Billy Dechand

Aug 11, 2022

Billy's Books 66: Star Wars: Shadow of the Sith

Billy revioews the latest Star Wars novel, Shadow of the Sith, by Adam Christopher. It takes places between episodes XII and VII, introducing sweet baby Rey.

As usual, thanks to the Saint Louis Public Lirbary. Support your local library!

Jul 10, 2022

Billy's Books 65: Beastie Boys

Here's a music review. An interesting and amusing story of an interesting and amusing band.

Jun 16, 2022

Two More Lyric Videos

I'm two steps further along on my quest to have a music video (of some sort) for every song on my recent album, UP. Some are better than others. Here's my cute dog, Lola, acting out the agony of insomnia in "Tired, Not Sleepy". For the record, she has no trouble sleeping; she's simply acting!

I had great ambitions for this lyric video, but it didn't turn out quite like I imagined. But for the sake of transparency -- and since it took so long to make -- here it is anyways: "History, Making It":

UP is available on many online services, including:

May 27, 2022

Billy's Books 64: Valiant Ambition

Nathaniel Philbrick wrote our latest Revolutionary War history book: Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution. The basic lesson is a familiar theme in history: treat your soldiers well, or they just might turn on you. The first half of this book is pretty sympathetic to Gen. Arnold: an ambitious, aggressive, kick-ass soldier. Unfortunately, due to various cicumstances explained in the book, he gets treated poorly frequently enough to feel under-appreciated -- and under-compensated. Careful there, (Continental) Congress.

As usual, thanks to the Saint Louis Public Library for lending me the book. Support your public library!

May 17, 2022

Lullabye (Park Video)

Here's another simple, contemplative music video for another UP track, this one being "Lullabye". You can make it a lyrics video by turning on the Closed Captions option (CC button). I wrote this back in the '90s when my niece, Emily, was born. I re-recorded it with my friend, David Helling, playing guitar.
When I make these simple videos, the image is meant to be interesting enough to get your attention, but boring enough so that you might just use your ears more than your eyes. One can hope. Video killed the radio star.

LULLABYE
Words & Music by Billy Dechand

All day we play in the yard
Sun shines all day 'til it falls
Then at night we sleep

All night we sleep in our beds
The moon shines all night 'til it falls
Then at dawn we wake

All day we play with our friends
The sun shines all day 'til it falls
Then at night we sleep