Well, well, dear children of the revolution;
The dog days are upon us and the virus is raging strong. Here at GMR we are pretty hunkered down, but still working to matriculate the ball down the field. It is time to score.

Up first, Raymond C. Mobley.
I am digging his sound this very minute, that’s right, as I write. Breathe is his new album and “Breathe” is the single and it is powerful.
It begins:
You took away my future
Erased all of my lines
You made me fight for my freedom
Yet made it hard to find
But not you tell the story
Of how we came to be
As if the path to glory
was a possibility

So that may be true for you
But not the case for me
My brothers and my sistas still don't have equality
Though faster we may run the race, we’re not guaranteed to win
Our Destiny is well defined by the color of our skin
Now here's the major difference
The same way you may bleed
As you enjoy your freedom
We simply fight to breathe
You see I bleed like you bleed like you bleed like you bleed
So let me breathe like you breathe, like you breathe like you breathe
Never let you go-Never Let you go Freedom
The single was released on July 4, 2020, Independence Day and the album will be released today, Friday, July 17, 2020. Both are being released as digital only – to all major streaming and download services.

Raymond:
This album is a reflection of my life. I wrote, performed, recorded and edited the whole thing. I used tools from all areas of my travels and experiences to do so. It took me a while to realize that I could do all of these things if I simply applied myself. This album has been one of many ups and downs. This album took a while to complete as I struggled to find who I really was as an artist, even though I started at a young age. My siblings often ask me for advice and the one thing I always tell them is to be true to themselves without comprises. Today, Breathe is a perfect representation of who I am. It is dedicated to the struggles that my people face still today. It is also a song that identifies the struggles that my fellow soldiers had to face in order to preserve freedom.We are releasing his first album today. Raymond is already sending me songs for his next album.

Also in the new in town is the 2 LP version of The Green Pajamas’ This is Where We Disappear. The original CD was remastered and I must say I am quite pleased with how all these Pajama remasters are turning out. I think we have been able to kick them up a notch or two every time. I just finished remastering 10 White Stones, which will be out in a bit. The pressings are super rare so don’t dawdle. (All Green Pajamas fans should take the time to meander through Dennis White’s recent and massive PJ’s article, EVERYTHING’S GONE GREEN The Green Pajamas: Part One.)
If that pretty vinyl is more trouble than you want to deal with, not to worry – you can download the remastered versions on our GMR Bandcamp site, stream it on Spotify, Apple Music, etc. However, I must say that I am not big on the streaming thing personally. I recently went and got a download from Apple Music/iTunes of The Allies’ “Emma Peel” to play on my radio show and I was quite surprised at how compressed it was. That’s what I get on Spotify too. Not pretty. Somebody assured me there is some way to get around that – turn off normalize I believe, but the default setting was poo, without a doubt. I don’t think you should have to go turn off the “make it sound bad” button as a default. But hey, enough of my yakkin’ - that’s just me!
Speaking of which, Rockin’ Stevie T. and I are back on the air – FreeForm Northwest airs Wednesdays 1:00 pm on KAOS 89.3 FM Olympia and streams at KAOSradio.org/listen. You can stream the show for two weeks after it airs. https://www.radiofreeamerica.com/show/freeform-northwest-kaos-community-radio We are pre-recording the show at my studio the day before because the Evergreen campus is still closed down tight. If you or your best friend “Johnny” have some NW tunes that should be on our show, send them my way – the whole show is coming out of my and Steve’s personal libraries. All genres and the weirder the better.

SWAG. Here’s a new thing we are trying – GMR swag. We are doing it thru Zazzle, where all we have to do is design it and make it available and they do the rest. Just made a sweet “This Is Where We Disappear” shirt. If there is some neato Green Monkey thing you think we should make, speak up! Here’s the store: https://www.zazzle.com/store/green_monkey_records
Next month We are going to release an all-new old combo – Band Of Certainty. A long 7 song EP or a short 7 song album. It features two fellas I recorded back in the 90’s, Scott Kaplan and Mike Boyle who were in a very groovy band, Albert Figures (along with Sue Orefield who plays in The Tiptons with Amy Denio). The band further features Tammy Madsen on the Vocs. For the sessions we got old pal Glenn Slater of the Walkabouts to add his tastefully unique keys and new pal pedal steel king Dan Tyack to do his thing. Very tasty indeed.

In the WTF department, last month I told you we had sent Dante and Eros’s Mirage album out to press. Oops. Our CD presser has closed their doors. Holy corona! We are now moving on to Plan B and will update you.

Al Bloch has a great new video for “Amsterdam.” Al is so great. I love this video. Get his album here.
I have written 28 song for the new True Olympian’s album and have developed a tentative plan for recording it without ever being in the same room or rehearsing, so watch out for that. Additionally, I have decided to finish cleaning out the closets. I am in the process of mastering Beautimus and Other Tom Dyer Adventures In the Nineties and expect to get it out in September or so.
And I finally watched Hamilton this week. Even though it is on the Disney Plus channel, you should too.
Carry on.
td July 2020