The latest performance from the zombie cave, Superhero, is up on YouTube now! This song is about courage and the symbols of bravery that inspire our courage. We'd love to get your comments or ratings on the video on YouTube.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Awakenings, colors and hope - What Glimmer is about
So, the zombie cave performance video for the song Glimmer went up this week and I thought I'd follow up with bit on what the songs about and the writing process (or lack thereof).
Glimmer was written sometime in the spring of 2009. It surfaced late one night in the quiet of the soon to be zombie cave while children were sleeping and guitar plucking was easing the busy memories of a hectic day. My wife and I were recently new parents for the fourth time and the baby girl was sleeping in my charge nearby. In this peaceful moment this very melancholy sounding music started coming out of my guitar. Soon after, the words, "Clever girl, won't you open your eyes" popped in my head. I remember thinking that, really, the last thing I wanted was for baby girl to wake up so these lyrics seemed strange. As more lyrics continued to come forward, although they seemed to be inspired by the little one in front of me, they also seemed to be kind of detached from the present scene. About an hour later I was pretty much done writing. I tweaked the song a bit here and there since but for the most part the lyrics haven't changed since that first night.
About two months after this night, on what started as a very normal morning, my older daughter, eleven years old at the time, went into a grand mal seizure. Up to this point, she was an extremely healthy, precocious child, active in dance and other fitness activities and advanced in academics with no history of chronic sickness or seizures. An ambulance was called and she was rushed to the hospital. After about twenty four hours consisting of many invasive tests she was diagnosed as having viral encephalitis, inflammation of the brain caused by a virus. For almost three weeks, she went in and out of consciousness, suffered memory loss, delusions, seizures, auto-immune instability and insomnia.
There is a movie called Awakenings that deals with patients suffering from a form of encephalitis, encephalitis lethargica. Although a different form of the disease, the basic idea is similar in that something has caused the brain of the patient to become inflamed leading to a wide variety of possible symptoms. Amongst those familiar with encephalitis, for those who survive the initial days of the illness and who are diagnosed and treated, eventually the patient may come to an "awakening" which is, essentially, a day where the brain has healed enough and the symptoms are controlled enough, most likely through medication, for the person to regain a level of lucidity. Often the patient will show a degree of memory recovery as well, but the period of time prior to the awakening, from the point they initially went into active inflammation to the point of the awakening, is generally lost to them, similar to people who have been comatose.
Right around day two of my daughters stay in ICU, my wife pointed out to me that she thought she knew what the song was about. She said, she believed that the song was a foreshadow of what was happening to our oldest daughter now. The descriptions of colors changing, the world re-arranging and the warning that she may become dismayed described pretty accurately what her experience was at that time. The refrain's proclamation "when you wake up" was received by us as a hopeful encouragement. I'm not going to go into why or how this song came about the way it did. That's a discussion for another time. The important thing was that the song was a gift to all of us at a time when we desperately needed something to hold onto.
About three weeks later, my daughter did "wake up". In less then a week she was released from the hospital. For more than a year we've been walking with her through recovery. She still suffers from occasional seizures, although they are far less frequent and severe. There are also numerous levels of recovery she must walk through besides the brain's healing including emotional and psychological recovery. Likewise, the rest of our family is also going through a kind of recovery as well, as we've learned to live with the limits we face as a result of my daughter's illness. Our lives have changed, I believe for good. Not because I think she will never fully recover, we are optimistic and hopeful that she will. Rather, because we can never look at life the same way.
We are now painfully aware of countless families who are in hospitals or homes throughout the world who are living lives that primarily revolve around the care of a loved one suffering from some debilitating disease. We are now aware of a disease called encephalitis that most people have never heard of and that is still relatively uncharted in terms of treatment and recovery. We are now aware of the many variations of seizures a person may have and the hardships associated with epilepsy. We are now aware of the perseverance required to weather seasons of recovery and the toll it takes on families.
So, now, we live in the zombie cave. But as the ancient Greek aphorism states, "Know thyself". Embracing our zombie lifestyle and perspective is the first step towards moving forward. Life has changed. We've changed and have awoken not only to challenges and suffering but also to a shared human experience that has become a source of compassion and inspiration to us. The song beckons its heroine to hold out for a glimmer of hope. Each day, that is our calling as well.
Zombie out!
Lyrics to Glimmer:
Clever girl, won't you open your eyes
We're all waiting to see your surprise
When the colors all change and the world's rearranged
and the musical lights are no more than glimmer
Little one there is so much to do
Even now, so much hope is in you
We're returning to love to give all for you
So you will see more than a glimmer
When you wake up
there's a song, there's a song that is waiting
It was written for your name
When you wake up
there's a world that is anticipating
it will never be the same
Little lamb, when you open your eyes
Just a word, that you may be surprised
the lights may seem scarce and you may become dismayed
but the hope that remains is more than a glimmer
When you wake up
there's a song, there's a song that is waiting
It was written for your name
When you wake up
there's a world that is anticipating
it will never be the same
We will never be the same
Glimmer was written sometime in the spring of 2009. It surfaced late one night in the quiet of the soon to be zombie cave while children were sleeping and guitar plucking was easing the busy memories of a hectic day. My wife and I were recently new parents for the fourth time and the baby girl was sleeping in my charge nearby. In this peaceful moment this very melancholy sounding music started coming out of my guitar. Soon after, the words, "Clever girl, won't you open your eyes" popped in my head. I remember thinking that, really, the last thing I wanted was for baby girl to wake up so these lyrics seemed strange. As more lyrics continued to come forward, although they seemed to be inspired by the little one in front of me, they also seemed to be kind of detached from the present scene. About an hour later I was pretty much done writing. I tweaked the song a bit here and there since but for the most part the lyrics haven't changed since that first night.
About two months after this night, on what started as a very normal morning, my older daughter, eleven years old at the time, went into a grand mal seizure. Up to this point, she was an extremely healthy, precocious child, active in dance and other fitness activities and advanced in academics with no history of chronic sickness or seizures. An ambulance was called and she was rushed to the hospital. After about twenty four hours consisting of many invasive tests she was diagnosed as having viral encephalitis, inflammation of the brain caused by a virus. For almost three weeks, she went in and out of consciousness, suffered memory loss, delusions, seizures, auto-immune instability and insomnia.
There is a movie called Awakenings that deals with patients suffering from a form of encephalitis, encephalitis lethargica. Although a different form of the disease, the basic idea is similar in that something has caused the brain of the patient to become inflamed leading to a wide variety of possible symptoms. Amongst those familiar with encephalitis, for those who survive the initial days of the illness and who are diagnosed and treated, eventually the patient may come to an "awakening" which is, essentially, a day where the brain has healed enough and the symptoms are controlled enough, most likely through medication, for the person to regain a level of lucidity. Often the patient will show a degree of memory recovery as well, but the period of time prior to the awakening, from the point they initially went into active inflammation to the point of the awakening, is generally lost to them, similar to people who have been comatose.
Right around day two of my daughters stay in ICU, my wife pointed out to me that she thought she knew what the song was about. She said, she believed that the song was a foreshadow of what was happening to our oldest daughter now. The descriptions of colors changing, the world re-arranging and the warning that she may become dismayed described pretty accurately what her experience was at that time. The refrain's proclamation "when you wake up" was received by us as a hopeful encouragement. I'm not going to go into why or how this song came about the way it did. That's a discussion for another time. The important thing was that the song was a gift to all of us at a time when we desperately needed something to hold onto.
About three weeks later, my daughter did "wake up". In less then a week she was released from the hospital. For more than a year we've been walking with her through recovery. She still suffers from occasional seizures, although they are far less frequent and severe. There are also numerous levels of recovery she must walk through besides the brain's healing including emotional and psychological recovery. Likewise, the rest of our family is also going through a kind of recovery as well, as we've learned to live with the limits we face as a result of my daughter's illness. Our lives have changed, I believe for good. Not because I think she will never fully recover, we are optimistic and hopeful that she will. Rather, because we can never look at life the same way.
We are now painfully aware of countless families who are in hospitals or homes throughout the world who are living lives that primarily revolve around the care of a loved one suffering from some debilitating disease. We are now aware of a disease called encephalitis that most people have never heard of and that is still relatively uncharted in terms of treatment and recovery. We are now aware of the many variations of seizures a person may have and the hardships associated with epilepsy. We are now aware of the perseverance required to weather seasons of recovery and the toll it takes on families.
So, now, we live in the zombie cave. But as the ancient Greek aphorism states, "Know thyself". Embracing our zombie lifestyle and perspective is the first step towards moving forward. Life has changed. We've changed and have awoken not only to challenges and suffering but also to a shared human experience that has become a source of compassion and inspiration to us. The song beckons its heroine to hold out for a glimmer of hope. Each day, that is our calling as well.
Zombie out!
Lyrics to Glimmer:
Clever girl, won't you open your eyes
We're all waiting to see your surprise
When the colors all change and the world's rearranged
and the musical lights are no more than glimmer
Little one there is so much to do
Even now, so much hope is in you
We're returning to love to give all for you
So you will see more than a glimmer
When you wake up
there's a song, there's a song that is waiting
It was written for your name
When you wake up
there's a world that is anticipating
it will never be the same
Little lamb, when you open your eyes
Just a word, that you may be surprised
the lights may seem scarce and you may become dismayed
but the hope that remains is more than a glimmer
When you wake up
there's a song, there's a song that is waiting
It was written for your name
When you wake up
there's a world that is anticipating
it will never be the same
We will never be the same
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Glimmer - First Video is Up
Monday, September 20, 2010
Fresh from the grave
hThis is the beginning of a new stretch of road for the creators of love songs for zombies. We are on the cusp of uploading our first You Tube video of a simple performance of a song, specifically, a love song. But before we do that, a moment to introduce this blog, this project and the reasons behind this new adventure.
This all really started a little more than a year ago. Oh, there were songs before then, even songs that sought to articulate the particular melancholy that this music emotes. But, in June of 2009, the art, the vision and the emotion became internalized when we experienced a personal event which showed us what it was to live as zombies.
You know, we live amongst zombies everyday. They are there with us, in the grocery store, in the office, the class room, in the church and on the street. They come from every walk of life, every ethnicity, every shape and size, every nation and every tongue. They are moving through life, animated, moving, seemingly alive. However, within them, where a beating heart should be, there is a hole. They appear to see, yet their eyes look through life as their minds are fixed on events and actions which are so basic they are primal.
Some zombies occasionally come up for air, breath, see, laugh, cry and live. Some never seem to. These are not people who have necessarily made poor decisions or are suffering consequences of their actions. These are not people without responsibilities. In fact, the responsibilities and burdens many of these people face each day would make most people squeamish.
I'll write more about zombies and what happened to us at a later time. But for now, I'll leave it at this. Zombies are amongst us. They appear to move, but their lives stand still. They appear to breath, but they are holding their breathe. They appear to walk through life's experiences and routines but their mind is constantly fixed on survival. They love deeply and yet often love cannot be returned.
The songs we're writing are dedicated to these people; a silent, suffering mass of humanity who are constantly reaching for hope and life and light and who often only receive the faintest glimmer of encouragement. More often than not, these days, I count myself amongst them.
Danger Mouse, Sparkle Horse and David Lynch have created some amazing sound track music for pondering all things melancholy. Shameless promotion or intentional lifeline, you decide. Enjoy.
This all really started a little more than a year ago. Oh, there were songs before then, even songs that sought to articulate the particular melancholy that this music emotes. But, in June of 2009, the art, the vision and the emotion became internalized when we experienced a personal event which showed us what it was to live as zombies.
You know, we live amongst zombies everyday. They are there with us, in the grocery store, in the office, the class room, in the church and on the street. They come from every walk of life, every ethnicity, every shape and size, every nation and every tongue. They are moving through life, animated, moving, seemingly alive. However, within them, where a beating heart should be, there is a hole. They appear to see, yet their eyes look through life as their minds are fixed on events and actions which are so basic they are primal.
Some zombies occasionally come up for air, breath, see, laugh, cry and live. Some never seem to. These are not people who have necessarily made poor decisions or are suffering consequences of their actions. These are not people without responsibilities. In fact, the responsibilities and burdens many of these people face each day would make most people squeamish.
I'll write more about zombies and what happened to us at a later time. But for now, I'll leave it at this. Zombies are amongst us. They appear to move, but their lives stand still. They appear to breath, but they are holding their breathe. They appear to walk through life's experiences and routines but their mind is constantly fixed on survival. They love deeply and yet often love cannot be returned.
The songs we're writing are dedicated to these people; a silent, suffering mass of humanity who are constantly reaching for hope and life and light and who often only receive the faintest glimmer of encouragement. More often than not, these days, I count myself amongst them.
Danger Mouse, Sparkle Horse and David Lynch have created some amazing sound track music for pondering all things melancholy. Shameless promotion or intentional lifeline, you decide. Enjoy.
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