Asphalt Blanket, The

The Asphalt Blanket for narrator and alto (or C) flute by American composer and poet Howard J. Buss the fifth movement of the large-scale composition Modern Times (scored for narrator, flute, and 4 percussion). Modern Times is a frequently provocative, at times mystical, and occasionally humorous work of modern classical music which addresses an eclectic range of subjects such as the tyranny of popular opinion, taxes, neglected children, team mascots, and the information glut. The Asphalt Blanket is reflective in nature and laments what is lost in the name of “progress” in the modern world.

Modern Times (including The Asphalt Blanket) was composed in 1995. The following year the entire work was published by Brixton Publications in the composer’s manuscript. During 2025, the The Asphalt Blanket was edited by the composer and engraved with notation software to produce a new edition. It is recorded on Capstone Records CD “Howard J. Buss: Modern Times” by Jerald Reynolds, narrator, and Kim McCormick, flute.

Duration: 3 minutes