These verses about Amerigo Vespucci and Queen Isabella were originally published in Bedside Nonsense, from Black Scat Books. Here they are set to music, which I recently recorded with a Venezuelan cuatro. Note that for the sake of the meter “Amerigo” is pronounced in Americanese, as I was taught it in school, with the accent on the “mer.” Here’s the first verse.

Patents Pending is now available from Black Scat Books, and can be obtained on Amazon! The inimitable Derek Pell and I came up with a book chock-full of new inventions. I’ll let Derek give the pitch:

The 41st volume in our seminal Absurdist Texts & Documents series has arrived: PATENTS PENDING by Derek Pell and Doug Skinner, with an Afterword by Alphonse Allais. An illustrated compendium of ingenious inventions so ahead of their time they may never be available to the public – not in this world, nor the next. Discover pataphysical gizmos such as the OUIJA BILLBOARD, HELIUM BOMB, IMPOSSIBLE PICTURE FRAME, TROMPE L’OEIL MAGIC KIT, and many others. For now, these inspired concepts are but speculative prototypes – strange dreams haunting the drawing board of destiny – but thanks to this book you may study and savor them, and imagine a future far brighter than the present.

The 21st issue of Black Scat Review is now available from Amazon! My contributions to this special travel issue are a short story, “The Morning Walk,” and translations of two stories by Alphonse Allais, from my upcoming translation of his collection 2 + 2 = 5.

I am, mind you, one of many contributors. My esteemed colleagues are: Robert James Cross, Farewell Debut, S. C. Delaney, John Oliver Hodges, Rhys Hughes, Harold Jaffe, E.E. King, Olchar E. Lindsann, Charles J. March III, Carmelo Militano, Opal Louis Nations, Peter Payack, Persefone, Roger Pheuquewell, Agnès Potier, Collin J. Rae, Jason E. Rolfe, Paul Rosheim, Charles de Rosières, Kristine Snodgrass, Ben Stoltzfus, Corinne Taunay, Ed Taylor, Michel Vachey, Tom Whalen, and D. Harlan Wilson. A stellar crew! Edited and designed by Norman Conquest!

I’m now recording another album of my songs, and wrote a piano introduction to the round “Laughter”: a chromatic harmonization of that diatonic tune.

A song about coping with life’s difficulties. This too can be found on That Regrettable Weekend and in The Doug Skinner Songbook.

As the title indicates, a song about what happens when a snowman melts. I recorded this for Meg Reichardt’s Holiday Recording Party, in an arrangement for ukulele, ‘cello, and psaltery. If you follow that link, you can also hear my piano arrangement of “Underjordisk Musik,” a Norwegian folk tune traditionally attributed to the trolls in the underground caves.

The second volume of Le Scat Noir Encyclopédie is now available! This cornucopia of information, like its predecessor, is edited by Norman Conquest and published by Black Scat Books. I was among over forty contributors; my contributions include articles on Aleatoric Temperament, Boxing Kangaroo Rats, Communion Waffles, Spicy Railroad Stories, Viper Midwives, and other more or less factual and/or fictional subjects. It is, incidentally, in the English language; only the cover is French. You can find it on Amazon, and there’s more information at Black Scat Books.

A brief song about the many careers a child might aspire to. This too can be found on That Regrettable Weekend and in The Doug Skinner Songbook.

I’ve posted excerpts from several of my string quartets, but neglected the first one, which consists of several pieces from my musical Eddie Unchained. Well, here’s how it begins…