John Payne - Ride The Storm (going down a YouTube rabbit hole)

 I happened to look into what John Payne did before he joined ASIA and there was a playlist on YouTube by user "Long Live Rock 'n' Roll" run by Gabriela Gomes (check out her channel as she's a big ASIA fan too).  The playlist is interesting and this is the first song on the list...

Then as I typed this into the search it brought up a sort of "music video" from Eurotops where you get to see the pre-ASIA John Payne perform the song...

But the rabbit hole I fell down is to find out this song (and another from John Payne on the playlist) were singles featured in the movie "Riders Of The Storm" which looked familiar.  Back when I worked at Blockbuster I remembered seeing this VHS cover but the movie was called "The American Way" in our part of the world.  So I looked into the movie 'cos it was one of those from the Blockbuster days that I'd always see the cover for but never watched.  No trailer, but here's a revealing collection of clips someone compiled on YouTube...

Make America Great Again?  Woo!  Pirate TV station, military psy-ops, making fun of politics & TV evangelists, Dennis Hopper, Michael J. Pollard...I'm in.  Looked into getting it...expensive, but then boom...the whole thing is on YouTube...

It's weird and an interesting take on "The American Way" and sorta has a Clockwork Orange meets Pee-Wee Herman vibe.  I can see how some would say it's crappy, but I loved it and it even has some moments that are surreal to today and make you think, while still grounded in making fun of itself.

ASIA Without You

Without You (like all songs ASIA with me) has a significant place in my heart.  It's obviously a love song, but it's also got a very sad, bittersweet undertone.  It's not the happy, floaty butterfly love, it's possibly a lost love you can't forget or a love coming to an end or love and separation.

For me personally and more recently there was a someone I never wanted to be without...and even though I lost this lover, there will never be a day, without her.  I think we both knew it was coming to an end, I had sent her this song and it's lyrics and while I didn't want things to end between us, they did...and maybe this song was a sad prelude to that.

Best friends who became lovers but tried to change back into just friends...so the line: "wanting things the way they used to be, you don't know what that can do to me" is a reference to that.  Then followed with: "one more day maybe never, might as well be forever" is a reference to the fact we kept putting off meeting in person and being the friends we promised to be, only that each day we didn't meet turned into forever.  Other lines and even sounds from this song remind me of her in a sad, had to be this way, kind of way.

But even still, I love her like I love all my girls...for life.  As time will go, both of us will know, there will never be a day, without you.  She will always be in my mind, every day.

I found this rare live in NY version of the song from their first tour, I need to get this bootleg Alchymya album!

So, I decided to sing it...I know I'm not a good singer, at least...I can't do John Wetton's vocals justice (but then, who could?) but I tried.  I haven't been able to write write or draw due to personal problems I've already spoken of, but I wanted to make some actual content for my Blogger so I'm singing...

I tried to test out my new phone, different video styles and to try some self-karaoke.  My vocals are...well...I know I can do better, but I also don't want to bog myself down with too much preparation (procrastination) or post-production nonsense so I'm just wingin' it.  I wanted something that wouldn't be too difficult since I tend to be an unsatisfied perfectionist with things so I went with a this simple shoot it and upload it deal.



Test 1) I used an app called DU Recorder which records your phone's screen directly and even allowed me to do a lil' picture-in-picture of myself while the YouTube video of it played on my phone.  Held my phone horizontally to shoot then had to rotate the video 'cos of the way DU Recorder recorded it vertically.



Test 2) I directly recorded myself on my phone, while I played the music on my home theater set-up in the background.  Then I added a background image to fill out the screen horizontally.  Held my phone vertically to shoot and then once I added the background image it was done.

First, I have to say my new phone is awesome with a great camera & microphone and the DU Recorder app (and it's video editor) is amazing, too...isn't technology wonderful?  Years ago, you would've needed so much more stuff to make something like this work...and yet this does a good job and I see the potential for more things to with it...but again, I also don't wanna fall into too much over-production crap; this needs to be fast, easy & raw so I can continue making content rather than being too picky and never finishing anything.

Second, there's pros & cons with each of these.  I'm leaning more towards the first video 'cos I like the smaller picture-in-picture of myself so it's less about my face (and what's behind me...do I need a green screen now?) and more about the overall song.  Seemed a lil' easier to shoot, with a lil' more freedom to control things as the video is going and the file size seemed smaller so it uploaded faster.  With that freedom comes the cons of seeing everything happening on my phone, ya know...like that pop-up coming up to inform me that my battery was at 15% ha ha...also, it was hard to hear the music since it was coming from the phone (and not my home theater set-up), but the phone's speaker had to be turned down so it didn't drown me out.  I could go on'n'on about these pros & cons, but...

Third, regardless of each tests' pros & cons...I don't know which really sounds better yet.  I want the music to be clear enough without drowning out my voice, but I also want to sound good enough to go along with the music.  The end product matters more than any pros & cons I've listed.

I think there's a third route where I could run the music through my home theater set-up like in the second test, but still do the picture-in-picture over something else like in the first test.  Instead of running the music from the phone I could just go to an image or a gallery of images to scroll through to show behind my picture-in-picture of myself singing?  Just have to be careful not to overdo it 'cos I wanna keep this simple.  I think I'll try that with my next karaoke video.

Something else to think about is that I plan to do more karaoke stuff using this DU Recorder app, but I also plan to use it to do other videos where I'm playing games or browsing things online.  Some looks better in vertical mode, while others look better horizontally.  If the video from the phone's screen is vertical, then I'll have to make a background to add borders to make the end video horizontal.  I have so many ideas, kinda excited...

ASIA The Smile Has Left Your Eyes

The message is powerful and painful.  It's about having love and then losing it.  It's when you're with someone who used to be your smile, but then you look in their eyes and you can see the smile is gone from it.  They fell out of love with you or they lost their happiness or they're going through pain that is unbearable.

The saddest part is that the smile in your eyes never has to be lost, but people choose to lose it.  Whether through some act that takes their happiness from them or just gradually over time.  Some try to re-obtain it or think they can find it through someone or something else or they even choose to never be happy again.  It's a choice that everyone eventually makes and it's heartbreaking that people give up on life, each other...themselves.

We could choose not to lose it and if we lose it we can choose to find it again, but instead, we choose to lose the smile in our eyes.

This song personally touches me and moves me to tears.

This is the original demo which is two-part; Geoffrey Downes on piano & John Wetton singing and a full-band arena rock version.  When they've done the song live, they've usually done it this way.  The song & lyrics were written by John...

1983 Live in Japan with Geoffrey Downes solo and John's (temporary replacement) Greg Lake (of ELP) singing...

1990 Live with acoustic guitar...

1990 Live in Moscow with Pat Thrall on Guitar...

2006 Live on VH1...

This is the album version in music video form.  The music video portrays a painful story of an affair that tares a family apart.  On top of it, their little girl seemingly drowns at the end and the torn apart husband and wife are left holding each other crying.

This brings up that sometimes, you feel torn apart like you could never be together again, but then tragedy strikes and you find yourselves back together.  I ask anyone who's thinking of breaking up or divorce or whatever...you know that there is still enough love there that when tragedy strikes all you can think of is to cling to that person, the same person you just thought of leaving.

Also, at the end of the video we see the girl (who we thought just died) in the doorway,  I like to think that if she did die, that that doorway was her entrance to heaven as she smiles at the beautiful music...

The song is so good to me, even though it is very sad.  In my own romantic way I had thought to transform this sad song into a happy song.  Over the years (and depending on my love interests at the time) I've re-written 'The Smile Has Left Your Eyes' into 'I'll Put The Smile Back In Your Eyes'!  I would write variations of this from developing new love to full on lovers.  Here I am singing one I wrote...

ASIA 25TH Anniversary News

ASIA is my favorite band and big things are happenning. There are 2 main ASIA era's: the Wetton era inwhere John Wetton was the frontman and the Payne era inwhere John Payne took his place. The Payne era is no more now though as Geoff Downes & John Payne have parted ways. Geoff Downes is working again with John Wetton on the ICON project which then led to Carl Palmer & Steve Howe reuniting to reform the supergroup. It should be noted that this is the first time since *1983* that Steve Howe & John Wetton will be working together and it also marks the first time since then that all four original members are now back together. A true ASIA fans dream.

John Payne & Geoff Downes have parted ways and wish each other luck in one another's ventures. The original ASIA is reuniting for a U.S. tour and possibly a live album, DVD and studio album as well. Payne is taking Guthrie Goven and some of the work that was to be his next ASIA album (The Architect Of Time) and creating his own band.

Here's to ASIA, the Payne era and the Wetton era...let's wish them all luck in whatever they do!

www.theasiawebsite.com
www.asiaworld.org