Did the drums last night, everything else today. Check it my Demos Page.
I HAVE NOT STOPPED WORKING all week. I’ve gotten about 4 hours of sleep a night between burning the midnight oil making drum loops and then filling them out the following day. I’m about a quarter of the way done though, which is encouraging, I suppose. I made the playlist for the big show last night so that gives me a nice list to just start working though.
I’ve got a real pretty one that I wanna share but it doesn’t serve my purposes right now… later on…
So it’s dinner with friends tonight (yay!) and then tomorrow I have to pretend to rest to get ready for my 2-show Saturday followed by Sundays drive up to Chicago for a show there! Phew! I’m stoked, but oh my God I need like atleast 1 half-time employee… My wife did book all the travel details for the Chicago trip… She’s a delightful woman. *sigh*
It’s just the first time I’ve done my hair since last week. I haven’t been showering regularly–usually I have too much to do before 3 and if I don’t do it then, well… gross but true. I got all gussied up to run some errands not the least of which included delicious bagels from Companion here in STL.
Here is what my cat is doing right now:
He doesn’t love the computer this much… he’s jealous of it. Seriously. Whereas the coffee maker used to be his best appliance friend (he would peer at it every morning until it was done) the mac is his enemy–taking his owners love and affection away from him. Shhh… don’t tell him we want to have a baby someday.
I will now leave you with the scariest man on television (that I can still watch without a TV) -
After sampling the new Thai place on S. Grand we went to Erato tonight. Aimee planned our trip to New York, and I played to an empty room. We met quite the character named Joe. He was about 40-50ish, well dressed, luggage beside his barstool, and an iPhone loaded with pictures of his family and a load of time to kill. He seemed like the kind of guy who really knew how to read people, someone who had something special up his sleeve. Secretly, I was hoping he thought I was as special as he might have led me to believe he thought I was and would reveal his identity as a talent scout who had come out to see me, and me only. Turns out he was just a nice drunk guy in a bar with a plane to catch. Aren’t we all…
I worked like way too hard on my corny demo today. Oh well, it’s the best damn demo I could muster. In the midst of everything, I was getting a tremendous amount of other things done, (not that working on my art–even if the end result is a failure–needs any justification whatever) like getting a tentative band lineup hammered out for the 2 “really big shows” coming up in June and July–that’s a huge load off. On to more demos, working on the new songs I wrote this weekend, and the endless cycle of shameless promotional self-whoring…
If that’s a word, I’m that. Today, like a clueless explorer of forgotten worlds, I braved the files of my macbook searching for little gems ready to be shined up and rehearsed for the upcoming shows I have. I have 16 little babies that I just uploaded to a nice little free file-sharing site. All my songs are like my children. Some grow up to be tall and strong and good, others don’t make it much past their first few days of life, which is always very sad to me. Some go off to school and get made fun of by the other kids–but that doesn’t always mean they don’t grow up either–they just need a little time to come into their own.
The batch of 16 songs doesn’t include near all the songs I’ve written this year or the only songs I have cooking right now. I’ve probably written much closer to 40. THAT’S HOW MUCH IT TAKES SOMETIMES TO GET A DECENT SONG.
For further clarity, I’ve provided this helpful instructional video thanks to my friend Monty Python -
Sometimes you just say the same thing 3 different ways in 2 different keys and 5 different tempos or feels, and there’s one way that finally feels right. Most of the time I’m just trying to write in a new style to challenge myself and grow–that takes a couple of generations sometimes.
It sort of feels like detention waiting here to see if I’ve been chosen. I’m really a selfish bastard. I’m thinking of every excuse why I might be “biased” against even the simplest of cases… I suppose a few days of listening to a minor trial keeping business hours wouldn’t mess me up too bad… but I really do have alot of work to do..
This just in via our earth-shattering TV instruction: the person on trial is called the defendant. This is a democratic society–were we not educated here in order to adequately participate in it? No, actually. Not sufficiently. And now, after our instructional video (that actually had some relatively inspiring remarks along the order of what I just said in its conclusion) we’re watching network television being sold gutter liners via a talking squirrel. Inspire them with the democratic ideal, then numb them with television. We live in interesting times–so interesting that I can bemoan my country on the internet instantly complete with videos and pictures while listening to headphones right from the courts… Thank-God for wi-fi… oh yeah, and democracy…
UPDATE [9:08AM]
Let me update the TV situation: IT’S REGIS AND KELLY RIPA–AND MY BATTERY IS GETTING LOW. I don’t know how much longer I can block out thier chipper little voices with good tunes from my computer. I don’t see any outlets anywhere. This… could… be… the end… SMILED AND SOLD TO DEATH!
You are the death of a nation. The destroyer of worlds. I am here in the civil courts building of my city and you are in New York destroying America. Haven’t you sold enough? Get off the air, PLEASE!
Don’t make me watch this! I’M A DECENT PERSON!
UPDATE [2:38PM]
I’ve been called in for selection, only to be rejected for the trial that was up to deliberate. I’m back in the “Jury Assembly Room”, which statistically means that I probably won’t be re-selected… It was an interesting experience for sure. I took lunch at Kitchen K and got to roam around downtown for a while on this beautiful day. I also met 2 really nice women who were older than me that were quite nice to talk to–the outgoing ones always seem to find each other in a crowd–the crowd I’m always in. I’m just waiting to be set free.
What I wouldn’t give to see my plants in the windowsil swaying in the cool breeze in the afternoon sun… sigh…
In a rare moment of confidence in her own beauty and womanly prowess, my wife came home from the salon in a new dress and did not object to my taking pictures of her. The following pictures occurred:
Ok, now to more nerdy matters that don’t usually have anything to do with beautiful women in real life: buying records. In the last week I have acquired the following -
This was my “Record Store Day” purchase thanks to the beautiful woman pictured above. It was between this and a Kills record, but I’m pretty glad Ben Harper won out. It’s beautifully mastered to sound impeccable on vinyl. The first track, “Fight outta you” means quite alot to me personally in a very immediate sense.
A great, really exciting record. When a friend told me they went back to writing for space economy on an actual record, I was really eager to hear it. Though the content is great, it’s pretty obvious that it was mastered for the digital set and as such the “s” sounds are absolutely fucking terrible ’cause they grunge out under so much modern-age compression. It was definitely a let down that they let that happen to such great songs. Thankfully it came with the CD, which unfortunately will sound better due to the over-compressed mastering that isn’t exactly ideal for records. Great packaging, though, and in any case it’s nice to have a brand-new dual LP from REM.
Bliss.The future of all things. Non-ironic rock will be returning to the fore very soon.
I love you, Tom Petty.
A no-brainer for $10. My wife’s only comment was “he looks fat on this one.”
Finally, a Pretenders record that’s in decent shape… If my next record can be called a Pretenders/Petty rip-off by any snarky critic, my whole life will have been a success.
Damn right you’re a bad-ass, Rod Stewart! If the hair wasn’t a tip-off, this is from the Ron Wood era.
And I do have a new song I wrote today posted on the Demos Page. Check it.
I’m still waiting to hear on some important things about some high-profile shows. It’s a bit nerve-racking, but the weather is beautiful and I’m still writing, which is very, very good.
No time to talk about my fun-filled weekend travels. I got biniz to take care of…
Oh well, no sweat, no glory. And thinking about those stage lights will certainly make you sweat. You just pray for the glory. Sometimes all you can do is close your eyes and swing and hope you hit something or somebody. It all comes together in the end, though, and I wouldn’t miss it for the world. You never know whose in that audience.
