This is a list of some works in progress that should see the light of day in something like the order they are listed here.

*I Saw Sonora Hypnotized

This album is in the mix revision stage. It’s similar to the El Pulpo album I put out with the Cicadas in 2017 in its instrumentation and focus on American Empire. All of the song titles begin with dates and the sequence of the album follows the progression of the Empire over time. 5 of the tunes on this 8 song LP are about the topic commonly taught in school under the euphemism known as “Westward expansion.” The songs are based on direct excerpts from first person accounts of “Explorers” (read: colonizers) like Lewis & Clark that are usually portrayed as heroes in school textbooks. Here, these first person accounts are adapted and arranged in a way that seeks to call attention to their investment in the white supremacy, commercial exploitation and genocidal military conquest that are inherent in all instances of European settler colonialism.

They range from the role slavery played in the Lewis & Clark expedition, Zebulon Pike’s scouting-under-capture of the present day Southwestern US (when it was part of the Spanish Empire), William Becknell and the Santa Fe Trail, and the role violence against Chinese immigrants and Native Americans played in the 1849 Gold Rush and the founding of the city of San Francisco as we presently know it.  The final song about westward expansion song is based on the book The Great Cowboy Strike: Bullets, Ballots and Class Conflict in the American West by Mark A. Lause. There’s also a song called A Chorus Line based on the Busby Berkeley film Gold Diggers of 1933 that deals with sexual predation in a way that points out its relationship to the psychology of imperial conquest, and a song called Cold about a character with a Midas touch that turns everything to ice instead of gold. A recent addition is a song called Blowback that was begun as part of the Folk Implosion album mentioned above, but since migrated to my solo sphere. The title is based on the Chalmers Johnson trilogy, and fits the context of this project in offering a contemporary mirror to the karmic fallout of the American Empire mindset that formed in the early days of the country. An instrumental version of this tune was released on the Folk Implosion lathe cut entitled It Just Goes.

Lyrics to 4 of the 8 songs date back to around 2006, and home recorded parts have been kicking around for years in the home studio.  The collaborative phase of this project began with recording Oud and arranging song structures with Scott Solter in Mid March of 2018.  Things continued out in Portland OR at Type Foundry Studios on April 1-3 of ’18 with Joe Plummer (Cold War Kids, Modest Mouse, Shins) on drums, Atlanta’s Noah Estrella on bass, Scott Solter on Optigan and upright piano, Brandon Eggleston engineering, and me on guitars and iPad synthesis.  There were lots of Lewis and Clark references around Portland, from 76 gas stations to national parks, and we had lots of conversation about why Portland is such a white city, with references to Klan activity in the state of Oregon during the time of its ongoing colonization, (see the Oregon chapter of the book Hooded Americanism.)   Memories were also fresh from a show I played in San Francisco right after Thanksgiving, where I saw an exhibit at San Francisco MOMA about the gold rush era of 1849, and was reminded how much of contemporary SF iconography trades on the Gold Rush, much as my native MA trades on colonial era Pilgrim icons and racist mythology including but not limited to the original “Thanksgiving.”

We did an additional day of drums with Rob Chamberlain in Durham on Memorial Day weekend of ’18, on the eve of his departure for summer tour with his duo Evil English.  We had fun using some choice steel drum and percussion stuff I picked up at the amazing Revival Drum Shop in Portland, along with a discarded spin dryer Scott rigged up as a kick drum.  I spent the following summer adding guitar, synthesis, bass, loops and editing/premixing at home.  Vocals came next in early fall of ’18.  We did a day of viola and violin with Justin Blatt in the final session at Scott’s studio on Orient St in Durham, which subsequently moved across town.  Then…I hit a wall. This album got put on the back burner due to two very stressful school / teacher’s union years. (2018-2019 and 2019-2020.)  However, I got back to work in 2021-2022 and finished everything except vocals for the song about striking cowboys. That, and putting finishing touches on the aforementioned tune Blowback, ended up happening in the early of 2026. We also redid some earlier vocals and made further edits around that time.

* Album with Simon Joyner and Dennis Callaci

These two long time friends and I are in early stages of discussing an album we plan to record together in 2027.

Cheers, JD