Today’s Studio Closeup is something I just started; sort of a series in and of itself that’s been brewing in the background. I have quite a number of these vertical bird houses planned that will feature a paper diorama, a “filmstrip theater view box” (for lack of better terms) and a perch for all that to rest on. The button for the light show will be installed under the perch. I really needed some pink and green in my life so I decided to start a hummingbird piece.

Hope this finds you well. Please enjoy.

Today’s Carolaoke tune is Patsy Cline’s “I Fall To Pieces”. I’m outta words today. It was a tough weekend and it took a lot out of me. I plan on chilling out and painting for the rest of the evening.

Keep well and please enjoy Carolaoke Song # 24.

Who’s up for “Freaky Fridays” over here at carolkroll.com? And what does that mean exactly? It’s a wildcard day where I’ll be posting something that will probably be (but not limited to) music or art every week on Fridays. For example, puppets and puppetry would be under the art category so expect a whole bunch of weird shit.

Today’s offering will be in the music category. I’ve been listening to my music on shuffle lately so I don’t keep listening to the same three songs everyday like I tend to do. This is quite a huge step for me since I wasn’t even listening to music with words for the past five years. Mental breakdowns come in all shapes and sizes and that was part of mine. Anyway, shuffle reminded me of this tune I constructed in 2008-2009 and I thought I’d share it for the new installment of “Freaky Fridays”.

This song was constructed inside GarageBand. It was/is my first attempt dabbling in trying to make a Latin-esque tune. Maybe it’s because I’m the product of the 1970s that I cannot get enough of a horn section in songs. I used the musical instruments available inside GarageBand for the “horn section” in this tune and for the life of me, I’m trying to figure out how I did that. I seem to remember GarageBand expansion packs in CD form and hopefully they have digital versions available now. I haven’t investigated yet but I will. I’ve also been back at the piano so perhaps I’ll be brave enough to make my own musical parts. It’s too soon to tell right now. Healing yourself is a very tricky and fragile matter.

Welcome to the first “Freaky Friday”; hope you enjoy one of my own tunes entitled “Your Loss”. Thanks for stopping by! Keep safe and I hope the weekend treats you well.

"Your Loss" - Carol Kroll

I have really needed to burrow down deep in my rabbit hole lately to focus. I needed to spend the whole day submerged in my rabbit hole inside the glory that is color therapy by painting on some of these freshly gessoed panels I prepped last week. It was the best choice because there’s a lot going on in the world lately. Especially today with our government.

So today’s studio update is another look into past art I've made that was thankfully upstairs hanging on the wall unlike the rest of my artwork that perished in the 2018 flood. This piece was made in 2003 and I was just getting acquainted with using smooth single panels (with no "cradles") as opposed to the textured canvas panels I had been working on that just was too much texture for me. I sort of remember that I was going for a creepy vibe. A creepy 2D puppet show if you will!

Please enjoy and thank you for stopping by today! Keep safe and well everyone.

Title: You Don't Laugh Like You Used To
Year: 2003
Media: Acrylic Paint and Collage on Wood Panel
Total Dimension: 8-3/4" x 6-3/4”

Today’s Carolaoke tune is a Sweet Jelly original that I don’t think a lot of people have heard before. I’ve provided the original scratch track that Aaron and I put together in his basement way back in 2003 to hear where/how it started out. I really wanted this to be on the “Jelly Happens” album but we all voted on that matter and it didn’t make it. So why not take that frown and turn it upside down with a “Sweet Jelly Scratch Track Remake” 18 years later! The time is now. This is the way.

The song I chose to remake today from the Sweet Jelly vault is “Keeping It To Myself”. In that same vault there are other songs entitled “Avoiding Confrontation” and “Pretending All The Time” so you can probably see where all this is going. I made the current scratch track using my voice, Garageband and my trusty rusty PSR-195 Yamaha keyboard. This is a scratch track; a rough sketch for professionals who know how to make and record music properly. In no way am I imagining that this is anything *but* a scratch track.

Below, I’ve included the lyrics to this tune for those of you that are into that sort of thing. This was tough, but great therapy engrossing myself inside this tune. Though Sweet Jelly disbanded amicably, it’s a multi-emotional-dimension for me to revisit. I miss making music with those dudes. We had a lot of fun! And there are a lot of songs in that vault that (sadly) remain unheard. Why not change that.

Please enjoy this bit of old with a bit of new!

Sweet Jelly Original "Keeping It To Myself" scratch track 2003

"Keeping It To Myself" 2021 Remake

Keeping It To Myself
Sweet Jelly 2003
Music: A.Johnson
Lyrics: C.Kroll

Verse 1:
You’re just running away
That’s what you always say
But I don’t see it that way-ay
I’m just keeping it to myself!
Feels like I’m saying a lot
Turns out that I’m not
Is that what’s got you so hot?
I’m just keeping it to myself!

Chorus: 1
Keeping it to myself!
Keeping it to myself!
Keeping it to my self-elf-el-elf!

Verse 2:
I watch it all from these eyes
My pair of two little spies
They see all the white lies
But I’m keeping that to myself!
I love to see you get mad
Losing all that you had
And deep down I’m glad
BUT I’m keeping that to myself!

Chorus: 2
Keeping it to myself!
Keeping it to myself!
Keeping it to my self-elf-el-elf!

Verse 3:
Communication’s the key
But how much more do you need?
And why can’t you see-eee
That I’m keeping it to myself!
Someday the anger will show
I’ll be pissed and you’ll know
But for now I’ll just go-o-oh!
And keep it to myself!

Chorus: 3
Keeping it to myself!
Keeping it to myself!
Keeping it to myself!
Keeping it to myself!
Keeping it to myself!
Keeping it to my self-elf-el-elf!