White Summer III
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MY ROCK AND ROLL BAND
On the first Hub I published about my rock and roll band White Summer, I provided links to three of our original songs that I had published on YouTube in a video format; and one remake—that of the great blues tune by Jimi Hendrix: "Red House."
That Hub about my rock and roll band has had beaucoup visitors and I received multitudinous requests for more of our music. So, I published White Summer II; this time with only one original song and two remakes by our rock and roll band. The reason for this was that the lone remake on the first Hub, "Red House," got nearly all of the praise (in the comments section) afterward.
Now I see that this second Hub only produced half the interest as the first one, and a good friend suggested that in spite of the applause for "Red House"—well deserved for the incredible guitar playing by the Blind Boy, Jimmy Schrader—that it was actually our own songs my rock and roll band created that had generated so much interest in the first Hub.
OK. So, this Hub has no remakes and only two songs period. And they are both original art created by our rock and roll band, White Summer.
WHITE SUMMER BAND
Now, without further ado, I will present two we wrote for the White Summer Band. The first one, "Mother Earth", I composed the music and lyrics. The second one, "Without Love", was a collaboration between Jimmy Schrader and myself.
On "Mother Earth" I am singing; on "Without Love" the vocals are by Steve Douglas, from Cinncinati, Ohio. I originally sang "Without Love"—and wrote it for my own voice—but Steve does a better job.
Danny Frye, from Boston, provided the keyboards. Both Steve Douglas and Danny Frye are famous musicians in their home towns. Steve Douglas is an accomplished and recognized jazz singer by trade. Danny Frye has scored motion pictures besides his career as a performer in rock and roll bands.
MOTHER EARTH by WHITE SUMMER
WHITE SUMMER REUNION CONCERT
Some of you may know that the White Summer band performed in concert in June, 2009 at Czar's nightclub in St. Joseph, Michigan.
The White Summer band played as a three-piece that night, with the extraordinary bassist Randy Brown, from Saginaw, Michigan (now Vero Beach) and guitarist Jimmy Schrader and yours truly on drums and vocals. We had a packed house in my hometown and what a wonderful night we had with our old friends.
A fellow Hubber, and journalist, attended the show—driving all the way from Atlanta to do so—and she was a delightful person we were pleased to meet. She published a Hub about the reunion concert entitled "White Summer Reunion" that may interest some of you.
DVD & CD COMING SOON
The concert was recorded live and it was also filmed.
I am awaiting the CD and the DVD—which have separate soundtracks—so I may share them with whomever is interested.
They are in post-production editing now.
I will include a few photos from the gig herein.
WITHOUT LOVE by WHITE SUMMER
 | Amazon Price: $139.99 List Price: $179.99 |
 | Amazon Price: $369.95 List Price: $399.00 |
 | Amazon Price: $900.00 |
 | Amazon Price: $89.99 List Price: $319.99 |
JAMES A WATKINS ON HUB PAGES
Anyway, many of you may know me as a writer of Hubs (internet articles with pictures) about issues such as politics, history, culture, society, or God. I try to leaven these serious topics by writing every other blog about music, art, aviation, space, or baseball.
To see my full catalog of Hubs, go here: http://hubpages.com/profile/James+A+Watkins
I do hope some of you enjoy my music. I put these videos together tonight using Windows Movie Maker but I cannot claim to remotely know what I am doing. This is a new adventure for me and I did the best I could. Thank you for reading, listening, and watching. Ciao!
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Brute— You are definitely not Mindless, so I do not address you that way. Thank you for being the first to comment on my latest page. I hope to diffuse some of the hatred directed towards me on Hub Pages by establishing that I am also an artist! :D
I am still waiting for your HG Hub!
Gorgeous daughter, James. What fun to have a cd and dvd coming out.
Nice to see you back around :)
I went back to your previous hub and listened to All Along the Watchtower, that was a real blast from the past for me as I used to listen to the original on a duke box at a local pub in the UK when I was a teenager in the 70's. Very nostalgic.
Aaaaah you're back, thank you! thank you! I feel dual minded about the controversy you stir up, but we agree on much, especially the important things, I am glad you stayed to keep the balances tilted to the right with the best reasoning and logical mind there is.
I was surprised I liked your music. Kind of eighties rock, but mellow and melodic. I think I understand what you are trying to get across with "Mother Earth", but I am surprised at the title. This is where you get to release some energy isn't it? Neat! Ever gonna stop in Cali?
God bless you brother and keep writing dammit.
Hi James, it's good to have you back, and with music too. That's great!
You got a lovely daughter.
Good to see you back James! As usual, great hub! Thanks for the mention and glad you liked the pics :) Does this mean your book is on hold again or are you going to do both?
Glad to see you back here, James. I liked the song, "Mother Earth." You have a nice voice! How cool that your son can play drums, too!
Cool videos! Your daughter is beautiful.
You are such a talented human being James. Glad to have known you here in HubPages. Welcome back again. Nice music btw. =)
Welcome back James. Now I have someone who will actual comment on my stupid hubs agains
I love your music. And your daughter is beautiful, and I bet she's beautiful spirited also.
Keep on Hubbing!.
James! so glad you changed your mind. i love the landscapes in "Mother Earth" - sunsets, flowers, etc. beautiful women in "Without Love." i've always liked to listen to drumming, been a fan ever since Feynman and the bongos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKTSaezB4p8 this was filmed not too long before he died of cancer. a brilliant, loveable eccentric whose heart held such sadness.
your son that takes after his father and you have a supportive and beautiful daughter - you are blessed as i am. my son and daughter both take after my creative side and gentler nature.
i'm so glad to see you are back.
James, so glad you changed your mind. It would not have been the same without you.
James, so glad you changed your mind. It would not have been the same without you.
I had no idea you had a band. Cool Beans! Awesomeness!
I thought I was visiting HubPages too many times a week, even a day ... now I discover that you had ... left? Whatever happened?! Another religious or political discussion I guess ...
Well, you have a good voice, that I loved. And I loved the song Mother Earth. Could you write down the lyrics and publish them (just at the end of this hub for instance)? It would be much appreciated.
Whatever happened in HubPages, and I really don't know who you were having a fight with, I hope that from now on we are going to be accepting each other much more than today's level. I didn't talk about "tolerating" each other, I said "accepting".
Best to you James, r.
So happy to see you are back! You are very talented! Keep up the writing and the music! I like your music. Let us hubbers know when we can buy it and where!
Even as someone who has known of your talent for some time, I am still impressed when I hear it. In everyone's life there will come along some one with extraordinary gifts. I am so glad I met you so many moons ago. I too an looking forward to your book.
Frieda Babbley— What a nice compliment! She is also a peach of a girl. And her friend Carol has more personality that most people I come across. Thanks!
Ethel,
Thank you! :D I am glad to be back.
BrianS— "Watchtower" is one of my all time favorite songs. I never tire of playing it. Thanks for checking it out. I appreciate it.
Alexander Mark— You are most welcome, my brother. We never made it to the West Coast with the band. I would like to do that. It is a tremendous release to pound those drums—and that is what I do. I don't so much play them as beat them into submission. :-)
"Mother Earth" sprang from thinking about how Father God scooped up some earth to form the first man, Adam. And placed us in the Garden of Eden." We are placed in stewardship over the Earth and we should take care of it.
jill of alltrades— Thank you for your kind words. My daughter is the most popular girl in town. Everywhere she goes a crowd gathers around. :D
(I actually have two daughters but my youngest, Shelby, is not old enough to be in a bar legally.)
SEM Pro— Thank you for providing the pics! I forgot to give you photographer's credit. I intend to blog and write my book by cutting back on other activities for a while. I appreciate your friendship. :-)
advisor4qb— Thank you for the appreciation. My son is an excellent drummer and a kind soul. Thanks for visiting!
Mr. Deeds,
Thanks! She is all that. I appreciate you for saying so. And for watching my videos, too.
Charia Samher— Your gracious words have warmed my heart. It is a joy to be back in the Community. I have a lot of Hub reading to catch up on! I'll do that this coming week. Thanks again for your comments.
eovery— Come on now—none of your Hubs has been remotely stupid. I have enjoyed them all and they are all smart. I'll be catching up on them this coming week.
Thank you for expressing your appreciation of my music. It is a work of Love, to be sure. My daughter is an awesome powerhouse of personality. She is well loved. I am very proud of her. :D
womanNshadows— My children are truly a blessing to me. They were on the road with the band in the tour bus several summers and had quite the stories to tell their classmates about how they spent their summer break! Not exactly like being at Grandma's house. :D
My heart is warmed by your kind, thoughtful remarks. I am glad to be back with my friends.
Great video, by the way, but too short! :-)
R Burow— Thank you for writing what you did. Your comments are unfailingly encouraging to me.
Gloria Cowdery— Cool beans. I have always liked that word combination. Thank you for tuning in and leaving word that you did.
Great job James!! Loved the songs and the second vid had Vivien in it so I of course loved it too :)
rosariomontenegro— It wasn't a fight with anybody except the Hub Pages "spider bots." I had worked on a Hub about the Founding Fathers for 12 hours straight and at 6am I finally hit publish, bleary eyed, and there was a big red flag on it for excessive quotations. It said I was to be penalized. A couple days later, I wrote the Staff and they removed it. It does have a lot of quotations because I am sometimes accused of making this stuff up so my thinking was: let's go right to the source. :-)
Thank you for the wonderful compliments about my song and my singing. Here you go:
Peering out the window; of a small plane
Headed home on; a clear June night
Earth below; doesn't seem the same
Must be a million; souls within my sight
Mother Earth; to you I must return
Mother Earth; Everything is happening at once.
We have been given; a perfect home
Lilies of the fields; neither toil not spin
Can we repair; the damage done
Or will a new age; be ushered in
Mother Earth; Could you just happen along?
Mother Earth; Everything is happening at once.
I like the Without Love That is real real nice Sound. The lead parts are the bomb!!
Kebennett1— Thank you very much for your appreciation of my art. Some of my five albums used to be on Amazon but not any more. I may re-release them and if I do I will let you know.
James,
So glad that you didn't leave. Your music is great and I love the videos you created, even my boys have enjoyed listening and watching.
Thank you for sharing a part of your life with the pics of two of your children - they are a credit to you. You must be very proud of them.
Keep your wonderful hubs coming.
Robert— Is this Robert from Clearwater? Or from Orlando? Either way, your words are flattering. If I possess any gifts, I did nothing to earn them.
My book is about life in the band; the music business; the Woodstock Generation; and the changes in America over the past 50 years. :D I have 300 pages in the can from several years back. I am going to get back to it this week. Thank you very much for making my day.
Janetta— I was thinking of you when I put Vivien in there. Seriously. :-) Just wanted to see if you were paying attention! Thanks for saying you loved the songs. Every artist longs to see those words in print.
Royal Diadem— Thank you so much! :-)
My guitar player, Jimmy Schrader, is amazing. Born blind, too. We played together for 16 years. I am glad you enjoyed that song.
glad you're sharing your creative side james,I think hubpages need more hubs like this floating around,how to hubs and political hubs get a little boring.loved the hub,it's really a breath of fresh air.
Tigermadstanley— I am so pleased that you liked the music. And the videos. My sound is out on my computer so I put together the videos while playing the songs in my head! So, the cuts may not be precise. Since I have an old head. :-)
I am proud of my younguns. They are pretty good eggs.
bill yon— Wow! I could not be happier about your comments. Thank you!
Hi Jim, Hot songs. You guys are still tight.
Beautiful, thank you!
muley84— Thank you brother. I do appreciate the affirmation, especially coming from a music aficionado as yourself.
rosariomontenegro— You are welcome. And thank you! :-)
James, glad that you are back. Thanks for sharing your great music and pics.
Keep on doing what you do. Much blessings...
DynamicS— Thank you. :-)
The Pleasure is all mine to share my music. Thanks for tuning in.
Huh! Cool. I still want to see a hub on your house with the cool porch, though, ;).
Lita Sorenson— I am going to try to put that together this very week. Thanks.
Another excellent White Summer hub. Keep up the good work.
satomko— Thank you very much for saying so. It has been a joy to make these crude videos. :-)
Ok first of all I am very glad that they didn't give you the boot. I rather enjoy the sparring that ensues whenever I read your political or religious hubs. I like the song "Mother Earth". It has a certain "mood" it illicits and I like your voice. Also, by the way I absolutely loved Fragile. Yes was a fantastic group!! (read about that at your other Hub).
Moonchild60— Oh man! YES Fragile is close to perfection! Thank you for taking the time to check this out. And I appreciate the compliments, too. I'll get back to God and the World in a few days, and we can spar some more. :-)
Wow! James, that is so cool!! I love it!! Your daughter is beautiful!
sherrylou57— Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Yea, I'm pretty proud of my Sarrah. She's a good egg. :)
not a bad sound at all James! Rare to find the drummer singing too.
Roll on James!
psychicdog.net— Yes, that was me alright. Back in the day, as they say. Thanks for your nice words. :)
Micky Dee— Thank you, Brother! I'll roll til I can't roll no more.
James, I knew you're father well.I bought many parts from Rex Auto Parts. I remember you're dad, Randall, and Rex.
My father toured as a non-member of the H.O.D. baseball team. He was quite well known.
I was born in St. Joseph, but went to H.S. in B.H.
I also remember you're stepmom.
You indeed are an awesome writer. If you're music ever becomes as good as you're writing, you will indeed become famous.
Take care,
Mike....A.K.A. as Woody Wright
mike hopkins— I remember you Mike! I'll be sure and tell my dad I heard from you. I've heard of your dad's baseball exploits, too. Randall and Rex are doing fairly well. Diane is doing OK, too. Woody Wright? Woody Wright. hmmm . . . Thanks for coming by and making your presence known.
Okay, James...I'm telling ya, you need to start a fan club...I never stop being amazed.
Your music really is a sound that I love. It must be something in that Michigan water, it has that "mid west" rock n roll feel to it...resembling Segar and the Silver Bullet Band....solid drums along with keyboards.
awesome.
CMerritt— You've made my day! It makes me so happy when someone appreciates my music. We were a Michigan band alright. Love Seger, too. He played my high school dance once for $500.
Thank you ever much for the applause. I haven't heard it in a while. I might have to bust out my drums for a coda. :D
James-- Man, I just listened to Mother Earth again and man..... Did you write that???? It is really good. How is your guitar player getting that unique tone? I have a custom shop strat but just a 30 watt fender solid state amp. It's kind of a David Gilmore sound like from the song "learning to fly (Pink Floyd)". I can tell it is a strat.
James-- Also, here is a link to my youtube page. As much dialogue as we have had, I figured you would like to put a face with the name :D
http://www.youtube.com/user/stringtitan?feature=mh
I just started this channel and for some reason did not include my better songs but, rather, the ones I happened to be working on currently for my band that is just now cutting its teeth. It is so exciting!
Ben— I must confess I am the guilty party, yes I wrote "Mother Earth."
My guitar player, Jimmy Schrader, was born blind. We played together 16 years. He is playing a 57 Stratocaster through a 100 watt Marshall with six 12" Celestion speakers. Same setup as Hendrix, I think. Jimmy does have a great sound.
David Gilmour is perhaps my favorite guitar player ever. My band played a lot of Pink Floyd tunes. "Comfortably Numb" was one of our best tunes for over a decade. "Young Lust" too.
Ben— Hey man! Thanks for the link to your music. You have an excellent voice. Nice choice of tunes too. I am TallHandsomeGenius on youtube. :D
James--57 Strat through Marshall (obviously with at tube driven head) with 6 12inch Celestion Speakers? Man, that explains it! I am starting to realize that there is no "trick" to getting great tone. There are no certain pickups or effects pedals or any of that stuff that make us go, "Wow! What great tone." It all comes from having a quality instrument (like a 57 Strat) and sufficient watts. I have got to get 100 watts, no less, which means extra work and saving.
Thanks for the compliments and I will look you up on youtube. My band didn't work out. I got into a terrible argument with my singer and now am by myself, looking for a drummer and bassist. I cannot keep my meter without a drummer forcing me :)
James-- As for your being the guilty party who wrote Mother Earth, I won't hold it against you to terribly bad, since you did come clean :D
Ben— Thank you for not holding that against me, brother.
Jimmy uses a Cry-Baby wha-wha pedal. I think that is about it. Good luck with your music. It is hard to hold a band together.
TheMindlessBrute 2 years ago
Welcome back James,your digital persona and drumming to the beat of your own algorithim again,Damn those authoritarian overlords and their spytbots.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic