Feb 2019 - Welcome To Jay's Museum Video -  a bio kind of- sort of

Johnny Skilsaw Alumni:
Ron Auber
Mike Paterson
Peter Robinson Sunshine-Fuhry
Nick Dicorato
Mark Hutchins
Dave Lyles
Joey Crifo
Paul Andrew

The scrolling  museum graphic and art / the backdrop of my website. I created it in the early 2000s using Photoshop when a hand injury (Saturday night palsy) kept me from playing for several months. Please note flash cameos from  Charles Butkowski sitting at the bar in different places throughout the video

Music Excerpt Bibliography 

0:00 I've had the privilege of working on more than a few projects with JG Thirlwell  AKA Feotus , Manorexia. Steroid Maximus In the early 2000s  I did several remixes for him that he encouraged me to "mangle"  thus re-imagine the instrumentation and structure. In doing so,  I would invent entirely new passages not using little if any "remix"  source  material  though entire sections) . Of all these projects "Miracle" is my favorite. The  music top of this video (with the rapid images)  is cut from the crazy extraneous intro I worked up for my outlandish take on the tune. It's interspersed with other sounds I've created and compiled over the years.

 0:42 A series of  Fractal Harp  clips recently shot.  I've concocted a way of being able to sing feedback (as well as other instrument sounds I've created) with an ordinary microphone. 

1:16  Concert For Two Pianos  excerpt (Wasco) - excerpt from piece conceived several  years ago and finally recently recorded with full accompaniment.

1:21 "Noisy House" excerpt. Zippy chunk of an exhausting Swiss Army Bass /Johnny Skilsaw piece shot at Giant Studio in the mid/late 80s

1:34 "Heart Of Gold" -(Neil Young) Stylized excerpt from an old web video (2004ish) that's gotten a lot of play.
 

1:46 "Treadmill For Two" (Wasco) The quintessential Johnny Skilsaw  tune that continues to allude being recorded to my satisfaction. During Live performances Mark Hutchins would "express himself" by sawing his stage gear up showering  sparks on the band and audience. The Skilsaw sounds used here on this track are actual footage of original Skilsaw Drummer, Ron Auber sawing chunks off the actual Swiss Army Bass  in order to make it lighter.            
 

2:05 "Death Of A Cynic"  (Wasco, Patterson)  is a Johnny Skilsaw   "hit" song featuring s ear-catching feedback sound created with crazy techniques came up with while living in a studio microphone feedback. Different versions of the tune straddle two JS incarnations, The first featuring Mike Patterson's vocal.  

2:28 "I Am The Walrus" (Beatles Cover) Epic Johnny Skilsaw   version of the tune is EPIC.
 

2:43 More  Concert For Two Pianos
 

2:50 "Rocket Man" Egotar  (Elton John cover) 
 

3:07 "Levon" excerpt  Egotar   (Elton John cover)   

I play and take a lot of liberties with familiar tunes I love and grew up on. It also disciplines me to play parts and in ways I might not otherwise - crucial to expanding as a musician on my rig where I can just make up any shit I want and get away with it sounding "together". I love Elton John tunes in particular because of the beautiful chord inversion built into  his music.   

3:20 "Shining On You" (Wasco) (web video) Most of the crap I write is super complicated and cryptic. This tune isn't. I did a Fractal Harp version I posted on Facebook and it got well over a million plays and well over 24,000 shares before Facebook changed it's algorithm. Now I can hardly get arrested but I can get over it since you're actually reading this shit.

3:34 - more  Concert For Two Pianos
 

3:50 "Fractal Harp Sonata"  (Wasco) This piece came out great. I hope Steve Howe sees it.  (web video)

4:13  -Segue  " "Be All End All" rig  keys velocity simultaneous  triggered  drums  and bass  archive - I did years of experimentation an the painful learning process of bringing computer software on board into my music. My concept: Use the computer as an instrument and recorder without letting it dictate time or feel. Because of endless options and my obvious attention deficit perk - It's a continual challenge. I've come up with some great KONTAKT  instrument libraries as a result but I fight computers all day to do it. Here, I'm playing hammer on bass but what is not as obvious is that the drum (guitar and all other sounds) are being played simultaneously in real time on keys using a bunch of MIDI voodoo shit I figured out .
 

4:20 "improv"  Midi percussion  Be all End all Rig with (archive) 

4:27 " improv"   Fractal Dulcimer (web video)

For years now I've perused methods, sounds and concepts of a percussion based instrumentation for a full spectrum tonic interface for the creation of real time, fully realized music.--bla bla bla -= The use of conventional trigger pads  to do this offers a practical midi and sound but  has endless limitations and feels like crap to play. I came up with the Fractal Dulcimer series using actual bass guitar stings tuned in 5ths, hit with dowels simultaneously triggering samples I had created. The result was great but conventional bass guitar strings break when getting fwacked with 4 foot long dowels. I've got a better idea & prototype in the works.
 

4:34 "Fractal Harp segue   - archive 
 

4:47 "Rocket Man" (Elton John) Fractal Harp version  (web video)
 

4:58 "Dueling Blackbirds" (Beatle cover) Crucifixion of a perfectly innocent tune. Web video showing two angles of the same performance.  I end this and most other tunes with the outro of "Jet" Paul McCartney & Wings 1973 - just to be a dick

5:11 "Ascension of the Dwarf Rabbit King" Wasco -Fractal Harp orchestral bit -  "work in progress" from the Broadway production of "Ascension of the Dwarf Rabbit King" (kidding here)  segment recorded this winter.
 

5:34 "Divingboardus Maximus" (Wasco)   From Flying Shelson's  "The Diving Board and Other Chronicles Of The End"
 

5:46 "Fly Off The Diving Board"  (Wasco) -  That's me singing like Ethel Merman   "The Diving Board and Other Chronicles Of The End"

"The Diving Board And Other Chronicles Of The End" (Row- Wasco)  would be a dark comedy piece on media/ government driven mechanized mass suicide. If only it wasn't entirely real.
 

6:00 The wind down of this video flashes projects I've worked on -including many albums & demos I recorded in my studio for and with other artists in different capacities.

6:32 "Mozart K563" - I reverse engineered this piece and playing short segments of violin and cello to bring it to life learning it by ear as I went. It was a great musical exercise.  I used an archaic E-MU sampler to do it (no computer)  The recording came out great.