Here We Go Again ...

Morning earworm: Beck's Bolero, Jeff Beck. Picked up a live DVD over the weekend, and this was his opening number. I will be spending some quality time studying this disc :D



Let's see how this works ...

Friday's gig was much as I expected - the first set was pretty rough, but we did eventually lock in and turn in a decent performance. Also, a slight return to the drama scene, but fortunately the band itself was only peripherally involved. We have lately been in talks with a local promoter, who has had some promising things to offer - but then, they all do. He had booked us a show next weekend, a theater gig up in New Market, with the prospect of a decent paycheck, something our previous agent never quite managed. Everything is lined up, including an opening act. As an aside, we came upon this guy by virtue of the fact that he is dating MG's daughter.

So, according to MG, he was over visiting one night last week, when there is a rather loud knock on the door, after which a carload of federal marshals come in and haul Mr. Promoter off for some undisclosed parole violation. Alrighty then. Now, the aforementioned decent paycheck is entirely contingent upon Mr. Promoter promoting the show, which will be of limited effectiveness with him in stir. I don't expect that the place will be entirely empty, as our openers have a decent following in the area, and they're friends of ours, but it remains looking like this will be more for fun than profit. So it goes.

On a brighter note, looking over the books for this year, the Wife has suggested, much to my surprise, that I may need to buy another guitar or some studio gear, to get myself in the red for tax purposes. I won't argue ;-)

If we can't play away from the instrument, we can't play with the instrument.

Once More Unto the Breach

Morning earworm: There's a Spy (In the House of Love), Animal Logic. One of the strangest and least-heralded supergroups of the Eighties - an unlikely trio of country singer /songwriter Deborah Holland, jazz / fusion bass pioneer Stanley Clarke, and ex-Police drummer Stewart Copeland; this track ups the ante even further with guest guitarist Steve Howe of Yes, arguably the only guy around who can play country, jazz, and rock simultaneously - lol.

It turns out that yesterday's disruption via political ranting was less intrusive than anticipated. Once I finally made it down to the Bunker, I began working on a bass part for the heavier song (working title Shape of the World) - with all of that anger and aggression simmering, it really sounds like Tool now - lol. Guess I need to fire up the Marshall next week and redo the guitar parts.

I've spent some time over the last few days organizing and gathering up some of the more recent demo files and tapes floating around here, and am quite surprised to find than I have nearly an album's worth of material already, at least conceptually - the surprise stemming from the fact that prior to last month, I've only written 2½ songs since leaving Indiana, and one of those was a keyboard improv that I had completely forgotten about until I found it yesterday. Granted, only a couple of these are anywhere near fully realized, but it is still quite a bit to work with. That said, it is going to be a pretty strange record, given the vast amount of ground covered by this material; but I would expect no less of me :D

Somewhere amid all of that, I even took a few minutes out to learn one of the songs we were supposed to have ready for rehearsal last month, which was the last time we rehearsed. Nothing again last night, including being told there would be nothing. I don't mind, since I have better other things to do right now, but we do need to get back to it one of these days. It is the money gig, after all. Tonight should be interesting, to say the least.

Finally, a word on the links. Grooveshark is a cool site, but it takes forever to load, so a bit of patience is needed. Maybe one of these days I will figure out some way to embed the songs here, but in the meantime it is still a step in the right direction. Have a great weekend :)

The foundation of learning is play.

When Will I Learn?

Morning earworm: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood, Gary Moore. A scorching cover of the old Zombies classic, from his early days.

I once again made the mistake of stopping by Facebook before coming here, and was rewarded by yet another idiotic post by a bunch of my supposedly enlightened flaming Liberal friends. I can respect that we don't share some core beliefs, but there are times when it still pisses me off to no end, especially when one of them has the cojones to invoke "fiscal responsibility". $14,000,000,000,000, and he's only halfway through one term - but then, this is exactly the sort of fiscal responsibility one should expect from a bunch of people with six figure incomes and unlimited expense accounts. F***ing Communist pinheads - AARRRGGGHHHH!!

Sorry ... where was I?

Guess I'll be working on the heavy song today - lol. This has been a challenging week, having two totally different pieces vying for brain space. Definitely feast or famine. I need to enjoy this while I can, as band work resumes either tonight or tomorrow, occupying the next six weekends. It will be an interesting gig tomorrow, having largely purged my system of country music over the last few weeks. Then again, it might actually be easier than it is now, divided between a capella folk music and cinematic tribal metal - juggling three balls is not nearly as difficult as juggling only two.

Speaking of cinematic - part of my admittedly weird listening habits includes old movie soundtracks. I had quite a few of these in my record collection as a kid, and every now and then their influence shows up. One particular favorite was Michel Legrand's soundtrack from The Three Musketeers (1973), partly just because it was such a great movie. I also had soundtrack albums from most of the James Bond movies, Connery / Moore era; educational in many ways. While most of these were scored by John Barry, I think my personal favorite was Sir George Martin's work on Live and Let Die - but one would expect no less from him. There are even some hints of that particular work showing up in one of my current songs - no telling what one might assimilate over the years :)

If nothing else, at least I am in a better mood now - thanks, Morning Pages! =))

The musician has three disciplines: the disciplines of the hands, the head and the heart.

Coming Up For Air

Morning earworm: Midnight Shuffle, an old original fragment. This was just a working title, honoring the late hour at which it was written. That is one thing I do miss about the old house - it was a two story thing, and I could work all night down in the basement without disturbing the wife sleeping upstairs.

Feeling the mid-week sag here. I confess it's been awhile since I've done this much creative work in so focused a time; it is exhausting, in a different way than sustained physical labor. Yeah, I know - whine whine snivel. Still much to be done, but I think I will be focusing a bit more on the practical aspects for today; hardware, signal routing, and such, giving the creative side of the brain a little time to digest and process this massive and multi-faceted download.

I can't help but notice that I went into this with the intention of generating some new material for the solo gig, and yet most of what is appearing is full-production band material, largely undoable in my solo context. So it goes - as I have said before, I have no real control over the process; I ask the Muse what needs to be played, and this is what I am getting. Arguing is pointless - I am grateful to be taken into Music's confidence at all.

A test of our understanding is whether we can apply it in practice.

Immediate Payoff

Morning earworm: Vicarious, Tool. That'll get you going - lol.

The deed is done. "Arecibo" was taken off line and deleted at 9:07 yesterday. Not the easiest choice in the world, but a necessary one. I suspect that it is not entirely coincidental that yesterday was one of my most productive and creative days in a long time - housework and chores done, and not one but two song fragments appeared. As if that weren't enough, the two ideas are about as different as they can possibly be, to the point that they might not even belong on the same CD. One is sort of an experimental vocal piece, coming from some other listening over the weekend; the other, a strangely odd-metered tribal instrumental, which is evolving some Tool overtones, possibly resulting in this morning's earworm.

Continuing on yesterday's discussion of unusual listening - I quite by chance caught a piece on NPR Sunday morning discussing a new album by Jan Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensemble, featuring a capella arrangements of early Armenian folk songs and church hymns with sax improvisations over the top. I can't help it, I just find this sort of thing so unspeakably cool. It almost immediately brought to mind the Bulgarian Women's Choir and pop chanteuse Imogen Heap, with their dense harmonies and Eastern European influence. Naturally, I thought this would be something cool to explore, and soon remembered that I have a stack of lyrics buried somewhere in the Bunker awaiting music - not mine, of course, but from an old collaborator / writing partner. One of these immediately suggested itself for such an application. While I do have the tech to pull it off, it is so far outside both my experience and comfort zone that the challenge is too great to pass up.

The downside is purely of a practical nature -work on both of these is revealing shortcomings in the current studio set-up, admittedly still under construction; which means I'm looking at at least a half-day of physically rearranging and rewiring stuff. The continuous upgrade - a necessary evil. It needs doing, but can potentially disrupt the creative momentum, even though it involves a measure of creativity all its own. Oh, the challenges I face - lol.

And somewhere in there I have to make dinner, too. Sure hope we aren't rehearsing tonight - there are a couple of songs I need to learn for the band, and that would prove a significant disruption :)

Be very careful about the beginning.
Then, be very careful about the end.
Then, be very careful about the middle.

The Next Chapter

Morning earworm: Honey Sweating, Polytown. I couldn't even begin to describe this - fallout from some odd listening over the weekend. Found some cool new stuff, which led associatively to some cool old stuff, bringing all manner of inspiration - one can ask for little more.

Music, I think, is no different than any other specialized craft or trade. There are some things that everyone can do, and times when you need to call in an expert - lol. Part of my job as an "expert" is researching and learning deeper and further afield than the average lay person, finding and exploring the exotic, unusual, and sometimes just plain weird which goes unnoticed by the mainstream. Some of this is exactly that - research. You hear something cool, and ask Who is that? What else have they done? The aforementioned Polytown was that sort of find. A mid-nineties project done by David Torn with Mick Karn and Terry Bozzio. I've long been a fan of Torn, and was familiar with Bozzio's work with Jeff Beck and Frank Zappa; Karn was an unknown to me, so a little digging was done. Turns out he was the bassist with Japan, a moderately successful art-pop act from the eighties. Naturally, I had to check them out - it is some pretty cool and cutting-edge stuff, especially for eighties pop. The band also featured vocalist David Sylvian, who has gone on to a respectable solo career, and keyboardist Richard Barbieri, another favorite of mine from his subsequent work with Porcupine Tree. After awhile it almost becomes a six-degrees type game, because it seems like everybody has played with everybody else somewhere along the way.

To completely change the subject, this is a little odd. After 2½ years at the other venue, this is going to take a bit of getting used to - but I'll manage :D There are a couple of major advantages to being here which immediately present themselves - I don't need to be quite as discreet, and I can now post links. Who know, you might even be able to hear some of these earworms for yourself before long, and find out just what I've been babbling about all this time.

Listening is a craft.
Hearing is an art.

Place Holder

Yes, this is it :D

Just blowing the dust off and tidying up a bit, after letting this sit idle for six months. Semi-regular posting to commence next week ... probably.