Just as high school came to a close on the cusp of summer 1994, my eldest brother salvaged two bewilderingly discarded cassette tapes from the wastebasket in the computer lab: Green Day’s breakout album Dookie and Nirvana’s bittersweet swan song MTV Unplugged in New York. That was the summer I actually started listening to music. Coincidentally, it was also the summer that my brother would bequeath to me his abandoned Synsonics electric guitar (with built-in speaker!), which I would use to learn Kurt Cobain’s simple riffs by ear, one string at a time. Months later, I was writing original songs that consisted of two or three crude power chords and vulgar lyrics provided by one of my best friends. I’ve since learned a handful of other chords and cleaned up the storylines, but the thrill of discovery still remains.

Here’s an exclusive new composition recorded especially for the retrospective documentary From Manila with Love, a look back at director Jack Hill’s 1970s women-in-prison action flicks The Big Doll House and The Big Bird Cage, both filmed in the Philippines (thus the “Manila” of the title). The goal was simply to record an instrumental that evokes the freewheeling cinematic landscape of the 1970s.

Admittedly, this sounds much more “spaghetti western” than “jungle boogie,” but I’m proud of it nonetheless. An alternate version was selected for the documentary, but this is my personally preferred arrangement. Enjoy!

From Manila with Love 5 (version 2)
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Also, as a lark, I attempted a remix of the theme song from The Big Doll House, “Long Time Woman,” composed by Les Baxter, with vocals by Pam Grier.  We ultimately couldn’t incorporate it into the doc due to music licensing restrictions, but take a listen and see what you think of it.  I finally learned how to use Antares Auto-Tune® while remixing this song!

Long Time Woman (Remix)
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