: check the watch drawer.) Oh, right… and a box came. Not by itself, you understand. A truck dropped it off. It was a biggish box, but not too big. A box full of discs. Not chock full, exactly – what I mean to say is that there were discs in the box. Discs called Cowboy Scat: Songs in the Key of Rick.

Yes, that’s right – it’s Big Green’s third studio album, released after a hiatus of no less than five years (we released International House in 2008). It’s certainly the longest album we’ve ever made – fully twenty-one tracks, 78 minutes of music (if that’s what you call it). The official digital release date is July 31, this coming Wednesday. So am I excited? Damn straight I am. I found my freaking watch, man! I am over freaking joyed!

But anyway … this album is not only our longest, but our fastest. Let me tell you why – we have refined our “clubhouse” recording method to the point where it has only taken us a year to write, record, and finish Cowboy Scat: Songs in the Key of Rick … as opposed to five years with International House, two years with 2000 Years To Christmas. It’s the discipline of doing a monthly podcast (THIS IS BIG GREEN). It’s made us concentrate on actually finishing something, for chrissake. That runs against type in a real serious way. Our “type” is really more about sleeping. Serious sleeping.

But no more! It’s onward and upward from now on! Right … after I take a little …. nap …. zzzzzzzz.

Was that a… truck?

Did you hear beeping?Wait, I heard something. That beeping noise. Did you hear it? Go out and take a look, will you? I’ll just sit here and finish this cardboard sandwich. What? That’s the microwave beeping? Turn it off, then. There’s a good chap.

Oh, yes … hello. Just getting a little impatient here at the abandoned Cheney Hammer Mill in beautiful (now roasting) upstate New York. It’s been so damn hot we can’t even manage to borrow enough electricity to run our fans, and now the refrigerator has gone south (looking for warmer climes, perhaps) and all of our provisions have gone sour. (Except for the lemons, which have turned strangely sweet in their spoilage.) Nothing to eat but cardboard. Here’s the good news: there’s not a lot of that, either.

I just sent Marvin (my personal robot assistant) out to greet the delivery van that will be dropping off the initial pressing of Cowboy Scat: Songs in the Key of Rick, Big Green’s ludicrous new album, hot off the digital presses. Its release date is July 31, but we are expecting advance copies any moment now. Though this is the fourth time in the last hour I’ve sent Marvin out to the brickyard, searching in vain for the UPS truck or the FEDEX van or some over-the-road tractor trailer. He’s about ready to revolt – in fact, I think he’s considering joining that terrifying band Captured By Robots again. I still have nightmares. (Not about that, obviously …. mostly other stuff.)

Hey, I’m looking out the window and I see the ass-end of a semi. Marvin is out there, making some unintelligible hand signals (or claw signals, I should say). They appear to be interpreting his gestures as encouragement to continue backing into our courtyard. This is getting exciting! Yes, they’re moving closer, turning the cab. I can see the side of the trailer now. Big letters that spell, “Mayflower Moving”. Hmmmm… I didn’t know they delivered packages.

Okay, I have to look into this further. Far from delivering anything, they appear to be taking things out of the Mill, like …. LIKE MY ARMY SURPLUS DESK AND CHAIR! LIKE MY DISCARDED MATTRESS! This is shaping up to be one hell of a week.

What’s going on.

Is that what busy looks like? Shut the front door! I had no idea it looked like that. Sakes alive.

Press record nowWell, once again, you are encountering me in the midst of some level of astonishment. Seems like I spend half of my life sore amazed and the other half just plain sore. (I am definitely in the sore second half.) Anyway, never mind my poor self control – these are indeed heady days here at the abandoned Cheney Hammer Mill in now waterlogged upstate New York.  There’s so much shit hitting this fan, it’s hard to see your face through the fertilizer. Or something.

Here’s what we’ve got on the burner: lunch. Marvin (my personal robot assistant) is heating up a can of soup. He doesn’t seem to understand that you need to TAKE THE SOUP OUT OF THE CAN BEFORE YOU PUT IT IN THE FIRE. (I’m hopeful that, if I raise my voice, he will begin to understand.) So if we hear a ‘splosion just before noon local time, we will likely know why. Soup in a can, friends. Keep it cool. That’s all I’ve got to say.

Beyond the lunch issue, there are other things happening round these parts. Cowboy Scat: Songs in the Key of Rick has been sent to the distribution house and will soon be available in all the usual online outlets – iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, blah blah blah. We are also on the verge of pressing a limited run of discs – those should be ready by the end of July, maybe sooner. If you want one, tell Marvin next time you see him at your corner gin mill. (Lush!) Or just leave a comment on this post and let us know. Or visit our contact page.   

We’ve also got another episode of THIS IS BIG GREEN in production, with a fresh installment of Ned Trek. It’s Ned Trek #11, and you’ll hear it very soon. Weird? Yes. Childish and stupid? Perhaps. But you get what you expect, right? Big Green is nothing if not honest.

So, album … podcast … we’ve got it going on here at the hammer mill. Watch for the eerie glow of success. Or … something else.

Inside the Scat.

Still raining? Oh, sure. Hand me the paddle and the sieve.

Well, most of our homeland in upstate New York is under water today. The abandoned Cheney Hammer Mill is practically floating away. What better time to crack out an advance copy of our new album, Cowboy Scat: Songs in the Key of Rick? What else is there to do, right?

We just released the June edition of our podcast, THIS IS BIG GREEN, and in celebration of the arrival of summer, it is a two-hour marathon review of the new album, featuring the all-star cast of Ned Trek:

  • Mr. Ned himself, the talking dressage horse
  • Willard Mittilius Romney, commander of the starship Free Enterprise
  • Doc Tom Coburn, who sounds a lot like Foghorn Leghorn
  • Carl Sagan (deceased), famous astrophysicist
  • Richard Perle, neocon chickenhawk supreme
  • The robot Richard Nixon
  • Mr. Sulu (still strangely hanging out with these losers)
  • Lee Majors (still strangely introducing these losers)
  • Mr. Andy Williams (…. not!) 

You’ll hear biting commentary on every track. Then you’ll hear the track. Then you’ll hear … something else, I’m not quite sure what. (I was half asleep and completely underwater while editing this, it will surprise no one to learn.)

The actual album Cowboy Scat: Songs in the Key of Rick is ready for release, so watch this space: {     }. If you watch it long enough and you don’t see anything, by all means contact us. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to locate some buckets. About fifty of them. And sandbags!

Unique opportunity.

No, this isn’t spam. This is real life. Real as it gets, man. Gravity, oxygen, water, the whole nine yards.

This is what we need. I was just thinking back to the bad old days in the 1970s when television was king and the internets were just a twinkle in DARPA’s eyes. On about five million occasions – maybe slightly more than that – I can remember watching an ad for 120 Classical Masterpieces introduced by the well-known character actor John Williams (not the classical guitarist … nor the composer of the Lost In Space theme song). Now that we are on the verge of releasing our third and perhaps silliest album ever, Cowboy Scat: Songs in the Key of Rick, I only wish we had a marketing powerhouse behind us like John Williams. Or even Guy Williams. (Except that he‘s dead too!)

Looks like, once again, Big Green will do the legwork on our own. We have some volunteer help, as you know. Marvin (my personal robot assistant) will tell all of his robot friends to download the album. (They don’t even need a freaking smart phone!) The man-sized tuber will be in charge of rural distribution; we’ve provided him with the requisite maps of Nebraska and Idaho. The rest of the country will be handled by the two Lincolns, who – as candidates for the presidency – have tread that ground before with great success. We have great hopes for anti-Lincoln, who has made some friends in Nashville. (Actually, that’s Nashville, Franklin, Idaho. Look it up.)

Yes, distribution is always a headache when most of your fans live on other planets. There’s a cost-benefit issue in trying to ship discs via UPS to Neptune; it’s hard to make that $9.95 per unit generate a profit against the transportation costs, even with our interplanetary handling surcharge of $45,682.53 per disc. Add in the exchange rate headaches, particularly in the Quatloo zone planets, and it’s hard to make your nut that way. Still, we try. Mitch Macaphee has some ideas involving matter transportation technology. All very hush hush at this point. We’ll let you know.

Hey, we live on crumbs. It’s the art that matters, right? That’s why we’re assembling an all-star panel of reviewers for our June podcast – experts who will examine Cowboy Scat from multiple insane perspectives. So stay tuned. This may be the best batch yet.

Fragments of brain.

If I could think faster than a slow crawl, I would. That’s the issue, always. And don’t look at me like that, Marvin. Not ALL of us have electronic brains.

What would I do with all that brain power? Well, for one thing, I would get our next album out a bit quicker. Cowboy Scat: Songs in the Key of Rick seems to be in perpetual becoming mode. I know you’re sick of it, I’m sick of it, Matt’s had it up to here, the president has started complaining, the ambassador from Madagascar has issued a protest against Big Green – suffice to say, no one is happy. Hey, well … we’re working as fast as we can. It takes a while to bake all those discs, especially without a convection oven like the big, famous groups have. And then hand painting all those covers. Jesus!

At least, in these modern times, we no longer have to perform the music separately for every disc we sell. That was a real pain in the assets. Eventually, someone – I think it may have been Mitch Macaphee, our mad science advisor, but I’m not certain – told us all about the concept of mastering, then spinning copies off of the master, etc. Up until then, we were recording each copy individually. Talk about quality control issues! Sheesh.

We’ve got an assembly line set up in the abandoned Cheney Hammer Mill, just like the good old days when proles were hammering out … well, hammers within these very walls. (Very clammy walls, I should say.) Big Green is applying the lessons first applied by Henry Ford, in that we line up a bunch of underpaid individuals (including robots and man-sized tubers) and have each one handle a piece of the manufacturing process. Then we drastically underpay them, but not so much that they can’t afford to buy one of the discs on their way out the door.

Well, there’s the factory whistle again. Time to get back down to it. LINE THREE! LUNCH IS OVER!

Stuff and … stuff.

What the fudge. Mother of pearl. Is that the phone again? Take it off the hook – I’m busy, damn it. Busy as John Henry.

What am I doing? Working on our new album, Cowboy Scat: Songs in the Key of Rick. A decidedly low-tech collection, recorded in the clammy basement of the abandoned Cheney Hammer Mill hear in soggy upstate New York, hammered out with great care and aplomb, dropped out of a three story window, and tied in a bow for your enjoyment. We hope you will be pleased, most pleased. Or at least, not angry, like our landlord, who is demanding all of the proceeds from our album sales in return for 47 months of back rent. (Turns out someone owns this dump after all. Who knew?)

Anyroad, yes, yes, I’m working on a CD package for the limited run we will be burning, mostly for giveaways. Cowboy Scat is going to begin life as a digital release, for the most part. We’ll send a copy to Nashville, one to Texas, one to Wyoming, and a few more of those big, square states out there. The drier the better. We may even send you a copy, one one condition: Don’t Tell Rick!

Yeah, Cousin Rick might be sore when he hears these songs. Can’t blame us. We merely culled them from the score of a musical whose libretto was lost on Lake Tahoe in the 1970s and never recovered. A musical that somehow predicted the meteoric presidential ambitions of a man barely out of short pants by that time. A truly prophetic work! Had it lived….

So, why am I doing the album art …. again … after such a mediocre performance on our previous albums? Simple answer: we are cheapskates. Why the hell else would we be squatting in this abandoned mill for the past ten years plus?

And as they say, it’s the stingy man who pays the most. So … back to my payment plan. Keep those cards and letter coming.