 barefoot on asphalt(2003)
1. A Public Service
This album was released October 4, 2003. These songs were recorded between December 2002 and September 2003. All songs were invented by tonyLkollman except "Dig Dug" which was written by Jeremy Storly back in good ol' 1998.
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Thoughts behind barefoot on asphalt all notes by tonyLkollman Looking back on this album now, I realize that it's quite sad. I didn't know it at the time. It was brought to my attention by Liza when she was in Barcelona in February of 2005. This album was her chosen soundtrack on that trip and she called me on the phone to tell me how sad it was. And I realized it. It covers a period of time that seemed good for awhile, but overall I know now that it was a low time in my journey. There are bits of hope now and then, and at times you can really hear my struggle to make things right. This was a period in which it was difficult to write, and I didn't write much afterward either until Liza came along. As tough as some of those times were, emotionally and otherwise, this album represents a big ol' chapter of my life. I hope you can find something good in it.
tonyLkollman
A Public Service This instrumental song was just a little thing I liked to play now and then. Lyrics wouldn't have fit in this number. It goes best as a short guitar bit. I couldn't come up with a title so Mandy did.
Out of the Frying Pan This song is another simple one. It's painfully simple to play and the lyrics may or may not be nonsense. "If you slam your fingers in a car door, will they fall apart?" For some reason I liked that line alot. Also, the title of the album came from this song - "Never go barefoot on asphalt on a snowy night." This line: "If you suffocate me with my pillow would you be better off with my corpse instead," actually came from a conversation with Mandy. She said there was a lot of trust involved with sleeping while another person is in the room. She said she could suffocate me with my pillow in my sleep. I think she was joking...
I'm Cold This song was written in December of 2002. It's a song about wanting to take care of somebody, but never having it be enough. No matter the precautions or steps taken, you're still scared it will never be enough. And not only taking care of another person, but this song also talks about being taken care of yourself. No matter how I try to bundle up, I'm still cold and I need taking care of. I actually like this song a bit. It didn't transfer well to a recording in my opinion. It's a fun song to play and it goes over well in crowds, though I haven't played it in quite awhile. I'm not that cold anymore.
The Prettiest Girl in the World There was a girl who said she felt ugly. I said I didn't think she was. So I wrote a song for her. End of story.
I'm Not Ben There was a girl who always had lyrics written on her skin, song quotes written on her journals, always singing songs. She really loved Kind of Like Spitting, which is headed up by a guy named Ben Barnett. She said he thought exactly like her and he expressed what she was thinking so perfectly. I lamented that I couldn't write music that made her feel the way she felt about her favorite music. Even the songs I wrote specifically FOR her didn't do the trick. Deep down I think she didn't like my music much at all even though she told me otherwise. I could never be Ben, and I was sad about it at the time. Now I'm not, but this song came from feeling underappreciated and untalented.
For Far Too Long Very self-explanatory. It's a song about being away for too long and needing to come home to where reality abounds. It's the longest song on the album coming in at over nine minutes. I like to play this one, though. I like it.
Dig Dug This song was written in 1998 by Jeremy Storly and popularized locally by his band, Fed By Doris, in which I played drums. It's based on the 1980's arcade game of the same name, but as Jer points out, that's not what it's about. I wanted to do a quiet and lonely version of this song, making it feel a bit pessimistic. I've received a number of compliments on my version, and to the best of my knowledge, Jer approves.
Still Waiting I wrote a song back in 1999 called "I'll Wait". It was written for Liza when she went away. I'm not exactly sure when this sequel was written. I believe it was sometime in late 2001 after a dear friend reminded me that I had feelings for Liza. Sadly I had actually lost most of my hope by then. I didn't think I'd ever be with her again, but I was plagued by sadness and haunted by memories at times. I felt as if I would wait forever. This song fit very well on this album, even during a time in which I felt I couldn't be waiting any more. But she came back eventually. See the next album.
I'm Not Feeling Well Today This song is quite literal. Everything in this song happened. I wrote it on a Wednesday when I came down with a nasty flu and I actually had a show to play on Friday. By the time the show came around, I had mostly recovered, but my voice was still pretty raspy. I played the show and it was fun. Whenever I think of this song now, I think of a friend and fan named Bonny who loves it. She always refers to it as "The Popsicle Song" and she has been known to just listen to this song on repeat for hours. This recording of it was done in one take and at one point you can her the guitar actually falter and cut out ("isn't there anything you can give me, doctor"). But it works. And the end of the song is so abrupt because I was actually recording it analog and the tape ran out just at that second. Because of that, the song now ends that way live as well.
The Life and Times of Our Back Porch This song was pretty much just me dinking around instrumentally. I tuned the low E all the way down to an A and it didn't stay very well, but it still sounds kind of neat as it is. It was certainly a fun song to play and there are intentional recollections of other songs in it as well. You can hear a bit of "Floored" from Time to Go and "The Noise After" from Horrid Little Man.
In Spite of Me This song is about my faith and my struggles with it. I'm a Christian. I believe Jesus was who he claimed to be. I want to follow him. But I don't like the Church. I think religion and spirtuality are completely different. Religion is borne of humans and spirituality is from God. I'm not religious. I am spiritual. I have a strong faith, but I don't go to church. I pray, but I don't broadcast my faith across town. I'm not an evangelist. I'm not a conservative. I'm not a fundamentalist. I won't talk about my Christianity unless you ask me. And if I tell you about my faith, I'll listen about yours. Christianity isn't all sunshine and rainbows as the songs on the Jesus radio stations would have you believe. It's real life and real life is hard.
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