Monday, December 13, 2021
Saturday, November 5, 2016
a bongolong Christmas "Special Edition"
This "Special Edition" contains the "best of"
from both the 2003 & 2004 "a bongolong Christmas"
along with three tunes recorded after 2004:
"Little CE3K Drummer Boy" (2005)
"The Little Fusion Drummer Boy" (2005)
"Away In A Manger" (2008)
Download from Bandcamp
Download from Internet Archive
Download from MediaFire
a bongolong Christmas “Leftovers”
Here are the “Leftovers”
from my Christmas recordings which were not included in the “Special Edition”.
Also included are three “remixes” (labeled “Revisited” from the original 2003 recordings).
Also included are three “remixes” (labeled “Revisited” from the original 2003 recordings).
Download from Bandcamp
Download from MediaFire
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
a bongolong Christmas (2003/2004)
I love Christmas music and the more interesting (or weirder) the better!!
It was always a dream of mine to record my own Christmas music,
taking those familiar melodies and giving them my own special twist.
It was always a dream of mine to record my own Christmas music,
taking those familiar melodies and giving them my own special twist.
So… here are some Christmas songs presented by bongolong.
98.7% of the instruments played by bongolong,
100% recorded, mixed and produced by bongolong
at studio-b (aka, the garage) in Silverado Canyon, California.
98.7% of the instruments played by bongolong,
100% recorded, mixed and produced by bongolong
at studio-b (aka, the garage) in Silverado Canyon, California.
Recorded/edited with Tascam Porta-One to Cool Edit 2000 (for 2003 tunes)
and Cakewalk Music Creator 2003 to Adobe Audition 2.0 (for 2004 tunes)
here is my offering, a Christmas gift from bongolong!
and Cakewalk Music Creator 2003 to Adobe Audition 2.0 (for 2004 tunes)
here is my offering, a Christmas gift from bongolong!
"It may not last as long as a fruitcake, but it sure tastes better!"
Download from MediaFire
Stream the album:
The Little Drummer Boy EP (2003/2005)
Download (53mb): The Little Drummer Boy EP
frank & his 4-track (circa 1980s)
During the 1980’s while I was working in Dinner Theater I bought a Tascam Porta-One four-track cassette recorder and promptly proceeded to record just about anything in my garage in Anaheim (yeah, out by Disneyland). These recordings include some junk, some half way decent items and some snippets of gigs I did while accompanying belly dancers with added overdubs recorded in the garage. The picture on the cover was actually taken at one of those tintype picture places when I was stationed at Fort MacArthur. “Ola” was written by John Bilezikjian, an oud player I did the belly dance gigs with. Who knows, you might even like some of these “musical musings.”
Download (138mb): frank & his 4-track
Fanfare
Ola (excerpt)
Summer Tune (excerpt)
Drumming It Up (excerpt)
Gymnopédies (excerpt)
Jump (from West Side Story) (excerpt)
Roto Trio (excerpt)
Solo (belly dance live & tape) (excerpt)
Tri-Tone MegaMix (excerpt)
Electric Ola (excerpt)
miscellaneous etcetera (1969-2005)
A collection of miscellaneous etcetera errata of musical
(and maybe not so musical) items by Frank Long/bongolong from 1969 to 2005.
(and maybe not so musical) items by Frank Long/bongolong from 1969 to 2005.
Download (43mb): miscellaneous etcetera
Eugenia Hamilton Sings Kate Smith - Fine and Dandy
The Dark Bob Audition Tape (excerpt)
Alien Landscape: Planet 333 (2010)
Here is my first trek into the ambient universe.
From all the wavs I've collected, I reworked, filtered, slowed down, sped up, etc,
and then cut & paste them all together and came up with "Alien Landscape: Planet 333".
The number "333" comes from the lentgh of the piece: 3 minutes and 33 seconds (clever, huh?).
Anyhoots, you can stream it, you can download, you can do whatever you want with it.
Fullerton Collage Tapes (1972)
These "Tape Collages" from when I was living in a shack in Fullerton, California in 1972. Using an old beat up stereo reel-to-reel tape recorder, vinyl records, a turntable and even connecting to the speaker in the television set I spent hours trying different "tricks" & "experiments" to piece together these "collages". I would record at different speeds and even turn the tape around and record the other channel backwards. Some of it worked, some of it didn't. For me it was more the act of creating these then the final product.
This sonic silliness is only for the audio brave.
Check out the excerpt before downloading!
Check out the excerpt before downloading!
Tape I - William Fell (excerpt)
Tape II - It's like turning off the main switch (except)
Tape III (excerpt)
Download (176mb): Fullerton Collage Tapes
Electronic Tape Number One (1969)
Here is one of the oldest surviving original recordings of mine, my attempt at electronic music. The year was 1969 (I was 17 at the time) and was done in my bedroom looking out the window to the backyard and orange groves beyond.
Created with an old stereo reel-to-reel tape recorder and a spring reverb box taken from a broken guitar amp, this was an experiment in creating “music” with out any instruments or traditional sound generators. While recording I could not hear what was happening but watched the VU meters so things were somewhat random. Each stereo channel was recorded separately.
The raw recording was re-mastered and re-mixed in 2006 with some minor changes and enhancements.
Created with an old stereo reel-to-reel tape recorder and a spring reverb box taken from a broken guitar amp, this was an experiment in creating “music” with out any instruments or traditional sound generators. While recording I could not hear what was happening but watched the VU meters so things were somewhat random. Each stereo channel was recorded separately.
The raw recording was re-mastered and re-mixed in 2006 with some minor changes and enhancements.
The Pedro Tapes (1973)
While stationed at Fort MacArthur in San Pedro, California as a drummer in the Army Band I was living in a tri-plex. Upstairs were two one-bedroom apartments housing a wonderful lady who made her living babysitting (so it was easy for her to deal with us) and one of the Army drummers with his wife, daughter and huge chrome drum set. In the three-bedroom below I lived with a trombone player and another drummer (both also from the Army Band). I had the master bedroom which was full of percussion instruments on which I would spend hours making "music" and various other sounds. These are some of the surviving recordings. These will be found as more of curiosities; at the time I was heavily into Harry Partch and the two duos were inspired by his music. Listen for the beer keg & truck backup bell.
1. duo 3 (2:01)
2. duo 1 (1:33)
3. pedro improv (13:37)
2. duo 1 (1:33)
3. pedro improv (13:37)
Download (20mb): The Pedro Tapes
duo 1
Nick Noel Space Captain (2005)
The theme music and opening voice over for an unfinished "radio drama" about the adventures of Nick Noel Space Captain and his trusty sidekick Yeoman Yolanda Yule as they travel the space ways delivering music to the many space dwellers in need of some holiday cheer.
Download (8mb): Nick Noel Space Captain
Nick Noel Space Captain Theme
Nick Noel Space Captain Opening (with voice-over)
Mambo and Exit Music (from West Side Story)
Back in the late 1970s I was playing percussion at Sebastian’s West Dinner Playhouse in San Clemente, CA. While doing a production of West Side Story we needed a recording of the Mambo to be played by an on-stage jukebox. This was my one and only date as a producer.
Mambo
The Exit Music was recorded on the theater tape recorder for the final performance so the three musicians could join the full cast for a final bow on closing night…
Exit Music
Download (5mb): Mambo and Exit Music
Alpha Centauri - Live at the NCO Club (1975)
After Fort MacArthur closed I was sent to the 399th Army Band at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. There I joined a seven-piece band made up mostly of guys in the band. Our female singer was a beautiful black gal who worked in one of the offices and played a mean electric piano and sang like Chaka Khan. The guitar player was a captain who worked somewhere else on post. Everyone else was from the band including an incredibly talented JJ Johnson from somewhere down south. This guy could play any instrument you handed him and was just a joy to work with, play with and just be around. JJ, if you’re out there please contact me!!. Our main competition in the area was a hard rock band called Deviled Groat (the bass player was also in the Army Band and designed our logo). Where we had our most success was playing at the NCO Club on post; this is a recording of one of those gigs recorded on a funky stereo recorder with two mics. I don’t remember the names of most of the band members or of the songs we played, but we sure had fun!!
Friday, April 1, 2011
Sunday Afternoon Drum Solo
One Sunday after church, I sat down at my drums, turned on the recorder and just played....
Download (14mb): Sunday Afternoon Drum Solo
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