"Muse" - ings on Rock & Life

Of the utmost importance tonight is this:  SL, who knows that I've been stressed out of late, ended our phone conversation with the following statement: "now go play your guitar."  Now that's a statement I have no issue with at all. One thing that I forgot to mention in last night's post: in talking with the new guy at work, the topic of songwriting came up, as did the fact that I've got a home studio.  I got to mention the hard rock band, and I played him a couple of cuts from the stuff we've recorded.  At that point, another co-worker stopped back and asked "ooh, who's that?" "That's my band," I said.  "Seriously?" she said.  "Yes," was my response, and she walked away impressed. The new guy asked if I had anything on my ipod with me singing.  I had a couple of things, including an old acoustic version of one of the solo songs J. and I had worked on before we started focusing in on band stuff.  He lik

Today was an interesting day music-wise.  I slept in a bit later than I had hoped to this morning, but I still found time before work to make it all the way through the end of 2011 in my blog review.  As with yesterday, I found a few more things that got included in the notebook I'm keeping for this part of things.  One of the big things that I noticed was that I had a lot of success in December with putting things together.  Granted, that was the month I was intensely focused on it, but still.  If I'm doing this the right way, there should always be new stuff I'm discovering that needs to be added to the practice binder. Other cool stuff that happened included the following: 1) Had a great conversation with a customer about old rock & roll.  He's working in getting back to some of the classic stuff (Chuck Berry, Creedence Clearwater Revival, etc.)  He's looking for guitar tabs of songs I have, so I told him I'd email him with what I find.  In particular

I imported the new Cory Chisel today.  Took it with me to work on the ipod, and sold a copy to a complete stranger.  I love being able to help out a friend.  Especially someone who is as talented as Cory. I kept going with the teaching stuff tonight.  I need to do a bit of playing before bed, if only to center myself at the end of the day.  It's been a bit of a crazy week, and I'm really needing the music right now, especially because today was the start of a 5 day run at work. It's been so long since I've worked on the re-hashing of the blog that I've completely forgotten where it was I had gotten to in the process of going through it.  Just to be safe, I finished off October of last year tonight.  I found a few things to add to the notes that I had started taking for that project.  I figure that,  if I'm going to start teaching again, it's best to try and tie up some of those loose ends that have been hanging out there for as long as I can remember.  T

It was almost too hot today to do much of anything, but I sat down tonight and took at least a semi-objective look at what has passed for my teaching/practice binder.  It's obvious just from looking at the collection of stuff that I've picked up that I have tried, on a few occasions, to put something cohesive together.  It's also pretty apparent that I'm definitely not there yet. The other thing that bums me out is this: tomorrow it will have been a week that I've been back in town after vacation, and yet most of the music stuff I took along with me on the trip is still in the shoulder bag I brought it back to WI in.  It's just been a frustrating week music-wise for me.  I know it'll get better, it has to.  Well, that, and it always does. Sat and just played for a bit tonight too.  It wasn't enough, but I needed it.  Life is stressing me out a bit of late, and yet somehow I haven't played much this week.  Weird.  Usually hiding behind a guitar is

Up later than I wanted to be today, but considering it was a day off, I shouldn't gripe.  Got to work around 10:30 to pick up my copy of Old Believers , the new record by Cory Chisel & The Wandering Sons.  I got through the whole record today, but it was a closer listen to the first half of the record than the second.  I'll go back to it again tomorrow, I'm sure. I've got the two books I picked up last night lined up next to the practice binder that I had started a while back.  I've also got a couple of folders worth of stuff from the last couple of times I've wound up teaching. The cool part of that is that most of the stuff I got done today around the house cleared my schedule for tomorrow, so that I can spend it focused almost entirely on music stuff.  Tomorrow is teaching stuff and band stuff, and hopefully "Red House." The other thing I really want to do tomorrow is put Bear Creek on the turntable. Today was a good day, but there wasn&

So, I picked up a couple of books tonight at work that seemed like they would be good tools for teaching guitar to kids.  One of them deals expressly with guitar and kids, while the other bills itself as an "absolute beginner's guide."  Here are the titles I picked up: 1) Guitar For Kids (Method & Songbook) - Bob Morris & Jeff Schroedl/Hal Leonard 2) Guitar For The Absolute Beginner - Susan Mazer/Alfred The Hal Leonard book might be a bit too basic for what my needs will be, but I'd rather be safe than sorry on that.  Besides, that one comes with a CD, and the Mazer book comes with a DVD.  If nothing else, those should be good resources. Besides, maybe the Absolute Beginner book will help me square away a few things in my head before I start teaching. Cory Chisel and his band The Wandering Sons are releasing their new record tomorrow.  Yes, I'm aware this means that I will start my two days off from work by going... to work to pick up my copy, but

I'm importing everything I picked up on my trip home as I write this. At work today, I discovered that we have a book on teaching guitar to kids in stock.  I had every intention of looking at it and maybe picking it up after work, and then I spaced out and raced out when my shift was over.  I'll grab it off the shelf tomorrow afternoon before my shift, glance at it on my breaks, and see if it's going to work well for what I'm going to need. Y'know, it's strange, since I've gotten back, I keep expecting to glance at the electric and want to crank it up loud.  It hasn't really happened that way.  Instead, it's been the acoustic that has been catching my eye the last couple days.  Part of that, I think, is that things have been feeling stressful since I got back (today was the first day that felt normal to me).  Don't get me wrong, I know that sometime Tuesday and Wednesday I'll crank up the Marshall and work on the band stuff for a good c

Well, my Counting Crows LP showed up at work today... and it was the vinyl of the live record they put out last year, not the original studio version of August & Everything After .  On some level, this really bums me out, if only because I was really hoping to hear the original album on vinyl.  That being said, the live record was exceptional, and while it wasn't exactly what I had been hoping for, it's still pretty cool to have on LP. There was a bit of sorting and re-organizing tonight after work, and not nearly enough playing.  I'm having a really hard time re-adjusting to being back.  I know most of that is just not having a chance to clear my head and get things back in order before going back to work.  What I think that means for the rest of the week is that Tuesday and Wednesday will likely be days filled with music. Granted, I know that tomorrow night and Monday morning will also have musical opportunities, and I know that I need to take advantage of those

First off tonight, I have to admit that I'm at least a little bit jealous.  See, SL and her Mom went to see Steve Martin in Sioux City tonight, as a spur of the moment kind of thing.  Two things about that: 1) It sounds like an amazing time! and 2) I'm shocked that there were tickets left at the last minute. He's the foremost 5-string banjo player in the world .  That seems astounding, given all of his other talents (acting, comedy, writing, etc.) I started putting things back in order music-wise today.  Getting the studio back to where it should be for musical progress to resume.  There are still a few things to sort out, and there is definitely some music to get imported into itunes. The other thing I found tonight is a live album by Graham Colton that showed up on NoiseTrade.  It's a solo acoustic gig, and those always fascinate me, if only because I like to see how people structure their arrangements when performing on their own. Aside from that, not

Spent most of the day in the car today, driving from WI back to the DSM. Made it through all of the new Smashing Pumpkins record in the process.  This one feels more like a Pumpkins record than Zeitgeist did five years ago, that much I was able to discern on a single listen through.  I'll have to keep listening in order to figure out where it ranks in their canon.  Whether it belongs in their canon, considering that Billy is the only remaining member of the original group. Stopped by work on my way home from the trip, partially to check and make sure when I worked, and secondly, to see whether or not there was a new issue of Guitar World .  There was, and so I picked up that, and the latest issue of Guitar Techniques . Also, I snagged CAKE's Comfort Eagle .  It's the only studio record that was missing from my collection.  Now all I need is the B-sides disc, and I'll have everything. Long day today, not much else musical to report.  Hopefully tomorrow will invol

Slow day today, music-wise.  I did, however, remember what it was that I left off of yesterday's list of stuff: 1) Bring It On - The Horrorpops My manager at work clued me in to them a couple of years back.  They qualify as "psychobilly."  It's a mixture of rockibilly and punk rock.  Here's a link from Wikipedia on the history of the style: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychobilly It's an interesting read on a style of music that's really cool. So, I'm not really looking forward to the long drive back to WDM tomorrow, but I am looking forward to having a chance to listen to some of the new stuff that I've picked up this week.  Hopefully it should help speed up the travel time. Hit up Goodwill in GB tonight, found a couple of LPs that, for $3.99 each, had to come home with me. 1) Thick As A Brick - Jethro Tull 2) Captain Fantastic & The Brown Dirt Cowboy  - Elton John Both spectacular finds, if you ask me.  The record jackets ar

So, I made the (semi?) annual pilgrimage to The Exclusive Company today.  Here's what I ended up coming home with: 1) Bear Creek  - Brandi Carlile (vinyl) 2) Wilco's record store day EP on vinyl 3) The Idler Wheel...  - Fiona Apple (deluxe edition) 4) Oceania  - Smashing Pumpkins 5) Live From Sun Studios - Grace Potter & The Nocturnals 6) Yet another Exclusive Co. T-shirt Also, there was a free 7" from Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, and a free single by Fiona Apple. Mom and I hit Half Price Books too.  I didn't find too much there, but I ended up with a few things: 1) Change (single/EP) - Blind Melon 2) Live In Japan  - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club There was one other thing I found, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was at the moment.  I'll check tomorrow and toss that little piece of information into tomorrow's post. I know I said it the last time I stopped in at Exclusive, but there is nothing like that place in the

B. and I got together around 12:30 today.  We had lunch and plotted out where to begin, music-wise for the day.  For the first time in about 7 years, she actually flat out asked me where we start if we want to be rock stars, and meant it as a serious (or at least semi-serious) question. I told her the same thing that I've been trying to get across for those entire 7 years.  I told her that the songs are the most important part.  And that whether we were producing it ourselves (which currently appears to be the case) or having someone else do it in a big time studio on someone else's budget, if the music was tight and the songs were good, that was most of the battle. Our biggest problem has always been that we didn't start with click tracks and build from tempo.  So that's where we started today.  Using a combination of the recordings we've already made and Magix Music Maker from B's computer, we constructed temporary backing tracks for 6 out of 7 songs, and

Okay, so right now the list of music to go with me on the road consists of only 3 CDs: 1) Bear Creek - Brandi Carlile 2) What We Saw From The Cheap Seats - Regina Spektor 3) The Lion, The Beast, The Beat - Grace Potter & The Nocturnals Of course, I'll have my ipod as well, so I ought to be okay.  Somehow though, I still feel like I'm missing one or two discs that ought to go along.  I suppose I can always stop back home for a second if I think of something else. Also, I'm taking "Red House," and as much band stuff as I could find on short notice.  It was less than I had hoped, but it will give us a place to start at any rate. Short one today, I know, but I've got a long day ahead of me.  There will (I hope) be a lot to post about tomorrow night.

Never could get in touch with B. today.  I'm going into this just hoping that getting together on Monday to work on music stuff is still the plan.  If all else fails she'll get a text message during the day tomorrow asking if we are still on for rock and roll. I went back through some of the stuff I've picked up recently and did a bit of listening.  Made it through about half of the new Regina Spektor today while I was doing stuff around the house.  That record and the new Grace Potter will be going with me tomorrow as road trip music for sure. Picked up the electric for a few minutes today, and ran the opening bit to "Red House."  The feeling of playing was foreign, if only because I really haven't had much time to practice at all of late, but the notes were there and in the right places, which I took to be a good sign. Considering that I'm taking a guitar with me, I'll probably take "Red House" along with me as well.  I figure that, e

So, I almost picked up the new issue of Guitar Techniques , thinking that I have tomorrow off, and would have time to go through it.  I changed my mind, though.  Here's why: I've got plenty of musical stuff to contend with tomorrow.  I'll pick up the mag, but I'll probably do it Sunday before I leave town. So excited to have tomorrow off!  There will be much listening tomorrow, but even more playing will take place.  It feels like it's been forever since I've had a good long session of time with the guitar in my hands.  I want to get to the following things: 1) "Red House" 2) Figuring out the songs SL gave me to figure out. 3) Polish off the bass lines 4) Get in touch with B. about Monday. 5) Get back to going through the old blog posts with a fine toothed comb. Today was a good day, but other than selling a lot of the Brandi Carlile record at work, it was more musically sparse than I had wanted it to be.  I'm really hoping that today'

So, I dropped off a copy of the Brandi Carlile record for R. today, and she handed me a record by a band called These United States in return.  It's a fun album.  Folk rock-ish in nature, with a bit more rock than folk.  Today was the first time in a long time that I've had a chance to listen to an album in its entirety, even if it was in the car while I was out running errands.  It felt good to have a chance to listen today.  I need to do more of it. The other thing I haven't done enough of lately: playing.  I'm starting to get excited about going home next week, if only to hang out with B. for a bit, and hopefully get a bit of work done on the record.  I've got Saturday off, and the quicker the week goes by, the more crammed with stuff that single, glorious day seems to be.  Tomorrow has got to be incredibly productive for me if I want to be able to use Saturday for anything fun at all. What I really want is for Saturday to be a day spent lounging around wit

Tonight was one of those nights at work where I had to fight not to buy something.  It was a terrible night, and my usual response to that is to buy music.  I held off, though, and was proud of myself for it. I made it through half of the new Grace Potter & The Nocturnals record today.  It's really good, yet again.  Both she and Brandi Carlile make music more consistently than pretty much anyone else I know of.  The best, most beautiful part of that, is that the new music seems to fit flawlessly into the music that's already there. Oh yeah, another thing that happened today: I figured out what the two records are that come out the 19th that will serve to make it an all-around amazing month for music: 1) The Idler Wheel... - Fiona Apple 2) Oceania - Smashing Pumpkins I'll admit straight off that the Pumpkins record is more of a curiosity than anything else at this point, but I'm pretty sure I won't be able to help myself.  Part of me is genuinely intrigu

I love summer.  It's such a fantastic time for music.  Between concerts and festivals and new CD releases, there's always something cool right around the corner.  Take, for example, last week, this week, and two weeks from now.  Last week, it was the new Brandi Carlile record.  This week, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals follow up their superb selftitled record from two years ago.  And on June 26th, a brilliant friend of mine from high school, Cory Chisel, will release his latest disc with his band, The Wandering Sons.  That record is called Old Believers , and it may well be the record I'm the most excited to hear this summer. Finished up the new Beach Boys record, too.  It's incredibly solid.  Does it measure up to any of their early work?  Not entirely, but it seems like one of those records to file under the "late period masterpiece" headline. Listening to the new Grace Potter I mentioned above as I type tonight.  She's one of those, like both Bra

I finally got around to listening to the track that B. sent me the other day.  It dawned on me as I was listening just how much I missed her voice.  That song is going to work.  It needs drums and bass and electric, but just the acoustic track sent chills down my spine, which is good.  I ran it through the BPM analyzer that I've got on my computer, and it came out at 94.86 beats per minute.  When I see B. a week from today, we shall probably bump that up to 95, set a click track, and see what happens from there. Made it through another quarter of the Beach Boys record today while I was out running a few errands.  That record was a solid purchase.  It'll never be as good as their early stuff, but then again, I wasn't expecting it to be. The other fun thing I did today?  I went through all of the CDs that have ended up in overflow piles outside of the current system of CD racks that I have.  I was curious about the number.  Yeah, the overflow alone was about 300 CDs.  Sho

I'm feeling good today.  I didn't get all that much accomplished when it comes to music, but I did manage to make it to the halfway point of the new Beach Boys record.  I'm really liking it. Part of the reason I'm feeling good (i think) is that I'm off tomorrow.  The only day in 9 that this is the case.  That said, I've got a lot of music stuff that I want to get to tomorrow. 1) Finish writing out bass lines. 2) Listen to B.'s track that she sent a few days back. 3) Start in on the detailed list of what it is I have music-wise. 4) Practice! That seems to be a good place to start, at the very least.  Considering how much other stuff needs to get done tomorrow, that list of 4 things may be a bit excessive, but I'm going to give it a go. I'd like to finish the Beach Boys record as well. Other things that might be cool to accomplish: 1) Further investigation of teaching stuff. 2) Transcribe the songs SL dropped off that they do for worshi

Tonight is my favorite Saturday night of the month.  I closed tonight, I open tomorrow, and we got new in-store plays last week.  Here's what I ended up with: Sounds Of Summer - The Beach Boys Nobody Knows You - Steep Canyon Rangers Sun Midnight Sun - Sara Watkins Mischievous Moon - Jill Barber My Head Is An Animal - Of Monsters & Men A Wasteland Companion - M. Ward The Absence - Melody Gardot Graceland - Paul Simon The Only Place - Best Coast There were a couple of other records I tried to snag, but the tracks didn't import, and I didn't feel like messing with it at the end of the day. Finally started listening to the new Beach Boys record today.  I'm four songs in, and am absolutely loving it so far.  The harmonies are still there after fifty years.  The lyrics aren't all that deep, but then again, they never were in the first place.  The music and the songwriting are still top notch, though.  It's good to have Brian back in the fold again.

So, my music manager loaned me a CD tonight.  It's the Greatest Hits of Saturday Morning Cartoons.  All of the songs are played by alternative rock bands from the 90's, and it's fun .  Here's the track list: 1.  The Tra La La Song - Liz Phair & Material Issue 2.  Go Speed Racer Go - Sponge 3.  Sugar Sugar - Mary Lou Lord w/ Semisonic 4.  Scooby Doo, Where Are You? - Matthew Sweet 5.  Josie & The Pussycats - Juliana Hatfield & Tanya Donelly 6.  The Bugaloos - Collective Soul 7.  Underdog - Butthole Surfers 8.  Gigantor - Helmet 9.  Spider-Man - Ramones 10. Jonny Quest/Stop That Pigeon - Reverend Horton Heat 11. Open Up Your Heart And Let The Sun Shine In - Frente! 12. Eep Opp Ork Ah-Ah (Means I Love You) - Violent Femmes 13. Fat Albert Theme - Dig 14. I'm Popeye The Sailor Man - Face To Face 15. Friends/Sigmund And The Seamonsters - Tripping Daisy 16. Goolie Get-Together - Toadies 17. Hong Kong Phooey - Sublime 18. H.R. Pufnstuf - The M

Considering that it's Brandi Carlile week here in blog-land, I'll start off by mentioning that NPR posted a live set from her today, in honor of the new record.  I checked it out tonight, and it's wonderful.  I'm now pondering whether or not I can find a way to download the performance onto my ipod.  In case you're interested, here's the link for that: http://www.npr.org/2012/05/24/153602668/brandi-carlile-in-concert I downloaded the file that B. sent me tonight.  Just listening to about 30 seconds of it has me excited to finish off this project.  I've got to get in touch with her tomorrow night and get the ball rolling again. Picked up the new record by The Mynabirds today.  There first album, What We Lose In The Fire We Gain In The Flood , was an in-store play last year, and I really loved it (and subsequently got to take it home).  The new album has gotten amazing reviews.  I've listened to a bit of it so far, and it's got a bit of a differe

A few things to report today, some of it big, and some of it just plain fun. First of all: the new Brandi Carlile record is AMAZING!  I really believe that, in terms of consistency, the first seven songs are on par with a record like Wilco's A.M. Also cool and Brandi Carlile related, NoiseTrade has sent out a free 3 song EP of live tracks from the new record.  The EP is just called Live At Bear Creek .  So you can bet that I've already downloaded that. Haven't listened to the new Beach Boys disc yet.  I've been gone, and I figured I'd save that one for the home stereo and the good set of headphones. Secondly, I heard from B. today via email.  She has apparently finished off the track she was going to record.  She both Skyped AND emailed me the file.  Didn't have time to listen to it today, but I will definitely be checking it out tomorrow after work, as well as working to finish off the bass lines I had been working on last week. Third, and possibly

I figured I'd write early today, since I'm not sure what the rest of the day will bring. I'm off to pick up the new Brandi record, and then hit the road.  I think I'll pick up a notebook somewhere too, today.  Just listening to live acoustic stuff from her new record has me inspired to take up a pen again. I picked up a guitar this morning for a few minutes.  A little bit of the Hendrix.  I'm feeling okay about that right now.  Granted, on the whole, things have gotten away from me a bit this week, and while that may well continue today, I'm really hoping that tomorrow night will bring a return to some sort of normalcy in regards to my musical exploits.  It's one of the reasons I want to bring a fresh notebook with me the next couple of days. I really, really need to carve out some time to just sit and write.

Imported the CDs from T. this morning before work.  Listened to the Karmin record on the way to work.  It's got a bit too much rap in the verses for normal me, but slowly SL's love of rap is dawning on me.  And the choruses, oh the choruses are sung straight and catchy as hell. Tomorrow is an exciting day: new Brandi Carlile and new Beach Boys.  And, oh yeah, I've got a road trip tomorrow.  Should be an awesome day all around. Also, I had a good friend from Green Bay send me some songs that she's working on.  We worked together at Barnes & Noble and went to college together.  She's always been a writer, and I'm curious to hear what it is she's coming up with.  These things make me feel more and more like a producer.  I haven't had a chance to check them out yet, but that will happen in the next couple of days. I played for a bit this morning, but again, didn't quite get enough playing in for my taste.  It was a bit of "Red House,"

A few things to report today. First, T. from work loaned me a couple of albums he had picked up last week for listening purposes.  They are as follows: 1) Hello - Karmin 2) This Is The End Of Control - Cherri Bomb I'll pop them into the itunes before I go off to work tomorrow at 2.  (Side note: tomorrow is the last day of my six day run!). I had a great discussion with SL tonight regarding my future teaching prospects.  It seems like the only guy who teaches guitar up in Cherokee is full up right now, and therefore, the sooner I get up there, the sooner I can capitalize on the fact that he simply isn't taking on any more students right now.  On that note, I really need to find some resources on teaching guitar to kids.  Maybe a few books or some internet research.  I know there's stuff out there... heck, I found some of it when I was going to teach last summer, only to have that fall apart after one lesson.  I've basically gotten guarantees from SL that the pe

Made it through August of 2011 in the blog recap today.  It still strikes me that I spent too much of my musical time focused on the band, and not enough time focused on my musical progress. That being said, I spent a few minutes tonight going back through "Red House."  It's been a while on that, and it was good to feel it underneath my fingers again.  All of the notes were there, so that was good.  I didn't play along with the recording or anything, just sat with the tablature and played along, but still. I hadn't picked up a guitar in a few days, so just the act of doing that felt good.  My hands felt a bit tight, but then again, after a couple of days off, that's not unexpected. Not all that much else to report today.  Too quiet musically, if you ask me, but between opening tomorrow and closing on Monday, I should have a decent chance to change that in the next couple of days.

overslept a bit after getting home tonight.  I've got exactly... seven minutes to post.  The initial burst will be short, but I'll go back and edit later in order to include everything.  One of the bigger things today for me was getting a lot of te stuff I've purchased lately put into itunes.  Here was the list: 1) Regina Spektor 2) Edward Sharpe 3) Ben Lee 4) Cake (both records). Also of note: we got new in store plays in at work.  One of which is excerpts from the new Brandi Carlile record that drops on Tuesday.  Hearing a bit of that only reinforces my excitement surrounding that record.  It's going to be AMAZING! Got through almost another month today of the backlog of blog postings, too.  Almost into August of 2011 now.  Getting caught up slowly.