Dr. Bruce L Thiessen suggests that "Humor is the best way of playfully critiquing, while embracing one's roots, and he is practicing what he preaches. 

Following in the footsteps of Buck Owens, who was a big Bee Gees fan, and recorded one of their classics, Massachusetts, Dr BLT paid mildly mocking tribute to his Mennonite roots, while not forgetting to remember Robin Gibb, who recently passed away.  This was accomplished by recording this parody:

Menno Night Fever

And, in keeping with their tradition of occasionally going "beyond" the more traditional Bakersfield Sound, KWMR's co-hosts, Mike and Amanda, gave the new Dr BLT parody a spin, debuting the song on the 5/24/12 edition of BAKERSFIELD AND BEYOND. 

Killbilly Records has announced a release date for the Dr BLTribute song for Robin Gibb, TO LOSE SOMEBODY LIKE YOU.
Here is a rough video pre-release version:


To Lose Somebody Like You
words and music by Bruce L. Thiessen, aka Dr BLT © 2012
It is due for release on May 31st.

Dr BLT wrote this song, after Maurice passed away:
When the Bee Gees Were Three
Dr BLT © 2012
When the Bee Gees Were Three

It has been downloaded by hundreds of thousands of Dr BLT fans, and Bee Gees fans.

And finally, whether or not it will start the spread of underground Amish dance clubs is still not certain, but Bee Gees fan, Dr BLT has recorded this parody (as aired on KWMR's Bakersfield and Beyond), as a way of coping with his Mennonite roots, while paying tribute to Robin Gibb and the Bee Gees:



For more information, contact Dr BLT at:
drblt@drblt.net 

Freud suggested that dreams reveal unconscious conflicts and forbidden wishes too threatening for waking, conscious contemplation.  Jung suggested that dreams were teachers, and that if we paid attention to the universal symbols contained in our dreams, we would know what path to take when presented with multiple paths, and multiple choices. 

Scrooge, in Charles Dickens' "A CHRISTMAS CAROL," blamed the visit of a spirit in a chilling dream on "a bit of undigested beef," alluding to the physiological antecedents that likely also play a role in the formation and content of dreams.  In the following song, it is suggested that dreams serve another function, that of hiding aspects of conscious, waking experiences that would rather be forgotten.  In this song, the subject of the song finds comfort from heartache in the unlikely form of the dream. 

After listening to the song, share a dream you have had that serves this same escapist function. 

In My Dreams my Heart Ain't Broke
words and music by Dr BLT copyright 2012

In My Dreams My Heart Ain't Broke
when I went to sleep last night
I was holdin' you so tight
but you were gone when I awoke
in my dreams my heart ain't broke

last night when I went to bed
you were there inside my head
all my dreams went up in smoke
but in my dreams
my heart ain't broke

in my dreams
our love was strong
but I awoke
to a sad, sad song
the morn revealed a cruel joke
but in my dreams my heart ain't broke

Welcome to TTT: Topics, Tunes, and Talk.  I'm your host, Dr BLT.  Today we're examining the topic of domestic violence through a new remix and a new PsychMusicVid. 

MRS JONES MRS JONES MRS J O N E S
words and music by Bruce L. Thiessen, Ph.D., aka Dr B L T © 2012
Remix/expanded arrangement by Sean Mouradian
Mrs Jones Mrs Jones Mrs Jones

Ready to play Triple T: TOPIC, TUNE AND TALK?  In this game, I provide and topics, and the tunes (in this case, with Sean, the remix master and Ariel Black, who helped Sean put this PsychMusicVid together), and you, the listener, provide the talk in the comments section of this post.

This original Dr BLTune speaks for itself, and the remix, by Sean Mouradian speaks volumes.  Now that you've been introduced to the topic---domestic violence, and psychological grip it can have on the victim (or survivor, depending on your perspective), and you've heard the new remix, it's time to talk. 

How do you think the cycle of domestic violence can be broken?  Think outside the box.  Do you have a new perspective on the subject.  Do you have something new to offer the thousands of women (and in more cases than one might expect, men) who are trapped in abusive relationships?  How about the perpetrators?  Do you feel the perps are content, or do they feel trapped to?  How do we open the trap door and let the violence out?  You tell me.  Here are the lyrics: 

Stumbles down the stairs to meet the day
hair is tangled up inside a braid
fists are clenched in bitter fits of rage
will she face the future
or is she destined
for an early grave

his car is parked outside her humble home
naked to the world, she stands alone
tries to make it numb by getting stoned
will she bear another beatin'
or will she telephone

mrs Jones, mrs Jones, mrs Jones
she's found a man
but she still remains alones
mrs Jones, mrs Jones, mrs Jones
sticks and stones
can break your bones
mrs jones, mrs Jones mrs Jones

well they tell me that you just can't feel a thing
and they tell me that you just can't feel his sting
well a picture paints a thousand words of pain
will you try to find a better life
or will you die in vain

This brand new, original Dr BLTrack, off the forthcoming CD, HOLLY DAZE, expresses something in song that quintessential humanistic theorist, Karen Horney described in clinical terms as the description of a "moving away" person.  Others have depicted the phenomenon of the "allergy-stricken" person in the song as suffering from "fear of intimacy."  In existentialist terms, this corresponds to "fear of death," that is, psychological suffocation through symbiotic fusion. 

Similar phenomenon, different ways of expressing it.  Your job, if you choose to accept the mission, is to extend the creative audio expression contained in the song, to visual representation in the form of a PsychMusicVid.  After creating one, describe in a few paragraphs how you might expect your experience to have been different had you chosen to depict the phenomenon personified in the song in a scientific paper. 

She's Allergic to the Mistletoe
Dr BLT
words and music by Bruce L Thiessen, aka Dr BLT © 2011

she's allergic to the mistletoe and
she's allergic to the candle's glow
she's allergic to everything
that brings us together
in my Christmas dreams
she's allergic to the jingle bells
a cold and wintry world
is where she dwells
don't know why
only heaven knows why
she's allergic to the mistletoe

she's allergic to the mistletoe
the way our feet crunches
on the cold, wet snow
makin' angels as we
wave our arms
she's allergic to the Christmas charms
when I romance her with the songs I sing
she only sneezes when she hears old Bing
Christmas carols on the radio
she's allergic to the mistletoe

Dear Santa Claus
please fix this flaw
make her my girl
'cause she's my world
I want to kiss her by the
fire's glow but
she's allergic to the mistletoe
Dear Santa Claus
please fix this flaw
make her my girl
'cause she's my world
I want to kiss her by the
fire's glow but
she's allergic to the mistletoe...

Hear ye, hear ye!  Depression has been correlated with many factors over the years, often with Christmas, and with winter (Seasonal Affective Disorder) but, rarely with geography combined with the holidays.  How do you see geography in this song as it relates to depression, or, the "blues?" How do see the combined effects of the holiday and geography, in this case, "conspiring" to create the perfect storm for depression? 

Create a video for the song, then compare this way of expressing the matter to the way one might experience it when writing a formal, scientific article on the same subject.

Kern County Christmas Blues
Dr BLT
words and music by Dr BLT © 2011

Good day, students!  Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to communicate in visual images, what this song says to you, phenomenologically speaking.  While you're at it, download this Dr BLTune for free.  Stay tuned for more educational raps like "Chillaxin' wit da Facts In," and "Celebrate, Don't Hate the APA Po-Po."

Rap Lecture (On Scientific Writing)
Dr BLT
words and music by Dr Bruce L Thiessen, aka Dr BLT © 2011

Rap Lecture on Scientific Writing: Rap I
words and music by Dr Bruce L Thiessen copyright  2011

 This is my rap lecture on scientific writing
The scientific fish
I’ve heard that they are biting
I’m hopin’ through my song
You will find this stuff invitin’
My rap lecture on scientific writing
 
Research is complete
When the researcher will share
Scientific research in the general public square
The medium for that is the scientific journal
That’s where the passion burns
Like a sizzlin’ hot inferno
 
The journal’s the repository
Stuff where science is stored
Accumulated knowledge in the field we all adore
The literature contains
Past failures and success
Information and perspectives
From the worst up to the best
 
To start the writing process
One must carefully review
Evaluate the lit
So the past can be renewed
Without knowing what’s been done
Yo, how can you be sure
Your idea’s new, or rehashed stuff
From years before
 
The content of your manuscript
Must be clear and concise
How good are your methods
When you design them, yo, think twice
Avoid a piecemeal project
Or a single correlation
power-analysis deprived
negative results lead to stagnation

lack of congruence between a study’s operations
and the author’s interpretations
and discussion’s contemplation
of the outcome of the study
and failure to report
effect sizes, no control results you can’t support

"Wrap it Up" promotes responsible sexual behavior through the use of protection.  "You're Not the Kinda Ho (That Santa Had in Mind)," in both versions (pop and rap), promotes responsible sexual behavior through a re-examination of sexually promiscuous behavior and the potential delerious effects that result from such activity.  It's message is more a message of abstinence and monogomy.  There are many ways of examining the messages contained in these songs via science.  One could look at which sort of message is more effective in reducing sexually-transmitted diseases, and design a scientific study accordingly.  One could look at the relationship between sexual promiscuity early victimization via sexual abuse/molestation. 

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to pick one of these songs as an audio backdrop for a PsychMusicVid.  Create a video that reinforces the lyrics through visual images.  Then discuss the experience of addressing the corresponding issue in the context of the creation of a video as contrasted with how the same issue may be addressed via scientific research. 


Wrap it Up
Dr BLT: words and music by Bruce L Thiessen, aka Dr BLT copyright 2011
remix by Gary LaDuke aka GL, aka the G-L-ement


Not the Kinda Ho (That Santa had in Mind)
Dr BLT: words and music by Bruce L Thiessen, aka Dr BLT copyright 2011


Not the Kinda Ho (That Santa had in Mind: Rap Edition)
Dr BLT: words and music by Bruce L Thiessen, aka Dr BLT copyright 2011

Humanistic forms of therapy seek to equalize the playing field between "client" and psychologist, or mental health professional.  Rather than approaching "clients" as aloof, and/or as the "expert," humanistic forms of treatment have therapists self-disclosing and interacting with the patients more like an equal or a peer. 

In traditional, Freudian-based psychoanalytic orientations, the doctor embraced the mystique characteristic of the archetypal shaman figure or healer.   Yes, it created and/or reinforced dependency in the patient, and allowed for paternal projections to abound, but this type of transference, this type of dependency on the all-knowing doctor (especially in early stages of the therapy), and this sort of mystique was deemed useful and valuable to the developmental progression of the therapy process.  Rather than robbing the patient of his/her projections, Freudian-based psychoanalytical therapists used/use the transference to make important therapeutic advances.  It's the fuel that keeps the therapeutic engine running. 

It is from this perspective that the following song is written.  Your job, as the producer-in-training of a brand new PsychMusicVid to go with the song, DOCTOR OF YOUR MIND, will be to translate the lyrics into visual patterns that are consistent with what the lyrics and the music are attempting to convey. 

Doctor of Your Mind
Dr BLT (the GL redux mix)
words and music by Dr Bruce L. Thiessen, aka Dr BLT copyright 2011

Mrs. Pain is a song that is based metaphor.  The main character in the song, Mrs. Pain, is a metaphor for depression, and the story is a metaphor for an individual's existential struggle with depression.  The relief experienced by the depressed person in the song is expressed as a sort of prayer followed by a sort of divine exorcism.  Whether offered in the form of traditional psychotherapy, or psychotherapy by experts also trained in theology (something I call psychoPrayerapy), modern-day approaches can be depicted as a sort of psychological exorcism, with the psychologist, pastoral counselor, or other type of mental health professional, serving as an archetypal priest or shamon. 

Here's the PsychMusicVid challenge: Consider the experience of depression, and its relief via psychotherapy, or a combination of psychotherapy, medication, and/or alternative treatments.  Describe, in phenomenological terms, the difference between how you would approach the subject of depression using scientific language, and the way you would depict the aspects of depression, and its treatment as communicated in this song, through a music video, using visual languages based on the song instead of scientific terminology.  Then produce your video. 


Mrs Pain
Dr BLT
words and music by Dr Bruce L Thiessen, aka Dr BLT copyright 2011

I knew a weepin' widow
who lived down the street
every night she turned out the lights
and cried herself to sleep
every day she'd drew the shades
and hung her head in shame
one day I asked and I found out
her name was Mrs Pain

she had a son named Sorrow
and she had a son named Shame
she had a daughter named
Damsel in Distress, and
her nickname was insane
she had a dog named Down in the Dumps
she had a cat named Catastrophe
fish who swim
in a bucket of tears
and though it may sound strange
her name was Mrs Pain
her name was Mrs Pain

one day she came to my house
and started knockin' at my door
and when I answered the door
she said
I'm gonna tell you what's in store
I'm gonna knock you down
down to the ground
fill your heart and soul with misery
I said no thank you please
I don't need your disease
then I begged on bended knees
please Mrs Pain
please Mrs Pain

one day I prayed to the heavens above
for this woman to be gone
I knew she darked all of my days
and I knew I lost my song
well the lightenin' struck
the thunder roared
and Mrs. Pain was runnin' scared
well she took her pets
and her children too
and where she goes
you better beware
of Mrs Pain
beware of Mrs Pain...

As a scientific phenomenon, stalking is an interesting one to study and to describe.  Use scientific language to describe the experience (from either from the perspective of the stalker or the victim).  Then, using the song, and the story embedded in the lyrics, retell the experience from the character in the song's point of view, using visual images (still-life or video recording) to capture and convey the phenomenological experience of being stalked. 

Your Christmas Stalking

Dr BLT ft Shannon Lambert
words and music by Dr Bruce L Thiessen, aka Dr BLT copyright 2010
Remixed by Gary LaDuke aka GL

what's in your Christmas stalking
why are you stalkin' me
I love my fans but sometimes
you have to let me be

chorus:
I can't go anywhere
I can't go Christmas shoppin'
I can't go anywhere
without your Christmas stalkin'

what's in my Christmas stalkin'
you'll have to wait and see
I want an autographed copy
of your Christmas CD
(chorus)

I have to close my eyes and
I must turn out the lights
on my big Christmas tree
they won't be burnin' bright
I can't go carolin'
with all my Christmas friends
tell me when your stalkin'
will ever end

I can't go anywhere (repeat X4 or 5 times)
without your Christmas stalkin'...