Welcome, trancelike, to the first-ever Web page commemorating

Jake's Birthday Party

No, not Jake's actual birthday party, but my [Leonard Richardson's] musical composition entitled Jake's Birthday Party, my first excursion into avant-garde music, presented as a 19th birthday present to Jake Berendes.

What's so avant-garde about it? Well, it's 120 verses long, it features a melody ripped off from a folk tune and an insanely repetitive drum/sample loop, and it's really bizarre. That qualifies it for avant-gardeness in my book. The story tells of one Jake Berendes, a youth who on his birthday is taken captive in his own home by a bunch of freaks who force him to party. But the best way, Scully, to find what it's about, is to read the lyrics. It's got action, intruigue, tepid romance, hot beats, funny cars, and The Free Software Song. How can you go wrong?

I wrote the song on July 13 and 14, 1998; recorded it on the 15th; and sent it off to Jake on the 16th, his birthday. He got it a couple days later, and dug it.

You can now listen to an MP3 of Jake's Birthday Party. If you're insane. It's about 33 megs. There's also a much smaller MP3 of the drum loop I used.

Many brain cells have been burnt trying to decipher the two "mystery samples" of myself I put in the drum loop, now let the truth be known! The samples are of me saying "rut rut rut" and of me crunching on Corn Chex.

You can now view the rather weird and superflous guide to JBP, which I don't know why I wrote it or why I wrote it like a guide to some old Icelandic sagas in English translation. Also includes the JBP FAQ!