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Two of the cuts off this album, A Tone Poem and Twist Wituf are from jam sessions with a band of fellows called The Ding-Danglers. In its original incarnation, the Ding-Danglers consisted of Andrew Dieck, Michael Newton, Ted Quinlan, and myself. Almost everything was improvised, and when things worked, well, I think it was very beautiful. Below are some pictures of the Ding-Danglers from around the time those two tracks were recorded.


Ding-Danglers Michael Newton (left) and Ted Quinlan (right) with friend in bag


Ding-Dangler Andrew Dieck and me (I am also a Ding-Dangler)


Ding-Danglers Michael Newton (on top) and Andrew Dieck (on bottom)


Ding-Dangler Michael Newton

DOWNLOAD HERE OR individual songs below

!!!!!SAF EWEWEWDE
!!!!!SAF EWEWEWEDW
If starting with the idea that we are connecting one to another, then it may include beginning to find that something won't fit. If starting with the idea that we are connecting one to another, then it may include beginning to find that something won't fit: that I think of them or do not, I am not lazy but waiting, and if I remember, will what I remember be every relationship to myself or to whatever else surrounds it? I am on a train, and I remember or revise being on another train and now a field; I step in the snow and watch as I take another into the cracking of my boots into the ice and my breath, not everything about it, but my breath is smoky like thick smoke of a foliage sucking the fire and air into it and simply applying all things to that and seeing what comes out: hunching the shoulders and sitting in a room listening to a speaker box trying to impress those sitting to them-what it must of felt to walk by that sound everyday and then hurt those kids later or the basis of everything-a block of cement to walk closer to the regret that comes from not missing someone but grows the same anyway. -And you, a man, know truth-all truth? in every sense? in its actuality even greater than this nothingness that all men carry and burden themselves; your truth that you know-and you know that? -Yes, I know the truth. All things repeating into themselves the sameness that those who carry burdens or everything may wallow inside of and never see: this is your everything who wishes it may allow. Apple Pie. Hey sweetie pie, you're the love of my eye, I wanna make love to you like I eat my apple pie, First I peel all your skin off and cut you apart, Put you in a pan and cook your heart, Cause girl you know it's true, Sugar and spice and everything nice, Yes, I do, I do, I really love you. A series of images proceeding one image/preceding one image. □□□□□ Zeke Virant. □□□□□ Hyde Park. Hyde Park, on the way to the station, Is holding Mekko Oh my God, it's holding me, it's holding Mekko. Now for ten years we've been on our own, And moss grows fat on a rolling stone, But that's not how it used to be. When the jester sang for the king and queen, In a coat he borrowed from James Dean, And a voice that came from you and me. Well, I know that you're in love with him, `cause I saw you dancing in the gym. You both kicked off your shoes. Man, I dig those rhythm and blues. I was a lonely teenage broncing buck, With a pink carnation and a pickup truck, But I knew I was out of luck, The day the music died. The Road. Well the highways, And the by-ways, Cutting through our town, Then before too long, The road becomes a home, And our children are stolen away, Well the chain gangs, And the choo-choo trains, Drove the farmers out of town, Now all the boys are gone, The road stole our sons, Stealing the songs our fathers' loved, Now, I'm not the kind of guy who has to cry every time he skins his knee, But, the road came to town and turned my life around and now, Now all I ever see, Is those highways, And those by-ways, That rotten, bloated street, People ask what's wrong? I say, “The future came and gone, and you know something, I think we were beat.” A Tone Poem. □□□□□ Vocal. □□□□□ Arnold Schoenberg. I'll stick around forever, Just like (you) you know who, [who] Is in the rest of your life? I'm just working for the weekend, Does not change, Brahms the Progressive, God the Dead, Does Not Change. A Few Things Being Put Together. Otherwise, what will become myself yet as a young girl. not hiding, finally walking as with a young mother from nothing that we are small and quiet. As I begin to grow bigger and bigger, a lumpy tummy or counting higher and seeing and knowing, my back crooking to big-hearted yearning-I am this shy girl crying on this airplane-what am I doing here they ask me, and I am so small I can only mumble and hold their hand and stare out the window at the sandy ground what I could remember about getting older meeting my friends-from ever needing anything: this crying on an airplane being something to try to ignore. If starting with the idea that we are connecting one to another, then it may include beginning to find something won't fit: that I think of them or do not… Georgia, South Georgia. If I were king, I would do anything. I would run away. I would run, and I would go, and I would do what you told me to do. So baby. So baby, don't leave me alone. Singing the sad song. Don't you see me? Don't you see me, running? I'm running to you. Don't you see me? I want to be the one you trust (For Marjorie). I want to be the trust you, to tie a string around... When the trees stay green in the wintertime. Well circles and lines, They're all pretty fine, To me, Down, down, down, down, When words hurt to write, People, People, Down, down, down, down, When you're running out, When you're going South, When the trees stay green in the wintertime, When you're going south, When you're running out, When the trees stay green, Going down, down, down, down. Working on the Highway. Working on the highway, Working on the highway, Working on the highway. Twist wituf. □□□□□□□□□□□ All songs arranged, produced, performed, and written by Zeke Virant except, “A series of images proceeding one images/ preceding one image.” performed by Emily McCabe and Adele Kearns on cellos. Guitar solo on “Apple Pie” by Bennett Williams. “A Tone Poem,” “Twist wituf,” and “This Will Be the Day That I Die” were written and performed by the Ding-Danglers. The Ding-Danglers are Andrew Dieck, Michael Newton, Ted Quinlan, Tristan Shepherd, and Zeke Virant. “Hyde Park” incorporates parts of “American Pie,” a song by Don McLean. “Zeke Virant” incorporates parts of “Hootenanny” by the Replacements and “We are 138” by the Misfits. Thank you Mom and Dad, Daniel and Stephen Virant, Marjorie Schillo, Emily McCabe, the Ding-Danglers, the Purple House, Monroe Ellenbogen, Constantine Anastasakis, Sara Katz, Meredith French, Mekko Harjo, Dani Bogenhagen, Tom Mark, Adele Kearns, Emily Peters, Aaron Wistar, Daniel Fishkin, Willy Berliner, Zach Kussin, Kyle Gann, Joan Tower, and Frank Zappa.