BAND: American Zen
ALBUM: LEVEL 4 = Kung Fu Cowboy PART 1: King Solomon's Temple
American Zen was founded in 1992 when Coyote moved to Salt Lake City, Utah. Prior bands included The Rich and Coyote in a Graveyard rock opera. Coyote is also Buddha Zhen who records Tai Chi and Kung Fu music. Shaolin Records is releasing the acoustic solo recordings of The Coyote under the new band name, THC The Hippy Coyote, although his last gig at the Tribal Cafe, Los Angeles, in 2013 was billed as "Kung Fu Cowboy," not American Zen.
Check out the 2014 American Zen MEDIA KIT about the End of the Line album
All songs, lyrics and poetry written by Richard Del Connor, The Hippy Coyote.
Song List: King Solomon's Temple album by American Zen
All songs, lyrics and poetry written by Richard Del Connor, The Hippy Coyote.
Album available from Shaolin Records at:
Songs (in album order)
1. Kung Fu Cowboy
2. Boy and King poem
3. Spirit Gun
4. A Lucky Man
5. 33 Bass Players poem
6. My Life Belongs To Me
7. Elaine
8. Christmas Is
9. Dear Lara
10. You're Lazy
11. You'll Find Me
12. Flintridge Fire
13. From Within
14. Horses & Harleys
- related website: CoyotePoetry.com
- DESCRIPTION: Rock blues s
- Author COMMENTS: Written
- Song used in OTHER PRODUCTS:
15. King Solomon's Temple Penny Whistle
16. Hiram Abif
17. Kill the Spider
18. I've Been Thinkin'
All songs, lyrics and poetry written by Richard Del Connor, The Hippy Coyote.
Album available from Shaolin Records at:
Songs (in album order)
1. Use Me
- lyrics: americanzen.org
- lyrics: shaolinmusic.com
- related website: KungFuCowboy.com "American Zen"
- DESCRIPTION: Rock blues song with a slow bounce to it.
- Author COMMENTS: Written April 24, 2012. This song starts the album and my new life without a family. After being a Mr. Mom since 1991, I was unable to support myself financially. When I moved to Las Vegas to start a Shaolin Kung Fu school, I ended up being used and told to, "hit the road," after performing a couple months of Chinese Lion Dances for the existing Vegas school of my Kung Fu brother. I ran into some "seedy characters" and with my bald head and "Buddha Zhen" name being my primary Vegas identity... people started confessing to me. I heard things I'm still trying to forget. This horrible environment, abandonment, and near starvation... was a scary life in a city where I didn't have a single friend or relative. For the first time in my life, I feared death on a daily basis...
- Song used in OTHER PRODUCTS:
2. High School Graduation Reunion
- lyrics: americanzen.org
- lyrics: shaolinmusic.com
- related website: KungFuCowboy.com "Concerts"
- DESCRIPTION: British blues classic rock style of Coyote who used to play The Yardbirds, Cream, and Beatles...
- Author COMMENTS: I wrote this for my upcoming 40-year high school reunion of Patrick Henry High School in San Diego, California. The reunion was not what I'd hoped for as I was also soliciting everyone for Kung Fu and Tai Chi classes... for their kids... But I actually graduated from Prince of Wales Collegiate in St. John's, Newfoundland in 1971. I was exiled from the USA in 1970 for drug trafficking. When I returned to San Diego in 1972 to attend the June graduation ceremony of Patrick Henry, I had completed a year of Memorial University of Newfoundland "MUN" and hitchhiked home across Canada and down the Pacific Coast.
- Song used in OTHER PRODUCTS:
3. Scorpion Resurrection
- lyrics: americanzen.org
- lyrics: shaolinmusic.com
- related website: KungFuCowboy.com "Cool Stuff"
- DESCRIPTION: Light-hearted rock'n'roll with Coyote's autobiography of becoming the "Kung Fu Cowboy."
- Author COMMENTS: In February of 2013 Scott Karahadian and I completed the 4th draft of Kung Fu Cowboy Rock & Roll Movie 1 screenplay. Although there were 21 songs of mine in the movie, none of them had been written "for the movie." So I decided to write a song for the movie and this is what I wrote, "Scorpion Resurrection." Now can I win an Oscar?
- Song used in OTHER PRODUCTS:
4. Secret Asian Girl
- lyrics: americanzen.org
- lyrics: shaolinmusic.com
- related website: KungFuCowboy.com "About Buddha Kung Fu"
- DESCRIPTION: "Secret Asian Girl" was written for Kung Fu Cowboy Rock & Roll Movie 2. Classic rock blues style of the sixties is reminiscent of "Secret Agent Man" and "Taxman" by The Beatles.
- Author COMMENTS: I was truly in love with Secret Asian Girl when I wrote this song. Having completed the Kung Fu Cowboy Rock & Roll Movie 1 screenplay, my creativity sought the continuing saga and the answers to many questions... like, "Do ghosts exist... and how?" These questions are answered in ways that surprised me, so I know the audience will be surprised also.
- Song used in OTHER PRODUCTS:
5. Rock Me Hard
- lyrics: americanzen.org
- lyrics: shaolinmusic.com
- related website: KungFuCowboy.com "Chinese Cutlery page 2"
- DESCRIPTION: Fifties style rock'n'roll like Eddie Cochran or "Rock Around the Clock" by the happy hippie, The Hippy Coyote.
- Author COMMENTS: I was really horny, and happy, yet somehow almost starving... eating a can of fish, a grapefruit and cereal... but I was happy. I'm not as happy now as I write this, one year later. I'm in my daughter Caitlin O'Connor's apartment. Almost everything has been cleared out to their new townhouse in Sylmar, California. Caitlin keeps telling me, "You don't have any strings attached dad. You're free. You can go where you want and do what you want. You don't realize how lucky you are."
- Song used in OTHER PRODUCTS:
- Kung Fu Cowboy Rock & Roll Movie 2
6. Kung Fu Cowboy 2
- lyrics: americanzen.org
- lyrics: shaolinmusic.com
- related website: KungFuCowboy.com "Chinese Cutlery page 1"
- DESCRIPTION: I had a zillion lyrics for this song. I tested them on Rory and friends until I narrowed it down to these lyrics... which fit together beautifully.
- Author COMMENTS: I had a zillion lyrics for this song. I tested them on Rory and friends until I narrowed it down to these lyrics... which fit together beautifully in a logical final manner. There are some lyrics that I don't think have ever been aired on American radio, "...rooted to the ground in a horse stance."
- Song used in OTHER PRODUCTS:
- Kung Fu Cowboy Rock & Roll Movie 2
7. Take Me Apart
8. End of the Line
- lyrics: americanzen.org
- lyrics: shaolinmusic.com
- related website: KungFuCowboy.com "Samples of American Zen"
- DESCRIPTION: Vicious song about self-destruction and repeating the same mistakes over and over and over...
- Author COMMENTS: This song may have a generic angst to it--but it was inspired by a guy and a girl I knew in 2013 who were their worst enemies. You have to scream at people like them, because otherwise they don't take your seriously. But they've been screamed at and beaten down their entire life, so although they seem indestructible, they are ready to implode with just a little agitation.
- Song used in OTHER PRODUCTS:
- Kung Fu Cowboy Documentary 2014
9. Honor and Obey, Cherish and Protect
10. Black Hills Ride
11. Starting Over Again
12. End of the Line - Scott Mix
- lyrics: americanzen.org
- lyrics: shaolinmusic.com
- related website: youtube.com "Peace of Mind #2" by Scott Karahadian
- DESCRIPTION: A preliminary mix of the song as Scott packed up the last of his stuff in the Van Nuys office/apartment on Gault Street of Kung Fu Cowboy Rock & Roll Movie 1 LLC. Scott hurriedly mixed the song and put some neat effects on the vocal.
- Author COMMENTS: The mix of mine of "End of the Line" on this album has zero vocal effects. Maybe compression. I barely mixed a few elements of the song before I got locked out of the rap studio I was mixing in. They were having "trouble keeping the lights on." So this album, End of the Line, is hardly finished. There isn't a final mix on the album and only a slight bit of mastering using Scott's Logic program to adjust the volumes of the various songs together onto the album.
- Song used in OTHER PRODUCTS:
Check out the 2014 American Zen MEDIA KIT about the End of the Line album
About Shaolin Records
Shaolin Records was launched in 1984, releasing vinyl records and cassette tapes of Kung Fu music from Santa Monica, California. With its' origins in Shaolin Kung Fu and Zen Buddhism, Shaolin Records strives to 'enlighten and entertain™.'
Media Contact:
Richard Del Connor
Producer, Shaolin Records
www.shaolinRECORDS.com
About American Zen
American Zen is led by The Hippy Coyote who fronts the band on flute and acoustic guitar. Coyote is a renaissance man who writes all the music, lyrics, and poetry. The Christ Killer album cover is a self-portrait by Coyote near the tomb of Rudolph Valentino.
Media Contact:
The Hippy Coyote
The Happy Hippie of American Zen
www.americanZEN.org
Artists of Shaolin Records
1974 - Lotus
1978 - The Rich
1985 - Coyote in a Graveyard
1989 - Coyote Graveyard
1992 - American Zen
1994 - Buddha Zhen
2003 - THC The Hippy Coyote
2009 - Kung Fu Cowboy
2013 - Buddha Z
Shaolin Records Press Room