June 1, 2020
Human Beings have an incredible ability to adjust to new environments which is why we’re spread out all over the planet and (if Elon Musk has his way) soon in the infinity of outer space. Music on the other hand is a very finite element – a song begins and ends – although with the advent of recorded sound, performances no longer die with performers. I’ve got a feeling that my distant descendants might know who Jimi Hendrix was but what I really want to know is when Bruce Springsteen’s “Born To Run” replaces “The Star-Spangled Banner” as the United States’ national anthem will anyone remember Francis Scott Key who wrote the original during the War of 1812?
So this dark age of the Covid-19 virus has ironically turned out to be a very active and productive time for me. And almost all of my efforts did not involve direct contact with other human beings; of course, taking into exception my wife Françoise who held the camera, or rather smart phone, while we broadcast our fifty-four episodes of the Corona Couch Concerts on Facebook/Instagram. My indefatigable archivist Patrick Dupon has not only assembled all of the CCC but he has edited in Olivier Durand’s “Jamming with Elliott” guitar parts with greatly improved sound/video quality. Send us an email at info@elliottmurphy.com and we’ll let you know how to download CCC episodes in their new format for posterity!
As many of you know, my film Broken Poet has finally been released and you can now purchase it online. This week we will release the soundtrack album of Broken Poetfeaturing the title song “Theme for a Broken Poet” as well as new versions of “Last of the Rock Stars” and “Lost Generation.” All the wonderful ambient music created by Gaspard Murphy and bits of pertinent dialog from the film are also included. Streaming of the Broken Poet Soundtrack will be available on Spotify/iTunes etc. on June 5, 2020 and a physical CD is scheduled for July 14 when Broken Poet will be available on Apple TV and other platforms.
And to keep up my typing skills I’m deeply into a joyous (and often outrageous) co-writing project with Peter Redwhite who has translated both my collection of short-stories Paris Stories as well as my memoir Just A Story From America into Spanish. Our presumptive novel is titled Dorothy And The Discovery Of America and you can read chapters as they become available in both Spanish and English on Peter’s blog:
Now I’ve got to write some new songs …
Photo by F. Vila