Benji Cossa Song Bank

So if the people you share memories with are no longer around to share them, you may find yourself in a situation where no one cares if the tree fell in the forest even if someone was around to hear it - or about the forest at all - or the people that lived in the forest. Perhaps they were elves. Perhaps very boring elves. The kind that make shoes.

Spring is here and the first crocuses are up in the yard. Next comes the dogwood and then the pink bush on the side of the house. Will the new roses bloom? Where on the clock will they fall? The rose of sharon will open late in the summer as usual and shrivel up on the branches after the first frost. Raking will come in 2 stages and I refuse to pick up after the maple in the back which will come down last. That mat of leaves will wait until Spring which I plan to mow over next weekend.

So is it possible that life on all planets will eventually create a method to take life off of that planet given enough time? Does the pattern of evolution have a predictable progression given certain perimeters which will inevitably lead to a species like us that can physically carry or project life to other areas - or perhaps have a high probability of creating a bacteria or amino acid that can survive lying dormant within a fragment of rock resulting from some celestial collision (or something like this…)? If the goal of life is to propagate, shouldn’t this be the case?

Why is it that we are attracted to danger and high risk pay-offs? Why is there an adrenaline rush when we do something exciting and not when we do something safe or eat something easy and nutritious?  Are other animals like this?

If I had a superpower I think it would be to manipulate time. Then again, I would probably go crazy. I think being being immortal, a vampire, someone who can stop time, etc would put someone on the fast track for disconnection, confusion, depression - it would be bad. I don’t think I would spend my time gaining the secrets of the universe. After a while, I most likely wouldn’t care anymore. Friends and family wouldn’t relate. They’d all be dead soon anyway. Why do you think Dracula lived in a run down old castle? He’s probably a real sad guy. I’m sure ghosts aren’t very happy blinking in and out of existence for eternity, either. Who cares if a ghost knows how to do a lot of things really well? What good is that to anyone? A time machine would be pretty cool, though. What was that movie with Eric Bana where his life is all out of sequence? He seemed to handle that all right. Maybe time manipulation is more suited to animals less social like hamsters. It would be cool to be a time traveling assassin.

The Little Drummer Boy is a Christmas song I never really liked.

For those of you who say, “I never get sick, I have a really good immune system,” get ready for a fact. Displaying symptoms after being exposed to the virus that causes the common cold is actually the result of a strong immune system that detects the virus and attacks it. Counter-intuitively those with less reaction stems from the body’s defenses being weak and not confronting the virus robustly. On average, an adult comes across the common cold twice a year, and children seven to ten. Cold weather and drafts have not been proven to increase the likelihood of getting the virus but colds are more common in the winter. This has been attributed to more people staying indoors together with the windows closed where the virus can be transferred more easily.

Near a lake deep in the mountains of Romania there is a school where the Devil Himself is headmaster. He accepts ten students every so many years and only nine graduate. The tenth is taken as payment for the nine. At this school, called Scholomance,  all manner of secret arts are learned. Among the most famous pupils is the one Count Dracula. He is sort of like Harry Potter and Scholomance like Hogwarts. At the end of the series, though, Harry (Dracula) becomes the most powerful Vampire the world would ever know.

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BENJI COSSA: FAVORITES 03: Daniel Strange

SBR55 is the third installment in BENJI COSSA’s Favorites series. The Favorites are series of free Cossa greatest-hits mixtapes curated by his friends and loved ones. So far we’ve heard the hits as chosen by Sebastian Blanck and Eric Copeland. Now it’s Daniel Strange’s turn!

get it free! bandcamp / free music archive / soundcloud

Daniel Strange is a Los Angeles-based writer-director. In the last few years, he has directed episodes of “Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis,” written a Spider-Man video game for Activision (“Shattered Dimensions”), co-written and directed “The Ballad of G.I. Joe” for Funny Or Die, and been the voice of Gideon Jura in a “Magic: The Gathering” video game. He also helped Benji record some of these songs back in college.

“This is a lo-fi mix; for some reason that’s the stuff of Benji’s that resonates with me. Maybe it’s because he only had this little 4-track to work with when he started out, so that’s how I always think his stuff should sound. Anyway, beneath the rawness of these recordings are songs of incredible craft and power - from the catchy simplicity of ‘Feel Like a Man’ to the minimalistic majesty of ‘Love is Like Lightning’; from the psychological darkness of ‘If I Were U’ to the wordless perfection of ‘Ice Skating.’ Also, this mix starts off with my favorite Cossa composition ever, a song we recorded together called ‘Circus Love.’ I think he’s never released it before out of respect for it as a collaborative effort, but it’s too good not to be shared with the world. Just listen to that chorus…”