"The Adventures of Pick & Pick" is a concept album that I made when I was 17. It is an imaginative tale of a person in search of something more. I've had this in the vault for over a decade and now is the time to share it. I have not altered anything. The story, album cover, and music are all artifacts from a younger me.

The Adventures of Pick & Pick by Baggypantsrich!
Background Info:
Pick is a bright 13 year old who lives with his Mom, Dad, and dog Buck. Maturity is highly evident in his intellect and persona. His favorite book is Walden by Thoreau, and it has heavily influenced his views on the world. He intensely dislikes money-oriented people and materialism in general. One product of this is his alienation from others. He feels that he is right about the superficial nature people but the only person to realize such. He gets along with other kids at school, but outside of school he is nonexistent. But, he makes no efforts to start friendships with others.
One Saturday morning he is home alone and wants to do something positive. He heads out of the house to seek something “real”.

Track one Song first
Pick is skipping in fields of sunflowers 2 feet high! He throws his arms in the air with glee and lets out an unrestrained, joyous bellow! “Ah, what life have I been missing!” he remarks to the ever-blue skies. He twirls until he is so dizzy that he can not bear himself and falls into the cushioning flowers. “The sweet smells of innocence! Nothing is needed but oneself,” he thinks. “What have I been missing!?” he laughs out loud.

Track two Guitar
Moaning sounds descend from the sky upon Pick. The once azure sky is now ridden with clouds. He stares in confusion. Rain and thunder pound down on the sunflower field. He runs for shelter but can not find a safe heaven. He cries out in agony; fear emanates from his skin. The rain pierces him. He trips and crashes into a pool of mud. His head is ablaze; he hears bells ringing, ringing, ringing. Everything is a swirl of emotions happening at once. The thunder distorts the ground. Cries for help come from his throat.

Track 3 inspiration
The storm passes over, and he finds a spot in a tree to sit and dry off. He closes his eyes and thinks about the storm. Three percussive sounds catch his attention. He opens his eyes and sees a crowd of people around a man. Then he remembers, “It‘s the street performing festival. Then that must mean that this is Strawberry Field Park.” The main attraction is an organ grinder. He begins to crank the street organ’s lever, and an interesting, droning sound comes out. A monkey appears and starts dancing. The people applaud and throw their loose change into a top hat near the monkey. Pick is disgusted. “I wanted to get away from all of this madness and relax. Is there nowhere where I can enjoy nature and life itself? These petty people clap and roar over a man and his monkey. All they want is satisfaction. Just look at how they waste their bloodmoney on the talent less monkey and man.” With that Pick climbs down from the tree and searches for another resting place.

Track 4 Nu
He finds a nice secluded pond and looks around to make sure he is alone. Pleased, he lies down on fallen tree trunk. The buzzing of dragonflies lightly accents the air. In the distance is a stray dog chasing some butterflies. A screeching cat comes behind the dog and hisses. The dog attacks the cat, and the cat begins to screech some more. The cat tries to fight back but soon scurries away to safety. The dog leaves shortly after, and Pick is left to himself and the buzzing dragonflies. “Ahh!” He jumps up and tries to get away from the bee. After running a few feet he realizes that the bee is gone. He goes back to lie down. After a few moments he sees the same dog again.

Track 5 Harmonica Ballad
Fed up with all of the distractions, Pick gets up and wonders looking for a more peaceful place of rest. He sees a wooded path and follows it. It is steep and slippery. He loses his balance and starts to run down the hill. Once at the bottom he sighs and notices a pretty stream weaving through the trees. He smiles and sits on some rocks near the water. He tickles the water with his finger and shuts his eyelids. “I’m out on a raft like Tom Sawyer fishing and having the good life.” He hears the flapping of birds’ wings and the leaves rustling. He stands up and continues exploring. After walking for about fifteen minutes he hears a glorious sound. He runs towards it. “A waterfall!” Only about six feet tall, but it is still a beauty. He sits down on some grass and watches it with contentment. “Now this is why I left.” He soon falls fast asleep and begins to snore.

Track 6 Tra
Pick is in London running freely amongst the many day trippers walking to work. But, he is not tense in the least. He can hear the people around him dialing their loved ones. Whispering gentle words of comfort. Laughing. Singing. Love. He begins to miss his own family. He hears a clock ticking and some rats scheming and scurrying. And then it seems like everything cadences. He hears opera singers in a nearby Church. It all happens so fast and dies down so suddenly. Big Ben strikes one o’ clock.

Track 7 experiment 2
Everyone starts walking the opposite way Pick is walking. They all look the same, even in their expressions. Serious but with a hint of fear. It’s almost as if the city is being evacuated. He keeps walking. Soon, his legs pierce with pain, and a sweat breaks out on his face. Everything slows down, but the people speed up. He feels like he is underwater. Something doomful is going to happen. Tapping; he hears motorcycles speeding up and an alarm fading in the distance. And then some broken toys’ sounds. Some deranged man is screaming and panting over unnatural destructive sounds. The man drives off into the distance on a motorcycle, and soon all is quiet.

Track 8 Singgg
Pick is no longer afraid but hungry. A deli across the street is selling hoagies at half price, so he heads in wondering if he has enough money.
“Where in the world have you been?”
Pick drops his jaw, “Mom!”
“Where have you been? You haven’t done anything around the house,” she directs to her son.
“I needed to have some quiet time. There’s to much going on. I just wanted to relax.”
“Oh really! Why now? You do enough of it at school!”
Pick can’t believe it. “I get Bs in almost all of my classes, mom.”
“I don’t care about that.”
“What do you care about?!” he yells, “I’m never pleasing to you am I? And why is that!?”
“Calm down, Pick.”
“No, no, no! You shut up!” he starts to cry, “you just want me to be more like Buck! Well, I’m sick of it! What do I have to do to get you to care about my life! It’s never enough!”
“Buck! Is that a joke? He’s a dog!”
“What!”
His mother becomes enraged, “everything I’ve done for you and this dang family! And you are just going to forsake me like that?!”
“It’s never good enough!!” yells Pick.
They go back and forth with the former and latter statements. Each time they do they say it in a different language.
Track 9 Rock a bye baby
Pick ends the rant with a clap of his hands. “That’s it!”
He runs out of the deli and looks for a place to be by himself. He sees a tree and subsequently runs over to it. He is almost three fifths up it when he misses a branch and falls off. He lands on his ankle and goes into a fit of pain. Surges of electricity shoot through his nerves and gather around his ankle. His head is clouded with disconnected thoughts and high pitched screams. His mother walks over and rests his head on her lap. He looks up at her. She holds his hand.
Track 10 Lost in time
Soon Pick is in an ambulance beside his mother. Doctors are surrounding him, and he is barely awake. Gadgets of every kind are on the walls. He cares not what they will do to him. A constant drilling sound pervades the ambulance. His mother is crying in the corner, and some doctor is trying to get her to sign a paper. The drilling sound morphs and changes and is soon integrated into Pick’s brain. It’s like the drilling sound is some sort of antibiotic to calm him or focus him on something else, something otherworldly. It speeds up and then softly ends. Pick wakes up abruptly. He is back in the real world. He looks at the waterfall and the stream. “It’s time to go home,” he says surely.
Track 11 Garbage
Pick opens the door to his house and is flushed with a rush of energy. His parents are yelling at each other and are dressed in fancy clothes. The television is on but is on one of those weekly program checks, so strange sounds are playing. The dog is barking because he wants to be let out into the backyard to clean out his system. And the radio is blasting white noise.
“Your father and I are going to a concert,” his mother yells down the stairs, “there is some food on the table. Let the dog out.”
“Yes,” Pick answers and then adds, “mam’”