Mr. and Mrs. Particular

This is a story about a band name that we still laugh about to this day. Our first attempts to name our band were pretty rough. But this one in particular is funny still because it captures who we were once upon a time. Enjoy!

Mr. and Mrs. Particular

This is an emblem of what we once were

No longer do they exist

Vanished into the darkness and mist

Sent them off to the valleys and mountains

Never to be seen again

Every once and again we think of them

How everything seemed perfect back then

The sun would come up in the east

And settle in the west

In simple naivety we would live

It was all we knew

We thought it to be the best

Through travels and experience

We realized our views were much less

Then second best

We had grand ideas and no way to achieve

So the best option was for us to have them leave

So we packed up their things

And gave them our best wishes

We were both so young but willing to change

I never would have thought how things felt

Oh but so strange

And new

And confusing

This whole idea of changing was quite amusing

Even after we packed up everything in the van

There was one thought that came back

Again and again

What if we never find our way back

What if we let go and want our old selves back

We looked at each other and began to say

It seemed we were quoting each other

So we just stopped

Both of us felt the same way

Light and Meaningless

This is just a piece written out of inspiration after watching a documentary about a pop star that has had her “big break”. I found the most ridiculous part of the movie was how they talked about her writing had developed her vocabulary. Then they showcased this horrible song overusing mediocre simile. So I have some simile thrown in for effect here and how ridiculous it is to claim that good simile can create good poems. It can help, definitely, but I believe there is a lot more to poetry and learning how to write than that. On top of all of this, she still co-writes all of her work with major hit writers. So lets not get over zealous with how much she is doing. Anyways – RAWK!

Heartbreak

Why does every song have to be about heartbreak

As though what you say

Has never been said

The book that was written

No one actually read

Or took any time to look it over

Over and over

My stomach turns listening to stale bread

Filling up the holes in my head

With words so light and meaningless

Where is the controversy in all of this

But a love song will sell

It will land you on the charts

That is all you should care for anyway

Get charted make some dough and roll away

I have no appetite for that no calling for swooning

My heart cannot be pulled anymore by this

Songs about how ones hearted is wounded

Do I really have to be relatable and and marketable

At what point does all of this become a song

Whether I seem to have it right or have it wrong

I can debate this question all night long

When my eyelids glue open to ceiling above

There is no point to this all when push comes to shove

The feelings fall like honey down a wilted tree

I used the word honey there

Isn’t that so creative of me

I have no calling for simile or rhyme

I just try to create what I feel I can call mine

A concoction of words so bitter and so timid

Just the flesh of a peach left when it is pitted

Try to make something small everyday

Quick painting of what is going on around me

To look back one day and truly be able to say

The meaning was left in the heart of the words

There truly is no right way

Great Nostalgia – 13 Years Ago

Tonight post is short and sweet. We just rocked out at a sweet house party in Downtown South Bend the night before our big show here in the bend for St Paddy’s Day. I am kinda wiped out – but I will give it my best. I am feeling a little nostalgic because I realized that tomorrow will be our biggest performance in South Bend ever and I have been playing in the bend for 13 years!!! Holy shit! I played my first show when I was 15, my mom dropped me off at a local coffee house called “Higher Grounds” in DT South Bend. It was an amazing show and now tomorrow I will be on stage in front of 8,000+ crazy to look back at the journey – and funny how life works. But I am super excited – a poem will be written post show to summarize the feelings and emotions. For some reason word press is not letting me space correctly so this will be read by using commas (not for grammatical purpose)

All the chatter, Play it this way and what is the matter, Chords still ring out, I cling to this guitar like a mad hatter, I have seen many a shops open and close, Sang them a song before they had to dispose, Of all their assets and move out of town, Kinda sad to think that I would never again see them around, This town or any other for that matter, People have come and gone, Some great inspirations, Some not so much, But in some meaningful way it was my life that they touched, I think back with great nostalgia to the first show posters, My life since those first days has been nothing short of a great roller coaster, I have now traveled from coast to coast, I have found places I loved the least and the most, With my guitar I have traveled, I say this not to boast, My humble beginnings playing in Coffee shops to onlookers playing chess, I did not have a fabulous voice, I can honestly say that I gave it my best, Only 15 looking for a grand time, Little did I know that love and a calling I would find, Years went by, I continued to play, I tried to give it a little something just about everyday, Then music led me to my love, She landed in my life as gentle as a dove, She would sing I would play, Anywhere and we did not worry about pay, 10 years have gone by since then, I can not believe it has already been 10, Now we get to play on a much great stage, I guess you could say that we have turned the page, From the empty coffee houses to people packed in, I used to know this city when the music scene was thin, Now it is robust and growing, Songs are being written, People now create great art, I am humbled to think that I played just a small part, I hope South Bend continues to grow, What it will become in ten years nobody really knows, To do my part I will just continue to pick up my guitar sing and play, I hope for the best for this city one day, Wishing it the best on this St. Patrick’s Day.

Futile to Fertile

Spring is right around the corner. On a warm spring day this came to me as I relished in the final days of winter. Those days are some of my favorite of the year. Enjoy!

Winter days fade

Into spring

Quiet mornings

Where the birds

Sing

The final snow

Begins to melt

And fade away

Winter is moving out

And

Must be on its way

For today

I admire

The winter cold

Windy gnarly

And brutal

My attempts to leave the Midwest

Always seem to be

Futile

Until the fertile lands

Of spring bloom

Once again

Bring back

Warmth and summers moon

All of this will be back

Very soon

And soon indeed

It will bring me joy

A young child

With a brand new toy

To run around under the sun

My heart swells

When it is warm

How the feelings come back to me

On this winters morn’

5 am grabs me

Very informal late night ramble. Drove from 8:30 am until 5 am and this is basically where my mind was at. It is crazy how you almost start to hallucinate and you definitely need some time to recover. So here is to late night, cheers!

5 a.m. grabs me

not asleep yet

soon

maybe

probably not

the skies lift a heavy fog

from evening shoulders

passing lines

and green street signs

late night

driving all around

better prop up these eyelids

so they had not fall down

the next day is no better

wake up late

in somewhat of a lucid state

but 5 a.m will take some time

to recover

my mind works slow

slower on those days

it stumbles through

with a velvet glaze

my eyes bloodshot

all around

last night was late

and there is still a ringing sound

i muster up the courage to write

let the words fall and thoughts take flight

i feel alright as my muscles warm

to poetry I return

with no care for content or form

that is where I stop

as vision blurring mind distort

better put the pen down

on days like today

it is best

to keep it short

Political Constipation

This is a poem inspired by the absolute ridiculousness of political grid lock. I care not for a side and for no person – but for the overall lack of enthusiasm to work as a whole unit. In a way that the body can only truly function if it all works together. I am not sure where all of this shit is going to take us, but my optimism is waning. I wrote this as much for the humor as for the literal sense. I tried to capture the disgust for which I feel
for the current situation. Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t, but I enjoyed trying! Enjoy!

Upon us is The Great Sequestration!

Ode to the amazing political constipation!

This is no nation of procrastination and indignation!

But rather a great land

Of sensation and flirtation

With capitalism

And now possible stagnation!

The political bowel filled with dense matter

And the while the belly of the great nation

Grows fatter and fatter

But who really wants to ask

What is the matter?

Surely it can’t be

An infection of the bladder

It is the anus

Filled and discontent

No one wants to work

To lift the great clog

The almighty circumvent!

To move past political lines

Dine of much higher fair, politicians

The real moving kind

The sledge of procrastination

Must be cast into the toilet bowl

Worry not if it will over flow

It is time for change

Of the diet we consume

Must surely change

Grow and support

Greater endeavors

But it can not be just some broke ass poet

Who can be oh so clever

Ask yourself today

What are you willing to do for tomorrow

To cast away this fowl sorrow

To stitch the times that have grown to divide

And I will surely be

On your side

 

A Poem on a Poem

This was some late night scribbles. I am not quite sure if I translated some of the scribbles correctly – had they been different maybe this would be more clear and concise, hard to say. Interesting none the less.

A Poem on a Poem

If you heard a poem

Would you know them

If grass was green

Could the jester be seen

Where the bird flies

The bee dies

And thinks to tie

The world anew

For you and for me

This is the where

The world will be

Between thoughts

And dreams

And with the living things

Of all

Seen and unseen

Sitting right here

For you and me

But why today if tomorrow is

Warranted for the future

Beginning and ending

The world is different now

Hat is was yesterday

And will not know itself

Tomorrow

I am no Poet

This was written right after watching the presidential inauguration. I really enjoyed the poet Richard Blanco and his poem “One Today”. I used it, and the rest of the ceremony, for inspiration. I thought that it would be important for me to really focusing on what it is that connect us together as Americans, and also can devise and separate us through erroneous use of our egos etc. I hope you enjoy it! Cheers!

For I am no poet

No writer, nor musician

No athlete or businessman

I am but nothing and will return

I must be stripped of all

Before I know what I am

What I am made of

What wiring makes my soul

All the confusion and static

The noise and the stammer

Of what others want

And I need

In the confusion I believe one

And forget another

Only to remember

To be reminded of yet another

So I challenge myself and you

To strip away what is

And to find what will be

What is it that you stand for

To look at these flesh and bones

And find what the meaning is

Beyond the labels and toys

Finding a simple meaning within

For we are all connected in a manner

An inner webbing that connects us

That unites us

And if we so choose tears us apart

Yet we strive for more

To seek meaning that is greater

Than the sum of our parts

And unifies us

This is our challenge

Our calling

Our honor

To be what we are

To forget the other meanings

And find our own

Not in our own minds

But from deep within

Over Rated

This is a new song that I have been working on very diligently in the past couple of

weeks. It is about the pressures of always looking for the next best thing and

looking to the future in life – when really all you have to care about is going on

right in front of your eyes. This song will be on our next album out in late 2013.

Enjoy!

I’m feeling so over rated

My life is so complicated

Not the best but I face it

These feelings are fresh

But I am jaded

Oh and I feel like I am going

Nowhere

And I feel like I want to be

Someone

I don’t want to write this song

Forget about tomorrow

If you want to live today

Forget about tomorrow

If you want to live today

If you want to live today

Remember what I say

My thoughts can be so relentless

You ‘bout gave up when I said this

Now that I know that you’re faded

Well I had to go but I waited

For you

Oh and I feel like we are going

Nowhere

And I feel like we are missing

Something

And I don’t want to write this song

Forget about tomorrow

If you want to live today

Forget about tomorrow

If you want to live today

If you want to live today

Remember what I say

The End of Days Mayan Tribute Video

Video

This is The Bergamot’s ode to the Mayans. Dedicated to the Mayans on the last day of the world, according to their calendars, December 21st 2012.
ENJOY!!!

LYRICS:

VERSE 1
If there was no tomorrow
Do you think you’d be alright?
If you had to go with me
Do you think you’d put up a fight?

OH

Leaves and limbs are bending
But the trees are standing upright
There is a bitterness in the air
And a coldness in the night

OH

CHORUS:
But I don’t
Want to tell you
All the
Dreams I have
I take a breathe
And turn
That’s when it happens
Your gone
Again
OH NO
OH NO

Anticipation is building
Fear creeps in through the night
Breathe deep and move quickly
Everything will be alright

OH

Fields they are burning
As you hold me close tonight
Winds around us are cursing
They hiss with the passing of time

OH

CHORUS (REPEAT)