The Ravens are ... 　　Bruce Brasher: Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Keyboards, Harmonica 　　Frank Hartis: Keyboards, Vocals 　　Mitch Hensdale: Drums, Percussion, Keyboards 　　 　　The album "Salon des Refuses" is really a compilation of songs written and recorded in a somewhat piecemeal fashion over about a ten year period.Though the principals were constant, over the years we used a number of different musicians from the Winston-Salem area. 　　 　　I find the songs a little hard to characterize other than to say that I strive for a sound similar to the music that I heard on the radio growing up in NJ in the 1960s and 1970s. I guess that makes it a bit dated but so be it. 　　 　　Having listened to a lot of classical music through the years, I was very fortunate to meet Frank about ten years ago in that his participation enabled me to use elements like strings and horns ( as well as his always tasteful piano playing) in many of the songs. 　　 　　Mitch studied drums and percussion at the NC School of the Arts, and lately I have relied on his rhythmic ideas and use of percussion to make my more traditional (read that boring) rhythms more interesting. 　　 　　As far as lyrical content goes, the songs run the gamut from the bottomless well of heartbreak and unrequited love (pick any track) to the somewhat quirky " On the Planet Mars", which is based on the crazed, memorable character of "Bruno" in Hitchcock's " Strangers on a Train" " Your Smile Again" was inspired by a Life magazine article about a highschool classmate of mine who perished in the climbing accident on Mt. Everest in the spring of 1996.The unique vision of hell in track 10 ... eternity in a diner in PA with the jukebox continuously playing 　　Tommy James' " Hanky Panky" arose from more than one winter of discontent in the rust belt town of Easton PA. (This of course is not to be critical of Tommy James and the Shondells, whose music I love). For a while I was very interested in the history of WWI, hence the obscure reference to the battle of Passchendaele in " The Sun is High" 　　 　　As far as the title "Salon des Refuses" ( I apologize for the absent accent aigu on the second "e" in Refuses) this refers to an art exhibition in Paris in the 1860s which included some of the emerging Impressionist painters. Rejected by the more prestigious Salon des Beaux Arts, 　　the artists had to have someplace to exhibit their beautiful paintings! The reference is both presumptuous and pretentious, but I decided to stick with it because I enjoy painting about as much as I enjoy writing music. 　　 　　B.B.