New album 'Demonstration #6' out now + Free download of 'Campfire Heresy'

My new album Demonstration #6 is now available through CD Baby!

+ You can now download Campfire Heresy for free on Bandcamp.

Stream my latest album, Campfire Heresy on Soundcloud.  

Check out my latest video, in honor of Spring.  Magnolia

**Shvitz added!** at CD Release Party

@ Banya 5
Monday January 16, 2017 (MLK Day)
7pm -10pm
We are excited to perform at Banya 5 this coming Monday- MLK Day. We have a new treat: We are going to be able to shvitz in the Spa before the party. If you are out in the woods and it is dark and cold come by at 6 for a one hour opening and don't forget to bring your bathing suit and BYOB for the party upstairs at 7pm and music at 8 with closing at 10pm.


Free parking in Banya 5 parking lot. 
Come in the door to the left of the front entrance/ up the stairs. Invite your friends. 
Join us for an early evening on this MLK day.

This song refers to the time that I was living in NYC on Clinton street in the Lower East Side in the 1980's riding my moped around. The video reflects an older El Grande, safely ensconced in middle age, cruising up Vancouver Island with my best friends from high school, Peter Newton (who shot the footage) and Bob Leversee who shot the opening segment.

This is a track off of the new album "Campfire Heresy" which will be available before thanksgiving. I will also announce our CD release party once the CD is complete.

Technology and the Production of Meaning

Technology and the Production of Meaning

"By providing a taxonomy of technology based on the relationship of our body-minds to technology I hope to provide the vocabulary for a discussion on how we interact with technology.  Particularly I want to deal with the question of what it means to be technologically sane"

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This is the latest video from my new album "Preaching to the Choir".  I shot this with my friend David Moore in LA.  It took us four days to shoot and edit.  The song takes place during my trip to Israel in 2013 while visiting a fort on the Golan Heights overlooking an agricultural valley in Syria.

Conor Byrne Show in August.   It felt like we took the music to another level and heard reports of a few tears in the audience.  Thanks to everyone who came out.  Stay tuned and we'll let you know about future shows.

Opening for Clayton Ballard on Thursday, August 21st at 9pm at the Coner Byrne pub in Ballard.
Thanks to everyone that came to the CD Release Party at Venik Lounge.  Downloads for the new album are available at Amazon, iTunes, CD Baby and Spotify…  etc.

Free Show.  Begins promptly at 9pm and finished by 10pm.

We are working on a new album "Preachin' to the Choir".  Look for a live CD release party in the spring of 2014.

Here in the Northwest flotsam that has made a trans-Pacific journey continues to wash up on U.S. and Canadian coasts, and federal officials predict this debris will continue to sporadically pulse on to beaches for years to come.  Listen to the track Flotsam and download the song for free on SoundCloud. 

https://soundcloud.com/go-elgrande-go/flotsam-go-el-grande-go

Click here to watch No Fly Zone video

My new Album titled Number 3 is now available on Spotify, iTunes and Amazon.

Here are the lyrics:

No!

No, love is not the answer my friend

No, love is not the answer at all

No love is not the answer my friend

But we could all use some, now and then

No, money is not the answer my friend

No, money is not the answer at all

No, money is not the answer my friend

But we could all  use some, now and then

No, happiness is not the answer my friend

No, happiness is not the answer at all

No, happiness is not the answer my friend

But we could all  use some, now and then

No, a question is not an answer my friend

No, question is not an answer at all

No, question is not an answer my friend

But we could all  use some, now and then

Gloria B

She was cursed with perfect pitch

Ever after unable to sing with real things

Like the trees in the wind or the birds at night

Gloria- Gloria- Gloria-B

Oh, Gloria- Gloria- Gloria-B

Oh, Gloria- Gloria- Gloria-B

When she walked into a room

She smelled her way in

Wet lipstick smeared on her face and her skin

But when she sang with precision, 

how they applauded her so

Gloria- Gloria- Gloria-B

Oh, Gloria- Gloria- Gloria-B

Oh, Gloria- Gloria- Gloria-B

Oh, she really didn’t appreciate it

The mockery and the pain

Until one day she blessed it

And it all went away

Gloria- Gloria- Gloria-B

Oh, Gloria- Gloria- Gloria-B

Oh, Gloria- Gloria- Gloria-B

No Fly Zone

Oh no do not fly into the no fly zone

Oh no do not fly there at all

Oh no do not fly into the no fly zone

Oh no do not fly there at all

Hiding under a rock

Fingers raw to the bone

No sleep in four days

Oh no do not fly into the no fly zone

Oh no do not fly there at all

Soaked to the skin and the bone

The helicopters fly close

Always chopping

chop- chop- chopping

chop- chop- chopping

The jets make pretty contrails 

In the cold blue sky

Falling like bridal trains

Oh no do not fly into the no fly zone

Oh no do not fly there at all

He was thought dead, 

But he survived

Sick and dehydrated

The killed ones were buried

With all the pomp and glory

As if they had fought the good fight, probably

Oh no do not fly into the no fly zone

Oh no do not fly there at all

Doubt

Doubt is a wondrous thing

It appears out of nowhere

or so it seems

Oh ho and away we go- hi ho

Oh ho and away we go- hi ho

Doubt has a way of re-appearing

Doubt has a way of re-appearing

Doubt has a way of re-appearing

Oh ho and away we go- hi ho

Oh ho and away we go- hi ho

Oh ho and away we go- hi 

Avoid doubt with dire consequences

Avoid doubt with dire consequences

Avoid doubt with dire consequences

Oh ho and away we go- hi ho

Oh ho and away we go- hi ho

Oh ho and away we go- hi ho

No doubt is a wondrous thing

Doubt is a wondrous thing

It appears out of nowhere

Or so it seems

Flotsam

Flotsam Flotsam on the beach

… that I sniffed

… that I fear

Flotsam Flotsam everywhere

Flotsam Flotsam everywhere

Flotsam Flotsam in my dreams

… that I fear

… that smells like death

Flotsam Flotsam everywhere

Flotsam Flotsam everywhere

Flotsam Flotsam on the beach

… in my heart

… buoying it up

Flotsam Flotsam everywhere

Flotsam Flotsam everywhere

I Feel

Oh, What do I feel right now?

Oh, How do I feel?

Painted up with buttercups

And dancing in a field

Painted up with buttercups

And dancing in a field

Oh, What do I feel right now?

Oh, How do I feel?

Buttery toes amongst the daffodils 

Oh, What do I feel?

Buttery toes amongst the daffodils

Oh, How do I feel?

Oh, What do I feel right now?

Oh, How do I feel?

Click here for Money video

Seattle Weekly Music Review

*Go El Grande Go, ExTant (out now, self-released, goelgrandego.blogspot.com): This is the kind of record you can put on as a musical litmus test. Can your subject see past the unhinged vocals and the deceptive simplicity to get that this record is actually out-of-sight? For fans of Jeffrey Lewis, Daniel Johnston, Kimya Dawson, Captain Beefheart, and all those other misunderstood folky weirdoes who aren't even considering commercial viability when they create music. MA'CHELL DUMA LAVASSAR

Technology and the Production of Meaning

by John M. Goodfellow

"Particularly I want to deal with the question of what it means to be technologically sane. The symptoms of technological insanity are frustration, insecurity, alienation as well as disappointment. I posit that the cause of technological insanity is both the unquestioning identification with technology and its prerogatives or the rejection of technology without the appreciation that we are technological beings."

read more...

ExTant

My new album is out and available through iTunes, Amazon and emusic and at CD baby.  We have had numerous requests for the lyrics to the new songs, so here they are:

ExTant - lyrics to the album
Go El Grande Go



1.  Money
John Goodfellow - vocals, melody
Gina Salá - harmonium
Greg Gilmore - percussion, engineer
Jami Sieber - Cello


I imagine money as a bird as it flies away without me

The feel of money
spread out in your hands
such a joy to behold
but where is it now
where is it now

Is it in a bank
in municipal bonds
or in a house
in the woods blackberry covered
on a cul de sac
that’s never coming back!

Blue tarp and tyvek
chipboard and caulk
foreclosed on the house
that I lied about
I was so dumb
dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb
What a stupid fucking idiot

I imagine money as a bird as it flies away without me




2.  Little Brown Bird
John Goodfellow - vocals, melody
Gina Salá - guitar
Greg Gilmore - goat hooves, engineer
Lee Atwell - bird song (recording)

Bouncing on the branches of the linden tree
little brown bird the air is cold and the branch is bare
little brown bird picking up scraps and leftover nuts



3.  In the Pines
John Goodfellow - vocals, melody
Gina Salás - harmonium
Greg Gilmore - tamborine, engineer
Keith Lowe - Bass
Guy Davis - banjo

In the pines, in the pines
where the sun never shines
and we shiver when the cold wind blows

ah got drunk
and shot my old lady down

I remember her still
and the smell of her sticky perfume

The sun dews were blooming
all shiny and glistening in the moon

In the pines, in the pines
where the sun never shines
and we shiver when the cold wind blows




4.  New Beginnings
John Goodfellow - vocals, melody
Gina Salá - harmonium
Greg Gilmore - bells, engineer
Jami Sieber - Cello
 

To new beginnings and to new hairdos
To new beginnings with our old bar-be-ques
To new beginnings and to new new ends too
To new beginnings and my God's peace be on you




5.  God Bless God
John Goodfellow - vocals, melody
Gina Salá - Hammond organ, vocal back-up
Greg Gilmore - percussion, engineer
Keith Lowe - Bass


God bless God
God bless God
When Osama Bin Laden sings God bless America God bless God
Even when dealing with bureaucrats
God bless God
In your own way In your own way
la Illa ha ill Allah
God bless God
God bless God




6.  This Much I Know
John Goodfellow - vocals, melody
Gina Salá - harmonium
Greg Gilmore - bass, percussion, engineer
Jeff Fielder - guitar


Like darkness, in the morning light
fear will enfold us and make us be right
we will come to make peace with what courage we speak
and our fears will vanish like darkness in the morning light

When nighttime she comes
banishing the light
we will sleep unperturbed
and awaken in the bright
and in the daytime we will toil
digging ditches or in jail
and welcome the night
though frightened by her tail

Like rain in the spring
purity may prevail
though I do not know as to what or to where
so give me the dark and the light
all mixed up together
purity is a false God
this much I know




7.  GGG Rhythm (Instrumental)
Greg Gilmore, Gina Salá, John Goodfellow - composers

I am back from vacation and working at my music and some new songs.  We are currently working on my new album "ExTANT", to be released this winter.  Stay tuned here for details.  Meanwhile, take a listen to the single "Strange Days" and then please download a free copy from CDbaby.com.  You can find other releases on CD Baby from my a collection of music called "Songs of Awe".  These songs are a dark homage to flowers and memory, and a quick song dedicated to the courage of Jesus.  


https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/JohnGoodfellow