I've been busy recording with the band, but here's a little story that I was thinking about...


A New Treasure.

In the early days of the phonograph, before the turn of the century and after Prussia was no longer a kingdom, there was a rich young Duke in a place called Brandenburg. His recent acquisition of a beautiful Italian bride was overshadowed in his eyes only by the acquisition of an American phonograph. It was a prototype, and had travelled a long distance to its present place in the Duke's drawing room. His bride was named Mariella, and had travelled a long distance from a tiny town in southern Italy called Matera. Her ambivalence toward the phonograph could only be overshadowed by her ambivalence toward her new husband.

The Duke's inability to soften Mariella's heart became known throughout the province. His interest in the phonograph was passionate, though, and it became a part of his days. He recorded interviews with friends, family, servants, even Mariella, and it was as if his curiosity could never be satisfied. During an interview with his mother, she gently suggested he somehow use the phonograph to make his wife happy. The Duke decided to take his treasure to Matera, in order to bring back to the girl some piece of her beloved homeland. Upon reaching the small town, his entourage was forced to camp in a nearby pasture while the Duke looked for a guide. Pulling a cart-load of firewood on the outskirts of the village, the Duke found a girl who strangely resembled Mariella, and convinced her in halting Italian to help find a suitable interview subject. An elderly matriarch was found, and back in cold Brandenburg, upon hearing the scratchy recording, Mariella's tears had never fallen in such desperate sadness.