First and foremost, I am a composer. With the advent of YouTube, it became apparent that adding visual imagery would garner more interest in my work then a static audio presentation. I’d already created a body of photography and visual art that I could draw on for this purpose. To this I added video clips, the purpose of which was to help listeners better understand the context of my vision.

"It is pianist and composer in unison. A combination of Liszt and Monk at work. What Mr. Spicka gives us in A Glassful of Doubt, is a self-contained, bold declaration of belief in the creative spirit." - Mark Yacovone, Program Director, WDUQ-FM - Pittsburgh
  • French Kiss
    Track #1 - Nobody said this was taking place on the Earth, or any other part of the known universe for that matter. And speaking of things that "matter," perhaps this is a view of theorized "Dark Matter."
  • Blue Aeons
    Blue Aeons is quite appropriate as jellyfish and the coral counterparts (Cnidarians), are now thought to have appeared on our planet some 580 million years ago, which is before the Cambrian. Perhaps the start of the Cambrian will have to be moved further back in geologic time, which is not all that unusual - because as more research goes on, new discoveries are continually being found. What's interesting is that "corals" have gone extinct several times in our planet's history, most noteably the "Great Dying" some 250 million years ago, in which more species then the extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs. Track #2: Recorded via midi from a Korg SG-1 digital piano, PreSonus interface, using Cubase software.
  • Wrong Direction
    In a way this symbolizes my life, especially after I went away to college. I attribute this mainly to gross naivety, and not being properly educated as to the properties of the "real" world.
  • Unecessary Flowers
    An anti-war statement. If the dead who lie beneath these gravestones could speak, what would they say? That they gladly gave their lives as heroes? Or would it be of how terrified they were?
  • One Minute
    Actually more then two minutes in length. I see this as a tribute to me as a kid - a curious kid with a very active imagination. The fuzzy background image is one I took at Ocean City Maryland, about 2011. The added imagery was obtained via royalty free video downloads. Track #6 on the stream-of-consciousness CD, "A Glassful of Doubt."
  • Affectation
    With regard to the "Arts," the subject is ubiquitous.
  • Way Off Track
    Personally, I don't think the music is as "way off" as the visual artwork, which is based on my 1981 pen & ink drawing, "Tometha." During the 1980s, a newsletter editor would on occasion publish some of these quick sketches, having dubbed them, "Planetscapes." Track #8, "A Glassful of Doubt."
  • Redundancy
    I think the imagery itself explains the title. As I've mentioned before, rather then music, I'm using visual imagery to better help explain my work. There are more visual artists then composers, and I noticed years ago that they tend to listen more with their eyes then ears ... Track #9 - "A Glassful of Doubt.
  • The Number Five
    This clip is inspired by the 1986 comic, science-fiction film, "Shirt Circuit." Number 5 is an experimental military robot that is struck by lightning and gains a humanlike intelligence. I wonder if something sort of like this happened to me. Of course with me, I was struck by psychosis ...
  • Allusion
    What's interesting about this, is that it's your brain that's moving, and not the imagery. Track #10, "A Glassful of Doubt."
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