One day many years ago I was just thinking about random stuff, probably in the midst of reading a science fiction book where they referred to our solar system as the “Sol System,” and it occurred to me that while in SF it’s almost a cliche that interstellar civilizations have names for every star, and they end up saying the name of our star is Sol. But we don’t really have a name for our star. It’s just “the sun,” which is what people on other systems would say about their stars too. The Sun (image from NASA) This piece started out with the Stick part at the beginning. I was just playing around with patterns that incorporated both the treble and bass sides of the instrument, and stumbled across notes that made for an interesting geometric configuration on the frets. I started developing it, not thinking about its key signature or chord structure. Eventually it developed into what I think of as the **A** section. Then I set about trying to fit a melody to it, which was challenging because the chords don’t remain within a single key. I notated the Stick part and worked out a melody for the bari that fit in. For the **B** section, I wanted to mix it up and give the melody to the Stick and have the bari take the bass part. A bari sax has a big fat sound in the low register, and I hadn’t been taking advantage of that often enough. I couldn’t resist dropping into 3/4 time for a little Classical feel (the **C** section). A free improv section is one of my go-tos, so I threw in one of those. At this point, it was turning into a kind of mini-epic (talk about an oxymoron!), so I wanted to end it with a big finale. I came up with a march-like rhythm which was even more challenging than the A section to write a melody for. For the most part, it alternates between E major and F minor, all with a thumping E in the bass. Sometimes when I’m writing a longer piece, I like to go for a structure I call a “journey” rather than a standard AABA or sonata form or the like. These pieces go through a series of sections and never come back to reprise the beginning section. I know that it’s often said the final recap in a sonata form provides a sense of resolution for the listener, but sometimes resolution isn’t what I’m looking for. The structure of “Name of the Sun” could be written as **AABCBCDEEEE** , and it wanders around quite a bit in its tonality. An old friend from Beijing provided the spoken word bits, which I chopped up and looped. She says 太阳的名字是什么？太阳有没有人名字？which translates as “What is the name of the sun? Does the sun have a name?” And at the end, she whispers 过来过来 我告诉你一个i秘密 太阳的名字是… or “Come here, I’ll tell you a secret. The name of the sun is…” And for fun, here’s a mostly live demo of the track recorded in 2018. Zhongyu 终于 · Super Z Attack Team – Name of the Sun (2018-10-04 Demo v3)

Unboxing Super Z Attack Team CDs Some people say physical media like CDs are irrelevant in today’s digital world, but I would disagree. I never really expected that _Super Z Attack Team_ would get released on CD, but here it is, thanks to the good folks at Right Brain Records. We have a limited number of very fine looking CDs that will be available in person when you find me, as well as through Bandcamp. This kind of fulfillment is new to me, so I haven’t figured out pricing and shipping details yet, but I will. I have to give a special shout-out to Rob Morgan, who drew the original Super Z shield that I used to design the cover, and to Danette Davis, who took the live photo on the inside of the wallet. And maybe I’ll give away a free copy to the first person who can decipher the Chinese writing on the inside right panel.

Super Z Attack Team cover art by Jon Davis and Rob Morgan I am beyond thrilled to announce that the second Zhongyu album, called _Super Z Attack Team_ , will be released in October on Right Brain Records. It will be available on Bandcamp, other streaming services, and as a limited-edition CD. Watch this space for more details as they become available, and follow on Bandcamp to get notifications. Never did I imagine it would take nearly ten years! By the time _Zhongyu Is Chinese for Finally_ came out, I already had a number of other compositions completed, and of course I started thinking about the next album. The original plan was to call it _After the End of Time_ , and I worked out a set of tunes and a running order for it. This is certainly a case where plans are mere fantasies, and my focus turned towards playing live shows in a trio configuration. That led to a whole new set of tunes being written. Jim, Randy, and I played a bunch of shows in the Seattle area, and on a good night it was very special. People started asking about a new album that reflected the new sound. Really, people did — several of them. Financially, I couldn’t handle an expense like that of the first album, so I adopted a DIY approach, recording the base tracks at home and then venturing to Jim’s house to record his parts and Randy’s for his. Eventually I had what I needed, and spent a really long time working out overdubs and tweaking the mixes. Musically, it’s like a highly polished version of what we used to play live, but hopefully not so polished as to lose the energy of the music. But it’s time to put it out into the world and see what happens… October 1 is the release date, just in time for Bandcamp Friday. Hint-hint.