Original Poem: Divided We Fall

After a bit of a hiatus, I bring you a recent poem centered on a conversation I had with a friend about the greatness of Pink Floyd and how their message and lyrics transcend generations. This poem talks about Roger Water's dream or visions and what might be inside his head. I hope you enjoy the poem, thank you for reading and being patient blog readers.

Divided We Fall

I bet Roger Waters
fantastic dreams at night
final cuts
pigs in the sky
creating a world at peace
and piecing together bridges of youth
taking apart the animal inside
is no easy task
quiet desperation is the English way
wars are socialized marketing schemes
and carefully placed drones fall
on the cruel and innocent alike
We all rather be walking in the war
than playing lead roles in cages
But we are all entangled in comfortable battles
in which we are meant to fight in the company of strangers
grouped affairs or solitary flares in the abandoned sky
Whatever words between them
momentary lapses of reason
Bliss such sweet treason
Waters has a repeating dream
that Syd, David, Nick and Richard
are washed ashore
prisms hit the beach
 while the red tide is coming
and Syd grabs the last rainbow by its neck
David serenades the moon to light her stars
Richard plays a melody stirring the currents
Nick strikes a balance in the right light
such sweet sound
their possible pasts drowned
for a minute all was alright
until their walls came up
Who's in command?
David hopes
Roger responds,
We should be closer.

(C) Rafael Andrade Garza, May 20, 2014.

Original Poem: A response to Mr. Floyd, "Pounding these Emotional Walls"

     Once again, I pulled another poem from my vault, it focuses on a response to Pink Floyd's emotional rocker, "Hey You".  Since I was a kid, I've been a huge fan of Pink Floyd, as this band was passed down from my older brother Juan, who's always had great taste in music, especially rock. From an early age, He introduced me to Queen, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Bad Company, UFO and of course, Rush! This particular Pink Floyd song, has always clung to my heart, because it asks more questions than supplies answers and it asks us to examine ourselves. The lyrics expose our limitations as humans and the ways we harm ourselves and society. "Pounding these Emotional Walls", focuses on the questions asked in the song and tries to supply some answers, 30 or so years later, in my understanding of my world. Hope you enjoy this piece, please comment!- Rafael Andrade Garza, 2013 (c).

Pounding these Emotional Walls


Hello Mr. Floyd, I felt the cold
Living lonely, hearts fold
Will you echo again?
Hey you, I'm tapping these walls
With sticky situations and numb expressions
I felt the cold
Hey there, there's only diminishing light out here
And only wet candle wicks inside

Hello there, out here on my own
I'm fully clothed but my heart is exposed
I reach for you
Hey there, I cup my hand to sound
It's just that there's no cell phone around
I reach for you
But, these stones are more than two can carry
Without a destination for home, my heart is wary

But we're living in reality
And no visible walls in wi-fi,
As you can see,
No matter how hard we try
We can never escape
Our thinly disguised government veils

Hey there, I'm at your block
Resisting to what I'm told
What can I do from here?
Between accepted curtains of separations
And these so-called right conservative reparations
Hey you, it seems like there's no hope from here
Hearts fall like walls in a crumbling emotional veneer

(power…twin towers)
(bricks…bones)
 hearts alone

 © Rafael Andrade Garza, Oct. 13, 2006.

photo courtesy of www.tumblr.com

Local Flavor: Music: Alternative Radio

“There is no alternative to the alternative.”

By: Rey Andrade-Garza

May 15, 2013

San Antonio, TX.

          Gone are the days that you were introduced to new artists and sounds by your radio dj. So too, are the times when each dj had a personality of their own and offered you something different and kept you glued to the dial. The great dj’s were the ones where you didn’t know what song was next but you knew they were taking you on a musical journey and it was like living in a moment in time. San Antonio was the mecca of cutting edge rock-n-roll where bands like Scorpions, Rush, Budgie, Thin Lizzy made mandatory stops to point to play here because this was the place to play until about the mid 1990’s.  Nostalgia still takes me to the days when The Godfather Joe Anthony was on the air (99.5 KISS) introducing us to little known acts like Garfield French, Legs Diamond, Wasp and Europe among others.  He made it a point for his listeners to expand the ear palate with choices from all over world.  You didn’t like it all but at least you didn’t feel like you were left behind the scene on what was new in rock.  Today, it’s a different world with Sirius XM, ITunes, Rhapsody and other underground sites like FrostWire. I like to get my music these days navigating through Spotify, which lets me explore different artists all the while interrupting my listening to full albums with promos and the occasional annoying commercial but that’s the game now.  The promos are sometimes great but often I don’t pay attention to the band they are promoting because I have been programmed to search for bands independently.  No real great dj’s left to be honest. It’s been ages since I was shown different music and with the endless choices today I like the a la carte method and self-discovery of finding music on my own.   However I did rediscover a station I had not tuned into since the days of riding the school bus with my Walkman listening to Lisle & Hahn or Art Garza on 96 Rock.  KSYM, the college radio station on the SAC (San Antonio College) that has always been there it seems. I have to make a bit of a confession and say that although I loved jamming to Rush, Queen and Pink Floyd I was also a 90’s kid who grew up with new wave artists like The Cure, Depeche Mode, Psychedelic Furs, Red Flag, Nitzer Ebb, The Church and so many others and KSYM 90.1 helped me discover real alternative music.  As I started listening again these past few months I realized they are the only real alternative to the radio scene in this city.  I swear all the rocks stations: KISS, KZEP and even X106.7 sound about the same anytime of the day! Tune into KISS and you will hear Metallica at least once an hour and still have Radiohead’s “Creep” on permanent rotation with heavy hitters like Filter (if only you could see me type this sarcastically) and it's just plain predictable. KZEP  doesn’t fare any better, the only difference now is all the grunge alt-heroes from yesteryear now make it to rotation in time to be a classic: So playing: Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Nirvana, etc. this only helps me remember how old I’m getting.  X106.7 plays fewer commercials than the other two but sounds only a little different from KZEP. Boring! Say, you want to hear the new cutting edge rock like The Black Keys, Miike Snow or Mumford & Sons you have no place to go but online or up the road to Austin because they are trendy and cutting edge when it comes to the alternative music scene. This is what irks me about this whole music scene here. Complacency.  It’s pathetic when the city gets all hyped up because Bush or Soul Asylum decided to play here. These bands are no longer relevant and this shows how this city has progressively become less of an option for stellar, alternative bands to play in. The only bright spot this past year was the Maverick Music Festival that featured Gary Clark, Jr. which was the type of artist that we never get and haven’t in decades. I didn’t particularly care for the Toadies who were on the bill but maybe they were put on the lineup to appease the typical San Antonio rock fan stuck with what the local radio stations offer. They are the type of music aficionado that don’t question and just accept the mainstream music being paraded in front of them day in and day out. It’s hard for me to be so critical of my city and it pains me because I grew up with this music but I get bored easily if the envelope of music isn’t pushed. I need variety, complexity, progressiveness and my heart isn’t stirred listening to the same regurgitated garbage these rock stations offer.  KSYM is that alternative and thank God.  Listening to these college dj’s have me pushing my Shazam App to figure out who is playing and I never know what song will be next and I like that. I like the fact that Shazam doesn’t recognize the song playing half the time and there is some comfort knowing I may never hear that song again and so I got to relive a time capsule moment and relive a feeling that was long since dormant. It’s kind of refreshing to take a step back and just let the dj take you on a ride and introduce you to music you won’t hear anywhere in San Antonio.  They’ve become a bit of a guilty pleasure for me, again. They take me back to my college days when I used to dj for my undergraduate college radio station and the freedom you get from playing songs that match your personality and at the same time educate listeners into music they probably would never come across if not for you.  I try never to look at KSYM music schedule (which you could easily access on their website) but since I have been listening I know that Thursday night’s is the long running Metal Show and Saturday morning there is jazz and weekend nights they play nu disco and hard house which is awesome.  During the day you will hear music from the world over and some alternative rock.  The station keeps you guessing and challenges your ear palate and reminds you that there are still dj’s exploring and not stuck on the allure of vinyl from 30 years ago.  Don’t get me wrong, I love classic rock but I don’t have to hear More Than Feeling by Boston every day since the song was basically ruined for me by Guitar Hero. If you’re really looking for an alternative in San Antonio, this whole time and for many decades it has always been KSYM 90.1.

KSYM website: http://sacrtfnet.alamo.edu/ksym/index.htm