Green Book, Detroit. The real Don Shirley and The Donald. The ‘N’ Word, Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, Abraham Lincoln, Uhura and Star Trek. Obama, Marc Maron and WTF. The Bruce Lee School Of Race Relations. Rent? Really?

Roger CortonSo why are we still talking about Detroit when you’ve got a whole new album and opera about Ireland?

JCHWell, a while back I mentioned that I was still getting some interest in Detroit. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this coincides with Black History Month. I went back and checked and duuuhhhh, all the initial inquiries about the score seem to have occurred around this time of year. I just never put two and two together before. What got me really thinking about it was that movie ‘Green Book’. Did you see it?

RCI did see it.

JCHWhat did you think?

RCI liked it it. It was a little cheesy but that’s OK. I […]

Songs From The Boats: AVAILABLE NOW. Free if you have no conscience. But there are vinyl and CD versions for decent folk. We discuss the cover. Shortest. Rant. Ever.

Roger CortonCongratulations. I’m looking forwad to some vinyl.

JCHSucker.

RCOh don’t be that way. The cover looks fantastic. I wanted to get the LP for that alone.

JCHYeah. It’s a great shot. Ya know I never thought I’d find any art that would say what I wanted.

RCIt’s not a common idea. So the thing looks like a skeleton, right?

JCHRight. We’d see skeletons like that occasionally when I was a kid.

RCWhat does that have to do with the theme? Is the story really that depressing?

JCHI think it had to feel that torn apart. You know what I wanted? I wanted the tone to feel like a tornado had gone through the village. It’s not literal. But you know, man. When you lose a job. […]

Songs From The Boats: Another opera, another album. Available April 1, no fooling. Free if you have no conscience. But there are vinyl and CD versions for decent folk. We discuss loudness. LUFS vs. dBs. Score printing. Authentic Frontier Gibberish. Next steps. St. Anthony, finder of lost objects.

Roger CortonIt’s been a while. Again. Happy New Year?

JCHSame to ya fella.

RCWe have a new record coming!

JCHWell, it’s not some big surprise.

RCIt’s essentially all the snippets we’ve been going through over the past…

JCHThree hundred and ninety four years. Seven months. Fourteen days. Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd. About three minutes.

RCWhat’s that joke you always tell?

JCHOh yeah, the Lenny Bruce. (Indian accent) “Oh great Swami, if I don’t smoke or drink or consort with bad women will I really live forever? No, but it will certainly seem like it!”

RCThat’s the one. It just seems like we’ve been talking about this opera forever.

[…]

It’s the last Transition from the opera The Boats. So let the pigeons loose! Outrageous French Accents. Yet another explanation of ‘Transitions’. The Crying Indian reference. We need a montage. Team America.

Roger CortonLast time you said we were almost there. So is this really it?

Transition (I’ve Got A Story For You)

JCHThis is really it, Tonto. Let the pigeons loose.

RCWell Hot Damn! What does ‘Let the pigeons loose’ even mean? You say it a lot.

JCHYa know, I’ve forgotten. I remember it from movies when I was a kid. Like The Three Musketeers. That must’ve been it.

RCThey would send out pigeons to inform everyone that freedom had returned to the land, etc.

JCHExactly.

RCWell, for future reference, it shows up exactly zero times on Google.

JCHWell, huh. Anyhoo, I’m sure your enthusiasm is because I’ve reached such […]

Yet another Transition from the opera The Boats. Transition IV? Don’t make me turn this car around! Value for money. Seven years? Re-purposing and foreshadowing. Sounds are hard to catalog. Fitting the pieces of the puzzle.

Roger CortonLast time you said we were almost there. So is this really it?

Transition VI

JCHDon’t make me stop this car! I’ll do it, you know!

RCWow. There’s a video game for everything. But seriously…

JCHSeriously what?

RCIsn’t it time to think about wrapping this thing up?

JCHIs that what yer bugged about?

RCWell DUH! Why, what did you think?

JCHI thought you’d be bothered about value for money.

[…]