The Whole (or maybe The Bowl)

I wanted to make my Theremini into an an electronic singing bowl that shimmered with harmonics and dripped with drone. My pedal board along with its particle synthesizer and EH Ravish Sitar pedal figure predominately in this ruse. from Hand in the Machine, released 22 November 2014 All tracks are single take improvisations. Mad Dog Friedman - Theremini The Whole, by Mad Dog Friedman from the album Hand in the Machine https://maddogfriedman.bandcamp.com/track/the-whole

Open Mined

"Open Mined," digital art by M. D. Friedman

The Whole

A taste of the last tune from my new live solo Theremin CD, Hand in the Machine. (Download at maddogfriedman.bandcamp.com.)  I wanted to try and make my Theremini into an an electronic singing bowl that shimmered with harmonics and dripped with drone.  My pedal board along with its Electro-Harmonix Superego and  Ravish Sitar pedals figure predominately in this ruse.  I finally got my "AIR HARP" spaceship to take me where I want to go. Now I am not sure if I will ever be able to find my way back again. 

The Shaman Meets the Alien

The Shaman & the Alien
Tells the story of their legendary first meeting in the Fall of 1858 near what is now Pilar, New Mexico.

Burgundy Wink

"Burgundy Wink," digital art by M. D. Friedman

A Drinking Song

BY WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS 

Wine comes in at the mouth

And love comes in at the eye;

That’s all we shall know for truth

Before we grow old and die.

I lift the glass to my mouth,

I look at you, and I sigh.

Dogged

This one is called "Dogged".  No photographs were harmed in the process of making this piece.

If you are enjoying my art postings and would like to see them as I make them, please "like" my artist page on FaceBook at www.facebook.com/mdfriedmansart.

Which Came First

The age-old question finally answered through the magic of digital painting.

He Knew

Something a little different from by digital paint brush.  I hope you like it.  More at www.mdfriedman.com.

Bird's Eye View

My latest digital painting.  The pixels are still wet.

It's called "Bird's Eye View."

It's about magical healing.

More at www.americanframe.com/artist/mark-friedman.aspx

Annie's Song

This is my first flute recording written to help with transitioning from my dear cousin Annie's death at the early age of 60.

Algal Bloom, a Digital Painting by M. D. Friedman

The inspiration for this piece came from being locked into an eye to eye connection with an alpha frog in a nearby wetlands. I was enjoying the connection, feeling his wildness, as we somehow morphed together in a primordial forest, very peaceful yet somehow always underneath what I normally perceive as the wetlands...

More at www.mdfriedman.com.

acrophobia (on a painting by Pat Orban)

acrophobia

rain bites skin

chills bones

among warm speckled rays

thunder hems & haws    clears its throat of sky

lilac whiffs with languid wind    and that smell

when rain first tames the dust brings me

to who I am (in this cage of dying skin)

the old man rambled    can’t work in the lightening

I had to agree    it was a yellow afternoon

and there is no place better to stand

than where your feet meet the ground

I wouldn’t go up there either

not if I had a say

not now        probably never

I Shot the Serif (on a painting by Pat Orban)

I Shot the Serif

these bricks

I labor to layer

like sturdy scars

imprison me

as certainly as

the runaway train

roaring through my brain

jumps the track of reason

sharp barb lurks in the dark

the point is silence

I move between the taste

of rust and blood

hook slides from jaw

with the simplicity of gravity

I swish free smoothly slipping

beneath the quivered surface

burnt dusk oozes from the eye of night

cloistered with pain and wormy delusion

the dangling trap drifts beyond

I forage shimmering in the infinite dawn

ice, an experimental video

M. D. Friedman added his original Theremin composition , Amusement Park Accident to the sound track of his Ice dance screen scape video with significant synergistic effects to make this enjoyable experimental video a stand alone experience on July 9, 2013.

The Ice video was conceived as the projected video backdrop for Lines, a live, multidimensional performance of original poetry, music and dance by M. D. Friedman, Roseanna Frechette & Mila Popovich. The performance was a featured at the 25th Annual Poetry Rodeo on April 19, 2014, at the Mercury Cafe in Denver, Colorado.

You may download the spontaneous theremin composition, Amusement Park Accident, at http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=628389&songID=12719119&showPlayer=true

You may download Hand in the Machine, an entire album of M. D.'s spontaneous theremin compositions, at http://maddogfriedman.bandcamp.com/album/hand-in-the-machine

Please see http://www.mdfriedman.com  to keep up with M. D. Friedman's latest creative projects.

universal

seed lit grass

nod in

eager waves

 

bend in

wind

now and again

 

same breath

pulses through

each of us

 

no matter

how old

or alone

Red Birds and Pink Elephant

Digital Painting by M. D. Friedman

full gallery of digital art work at http://mdfriedman.com/galleries/DigArtGal/index.html

please see www.mdfriedman.com for more of everything

---

everyday

everyday we risk

being more fully alive

another flower blooms

Hand in the Machine (Oh Why Oh Why Oh Why?)

My hand is deep in the machine on this one, not caught there, but flapping around like a fish, and with each wiggle to try to get off the hook, I feel like I might break free!

If the above player does not work for you, try this direct link:
http://www.reverbnation.com/mdfriedman/song/18167043-hand-in-the-machine

Fixing the Faucet

This is the latest taste of my peculiar illness. This is live, solo Theremin therapy. I hope you find some relief in this as well.

 

If the above player does not work for you, try this direct link: http://www.reverbnation.com/mdfriedman/song/18133631-fixing-the-faucet

Electrolysis of Hairy Fodder

"Electrolysis of Hairy Fodder" is the latest bit of insanity from the Mojo Medicine Show and is yours for the taking. The magic of Mad Dog's aleatory Theremin and the Mojo Man's iPad Synthesizer blends seamlessly in this hair raising sound scape.  Enjoy!

I Forgot What I Was Saying

Vintage, Analog, Improvisational, Experimental, Aleatory 'Lectronica Featuring Mad Dog Friedman on Theremin created, recorded and uploaded on July 1, 2013.
In case your player isn't playing try this direct link: www.reverbnation.com/mdfriedman/song/17841083-i-forgot-what-i-was-saying

Chewing the Cud on Blueberry Hill

Full electronica improvisational set on June 24th, 2013 in Dragon Studios composed and performed in the moment by Mojo Medicine Show. Featuring Dan "The Mojo Man" Crecco on percussion, electric washboard and iPad synth and Mad Dog Friedman on aleatory Theremin. No midis or loops were used in the production of this experimental sound-scape. The moment knows not how to make mistakes.

(If the music player does not show up on your browser or does not work try this direct link:
https://soundcloud.com/md-friedman/chewing-the-cud-on-blueberry)

Please let me know what you think.  We were trying out some new effects today!




The Mojo Medicine Show is an unique blues duo that blends the jug juice of 1930's juke band music with the electric kool-aid jams of the 1960's.
www.mojomedicineshow.com

The original Mojo Medicine Show toured the western slopes of Colorado in the summer of 1976. This ragged and hairy troupe of musicians, Gypsy fortune tellers and belly dancers performed their way into the hearts of many a mountain town. It is in this tradition of Colorado’s own home grown, psychedelic, back porch blues that the Mojo Medicine founder, Mad Dog Friedman, decided to create a unique blues duo that captures the spirit of those amazing times. This new incarnation of the Mojo Medicine Show features Mad Dog Friedman on harp, vocals and Theremin and Dan Crecco on washboard, percussion and iPad synth. The modern Mojo Medicine Show puts down the real deal, hippy trippy blues seldom heard in this day and age. From their contemporary, simple, heartfelt, rural-rooted blues to their vintage, analog, improvisational, experimental, aleatory 'lectronica, the Mojo Medicine Show offers a unique alternative to today's throwback, retro-folk and refracted root music scene.

Strange Fruit Villanelle

(April 5, 1968, Alton Senior High School)

America needed to watch its back.

When ignorance swelled like fruit on hatred’s tree,

My best friend in high school was black.

America feasted on this loathsome crap,

When hopeful King was gunned down from his dream,

America needed to watch its back.

I’ll recall how whites that day in school talked smack,

How bigots blindly hurled hateful obscenities.

My best friend in high school was black.

Blacks marched out, whites threw rocks to pelt the pack,

Cops beat back blacks blue and red; white kids cheered in glee.

America needed to watch its back.

Alton broke me on its racist rack,

Tortured me with its bloody irony.

My best friend in high school was black.

That things now have changed is mostly fact,

Yet so many still yearn to be free.

Those scars and stripes that welt my back,

Sting like the cuts lashed on my friend's back.

Walking Upside Down

"Walking Upside Down" is the final track off of Mad Dog & Headman's Walking on the Sky album released in May 19, 2013 (featuring: Mad Dog Friedman on Theremin & improvisational spoken word and Stephen Hartman on NS/Stick with MIDI, bass pedals & keyboards).  Stephen is pure genius and a true in the moment astral plane pirate. This album is the result of an electrostatic collaboration between Mad Dog Friedman and Stephen Hartman. It was recorded at the Freak Show in Littleton, Colorado, on May 3, 2013, at the end of what seemed to be an endless winter. This historical session represents the first musical meeting of these two vastly diverse recording artists. The full improvisational session is heard at its best here. It was recorded in one take and is rich in fortunate accidents. Walking on the Sky is the first full length project featuring M. D.'s Friedman's aleatory Theremin work. The spoken word on this track was an intrepid indulgence of the moment. For more of M. Friedman's poetry see www.mdfriedman.com.


If the player does not work in your browser, please click here to hear it: www.soundcloud.com/md-friedman/walkingupsidedown320.

Crossing the Bridge Parts 1 & 2

Spoken word with improvised soundtrack. These are Tracks 2 & 3 off of Mad Dog & Headman's Walking on the Sky album released in May 19, 2013 (featuring: Mad Dog Friedman on Theremin & Spoken Word and Stephen Hartman on NS/Stick with MIDI, Bass Pedals & Keyboards).  Stephen is pure genius and a true in the moment astral plane pirate. It is the first full length project featuring Mad Dog's aleatory Theremin work.  Featuring M. D. Friedman's poem, "The Great Clock" as published in his chapbook, Leaning Toward Whole (Liquid Light Press 2011).

If the player does not work click here to hear: http://soundcloud.com/md-friedman/crossingthebridge320

wings of haiku

lonely wasted heart seek your ancient home inside uncover your joy

marble-fisted doubt open to the shards of glass diamonds in the light

The Price You Pay

 

"The Price You Pay," a tribute to those still trying to overcome the personal devastation resulting from Katrina.

(Support this project. Purchase this track at maddogfriedman.bandcamp.com/track/the-price-you-pay.)

 

www.reverbnation.com/mdfriedman/song/16367812-the-price-you-pay

That Girl of Mine

Hope you enjoy this simple soulful, love song...

Support this project. Purchase this track at maddogfriedman.bandcamp.com/track/that-girl-of-mine.

A Quote of Note

"If it was not for open mics, I' d be dead." - God

Love Poem

Think those thoughts not encased in
language even angry dogs understand.

Broken Haiku

embrace

the shade of

the moon

is full

of itself

the joy

of empty

At the Double Bar L (Ass Squeezing Time)

Been wanting to write this country song for some time now.  Thanks again to Band in the Box for making it doable for this old blues dog. If you dig this listen, please consider supporting my efforts by downloading your own personal copy at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/maddogfriedman2. 

http://www.reverbnation.com/mdfriedman/song/15709189-at-bar-double-l-ass-squeezing-time © 2013 by Mark D. Friedman

The Secret Scars of Brotherhood

This piece is rather graphic, highly personal and contains material that might trigger issues for people sensitive to violence, incest and abuse. I would appreciate your thoughts and comments if you also find that healing is fostered by honest sharing. I offer this piece to anyone that might be in need of healing. To help others as others have helped me is my only intention. Please feel free to share it for this intention only. Please click the link below to view:

http://www.mdfriedman.com/docs/Scars.pdf

The End

New song I just composed in celebration of the end of the Mayan Long Count Calendar and beginning of the golden age humanity.
Happy holidays and to all a good night!

Sell your beats online at ReverbNation.com

© 2012 by Mark D. Friedman

Never Too Old to Slam

http://www.reverbnation.com/mdfriedman/song/15241849-never-too-old-to-slam

Never Too Old to Slam

I'm not too old to slam,
Because I need
Now more than ever
To spill this truth:
The older I am,
The more alive I feel.
I am a tattered
Paradox of passion,
A dying ember
Eager to explode
Into flame.
The anger that has
Raged inside me
For so long now
Holds up a giant,
Final fuck you finger
To the flaccid face of fate,
Raises up its hissing head,
And spits its cobra venom
Into the great sucking
Eye of death.

It's time for me to slam it
Down. I'm finally old enough
To really say what I mean,
And not give a shit what people think.
Look into the mirror of my words.
If you think I'm less than I am,
Because I look older than I feel,
I'm talking to you. There is
Nothing left but the truth.
I tell you this because
I'm done with blame.

Look at me,
And if you see yourself,
It's because we are the same.
I may finish before you start,
But we all run the same race.
For how long or at what pace
Doesn't really matter.
It's the human race,
And we have no choice
But to run and run we do,
And no one running
With their heart open
Ever loses, and no one
Reaching for more
Leaves empty handed,
And not a single stride
Goes to waste.

It's time to get down to it,
Our forever is now and
Forever changing into then.
Nothing you can say
Makes it easier to die.
The truth is simple.
We're lost without love.

As long as I'm alive,
I'll never forgive the greed
That rots our world,
That nips our heels
And turns our Eden
To wasteland,
Nor will ever I abide
The hate that
Rips apart our souls,
If we don't take a stand.

We are a bursting
Supernova of love,
Silhouetted by
The lightening
Of our desire.
When we smile,
We shine more brightly
Than a billion stars.
When we grieve,
It is a hurricane of pain,
A deluge of hurt without end.

My brothers and sisters
Are of all ages.
Together we are more
Colorful than the fish
that glide among the coral,
More tenacious than wild thistle.
Together we wield the power
Of the human heart,
There's nothing more potent,
Nothing we cannot overcome.

I'm not too old or too white to slam,
Because I'm half African,
Half Asian, half Jew, half Arab,
Half indigenous, half developed,
Half wild, half dead, half human,
Half animal, half budding green,
Half dark night,
I am the dawning
Half bright half-light,
My live is more
Than half off over,
But my half-life is infinite,
And I've half a mind
To leave this half assed
Country if there was
Somewhere else I could find
That was half way decent.

No, I'm not too old, too white
or even too straight to slam,
Because I'm half man,
Half woman, half gay,
Half lesbian, half trans,
Half willing, half-witted and halfcocked.

I'm always halfway between
Myself and somebody else,
And always some when
Between now and again
I'm on my way to being me.

Being alive
Is all about connection.
Nothing else matters.
There's nothing evil, nothing
Wrong, nothing about you,
Nothing inside of me,
Nothing human I cannot love.

My brothers and sisters are misters
And misses, and men who love men,
And women who love women, and men
Who were born women and women
Who were born men, and men and women
Who are both or neither a man or a woman,
It makes no difference.
How much I love you
Has nothing to do with your color,
Your gender, your dress,
Who you fuck or how old
You aren't,
But with who you are.
It's all about the joy
Of you becoming you.

I know now I'm not too old
To slam because I still can
See the beauty inside everyone.

I know no matter
What we think we want,
Or how hard we try
To be someone else,
We can only ever be
Who we really are.

I'm not too old
To slam because
I'm not too old to love.

I sit on the ragged
Edge of death's bed.
I blink and gulp the light
Like a goldfish gulps for air,
And decide each morning
To get up and live,
To love and become,
And choose not to
Sleep beyond the darkness.
If my heart is still beating,
I open it.

The longer I live,
The more I have
A need to give.
The more I give,
The more I have
to live for.

I'll never be
Too old to care,
Never too old to slam.

All We Have (Dance with Me)

 

My newest compostion is now availabe for free download on Reverb Nation. It is called "All We Have (Dance with Me)". Now that I have learned how to compose something besides 12 bar blues, I guess I better figure out how to sing. Or maybe someone that can really sing will like it and and decide to do it right! Please let me know if the song calls to you!

Letter to the Candidates 2012

We want America back!

We want America to follow the American Dream.

No more poor fighting rich men’s wars.

If someone really must go, send the big CEO’s.

Then leave them there.  They’ll find someone to bring them coffee.

We don’t care about the Iranian bomb.

Too many have died in the crusade

against weapons of mass destruction.

We are not worried about a terrorist

following us home like a rabid dog.

We are not afraid of your boogie man bombers.

We fear only our mistakes,

we’re afraid the bombs we have dropped on babies

will hail back down on us like smoking guns.

We need to change it all around.

We need to fight the good war,

the war against ignorance and cruelty,

the war against torture and racism,

one that won’t bankrupt us financially or morally.

We want America back!

We want gays to run the military

and a lesbian marriage on the White House lawn.

We want to build homes for the homeless

help the hungry, take care of the sick,

and educate the curious,

we want government to start earning its keep.

Don’t tell me 47% of America is unwilling to take “personal responsibility”

for their lives.  When is Romney going take responsibility for his lies?

We don’t want to hear someone talking about “legitimate” rape.

We know who is really getting screwed.

We want America back!  (We want it all back.)

We not only want decent jobs

but our jobs to realize

we work to live not live to work.

We need time to play with our kids.

We need schools that are not

brain numbing factories

where our kids can learn

what they care about

and still have time to be kids.

We want to make it hard to get married

and easy to get divorced.

We want to make blind patriotism illegal

and to legalize marijuana.

We want good music in the groceries stores

and art on the walls of Walmart.

We want a national holiday for Allen Ginsberg’s birthday.

We want to see Obama face off Romney

in a nationally televised slam.

We want to silence all politicians

unless they can speak with rhyme and reason.

We want to hear about your solutions not their problems.

We want to pay our teachers like baseball players.

We want to give awards to parents

who listen to their teenagers

and love them no matter what.

We want free college,

free daycare and free healthcare.

We want doctors to treat humans

not just disease.

We want to retire early and securely.

We want Jimi Hendrix music

in our Senior Centers.

We want America back!

We want to live in community.

We want to understand and respect

our neighbors across the street

and all across the globe.

We believe in human rights

for all people and all nations

even if they don’t have oil.

We want to tear down the walls on our border

and welcome the hard working immigrants

that have always made America great.

We want to learn new languages,

to embrace new cultures,

to be a partner not a bully.

We want to be part of the human

mandala that will heal the earth.

We want America back!

We want Exxon executives to have to walk to work,

Clear Channel to never play the same song twice,

Procter & Gamble to care more about cancer than profit,

General Mills to start making their food sacred.

Take the money we pay farmers not to plant

and use it to learn sustainable farming

with respect for our planet.

We want to let the trees grow

and give land back to the animals.

We want our Native Americans

to manage our national forests.

We want one rider SUVs banned

from all public highways.

We don’t want to drill

the last of our wilderness,

not now, not ever.

We want the oil companies to give back

the money they are stealing from us.

We want electric cars not tax breaks for the rich.

We want the power of the wind

and the sun and the oceans,

we want to plan now to stop

global warming before it is too late.

We want America back!

We want rivers we can drink out of

and cities we can walk in.

We want a real democracy,

where voters pick the candidates.

We want to elect our president

by national popular vote.

Ban all campaign ads.

Use the money to register more voters,

to run more candidates.

We want to reserve the rights of free speech

for real people, not big corporations.

Make the corporate donors admit what that

are trying to buy for all that money.

We need a president who cares

for all Americans, who speaks for the people

not the corporations, and a congress that will

work together and do what is best for the country

no matter whether or not

they think it will benefit their party.

In fact, ban all political parties!

We need a no party system,

with no corporate personage,

with politicians jailed for lying,

and the media paid by how thoughtful,

balanced and complete they report

what is really happening.

We need Americans to understand we are taking America back!