Ok here are four songs!

Performing with George Kelly:
Wind Cries Mary
Billy Jean
Shake All Over

On my ownsome lonesome:
I want u 4 myself

More coming soon, but I'm off to cover the Singularity Summit in New York City for h+ magazine.

See ya when I get back :-)

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been thinking a lot about what we can do this time around to protect ourselves against another repeat performance of either the 2000 or 2004 elections. We were tricked both times in different subtle ways, and it is my hope that whoever might be planning to tamper with this year's elections will realize that it's a bad idea to do so with everyone watching.

I've had this little anthem (lullaby version) in my head this last week, and I thought I'd share it with you.

It's based on some things I learned from my own archived news footage from the 2004 election about strange things going on with the actual vote count in relation to the exit polls. The Bushies tried to tell us it was the exit polls that were incorrect. But that didn't make sense then, and it makes less sense now.

This clip is a re-edit from a clip within the documentary from Dorothy Fadiman's Stealing America - which was released a few months ago across the country. (The movie uses a lot of footage from my and thePete's video archive from the 2004 election.)

(Video - 11 MB)

From Judy (to Wolf Blitzer): "Well, we're trying to figure all this out right now Wolf. Apparently, what has happened is that the Associated Press, they were feeding numbers into us, and then suddenly, those numbers changed."

High Res version of this video clip - 230 MB (Sorry there is no hi-res version of either song recording.)

This year, let's stay up and watch until we know the votes have been counted correctly -- which, we know from the polls, could only mean a huge win for Obama.

Here's a sorta "traditional" version of the song:
Staying Up All Night (campfire version)

Here's a lullaby version of it for my biggest fan :-)

Here are the words (roughly, depending on version):

Stayin up all night
stayin up all night
and you'll be there with me
and it'll be alright
you can call us crazy
and we hope they're right
until the race is called
I'm stayin up all night

Stayin up all night
Stayin up all night
and we'll all watchin
cause we've seen the light
what happened last time
it just wasn't right
until the race is called
we'll be staying up all night

and you can call us crazy
and we hope you're right
until the race is called
we'll be stayin up all night

RE: Plan B

Well, if they try to tell us that Obama has lost in "another close race," I say we demand a recount and hit the streets - Ukranian style.

So it might be a good idea to try to take Wednesday off work if you can, to:

1) rest up after being up late Tuesday night

and

2) be available for a protest, if we need to have one

So again - the main plan is to just watch and win :) - which should be easy enough. But if the bullshit hits the fan in the middle of the night again, let's be ready to deal with it head on Wednesday morning (Plan B) - by emailing phoning our representatives endlessly - and, hittin the streets!

Hey sorry this took so long to pull together. I've had complaints from people who actually took the time to go to my music site, to try to find a song they liked, to no avail. Doh!

So here it is, a little A-Z Index -- of all my published songs to date, that I know about -- and it will just live on the lisarein.com homepage from now on.

Hope to see you at the show tomorrow night :)

lisa

Hey the Farmer's Market show was great! (post 1 about it - post 2 about it.

Looking forward to the
show on June 10!

And the new song went over very well! It was as gratifying as I had hoped :-)

Sierra and I really kicked ass on the few songs we sang together. I looking forward to working out a whole set of songs with her.

I'm going through the video to pick out a nice clip or two to show you.

Special thanks to gregory for helping me set up my sound!

MP3
WAV

Last Digression
(written around 1997)

Words and Music by Lisa Rein
Guitar and vocals by Lisa Rein

In my mind
In my head
I can't seem to find
an answer to my questions
I can see them
I can hear in their direction
through the darkness
and the madness
and the emptyness
getting closer to
a vacuum-filled unconsciousness
a false impression
of my very last digression

by my side
in your bed
you will never find
the secret to your laughter
and you don't seem to mind
that you cannot find an answer
to the darkness and the madness
ad the emptyness
getting closer to the memory
of your consciousness
a fool's procession towards your very last

digression
a confession in my mind
to your lighter side
that's hiding all the answers

second chances
heavy breathers breathing one last breath
surrounded
confounded by the sounding of a warning
a confession
vivisection of your memories
and they seduce me

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons License.

I'm trying to make political tunes that are also just fun to sing. Here
are all of them with quick links:

1. Improving

http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/002681.php

2. James Brown Died On Christmas

http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/002679.php

3. Democracy

http://www.lisarein.com/democracy.html

4. In the Spirit
http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/002044.php

5. James and Marybeth (about copyright law and how the public is losing their
end of the bargain)
written to James H. Billington (Librarian of Congress) and Marybeth Peters
(Register of Copyrights)

http://www.lisarein.com/jamesandmarybeth.html

6. Here's myself and Audrey Howard in Golden Gate Park doing a cover of a
song Green Day's Billy Armstrong covering the song by
Aaron Elliot and PHGP called "Life During Wartime":

http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/001298.php

Glad to finally get this up. (I was waiting to finish the video for it...but I don't want to hold things up any more.)

Fuel Funeral

Direct link to MP3

This song is about war profiteers who knowingly exchange the blood of Iraqis and US Troops for profit, in that they fund the destruction of the country so they can profit on its reconstruction.

It's also about how we all line up behind these scumbags and keep driving our SUV's -- and are effectively trading in the future of our children for convenience in the short term.

This song was inspired by the Bill Moyer's NOW program from November 14, 2003, Cash and Carry, which detailed the direct connections between the Shrub Administration and the main two or three companies that are profiting directly from the Iraqi reconstruction.

Vocals by Lisa Rein - Music by Gregory Howe

Lyrics by Lisa Rein and Gregory Howe.

Lyrics

They tell you all that you wanna know
The roads are paved with a heart of gold
They turn you out on the inside
Kill your world as they come alive

Come on down to the Fuel Funeral
Cause you ain't got too much more to lose
There's only trouble and obstacles
They're all waiting for you for you





This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons License.

This song is about the crazy idea that any kind of "democracy" the U.S. brought to Iraq could be worth the death of a single Iraqi person.

It's like someone saying:

"Ok here's the plan. First, we bomb all your public water and power systems, then we don't actually rebuild them, so a lot of you are going to die off from that.

Next, your brother and aunt die when us or the insurgents bomb them by mistake.

Next, you get democracy!

See!? It's a bargain!."

MP3 (2 MB) -- WAV source (14 MB)

"Improving"
Words and Music By Lisa Rein

Cut off the power lines my friend
Shut off the water too
The benefits will never end
When we're done bringing this to you

We're just improving
improving
improving
improving

Kill off your family one by one
but we'll give you some rights when we're all done
yeah
It's such a drag
but it's not us!
If you can tough it out
You'll make it.

improving
improving
improving
improving

repeat

(As recorded into my laptop using Audio Recorder, as always...) This track is available under a
Creative Commons Attribution License

This is a little ditty that manifested itself over the holidays.

The MP3 and source wav file are available under a
Creative Commons Attribution License.

Music and Lyrics by Lisa Rein

James Brown died on christmas

James Brown died on christmas
They found him in the morning
It came without a warning

It seems like only last december
I was looking up his police record
To settle a trivial family battle

And I don't mean no disrespect
And I'm not saying anything at all
Cause nothing's ever written on the wall
But I hope that he's in a better place
In a better place

It was the first thing I heard on christmas morning
I saw it on the tele
It was a holiday of tragedy and tyranny

When only a few days later
We were hanging a dictator
As a symbol of democracy

And I'm not saying anything
Cause no one's even listening anymore
And there's not much I really know for sure
But I know that he's in a better place
In a better place

Just released a brand new song: Democracy.

This song comes with its own page to help explain the lyrics.

It's about what has become our sorry excuse for a democracy, and thinking about it for five minutes, in the context of the world at large.

I recorded the guitar and vocals for this on my mac laptop, using Audio Recorder. (I did mix it in protools, but I didn't do anything special that would have required protools.)

Hope you like it. I've made all the source files available for remix, and it's all under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

I decided to allow commercial use of the work. Let's see how far it can get!

This is actually a remix of some of my music - as opposed to one of "my remixes."

Just found this on CC Mixter:

Submarine (Featuring Lisa Rein)
by Briareus

Link to MP3

This track uses my acapella track of "He pepe and me."

I'm getting a lot of remix mileage out of that acapella track! (like 9 remixes!)

I gotta get more stuff up there!

My cc mixter page is up now.

I've uploaded my first track, Maybe We Can All Do Something, which features Craig Newmark and Fourstones. It's from my last podcast for Mondoglobo.net.

I've been getting a lot of stuff for my show from cc mixter. It's just a great site!

So I'm still very much in the throws of finals hell in school, but I wanted to start throwing stuff up from the show last Saturday night, which was a huge success!

There were about 100 people there over the course of the night. I collected $460 in donations and gave the EFF its $230 on Monday.

Here is a live track of my new anti-war song, In The Spirit. I'll include the lyrics below. It's got Alex Walsh sitting in with us on guitar - "us" being Ron Taylor (guitar), Jeff Norwood (bass) and Simon Grant (drums).

I've made two versions - one with the little introduction explaining what the song is about, one without the intro so you don't have to listen to the intro over and over again when you're listening to the song on your ipod :-)

Lemme know what cha think!

In The Spirit - w/intro (MP3 - 9 MB)

In The Spirit - Radio Edit (MP3 - 8 MB)

In The Spirit - Video (Small - 14 MB)

So this is the last song. Thanks a lot for coming out. I really appreciate it.

So this song is my first anti-war song. This song is basically about the war and how it sucks and all that kind of stuff, but it's also about keeping a good attitude about how we have to change things and basically, kind of, rebuild our entire country from the ground up. From square one. And trying to keep a good attitude about it, 'cause there's a lot of work to do. But if we stay in a good mood and have a good time doing it then we have a better chance of pulling it off.

In The Spirit - Lyrics
Words and Music by Lisa Rein

Sticks and stones won't make them go away
problems rearranging every day
30,000600,000 faces disappear
history repeats itself in fear

how far will you run
how far have we come
won't be any fun
without you in the spirit

sticks and stones can't build a better way
hear their story changing every day
in the distance you can see their lies
targeting you right between the eyes

how far will you run
how far have we come
won't be any fun
without you in the spirit

how far can we go
time to hit the road
such a heavy load
unless you're in the spirit

solo 1

sticks and stones can't build a better way
hear their story changing every day
in the distance you can see their lies
targeting you right between the eyes

how far will you run
how far have we come
won't be any fun
without you in the spirit

how far can we go
time to hit the road
such a heavy load
unless you're in the spirit

solo 2

I just uploaded three versions of a new song (Studio, Studio-Guitar Mix, and Unplugged):

Should I Let You In.

I've started a mailing list where you can sign up to be notified when new tracks are published and about upcoming live shows.

I just released a studio version of Slipping Away today. (Slipping Away v. 2.0.
Here's the scoop:

10/17/03 -- I just rediscoverd this track when I was in Seattle a few weeks ago doing the RetarDEAD themesong.

I'd forgotten how good this came out, and just kinda never got around to doing anything with it. Now that I've played it for people, I'm told it may be my best track ever. (Which reminded me to make it available to you.)

I'll be going back to Vagrant Records soon to cut some more tracks. This time with Ron by my side in the studio. I can't wait. (Even if Evan Foster did play the hell out of this song! Thanks, Evan!)

One of the great things about recording with Evan was that he could really pull these songs out of my head. I would say something like "Randy Rhoads tone" (not for this song, but for say Poltergeist, and he would just know what I meant, and play it perfectly. I was really great working with him, and I'm told it will never happen again, because he's about to be a rock star :-) So I feel especially lucky to have worked with him "when."

Anyway, hope you like it. Check it out.

I just found out that I'll be playing at Noe Valley Ministry on December 13, 2003 -- Saturday night!

Map to Noe Valley Ministry

Since we get to take over the whole church for the show - upstairs and downstairs - I'm going to take the opportunity to throw a little party while I'm at it.

So we'll be performing three or four little sets over the course of the evening to showcase our stuff in-between the food and get togethering. That way, if you have other plans, you can still come by for a few songs and a drink or two whenever it's convenient for you.

The festivities will be going on from 6:30-9:30 pm. Donations will be appreciated, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Check out our first video for a taste of our acoustic set.

Hope to see you there!

I just posted my first music video!

I just started the camera rolling and performed a song with the other half of Park and Ride: Ron Taylor. There's more where this came from.

I just found out that I'll be playing at Noe Valley Ministry on December 13, 2003 -- Saturday night! Here's more information about the event.

Hope to see you there!

Slipping Away

I thought it was time for a little music video to introduce you guys to Ron, and give you a little taste of us live -- so you might come see us play at Noe Valley Ministry in San Francisco when we play December 16, 2003.

This song was the last song we wrote together when we were in Seattle in 1999. It's one of my favorites.

Ron had just re-learned the song when we taped this, so I had to cue him for the chord changes. That's why I keep pointing at him -- that's "the signal" for the chord change.

Hope you like it!

Lyrics - Slipping Away
Words by Lisa Rein, Music By Lisa Rein and Ron Taylor

Lately, I can't seem to unwind
I'd put my feet in the air
But there's too much on my mind
And I'm just
Traveling with my face in a jar
I got one foot in the door
And things are fine how they are

But sometimes I think
I got it made in the shade
And then, starts a feeling like it's slipping away
In my mind

But everything seems ok
Everything seems ok

Dying
I'm dying to win
And I'll be killing myself
To be born over again
Are you lying?
I ain't too sure who you are
You're just a traveling salesman with your face in a jar

It's always when I think that something's coming my way
Then I get that funny feeling like it's slipping away
For the last time

But everything seems ok
Everything seems ok
Yeah

It's always when I think that something's coming my way
That's when I get the feeling it's all slipping away
In my mind

But everything seems ok
Everything seems ok
Yeah everything seems ok
Everything seems ok
Yeah everything seems ok
Everything seems ok
Yeah everything seems ok
Everything seems ok
Yeah everything

Here's another track with "studio" and "unplugged" versions.

It's Alright
By Lisa Rein and Ron Taylor

This songs too personal to really go into details. It's a song I wrote to my boyfriend in 1995. So I guess this one is for you, James.

People always wonder if I mean "it's all right" or it's (only) "alright." But the lyrics below are intentional. For the most part, at that time in my life, for lots of different reasons, it was only "alright."

Lyrics
It's Alright
It's Alright
It's in my eyes

You say something's got to give
I say something's gotta take
And it ain't no way to live
But it's too late

And I hope I can cope with the way that things are
And I hope I don't take it too far
You should know
I keep telling you
I'm gonna live forever
So smile wide now and smoke your cigar
And we'll go far

You say something's got to give
I say something's gotta take
And it ain't no way to live
But it's too late
And I hope you don't think that I'm living in sin
And I hope you can't tell that I'm lying again

And I hope I can cope with this mess that I've made
And I hope I can stand in the shade
You should know
I keep telling you
I'm gonna live forever
At least maybe I'll live through today

Hey it's alright
It's all right
It's in my eyes
My eyes

Something's got to give
And something's got to take
And I try to catch up
But I'm falling behind
And I don't even know
What I'm trying to find

And I hope you can cope
With this mess that I am
And I hope that you don't give a damn

You just think like I'm telling you
I'm gonna live forever
And let things so according to plan
And be my man

I just put up a new song today. And there's more where that came from.

This time I'm trying something new, and posting both a studio track and an "unplugged" version from our practice a few weeks ago.

Hiding
By Lisa Rein and Ron Taylor

There isn't really a story that goes with this song. It's about reaching one's full potential.

I used to not be able to sing it without tearing up a little. (I actually have a lot of songs like that -- like James and Marybeth...)

It's another oldie but goodie. There will be newer stuff going up soon -- and I've really been focusing on the new material lately. But I realize that all of these are new to you guys and so, when a friend mentioned how much he liked "Hiding" -- and that I shouldn't be -- it reminded me to make this available to you.

Lyrics
Do you remember how it used to be?
You sewed the seeds
You kissed the lightning
The sun it shined
But now you're searching for the seeds of summer
While you're digging yourself under
Won't you come out from undercover?

Into the blinding light of darkness
Into the blinding light of darkness
Somehow you went astray
You lost your will to seize the day
Your sun is shining right beside you

Come out from undercover
Into the arms of your eternal lover

Into the blinding light of darkness
Into the blinding light of darkness

Into the past you fall
But you have the power to take it all
Your sun is shining right beside you
No more hiding

Hiding

Come out from undercover
Into the arms of your eternal lover

Into the blinding light of darkness
Into the blinding light of darkness

I just put up another old song. Well, it's new to you guys!

Rain

I wrote this one myself a while ago and finally recorded it a few years back.

There's more where this came from, so stay tuned!

This is one of the first songs I ever wrote. I wrote it around 1994.

My friend Simon Grant recently mentioned to me that this one was still his favorite. It reminded me of a peak experience I was lucky to have of performing it live with him and two other guys from Scream Radio -- Jeff Eason and Blake Harkins -- at one of their gigs in Seattle in 2001. (These are the same guys that played with me on Poltergeist, Wander, and Spunky Funk.)

So I went and dug up the studio version I still had of this that I recorded at my friend Joe's studio in Seattle in 1999-2000 or so. My other friend Scotty produced it. (Damn, I wish I could remember their last names.)

I sing and play guitar and bass on this one. My friend Scotty did the drum track.

I've just uploaded a new song I wrote with my guitar player, Ron Taylor.

We've just reunited after a 4 year hiatus, and it feels so good!

We'll be playing around in San Francisco soon under our "band" name: Park and Ride.
(He's "Park" I'm "Ride" :-)

Hope you'll come check us out.

Like all of my music, it's released under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
That means, in a nutshell: "Take it and run (baby) BUT give us credit."
(Spelled out: Distribute, Display, and Perform at will -- Derivative Works and Commercial Uses OK)

And now, I bring you
Something Better.

Ron and I wrote this song many years ago right after I'd talked him out of joining the Navy. He was joining the Navy because he felt he had nothing better to do with his life. I convinced him that even flipping burgers would be better than potentially dying in some stupid war.

Now he's happily married with two beautiful children and he still thanks me for helping him out on that fateful day. (Although, I must admit, at the time I was being purely selfish: I didn't want to lose my guitar player!)

Ron and I have recently reunited (August 2003) and we just recorded this track last weekend by playing into the microphone on my video camera. I played it for some friends, and they all liked it a lot. So I'm taking their advice.

It's rough, but I think they're right. It's good enough for rock n' roll!

Hope you like it!

http://www.lisarein.com/somethingbetter.html

Lyrics to "Something Better"
Words by Lisa Rein
Music by Lisa Rein and Ron Taylor.

Lyrics
Flipping burger's ain't so bad
If you got nuthin' else to do
Not too happy, not too sad
Just seems to me there must be

There's something better I can feel it in the air
There's something better I can see it everywhere

Sometimes, I like to take a drive and close my eyes
Sometimes, it makes me feel alive to watch the world go by when

There's something better telling me to say goodbye
I see it smiling in the corner of my eye
There's something coming and it knows just where to find me
It's sweeping me away
I'm gonna leave this all behind me
I'm not blind

People tell me not to dream
Say I'll be letting myself down
But things aren't always what they seem
Maybe I'll win this time around

Something better than the same old compromise
I'll see it clearly when I open up my eyes
There's something coming and it knows just where to find me
It's sweeping me away
I'm gonna leave this all behind me
For something
Something
Something good for me
Something

Yep. That's me singing harmonies and my buddy Audrey Howard on guitar and lead vocals.

Lisa Rein and Audrey Howard - Life During Wartime (Small - 8 MB)

Lisa Rein and Audrey Howard - Life During Wartime (Hi-Res - 132 MB)

Audio - Lisa Rein and Audrey Howard - Life During Wartime (MP3 - 3 MB)

This may seem like strange timing, but I promised myself I would do this as soon as I got back from SXSW, and it's already been a week, so here goes: I'm looking to put a band together to play mainly around town (at first) and maybe also in Austin, L.A. and New York (eventually), where I have a few contacts.

Check out my stuff and let me know if you'd be interested. (lisarein@finetuning.com)

I just put up another tune I wrote with Ron Taylor that I recorded in Seattle with Evan Foster on guitar:

Spunky Funk.

I've written and recorded a new song asking the Librarian of Congress (James H. Billington) and the Register of Copyrights (Marybeth Peters) to reconsider the recent CARP rulings regarding the rates and terms for webcasters (and to also please protect our rights against the detrimental effects of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, since it does not contain adequate fair use provisions).

What does this all mean to the average person? Well, the average person will be greatly affected in the long run in terms of what kind of programming options will be made available in the future.

Less overhead in compulsory licensing fees means that more webcasters can afford to operate, and that means more channels and more selection from a larger, more diverse content base. It seems like this is a very important time in our history to have as many different voices being heard as possible.

All that I'm asking is for James and Marybeth to either reopen the CARP process afresh, or postpone it all together for another few years in order to enable webcasting services to flourish (much in the same way that cable television was allowed to develop in the 1980s).

So so sad when I listen to my radio
So sick and tired of what I'm watching on tv
There's so much more that I could see and learn and know about my future
James and Marybeth, can you help bring this to me?

I just want a chance to try it twice
I just want a chance to roll the dice
I just want a chance to get it right
I just want the right to stay and fight

I just want the right to search and find
I just want the right to my piece of mind
I just want the chance to know what's mine
I just want the chance to know

oh how I hope you're listening
because the clock is ticking

James and Marybeth, can you find a place for me?
James and Marybeth, can you help me to be free?

Just added Poltergeist to my online collection.

This song is also written by myself and Ron Taylor and recorded at Vagrant Records by Erik-4A with Evan Foster on lead guitar.

Bitzi has used my "Shake All Over" tune as an example of its Privileged Listings service.