BILLDECHAND.com

The Bill & Frantz Show Theme Song

Fri, 25 May 2012 17:03:55 GMT

Originally published at billydechand.com. You can comment here or there.

The Bill & Frantz Show wants you. We wrote a little theme song, and want you to record a version. It could be video or just audio. If we like it, we might just use it in one of our shows!
You can look at our song sheet (PDF) and/or hear a version we did ourselves at the beginning of BFS Episode 209.
Don't feel obligated to make it the same as our version. Originality is encouraged. Be yourself.

Read the rest of this post

The Bill & Frantz Show

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 17:12:38 GMT

My buddy Frantz and I started a little Online Talk Show. We're doing one pretty often these days, so keep going back. Often there are special guests, and sometimes little short clips.

Please LIKE us on Facebook.

Give the People What They Want

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 14:37:10 GMT

I keep coming back to this album. In 1981, Ray was spending ample time with Chrissie Hynde (his wife?). The Kinks do the Pretenders: melodic, well-crafted punk/pop (aka rock).

The hits are "Destroyer" and to some, "Predictable". These follow Davies' long tradition of character songs portraying everyday lives in modern society. The whole album has a hell-in-a-handbasket theme, but it's more interesting than sad, especially since some of it was of its time. (We've replaced our Cold War anxieties with new ones.) And its rockingness also makes it pretty fun. The first two songs are just all out bar-room brawl type songs; in the title track, there's a point where Ray bellows, "Hey mom, there goes a piece of the President's brain!"

"Killer's Eyes" is an imaginary conversation with a serial killer, an attempt to rationally persuade him not to murder. Sort of. "Art Lover" is a portrait of a guy who sits in the park looking at little girls. Creepy for sure, but also darkly funny and even compassionate. One of my favorites is "Yo-yo", where the emotions of lovers and loners rise and fall, wreaking havoc on themselves and others. There are many more great songs.

It finishes on a positive note with "Better Things", which reminds me of the Pretenders' first single, "Kid".

Like the Stones' Tattoo You from the same year, it's their last great album. MTV changed everything.

Post Post Modern Man

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 22:28:51 GMT

This song/video is a little manifesto. Sort of. It doesn't declare how things should be, just how they are. Or were, if we're lucky. Or smart?
And that, my friends, is a little backwards.
Politically, the spark was Dick Cheney's declaration that conservation is not a legitimate energy policy. We know what his energy policy was, despite the secret meetings. Since his hands are bloodied with oil, Cheney's vision is contrasted with images of more renewable sources. There's a shot of Jimmy Carter -- no, he's not part of the problem.He tried to improve things, but his efforts were undone. In his image that briefly appears, Carter stands in front of a bunch of solar panels. Immediately after, the video shows Dick Cheney and everyone's buddy, Donald Rumsfeld. (Carter actually installed solar panels on the roof of the White House, which Reagan removed.)
This song was written during the Bush years, reflecting that feeling that even though time is moving forward, our country is moving backward.
So the images often match the lyrics, in an attempt to clarify my message. In other places it's more confusing, but that mish-mash also supports the overall theme. While a political song, it also expresses personal desperation. I am subject to the actions of politicians and their string-holders, the corporate milkman/fathers who dictate policy. And taken us where?

POST-POST MODERN MAN
Words and music by Billy Dechand
© 2006 Bucktooth Music (ASCAP)

I figured it out – up is down
What once was old is young again now
I’m a physical man in a spiritual world
A modern man in a post-modern world

I’m a post-post modernist man
In a post-post-post-modernist world
I’m a post-post-post-modernist man
In a post-post-post-post-modernist world

That is one heck of a gain
One whale of an oil stain

Here comes that coal train!
Over and over .. and over again

A mechanical man in an electrical world
I’m a space age man in a digital world
A windblown man in a static world
I’m a solar-powered man in a nuclear world

I’m a post-post modernist man
In a post-post-post-modernist world
I’m a post-post-post-modernist man
In a post-post-post-post-modernist world

From the album POST, © 2010
available on iTunes, Android Music, etc.

The Smokers

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:36:39 GMT

The Smokers was a recording project with Billy Dechand, David DeMallie, Matt Kaden, Matthew Schickele, and Matt Sutton.

We all traded roles: songwriting, guitar, bass, organ, drums, etc.

And we would rehearse, record and mix each song in one session. Gloriously simple, yet innovative and weird. Joyously so.

We made the one album, and stopped there.

It remains one of my favorite projects I’ve ever been a part of. It was a remarkable experience with a remarkable group of talented people.

Listen and enjoy. Feel free to ask about about any tracks. They're my grandchildren, so I'll talk your ear off.

TAFT 2012

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:46:53 GMT

I try to only read one book at a time. My general reading policy is to alternate between a heavy book, usually history, and then a fun novel. I'm not a fast reader by any means; I've been slogging through The Discoverers by Daniel Borstin for months. It's about humanity's progress in time-keeping, navigation, astrology to astronomy, anatomy, science in general, and much more. Quite grand, with a dry wit that is hardly noticeable unless you look for it. As a result, it's heavy and slow, but thoroughly interesting.
I've got a large backlog of books in a stack yet to be read. I try to resist the temptation of the library, where there are far too many more books to distract me from from my stack.
Well, yesterday I went anyways -- naughty naughty -- since Kate had to return a few books. (She reads fast.) There I stumbled upon Taft 2012: A Novel, a political satire about President William Taft mysteriously returning to America in the fall of 2011. I've been turning pages non-stop. It starts out a little slow, with some juvenile fat jokes. But once you get twenty pages in, it picks up quite nicely.
This was strategically released for the present election year, and does a great job of turning the issues upside-down. Members of the FOP all clamor for their lost days of old, when common sense ruled, eagerly anticipating his return to politics. Of course the Republican Party of the early 20th Century was the party of progress (They here still the party of Lincoln, opposed to good old boys club, the Southern Democrats. Goldwater fixed that decades later.), so he breaks from their expectations in amusing ways. He speaks of the world with great old-fashioned language, and we feel plenty of pathos too. Taft 2012 is funny, original, and with just enough depth to make it worthy of your attention.

outdoor fun

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:48:10 GMT

Mt. Everest

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:33:43 GMT

This Jon Stewart book, Earth, is funny. It's a textbook -- or tour guide -- meant for aliens who come here after we've destroyed ourselves. Here's a bit:

This is Mt. Everest, located on the border between Nepal and Tibet in the Himalayas. At 29,029 feet above sea level, it is the highest point on Earth. Everest was a metaphor for the outer limits of human achievement. Asked why he sought to conquer it, mountaineer George Mallory famously answered, "Because it is there."
Today, you'll find this symbol of mankind's loftiest aspirations gaily festooned with used oxygen tanks, over 100 tons of garbage, and heaping dollops of human waste. If you visit, we're sorry for the mess. On the plus side, you will find about 120 perfectly preserved frozen copses for your dissecting pleasure. Feel free to take any or all of them. Including George Mallory .... because he is there.

The Art of Pho

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:44:09 GMT

So I'm just gonna say it:
The Art of Pho is the best e-comic I've ever seen. It mixes the interactivity with stills and animations, full frames with panels, and abundant beauty.

Mother Earth Issue #10

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 18:24:56 GMT

Behold, the last issue of Mother Earth, presented as a Flash comic. Full frame-by-frame reading, and FULL SCREEN MODE!

RECOMMENDED: View in Full Screen Mode

Splat Home

More on Ron

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 21:18:40 GMT

I got caught up in a nice friendly discussion about Libertarianism again on Facebook. Guess I've got that Christmas spirit! Here's my long-winded rebuttal to a Ron Paul fan, who asked who'd be better:

Well, yes, Obama is the obvious choice, since he’s already there. I’m not saying he’s the best. He’s got brains at least, if not balls. For living leaders, Carter, either Clinton, even Daddy Bush have better sense of responsibility to the country than Paul, even if they are misguided in oh so many ways. Of course the superior list of dead presidents is very long. Washington and Lincoln are obvious, and I'd say the last honorable Republican was Eisenhower. Maybe Ron Paul would be like the oft-quoted Jefferson, who contradicted his previous convictions once he took office. There’s always hope.
Even better might be the leaders who don’t want the job, like Powell, or Jon Stewart. Paul Krugman, or anyone who at least listens to him. They believe, like many others, that it’s in the public interest not to sell everything owned by the people to the highest bidder. Anyone who even values the word “public interest” instead of spitting on it is on my side. It seems to me that there are many people who think “freedom” just means the right to shoot whomever you want, with complete lack of responsibility for the community.

It’s my right to do whatever I want.
Leave me alone -- don’t ask nothin’ from me.
Off my lawn or I shoot!
Let the sick guy buy his own damn doctor! Let him die. Yeah!
Homeless from a hurricane? You’re on your own.
Sharing costs for the greater good? Evil.
It’s my right to rip off the little guy. Best not regulate my polluting abilities or business practices with expectations of fairness.

And so on. I don’t want to suffer just because you refused to consider anyone’s well-being but your own. The Libertarian ideal has no room for public roads, schools, hospitals, parks, laws, financial protections or safety nets, etc. Which would you keep?

Light

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 05:10:33 GMT

"Neither Mr. Edison nor anyone else can override the well-known laws of Nature, and when he is made to say that the same wire which brings you light will also bring you power and heat, there is no difficulty in seeing that more is promised than can possibly be performed. The talk about cooking food by heat derived from electricity is absurd."
-- John T. Sprague, England, c. 1878

happy reggae, foot to mouth

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 03:03:00 GMT

"Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" is better on the Stereo than on the TV or some other tin ear-suck.
Meaning, the video.
(MTV=/or youtube.)

Enthusiastically, earnestly, in waxing philosophical, grandiose and uplifting, I returned my foot to my mouth, this time employing a cosmic delay pedal. Counting my blessings, I announced that while the subject matter of the class (Adobe Flash) was great, that still I appreciated modern medicine more. I chimed graciously about my cortisone shot, my return from the brink of permanently shitty health, and how I no longer felt constant nagging pain. Oh, my glorious return to standing up. How wonderful just to walk! I attributed their unremarkable hunger for wisdom to the usual, day-to-day people-are-doing-their-own-thing-you-can't-expect-everyone-to-applaud-you type-self-involvement on both ends of us and them.
So it goes. Some dose, some knows. Alas, time passed. as did the remaining hour of the class pass normally. Later, having just left the room, I descended the stairs. There I realized that two of my less than ten classmates are in wheelchairs.

Two Of Less Than Ten
2x<X
2<10
ii<X

The Police. An excellent example of The Drummer Makes The Band.

Mirage

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 23:58:17 GMT

Mirage, Fleetwood Mac, 1982
Here is a forgotten album by a supergroup slightly out of step with the times. If nothing else, it confirms two of my oft-repeated truths:

1. The drummer makes the band.
The opening song, "Love In Store" is dead on arrival; I blame Mick, with no help from Mac. That's a snappy little new wick staccato-ism Lindsey's chugging there, and you're leaning back too far. If it was just a little snappier, everything would take off, including Christine's sleepy vocals. Wake up!
Not to say by a long-stretch that it's even close to what the opening song should be -- for the ordering of the whole album seems impervious to instinct -- just that it could be a fun song but instead is just dull.

2. Bland mix kills potential great album. Candidate of master remix.
The most outstanding example of this phenomenon is Pretenders II. They were the baddest band of their day, but the dry mix sucked all their souls out.
Sorry pal, it's just what the standard procedure was for that year in every studio.
Now, however, I can think of many active mixers today who could make that album jump out at you in ways you'd forgotten... rock can. Those are some bad-ass songs, who to this day sound boring to you and me, when we should be uncontrollably grinning.
Improvement of Mirage would also require a re-ordering of the songs. Since the mellow boys in the back row are not yet up to speed, that weak track must not be first. To side two with "Love in Store"!
Or take a coffee break, then redo the rhythm tracks.
The lack of cohesion says a lot about where they were at that point in their careers. Lindsey dominates the studio, Stevie's off being a solo star, and Christine quietly sings vague pretty songs. They try New Wave, while trying to keep their mellow, but The Mac rhythm section just sounds bored. And there's little room for loose beards in our robot future.

Every Morning, 3 a.m. (Two weeks so far)

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 22:49:08 GMT

Back:   You're not going to sleep until I get better.
Head:   Oh, but I feel so sleepy, I doubt I could stay awake. The rough water on the dark beach still reflects the moon behind the clouds --
Back:   Hey! You're right here, buddy. I'm in pain, and you gotta fix me.
Head:   I just want to sleep.
Back:   If you're so smart, figure out how to get rid of the pain, and then we can both sleep.
Head:   I'd be smarter after I rest.
Back:   Nope. Now.

Ebony and Ivory

Sat, 06 Aug 2011 08:15:01 GMT

Yes, it's actually about the song. You got a problem with that?
Good.
Knowing that Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney are playing all the instruments in "Ebony and Ivory", I took an extra interest in the drums. They're recorded very clean,with George Martin's cutting edge new digital recorder. Simple and minimal, the drums seemed a little stiff early on, but still crisp. I assumed it was Paul. (The premise that while Paul is an OK drummer for a non-drummer, Stevie is an actual drummer, and obviously a funkier guy.) But it got a bit zazzy and I wasn't sure. Could Paul have practiced enough to be zazzy by 1981? Maybe. Well, it eventually loosens up, and I start leaning toward it being Stevie playing drums. So I look it up.
The song's basic idea: black and white keys make harmony -- racial integration adds richness to our lives. Simple idea, been around for a while, got it. The record was a chart topper, had the longest run at #1 for either of their careers, and the video was shot in separate locations in super modern 1980s brave video world spirit. But it was a cheesy song. The metaphor too simple, the words cloyed. Mocked, 'twas irrefutably uncool.
Well, as far as history is accomplished, I say job well done. Any time you can take a recently-controversial idea and make it mainstream, child's play even, then you've moved things forward. Yes, controversial. My peers grew up in the 1980s, so we were the first generation to take integration for granted. The first to learn of segregation as part of history class. But to Paul and Stevie, the Civil Rights Movement had happened less than 20 years since. Martin Luther King, Jr. had died barely 14 years earlier. Look back from today, and you will see the world has changed less drastically these few years than between 1962 to 1982.
Anyways, I saw the credits. They both play keyboards, duh. Paul plays "percussion", but Stevie plays drums. That's what matters.
- Paul McCartney: Bass, guitar, synthesizers, vocoder, percussion, piano and vocals
- Stevie Wonder: Electric piano, synthesizers, drums, percussion and vocals
So there you have it.
But really, if you listen again (hindsight 20/20), it's obviously Stevie. The intro is pretty crisp, more likely to be a drummer with more chops.
But wait, Wikipedia has thrown me a curve ball. I notice a third guy listed. Someone added backup vocals. Any guesses who? Well, where was it recorded? Don't know. Something about those curtains in the video makes me think California, but that's nonsense. Don Henley? Sammy Davis, Jr.? Freddie Mercury? Michael Jackson? No, but how about Isaac Hayes?
First of all, I can't hear him at all. I initially assume he's gonna sing beefy and deep, but maybe he blends nicely in his higher registers. But the real question for me is what was that like?

Splat Comics

Tue, 10 May 2011 18:05:00 GMT

This week I finished an enormous undertaking. I digitized every comic and comic-related sketch that my brother, Clint, and I made when we were kids. We ran our own little comic company called Splat Corporation, featuring funny, sci-fi, and classic super-hero stories. Clinton Dechand (1963-1992) was a very talented visual artist with a pleasantly goofy sense of humor. Five years older than me, this was his brainchild, but he kindly took me along for the ride. Splat comics feature about the same amount of material form both of us, but I strongly recommend you look to Clint's for your first impression. He was clearly gifted, inspired, and original.

Look to Mother Earth for Clint's innocent but clever wit and misadventures with the mischievous black hole. Then read stories of the Super Heroes of America in Cosmic Comics (and later Splat Spectacular) to see Clint's natural illustration and composition style, and abundant ideas.

To be fair, I did learn a thing or two from him, and I put a lot of time in as well. My most prominent characters were Peanut Man and Marvel Man. Marvel Man was typical Superman-Shazam stuff, as was a lot of my early copy-cat work. I imitated my big brother for the most part, especially with Crazy Land (not unlike like Kingdom of Honker Du) and Father Time (reminds me of Mother Earth -- just a little). When I came up with my own ideas, they were pretty off-beat, like Peanut Man, or the Edsel of the comics world, The Lava Squad.

I am grateful for my brother's patience and inclusion. He was clearly more talented as an artist, but kept me under his wing, as I gradually learned the skills. No doubt this built a solid foundation for my future endeavors as a composer: the ability to imagine something from nothing, then take the time to shape it into a real finished product. He never said an idea was too stupid or weird, but instead provided a solid foundation of encouragement and support. Creative teamwork was important too. Sometimes I'd write stories that he would then expertly draw. In later years, he'd have me ink his pencil drawings. In the next issue, my own drawings grew so that they had (relatively) more flow to them, and so on.

My dad helped us both by making copies at work of our comics to distribute to our friends. That added a real air of legitimacy, as well as an impetus to produce more. Eventually, Clint got a gig with our hometown paper, The Bloomfield Zip, to publish a monthly comic. Even though my participation had since waned, he still used my character Peanut Man. Peanut Man became very popular for his peculiar, non-linear thoughts and actions. His title eventually became The Unpredictable Peanut Man (a la Spectacular Spider Man). If anyone our there ever stumbles across these comics from that long-forgotten newspaper, please send them my way.

The quality varies a lot, so I have chosen some favorites. The archives include outtakes, rough drafts, and sketches that reveal the creative process. We worked long and steady on these for something like four years (1977-1981), so there's plenty to explore.

devilish sympathy

Tue, 10 May 2011 04:59:35 GMT

sorry to say
KEITH = EDGE
for their own
BANDS BEST BASS

D-backs too

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 03:17:45 GMT

Arizona aspires to everything
Texas, but just gets
the bad parts
-- and nails it.

Bob Johnston

Sat, 02 Apr 2011 18:20:31 GMT

I just read a great quote by legendary producer, Bob Johnston, in TapeOp #80. When asked for advice for aspiring artists, he gave this response:

"Critics are an eternal mediocrity living at the expense of genius, either to belittle it or to destroy it -- a race of insects happily eating away at the foliage of art."

The whole interview is brilliant. The guy is hilarious. Here are just a few albums he's responsible for, among many more:

Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisited (1965), Blonde on Blonde (1966), John Wesley Harding (1967), Nashville Skyline (1969), Self Portrait (1970), New Morning (1970)
Simon and Garfunkel: Sounds of Silence (1966), Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (1966), Bookends (1968)
Johnny Cash: At Folsom Prison (1968); The Holy Land (1969); At San Quentin (1969); Hello, I'm Johnny Cash (1970); The Johnny Cash Show (1970)
Leonard Cohen: Songs from a Room (1969), Songs of Love and Hate (1971)
Willie Nelson: The IRS Tapes: Who'll Buy My Memories? (1992)
Carl Perkins: Go Cat Go (1996)

U2's Bandness, a fan's rambling

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 04:01:04 GMT

Zooropa is an album I've never known, due to lack of interest. Tonight I listen with fresh ears, and I'm reminded that no matter what else goes down in the world of U2, they always maintain their bandness.
By all accounts, in the grand scheme of things in the universe, Zooropa is a weak album. Here their curse is their blessing, to always be themselves. While cool moments come and go, the album is pretty second rate overall.
As an immediate answer, I'm greeted with a far cooler song called "Numb", sung by The Edge. Well, everyone's gotta have a favorite. I don't think I'm alone in having my favorite U2-ber be The Edge.
Not only is he obviously the most musical, but he's the calm to Bono's electric self-consciousness. Luckily for Bono, he's also a good showman with the necessary amount of talent carried along. I speak as fan, even as I disparage Adam Clayton, and by association, Larry. By being backups, like so many rhythm sections, they exaggerate their non-starness by being so bland. Therein lies their bandness.
Chicken, egg? Mutual devotion or irrefutable iniquity?
Independent of stylistic or musical preference, their spirit is to be applauded. They slogged through the '90s fearlessly. I personally forsook them, left them for dead. Of course, why should they care what I think?
What I like about Zooropa is its spirit of invention, or at least exploration. U2 always has that spirit, at their best and worst alike.
Hipsters, pay mind. That is a legitimate reason to like a band. At least as much as any amount of crap that's crap on purpose, giggling with an underdeveloped sense of irony.
Plus a little tuft over the forehead. Suddenly everyone wants to look like Thom Yorke. But to see the actual him is frightening. That's more like it.
There are times when I love Adam Clayton. "Some Days Are Better Than Others" sounds great, and it's all about the bass line. He's always had great tone.
Of course, whenever a bass line is exceptionally cool, I always wonder if it's The Edge. Still, there's no hiding live, and Adam's solid.
Blond-wise, Larry Mullen Junior has had that stupid tuft since 1980, nonstop. The world is just now catching up.
We stoop so low to reach so high. Bono's lyrics are sometimes so bad that they make all the music around them stinky too. And so we all laugh. But Bono also aspires to singing like a bird, and sometimes succeeds. Worth the droppings, I suppose he supposes.
I like "Dirty Day", and... well, look whose name is next to it again.
U2 has bandness, through shame, blandness, and glory.

So Long

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 22:22:38 GMT

This is a video from my CD, Post. The man in the hat, Joe Koepke, wrote this little ditty on his ukulele.

The Pharoah

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 04:20:40 GMT

Everyone's talking Egypt.
Well, I recently unearthed all the SWFs for the songs from my 2001 CD World Famous in Chapel Hill.
"The Emperor Has No Votes" was originally written about the 2000 election, but today I dedicate it to everyone's favorite despot, Hosni Mubarak.

See the animation full screen.

MLK interview

Mon, 17 Jan 2011 16:53:24 GMT

Today we place attention of my greatest American hero, Martin Luther King, Jr. This interview is from Meet the Press. Things were so very different in those days, both technologically as well as socially.
For example, the first question regarding former President Truman's quote...

His wisdom and eloquence never cease to amaze me. If only the rest of us were half as articulate and compassionate as he. King answers challenging and sometimes obnoxious questions with calm and grace; he repeatedly emphasizes that all the movement's efforts must be done nonviolently, and with love.
Here are the other pieces of this program:

Part 2

Part 3

Shown separately, another Meet the Press interview, with Roy Wilkins:

Part 4

Part 5

Coming Up

Thu, 06 Jan 2011 05:36:50 GMT

I love this -- 100% Paul! Music all played by him, both on video, and more importantly, on the record.
Of course the nerdy one would be right-handed!
As perfect as this video is conceptually, it sounds better with your eyes closed. And it looks very different.

COMING UP video