Yeah, that pretty much says it all about posting blogs for me, and the rest of the band who have made 0 posts thus far...sigh.
Sometimes, for some of us anyway, such is life...
or not.
To blog, or not to blog, that is the question.
But, does it really matter?
Maybe; but I obviously have my doubts about it's really mattering much or I would be blazing across the horizons of the Blogosphere with scintillating, mind altering thoughts and changing the Web World as we know it.
Nah!
Nah?
Maybe?
Really?
Possibly?
Hmm.
Well, I'll think on it some more.
If I don't get back with you on this posited subject...you'll have my answer.
If I do get back to you, and soon it would be, of course, then I will tell you my answer.
Either way, if you care about such things...you will know how I think upon the matter.
Until then...
Friday, October 25, 2013
Sunday, January 20, 2013
We're Still Here!
Hope this finds everyone well.
Getting ready to play the +Antemesaris People's Party in Lake County. We, Rexartrefkin, will be there performing on Friday, Februaury 22nd at 6 PM. You can find the map(s) here on this link:
Hope to see all our friends out there that Friday night.
Before that we have a gig at The Venue in Lakeland, FL. You can Google Map that, too. The gig is Saturday, Feb. 9th at 7 PM. It's a short set for us (20+/- minutes) it being a showcase gig with a lot of acts present that night, but we plan on playing parts of our set of the Black Sabbath, Paranoid album. I know we'll be playing War Pigs, Electric Funeral and Faeries Wear Boots. We may have enough time to get the song Paranoid in there also, it being a really short song.
Also, we want to thank our friend +Nick Millard for working so hard on our demo material. It will make for a great disc to have for our press kits. Good stuff happening here, too.
Well, that's all the news that's fit to print for now.
Until we meet again...
Getting ready to play the +Antemesaris People's Party in Lake County. We, Rexartrefkin, will be there performing on Friday, Februaury 22nd at 6 PM. You can find the map(s) here on this link:
Hope to see all our friends out there that Friday night.
Before that we have a gig at The Venue in Lakeland, FL. You can Google Map that, too. The gig is Saturday, Feb. 9th at 7 PM. It's a short set for us (20+/- minutes) it being a showcase gig with a lot of acts present that night, but we plan on playing parts of our set of the Black Sabbath, Paranoid album. I know we'll be playing War Pigs, Electric Funeral and Faeries Wear Boots. We may have enough time to get the song Paranoid in there also, it being a really short song.
Also, we want to thank our friend +Nick Millard for working so hard on our demo material. It will make for a great disc to have for our press kits. Good stuff happening here, too.
Well, that's all the news that's fit to print for now.
Until we meet again...
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
The Ball Is Rolling
Rexartrefkin is rolling along!
We have played several gigs and have several on the books. recent gigs included, Evolution Records, 119 S. Kentucky Av., Lakeland, FL. Sept. 23rd; then, Evolution Records again, Oct. 20th, opening for The Gary Schutt Band. Yeoman's Road Pub, 236 E. Davis Blvd., on Davis Island, Tampa, Florida, Oct. 28th, opening for Algorythm Sky; and back to Evolution Records, Lakeland, Florida, Nov. 3rd. The next day, Roscoe's 26th Chili Challenge, Polk County, Florida, Nov. 4th, with several other artists, good folks all.
They were all a lot of fun and the fun continues.
We have the Evolution Records gigs in Lakeland, FL running on every Thursday, save Thanksgiving Day until Jan. 5, 2012, though that may be extended. We play at Market on 7th, Nov. 12th, at 1816 E. 7th Av., Ybor City, Tampa, FL. There are other gigs pending, including a radio show appearance yet to be verified; but things are really starting to swing.
Keep checking out the blog page for continued updates and other fun stuff. Become a friend.
Wayne Van Stanley
We have played several gigs and have several on the books. recent gigs included, Evolution Records, 119 S. Kentucky Av., Lakeland, FL. Sept. 23rd; then, Evolution Records again, Oct. 20th, opening for The Gary Schutt Band. Yeoman's Road Pub, 236 E. Davis Blvd., on Davis Island, Tampa, Florida, Oct. 28th, opening for Algorythm Sky; and back to Evolution Records, Lakeland, Florida, Nov. 3rd. The next day, Roscoe's 26th Chili Challenge, Polk County, Florida, Nov. 4th, with several other artists, good folks all.
They were all a lot of fun and the fun continues.
We have the Evolution Records gigs in Lakeland, FL running on every Thursday, save Thanksgiving Day until Jan. 5, 2012, though that may be extended. We play at Market on 7th, Nov. 12th, at 1816 E. 7th Av., Ybor City, Tampa, FL. There are other gigs pending, including a radio show appearance yet to be verified; but things are really starting to swing.
Keep checking out the blog page for continued updates and other fun stuff. Become a friend.
Wayne Van Stanley
Monday, May 16, 2011
Time to use this blogsite/ gig updates
Yeah, it's time to use this blog site; so here's my attempt to start using it on a regular basis.
I thought I'd start with some Rexartrefkin gig updates.
April 23rd we played at Mojos (Lakeland, Florida), opening for our friends in the band Kalus, who had their CD release party. It was a lot of fun to get up in front of friends and family "doin' our thang". Not anentirely clean performance, but still a lot of fun. Got to meet some cool folk and make some new friends. It also is a cool place to eat and socialize. Basically, a very user friendly place for partying or taking the family out for dinner which is sports bar fare and some nice dinners.
April 29th, Rexartrefkin played the Pegasus Lounge (Tampa, Florida). I got a real cool vibe there and it felt really good in front of a very appreciative crowd. The patrons and fans were great and Julie, the proprietess, is absolutely awesome. The Pegasus Lounge is a classic music bar and package store. We'll be playing there again this May 27th. Hope to see you all there.
Wayne
I thought I'd start with some Rexartrefkin gig updates.
April 23rd we played at Mojos (Lakeland, Florida), opening for our friends in the band Kalus, who had their CD release party. It was a lot of fun to get up in front of friends and family "doin' our thang". Not anentirely clean performance, but still a lot of fun. Got to meet some cool folk and make some new friends. It also is a cool place to eat and socialize. Basically, a very user friendly place for partying or taking the family out for dinner which is sports bar fare and some nice dinners.
April 29th, Rexartrefkin played the Pegasus Lounge (Tampa, Florida). I got a real cool vibe there and it felt really good in front of a very appreciative crowd. The patrons and fans were great and Julie, the proprietess, is absolutely awesome. The Pegasus Lounge is a classic music bar and package store. We'll be playing there again this May 27th. Hope to see you all there.
Wayne
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Poetry: the Haiku
A poem of a mere 17 syllables, what could possibly go wrong?
Seems easy, but it requires a command of the English language: grammar and verbiage. It also requires one to be concise in one's thoughts.
The haiku, at least the American variant, was originally popularized in the 19th century as a form of poetry to capture a specific scene, or moment, or concept. The 'concept' would frequently have to do with spiritual/philosophical implications.
The haiku is derived from the hokku, which are the first three lines of the Japanese tanka, an art form especially popular in the 9th-12th centuries. The tanka consisted of a syllable pattern of 5-7-5-7-7 (sometimes 3-5-3-7-7). The first three lines are the hokku portion of the tanka. This portion of the tanka became a point of pride and of a poet's artistic propriety into the 1600s. Haiku masters like Basho, Buson and Issa perfected the hokku portion of the tanka creating a new Japanese form that was coined haiku in the 17th century. It is, relatively, the form we know today.
The haiku, at least the variant most frequently practiced in the West, especially in the US of A, is broken down into three lines containing a total of 17 syllables. The first line contains five syllables, the second line, seven syllables, and the third line, five syllables.
It will look thus:
5
7
5
when written out. Here is an example from my catalogue of poems:
Pink-tinged cotton puffs
painted on a blue sky wall:
a cartoonish scene.
As you can see by the example above, Nature is the theme; but the end line, "a cartoonish scene", evokes a discrepancy to define a philosophical view of nature's/reality's perception. In this case, the view is that life is often perceived as a joke, a dream, a game, or the combination of all three, hence the use of the phrase "a cartoonish scene". When you think on it, what is considered more unrealistic than a cartoon? By its very "nature" it was, until recently, utilized to spoof real life people, places, things and situations.
To continue the point, here is another haiku I have written:
Snapping, frigid winds
tune telephone wires to sing
electric birdsongs.
Here again, we have the use of an incongruity. The incongruous image being "electrical wires singing like birds." And yet, by the modern marvel of electricity and the wires that carry it, we are able to hear music---the songs of human "birds" if you will---from our radios or CD player/stereo systems at home or in our car. This quality of taking what is to define an esoteric/metaphysic "concept" has a long tradition.
To prove this tradition, let's take a look at one of the most famous haiku of Basho, considered the "father" of this modern form. Note, however, that this is an English translation of the Japanese language, so there will be syllabic discrepencies:
The old pond;
a frog jumps in---
The sound of the water.
And, to prove that the form is in the oft required 5-7-5 pattern, here it is in the Japanese:
Furu ike ya
kawazu tobikomu
mizu no oto
The poem captures the fleeting action of the frog that produced a lasting sound which clarified within the mind of the author, Basho, the marvel of "eternity". For western thinkers, this may seem a stretch, given the translation received in our language, but to the Buddhist influenced Basho, this was a most obvious transition of thought toward a "concept", in this instance, eternity. This, I believe, can also be perceived in the examples of my own haiku I have shared with you earlier.
There is always a reason for anyone to share their knowledge. My reason is two-fold: 1) I love the form and the precision of grammar and thought/logic it demands, 2) I want to share it with all who would attempt the form, especially lyricist/songwriters. You see, we of Rexartrefkin, spent a lot of time rewriting the lyrics to our songs on our first EP to streamline the vocals, and yet, still be clear about the story/message.
We wish there had been a lyric/songwriting school called "Haiku U." to teach this concept before we invested so much time in the original, ponderous lyrics it would take a 'circular breather' to be able to perform. Obviously, there isn't one, so call this post it: "Welcome to Haiku University", or, "Haiku U.", where "less is more"! We hope you refer to this blog's post as often as you need. I hope it becomes a resouce where you may perfect the haiku so as to get in the groove of "less is more" in your style of writing song lyrics.
For more information on haiku, you can go to Wikipedia/haiku, or most any 'Poetry' site. However, maybe the best place to go first, in order to indulge your interest, is to go to www.haikusociety.com/learn . I don't think you'll be disappointed in the journey.
Rock On!
Wayne Van Stanley
References: http://www.haikusociety.com/; The Road Less Traveled, by Anderie Poetry Press; Wikipedia/haiku.
Seems easy, but it requires a command of the English language: grammar and verbiage. It also requires one to be concise in one's thoughts.
The haiku, at least the American variant, was originally popularized in the 19th century as a form of poetry to capture a specific scene, or moment, or concept. The 'concept' would frequently have to do with spiritual/philosophical implications.
The haiku is derived from the hokku, which are the first three lines of the Japanese tanka, an art form especially popular in the 9th-12th centuries. The tanka consisted of a syllable pattern of 5-7-5-7-7 (sometimes 3-5-3-7-7). The first three lines are the hokku portion of the tanka. This portion of the tanka became a point of pride and of a poet's artistic propriety into the 1600s. Haiku masters like Basho, Buson and Issa perfected the hokku portion of the tanka creating a new Japanese form that was coined haiku in the 17th century. It is, relatively, the form we know today.
The haiku, at least the variant most frequently practiced in the West, especially in the US of A, is broken down into three lines containing a total of 17 syllables. The first line contains five syllables, the second line, seven syllables, and the third line, five syllables.
It will look thus:
5
7
5
when written out. Here is an example from my catalogue of poems:
Pink-tinged cotton puffs
painted on a blue sky wall:
a cartoonish scene.
As you can see by the example above, Nature is the theme; but the end line, "a cartoonish scene", evokes a discrepancy to define a philosophical view of nature's/reality's perception. In this case, the view is that life is often perceived as a joke, a dream, a game, or the combination of all three, hence the use of the phrase "a cartoonish scene". When you think on it, what is considered more unrealistic than a cartoon? By its very "nature" it was, until recently, utilized to spoof real life people, places, things and situations.
To continue the point, here is another haiku I have written:
Snapping, frigid winds
tune telephone wires to sing
electric birdsongs.
Here again, we have the use of an incongruity. The incongruous image being "electrical wires singing like birds." And yet, by the modern marvel of electricity and the wires that carry it, we are able to hear music---the songs of human "birds" if you will---from our radios or CD player/stereo systems at home or in our car. This quality of taking what is to define an esoteric/metaphysic "concept" has a long tradition.
To prove this tradition, let's take a look at one of the most famous haiku of Basho, considered the "father" of this modern form. Note, however, that this is an English translation of the Japanese language, so there will be syllabic discrepencies:
The old pond;
a frog jumps in---
The sound of the water.
And, to prove that the form is in the oft required 5-7-5 pattern, here it is in the Japanese:
Furu ike ya
kawazu tobikomu
mizu no oto
The poem captures the fleeting action of the frog that produced a lasting sound which clarified within the mind of the author, Basho, the marvel of "eternity". For western thinkers, this may seem a stretch, given the translation received in our language, but to the Buddhist influenced Basho, this was a most obvious transition of thought toward a "concept", in this instance, eternity. This, I believe, can also be perceived in the examples of my own haiku I have shared with you earlier.
There is always a reason for anyone to share their knowledge. My reason is two-fold: 1) I love the form and the precision of grammar and thought/logic it demands, 2) I want to share it with all who would attempt the form, especially lyricist/songwriters. You see, we of Rexartrefkin, spent a lot of time rewriting the lyrics to our songs on our first EP to streamline the vocals, and yet, still be clear about the story/message.
We wish there had been a lyric/songwriting school called "Haiku U." to teach this concept before we invested so much time in the original, ponderous lyrics it would take a 'circular breather' to be able to perform. Obviously, there isn't one, so call this post it: "Welcome to Haiku University", or, "Haiku U.", where "less is more"! We hope you refer to this blog's post as often as you need. I hope it becomes a resouce where you may perfect the haiku so as to get in the groove of "less is more" in your style of writing song lyrics.
For more information on haiku, you can go to Wikipedia/haiku, or most any 'Poetry' site. However, maybe the best place to go first, in order to indulge your interest, is to go to www.haikusociety.com/learn . I don't think you'll be disappointed in the journey.
Rock On!
Wayne Van Stanley
References: http://www.haikusociety.com/; The Road Less Traveled, by Anderie Poetry Press; Wikipedia/haiku.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Sussex County, NJ
Had a great time in Sussex County, NJ (Oct. 21-24); specifically in Newton, Hampton, Andover, Lafayette and Augusta Townships.
I, again, notice how in Central Florida, except during thunderstorms or tropical storms/hurricanes, there is little wind. Breezes, yes, gusts, infrequently. This is not so in the Appalachian foothills of the Delaware Water Gap region in NW New Jersey, or, now that I think on it, pretty much anywhere in the New England and Mid-Atlantic states. It always seemed to blow pre-hurricane-like gusts up in Sussex County, et al.
Being up there for my wife's, Nancy's, class reunion was absolutely grand...completely fantastic! All her classmates are some of the most wonderfully accomplished people I may ever meet in this lifetime. Real thinkers and doers. If any of them were/are slouches, you could not only count them on one hand, but maybe even, you would be using only one finger. '50 is Nifty!
I also, got in some excellent networking opportunities while in NJ and at Dulles Airport in DC/Maryland. Met Norman in Dulles Airport , Vernon and Diane of Windfall in Newton, besides Nancy's classmates who held an interest, if not for themselves, for their younger friends and, of course, children and other family. Also met Greg, and his lovely wife, who now own Nancy's old 1723 farmhouse home she grew up in, along with several very nice, friendly and watchful neighbors, like Doug, Brad, and the Judge.
Before I go, I'd like to mention a couple more things about NW New Jersey's, beauty. The late fall colors, though starting to become sere, were still beautiful. A few of the trees had shed all their leaves, but the majority of them were still sporting their Fall trappings. Saw groundhogs up there. Talk about your super-sized prairie dogs!---Fat and sassy. Of course, the dairy farmers hate them. I suppose when you lose a source of continual income to a broken leg, you'd hate them too.
The air was fresher and cleaner smelling in NJ, (even in Newark!), than it is in either Orlando or the Metropolitan Tampa Bay communities. Hey, Florida!---and it's individual communities!,---ya'll need to address this issue! As we all know, air quality is an important problem that not only needs to be addressed, but subsequently, resolved. However, Florida---kudos for your efforts in water quality and management. And though not perfect, and still having some ways to go...you are working hard at it. I've seen some of your good efforts.
Ok. 'Nuff Said.
I, again, notice how in Central Florida, except during thunderstorms or tropical storms/hurricanes, there is little wind. Breezes, yes, gusts, infrequently. This is not so in the Appalachian foothills of the Delaware Water Gap region in NW New Jersey, or, now that I think on it, pretty much anywhere in the New England and Mid-Atlantic states. It always seemed to blow pre-hurricane-like gusts up in Sussex County, et al.
Being up there for my wife's, Nancy's, class reunion was absolutely grand...completely fantastic! All her classmates are some of the most wonderfully accomplished people I may ever meet in this lifetime. Real thinkers and doers. If any of them were/are slouches, you could not only count them on one hand, but maybe even, you would be using only one finger. '50 is Nifty!
I also, got in some excellent networking opportunities while in NJ and at Dulles Airport in DC/Maryland. Met Norman in Dulles Airport , Vernon and Diane of Windfall in Newton, besides Nancy's classmates who held an interest, if not for themselves, for their younger friends and, of course, children and other family. Also met Greg, and his lovely wife, who now own Nancy's old 1723 farmhouse home she grew up in, along with several very nice, friendly and watchful neighbors, like Doug, Brad, and the Judge.
Before I go, I'd like to mention a couple more things about NW New Jersey's, beauty. The late fall colors, though starting to become sere, were still beautiful. A few of the trees had shed all their leaves, but the majority of them were still sporting their Fall trappings. Saw groundhogs up there. Talk about your super-sized prairie dogs!---Fat and sassy. Of course, the dairy farmers hate them. I suppose when you lose a source of continual income to a broken leg, you'd hate them too.
The air was fresher and cleaner smelling in NJ, (even in Newark!), than it is in either Orlando or the Metropolitan Tampa Bay communities. Hey, Florida!---and it's individual communities!,---ya'll need to address this issue! As we all know, air quality is an important problem that not only needs to be addressed, but subsequently, resolved. However, Florida---kudos for your efforts in water quality and management. And though not perfect, and still having some ways to go...you are working hard at it. I've seen some of your good efforts.
Ok. 'Nuff Said.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Hello World!
We, Gene Hendry, Dave St. David and Wayne Van Stanley, of Rexartrefkin, would like to welcome you to another locale in our world. It's a place where we'll share our goings on, individually, and as a band. We hope to make it a place where you'll share your thoughts and opinions on the happenings in the Rexartrefkinland.
Alright! Jam On!
Alright! Jam On!
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