Category Archives: Music

My New, 2-Year-Old Fan

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A couple of weeks ago I woke up to a message that made my day, my week, and really, my month! The fellow gave me permission to share it, so here goes:

Hello Gray,

I was flipping through a Star Wars book with my 2-year-old this morning (The Illustrated Star Wars Universe, a collection of concept art for the original trilogy) and she was very interested in the tauntauns on Hoth.

In the car on the way to daycare, she started crying and saying “Want tauntaun song please … want tauntaun song … tauntaun song please!” I tried explaining to her there is no tauntaun song. Then, I tried making up my own (it was … not good) and I think she actually stopped loving me for a few minutes.

Finally, I went to Spotify (don’t worry, I was stopped in traffic) and found “Tauntauns to Glory.” We listened to it three times.

So, anyway, thanks for writing a song about tauntauns!

How about that? I thought that was marvelous.


(Image: “Luuk (sic) on Tauntaun,” by Anton Van Dort, on Deviant Art under Creative Commons.)

And if you don’t know what all that fuss was about, you can queue up “Tauntauns to Glory” on Spotify or listen free at this link!

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LibertyCon! and, DeepSouthCon!

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I’m so glad to get to go to LibertyCon again! My lady Lisa and I will be driving to Chattanooga — a shorter trip than it used to be, since the move — for the 35th iteration of the best fannish family reunion, which this year is also the host site of DeepSouthCon 61! The convention officially starts Friday, though I hope to get in a game of Terraforming Mars Thursday evening.


LibertyCon!

Here’s my official schedule:

Friday:

  • 5 p.m. — Opening Ceremonies — at which I will sing my newest LibertyCon song
  • 6 p.m. — Give Me LibertyCon! and Onward LibertyCon! Roundtable and Mass Autograph Session
  • 11 p.m. — Open Filk — come join in!

Saturday:

  • 10 a.m. — Brunch Banquet — always a fun time listening to the Guests of Honor!
  • 2 p.m. — Baen Books Traveling Road Show & Prize Patrol
  • 5 p.m. — Authors/Artists Alley — come by and chat!
  • 11 p.m. — Open Filk — more nerdy music fun!

Sunday:

  • 9 a.m. — Nondenominational Prayer Service
  • 10 a.m. — Kaffeeklatsch — which for me involves tea or the like
  • 11 a.m. — Panel, “Tales from Mission Control / Space Operations” — in which I try to remember what I used to do in the Air Force …
  • 2 p.m. — Reading — with my friend Karl Gallagher!

In between I’ll be attending other events, hanging out here or there, maybe even wandering a bit around town. I know it’ll be a grand time, though — it always is! — so let’s have some fun!

___
Related Items of Interest:
– Watch the music video of Tauntauns to Glory
– Listen to Taking You Out to See the Stars, Distorted Vision, or Truths and Lies and Make-Believe

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Album Release: Taking You Out to See the Stars

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The new album is live on Bandcamp at this link!

And check out the cover art put together by my son, Christopher:

As of now, it’s only available on Bandcamp, but as we get the interior artwork finished we’ll produce a few physical CDs, and over the next couple of weeks we’ll submit the album for inclusion on streaming services like Spotify.

Hope you’ll give it a listen, and that something you hear will resonate with you! (And if it does, tell your friends!)

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I Did Something Nice, Finally

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In situations like this, I think of Inigo Montoya saying to Fezzig, “You did something right,” and Fezzig replying, “Don’t worry, I won’t let it go to my head.”

Despite all the miscues of this week — the poor communications, the questionable decisions, the visit to urgent care, bailing out of LibertyCon because I’m not in the right “head space” — I did manage to do something nice: I wrote a lullaby.

As lullabies go, it’s nothing special — just soft, repeated phrases with a tie-in at the end. It’s called “Dream a Little While,” and the first verse goes like this:

Go to sleep, my little child
Go to sleep, my little child
Go to sleep, my little child
Dream a little while

It cycles through five verses, but anyone could make up more if they want to. Feel free to pass it to any new parents who are tired of the old lullabies. (I can verify that it worked at least once with young Finn.)

I don’t know if anyone else will ever use it, but if they do I hope they’ll let me know.

Here’s the link to the PDF of the score: “Dream a Little While”.

And here’s yours truly doing a quick-and-dirty recording on his phone:

___

Also, in tangentially related news: My new album, Taking You Out to See the Stars, is now 100% musically complete, with 13 songs of various types — covering, as you might imagine, a wide range of topics, but not including this particular lullaby. The album is available for preorder at the link, and should be released on Thursday the 23rd of June once the placeholder cover is replaced with the real cover art.

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A Hazard of Haphazard Songwriting

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I debuted a song last night in the first RavenCon “open filking” session that illustrates that my slapdash approach to songwriting is often more slap than dash. (I don’t know if that makes sense, but I didn’t get much sleep so it’s all I’ve got.)

Anyway, with this particular song I’ve been having trouble with the transition from the chorus back to the verse — thinking it was a key issue, because keys are a thing that songs have but I don’t know much about (being pretty much theory-less when it comes to music). But then I played through it a couple of times by myself — here’s the chorus, if you’re interested —

Tommy’s up for fighting, Tommy’s up for risks
Never shies away from danger, or putting up his fists
So pick up your shillelaghs, boys, and bring ’em to the fight
‘Cause Tommy’s going to make a lot of noise in the spaceport pub tonight

— and I finally tried to count out the beat … and discovered that while the chorus is in 4/4 time the verses are actually in 6/8.

Did I do that? Apparently I did, and now I have to finagle my way out of (or around) it.


(Photo by Christopher Rinehart.)

I imagine other songwriters — those who have some amount of musical knowledge — think rather deliberately about things like keys and time signatures when they begin writing a song. Or, if not, then I imagine they figure that sort of thing out fairly early in the process. But not me! Me? I just do this for fun!

And it usually is fun. That chorus is fun (do you like it?). And the process itself can be fun, until I write myself into a proverbial corner and have to figure out how to cut my way through the wall. Not that demolition isn’t fun, because it can be … it’s just usually pretty messy.

Anyway, that’s one of the hazards of haphazard songwriting: having to figure out weird transitions and things. But, at least it’s fun!

___

Reminder for anyone who missed the announcement, but I’m still running a series of giveaways for Audible downloads of the Walking on the Sea of Clouds audiobook. The next drawing is Monday, so sign up at this link!

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Thus Quoth the Raven: RavenCon!

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This weekend I’ll be at the RavenCon science fiction and fantasy convention in Williamsburg, Virginia. RavenCon is a terrific convention, run by a great group of people, and I’ve enjoyed attending and serving as a guest at it for many years.

This year, in addition to a number of panels, I get to play two concerts! Here’s what I have going on, if you’re curious:

Friday:

  • 5 pm — Guests Meet and Greet
  • 7 pm — Opening Ceremony
  • 8 pm — Panel, “Music and Art Influences in SFF Stories & Novels” (Moderator)
  • 10 pm — Open Filk

Saturday:

  • 10 am — Concert: Gray Sings Silly Songs! (one of which might be “Tauntauns to Glory”)
  • 11 am — Reading
  • 1 pm — Panel, “Purple Prose” (Moderator)
  • 4:30 pm — Baen Books Traveling Slide Show & Prize Patrol
  • 10 pm — Open Filk

Sunday:

I hope to debut a new serious song (that I just finished last week!) in my Sunday morning concert, and I may also debut a work-in-progress silly song during one of the open filking sessions. Should be fun, all around!

Safe travels to everyone who’s headed anywhere, and especially to all my fannish friends coming to the con!

___
Related Items of Interest:
– Enter to win one of several free downloads of the Walking on the Sea of Clouds audiobook by signing up for my newsletter at this link — and check out the audio sample on the Audible site or at Amazon
– Listen to both of my albums for free at Bandcamp — Distorted Vision, and Truths and Lies and Make-Believe — or, if you prefer, buy them there or at Gray’s Online Store

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I’d Like to Take You Out to See the Stars

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A few weeks ago I recorded a demo version of a new song about stargazing, and put it on Bandcamp for anyone who’s interested. Part of the song was inspired by a conversation I had with my children many years ago, but it’s mostly about something I wish I’d done with them when they were at specific ages: specifically, taken them out on special nights to see special stars.

If you have young children, or know someone who does, you could do it now; for instance, when they’re eight years old

… we’ll mark the time by the “dog star” Sirius
And we can celebrate your “sweet sixteen” with old Altair from afar
And I hope you’ll come to marvel at this wondrous universe
Because so much of what we are was made in the hearts of former stars

You can listen to the whole thing for free by clicking the player below, or visiting my Bandcamp page if the player isn’t available. (You can also download the song for a buck, if that’s your thing.*)

I told my newsletter readers about the song when I first recorded it, and they gave me some good feedback and encouragement. (If you’re not subscribed to my newsletter you can do so in the sidebar to the right or at this link.)

As a demo, it’s nothing grandiose — just me and my guitar — but I hope to put a fuller version of the song with other instruments and backing vocals and such on my next CD, whenever I get to the point of recording it. (I have more than enough songs for a new CD, but I don’t have the funds to cover production costs — maybe next year!)

Anyway, I hope you’ll give it a listen, and I hope something in the song speaks to you.

___
*Or for more than a buck, if you feel so inclined!

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New Music Video: The Books We Call Baen

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Most science fiction and fantasy fans know the name Baen Books — or at least know the names of some of our authors! Here’s a tribute song to Baen Books* and its founder, Jim Baen, from my album, Distorted Vision.

Hope you like it!

___
*Full Disclosure: I’m a Contributing Editor for Baen. But I figure that’s all the more reason to do a tribute song!

___
Other music videos:
Tauntauns to Glory
Help My Unbelief

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Nominate Nerdy Music for the Pegasus Awards!

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Do you like music related to science fiction or fantasy? Then you can nominate your favorite songs for the annual Pegasus Awards for Excellence in Filking — which is, as you might guess, writing and performing music often related to SF&F and other nerdy, geeky topics.

Pegasus Award Logo

(Pegasus Award Logo.)

 

In case you’re wondering, anyone who has an interest in filk is considered part of the “filk community” and can nominate candidates (and vote, later!). Since very few people make it to every convention or hear every performer, the award includes a “brainstorming” phase which wrapped up a few weeks ago; you can head to the brainstorming results for suggestions in each category.

What are the categories? The Pegasus Awards are given out in four permanent categories, as well as two categories which rotate from year-to-year:

  • Best Filk Song — any filk song that has not previously won a Pegasus
  • Best Classic Filk Song — any well-known filk song at least 10 years old that has “entered filk community public consciousness”
  • Best Performer — any filk performer who has not won this Pegasus in the past 5 years
  • Best Writer/Composer — any writer/composer of filk songs who has not won this Pegasus in the past 5 years
  • 2017 Rotating Category: Best Horror Song — any song that “elicits horror”
  • 2017 Rotating Category: Best Perky Song — kind of self-explanatory

If you have some favorites you’d like to nominate — and you can nominate up to five songs or people in each category — fill out the 2017 Pegasus Nominating Ballot. Nominations are open until the end of July.

Let your voice be heard, and have fun with it! (And let me know if you need some suggestions….)

___
If you’re really not sure whether you’re eligible to nominate, the award by-laws define “exhibiting interest” using examples such as filking at SF&F conventions, attending filk conventions or “house sings,” taking part in related on-line forums, and just “discussing filk and filk related issues with other filkers.” So, if you read this whole post, you can probably claim to have exhibited interest and therefore would be qualified to participate in the Pegasus Award process. (However, this is just barracks lawyering and does not constitute legal advice or any official rules determination.)

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Admitting My Doubts

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I feel a great kinship with two Bible characters in particular: Thomas, who asked for tangible proof of Jesus’s resurrection, and the man who wanted Jesus to heal his child but who confessed his doubts with the poignant, “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.”

So I wrote a song called “Help My Unbelief,” and put it on my Truths and Lies and Make-Believe album. Now, here’s a music video for it:

Hope you like it.

___

And, because I neglected to mention it on the blog before now, a couple of weeks ago I put together a music video for one of the science-fiction-inspired songs from that album:

Hope you like it, too!

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