Monday Again

Morning earworm: Signify, Porcupine Tree. What a great beginning to the week :D



It was an interesting weekend, to say the least. More fun than profit, much as expected, but even this is an improvement - quite often it is neither. It was cool little room; an actual theater with 120 seats, most of them empty. Nice stage, though, and good acoustics - perhaps a bit too good for our volume, but we managed:



Much of the aforementioned fun occurred before anyone showed up, while I took the opportunity to bang on the house piano for awhile, which ended up as in impromptu jam with the opening act, who also later sat in with us at the end of our set. It is a bit of a shock when you find yourself enjoying playing, and realize that it is an unaccustomed feeling.

So, a new week. Focus on recording, and cleaning up the Bunker a bit - all of the work down there lately has left it a bit disorganized (read trashed). And, of course, some serious kitchen work. Venison currently thawing for some sausage-making experiments; hopefully I can find a keeper in time for the cornbread-sausage dressing on Thursday. Doing a turkey breast this year, just because I have several recipes to try. Also discovered a new technique for mashed potatoes, courtesy of Cooks Country, where they are steamed and rinsed halfway through, rather than boiled; this significantly reduces the amount of starch, which is what makes them turn to wallpaper paste if overworked. Also, running them through a ricer rather than the usual mashing technique yields a much fluffier result. I tried it with the food mill last night, and there was a noticeable improvement, but they still got worked over pretty good, so it looks like I need to break down and get another ricer, having broken the old one a few years back.

Performance is impersonal yet intimate.

Old School

Morning earworm: First Train Home, Imogen Heap. Was listening to this yesterday while working in the Bunker.



The new rig is up and running, about 99% functional - a bit of programming and a final bug or two to work out today, and it debuts tomorrow night. That contact cleaner is amazing stuff - worth the 60 mile drive to get it - lol. This whole process represents stepping simultaneously forward and back - an upgrade to old school :D In many ways it is casting off option anxiety; my rigs have traditionally been rather elaborate affairs, able to create myriad sounds and effects that I virtually never used. When I got into the current band, I deliberately stripped way down - one guitar, one multi-processor and one amp. This latest incarnation, while technically larger, is actually simpler still; with only a few stomp boxes (individual effects on the floor) and an older muli-processor. It doesn't make every sound under the sun, just a few absolutely killer ones. The tones are so fabbo, it makes me want to play, and that may be the biggest plus of all.

OK, enough with the gear slut talk - lol. In other news, I spent some equally enlightening time in the kitchen the last few days. I had JD leave "my" deer partly intact, to learn some basic butchery on my own. I have a functional working knowledge of the front shoulder now -chuck tender, shoulder roast, and shank meat, most of which is probably going to end up as stew or jerky. Today I get to tackle the south end - rump roast, top and bottom round, etc. Who knows, by next year I might be doing all of the cutting. Let him gut and skin it, and I'll take over from there.

Finally, on a more pleasant food-related note, this month's Saveur produced a quick and easy mustard-cream sauce which goes really well with both steak and venison, and probably anything else you care to slather it on. Heat up 1 Tbsp butter and 1 Tbsp canola oil in a cast iron skillet. Season your steak of choice with salt and pepper, and pan fry to desired doneness. Remove the meat. Deglaze the pan with 4½ Tbsp cognac or brandy, scraping up the yummy bits and cook for about 20 seconds. Remove from the heat. Add ¼ cup heavy cream, and 1½ Tbsp dijon mustard, whisking until the sauce just comes together. Stir in another 1½ Tbsp cognac / brandy, pour over the steaks, and serve. Garnish with pepper and fresh parsley.

Have a great weekend :D

There are three kinds of repercussions: the necessary, the unnecessary and the inevitable.

Skip Day

Super busy day yesterday - amp maintenance, road trip, field dressing a pair of deer. Today, more of the same - so I'm off to it:)

Extended Opportunity

Morning earworm: Jazz is the Teacher (Funk is the Preacher), Screaming Headless Torsos. Not sure what dredged this up, but a good morning for it - lol.



It turns out that there will be no rehearsal again this week. While there is a bit of concern for the weekend's show, I am mainly glad for the extra time to work on my own stuff. This makes for a busy day today - there are one or two more avenues to explore with the Frankenstack, before I turn my attention back to writing / recording. One final piece of the gear puzzle stubbornly refuses to play nice with the rest of the pile, and there is no reason I can find for this, beyond possibly its physical placement in the signal chain. Whatever the case, I should get down there and get to it - even with this extra few days, there are practicalities to be addressed as well, so the schedule for the week is going to be a tight one.

The way we describe our world shows how we think of our world. How we think of our world governs how we interpret our world.
How we interpret our world directs how we participate in the world. How we participate in the world shapes the world.

When Worlds Collide

Morning earworm: Big Bad Moon, Joe Satriani. One of the most amazing guitarist on the planet, but admittedly not much of a singer - lol.



A day of practical work and experimentation in the Bunker. A number of random and not entirely related cognitive threads came together in the notion that I might want to consider a larger amp system for the occasional larger venue we play, such as this weekend; this in turn led me to an afternoon of playing mix-and-match with various pieces of gear, in the elusive quest for that killer sound, which ended up making quite a mess and reassembling the Frankenstack:



Contemplating this today, I find that I may once again have too many irons in the fire, and the conflict of interest is setting in. After having a couple of weeks to myself, working undisturbed on my own material, band work resumes; I can almost feel the creative fire going out. Part of the above process was admittedly an exercise in finding my sound, my own voice, which tends to get lost when doing a money gig for any length of time. This was further complicated by the unusual direction that the latest creative impulse took - I initially set out with the aim of coming up with some new looped / soundscape material, but the Muse instead chose to serve me up a bunch of group-oriented music instead. I'm certainly not complaining, but there is the small matter of the group needed to execute this material isn't the group I'm working with.

This, briefly, is why my Teacher discourages people from becoming professional musicians - my calling to play is coming into conflict with my other obligations; it is the most bitter of ironies that my job as a musician is actually interfering with my being a musician. And this isn't the first time. Just as I am picking up steam heading down one path, I now have to tear everything down and reset for rehearsal tonight. Most of the time I am able to keep these things compartmentalized, but when everything is firing on all cylinders - which doesn't happen often - it becomes an inconvenience, and a source of mounting frustration. Such is life, though. We bear it and persevere.

Some things protect themselves by being what they are.

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.