“Dragon Ramble” by Douglas Eye and The Scribblers

What do you do when hard news hits you from within your clan about a cherished one’s struggles? And all you can do is to be as supportive as possible, get your rest, and then be yet more supportive and full of comfort and hugs? Even, too, as the dear one’s struggle echo and prod some of one’s own ancient woundings?

To finesse and regulate such troubled nervous energy, along with its associated grief, I fire up my video-creation program. Record an original riff on one of my guitars. I then commandeer the jacked-up classical Guild, if I need something ethereal. Or the big-body Taylor if I need to rock out (or at least as much as a 65-year-old white guy with lower back pain in the suburbs can rock out).

I required ethereal …


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Then, I hunker down at a desk or easy chair for the next three to five hours until something seems done. Above is that something. “Dragon Ramble” is by Douglas Eye and The Scribblers, my current working, singer-songwriter band title. Now, I need, like, you know … an actual band. Because what you’ll hear is just me, some on-the-spot guitar doodlebugging, and what happens when you set a guy loose in Garageband for an hour.

The scenery of “Dragon Ramble” features a look-back at some of the video shot on my West Virginia rambles in 2021 and 2022. Some of these clips have appeared in other work, so this is something of a video diary of my bounding around The Mountain State. (The majestic waterfall is the Douglas Falls near Davis WV, the least known — and best-named! — of West Virginia’s notable waterfall lineup.)

There are two non-WV clips. One is the plunge into an otherworldy Virginia tunnel. And there is a cameo by my dear friend Jeff’s golden retriever, Chester, filmed dashing alongside us in Vail, Colorado one day in 2021. It is used here in honor of the beast’s sheer dogged — literal and figurative — enthusiasm aound being alive.

PS: Listen up more

Hear more of my original tuneage, with actual live human beings, at the links below.

“Saint Stephen’s Dream” by garagecow ensemble on Spotify at this link

SPOTIFY: garagecow ensemble album

Hear my first album, “Saint Stephen’s Dream,” by garagecow ensemble on Spotify. The album was superbly recorded and mastered by Bob Webb (its 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Beatle). He also plays on several tunes, as well as birthing “Rosie’s Lullaby” one night all on his own. The CD feature a host of fine guest musicians, including Michael Lipton, Ron Sowell, Heidi Muller, Tim Courts, Dhruva Stephenson, Maynard Chapman, Erin Webb, and others.


SOUNDCLOUD: tracks, drafts, experiments

My Soundcloud account is where I upload drafts, musical experiments, completed tracks from published work, and the occasional podcast. It is a melange of content and I suppose I should tidy it up. But … nah.


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“Dragon Ramble” is an AmpMediaProject.com music video by Douglas Eye and The Scribblers

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2 comments

David Anthony says:

Nice piece. The “video snapshots” are a great format. Sometimes I wish I would have made more of my pictures move. Now that I have reasonable internet, and with enough time having passed, it is time to “re-emerge” creatively. As I enter the autumn of my life I thought I might put the commitment out there that despite popular demand, I would be back along with the new website, on the first day of fall, September 22. (Most often it is September 21, the birthday of some fellow named Dulio.)

Douglas Imbrogno says:

Thanks, David Anthony. Yay, for re-emergence! Your work is striking and evocative and, well, worldly. (Given that it is from around the world …). I love the autumnal launch date! Bring it, sir.

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