9:07 am, February 2nd, 2019
There are still fat raindrops on the double-paned windows, jiggling
Those windows look out to the street from the old victorian parlor
The neighbors hired a crew to trim the Magnolia tree, weeds below it are getting taller
And beyond those tangles of the utility pole wires
I see a thick blanket of fog slowly receding as it does around this time
I have some melodies in my head
That need performing
But finding a place to rehearse in this city is insane
$850 a month for a sixteen foot rehearsal space
I checked my emails for the day
And dug out some old expired film that I’d been hoarding away
I gotta send more rolls of undeveloped film to San Clemente taken with this old Rolleicord
Many pictures of the moon and the fog
Somewhere around Guerneville
And taken from my neighborhood
The world gets more complicated every day
But maybe that’s just about decisions we choose to make
To keep going and to keep persisting
It’s not easy to push forward in this world, is it?
I paid my taxes and sent a note to my accountant
about an overdue return
I saw “Sunshine Rock” had a new track streaming
Beau said he had an experience with Bob that somehow reminded him of how I do my writing and my recording
Beau said he’d send more details later as he was in session
And now that the album is slated to come out soon I’m curious again
Also Jessica Pratt’s new album is streaming on NPR, it’s called “Quiet Signs”
What a beautiful album... it would be a dream of mine
To one day work with Jessica Pratt, who is a musical genius
Let her songs transport you to another world
Last year I was in a neighborhood down in Los Angeles called Echo Park
Me and my friends met up at a bar called Semi Tropic
Spending time with friends and a bottle of wine
But they lost me as the conversation turned to astrology
Then I looked over and saw Jessica Pratt and a couple guys who I assumed
Were an engineer and maybe the guy I recognized from YouTube
I wanted so bad to walk over and say "Hi, I’m Kevin
You’re a genius and I’m a genius too
Why don’t we get together and make some music?
Why don’t we sing about our lives and trade verses?
For example, I can sing about how much I hate astrology, I personally think it’s a lot of nonsense,
But if you happen to love astrological signs we’ll sing about that, that’d be fine by me."
In the old days they’d call that a duet I think
Grabbed a bottle of Mineragua
And from my nightstand an orange prescription bottle
Got the schedule for this weekend settled with Adam
I can’t wait to hear brass and woodwind sounds
Ready to relax after a shower, I swallowed a 600 milligram ibuprofen pill
Sat my ass down after a week that included two late nights out
Muscles in my legs are so aching and tired
I want to lie down and sleep for twelve hours
When the climate outside is the same as a Frigidaire
And the rain doesn’t stop coming down, not in February
When you tell someone you’re cold and they say no it isn’t, I disagree
Tell them gently, I feel like you’re not hearing to me
The texts and emails I’m reading on my cell phone are frustrating
Got a job change coming up and my anxiety is peaking
I have a note to meditate tomorrow morning for three minutes
To curb my anxieties that spike without warning
But now I'm thinking about my Fender Rhodes Suitcase piano
And I’m staying up tonight to write these verses I'm gonna sing to you
And now I read that Pegi Young died twenty-eight days ago
I don’t know how I could miss that news
The rain is pouring down, they said there was a flood warning
You bet I’m looking forward to going, I got tickets to Mexico in March
And now one of my photographer friends is jealous of my old Rolleicord
I said don’t envy me my friend, this and my instruments are all I’ve got in this world
The lunar eclipse happened the other day
I had to text my friend to ask her what everyone was calling it
I had stopped at the side of the road in my Forester after we had emerged from the rain in the forest and the fog of Monte Rio
I spent a few minutes with it, and moved on
credits
from Twelve Hours,
track released October 16, 2020
Kevin Dickerson: Words, vocals, Spanish guitar, Portuguese guitar
Adam Hirsch: Saxophone, clarinet, synthesizer, piano, Michoacán vihuela, drum machine
Engineered by Adam Hirsch
Mixed by Adam Hirsch
Produced by Adam Hirsch and Kevin Dickerson
Mastered by TW Walsh
St. Louis DIY stalwarts Shady Bug's latest EP is languid, low-key indie rock that combines warm dream pop tones with alt-rock crunch. Bandcamp New & Notable May 11, 2023
