Here, There and Everywhere

Released on 7/2/2022. A cover of the McCartney (and Lennon) tune by Ken Shano and myself recorded at one of the No-Muse-Is-Bad-News shows.

Click to load the preview

The recording is live with Ken on guitar and harmony, and me on piano and lead vocal. Absent the 3 part [Beatle] harmonies, the song is actually even pretty good without them (they were unavailable at the time of the recording:) The range of the lead vocal line is pretty broad so I'm hoping my pitch is in your comfort zone.

You can get a better look at the image on my cheese-ball promo page. Bob

Also checkout the DistroKid promo page.

Changes

Released on 5/10/2022 but recorded live at the final 2015 No Muse Is Bad News show.

"Changes" such as in "ch,ch,ch,ch,changes"?

I was able to create an interactive landing page for this song that uses a very nice surface-of-water effect so you can "Watch the ripples.." and disturb the surface yourself by dragging. I had been planning on releasing the effect on a different song but the fit for this song was too much to pass up. It's relaxing to just brush the surface and watch the ripples move out but you need to agitate it a bit to get the more interesting warping. When you play the song, the title and credits move out of the way so you can just watch the water.

And speaking of the song, this one has Frank Sarcia and Ken Shano on drums and guitar/voice respectively recorded live at the last No Muse show in 2015 with bass from Jim Fabiano added last year. I added one or two backing vocals but otherwise the recording is live and all 5 people who showed up loved it! No, I'm kidding, there were at least 8.

Please note that purchasing this song helps promote live local music and small businesses; our only rocket ship is made of cardboard and is just big enough for my grandson.

Check Distrokid for more purchase options.

6/2/2022 Update

As I tested the water-ripple effect on different devices I found that it was choking on a few so I did a deep dive and optimized it so it seems to run ok on most, possibly all (yeah, I can hear you laughing). At any rate it appears in a box for all devices except phones but is a lot more responsive and now includes some choreography of the rain to the music. There ended up being a lot of triggers required to do an effective "rain" performance so I ended up adding a feature that allowed me to record the dragging and clicking of the cursor which now plays back when you play the song. It's a weird thing to try to "perform" since it gets mixed with random waves when it plays back but is still interesting.

Note that the water effect pushes hard on any device running it so its best not to leave it running if you are on a battery. You can also hear the song from the link above to avoid the device abuse.

Probably A Bad Idea

My (live-in-the-studio) acoustic cover of the Lewis Franco song "Probably A Bad Idea".

Good advice for school children and Russian leaders.

Note that it is indeed a bad idea to put your coffee cup on your guitar as I am shown doing in the image. I could not bring myself to actually spill coffee on my guitar for the sake of art but I hope the danger is implied.

Lyrics..

Probably A Bad Idea by Lewis Franco

Here's a problem that I see
throughout humanity
and all across the land.

Each one of us is linked
by an ancient instinct
that we don't understand.

It fills us with an urgency
it feels like an emergency.
It makes you want to kick someone's rear
but it's probably a bad idea.
It's probably a bad I idea.

There's a fellow down the street
and every time you meet
he really makes you mad.

He cheats at all the games,
he calls you lots of bad names.
He brags about his dad.

But if you feel inclined
to whoop that boy's behind
as soon as his mom can't see ya
well it's probably a bad idea.
It's probably a bad idea.

A bad idea screams in your ear
and tells you what to do.
But if you hear that bad idea son
just let it cruise right on through.

Now even governments,
they ain't got much sense,
and here I under-state.

They cause great disruption,
death and destruction,
and then they escalate.

They find an explanation
to harm some other nation
and tell you that the choice was clear.
Well it's probably a bad idea.
It's probably a bad idea.

So if you get a feeling
to send somebody reeling
remember what you heard right here,
it's probably a bad idea.
It's probably a bad idea.
It's probably a bad idea.
Bad idea.

Bad Boy

Bad, bad boy!

"What the HELL is the dog doing in the washer?" you ask?

Well, the dog in question, Buffy, had an open-mouth encounter with a skunk. Buffy and everyone who ever came in contact with her again lost. Seen here, admidst her tomato juice bath, though the washing machine was added later.

The drums (Frank Sarcia), some of the guitars (Ken Shano) and keyboards and vocals (me) were recorded at the No Muse Is Bad News Spring 2015 Music Series finale with a pandemic-ready bass added by Jim Fabiano and overdubs from me on guitar and vocal last year.

It`s worth noting that the over-the-top guitars were edged closer to divinity owing to the wonderful CrushStation plugin by Eventide that graced them. Though the instrument was my [awesome] new Line6 Variax, it was plugged directly into a line input on my audio interface so the overdrive tone was entirely from the plugin. The Variax, if you didn`t know, is a guitar that just "models" (copies the sound of) other types of guitars. I`m pretty sure I used the "Lester" preset which is a "model" of an early Les Paul guitar for the Bad Boy overdubs but there are lots of great other ones. Not to digress but the acoustic guitars presets are amazing. 12 string, banjo, sitar, a couple of Martin acoustics. Good stuff. My biggest surprise for the Variax however, is that it`s a really nice guitar. I got the blue strat version. My two main guitars, my strat and Ibanez acoustic are both in bad need of a fret job so it's been a treat playing an instrument that is set up properly with shiny new frets. The Variax also does alternate tunings on the fly which is handy if you have a few tunes in drop-D or one of the other many tunings you can dialup on a little thumbwheel by the neck.

Also note that you can wash you clothes in the very washer depicted (dog excluded) at the photographer's (Frank Sarcia) Port City Laundry, "Laundry to your door" in Newburyport, MA.

Check the DistroKid landing page for the song for purchase options.

Who's a good boy?

Alison

Released 8/20/2021.

"Alright, what happened here?"

It, apparently, had not been a good wedding.

Another great recording from a No Muse Is Bad News show in Billerica. This one features a Mr. Ken Shano on guitar and harmony vocals, Frank Sarcia on drums and bass (after the fact) by Jim Fabiano. The keys and vocals are your`s truely. It`s worth mentioning that the only overdub on this recording was Jim`s bass, the rest is live.

Like all of my recent releases, you can find this on Spotify, Amazon, Apple Music, iTunes, TikTok or your other favorite music source. The DISTROKID landing page for the song also contains links for the song on major outlets. "Alexa play Bob Sellon Bad Boy". There.

Sunny Afternoon

Our nearly-live cover of the Ray Davies (Kinks) tune "Sunny Afternoon"

"Is that the exact spot you were 'lazing' on Bob?"

"Is that the exact spot you were 'lazing' on Bob?"

No. That`s the exact spot I "imagined" lazing on. But thanks for asking.

This features Frank Sarcia on drums, Ken Shano on guitar, Jim Fabiano on bass and myself on piano and voice. The piano, drums, guitar and Ken`s background vocal were recorded live at a 2015 No Muse Is Bad News show.

Available on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Instagram & Facebook, TikTok, Amazon and many, many more.

Get "Sunny Afternoon"