[Editor's note: This story will be updated daily with a new song from Matt Whipkey's Penny Park: Omaha, NE: Summer 1989. Whipkey will release the double album on June 22 at The Waiting Room. RSVP here.]
Penny Park is a person. Peony was an amusement park. The former spent a great deal of time at the latter. This is an album about a girl.
More than a long-gone amusement park, Peony Park has left an indelible mark on the city of Omaha and Nebraska in general. Many of us over 25 have those 80th and Cass Street memories.
Musically capturing the park's history for my new album proved a daunting and somewhat unrealistic task. I narrowed in on the one time of year I identify with Peony Park: summer. Honing in on the exact year to the era of my early childhood, I settled on 1989. Then, in my 8-year-old mind, teenagers seemingly lived on another planet. As a child, that world certainly intrigued me; as an adult, the allure of ‘89 has not lessened. With a time and place secured, what was left was the story. While rock 'n' roll has tackled numerous subjects, there’s one area where music has always been an authority: young love. There had to be a girl, there is always a girl, one with a name that brings it all back home: Penny Park.
With the 1990s at their doorstep and young adult emotions running hot, one young woman, Penny Park, will not get out of their head. The teenagers of Omaha, Neb., are fighting, bleeding, screaming, begging to tell you all about her. Over two albums of music bearing little resemblance to my previous efforts, Penny Park: Omaha, NE: Summer 1989 transports the listener to a time when your only concern is summer, summer, summer. What history dealt those Cass Street gates is readily documented. How the romance ends for these young men and Penny is anyone’s guess and everyone’s story.
For the last 12 years, I have been independently releasing albums. Be it solo or with my bands — The Movies, Anonymous American and The Whipkey Three — I have tried to maintain a relatively consistent schedule of an album roughly every year and a half. The Whipkey Three’s last record, Two Truths, was released in May 2012. Penny was conceptualized in the summer of 2011 but really took off during the ridiculous heat wave this last summer.
While other records dealt with more personal themes, Penny opened up a whole new world of writing and storytelling that fed off itself. The songs kept coming. One album quickly became two. The history and connection to Omaha has made this one of the most satisfying artistic experiences of my life. You’re always told, “Write what you know,” and for this lifelong Omaha native, that proved all too true.
"Waterslide"
One of the first songs written for Penny, "Waterslide" provided the thesis, “School's out, summer 1989.” Sometimes when writing, a phrase just happens, subconsciously perhaps, words spill into a microphone. When this occurs, it’s important to recognize that it is not completely accidental. As in the case with “Waterslide,” a slip of the tongue provided a character's name, a time and place.
The instrumental introduction was actually a separate piece of music at first. However, I soon realized it was in the same key and roughly the same tempo. For some reason, Whipkey Three drummer, Scott “Zip” Zimmerman and I have always had an affinity for the extended instrumental introduction. While we pull it off as a three-piece in concert, it was paramount that the recorded version established a cinematic context for the listener.
With a kaleidoscope of instrumentation, hopefully we achieved our goal. “Waterslide” also set the tone for the rest of the album, as each of the four sides features an instrumental section.
"Cliff Burton"
Twenty-seven years and three days ago, Metallica rocked Omaha’s collective nuts off at the Peony Park ballroom. According to attendees (our drummer “Zip” being one), it was pretty much the baddest ass thing that summer. Unbeknownst to Zip, Penny Park, our main character, was there as well.
Penny was only 14 and might have even snuck in (she claims to have saved her ticket stub), but it blew her mind. She was already a fan, probably from her ill-fated, badass metal older brothers’ album collection (no doubt first pressings of Kill 'Em All and Lightning). She couldn’t wait to see Cliff Burton live and in concert — he was her favorite.
A few months later, Mr. Burton met his untimely demise, changing many lives in the process. Metallica was never the same. Penny moved on to other bands, though she would always talk about the time she saw Metallica with Cliff Burton.
"Ticket Taker"
For years, I have definitely been a band guy, albeit with my roots in the solo acoustic game. Both are extremely satisfying ways of writing and recording music. On this album, it was paramount to explore new sounds and colors, work with instruments I haven’t on prior releases. My good friend, Doug Kabourek (Fizzle Like a Flood), lent me his somewhat ancient (1999) Roland XP-30 synthesizer and I went to work. Not a keyboard guy in the least, I found this way of composing parts amazingly liberating.
“Ticket Taker” is the first song on “Penny” worked on in this fashion. The basic chords and melody came together quick on an acoustic. Laying that down first, I now had a template for endless experimentation with the synth and drum programming. The result: two minutes of lots of pop.
Against of a backdrop of ferris wheels and swimming pools, “Ticket Taker” introduces us to Penny as the girl every guy wants, but seemingly cannot have: “a mystery, a miracle of make believe.” We have all met many Pennys in our lives, and even though we know better to reach for the unattainable, we always do. You are not the one letting her in, you have no say over that. It doesn’t matter that you’re not the ticket taker, she’s coming into your heart.
"Been Waiting"
Sometimes the better song happens in a matter of minutes or it takes seven years. “Been Waiting” was definitely the latter. The nexus of this number was composed in the summer of 2006 and quickly became a personal favorite. It always had this light-hearted, almost '60s pop feel that was very natural. While I always enjoyed the song immensely, it had never found a way into the bands' oeuvres. When working on Penny, I always knew this song was going to make the cut, it was simply too summer.
The initial recording “Been Waiting” was 80 percent the track that is heard on the album, maintaining even the chorus lyric. Written from the male perspective of longing for one who is already taken, our characters further stake their ground in Peony Park and the surrounding streets. It always seems summer brings out the teenage romantic, especially in teenagers.
"Tornado’s Watch"
“Tornado’s Watch” was the last song written for the entire double album. Having already had the sequence in mind, I felt there was a hole at the end of side one. Something needed to instill a sense that not everything was going to be a sunshine summer.
Many of the tunes later in the record deal with a certain sense of dread, a song earlier on the album needed to forecast that. “Tornado’s Watch” definitely deals with the reality of midwestern severe summer weather. Anyone who has lived in this area understands its ever presence.
Unlike any of the other cuts on the record, “Tornado’s Watch” is distilled to its most simplistic form: acoustic guitar and vocal. Aurally, the space only adds to its foreboding nature.
"See Me Someday"
The first song off of side two has been in The Whipkey Three repertoire for several years. Having never found its way onto our previous releases, I knew its upbeat positive feel was perfect for Penny Park. Only needing a few lyrical tweaks, the overall message easily fit into the theme of youthful devotion.
The chorus of “See Me Someday” has always struck me on a very emotional level. When I wrote it, I honestly do not know whom I had in mind. Over the years, it has become somewhat of a promise to our supporters who are no longer with us.
This last January, we lost a wonderful man and probably our number one fan, Gary Flanagan. The vocal was recorded the day I learned of his passing and honestly I could not even comprehend the news. I have dedicated this album to Gary, I fully expect he is browsing the Hear Nebraska pages as we speak.
"She's A Radio"
I was 8 years old in the summer of 1989, not exactly one of the hormone-driven teenagers the album concerns. Some of the strongest memories of my youth are that of the radio. My older sister’s hand-me-down AM/FM cassette boom box was one of my best friends.
In general, the radio played a more significant role in a young person's life then more than it ever will again. Radio has always dealt a great deal of inspiration, mystery and romance my way. For a songwriter, it still is the ultimate goal, to have kids across the land hear your music blasting out of their FM machines. 50,000 watts out of control.
“Long Distance Dedication” (featuring Tara Vaughan)
Continuing the theme of the radio set in the previous number, “Long Distance…” introduces the listener to Penny speaking for herself. In this instance, Penny is the amazingly talented Tara Vaughan. The song’s airy, almost innocent arrangement adds a youthfulness to Penny’s inevitable realization of her admirers true intentions.
On a purely personal end, I certainly recall all those long distance dedications on KQKQ, either on the way or coming from St. Joan of Arc’s 10 a.m. Sunday mass. It amazes me how many people conjure up similar memories upon hearing those three words. Radio: a very powerful force.
"DRMS"
Each of Penny Park’s four sides feature an instrumental. This cut is easily one of the most outside the comfort zone pieces I have ever recorded, and I love it! It always had this electro funky feel that could have actually come from 1989. Spy funk, enjoy.
"Roller Coaster"
Along with “Waterslide,” “Roller Coaster” was one of the first songs written for the album. At the time of its composition, I was still planning on the album being a split effort with Fizzle Like a Flood, one where I needed only six songs! It did not work out that way.
The recording of this song at my apartment last summer essentially opened the floodgates for the double album. My good friend Nick Neary was so pleased with the results he essentially said, “Why not record all of them like this?” While I did not record the entire album by myself in the spare apartment bedroom, half of it was. I feel it is easy to draw the distinction between the full studio band recordings and the solo efforts, though I initially thought the end result would be more obvious.
It is well known throughout the USA that Doug Van Sloun is the man, this album further proved it to me. Making two completely different sets of recordings flow together cohesively as one unit is no simple task, and he did it beautifully.
"83rd and Center St."
Penny Park… was definitely sequenced with great attention devoted to the sides. One of the awesome aspects of vinyl is the ability to present music in an almost chapter form. An album’s side allows you a maximum of 18 minutes (optimally) to present a cohesive piece of music before it demands flipping. As I mentioned, each side contains an instrumental. The first two minutes of “Waterslide” glow with all the promise that summer the key of E can offer. On side 3 we are again presented with a two-minute instrumental introduction in the key of E. This time not all is sunshine, minor notes are introduced in the pure fuzz menace. Special props to my brothers in crime, Scott “Zip” Zimmerman and Travis Sing for especially bringing the heat on this intro (and every song really). Our teenagers are running towards adulthood, whether they like it or not.
Being in the Whipkey Three canon for a few years now, “83rd…” always felt it was 99 percent there. Penny… allowed me an opportunity to develop the lyric into what it always should have been. I can recall so many teenage summer evenings (albeit in the mid 90’s) spent kicking around Cinema Center on 83rd and Center. There have been many an awesome movie theater to come and go throughout Omaha history. Cinema Center is easily my favorite.
"Sunburnt Lips"
Rock 'n' roll.
"Brand New Black Eyes"
Sprite Night through fuzz pedals.
"Five Times So Far"
Summer is nearing an end as our character expresses his devotion to Penny. I think the feeling of a summer crush or a summer fling is fairly universal, especially to someone in their teenage years. Certainly on my end there were many — mostly one-sided — as I often just chose to write bad poetry about them rather than do anything terribly decisive.
“Five Times So Far” has my favorite lyrics on the album. At least this week. The final track cut on the song was August cicadas from my front porch: a definitively summer sound.
"La Festa Italiana"
Labor Day weekend, La Festa Italiana, cherry sno-cones, harmonized guitars.
"Given to the Night (featuring Rebecca Lowry)"
It did not take long after writing "Given to the Night" (originally called "Love Isn’t Always Too Kind") in the summer of 2007, to realize I needed a female lead vocal. The right female voice to bring all the emotion out. I did not know Rebecca Lowry in those days, and thankfully I held off on having anyone else sing this song. She owns it. I have never been more impressed with someone’s attention to detail and passion in the studio while recording a vocal on a song they did not write. Her attention to the lyric exhibited a literary approach to music that is all too rare these days. Thanks, Becky.
While he is not on the track, special thanks to Scott Severin for “the” chord. Without that impromptu lesson this song would have never come to life. He’s the man.
"(I) Kind of Want to Die (Tonight)
I always felt the sentiments in this number and “Given to the Night” made them perfect companion pieces. On the actual album version, there are no stops between the two, one leads right into the other. So many times as a teenager and throughout my 20s, it felt like the end of a relationship was the end of it all. I now know that is not the truth, for better or worse.
"Teenager"
17 forever: a phrase that shows up throughout the album and helped guide the entire artwork process.
"07-04-1994"
Penny's in her 20s, things aren't that great at the moment. One of my favorites.
"Sunshine"
She was the sunshine
She was the sun
Not many songs move me to the point of tears. This is one. We all have regrets, and none of us get out of this world unscathed.