Lambright Press

In 2008, I flew to Hawaii to record Casey Mensing as he read some of his poems (in between, I had a lovely vacation).  Those spoken-word pieces sat around for a couple months until the start of 2009, when I started arranging music for each of his pieces.  My goal was to make the sounds compatible with the words in such a way as to make for an enjoyable listening experience – to produce catchy, engaging music that still kept the focus on Casey’s words.

In other words, I didn’t want to make a shitty spoken-word album, much like . . . well, pretty much like every spoken-word album ever.

To be honest, I think I failed on a pair of tracks.  However, I couldn’t be happier with the other 6 tracks.  Even with my stumbles, it’s still the project I look back on most fondly.  It allowed me to experiment with sounds in ways I had never imagined, using a combination of instruments I previously didn’t know how to play (mandolin, trumpet) and a whole slew of odd samples (a snow shovel, a sneeze, some dude having an orgasm) I would never have considered using in a musical piece.

And none of that would have happened without Casey’s poems – these lovely, imagistic words and phrases assembled beautifully, all read into a beat-up instrument mic in between sips of beer at a tiny apartment in Honolulu.

The March Of The Tongue Brigade was released in the summer of 2009.  We hyped it as best we could, made some videos, then moved on to other things.  Three years later, I’ve decided that it could use a little more love.  After a couple sonic tweaks, I believe it sounds better than ever.

Listen to the album below:

If, perchance, you’ve liked what you’ve heard and feel like expressing your approval in a monetary way, a digital copy of the album can be purchased at Bandcamp.

Lastly, I’d like to go back to that part where I mentioned that Casey and I moved on to other things.  Some of those other things can be found in the sidebar on the right.  Feel free to purchase those, too.

Thanks for reading and listening.  Thanks, too, to those who have supported Lambright Press through purchases, kind words expressed to Casey and I, and through liking us on Facebook.  Every bit of support is massively appreciated.

When the cocaine boom hit South Florida in the late 1970′s, Hank McCarty was right in the middle of the action. By the mid 1980′s, South Florida had gone from the land of tourists and retirees to the cocaine capital of the United States. Chief of Police Curtis McCarty and Mayor Hank McCarty had manged to lead secret lives, until one day the bottom fell out and the DEA took them down. Now faced with an uncertain future, nineteen year-old Will McCarty has to make the decision whether of not to walk away from his life as a college student and enter into the family business in order to take care of himself and his family. Last Fair Deal, the sordid tale of the McCarty family, is a cinematic work of contemporary fiction that combines elements of pop mythology, neo-noir, and American pulp fiction.

Lambright Press is pleased to announce that the ebook versions of Last Fair Deal are now available for your Nook at Barnes & Noble, for your Kindle at Amazon, and at Smashwords.

Check back soon for details on the future release of a print edition.

Paperback copies of Mid-Thirties Angst: A Short Novel are now available through Amazon. Click here to purchase a copy.

The ebook version of the book remains available through Amazon as well.

Other book-related links of interests:

- Over at Honey Brown Blues, I’ve written a post explaining how the idea for the story came about.

- If you have six minutes and are in an area where you won’t get in trouble for profanity coming through your speakers, you can have a listen to the first chapter of the book – imagined as a old-time radio play – by clicking on the Soundscan widget below:

Mid-Thirties Angst: A Short Novel – Chapter 1: Portland, Maine by Paris Street

Lambright Press is pleased as punch to announce the second book in our catalog, Mid-Thirties Angst: A Short Novel by Carl Polgar. Choose whichever blurb you’d prefer:

1) A story about restlessness, travel, gentrification, alcohol, sex, friendship, and organic burgers, told from the point of view of a 34-year old who should have found his direction in life a long time ago.

OR

2) Glen thought that a temporary job traveling around the country would give him plenty of time to think about what he would like to do with his life. An unexpected problem back home, though, forces Glen to think about his future sooner than he would have liked.

Mid-Thirties Angst: A Short Novel is currently available as an ebook for just 99 cents. This special promotional price will be offered for the next two weeks (when the print version will be released), so take advantage of it while you can.

More information about the book can be found over at Amazon, where you can also purchase a copy (or two). The book will be available through other online retailers shortly – we’ll update this page as the links come in.