Emma & The Echo "I Hate The Way"

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My younger sister Emma Dewing, along with my good friend William Carroll and I have been working together on an exciting new music project. Emma writes and sings; we are very happy with the sound and direction things have been going in as these new original songs take shape. This is our very first song ever to be released publicly. Let me know what you think! If you like it please share! How cool-if you were one of the first people to discover us before we blew up? Big things are happening no doubt, stay frosty.

-Wayne Dewing

Poor Mr. Rupen

I was wandering aimlessly through my favorite thinking spot when I stumbled upon Mr. Rupen. A chubby man approaching his late sixties. He had groomed white hair and an unfortunate receding hairline. He wore big plaid pants held up with suspenders, a small controlled beard and circular bifocals. He stared down at me from a tall ladder. He was alone, picking bananas in his vast amazing property. With rosy red cheeks and an unfamiliar teethy smile he told me I was trespassing on private property and would have to leave immediately! Without hearing his harsh demands I pulled my large headphones off my ears. I waved and greeted my familiar neighbor, "Good afternoon Mr. Rupen!" No immediate reply... Something seemed different, I could see it in his eyes. He was pissed! See, I have lived four houses down from Mr. Rupen for the past six years. He never had a problem with my leisurely strolls through his magical and inviting garden. But there was a different vibe I felt from him on this day. "Goddamn-it boyo! Get away from me!" He yelled. Suddenly, he pulled a small handgun from his pocket and fired it multiple times up at the sky. Unprepared for such a notion I fell down in a confused terror! Shaking and scrambling to get up on my feet I watched him climb down the ladder. Bending down towards me he placed the barrel of the gun carefully between my eyes. I laid there frozen in fear as his face got closer and closer to mine. His breath was absolutely dreadful. He had a few gold teeth and some chew packed in the corner of his cheek. Just inches away from me he unleashed a horrifying statement out of nowhere. "It's all there, black and white, clear as crystal! You stole fizzy lifting drinks! You bumped into the ceiling which now has to be washed and sterilized! So you get nothing! You lose! Good day sir!" Before I could put any understanding to what he just said I jumped up on my feet and raced for home. Slamming the door in a rush behind me I thought about what he said. It just didn't make any sense! But those words, they sounded familiar, like I had heard them before. The police came and Mr. Rupen was nowhere to be found. His car was missing and only a frail Mrs. Rupen was home to shed some light on the confusion. Apparently, Mr. Rupen Had been working on his amazing garden for the past thirty plus years! "Well that's no surprise to anyone," an officer said. "He is very well known and loved in this community, what would cause such an unseen and dangerous incident?" Mr. Rupen's goal was to expand and continue to grow the garden until it was a landmark. A world wide respected representation of beauty and wonder for all to come and admire. It was already a solid four or five acres and there wasn't any other property around that he could expand with. The trees had covered the sky and a whole ecosystem of life had been increasingly growing. Many diverse creatures reside in his massive jungle of a garden. It was becoming unsafe and widely disproved by the neighboring houses. The city had given him a date by which he had to cut back the garden to a much smaller 'safer' size. Unable to accept the reality that his dream will never be what he had envisioned, He grew cold and bitter. Mrs. Rupen added that today was especially hard, it marked the date that the late Gene Wilder had passed away-Mr. Rupen's idol. "That was the only thing he had mentioned all day" she said. It all started to make sense to me. Mr. Rupen however was still missing, we were becoming increasingly worried. Almost three whole days passed until I finally noticed his old car sputter down my street. It had an incredibly loud rumble as it chattered throughout the neighborhood. I watched from my window as he pulled up to his house. Quickly, I ran down from my room and out the door. Keeping my distance I carefully crept into some bushes across the street from his yard. I watched him slowly look around his property as he stood out from the vehicle. He was almost completely naked, scratched and frazzled. The cops received word from a concerned neighbor that he had arrived home, and they raced to the residence. It was apparent that he had become more delusional from the stress of his crumbling dream. At the station a witness told the policemen they saw Mr. Rupen running wild through the Keukenhof Gardens. With his clothes torn to shreds, he came across a massive sculpture. It stood a towering fifteen feet high, boldly positioned in the middle of the garden. Brown and curved into a coil, it resembled a giant dog turd-a well known icon in this particular garden. He climbed his way to the top of the sculpture and released his pain and anguish with a shrieking cry. I felt empathy for the man, he had finally cracked. The stress of his overwhelming troubles were too much for him. He is still waiting for a court hearing, and I already said I won't press charges. The cold lifeless walls of a cell would be the end of him. I met with Mrs. Rupen after things settled down. "Just as he carefully nurtured his precious garden for all these years, he will grow from this. He still has me you know" she said. His garden has been cut down to a third of it's original size, it must kill him inside. I don't walk through his property anymore, but I do see him around from time to time. He keeps to himself, leaves home only to get the mail. A quiet unhappy man, poor Mr. Rupen.

Keukenhof Gardens, Nederlands

The famous Poo Sculpture in the Keukenhof Gardens, Nederlands

-Retrospective Fred

Workings of the mind.

Whether awake or asleep, after an hour and a half, your brain MUST go offline and reprocess the experience of the immediate past into the categories and structures of long term memory. This ninety minute cycle is due to a limitation of space on the 'blackboard' of short term memory. These experiences are given true and tangible meaning only when embedded into the long-term memory portion of the brain. In other words, the categories of long term memory comprise the basic fundamental definition of meaning! Only then can we analyze and utilize the use of brian functions within our perceptions to comprehend what is real and/or meaningful. This is not to say that we cannot experience a meaningful reality in the moments of our short term memory. However, it is through the use of our long-term memory recollection (in direct correlation with our short term memory)-that validates the 'in the moment' experiences you perceive. Without that, each passing second would not have any real importance, leading to confusion and chaos. We would loose our relationship to ourselves and our world. As an infant, we only really have a short term memory to compute and understand. We cannot validate any understanding of our perceptions as it is without a long term memory experience. Until you have built up your own reality as a person, you cannot understand anything. Long term memory is our reality. I think this explains  a lot in regards to all of our faint memories we have growing up as a very young child; Along with the development of an individual as a whole.

-Retrospective Fred

The Fall

Magic is in the air. Leaves falling, winter longing to be felt.

I attain a whimsical state on my bicycle; admiring the wonders of our earth.

Faces seen from a far, trees slowly sending their young ones away with a chilled breeze.

The sun waits in the air, readily anticipating the day to pass. 

Moonlight arrives and the sky dims. 

Cold air and a black canvas fulfill my vision as the Autumn leaves crunch beneath my wheels.

Quiet sidewalks and warm scarfs. I smile as my legs take me through the city.

The busy world comes to a halt in my mind as I ride my anxiety away with each stroke.

Inside, a warm home and simmering tea encompase my lifesyle.

Enjoying this world as I grow within it, I find peace in nature.

-Retrospective Fred

The slender man on stilts

I approached the man on stilts with a smile. He was a slender white man wearing a white sport coat and long white pants that ran all the way down his stilts. Confused and curious at his existence I questioned his abilities with a flip of a coin. I told him 'Heads' meant he would have to give me his stilts. 'Tails' meant he had to run up a large set of stairs. If he couldn't make it up the stairs, he would fail my challenge and owe me one of two other options. I did not specify, or even mention the terms of those options to him yet. Swiftly, I pull out a fifty cent piece and toss it up in the air without hesitation. Before he can answer I snap it firmly against my forearm. Tails! Uggh, I wanted those stilts! He chuckled aloud and bent over closer to me. With a smug look he informed me he had walked the earth in these very stilts for eight years. Searching for purpose he eventually found equanimity in his life walking high above the crowds of people below him. "Climb some steps?" scoffing at my challenge. I pointed at the stairs. There they were, looming in the distance. Thin dangerous stairs, the treads were about five inches wide and the risers were easily ten inches tall. Walking towards the stairs from the large open courtyard he began to understand the perils of my request. The rock bannister was not nearly high enough to accompany his reach due to his long legs. These were the trickiest stairs he had ever seen! His attempt at the first step wasn't hardly as confident as he sounded just moments earlier. I roll my eyes in disbelief. "Pssh, walked the earth for eight years? give me a break!", I murmur under my breath. He took a weary step and then another. "Aha!" he proclaimed. A fast learner indeed, he laughed and began charging up the stairs. A crowd had been gathering throughout the courtyard during the course of my challenge. Everyone started cheering-on the tall man! Approaching the last few steps however, he paused. The crowd was curious. Anxiously staring with fists clenched tightly they yelled at him. "Don't stop!" a man shouted, "You're almost there!" said another. He glances up at the sky. Even the sun was focused intently on his progress. With skill and careful balance he turned around and looked down upon the crowd. Within the sea of faces he makes direct eye contact with me. He raises a long red scarf out from his flashy white sport coat. Focused on him, we stood waiting attentively. Tying it around his head he proclaims to all; "I am the master of ceremonies!" He spins back around on one foot and takes his final steps in a bold sprint to conquer the tremendous stairs. There was a microphone waiting for him there at the top. It was placed on an especially tall stand to accompany his incredible height. At that same moment, large clouds started to move in overhead. They darkened the sky in such a way, that the had sun formed a spotlight directly centered on the slender man. Without any hesitation he began to freestyle a verse that was so intense, and so grimy, that people were fainting in sheer amazement! Everyone was frozen and dumbfounded from his words! His rap was beyond legendary, an OG hip hop emcee for real! He bowed as he ceased his astonishing flow. There we stood in the courtyard, quietly awestruck. Then, almost instantly after he had finished, a huge roar interrupted the silence! Through the clouds we could see what looked like a massive space vessel approaching! It came closer and closer and landed behind the slender man. Blinding bright lights through smoke and flame illuminated nine figures who emerged from the craft. The crowd had quadrupled in size as the masses continued to flood the courtyard. Cell phones and camcorders were everywhere. News teams raced frantically to the scene. Helicopters and fighter jets filled the sky as the government made it's way into the commotion. Time itself seemed to slow down as we began to see the faces of the figures through the smoke. Intrigued beyond words the shock and awe turned to ridiculous applause and screams of ecstatic proportions. "NO WAY! Could it be?" I reach to pick my jaw off the ground in disbelief! It was The Rza, The Gza, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Inspectah Deck, U-god, Ghost Face Killah, Raekwon The Chef, Masta Killa and The Method Man! It was the Wu-Tang Clan! They stood there motionless while the last of the smoke cleared. The Rza made the first move. In perfect succession they pulled their microphones off their waist bands like elite Jedi before a war. With a press of a remote the spaceship blasted it's gargantuan speakers and 'Protect ya neck' began to play. The clan threw down harder than ever! It was just before the Gza was to end the song with his nasty final verse, when the tall and mysterious man interrupted with a freestyle like no other! It was beyond brilliant. The Gza forgot his lyrics from the sheer weight of his words! We were absolutely blown away from this man's remarkable flow, style, and presence! The track finished bumpin' and The Wu converged into a huddle. In a completely anonymous decision they called the white man over. After informing him of their intentions they notion for the crowd's ears. Inspectah Deck took up his mic. With arms raised high he told all of us to remember this day. This was the day the slender stilted man had truly found his place in life. As a newly world famous gangsta fresh emcee, and a member of the The Wu-Tang Clan! Then, with a nod of approval from the Gza, the slender man reached down and removed his stilts! Looking around he spotted me out of the crowd. He brandished at me to come meet him at the pinnacle of the massive stairs. I raced up the steps in a frenzied rush! Arriving at the top I was breathing hard. Walking closer I saw the expression on his face. With a tear in his eye he handed me his beloved stilts! He told me I had provoked greatness in him through my challenge. It was my turn to take up the stilts and walk the earth; as he had done before me. Just as another emcee had walked in those very stilts before him. -He said I might have heard of him under the rap name 'Mos Def'. With a stern and assuring tone in his voice he told me it was my time, and my journey of self growth I shall take in the pursuit of success. "Go, earn your place. You too will become a great emcee of the land!" he proclaimed. The spaceship's enormous engines began to roar again. Method Man yells to the crowd before they all depart. "Word to mother, Method Man signin' off, PEACE". The Clan steps back into the spacecraft. They disappear through the clouds with a flash in an instant. Straining my eyes upward to the sky I realize the true impact of this experience. "It is up to me to walk the path of the divine stilts! To embody the role of a great rapper for the next generation!" I thought deeply to myself. I accepted his challenge, my destiny! Strapping on the stilts I proceeded through the crowd. Walking high and mighty, the people reached for me. I smiled and tossed my fifty cent piece behind me in the air. With newly procured drive and clarity, I embark on an exciting new chapter of my life.

-Retrospective Fred

Natural Selection

"A plethora of emotions stirring throughout as the infected overrun the desperate struggling survivors.

Apocalypse controls the night as a once friendly city slides into a quarantined ghost town of death and mindless flesh indulgence. 

A plan for the future is lost. 

Nature has run it's course and the cycle of life spins it's last turn."

-Retrospective Fred

all-hallows-even

The bird flies down fast, abruptly evading the threat above. A startled woman frozen in fear clenches to her ice-cream as it slowly melts down her hands. Inches away, the stopped vehicle in the wrong lane was an indication that something unplanned had occurred here. Inside, an elderly man with a cut on his brow shakily evacuates the tattered car. A blinking traffic light monotonously presses on and off with a red hue. Cars in a rush sputter off through the madness of the cities' habitual hustle. Arriving at my house I watch with anticipation as the mail man carefully slides paper into our boxes. A dog snaps at the water as it races down the gutter throughout the neighborhood. A child cries in the distance as her soft skin tears against the rough asphalt she fell upon. Leaves crush under the wheels of minivans as children arrive home from their daily routine at school. The excitement of halloween is expressed among their faces. Costumes and candy are prepared in delight. Jack-o'-lanterns sit on the porch, promptly awaiting their role to play in the course of tonight's event. The moon begins to glow increasingly bright as the day's final hours tic away. The sun rapidly sinks behind the mountains and the warm colours dim and disappear. Nightfall takes it's place, Halloween is here.

-Retrospective Fred