We’re an evolving project of discovery.

Our ideas, our music, our web pages, all in motion.

We’re history lovers, mostly storytellers.

Song Stories

Follow the journey below while listening to each song.

TIME LINE

Nothing

600 Million Years Ago, the first amoeba appeared.  After it split, the first half lived.  Amoebas have infinite life spans.  So the original amoeba may still be alive. 

3.7 million years ago – Little Foot, most complete hominin skeleton – located in South Africa 

 

160,000 years ago – Partial skull of Denisovan found in China dated this old

 

64,000 years ago – oldest Neanderthal cave painting

Bones

300 kya to 250 kya – First African peoples.

40,000 BCE – Native Americans.

24,000 BCE – 11,300 – Last Glacial Maximum (Ice Age) in North America.

8,000 BCE – Lenape Tribe – New Jersey 

2,000 BCE Beginning of Spanish culture.

1314 BCE – Moses and the Ten Commandments. Timeline of Jewish History

374 BCE – Confucianism.

10,000 BCE – Beginning of continuous homo sapiens in England. First Britons | Natural History Museum

862 CE – Russian culture.

1185 – Giolber de Totehille.  Early Tuttle in England. Tuttle History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

1532 – 1534 – Henrician Reformation in England, Henry VIII.  Anglican Church established. English Reformation

1562 – 1621 – Calvin minister – Andrew Willett. Willett History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

 

1635 – Planter – Puritan ancestors arrive in New Haven, CT

Hart Island

13.8 billion years ago – Big Bang 

4.5 Million years ago – Ardi, (believed to be female) – the first Hominin skeletal remains was found in Ethiopia

 

Denisovans other groups…ghost lineage

 

Bones

 

340 kya – Homo Sapiens.

Earliest art

220 kya – First African people migrate.

26,000 BCE – Neanderthals extinction estimated.

14,000 BCE Native South American peoples in Chile.

3,500 BCE – Slave trading in Sumer in Mesopotamia. History of Slavery

1600 BCE – Chinese culture.

411 BCE – Buddhism.

33 A.D. – Creation of Christianity

Early Anglo-Saxon history (410–660) History of Anglo- Saxon England.

1060 CE – Early Burwell in Cambridgeshire, England. Burwell History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

1517 – Reformation – Luther published the 95 Theses, Edict of Worms (schism), 1521.

1559 – Elizabethan Religious Settlement of 1559, Puritans returned to England from exile in Europe.  Beginning of Puritanism in England.  Puritans – Wikipedia

1619 – American slave trading and slave holding begins.

1624 – The Dutch established New Amsterdam.

1664 – British take over New Amsterdam and rename it New York. 

1729 – Carolina Province officially split into North and South Carolina when the crown took it over.

1775 CE – Zachariah Burwell signs Articles of Association in Philadelphia, PA.

1786 – 1787 – Shays’ Rebellion.

1807 CE – Marinus Willett (1740 – 1830) – Mayor of New York, NY

1811 CE – German Coast Uprising, slave revolt in New Orleans.

1846 CE – 1848 –  CE Mexican-American War

1898 – Spanish-American War:

Clinton Edward Bell – contracted a disease in the war, died 1900, age 22.

April 1, 1917 – Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Russians surrender World War I.

January 1918 – Red Army founded to fight the White Russians. (White Army)

1941 – 1945 – World War II (United States)

Sidney Joshua Kalmanowitz (Kaye) – Captain, Medical Administrative Corps, discharged November 15, 1946.

G.C. Courtney Navy.

Rufus Gwyn – Courtney line – Navy

Mary Ivey Courtney – Courtney line–1942 – Lieutenant WAVES

Marcus Vincent Courtney — Lieutenant.  Army Air Forces, B-24 Pilot, January 1943 – June 6, 1944, killed in action.

Magruder H. Tuttle — Captain in the Navy, senior officer at Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941.  Long history in the navy.  

Major Henry “Harry” W. Burwell.  October 1942 – December 1945.  Lieutenant Colonel.

Cmdr. George “Ernest” Burwell, Jr. Navy pilot, anti-submarine flying boat. 

James Bell Burwell – Brigadier General, pilot.  1937

Henry Warren Burwell II – enlisted before the war started.  Navy.  Petty Officer First Class.

Clyde Morton Burwell.  1928 – United States Cavalry, then reserve officer.  Active duty.  Cannibalize airplanes for parts.

Floyd Norvel Blackwell, Jr – Courtney line by marriage – Navy.

George Ernest “Buster” Burwell III — Hospital Apprentice, First Class, 6/10/43 to 5/17/46

1950 – 1953 – The Korean War.

Clyde Morton Burwell. Colonel in the Air Force.  

Magruder Hill Tuttle (see above.)

Sam Austin Hartley – Courtney line.

Lloyd Williams.

1663 – The Carolina Province was officially founded by eight Lord Proprietors.

1665 CE – Thomas Willett – First Mayor of the City of New York.

1756 CE – 1763 CE French & Indian War aka the Seven Years War.

Noah Tuttle served 1757.

1776 CE to 1783 CE – Revolutionary War

Lucius Tuttle served 1776 – 1777.

Isaiah Tuttle served in the 3rd New Jersey Regiment, “The Jersey Blues,” dates.not known, but he got a Revolutionary War pension.  

Zachariah Burwell, Sr.  served in the 2nd New York Regiment, 1778 – 1779.

Zachariah Burwell, Jr. died at the Battle of Cowpens, 1781.

Robert Bell – served 1777 – 1784 1st North Carolina Division.

Jordan Sellers – guard duty in SC, till 1783. 

1791 – 1794 – Whiskey Rebellion.

Zacharia Burwell, Sr. – with Washington’s troops to quell the Whiskey Rebellion.

1807 CE – Launch of Fulton’s first steamboat in New York.  Went to Albany from the East Side, then up the Hudson.

1812 – 1815 – War of 1812

Benjamin Eli Burwell – July 23, 1813 – August 1, 1813.

1861 CE — 1865 CE – American Civil War

Benedict Marcus Tuttle – 1st Regiment, North Carolina Cavalry Company

James Courtney – volunteered for the Confederacy at 50 years old.

Andrew Hull Courtney – lost a leg at Gettysburg. 

1863 – Ellen’s great great uncle Andrew Hull Courtney lost his leg at Gettysburg fighting for the Confederacy.  

Henry Clay (Uncle Clay) Courtney –Enlisted July 15, 1861,  killed at Spotsylvania Court House, May 12, 1864.

1864 – Ellen’s great great uncle Henry Clay Courtney was killed at Spotsylvania Court House in Virginia, fighting for the Confederacy.  

Alonzo Etheridge Bell – Captured at Fort Hatteras, 1861.  Kept a diary as POW. 

Kenneth Raynor Bell – sergeant, 32nd NC Infantry Regiment, the Lenoir Braves.

 

1914 – 1918 – First World War. (1917 – 1918 United States, 1914-1917 Russia):

Isaak Chertok-Chertoff – Tsarist army.  

George Ernest Burwell – Navy pilot.

Robey Keener Courtney (“Boodle”)    1917 – 1919 5th Marine Regiment, wounded at Belleau Wood.  PTSD.

November 7, 1917 – Bolsheviks take power in Russia.

RTR

1947 – The Russian Tea Room

1955 – 1975 – Vietnam War.

Magruder Hill Tuttle (see above.)  Also see newspaper clipping from September 1957 (no date on clipping) when he was assigned command of USS Philippine Sea (CVS-47).

Harry Courtney Tuttle. Chief Warrant Officer, helicopter pilot. 

Robert Ervin Tuttle – Death – 8 May 1968, Quang Nam, Vietnam.

We all come from somewhere. Our own past swirls around us, fog like, mysterious, unknowable. The deeper we get into the telling of our own tales the more the past tugs, nips and bites.

All my life I looked forward, but in my late fifties I found myself looking back to the stories that made my world and the worlds of my ancestors.
This is our project, Old Bones Odyssey. Like my Puritan ancestors who arrived in the colonies in 1635 on a ship called The Planter, we’re embarking on an odyssey. Like my Russian Jewish grandparents who came through Ellis Island in the late nineteenth century, we’re setting sail for parts unknown. We’re exploring American history through a small portal that takes us into my genetic and philosophical family tree. Each of us comes from a fascinating jumble of people. Each life traces a map that leads us to today.

Our aim is discovery. To gain a deeper understanding of our world and our country right now.

VOLUME ONE

CHAPTER I

Old Bones Odyssey

We’re creating a different kind of family tree: a philosophical one, made of ideas, thoughts, beliefs; accepted, rejected, swallowed whole, discarded, maintained, nourished and destroyed.

Of love found, simmering hatreds, adoration, ancient feuds, hidden desires, religious wars, long buried resentments, deep seated enmities, loyalty, transcendence, harsh disappointment, disillusionment and hope.

We’re all made up of philosophical family trees with ideas dangling off the branches. Call it a Thought Tree, an Idea Tree, a Dreams Lost And Found Tree. The beliefs of my ancestors are intriguing to me. The good ideas. The bad ideas. How they lived and what traces are left in the family I knew growing up. What vestiges of these ideas are still running through the laws and minds of our country creating the context of our current version of America.

REPAIR WITH GOLD

THESE WALLS ARE ALIVE

OLD BONES ODYSSEY

GHOST LINEAGE

CHAPTER II

The Whole New Universe

Where does a story begin? Like an endless matryoshka doll. Wherever we start we want to know what came before.

THE BIG BANG

NEANDER VALLEY

CHAPTER III

Seekers Songs

It’s the toss of a coin. How your life plays out. Adventure, ruin, comfort, hunger. Wild seas, deep deserts, cruel cities, new worlds.

These seekers’ songs are stories of leaving home, being on the run, longing for a new home, a safe place where you can rest your weary soul. And keep your children safe.

STARDUST AT MY BACK

The adventure, the hope, the dream.

The Unknown

Exile. The horror, the pain, the wrenching misery of leaving a beloved home.

SLEEPING SHADOWS LULLABY

On the run, the danger, the hunt. What it is to be the prey. Your baby on your back. Running swift through darkened forests. Following a star.
CHAPTER IV

Family in the Carolinas

LOVERS ON HORSEBACK

BUSTER BLUE EYES

VOLUME TWO

CHAPTER V

The Russian Tea Room

CHAPTER VI

A Manhattan Fairy Tale

A MANHATTAN FAIRY TALE

CHAPTER VII

The Road

RENEGADE

CHAPTER VIII

Hart Island

RIVER STYX

HAUNTED HART

CHAPTER IX

PENTIMENTO

MY OUTSIDE HEART

YOUR OYSTER

MAXFIELD PARRISH SKY

CHAPTER X

Our Story Continues

NO WOMAN DIED TODAY

Repair With Gold

Lyrics by Ellen C Kaye    |     Music by Ethan Fein

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Repair With Gold
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Repair With Gold

…what’s broken is the story, it’s the beauty of the object,

of the person, of the life…

Click here to read more…

Ellen C Kaye – Lead Vocal
Ethan Fein – Guitar
Diane Monroe – Violin
Andrew Drelles – Bass Clarinet
Koa Ho – Upright Bass
Perry Cavari – Drums
Jackie Presti – Backing Vocals
Soara-Joye Ross – Backing Vocals

Our world is hidden
We are hidden to ourselves 
To each other
But the sparks of light
Lie in wait
Inside us all 

Seams of gold 
A lovely porcelain bowl 
Made of earth and dust  
Passed down from hand to hand 
From life to life
Home to home 
Seams of gold 
In a window sill 
Lit by the sun 
A breeze blows by
Generations come and go

Seams of gold 
Winds blow in from the cold 
Made of smoke and dust 
Passed down from hand to hand 
From life to life
Heart to heart  
Seams of gold 
In a window sill 
Broken in two 
The years sweep by 
Generations come and go

Veins of gold fill the cracks of what’s been shattered 
Veins of gold are the scars of who we are 
Only hearts can see what’s hidden 
Only hearts can see the light 
Shine a light 
Shine a light on the broken pieces 
Shine a light 
Shine a light on the hidden scars 
Shine a light
Shine a light on what’s forgotten
Take the broken pieces
And change the world 

Seams of gold
A spirit flows through the bowl
Made of flames and dust  
Passed down from hand to hand 
From life to life 
Home to home 
Seams of gold 
In a window sill 
Lit by the moon
The world blows by
Generations come and go 

Seams of gold 
More precious now than before
Made of shards and dust 
Passed down from hand to hand 
From life to life
Heart to heart 
Seams of gold 
In a window sill 
Lit by the stars 
A dream flies by
Generations come and go

Sparks of light  
Burning up inside us 
Hiding deep 
Way beyond our sight 
Only hearts can see what’s hidden 
Only hearts can see the light
Shine a light 
Shine a light on the broken pieces 
Shine a light
Shine a light on the hidden scars
Shine a light 
Shine a light on what’s forgotten 
Take the broken pieces 
And change the world 

Seams of gold
Tell the story you know 
Made of fire and light
Passed down from hand to hand 
From life to life 
Home to home 
Seams of gold 
In a window sill 
Lit by your soul
Our lives blaze by 
Generations come and go 

Seams of gold 
Seams of gold or our broken peoples 
Seams of gold 
Seams of gold for our broken world 
Seams of gold from the light that shines within us 
Seams of gold will repair the world 
Shine a light 
Shine a light on the broken peoples
Shine a light 
Shine a light on the broken world 
Shine a light
Shine a light on the broken pieces
Your seams of gold will mend the world 
Find the light 
Find the light in the broken pieces 
Find the light 
Find the light that will change the world 
Find the light 
Find the light that lies within you 
Take the broken pieces 
And change the world 
Be a mender
Of a broken world 

Lyrics – Ellen C Kaye
Music – Ethan Fein
Producers – Ellen C Kaye, Ethan Fein, Bill Moss, Alan Joseph
Recording engineer – Bill Moss
Copyright (c) 2023

© 2023 Ellen C Kaye and Ethan Fein. All rights reserved.

A Repair with Gold Production

These Walls Are Alive

Lyrics by Ellen C Kaye   |   Music by Ethan Fein

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These Walls Are Alive
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These Walls Are Alive

…what it feels like to discover the past, to learn from the dead…

Click here to read more…

Ellen C Kaye – Lead Vocal
Ethan Fein – Guitar, Five String Banjo
Diane Monroe – Violin
Koa Ho – Upright Bass
Zach Mullings – Drums
Jackie Presti – Backup Vocals

These ghosts say: 
I can’t save you now
But I can tell you how
How to live a life 
That’s brave and free

I can tell you what I cared about
I can tell you what I regret
I can tell you to remember me

Forget me not in the fog of war
Lost in memory
I’m all that’s left 
That’s left of time
My thoughts are the bones
I leave behind 

I feel it burning right through me 
The past is lighting my way 
Though all is dark around me 
This lantern guides my way 

The ghosts are talking right through me 
Their light shines across my mind 
Troubles and doubts pursue me 
But their wisdom fills my mind

These walls can talk 
These walls are alive 
These wall tell stories in their very bones
There’s things worth fighting for
Things worth dying for
All our loyal hearts are true

I hear their words ripping through me
Their thoughts are tumbling down
Ancient stories surround me
What’s lost can now be found

It’s the heart of things that matter
What’s buried deep and gone
The weight of time pulls on me
But dreams live on and on

These walls can talk
These walls are alive
These walls can tell us who and what survived
These walls can cast a brighter light
Burn bright all through the night
Burn until the day is new

Spinning straw into golden light
Burning bright all through the night
Burning bright till all our days are new

Lyrics – Ellen C Kaye
Music – Ethan Fein
Producers – Ellen C Kaye, Ethan Fein, Bill Moss, Alan Joseph
Recording engineer – Bill Moss
Copyright (c) 2023

© 2023 Ellen C Kaye and Ethan Fein. All rights reserved.

A Repair with Gold Production
OLD BONES ODYSSEY

THE SONG

Lyrics by Ellen C Kaye    |     Music by Ethan Fein

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Old Bones Odyssey
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Old Bones Odyssey

…whose bones do we care about and whose bones do we abandon?

Click here to read more…

Ellen C Kaye – Lead Vocal
Ethan Fein – Guitar
Koa Ho – Electric bass
Zach Mullings – Drums
Jackie Presti – Backup Vocals
Soara-Joye Ross – Backup Vocals

Old bones taking me back 
Old worlds taking me back 
Resting on the souls of long ago 

Old dreams taking me back
Old loves taking me back
Carrying us on wings of days long past 

Trees with leaves 
for dreams
A dance that never ends
That only you can know

From the roots to the sky
Sylvan slippers, rings of time
In the gloaming of this world
Back where memories lie

I keep longing for

Old bones taking me back
Old worlds taking me back 
Resting on the souls of long ago

 

New roads leading me home
New hearts leading me home
Setting sail for ancient lands unknown

Trees with leaves 
for dreams
A dance that never ends
That only you can know

From the roots to the sky
Sylvan slippers, rings of time
In the gloaming of this world
Back where memories lie

I’m just dreaming of

Old bones taking me back
Old worlds taking me back 
Resting on the souls of long ago 

New roads leading me home
New hearts leading me home
Setting sail for ancient lands unknown

Lyrics – Ellen C Kaye
Music – Ethan Fein
Producers – Ellen C Kaye, Ethan Fein, Bill Moss, Alan Joseph
Recording engineer – Bill Moss
Copyright (c) 2023

© 2023 Ellen C Kaye and Ethan Fein. All rights reserved.

A Repair with Gold Production
Ghost Lineage

Lyrics by Ellen C Kaye    |     Music by Ethan Fein

The luminous, hot star Wolf-Rayet 124 (WR 124) is prominent at the center of the James Webb Space Telescope’s composite image combining near-infrared and mid-infrared wavelengths of light. The star displays the characteristic diffraction spikes of Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), caused by the physical structure of the telescope itself. NIRCam effectively balances the brightness of the star with the fainter gas and dust surrounding it, while Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) reveals the nebula’s structure. Background stars and background galaxies populate the field of view and peek through the nebula of gas and dust that has been ejected from the aging massive star to span 10 light-years across space. A history of the star’s past episodes of mass can be read in the nebula’s structure. Rather than smooth shells, the nebula is formed from random, asymmetric ejections. Bright clumps of gas and dust appear like tadpoles swimming toward the star, with tails streaming out behind them, blown back by the stellar wind. This image combines various filters from both Webb imaging instruments, with the color red assigned to wavelengths of 4.44, 4.7, 12.8, and 18 microns (F444W, F470N, F1280W, F1800W), green to 2.1, 3.35, and 11.3 microns (F210M, F335M, F1130W), and blue to 0.9, 1.5, and 7.7 microns (F090W, F150W, F770W).
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Ghost Lineage
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Ghost Lineage

Terribly familiar and haunting all at once…

Click here to read more…

Ellen C Kaye – Lead Vocal
Ethan Fein – Guitar
Andrew Drelles – Bass Clarinet
Diane Monroe – Violin
Koa Ho – Upright Bass
Zach Mullings – Drums and Congas

We dangle on a thread 
Inside the galaxies mighty web 
And the ghosts of all that came before
Echo down the empty halls 
Of lost causes and ideals 
That were never
as real
as the stars we follow 

Distant thunder shakes the earth 
Telling tales we’ve never heard 
Ancient stories half forgotten
Back where dragons slumber 

Cave walls rock from side to side 
We hold them up to stay alive 
Time is shifting, ever drifting 
Keeping  us fate’s rider 

Running through our blood
Coursing through our brains
Setting our little worlds on fire 
The past is never past 
All that was still exists
From orange dust to ancient ashes
From Achilles to sea anemones

Black wings brush against our skin
Fires smolder deep within 
Paintings seeing far beyond us 
Capture what we’re dreaming 

 

All that we have ever known 
The double helix of our souls
‘Cross the earth, they leave us bread crumbs
Feed us while we’re sleeping

Running through our blood
Coursing through our brains 
Setting our little worlds on fire 
The past is never past 
All that was still exists
From orange dust to ancient ashes 
From Achilles to sea anemones 

Futures of the universe 
Faint and distant, close at hand 
Weightless, searching, endless seeking 
Oracles of starlight 

Star-stuff flows from sun to sun 
Shaping worlds we’ll never own 
Iron stars that dance within us
Dying in our making 

Running through our blood
Coursing through our brains
Setting our little worlds on fire 
The past is never past 
All that was still exists
From orange dust to ancient ashes
From Achilles to sea anemones

Golden rays 
Take us home
Take us home at last 

Lyrics – Ellen C Kaye
Music – Ethan Fein
Producers – Ellen C Kaye, Ethan Fein, Bill Moss, Alan Joseph
Recording engineer – Bill Moss
Copyright (c) 2023

© 2023 Ellen C Kaye and Ethan Fein. All rights reserved.

A Repair with Gold Production