With that said, I’m excited to tell you that I’m finally committed to a release schedule that makes sense and I think you will enjoy!
TODAY IS THE FIRST DAY OF MY OFFICIAL LAUNCH SEQUENCE WHERE I WILL BE HIGHLIGHTING THE MUSIC OF “LIFE ON MARS“
The Launch sequence begins with a Listening Party on Thursday, 1/21/21 at 7PM where I will ask fans to engage with me on my ‘gram account @RileyHodgesMusic 🙂
I will be asking fans to comment words or feelings that come to mind that I will then use to inform my release schedule and I will create an interactive game for fans to play along with me and help write the “Story of Life On Mars” – check out #OURSTORY_LOM on the ‘gram.
From there I will be highlighting each song on the album in order of appearance, including:
A new Blog Post written and informed by your feedback and comments for #OURSTORY_LOM
A new Music Video for each song
Special Offers
Recently, I’ve been working on a TV show that I created called Cosmic Cocktails where I announced the date of my Life On Mars album release for Friday 1/22/21.
Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, there are still some delays for the Vinyl Record that I cannot account for – most importantly, the Vinyl Record I have been working on is taking longer than expected (I do have test pressings completed and you can check them out during my Listening Party on Thursday, 1/21/21).
You can Pre-order the Vinyl Record for “Life On Mars” by visiting my website here.
An album of loud purple sounds. Someone popped their eggnog on a fruitcicle and created a new dessert.
When you go looking for an album of magnificence in groove and the possibility of a meow style, you pick downtown for the bass line and uptown for the tempo.
All the guitars work together like a saddle fits on a horse. Everybody finds their way.
Of course the drums do all the talking when they say n”sp “sp “sp “tat “tat and that bass is walking like it don’t care none except right here.
When people say things about me, I’m the baddest mountain. Like a thunder rolled in and said “hey!” Where all my dancers at?
Track One starts out clean and keeps riding till it’s over, no stops, just a belly up slouching cruise with a clear wind carrying the salty coastal air.
Track Two begins calm, but then finds an off ramp and gets subdued when it seems to find a clearing toward the beach.
Track Three is like a reflection of your grandmother’s memoirs that jot down everything from cookies to coastal swims. Beach days are fun, and everyone gets along just fine.
Track Four is a little more calm except when it tends to escalate for a minute as if to say, “hey, I’m here.”
Track Five continues onward like a boat on an anchor, swaying in the sea. The world can’t help but to bring rain. It’s just life.
Track Six reminds us of our mothers and fathers of the world. Those who lift us up.
Track Seven reads like “a Day in the Life,” and sings like “Bitches Brew.”
Track Eight tells us when to be happy and it’s all the time. “Could you be loved?”
Track Nine has more to say. And it’s that “we want more wine, and whiskey, and a good night’s sleep as much as possible. Someone needs to remind us of this more often, and that’s what this song is all about. Funk layered with harmonies and horns and a laid back approach to life in general. Just finding connection and being willing to embrace it for what it is and to do good wherever possible.
Track Ten someone told me to write them a song and here it is. I’m here for you.
Track Eleven slow grooves and a soft voice with some percussive style, congas and hand drums. Where a groove gets locked in. We are here.
Track Twelve bring rain and birds. In no particular order, someone lights a fire in the sky. With no warning, a siren calls and tempts.
Track Thirteen there is always morning to freshen the mood. The warm sun brings a calm. It feels good to soak it in and feel whole. Cosmic guitars bring a groovy vibe.
Track Fourteen we live in a musical space. Sound is our friend. We know it when we heart it. Soothing, vibey, a tip of the hat. A step in my walk. It’s all the same. Just groove with it.
The Road Ahead envisions the world as a better place. This better place, like all human constructs, is only as real as you make it.
The song, Long Couple of Days, is about finding your groove. This, and other new songs, will be released as the Cosmic Cowboys.
The Road Ahead is like finding your way home. Coming Home.
See tags
The past is future
Positivity in motion
Cosmic cowboys ?
I can feel it in my teeth. The tingles gives one a feeling of both numbness and pressure. The rolling waves crushed me to the bones, but I was not afraid. From hammer to stone, it is my only feeling.
“Where will we go?” she asked as the canyons echoed.
When I dubbed this gig “Unplugged” I did not know that I would actually need to be completely “Unplugged.” I should’ve sensed that something was up when my home PA malfunctioned by making a repeating, alarming, sweeping, ascending tonal sound… like what you might hear during an apocalyptic scenario. What the fuck?
I’ve been singing about going High or Low in a yet-to-be-released track, and as I’m writing this paragraph I am laughing out loud at the idea of a malfunctioning low to high ascending tone.
Okay, whatever. We all find parallels in daily life if we are willing to look, and pay attention. Mindfulness helps, and even when we’re not paying attention shit tends to slap you in the face when you least expect it. Of course, even though I search for good and pleasant inspirational parallels, I don’t always pay attention, mindfully, because of the nature of 21st Century life and the human condition in general. Technological distractions, malfunctions, ramming, prodding, vying for space. I just glanced at my phone and read another scary, nearly apocalyptic, headline involving a “brain eating amoeba” What the…
Apart from scary headlines, fear-based news in general, and other distractions, what else is up with mindfulness and better ways to delve into creative communication, sort of the point of this blog, Perspective In Sound?
I heard my song “Maybelline” on the radio earlier. Fuck yeah!
Broadcasting Live from Shannon’s Corner on Pine. KLBP 99.1 FM Long Beach, CA!
Also, I heard Alyssa Nighswonger, friend and multi-talented artist, on KLBP 99.1 FM Long Beach, CA while writing… She asked, “What’s the point?” which is what drew me to say what the point of this blog was above.
This is how my brain works. Don’t eat me, amoebas! Please preserve my twisting, interconnected, multiple-outcome reality as blood pumps through my trillions of synapses to form growing positive connections!
What else? Well, making sense of all this in 2019 requires a high-speed broadband Internet connection and well-functioning CPU. My 2012 iMac has not been cutting it lately, but it’s not Mac’s fault… It is I, the master of my CPU, that is holding on to too much content. Lately, I’ve been sorting through old content since I started taking pictures of mostly nonsense from about 2000 (y2k, baby!) up until I moved to Barcelona, Spain in 2007 where I got a chance to photograph more creatively. Just before I left for Spain, I bought the re-popularized Holga toy camera made out of cheap components to give the user a flawed photographic experience that over-accentuates the natural beauty of the Universe. Colors, light leaks, overexposure, etc. all adds to what has now been replaced by your Instagram filter, or countless other ways in which you can manipulate the world around you to suit your liking.
When I was much younger, barely a teenager, I made a few time-lapse videos using legos, fire, a Santa Claus doll, whatever I could conveniently get my hands on. Later on, my sisters and I made a film, Killer In the House, Part 1 and Part 2…
The goal is to make it entertaining. For better or for worse, at the moment…
So as I’m cleaning up my Hard Drive, thereby improving my CPU, I am working on how to stay centered, mindful and patient…
Back to the gig on Saturday, the 14th after our Friday the 13th Full Harvest Moon Adventure into the Wasteland. I started noticing the pull of this rare full moon the night beforehand on Thursday the 12th as my PA was malfunctioning… then during our Wasteland Adventure, and up until the gig on Saturday I was still feeling as prickly as a Night Blooming Cactus. Of course, as I got on stage my guitar pickup malfunctioned… so we mic’d my acoustic guitar, Unplugged. It’s weird how the Universe does that to you.
Saturday the 14th @ Dipiazzas
Keeping It Honest is all about the stuff that is out of your control and you shall not fight, it is embracing the chaos around you so much so that you become the chaos, figuratively speaking, just so that you can see things from a different perspective, also known as Empathy. Courage helps…
It’s been a ‘fun’ summer, learning these lessons, and I’m ready for Fall, falling into my next release series, including new music later this month, Live One!
Update 1 of 2: it turns out that the reason my guitar didn’t work at the gig was because the backup battery I had on hand was indeed also dead like the one in my guitar when I first found out the pickup wasn’t working. So either there are powers conspiring against me (and also for me in terms of the creative potential that it creates through its resistance) OR I did this to myself. Both can be true, but also just one of these options can be true, alternatively. I love alternative music, too.
Update 2 of 2: Live One was eventually released on March 10, 2020, just days before the world shut down due to COVID-19. Again, either there are powers conspiring against me (and also for me in terms of the creative potential that it creates through its resistance) OR I did this to myself (I did in fact have a clairvoyant moment the week before ‘the shutdown’). Both can be true, but also just one of these options can be true, alternatively. I love alternative music, too. But not death metal typically.
Arriving in España reminded me of the time I spent here while studying abroad in Barcelona. We visited Sevilla at that time yet I could not really appreciate the city then the way that I do now.
For starters, our Airbnb was a great choice, and it’s exciting to be here for our friend Maria and Alex’s wedding!
Sevilla is beautiful, romantic, and cultured with a rich history of traditions like Flamenco and food like Paella and Iberian Ham. There are also stories of conquest, exploration of the Americas and stunning architectural design.
As we venture out into the city I am finding there are many parallels to explore as I am releasing my new single, C’est La Vie!
Sitting on our balcony with La Giralda in my view reminds me another time and place. Have you been to space?
Life on Mars is about expressing our best self while practicing empathy, courage and love.
Family is so important and I feel blessed to be able to spend time with them on this lovely vacation!
I’m excited to release C’est La Vie next Friday, June 28th! We are playing a release show at the Prospector the night before, Thursday at 10pm. Come say “hola” as I bring the Spanish vibes home with me to share in the LBC.
Playing on a new friend’s guitar at Luis y Luz (pron. “looth” in the Sevillian accent 🙂 My sister, Shannon, and new friend at the pre-wedding Paella and Ribs BBQ at Luis’ Maria’s son and Spanish father, Luis. He hosted the BBQ at his home in Montequinto, and selected a very special wedding venue. Alex and Maria
Upcoming notes:
it’s amazing you can perceive emotions so subtly on a living face. a face that’s alive, however far away or near you feel to it, can be detected by the viewer and in relation makes them feel alive, however far away or near you feel to it.
//
Rose petals are divine
Ancient
Eternal
Divine
//
Flamenco
Rumba
//
When the sangria and gazpacho becomes confused, it’s a good thing…
Songwriting feels like a cozy couch with nowhere else to be. You are here and nothing else matters. Stories live forever and dreams do come true.
Often times I find myself jotting down notes when an idea strikes. Yet ideas don’t always strike first. To start off I like to go by feeling and touch alone…
I’ll grab a guitar and start strumming and humming. I let my senses guide me toward the discovery of something that sounds good.
Songwriting feels like the first bite of an excellent meal. Tasty, and there’s more to come! Where shall we go from here?
Having grown up in the bar business, Riley operates Shannon’s bars, restaurant and entertainment venue with his family.
Over the past few years as the Shannon’s businesses have grown, Riley has endeavored to focus more on creating and playing music. His latest project is Life on Mars. Check out new music single releases every month!
Life on Mars is an Americana Music Album with eclectic elements that was inspired by a journey through Iceland in 2016. The song Live One writes about this experience, asking, “What’s it like to be a stone shot into magma bursting out?” From there the album took shape as a metaphor for life on Earth, what we’ve done here, how we’ve grown, our follies… and if we went to Mars, what would we want to bring and do differently?
Maybelline is about strength, diversity, equality and empathy for others.
News out of #Alabama is troubling… my new song “Maybelline” was written with #WomensRights in mind… the idea was inspired when my mom, sister and others attended the march in Washington 2 years ago! 💪 In the opening lyric I sing, “She wanted to go real far, like Alabama won’t you take me home to Mars…” 🎶 I did not expect the example would be so poignant and coincidental during the week of this song release… Fuk those idiots who try to regulate bodies other than their own! Choose #LoveoverFear ✌️☘️
I took this photo during a thrilling trek through the eastern region of Iceland. We had bounced and slid all morning while navigating the island’s rocky terrain toward the coast. The night before we had seen the aurorae among an otherwise pitch-black starry sky. As we emerged from the experience we were focused, and we felt good. This is our story.
Courage: let me know your thoughts on courage . . . your stories, experiences, feelings, miscellaneous ideas, beliefs . . .
Format: send me topics, character ideas, storylines, or anything you think might help format these posts into a cohesive narrative.
“As more distant stars are revealed in this animation depicting an infinite, homogeneous and static universe, they fill the gaps between closer stars. Olbers’s paradox argues that as the night sky is dark, at least one of these three assumptions about the nature of the universe must be false.”
Having grown up in the bar business, Riley operates Shannon’s bars, restaurant and entertainment venue with his family.
Over the past few years as the Shannon’s businesses have grown, Riley has endeavored to focus more on creating and playing music. His latest project is Life on Mars.
Life on Mars is an alt-rock album with eclectic elements that was inspired by a journey through Iceland in 2016. The song Live One writes about this experience, asking, “What’s it like to be a stone shot into magma bursting out?” From there the album took shape as a metaphor for life on Earth, what we’ve done here, how we’ve grown, our follies… and if we went to Mars, what would we want to bring and do differently?
LIFE ON MARS ALBUM ARTWORK BY ERIC STONER – ERICSTONERMIXEDMEDIA.COM
The album conjures a utopian dream where virtues like Empathy and Courage are held in high regard. The songs chat an earthly tone with the opening track, Street Walker, reciting the exclaims of pedestrian life through bouncy beats, clean guitar riffs and a padded saxophone, while Maybelline, a dreamer for equal rights wanting to sleep among the stars, follows a laid-back funk-rhythm that is supported by uplifting vocals and a Hammond B3.
Perspective In Sound 