Sleeves and Surprises//i've fought fevers with bed sheets

Pure hip hop. Go on, get lit for me - I've been too sick for spliffs.

Gonja Sufi - Ancestors (produced by Flying Lotus)
what sloooooow haze. when that organ kicks in, it kills me. i think it killed sufi as well, his voice sounds on teh verge of breaking the whole track through. scoped this album from the awesome download blog neu musical express, go there for the latest in weird, spacey, hazy dazy beats.
//hiphop.hazy\\

Jaylib - Follow Me
the late-great jay dee with the still-great madlib, from jaylib outtakes, the track features madlib's mc persona quasimoto, high pitched voice and stinging vocabulary that always adds to the jams. this is one of those hip hop jams that just feel good to walk to, so get on the weapon of choice and turn the sound way up to get the bass moving your feet. your strut just woke up, and it's mad chillin'.
//hiphop.stonesthrow\\


Eminem - I'm Having A Relapse (freestyle)
i have a hard time believing this is a freestyle, but fucking hell it's solid, whatever it is. this is the m&m i fell in love with back when the marshall mathers lp dropped, and the dude i forgot about when he kept putting out records after that. mtv killed this boy, ate him up and spit out his heart on trl. his latest album is still shit, but thank god for this radio broadcast that first streamed this jam. listen to the lyrics, his flow, and the beat, and try to think of any other mainstream rapper out there who can impress like this guy can. the rhythm is flawless, eminem owns this production and i'm so sorry he's been shit at everything else he puts out.
//rap.freestyle\\

J-88 - The Look of Love (Two Fingers Remix)
if you dig amon tobin, then dig on this production. heavy, uplifting, dancey and stone worthy. there were a number of other two fingers bootlegs that surfaced before their record came out, which saw missy elliot and busta rhymes get the tobin production treatment, and i strongly recommend you look for those cause they are hot.
//hiphop.electronica\\


Starkey - Bounce
dubstep's take on t.i.'s 'shoulder lean,' and it works so well. i first heard this dropped by tobin on a boat circling the statue of liberty, and i finally found again this spring. crank up the bass for christ's sake and get your durty souff on. it goes on for awhile, so get ready for a follow up to mix out of this jam, preferably during the 'lean' bridge.
//hiphop.bass\\


BIG UPS:
Conquering Animal Sound:
bells, light guitar, sparse drums and lo-fi melodies make up excellent folk-friendly atmospheres. the sounds must come from daydreams and cold slumbers, because listening to their music inspires me to find a cave in a wooden area and hibernate - with their music looped in surround sound across the stone ceiling. download their mixtape for free and scope their myspace, where you can listen to their track 'Where The Wild Things Are,' my favourite from the group. if any of you are near the edinburgh area, make sure you check them out live at the wee red bar on the 8th of august.
free taste: Conquering Animal Sound - Your Friends:Conquering Animal Sound Mixtape

Your Friends, Conquering Animal Sound from James Scott on Vimeo.

Richard Heeks:
an otherwise uninteresting flickr find, heeks has a set dedicated entirely to capturing a shot of a soap bubble as it bursts. it's amazing the effort he puts into this, and the results are breathtaking. there are some shown below, but to follow his attempts at getting the perfect bubble burst, please go to his flickr.

The Snare Bear:
dubstep that's all about the bass (ain't it all?) with a particularly unique repertoire of samples that keep the jams fresh even past the four minute mark. watch out for 'Raptor,' sampling Jurassic Park, and 'Liam's Gonna Take Your Soul' which has that awesome speech from you-know-who in Taken. what makes these jams good is the how varied the bass gets - none of the repetitive one liners that a lot of dubstep tracks have succumbed to. this kid focuses on what gets the subs groveling.
Free Taste: The Snare Bear - Liam's Gonna Take Your Soul



i've suffered too many fevers, too many cold sweats, too many rough dreams
that have kept me from seeing off those i love


- tgrs
(photos by pdhw)

Coffee Warmth//the beautiful sound of a mist storm

"If you're going to be crazy, you have to get paid for it or else you're going to be locked up." - Hunter S. Thompson

tUnE-YaRdS - Hatari
tribal yelps of exaltation! celebration! rainforest foreplay and vocal marriage of the heart and soul. angry dreams of lust and passion underscored with a perverted smile that curls at the sight of an exposed breast under the moonlight. twitchy hands that jerk in time to a crazed sermon littered with words of a religious tongue, garbled and massacred to try and mirror some exult of bedtime-story love - the imagination, and all its power, is a creature devoted to ripping us away from the ties of reality, releasing us into the brightest and very darkest corners of our consciousness.
//experimental.folk\\


Au - RR vs. D
madness! fear! joy! revulsion, expulsion, disgust and immersion! what lengths will we march to show the whole fucking world we are OPINIONATED and DETERMINED? my foot first, then your knees, then her hands and his screams and their dreams...oh, it all feels so real! finally! we believe that they can hear our chants, our pleas, our demands for insuring what the future means and our aggravations at the monstrosities the people-that-be wield against us! we are not like our parents, we have twitter!
//experimental.folk\\


Francois Virot - Islands
folk has changed this generation - what used to be a community filled with baez and dylan monologues, king and taylor romances, or even the wandering spirit of an acoustic guitar and a ragged voice has transformed into upbeat titles on childhood and dreams. we don't look to the roads anymore, we look to the blissful ignorance of our youth. folk sings about simple pleasures, god-given and immediate; the job of provoking thought now falls on the 'intelligent,' or 'backpack,' hip hop crowd. beatniks have gone tribal, the outdoors are forested, and shrooms have rescued sore throats from cigarettes. virot, au, yeasayer, animal collective, califone, on and on and on and on and on the list could go...pick an acoustic-driven artist the blogs are drooling over these days, and they fit the bill. the perversion of old american music into psychadelia-drowned soundscapes of yelps, shrieks, claps and whispers. amen to iron & wine, and those few warriors of sunny field music, purveyors of cassettes and record players, horse carriages and train stowaways.
//experimental.folk\\


Guido Mobius - Gosse Overman
a warm, sparse beat, with quadrupled claps over a wavering blues voice that weaves a wide range of pitch. whistle, whistle away, through a long summer drive; keep those windows down to smell the wind and seasalt air, the path we all know so well, the gas stations selling cheap coffee and the bridges littered with sun-blazed fishermen, how i miss that road from family to seclusion, from trees to beach, from you to me.
//beat.pop\\



BIG UPS:
woven:
A saviour of folk, a warrior of forest songs and southern lullabies, what beauty exudes from this voice is untenable - only a quick tear at your chest reminds you that a siren's song is as perfect as it is deadly, so murderous are these light-hearted songs of dreams and wanders. A mix of CocoRosie and Joanna Newsom, with the ambience of Joan Baez, sleep to wake is a talent I stumbled upon through MySpace, and I am lucky that I did. Discovered during the insomnia hours of tomorrow's morning, her voice sounded like a promise for sleep, and I was grateful for her recordings. I hope you find the same comfort in her tracks that I did, and continue to, no matter the weather.
Free Taste: woven - Grey Light
(no download - only MySpace)



appu jasu:
Pictures absolutely drenched in warmth and nostalgia. Multiple exposures, aged film, and a good eye all work towards a transformation of the beautifully mundane into a memory of your parent's childhood.
flickr



Roger Cohen:
An op-ed columnist for the New York Times. He's written one of the most in-depth, personal, and affecting articles on the current protests in Tehran I've read yet:
http://tinyurl.com/mtysqg



The American Dollar:
These dudes are from Queens, NY, and make some pretty epic post-rock music. Reminds me of my younger days roaming the streets of Forest Hills with Explosions in the Sky blasting out my headphones. I got this video from the very awesome Aurgasm blog, and they have a pretty straightforward mandate I urge you all to follow:

"Please click play. Then click full screen. Big headphones are recommended, as well."






Wilmer Murillo:
With pastel colors and stretched shapes, Wilmer Murillo combines Disney allusions with circus imaginations into postcards from a mushroom trip. He's a 21 year old based in Honduras, and uses both digital and traditional methods to illustrate what can only be some fucked up and joyful daydreams. Watch this guy turn children's entertainment back into the twisted, curious, sweet-and-sour delights I remember enjoying - none of this cutesy Hannah Montana bullshit; Pinocchio had a wooden boy turn into a donkey for christ's sake.

Special treat:

Wilmer Murillo Drawing - Episode 2 from Wilmer Murillo on Vimeo.

its amazing how much people change in as little as two seasons past. you see old friends die, new ones bloom, and love loved and lost. where I had found inspiration, creativity, and brotherhood, I now choke on quiet heartbreak, a deep swallow to send a hundred memories and wishes into a pit of boiling stomach acid. i am speechless, without response, and sleep heavy with headphones tossed. the day the music died, my friend, is the day you found creativity in textbooks. you cannot teach soul, you cannot learn heart; there is only truth in pure expression, unpolished, unrestrained, and unforgiving. i am proud to see my past not as mistakes, but as continued progress, unraveling the infinite mysteries of the world around me - both physical and sonic - and turning each month into a new period of discovery. so cast away your pedantic offers, throw down those boxing gloves (and I will mine), and forget the mentality of technicality! fall in love again with a good record, deaf to eqs and sidechains, ignorant of analog and digital; play with gross individuality and scream riots of sing-a-longs. please, do not belittle the past with arrogant pokes at superior vision, but adapt and share and remold what is already alive and kicking. please, embrace what seems so dangerously necessary with open arms (I am proud and confident in the strides you have surely made), but embrace what we called home just as much.


Nighttime Glasses

my best friend's found a girl
that makes me happy, that makes me weak
i cant stand them together
because they make me sick, oh love, oh jealousy
i've lost mine to the river
distance, oh cruelty, you've stolen my heart
i'm not here to complain
i'm here to remind you that I care from afar

I am in this for the long run
I hope that you are too cause i would hate to go it alone
if the sky rang with music
it would sing our tunes that we wrote when we were young
basement melodies
that echo from hell to high when we soar above the rest
now the blue is never darker
and walls make room for sounds shaped strong between the best

I'm sorry you have suffered
let's roar a thousand prayers until the gods give them back
do you wish to forget
the troubles life has brought or just ignore the fight inside?
I promise it will feel better
when you're honest with yourself, let cynicism die

nothing seems to make you smile anymore
so I won't leave until I see your teeth

I would chase the moon for you, if you could only see the sky
take off those sunglasses, don't try to ignore the night
can we draw the curtains and pretend that this is our own?
I would be happy to die if we met in the afterlife



- tgrs

April In Paris//tr-ttt-trying something new

I've decided to try out a new format for this space. Please bear with the changes.

Daniel Rossen - Waterfall
sometimes, i wish i could retain the magical curiosity of being a child. creating a world out of a back garden...and never leaving it, even in your dreams. it feels more often than not that the world of imagination is kept only for sleeping thoughts, or a drug-addled mental vagrancy...why the loss? why can we not see our surroundings with the vibrancy a child does? for her, a tree is a kingdom; for an adult, it is a gravestone. we cannot feel how we used to - instead, we only suffer shooting pains of memory, sharp tacks that hint at a realm of leafy possibilities but fall listless to the blunt retaliation of maturity.
//acoustic.lofi\\


Amen Dunes - Patagonian Domes
i have spent the past month more or less outside, walking down new paths, covering myself in sunlight and storms, gracing hills with bottles of beer and sharing green with greenery. i call my home 'the city,' the infinite curbside that streaks and twists like a river snake, it shakes a mighty head against fatigue and sinks metal teeth into the hearts of teenagers. but in this fresh air, i want instead to call my home 'the country,' where a guitar can sing with perfect ambiance, a crow can dance where people step, and an afternoon slumber can turn into a warm evening breeze. i don't want that which so many people crave; i don't want to go home.
//folk.lofi\\


The Big Pink - Velvet (Mount Kimbie Remix)
i am confused: i feel surrounded by creative people, persons of interesting output and considerations, yet consistently i am let down by their attention, support, and, most importantly, their passion. for some: why do you let yourself sing one tune, but practice life without ears? why do you paint self-portraits without any mirrors? why do you poison passion with suit treatment? creativity is marred by business - do not support the industry, support the people. for others: thank you for sharing.
//electronica.latenightbeats\\



Karen Ann - Where No Endings End
i want to spend my life with you. it is neither scary nor exhilarating to realize. it's simply true.
//vocal.atmospheric\\



BIG UPS:
Friendly Foliage:
not only has he done the best remix of an Animal Collective track to date, but he constantly puts out new tracks that give anyone on the SP-404 bandwagon a massive obstacle course of quality and originality to endure. He's got an uncanny ability to stretch one sample into a thousand of different sounds. But if you don't like introspective repetition, musical meditation and meandering melodies, then you won't dig this. I'm currently working on a remix for his track 'Javelin Capes,' which is set to be released as a single with a few other remixes in the next month. I'm torn between two versions: a Four Tet version with a clusterfuck of snaps and pops, or a Crookers bass-heavy dance jam.
free taste: Animal Collective - No More Runnin' (Friendly Foliage remix)


a sea of red rabbits:
a haven for vintage photography among the fad that has become vintage photography. the shot below sold the artist to me, and a similar warmth can be found in most of what she's posted. some of them are a miss - the warmth comes off not as homely, but as a blatant throwback, a problem common to every film enthusiast under the age of 30. but what fault i can only hint at, she rescues with a solid eye for beauty in familarity. still, best to ignore the cheesy taglines.


i'm looking for new music and art (as per usual) - send me stuff @ thegreatredsharkmusic@gmail.com i don't care about the style, so long as it's fly. so dust off those flares, and drop some tracks in my dropbox.




shameless plug:

i'm going to release an ep in July with remixes and covers from a few friends of mine in support of the latest single off of my debut album, 'Friends.' The Circus Love EP will be free to download, and will include (on my part) 'Circus Love,' a live version of 'In Your Arms,' and a brand new track. brap brrrrrap. check out the new single over at the necessary evil that is myspace.








So, there you have it, a completely new format for this "website." Lemme know if you think i should give it all up, keep up the pretense, or just go back to basics by posting some comments. Danke Schoen.


- tgrs

oh my god, //Why We Fly Home

Hildur Gudnadottir - Ascent
it's alive, oh, it's so alive...these clouds of rain, pillows of wet wonder to help us breathe in our world of city stench, these paths of green, trenches to shield some of the wind when all we need is a moment of breeze to keep us in love with the sight. a hill above a town, to look into the sea, and preclude an empty memory of countryside unexplored, oh, it's so alive, this earth we must borrow for our feet.
//modernclassical.atmospheric\\

Olafur Arnalds - Faun
if we imagine that all existence can be embodied into a single cell, and that this cell is in turn embodied by some other cell, and so on it repeats until we get to this first cell, and we acknowledge that with life comes disease, fatigue, death, then we are faced with the existence of the death of that first cell, that holy embodiment of life, hope, imagination, love, evil, hate, the rest of earth's mysteries and obscurities and unfortunate side effects, and one hell of a funeral.
//modernclassical.atmospheric\\

Nalepa - Monday
at my feet, i keep a diary. not a 'dear diary, today i fell in love' type of diary; no pre-teen diatribe, no adolescent wishes and desires penned at the whim of how your hair looks in the morning - at my feet, i keep a diary of records. i record the moment you walk into your house, the moment you turn on the shower, the moment you take off your clothes, the moment you go into bed, the moment you fall asleep. at my feet, i keep a record of your life, and when that last page is filled, i will come for you.
//glitch.electronica.noise\\

Mike Bones - What I Have Left (Alexis Taylor Version)
the shades are closed, the afternoon is securely blocked out of my bedroom. it's a solitary feeling, capturing nighttime and keeping it for as long as you are awake. the curiosity for what the day may bring succumbs to weary eyes and a musical heart, but my skin is dirty and my hair is falling out. my breath is escaping, and my back aches as i sit for as long as i have been. the clocks are all upside down, my bed is damp with sweat, and my wrists are too tired to compose - but life goes on, it tumbles down in waves and explosions and subtle jolts, and we use all our energy to brace for impact. the fall is the catch, the dream is the flight, and what i have left is a handful of dust. click the second link first, please.
//disco.downtempo\\

I have been away for far too long, and there is just so much music I want to share with you all - so expect more tracks, less talk, this week. the moods will range from club to sub to bubble pop, so keep checking back and you'll get plenty of tunes for this weekend.


This movie trailer confuses me, but I still want to see the film:



I said I'd start posting some podcasts of my radio show for this past year, so here is the first - the last show broadcasted this semester, which aired on May 6th.
chillthef*ckout w/ the great red shark:

chillthef*ckout w/thegreatredshark - May 6th, 2009 by The Great Red Shark

Mount Kimbie - Maybes
Burial & Four Tet - Wolf Cub
Gui Boratto - Besides
Sparklehorse - It's A Wonderful Life
Black Moth Super Rainbow - American Face Dust
Ruby Weapon - Daily Routine (AC Cover)
Jon Brion - Spotless Mind
The Cinematic Orchestra - That Home (feat. Patrick Watson)
Julianna Barwick - Sunlight, Heaven
Hildur Gudnadottir - Ascent
Friendly Foliage - Spindle
Fink - See It All
Patrick Watson - Beijing
Animal Collective - What Would I Want Sky


I have succumbed; I have a myspace with a couple of songs on it. I may have kicked myself in the balls last night and started a new project...I'm going to keep myself busy with music if it's the last thing I do. The outside can wait for now.



- tgrs

quick update//Exposure

I have a Soundcloud now. Check it for new jams I'm working on, I'll try and upload stuff as soon as I'm happy with it. Right now I have one song up there, 'Still Alive.' Unmixed, and without two instruments I'd like to add at some point. For now, I hope you enjoy my work. Leave some comments, please.

Still Alive by The Great Red Shark

Likewise, I'd like to hear music from you, so use my Dropbox. I believe in the community of music as the record label's death knell, and a community of music blogs as the four horsemen. All it takes to get heard is to give someone a listen, and I want to hear what's out there from people who stumble across my blog.

On another note, soon as this exam jargon is done with, I'll have more updates with more tracks and literature. Also, I'll be posting some podcasts of my radio show from this past year on STAR.

Here are some tracks I've been digging lately just to tide you over:

Lukid - The Now (Hudson Mohawke Remix)
//dubstep.hiphopbeats.hazy\\

Stag Hare - Born Into Magic
//tribal.experimental.lulling\\

Animal Collective - Do The Nurse
//experimental.noisy.live\\

- tgrs

Whiskey Mouth//morning and evening and nothing in between

Here We Go Magic - Only Pieces
a record written over two months in brooklyn using a 4-track, an old synth, some strings and a throat. i find absolutely beautiful the sheer uprising of DIY musicians these days. the record industry has changed as the obstacles to discover new sounds has crumbled, devolved into a series of clicks and searchs. what could possibly be more uplifting than the knowledge that you can enter this private world one man sunk himself into for sixty odd days and peer down his eyes and hear the soundtrack to his innermost thoughts? we forfeit privacy for universal access, this internet, this beast of information; i find aboslutely beautiful the upside rediscovered every day i enter the labyrinthe of music blogs.
//pop.alternative.dreamy\\

Black Moth Super Rainbow - Twin Of Myself
bmsr has become one of my favorite bands. no other group of musicians has managed to acheive such earthly, interstellar warmth and psychpop sensibilities as these pagan-worshipping (my guess, probably catholic ) forest creatures exhale on each tape they produce. may 26th is the new record, and, judging from this track, it will be as good as dandelion gum. what i find most intriguing - their song name selection process. i'd like to believe they sit on a clean field of white grass under a late spring sun with glasses of red wine and iced tea dicussing the merits of kierkegaard and the downfalls of sartre, when suddenly, a cloud covers their sunglasses and a raindrop lands in the pool of wine cups, diluting the wine slightly until the red fades into a gentle amaranth, and tobacco whispers between smiling teeth: "my, this afternoon has just turned quite pink."
//psychedelic.pop.warm\\

Kurt Vile - Beach on the Moon
originally caught by attention from mdm, then sought out the full record and revelled in the folk acoustics, 90s melodies, and panda reverb. this track this still stands out as my favorite; not only for the pleasant visual image the title resonates, but for the music video that plays in my head as i listen. it involves snow, trees, a train journey, holding hands, and eating warm soup in russia.
//folk.dreamy\\

The Fireman - Two Magpies
macca himself, but this is white album macca meets kurt and folk legends from the west in the 30s. i slept on this record for some time, always with the intention of someday listening to it. i can't remember what event presented me with the possession of electric arguments, but i am grateful for surviving said event with this record intact. it sounds like how paul should sound, cept for all that wishwashy U2 electronica that gets muddled into the mix every now and then. songs like two magpies makes the mistakes worth it. of course, who am i say anything he does is a mistake - homeboy did write eleanor rigby after all (and other tracks, of course, but that's my shit).
//pop.throwback\\


GOLDEN GIRL

She drinks wine with her sunglasses on
in the shade of a garden
i came to learn how beauty can need
a friend with time to sit in the breeze

with cool laughter and a smile on her face
we held hands till morning
the tide coming fast, we wet our feet
but braced ourselves for love's defeat

the crash of hearts after two year's swell
poured rain upon Eden
thunder roared and yelled a call to explore
she grew restless in a place we adored

the golden girl who dreamed in the sun
her mind free to imagine
left the easy life she had as a kid
she doesn't want it to feel like it did

she tread Europe with her ruby shoes
oh how the girl's pulse quickened
when she set eyes on the rest of the world
the earth went blind from the color of my girl

the sun princess who made her own throne
kept her pain well hidden
never blinked in the face of troubles she had
and laughed crazy when you'd think she'd be sad


do i miss my city? no, not really. i'd rather live with the trees,
maybe somewhere to the east of the shore
where i don't understand the language. but i'd pick it up,
and order coffee with a strange inflection
to sip while i write under a heated umbrella the young waitress swears
will keep me warm while the forest behind me shivers in snow.
i'd record travels, thoughts, transcripts and tragedies,
and mail them out to whoever i could remember.
now, by 'mail,' i don't necessarily mean 'post,'
but if that would be your preferred manner of receipt i'd do it.
i would then walk through the white woods
down wintry paths and weathered roads,
working my boots into powder and gravel and leaves and water
until the pale brown turns darker, and my footsteps begin to catch up,
finding myself lost
but completely fine with that predicament.
i mean, i do have a home - it's a nice marble house on the edge of a crystal lake
not but a mile from this log i've sat to rest on -
but sometimes it's just nice to pretend you're lost.

- tgrs

is this worth it//I Don't Live For Them

Hudson Mohawke - Root Hands
in this dream, i taste sour beads of rain on my tongue. the clouds are too thick to see through, but the weather is still nice enough to keep the windows open. if the water floods our living room, can we swim with our couches? pretend the pillows are sharks, and we can play titanic, with the crest of a topsy-turvy table our iceberg. in this dream, i think we can see each other, but the fog between us is starting to make me feel dizzy. can you stand straight when there is no wind to keep you moving?
//electronica.hazy.beatbeats\\

The Long Lost - Woebegone (Flying Lotus' Luckiest Charm)
you are too sexy to BELIEVE. take me in your chest and breathe with me as we fall asleep. i can't feel the beats but i know you are alive because your eyes are wet, so wet, they can melt into sadness when this bed breaks in two. or dance in porto, my salsa, my delicate, you and your shoes of red velvet, to dance between what past has suffered and what the present dares.
//beatbeats.jazz.electronica\\

Haushka - Wonder
oh dreams, what playful parts you give to me! who am i now? a servant to your king god? no, those buckles! polished so jet, i must stand sharp to match my wealth. no, that steel is fake - am i a pauper for the poor? a son of the streets to catch the raw meat idle dogs drop when they are full of charitable treats, i must not stay here long, this rain is muddying the window shops. oh seams, how you tear at each rip, not to catch my woven beads, but to throw the cloth i've kept these years down sewer scenes for the alligators to eat. no, this hand is not mine! how the fingers claw...and my skin does ache, with cracks it bleeds, and these dry lips are thirsty still.
//modernclassical.atmospheric\\

Andrew Bird - Not a Robot, But a Ghost
i think you are disgusting, you beautiful romance, you distant woman trance, you eyes that pierce and fry my waiting skin to die, this hook to hang my lust on jacket links to catch the hood, i'll keep it in, i'll keep it in, i'll keep it in, i'll keep it in, and this is all written by chance to prove the idle reader still my pants are tight and morals loose, so close the book on who to choose for now we're left with dumber still those nights we've kept it in to still a heart eager for girona's kill, a spring escape into summer's bill.
//alternative.interesting\\


CURIOUS

how can you be so sure that the grass is really green
when you're so caught up in images found in magazines?
i think it's time to realize you're no longer seventeen.
i'm tired of watching you fall, trip high and crash hard,
lose the courage your mother gave and your father tried to save
it's getting hard to pretend that i don't care

your happiness replaced with a crazy smile,
the kind brought on when the mind's gone wild.

such a curious boy, you walk around with umbrella,
looking for the shade, when there's only sun.
i hope the clouds forever leave you alone.
digging for diamonds at the beach to wear around your neck,
stepping over sandcastles you've built with shaking hands
though steady eyes reveal a troubled man

how can you be so sure that tonight won't be your last
as you shield yourself from candlelight and you dance your waltz alone?
soon enough we will all become your past.
you're running the oil dry, black gold in your system
bloodshot eyes are leaking again, in tears of shameful pride
that drown your mask and reveal the boy inside.

such a curious boy
tonight

DOGGY (FOR PENNY)

dog who lost all her sight
i'm holding you still, dog, you were a scared dog
when you couldn't find your food
you used to watch me from the glass in our front door

i remember when i first got you dog
you were too young
when i lost you dog

dog of life in her youth
you run so fast, dog, i had to catch you dog
when the first snow would fall
oh the joy you'd feel i could see it in your eyes

dog of death from disease
it weakened you so, dog, you were a different dog
but i knew you'd be ok
when the time came for the fear and pain to end

dog i loved more than most
i'm missing you dear, dog, you were the bravest dog
when i brought you to the vet
and said goodbye, dog, i hope to see you soon again

for five years you were the best dog
you were too young
when i lost you dog.

- tgrs