Al Stravinsky

So he never existed... not really, as a real person. He made himself up one day in 1969 and lived a dual existence: half of him surviving on dead-end jobs, the other half believing that one day he would write at least one song that the world would remember. Now half of him is dead, and, as with all conjoined twins (without major surgery) that sentences both of them. It would be sad if it wasn't so pathetic. Fairy-tales always end this way... well not always, rarely... and this was rarely a fairy-tale; so there the similarities end: the ending was neither sad nor happy - it just... was.

The enigmatic and tragic Jackson C Frank was a hero of his... now he emulates that frail and failed soul. Maybe in 40 years people will still say 'Al who?', much as they do today. That would be both a great epitaph, and a fitting legacy.

Below is the page as he inexplicably and hurriedly left it: hot meal still on the table; knife and fork still in place and at the ready; the drink untouched in the bone china cup...

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I now have an album: 'The sentence that I serve' available from CD baby. Click on this mini album cover to take you there:

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It's on iTunes too, where the whole album or individual tracks can be downloaded in mp3 format:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=216015067

Thanks.

I've been a professional musician for 24 years, and over 3000 gigs (I've stopped counting); always working, travelling, trying to make ends meet...nearly...if you could just hold these a minute please...er...thanks: my hands are now free so I can get on with actually (ironically) playing some music at last. I sing and play bass guitar and I play some acoustic/electric guitars also.

I heard 'Space Oddity' on Radio Luxembourg (transistor radio, 2am with the earpiece in, under the covers) when I was about 13, and the world hasn't been the same since. I bought my first guitar at 16, left school at 18, joined my first band in 1977, and since 1982 I've worked as a bass player/singer; mostly in bands but latterly in a duo, doing the clubs, pubs and suchlike of the UK's ever-shrinking live circuit. Is it like this the world over? Anyway, in November 2004 I suddenly found myself with time on my hands, after years of gigging too hard and helping to bring up two kids. Gigs are no longer so vital (in most senses of the word), the boys are both now at school, and the days are relatively empty. I now have the equipment and the time, a bit of pent-up creative frustration, and a reservoir of bits of ideas and tunes that have floated round my head for years looking for a home.

I’ve not tried to be commercial or anything: the songs are just, or as close as I could get to just, as I heard them in my head.

I once played live, it's what I did for a living; but not my own songs unfortunately.

For their bass playing: Paul McCartney, Jack Bruce, David Hungate, James Jameson, Bernard Edwards, Ron Carter. For their words/music: Beatles, Cream, Freddie Mercury, Boz Scaggs, Kinks, David Bowie, Doobie Brothers, Moody Blues, Heatwave, Sting, James Taylor, Elton John, Hal David, Bert Jansch, Paul Simon, Steely Dan, Frank Sinatra, Nat 'King' Cole, Johnny Mercer/Cole Porter/Sammy Cahn and all the great 'standards' writers, Miles Davis, Mozart to Motown, Bach to Bacharach...it's hard to spot, but it's all in there somewhere. I've listened to some of these from age 6 onwards, and they are still my favourites. I've been influenced by many one-off songs too: 'Say you don't mind' by Colin Bluntstone; 'Have you ever been in love' by Leo Sayer; 'Night to remember' by Shalamar; 'Butterfly kisses' by Bob Carlisle, to name but four at random out of a hundred and forty eight.

I use Cubase SE (for live recording) and Reason 2.5 (for sounds and sequencing) software. I have several Voxengo and Yamaha mastering plug-ins which are very good, and Brian Delaney, Black2Black and Mark Walker provide most of the drum loops. For guitars: Warwick Streamer bass; Clarissa semi-acoustic; my old classical that I bought all those years ago; and a Tanglewood Strat copy. My mic is an AKG C1000s which must do for all applications at the moment.

Email me at: al32123@hotmail.com

Come and find some more of my tunes at:

CD available at CD Baby

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License this music for commercial use through