Eat My Shorts - Volume 4 - Bootylicious

Robert German - Eat My Shorts - Volume 4: Bootylicious by robertgermanmusic

Robert German - Eat My Shorts - Volume 3: The West Virginia Bath Salt Blues

Robert German - Eat My Shorts - Volume 3: The West Virginia Bath Salt Blues by robertgermanmusic

This 2 Shall Pass - Rehearsal 4.28.11

Yes, I'm wearing Pajama pants, a scarf and a took.
This is just a bit of footage from a laid back rehearsal
on 4.28.11. This 2 Shall Pass.



We will be posting video clips regularly from here on out.
Please subscribe to the official Youtube channel to be kept up to
date when things are posted.

The NarcissusSea (lyrics)

Metamorphisis of Narcissus by Salvador Dali (1937)

oh the man
he loved his reflection
it's rippled perfection
the ebb and flow of
oh god, I love me so much

oh the man
his body contorting
an image distorting
when the tide goes out
there'll be nothing left of him

In the Narcissus si sis us Sea
In the Narcisus si sis us Sea
The Narcissus si sis us
Narcisus si sis sis

The sailors all have mirrors on their sails
and the dolphins all have cameras on their tails
the lobster's selling lipstick to the walruses and whales
and the clams have many secrets they could sell

in the narcissus si sis us Sea
in the narcissus si sis us Sea
the narcissus si sis us Sea

Eat My Shorts - Volume 2: Nerdy Boy

Eat My Shorts - A New Series

People used to communicate through long flowery letters whilst musicians wrote elaborate pieces, movements, symphonies even ring cycles. Oh how times have changed.

micro blogging, tweeting, music released as single tracks connected to no album. OMG, LOL, WTF, TTYS, ROTFL! XOXO

Though I have a special love for a thought out well crafted album, where the songs flow together and work as one harmonious piece of art, I also have a special adoration for very short songs. I realized that I have many songs which are less than a minute, which I may never expand beyond that length.

So without further ado, I present a series which I will attempt to refresh once a week.

Eat my shorts, bite-size demos for the attention deficit disordered masses.

I hope you enjoy.



a note about volume 1. This was a silly improv that I just created on the fly to test out a new microphone. All tracks were 1 take with minimal editing. It is what it is. The image you see was taken using a diana f+ 120 film camera w/ 100 iso redscale film, extended exposure of atlantic avenue subway station while a train was pulling into the platform.

the end is nigh

I woke this morning to this song playing on repeat in my head.
This is obviously undeniable evidence that the end is nigh.



The ominous word snowpocalypse has been bandied about
lately as the latest mot du jour. Birds have been falling from the sky and Florida airports have closed to move their runways to accomodate the shifting magnetic north pole. Coincidence? I think not. Well, perhaps some sort
of cataclysm is on the horizon. God Help us All.

When the evil white flakes of death fall this evening to destroy our collective existence, don't
say I didn't warn you.

The Beginning. The End.

K and I started watching Buffy The Vampire Slayer on Netflix over the summer. I must admit that I used to kind of laugh in my head at people who watched this show. It seemed rather silly to me, but alas, we got sucked in and not only have we derived guilty pleasure from watching it, but we managed to watch every episode but the final three, which we marathoned last night. I had been working for 9 hours straight on a track called Sally (demo here) for the third album The Ocean & The Easel. My brain, eyes and soul were fried, so distraction was very welcome.

Saturday marked the beginning of the recording process for this album and was consumed by 12 hours of vocal takes. Don't get too excited yet as this is a double album which I am recording in self-imposed hermitage, so the likelihood of an impending (soonish) release is not high. I dove head first into music and pretty much stayed there for the duration. By the end of the day I felt completely frustrated and wanted to just delete every audio file, which is the typical feeling I get when starting anything, but I hope to get into my groove soon enough.

I balanced the 12 hours of work with 12 hours of sleep Saturday night. I jumped right into gear on Sally as soon as my feet hit the floor Sunday morning (noon). well, I kind of stepped on a piece of glass and bled all over the place, but after I cleaned my wound and stopped the bleeding, I was hard at work.
Sunday was a new day and brought with it a more optimistic approach. I worked on editing for 9 hours. I know I accomplished much, but I am impatient and always wish things would go more quickly and most of what I had to do was tedious work. K cooked me a lovely dinner and we vegetated for our Buffy marathon and then curled up in bed. However, I felt unsettled and could not sleep. I stayed up until 3 in the morning editing and pondering.

Tonight I trudge forward.

Unplug -The Music Video

Today is the official US/World release of Unplug aka the Australian Music video.
It is the creation of the very talented Simon Trevorrow.

I hope you enjoy it.

I express my love with Pork

Last night I went and bought a 10 pound ham and took over the kitchen with a fit of frenzy. I prepared the ham in the tradition of my people, which involves pineapple slices and brown sugar.

Unsatisfied that ham alone is the full embodiment of comfort, I peeled, boiled and mashed potatoes with generous additions of butter, cream, salt and pepper.

I got some of those big foil roasting pans and prepared everything to take upstairs to Isaiah's grandmother. She was not home, which ulimately was a good thing as it gave the ham time to cool from third-degree-burn-straight-out-of-the-oven temperature to warm and ready to eat.

I heard the sound of people walking around which meant that someone was home.
When I got to the door, the next door neighbor saw me and just opened the door.

I walked into an apartment full of older women in flowered dresses all scuttling about. Isaiah's grandmother was not there, but one of the ladies helped me carry everything to the kitchen and then I departed. I hope that the ham goes to good use. I know it's hard to think of food when grieving, but I just hope that my love expressed through pork will warm their souls a bit.

Celebrating a Life/Losing Isaiah

Yesterday was K's birthday. We celebrated in grand style with a dinner of seafood namely our luxurious crustacean friend, mister Lobster. We then gathered with the lovely KL, DD and LMO for drinks. I feel very blessed to have K in my life and am
thankful that he was born and is alive and well. I could not have asked for
a better soul mate. I am truly blessed.

We were making our way back home, opening the apartment door when we ran into our friend Emma who lives one floor directly above us. She was on her way to the hospital. Her grandson Isaiah had been hit by a car and she informed us that he was unconscious. I could see the pain and distress in her eyes. I could sense the shock and I had a hard time taking in what she was saying. I tried to continue the acknowledgement/celebration of K's birthday, but I couldn't stop thinking about Isaiah.

We went about our evening trying not to think about Isaiah and finally went to bed.

This morning we woke to the sound of someone ringing our doorbell. K got up to answer it as I was still bleery-eyed and not yet ready to greet the morning. As soon as he opened the door, I could hear her cries "He's gone. He's gone" Everything else was muffled unintelligible echos swelling in the hallway. Konstantine returned to bed asking if I had heard and if I knew what she had said. I said I didn't think I wanted to know. He confirmed that I had heard correctly. He's gone.

Isaiah was 13 years old. He was a musician, a writer, a very special little man who
always addressed me by name and looked me in the eyes. He had kind eyes and a soul that glowed beyond his skin. There was something wise about him, an old soul. Isaiah had trouble walking due to being born with spina bifida. I'm not sure if this in part led to the tragic accident. I don't know all the details. I just know that he is gone and that his family now grieves. I find myself filled with overwhelming sadness to know that he died so young. He had many songs and stories to write that will go unwritten.

It is a tragedy like this that makes one really appreciate life and the loved ones we have. Every day could be our last and every moment is so important.

Isaiah, I am so sorry that you did not get to do everything you planned to do in this life. I hope that you are at peace. You will be missed.

I now find myself trying to decide what best food to cook for his family.
I know it's not exclusively a southern thing, but most of my upbringing being in the south, there is some automatic caserole instinct that kicks in and takes over. It is my knee jerk reaction to tragedy that I must turn the oven on. I must cook.

The Bottle(Lyrics)

To all the ones we left behind
who pray for us at supper time
and hang their clothes out on the line
and watch the time as it slips away

I hope you read these words I wrote,
a sentimental scrolled up note.
I threw the bottle
watched it float
then I watched it til it disappeared.

Beside the water stands a man
he holds a bottle in his hand
he pops the cork
wipes off the sand
he reads the words
but doesn't understand.

A tiny ship that doesn't float
its sails made from a crumpled note
and balsa wood and superglue
in a bottle that has sailed the blue.

It sits there on the mantle top
the logs shift and the fire pops
the ocean breeze, the ticking clock
a final breath
a heartbeat stops

Free Download of the Week- Fishnet Sailor

Thunder Down Under!

No, this is not the sound that my thighs make when I walk too briskly, but rather, well me trying to be cute, so sue me. Good luck with suing me btw, because that will about as financially fruitless a pursuit as trying to squeeze blood out of a bag of rocks.

So, anyway...
THUNDER DOWNUNDER!
Sounds kind of scary when you use CAPS and !!!!

So, anyway...
There are afterall samples of thunder in my song Unplug and Australia is referred to as "down under" thus thunder down under and some exciting news.

The music video for Unplug which was shot in Australia and directed by Simon Trevorrow premiered on ABC in Australia on Rage. The video is also currently a featured video on their website.

For now, this is the only place where you can watch the video as the Australian premiere and the US premiere are not in sync with each other, but that's ok. They're quite a few hours ahead of us and the video was born there, so it seems fitting tha they should see it first. Don't worry North America, Your day of glory will come soon enough.

Just an FYI, when I stated that the video premiered on ABC, I'm not referring to that Disney network but rather referring to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Think PBS or BBC but for Australia.

Robert Recommends/Diversions- Janelle Monáe

There is something quite special about 24 year old Janelle Monáe.
From her funky dykie black tie style to her James Brown and Michael Jackson
infused moves, I like this kid. She's got spunk and this song is like crack for your ears.

For Granted

I am a spoiled person.
I know this. It is something that also
makes me a difficult person at times.

I have this need or desire to
have things surrounding me in just the
right orchestration of space and sound.

Some people might call this selfishness.
perhaps they are right. I do think there
is an arrogance to it, that reeks of men
with their wars and mistakes.

I falter as a person on a daily basis
on so many levels. I feel at times like an utter
failure. Today I think is perhaps the penacle of that for me.

A moment when I wish I were a better person.
A moment when I come to realize that I take
so much in my life that is so precious for granted.
Yes, I think it is selfishness, arrogance, all those things.

The taste of it is rotting in my guts.
It makes my stomach cramp.

Diversions (Trouble)

This video and song seem to be speaking to me at the moment.

Wash Away (partial lyrics)

The man upstairs
is driving me crazy
pouring water
into the walls

and I'm grabbing napkins
towels
buckets
umbrellas
so I'll be ready
when the rain begins to fall.

Are you ready
for the water
are you ready
to wash away

The water keeps rising
every morning
but no one in town knows the reason why
and I had a dream that the buildings were islands
and that the ocean swallowed the sky.

Are you ready
for the water
are you ready
to wash away

Louise (lyrics)

At the bottom of the ocean
there's a woman named Louise.
You have to kiss her if you want to live
It's the only way to breathe.

Her mood shifts like the water
her eyes are cold like butter.
her lips are hot like pepper so
they burn you when you kiss her.

Louise's husband left her
one night while she was sleeping.
It's hard to see from under water
but Louise is always weeping.

This used to be a desert
many years ago.
She used to be so happy before
the tears began to flow.

There used to be a garden,
the only one for miles.
she sowed the seeds and pulled the weeds
and did it with a smile.

but her tears turned into puddles
and puddles turned to rivers
rivers turn to lakes and oceans
fishing towns and swimmers.

and at the bottom of the ocean
there's a woman named Louise
You have to kiss her if you want to live
It's the only way to breathe.