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Cereal Guy

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Cereal Guy.mp3

Cereal Guy.jpgCereal Guy
When I wake up in the
morning, I have only one goal, And that is to get to my cereal bowl. I start with the classics, The crunches and puffs, And when I have munched up All of that stuff, I move on to granolas, And then to oatmeals, Till my head starts to spinning, And I'm feeling surreal. I chew through the boxes,
Never stopping to rest,
Always in hope of completing my quest,
Hoping that someday, When the sun starts to rise,
I'll pour into my bowl A half decent prize.

So that's a brand new one from the upcoming "Grass Stained Twilight: Volume 2" CD, with more to follow in the coming months... final release date mid 2010.
We've also been hard at work on "The Green Thing" with five brand new songs in the mixing stages. Release date should be as advertised in early 2010. Would someone please tell
Hayao Miyazaki that we'd like him and John Lasseter to produce and direct the film.
And, still to come this year... another CD of favorites from this site (and a few new ones) as well as a Christmas record!

Just a brief note about the passing of the amazing Les Paul...
I once had the extreme pleasure of sitting down to a conversation with Les Paul, the man who pioneered and invented everything from multi-track recording to the electric guitar.
In the room with us that night were Jerry Cantrell from Alice In Chains, Billy Sheehan from David Lee Roth's band, and Rick Nielsen from Cheap Trick. Everyone sat completely glued to the man who had essentialy given them their reason for being. I was living on the beach in Oxnard at the time and he told me how he and Bing Crosby had been driving up the coast to an event many, many years ago. He pointed out how the drive took much longer in those days and how they had made it to Oxnard when Bing realized he had to use the restroom. There was nothing in Oxnard at the time so they drove up to a house in a residential area, knocked on the door, and the two living legends gave the occupants the surprise of their life. My re-telling of this story fails in communicating the warmth and humor that left everyone laughing and hanging on his every word. It's not just what you do, it's how you do it.  Les continued to surprise all of us that evening with his amazing energy, his incredible joy for life, and his beautiful guitar playing. His legacy will continue to give all of us new joys and surprises for years and generations to come. I will use the tools he gave me with great joy and respect for the rest of my life.

They Meet

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They Meet.mp3

They Meet.jpg
A Brand New Song of the Week! And it's live and unplugged!

Good news for all you folks in Ojai who haven't picked up your copy of "Grass Stained Twilight" yet... We've just added two more stores: Serendipity Toys, without a doubt one of the greatest toy stores ever -and- Bhavantu, Catherine Nations wonderful clothing store with shoes, books, jewelry, yoga, and more.
Thank You!

Call Me They

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Green Thing They Image.jpgCall Me They.mp3
The "Call Me They" single from The Green Thing is available now!  Get it here! The CD won't be available until 2010, but you can download select upcoming singles as they're released over the coming months.
Check out the new music page where you can listen to all the new songs from various upcoming projects in their entirety or, even better, make a donation, download them to our player, and take them with you wherever you go.

The Green Thing

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Love Me A Little Bit More.mp3

The Green Thing by Todd McHatton 40.jpgTime for the big 2009 Project! It's called "The Green Thing." This is something that has been in the works for awhile now. It's a musical story done in watercolor. There's little animations and character models and lot's of grand ideas but this is the year and this is the place where you can watch me complete it (if you're interested). I'll be converting it all to black and white and resizing it to fit a standard book size so it can be distributed like "Grass Stained Twilight". Some of the songs may cross over (like this one) and be used with some slightly different lyrics if I decide to Song Fight it. Let me know what you think as we go and I'll try to do better with answering you back this year. There's still going to be something new here each week although I can't promise a new song each post. This time around I'd like to take the time to develop them a bit more. I'm also still trying to get everything working with this new recording set up so that is taking extra time. There's a little noise on this one but rest assured it won't exist on the final cd version.
So, here we go...
Today two friends set out to sea
One is green
The other is me

Heart On My Sleeve Image.jpgHeart On My Sleeve (Same Old Suit).mp3

This one is really different for me. It went through a lot of changes - from something completely wacky to the more straight version we have here.

Thank you Andy for getting the site moved over!

A few words about "Grass Stained Twilight" - You can now click on the icon over on the right to get it here. After much deliberation we chose the self-publishing route which has been great but limited our options. Originally there was going to be a 5 song cd included with the book. Now, it will be available separately as a full length cd - available here soon!

Here's the "Heart On My Sleeve (Same Old Suit)" song lyrics:
I was afraid this might happen - Not the suit I should've worn - If I had made the right selection - I could've pulled the sleeve over my heart - Instead I went and put on the coat - Even though I knew the arms really weren't very long - Inside I'd found - the note I'd wrote - Not to wear this again 'cause the pants had fit wrong - Tried to stay away from humiliation - Instead I stayed away from everyone - I was afraid this might happen - Not the suit I should've worn - If I had made the right selection - I could've pulled the sleeve over my heart - It would have meant having to do all those things that I said there was no time to get done - It would have meant having to dance in shoes I knew I loved but had never tried on - But without the slightest hesitation - I went and wore that same old suit for everyone - They point and say that I should've kept it on me - But the pockets in these pants are much too deep - I was afraid this might happen - Never thought they all might leave - Turns out I made the wrong selection - When I wore my heart on my sleeve


Deep Pockets

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Deep Pockets

Deep Pockets

Short attention span or just a lack of time but I didn't record the second verse - just repeated the first. It also ends abruptly - but we're gonna go play in the snow for a few days so I'm leaving it for now. It's a story from the new book but the song is brand new - just made it up tonight.

And, the book is ready!!! Already got an order (thank you sis!)

Grass Stained Twilight - coming soon

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Grass Stained Twilight - coming soon

book-cover.jpg