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Excerpts from STREETSONG (An unfinished rock opera)

by Ray Galindo & Friends

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1.
Facts Of Life 03:50
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2.
Cheap Wine 03:31
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3.
Shitball Stew 02:27
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4.
Selections From STREETSONG 30:35
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about

An Unfinished Rock Opera
By Ray Galindo & Marty Sheyer
STREETSONG was recorded at ARTS ALIVE! in Ybor City, Tampa Fl in 1987. This work was 33 songs in length with lyrics by the late Marty Sheyer and music by Ray Galindo. There were 27 musicians and vocalists on the near-finished tracks. The work-tapes were lost in a fire in New York City in 2005. All that remain are these early takes and primitive mixes.

"I eventually left the nice comfortable' apartment on the river' life I'd been living with my girlfriend for the last four years to rent my own storefront so I could live my Bohemian musician lifestyle. I rented it out as a rehearsal space to local bands during the week and opened it as a coffee house on the weekends to raise the rent which was never paid. Hey!...I was in business and I was a bachelor! I christened it ARTS ALIVE!, and it caught on quickly. It was voted 'Hip Pick of the Week' on the cover of Creative Loafing, a local entertainment and lifestyle weekly newspaper. All these old hippies started showing up with their wooden flutes; neo-beatniks brought their cosmic- subversive poetry., sculptures, paintings - things were hanging and growing out of the walls...spinning in the window...skinheads and ghetto blacks on the same stage pounding out some kind of insane Punk/Blues/Rap that was fueled by lots of reefer and beer. It was an experiment. People as the tool by which creative expression; planned or spontaneous through different mediums can be presented simultaneously to an audience who are also a component in the final unveiling of a living object de'arte.

Marty Sheyer was a very witty, lovable, motivated and talented guy who showed up at ARTS ALIVE! one day armed with a guitar and a head full of ideas. He had just played King Herod in a travelling production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Rap was a new medium and Marty wanted to write and stage the world's first Rap Opera. He called it a Rappera and he wanted me to help him record it

Knock knock..."Wha?"...BANG BANG BANG!...it's the front door. Sounds like the cops!. Bang Bang Bang!!…I get up still feeling the effects of last night's over-indulgences..."Ohh...my head"...The first thing I see is a large McDonald's bag with a large round belly as its backdrop. It's 7:00 am and there's Marty with a big smile...."Ready to record?"..."Marty...it's 7:00 am!"..."I know...I brought you some breakfast!"...I was a vegetarian at the time having just read a book by Bhaktivedanta Swami Sri Prabupadha called The Higher Taste...so I wasn't too impressed..BUT!...it was free food. All covered in bad karma.".

This is all Lo-fi, so if you are expecting radio-quality recordings here, you will be disappointed. If you would like a listenable home-grown testament of an important period in my creative history, well...you might be delighted!

None of these recordings are complete or finished versions. I have always liked bootlegs - very organic. I have always had to 'make do' with what was available to me. I have used Walkmans, 4-track cassette decks, the occasional recording studio and programs like Pro-Tools, Cakewalk and Sonar. Most of these songs have been sitting around on tape for decades. Some sound better than others, but they are all listenable. Thank you for joining me in my creative adventure.

credits

released February 6, 1989

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