
      

As of this
writing February 11th 2021, I am in the midst of a
myriad of personal health issues to which I am
seeking remedies for. After my PONS Stroke in 2018,
things have changed quite dramatically for me. Since
then I've managed to record nine songs, six of
which are original songs written and recorded by myself
with the abundant assistance from Gary Linger
and Ken Pfeil, co-producing 5 of 9 songs as
follows: 'For My Lady' (Moody Blues cover), 'Watching Clouds'
(EK) 'We Are Even' (EK) Goldmoor's View" (EK) 'Tracez' (EK)
'Nothing's Wrong Song' (EK) 'Brought my father with me'
( Michael Peter Smith) 'My Old Man' ( Steve Goodman) and my own arrangement of
our National Anthem 'The Star Spangled Banner'. I
also recorded my own renditions of the late Michael Peter Smith's 'I
Brought My Father With Me' and the late Steve Goodman's 'My Old Man' ,
both can be previewed on
SoundCloud
Also, available are all the EK original songs
mentioned below that are available for MP3 download purchases for
.99 ea ---►
Amazon.com
|
Song
Graphic & Credits
|
Back stories & Song info preview/purchase links
|
Latest
Recording News |
Back stories & Song info on the
Latest recording project (s) |
ι
▼ |
ι
▼ |
Next up.... coming this winter 2021

(Contemporary Folk/Rock) |
'Paradise On Earth
' is my next recording project.
I wrote this song, according to the original lyric sheet dated 5/11/81
Gary and I recorded this song back in the early
80s, yet I was never truly satisfied with the way it came out, plus, my
voice was a bit screechy back then. Now, I have the chance to re-birth
this gem into full blossom, the way it was intended to be recorded and
produced. Thank you digital technology and new instruments I didn't have
back then are going allow us to truly put forth a remarkable song
about a fictional couple who spends a romantic time in a forest. I plan
to play my signature double tracked acoustic guitar sound along with
piano, synthesizers, bass, sound effects and a new female vocal accompaniment.
Gary and I are also planning to create a choir-like sound during the
chorus adding harps and angelic voices to create Paradise like sounds..LOL
I look forward to bringing this song to you. In
true Kink fashion as always, it will be uniquely me.
|

'Watching Clouds' By Eric Kinkel
© 2019
(Contemporary Folk/Rock - Instrumental)
Eric Kinkel: Acoustic Guitars, Bass, Keyboard synthesizers, opening
Narration
Susan Siciliano - Flute
Engineered and recorded by Gary Lingner
Eric Kinkel: Acoustic Guitars, Bass, Keyboard synthesizers,
opening Narration
Susan Siciliano - Flute
Engineered and recorded by
Gary Lingner |
'Watching Clouds'
is the primary track on a two song CD I produced in 2019 less the
a year after after I suffered a
PONS stroke (brain stem vessel blockage)
'Watching Clouds'
is a 6:32
Contemporary Folk/Rock - Instrumental, that I had been working on
periodically over the period of 3-4 decades. I relished the idea of completing this instrumental that
actually began original had lyrics, in the early 80s after a series of
writers blocks I submitted to transforming it into a full
out instrumental, without lyrics. Over the years this tune morphed into
a multiplicity of ideas which I carefully kept in my head and often
rehashed it when I would practice, it actually became a part of my
practice routines. During those practice routines I would experiment
with different chords, rhythms and change ups that eventually took hold.
This tune's original title was: 'The wind had swept my eye
closed' As the years rolled bye I decided to make it an instrumental
leaning heavy on the primary melody and away from trying to finish a
lyric....that idea stopped dead in it's tracks. I later decided that primary melody
should be carried by flute ( that ideat stuck firmly in my head for years) By the time I got
around to recording 'Watching Clouds' in August of 2019 it
became apparent this was going to be masterpiece of carefully arranged
parts I had cultivated over the years.I struggled with the final l title
for a while bouncing ideas off my friend Gary multiple times until I( we
) landed on 'Watching Clouds' as a fine description of
the instrumentals 'feel' I began to think the tune and its presentation
reminded me of such an observation. Then in a moment of clarity I
decided to write a short poem to open up the song, dropping the pitch of
my voice digitally because my Dysphasia ( difficult speech ) was so bad
at the time it was hard for me to speak or, understand what I was
saying. Gary and I carefully planned out the beginning to create an
audio imagery of clouds rolling by with deep synthesizer sounds
and birds chirping ( for outside effect ) combined with ambient
sounds I found on the internet. Together we produced the into that
creates a powerful beginning. During the intro poem I spoke the line 'I
can feel her breathe upon my brow' eluding to the songs initial lyrics. I finally
found a brilliant flautist href="https://www.facebook.com/susan.siciliano2016">Susan Siciliano to play
the ever jubilant and sometimes eerie melody. We worked every weekend
on 'Watching Clouds' for weeks to come. I proceeded to
record my signature double tracked acoustic guitars. I also used a
rarely used instrument, a 6 string Fender bass VI pictured
in this column
I also created a
soaring Les Paul guitar lead solo, double tracking solo in the last quarter
of the song. That solo
was actually a melody in my head from a jam session I had with fellow
friend and roommate Mike Kennedy at Gary's house back in the late
70s. As Mike jammed out 3 chords E, B A, I began singing:' I own a
blue velvet sea....' a melody which stayed with through the years. So, I
applied that melody to the guitar solo and variated it to become
the soaring lead solo in 'Watching Clouds'...this is how the
winds of creativity follow after science experiments a tin foil hat factory in
our heads ( Gary & I )....LOL
Later I added some strings and synthesizer sounds to give the tune a
kind of majestic feel.
The bonus track on the CD is my rendition the
Moody Blues Classic 'For My Lady' performed by yours
truly,
Susan Siciliano on Flute,
Dan Fearn on guitar/Mellotron and
Dean
Milano on Bass Fiddle. The song was actually a rehearsal recording which
I felt was properly mixed and presented by Dan Fearn at his house. I
added the recording to my 'Watching Clouds' CD to make it a dual song CD
instead of a single tune CD.
♫
Click here to preview 'Watching Clouds' on
YouTube
♫
Click here
to purchase
'Watching Clouds' on Amazon.com for .99 per MP3 download
Later on, I will provide a purchase link to buy
the 2 song CD which I have available copies of.
|

We Are Even By Eric Kinkel
© 2019
(Contemporary Emotional Blallad)
Eric Kinkel: Acoustic guitar, Keyboard cellos, synthesizer
Eric Kinkel: Acoustic Guitars, Bass, Keyboard synthesizers,
opening Narration
Susan Siciliano - Flute
Engineered and recorded by
Gary Lingner
|
This song 'We
Are Even' was written after a brief affair with a young lady named Toni
C. during the early eighties. I was 20 something years old.
After our first night together, I thought it was going to be a
'one night stand' I later realized we would spend more time together
then I originally thought. Toni was my room mates girlfriend's best friend
at the time, so, she was around allot.
That night, when she left in her friends car and
they drove away, I picked up my guitar and began writing this song. I
was filled with a sense of unrequited love and also a feeling of an
unusual sense of
balance. As, is turned out we saw each other for quite some time
afterwards. I never shared the song with her because I didn't want her
to hear the lyrics refrains eluding to a melancholy interpretation of
our first night together which prevails
throughout the song. I don't know what ever happened to her as she moved out
of our apartment building, at the time she lived in the apartment above
my room mate and I with her mother. I wrote the last verse years later as a
retrospect on what might happen if we ever crossed paths again, 'our
souls will remember our union that night long ago'...and more.
I did perform this song once, live in concert in 1997, at the first of 3
benefit concerts I performed for my late sister Dr. Linda Kinkel with
Angela Martin Licari on violin and Al Ehrich on Cello. I wrote a counter
melody for the violin and cello. When I recorded it in 2019
I decided to take a crack at recording the cello part myself on my
Medeli 88 key digital keyboard which has a very nice sampled cello
sound onboard.
This song is a very emotionally charged melancholy song in every sense. It's how I roll,
I write what I feel, and I feel when I write.
♫
Click here to preview 'We Are Even' on YouTube
♫
Click here to purchase
'We Are Even' on Amazon.com for .99 per MP3 download
|

'Goldmoor's View' By Eric Kinkel
© 2020
(Contemporary Folk/Rock - Instrumental)
Eric Kinkel: Acoustic Guitars, Synthesizers, sound effects, vocal
enhancements
Ken Pfeil: Acoustic Guitar's, Electric guitars co-producer
Engineered and recorded by
Gary Lingner & Ken Pfeil
|
'Goldmoor's View' was written in the spring of 2020. A
conglomeration of finger picking licks I had amassed over the years. I
managed to arrange those licks into a formatted instrumental. My friend
and guitar player virtuoso Ken Pfeil assisted me with filling in the
cracks where my ideas fell short.
I spent quite a bit of time formulating this arrangement utilizing my
unique and intricate finger picking style, which ultimately combined
with Ken Pfeil's unique guitar leads brings together an instrumental
tune unlike any other. We managed to pull off a successful arrangement
that satisfies the tunes pseudo-romantic scenic profiles which I intended
to portray through this audio recording.
Its was fun recording the months long unnamed tune. When it came
time to give it a title I came upon with 'Goldmoor's View' as a retrospect
from a visit I made years ago to a popular romantic getaway in the
Galena Illinois along the Mississippi river. The Goldmoor
Inn is a castle-like get away nestled on a hillside overlooking the
mighty Mississippi. 'Goldmoor's View' is reminiscent of the
many scenic views and nature surrounding the Inn and the
territory. We added sound effects such as winds blowing and eagles
flapping wings and screeching through the valley, as they represent the
scenic nature of the Mississippi Valley area around the Goldmoor Inn's
grounds and beyond
I long to return to the Inn in the coming years, or sooner if I am able.
This song along with many others, will always remain a backdrop for the
glorious wonders of this romantically scenic Galena
territory Inn. I highly recommend visiting this super romantic get away.
Goldmoor Inn
♫
Click here to preview
'Goldmoor's View' on YouTube
♫
Click here to purchase
'Goldmoor's View' on Amazon.com for .99 per MP3 download
|

Tracez By Eric Kinkel
© 2020
(Hard rock - single)
Eric Kinkel: Vocals, Piano, synthesizers, Rhythm
guitar
Ken Pfeil: Electric guitars, lead guitars
Background vocals, digitally applied drum tracks
Engineered and recorded by
Gary Lingner & Ken Pfeil |
Her name was Tracy B. we were young, active and
moved different in ways. Yet, I still managed to fell head over
heels in love with her. I wrote 'Tracez' while I was still living
at home and plucking out tunes on my parents piano. I recall pining over
Tracey when I began to have reoccurring dreams of her returning into my
life. So, I wrote about it, that's what musicians do, we observe, we
feel and then sometimes, if the mood strikes us right, or the moon is
full, we write about it. This solid rock beat song truly
exemplifies the relentless feelings that came over me in the days after
our parting. Oddly, at two points after we parted Tracey tried fixing me up
with two other friends of hers, Denise P and Jean ?.
Nothing ever came
of either of those fix ups, even though I gave them my
undivided attention while trying to grasp whether there was any true
sync ups going on or, whether there were no feelings other than being pushed
together by my ex. My lyrics finally captured the very angst I was
feeling at the time. I was Twenty something years old, it was easy to
write songs back then, the adventure and hormone induced attractions ran
rampant and wild. I captured all of my feelings quite perfectly in the
lyrics of this song. Thanks to Ken Pfeil for the digital drum track,
super hot guitar sounds and dueling lead guitar solo's. Ken also
laid down a super all over the neck bass line that aims straight to the
heart of the rock rhythm section making 'Tracez' a full out rock beat
song. Gary managed to truly capture my piano, orchestral strings and
vocals amid my dysphasia ( difficult speech) left over from my PONS
stroke 2 years earlier. Altogether, we managed to
bring back an old song, that never got recorded, I used to sing
'Tracez' while in our hard rock 80s band called
Lost Nation. Its was
a favorite of our fans, friends and band mates as well. Since Ken was
the lead guitarist for Lost Nation he still recalled the song and I believe
that familiarity made it
that much easier for him to apply all the new licks and technology we
didn't have back then to this old gem of an original EK rock song
single written on my parents home piano.
♫
Click here to preview on YouTube
'Tracez'
♫
Click here to
purchase
'Tracez'
on Amazon.com for .99 per MP3 download
|

Nothing's Wrong Song By Eric Kinkel
© 2020
( Country)
Eric Kinkel, Vocals, Acoustic guitars Bass
Donna Adler: Duet Harmony track
Ken Pfeil: Co-producer, Digitally applied drum
track
Engineered and recorded by
Gary Lingner & Ken Pfeil
|
Towards the end of the summer 2020, I dug up another gem from my deeply
cherished treasure chest of songs, this time it was an old country song
I wrote when I was fawningly in love...again...LOLm
Her name was Lynn C. If ever there was a time to use the
saying 'opposites attract' this relationship surely was embodiment
of the phrase. When
opposites attract if not careful to maneuver it is bound to crash. We did
manage to get an apartment together, we co-existed for about a year and
a half before we mutually agreed upon a split.
However, in the early days of the relationship that was set up by a close friend
Terri D.
we ensued clinging to each others youthful lust, and everything that a
dating relationship would go through before arriving at a steady love
beat. We felt like we were in love, so, I wrote about
it in this song, again I was twenty something years old looking for a
relationship I could live with. Previously, I had a roommate named Mike
who helped me get out of my parents home, as he needed help paying his
rent. he knew I was looking to get out from under my parents thumb.
Therefore, I split an apartment with Mike for approximately 4-5 years
before I met Lynn, at which time Mike and I came to an impasse when our
lease came up. I wanted to get
an apartment with Lynn and move on. My room mate Mike wasn't to
happy about the split, but knowing that Lynn and I could forge ahead
gave me high hopes I could finally co-exist with a woman in a
meaningful relationship without the uncomfortable circumstances of a room mate
who also had a GF of his own. BTW, Lynn and Mike's GF did not get along.
That helped forge the split with my room mate, and Lynn and I could move
in together in a place of our own.Oddly,
I don't ever remember Lynn ever liking the song after I played it
for her in the early days, though most women
would probably find it an enchanting and romantically moving song
to be the subject of, in my opinion.
So, years later I played 'Nothing's Wrong Song' with some bluegrass folks
I used to jam with and they absolutely loved the song, in fact Charlie
and Carol Lie got married shortly after we rehearsed the song.
We performed it several times at some gigs we got. As the
years rolled on, I managed to
hang onto an old cassette tape that our soundman Billy D. recorded
during a rehearsal. It was that old cassette tape which I later
digitally transferred to an MP3 and re-listened to in 2020, that got me to thinking I should
get moving on
properly recording gem of song the way it was meant to sound, as I envisioned
it when I wrote it.
So, this past late summer, early fall 2020 Gary
and I began working on recording the basic tracks. The original
bluegrass group had a female singer who sang a duet harmony with me on
that early cassette tape. So, I sought out a new female duet
singer as I lost touch with the older woman who sang on the original. I
found Chicago's very own Dona Adler. Her voicing's matched exactly what
I was seeking for this romantic country song refrains.
I laid down the acoustic guitar the bass track and finally my
vocal, then Ken Pfeil added some electric guitar and a nicely formulated
country guitar sound solo. Ken also added a digitally created
Nashville drum kit to the recording. Between Gary, Ken, Donna and I we
managed a nice over all country touch to this song. Its now a contemporary country song
rather than an old cassette tape laying around buried.
Again, I successfully resurrected another gem from my cherished treasure
chest of songs. I present to you: 'Nothing's Wrong Song'
♫
Click here to preview 'Nothing's Wrong Song' on
YouTube
♫
Click here to
purchase 'Nothing's Wrong Song'
on Amazon.com for .99 per MP3
|
Copy Songs
▼ |
|

Eric Kinkel's rendition of
'I Brought my father With Me'
By the late Michael Peter Smith
(Ballad)
Eric Kinkel: Vocals, Acoustic Guitars, Synthesizer cello, Synthesizer
accordion
Engineered and recorded by
Gary Lingner
Recorded in October 2020
|
In early October 2020 I began thinking of something nice to do for my
father's upcoming 94th birthday on October 28th. Father said he
didn't want anything for his birthday, and that just didn't set right
with me, after all he's done to raise me.
So, I came up with the idea to record
a couple of 'Father/Dad' songs by I had known for years how
play rather proficiently. These are songs I had previously never
performed in concert or out in the clubs. Over the year's I always
interned on squeezing these 2 song's in my sets somewhere along the, and
yet I was remiss in doing so.
I went to my friend Gary's home
studio and asked if I could lay down these tracks for my father, and
take a simple approach...no, real over producing or added instruments
other than vocals, acoustic guitars and maybe a synthesizer track or
two, here and there.
Prepared as I was over the years,
I took to the mic's and projected all the feelings and sympathetic
emotions I shared with the original writers of these songs. In
this case I chose 'I Brought My father With me' by the late
Michael Peter Smith. If you're a fan of mine and maybe you attended
any of my benefit concert's for my late sister, you probably heard
Michael Peter Smith songs that I performed, in addition to that Michael
was my special guest performer at my first benefit
concert
in 1997 at The Schaumburg Prairie Center For The Arts. Also, to note,
Michael wrote infamous classic 'The Dutchman' which I recorded on
my first album 'A Long Time Away' in 1988. In the years to come I
learned allot from him, performance demeanor, finger picking
styles, song creating and arranging, story telling lyrics etc... 'The
Dutchman' was a fine example.
Years later Michael recorded a song about his father, log after his
father passed on. The song remains an emotionally charged lyrically
poignant story song that reveals the powerful connection that often
exists between a father and son throughout the many stages of life.
I chose to record a simple acoustic guitar track on my Martin 00X1
concert model guitar. It didn't take long to dig deep into this well rehearsed and certainly
well crafted song by on of the most prolific song writers from the
Midwest to ever grace the stage. I was deeply honored to have the
opportunity to not just perform this song for a crowd at a concert but,
this was an opportunity to record it, and feel my way through it in my
own unique way.
I not only recorded my acoustic guitar and vocal track but I also added
some cello and according using my Medeli 88 key digital piano. This
recording is far from perfect, but, it is filled with my personal
emotions and personal ins trumental
techniques that vary somewhat from MPS original recordings.
Because of Covid, I had to postpone playing the song for my father on a
boom box since Dad lives in an assisted living facility. My father
is NOT a musical person, he really never was, but, I think at 94 he
catches glimpses of my talent in a rather trivial way. Somewhere
deep down , I know he understands my sincerity in all I do musically. I
have a multiplicity of talent my father has always been ignorant
of. Its just the way he is...always has been. I accept it for what it
is.
Click the link below this line to preview
'I Brought My father With
Me' on SoundCloud a free listening platform.
♫
Click here to preview 'I Brought my father With Me' on
SoundCloud
|

Eric Kinkel's rendition of
'My Old Man'
By the late Steve Goodman
(Ballad)
Eric Kinkel: Vocals, Acoustic Guitars, Synthesizer cello
Engineered and recorded by
Gary Lingner
Recorded in October 2020 |
Harkening back to my father's 94th birthday again,
I took the opportunity to record o another
'Dad' song for my fathers pending birthday near the end of October
2020.I carefully chose the late Steve
Goodman's 'My Old Man' again, I kept it simple: acoustic guitars,
vocals, and some cellos, putting my unique EK touch on this famed
Goodman classic tear jerker and poignant lyrics about his 'old man' long
after he'd passed away.
Like the song above 'I
Brought My father With me', I carefully recorded and presented both
of these songs to my father.
As mentioned in the back-story about 'I Brought My father With Me'
I had to postpone my presentation of these recordings to my
father, because of Covid, I presented the songs together for my
father on a nice Sony boom box. Snce Dad lives in an assisted living facility,
there was no other way.
My father is NOT a musical person, he really never was, but, I think at
94 he catches glimpses of my talent in a rather trivial way.
Somewhere deep down, I know he understands my sincerity in all I do
musically. I have a multiplicity of talents my father has always
been ignorant of. Its just the way he is...an always has been.
I accept it
for what it is.
To preview my version of Steve Goodman's 'My Old Man' click
the link below to hear it on Sound Cloud for free.
♫
Click here to preview 'I Brought my father With Me' on
SoundCloud
|

Eric Kinkel's rendition of
Our National Anthem'
'The Star Spangled Banner'
(EK Arrangement)
Engineered and recorded by
Gary Lingner
By Francis Scott Key (1814)
Recorded by EK in October 2020
|
Back in 2003, I was messing around with our
National Anthem The 'Star Spangled Banner' on my acoustic guitar. I
wanted to do something different after hearing Tommy shaw do an acoustic
guitar version of it at Wrigley Field. In that same period of time, a
local DJ Steve Dahl had been playing Marvin Gaye's soulful version that
got recorded off a TV telecast of a basket ball game. I think it was in
Chicago...but, I can't be certain. Here is a
link to the Marvin Gaye version So, after carefully studying both
versions, then I began pulling bits and pieces of both versions together
on my acoustic guitar, starting out real slowly like Marvin Gaye,
eventually I picked up the speed as Tommy Shaw's version exemplified so
acoustically brilliant. I began fooling around with different chord
changes that were unlike any other heard in this Nationally treasured
song. When I came upon some delightful sounds that were
unique to me...it just felt right, and unique.
Then I began arranging the guitar and vocals to blend what I thought was
more or less an unorthodox representation and emblematic of my
individualism as a song writer and arranger. I managed to fulfill
my hearts desire to put forth my own rendition of our infamous National
Anthem. Then in 2004 I was asked to be a guest on a local Comcast TV
show called Community Connections where I got the chance to perform it
in their TV studio to be be taped and aired multiple times in the weeks
to follow. After the initial taping the entire production staff and
hosts in the control room got up and gave me a standing ovation, there
was even a guest in the studio at the time Senator Dick Durbin (D)
Illinois, he too witnessed the taping, he was in the control room at the
same time everyone was standing up and applauding me for the powerful
performance. I was shocked and my heart was filled with pride for having
out performed myself, since I was in a perfect setting for finally
giving the song a well deserved attention.
Afterwards, I began singing it at charily events and fundraisers
etc... I must confess I really enjoy bellowing out this particular self
arranged rendition. It is a source of incomparable pride and joy.
As the years rolled by, I eventually forgot about
this arrangement and it fell by the ways side. So, in September of 2020
I decided to actually to create a broader and more expansive arrangement in the
studio, and this time record my arrangement as I always saw fit.
I planned a trip to my friend Gary's home studio where we spent the
better part of 3-4 days working on this new brass and strings intro
arrangement I put together keeping John Phillips Souza firmly in mind,
giving the intro more of a strings and brass combinations marching band
style opening using my Medeli 88 key Piano...pictured here.
After we mixed the song and finely tuned it to our satisfaction. I
decided to do a video of the SSB. So, I called a videographer I knew
named Lindsey Holton of Downtown Media works in Arlington Heights.
Covid 19 was still a major issue, and, her formal brick and mortar
studio had been ravaged by fire, so, we couldn't film indoors at all.
Gratefully, she agreed to film it with the exception that we do the
video outdoors, since the weather was still clement. I then scouted out
a nice open area of a local forest preserve I knew was often vacant or
had few, or occasional visitors.
The video was a success.

♫
Click here to preview 'Star Spangled Banner' on
YouTube
♫ Click here to preview 'Star Spangled Banner'
on my website |

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2021
Updated:
03/05/2021 08:30 PM
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