Hey there! My name is Robert Champion and welcome to my first post on The Sloping Companion’s Blog via WordPress. I am excited to add this element to my website and hope that you join me as I blog about this and that and hopefully make a few friends along the way. I have begun to use this forum as a way to get my ideas across and to share with you my programs that I create. All of my programs can also be found via our cloudcasts at the top of this page.  There is also a phone app available for Mixcloud so feel free to listen on the go!

Feel free to check out our programs. We currently have several different ideas that we are trying out. The episode below is a test program entitled The Mothership. This show is where I play a string of songs together that have to do with our planet. The goal is to turn you onto some new songs and to help you think about our role on this planet and in this world as a community. We play some songs that you may know and some that you may not be familiar with upon listening for the first time. On this episode you will hear from artists like Neko Case, Railroad Earth, Pearl Jam, Phish and several other artists. My music collection is large, always growing and is constantly providing me with music related to this topic.

One of the songs that we play on this episode is  ”Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth.” It is  performed by Neko Case.  Check out the lyrics to this moving song.
When she’s on her best behaviour
Dont be tempted by her favours
Never turn your back on mother earth
Towns are hurled from A to B
By hands that looked so smooth to me
Never turn your back on mother earth
Grasp at straws that dont want grasping
Gaze at clouds that come down crashing
Never turn your back on mother earth
Three days and two nights away from my friends
Amen to anything that brings a quick return to my friends
To my friends
Never turn your back on mother earth
I’ll admit I was unfaithful
But from now I’ll be more faithful
Never turn your back on mother
Never turn your back on mother
Never turn your back on mother earth

I try to tell myself every day not to turn my back on mother earth.  It’s not always the easiest thing to do here living in the western suburbs of Chicago.  However, once in a while you will see other people on the same path around these parts and they even get together here and there to discuss these issues.  My wife and I are eagerly trying to meet other like minded people that share in our passion for art and general awareness of the world around us.  Where I live is kind of a dead zone and it actually boggles the mind because we are only twenty minutes away from the heart of Chicago.

What else?  I’ve been thinking a lot about musical terms these days.  One of the words I have been thinking about lately is the word that defines when a movement or a section of music slows down from the tempo in which it started.  This word is -Adagio- and is Italian for the word slow.  Is there anyone out there reading this blog that has a favorite Phish song that starts out at a certain tempo and then drastically or slowly diminishes to a slower tempo?  I can think of a ton of examples both Phish and other that have moved me time and time again.  What are some good examples of this technique where it creates a mood or an ebb and flow that literally makes the song the emotional thing that moves you? The first person to give me an example will win a prize courtesy of The Sloping Companion.  I cannot mail you a time machine through the postal service but bear with me…I am working on it.  We are working on it.

I cannot stop thinking about Phish Tahoe night one.  The “Light” that eventually goes into the Hedwig’s Theme from Harry Potter must get played on my show at some time.  it took the band a few moments to synch up while at the same time losing themselves in the cliche flow that is rarely cliche on any other stage.  Moreover, this cliche wasn’t bad in any way and should not be taken negatively in this post about the performance. A Phish cliche is actually not a real cliche.  It’s just the closest word that tries to describe the One thing they are doing up there.  Perhaps we should make up a new phrase for what Phish is doing in that moment.  Perhaps calling it a cliche is actually a disservice to what musicians like this do.  Let’s call it something else.  Let’s call it  搞清楚狗屎了.   It happened and it happened hard.  ”Light” is something that the listener needs even if they think they don’t need it at a show.  One of the key tools that a listener needs to have with them when they go on a journey like this with the band is that they need to allow some slack in order to allow the band to reach the moment when they are truly tapping into the One.

I agree that the first few moments were a winding road to get where it eventually arrived and when it got there it was…magical.  I like to equate the moment leading up to the One instrument as Phish having a singular conversation within the larger conversation of the concert.  The moments where their instruments are talking to reach other and trying to reach One.  The instruments are trying to figure out where to go next to find it and they are uncertain.  It is this uncertainty that allows things like the eventual part that came after to flourish on stage, in our minds, in our hearts and within One.

A lot of people will complain about those moments.  I will use the following word many times on this blog. This is a warning.  Get ready.  The word is -however-.  A lot of people will complain about those moments of uncertainty.  However, I am here to tell you right now that it is their ability to communicate on a real life psychic level that allows the music to wash over us in any number of ways.  It’s those uncertain moments that allows certain musicians to take a plunge when so many are playing it safe.  I actually feel honored to have the chance to witness those uncertain moments because you know after a little bit of leveling up during that singular conversation within the larger one that something completely new and out of control awesome is about to happen.  It’s a set up and it’s Phish having the courage and trust in their audience to be vulnerable in front of all of us.  Totally.  Completely.  The payoff in that “Light” is something to be measured.  Then again, you might just be in line to urinate.  Give it a listen some time.  Some songs are written because they are meant to be heard.  Ignoring this one from the library would be a disservice to yourself as a fan.  Let me know what you think.  In other news…My town is ass backwards.

You would think that people around these parts would be more dialed into what was going on around them but all it takes is just one viewing of the local village hall meeting to see that the village is living in some archaic times. Our town needs a cultural retooling like you would not believe.  It’s a bit embarrassing but I feel encouraged knowing that I am trying to do my part to push this community forward a little bit and maybe that is why we find ourselves here…in this time…in this town…on this computer screen.  We hope you stick around for future installments and thanks for paying attention.  Take care of each other and enjoy this episode of The Mothership below!