"Muse" - ings on Rock & Life

I got my time in today, and spent it not only knocking a tiny bit of  the rust off of my fingers, but also in planning out where to go from here, now that here is where I am.  It was good to sit down and take stock.  It showed me, at least a little bit, where the easy in's are, and gave me some sort of plan heading forward.  What I do with that plan will be the important part. Didn't get CDs put away today, or run across the looping pedal.  I'll probably fit in at least a little bit of work on that tomorrow, starting with getting some of the bigger box sets out and onto the shelves. What I really need to do tomorrow is just get some practicing in, keep knocking the rust off, and start looking for the path that will get me started on the second half of 2016.

Today wasn't an overly productive day in the studio... but I was successful in finding two of the three things I was still missing down there.  Now all that continues to elude me is the looping pedal, but I know it's in the house somewhere and will most certainly turn up in the next day or so as things continue to get unpacked and put away.  And besides, I can live without the looping pedal temporarily... the thing I was missing the most from that list was the power cable to the Marshall. Tomorrow will be, I think, a day of taking stock, of trying to pick up the pieces from where I left off before the frenzied activity of the move started overwhelming our lives.  It will be a day spent charting the course forward between now and the end of the year, and getting started on those things.  Putting away CDs in the living room (and subsequently, deciding what music I really want down in the studio) might be a part of that, also; and if I'm lucky, it will also lead to the unc

It's done.  Well, okay, so it's 99.5% done, but that's close enough for me. The stereo and the turntable got set up this morning, as I figured they would, and the two bags of randomness (picks, my slide, tuners, etc) and the few small piles of notebooks got dealt with tonight.  I even managed to get the iMac set up, if not fired up. And yet, the studio remains only slightly unfinished.  Somewhere in either the house or the garage, there must be a box or a bag that has a couple of studio-related items tucked into it, because there are at least two things I can't find.  As fate would have it, they're important things, too.  And something tells me that they're all in one place.  I'm missing: 1.  My looping pedal 2.  The power cable for my Marshall 3.  The foot switch for the Marshall They're all things that would have been in the same general area in the old studio, but given how much of the house we've gotten set up already, it really surpris

So, my statement at the end of last night was that the studio needed to be "up and running" by the time I went to bed tonight.  Technically, I got there. All of the magazines are shelved, all of the boxes are emptied and cleared out (with one exception, which I'll get to in a second), and while the instruments are still in their cases at the moment, that will change in the morning.  In short, if I wanted to record right now, I could. And yet, the studio isn't completely finished yet.  The stereo and turntable aren't hooked up yet.  The speakers for the stereo are the sole box that's left in the studio.  Aside from that, the iMac that I got from my stepdad, that I keep meaning to play around with to see if it can help me in recording (it's almost 10 years old) is the only other thing that needs to be sorted out.  Both of those things should be fairly easy for me to knock out on a good night's sleep, so assuming all goes smoothly, tomorrow before noo

Today felt like the great leap forward, and I didn't even get to everything I wanted to. I made big progress on getting the magazines sorted and shelved, and only have the issues of Guitar Techniques remaining.  After that (which shouldn't take me all that long tomorrow), it's down to the recording gear, the stereo, and the turntable.  At that point, things should be functional, aside from the couple of boxes I made mention of last night. It's really starting to come together now.  It's close enough that I can (finally) see the end of the tunnel.  At this point, I'm just ready to get things up and running again, so I can get back to the playing side of things. Whatever it takes, the studio will be up and running by the time I go to bed tomorrow night.

Finally got myself a good bit of time to spend in the studio, and as I suspected would happen, the pieces seem to be falling into place with some quickness.  I've got all of the books put on shelves, and have moved on to sorting the magazines.  They're blocked out by title, and at least a little bit by year so far, but that part of the project remains unfinished for today.  I'm hoping to get at least close to finishing that off tomorrow, which will leave only the stereo and recording gear to set up, and then a couple boxes of randomness that got hastily packed at the last minute.  Good day today, if not the complete finishing of the studio I had been hoping for.

Today was a day of missed opportunities for me, on both ends of the day. I had intended to spend a bit of time down in the studio this morning, before we left for Northwest Iowa, but those plans were foiled, and then I had planned to finish off my day with another round of studio time after we got home. Those plans were foiled by the fact that we got home about three hours later than we had been expecting to. All told, today was a lost day for me, which is a bummer, because I had great plans for the day. Tomorrow should be a better day.

Got the bookshelf put together today. It was a bit more trouble than I had anticipated, but in the end, it was worth the struggle. Getting that done let me  (finally) start getting things out of boxes and onto shelves. All told, I think I got about five boxes emptied out and hauled out of the studio. It's not everything, by any stretch of the imagination, but it was definitely a good start. I'm really hopeful that tomorrow will give me enough time to get the rest of the work done down there that needs to get done in order for the room to be functional. After that, a bit of fine tuning here and there won't be all that hard. Today was a great day, but it ended up being only one half of the day that I needed it to be.

Well, I didn't get my chunk of time today... but I was able to get a few other things crossed off my list: 1.  I was able to find a bookshelf that will serve my needs in the studio.  Didn't get it put together tonight, but that is first on my list for tomorrow. 2.  I ordered a couple of things that I hadn't been able to get while we were back in DBQ. Strange Little Birds - Garbage Johannesburg - Mumford & Sons In spite of not getting my large amount of time in the studio today, I was able to steal a few minutes down there before dinner.  What's left of the boxes is pretty well organized, I just need to have the time to get it out of said boxes and onto the shelves.  It's one of those times where the studio will go from looking like a complete disaster to being set up in a fairly short amount of time, I just need to get down there and do it. Tomorrow is the day.  Come hell or high water, tomorrow is the day.

Back in North Central Iowa today.  Picked up the new issue of Guitar World on my way out of DBQ, heading for home. Got a chance to spend the typical (of the last week or so) five to ten minutes down in the studio.  Got most all of the boxes sorted out, in terms of what's in them, if not all put away yet.  Mostly due to needing a good chunk of time when we're actually here .  That, and I need another bookshelf to replace one of the ones we lost in the move. I'll get there, but it might take until tomorrow or Thursday before I get my good chunk of time.

Back in DBQ tonight in advance of an appointment tomorrow.  Still buzzing over last night's show.  Miracle of miracles, I was able to find the set list fairly quickly this time around.  Here's what got played last night at Simon Estes: Beginning to Feel the Years Again Today Raise Hell Wherever Is Your Heart The Eye That Wasn't Me Hard Way Home Late Morning Lullaby The Things I Regret Keep Your Heart Young Hiding My Heart Dying Day The Mother Born to Run ( Bruce Springsteen  cover) The Story Mainstream Kid Pride and Joy Encore: Nothing Compares 2 U ( Prince  cover) Boys in the Street w/Greg Holden Going to California (Led Zeppelin cover)     

So much to write about today, but we just got back from a Brandi Carlile concert in the DSM, and I am too exhausted to write coherently about anything. Today was an amazing day. More info tomorrow.

So, if yesterday was a big day, then today was the first great leap forward in the new room. Whereas yesterday I could see the way forward, today I finished moving the furniture around, and even got started on unpacking the boxes. There wasn't a whole lot of progress in that regard, but it was a start, and it gives me hope for the morning. Today was a great day!

Today was a big day! I got the organ placed where I want it, and finalized at least some of the furniture placement in the studio.  Another day in and I'm really starting to see how it's all going to come together. The biggest thing today was probably this: I finally got tired of looking at the big, unwieldy console stereo, and so I pushed it out of the studio and into the space in between our two basement rooms.  The previous owners said that they would come and take it if we needed them to (along with a few other things), and so this way, it will at least be easier for them to get it up the stairs and out.  That's what I'm telling myself anyway.  The biggest plus to having that moved out of the studio is that, with it gone, I can now really see how the room is going to come together.  I haven't had a whole lot of time to work down there yet, but taking the few minutes to move the stereo bought me a gameplan going forward. Today was another good day, even tho

Another day of moving boxes down into the studio.  Most, if not all of them are down there now.  I got a couple of the pieces of furniture placed, and I have a few more thoughts as to how things are going to fit together, but it hasn't quite clicked yet.  I'm still trying to figure out what to do about a giant console stereo that the previous owners left behind.  I know I don't need/want it, but it's so blasted heavy that I'm not sure what to do with it. Progress is progress, even if it didn't involve a whole lot of time spent in there.

Left Dubuque today, headed back (home) to North Central Iowa.  There wasn't much in the way of time for playing today, although I did get started on the ominous task of getting all of the studio boxes moved down into the new space. I know it will all fall into place, but as of yet, I can't quite see how it's all going to piece itself together. (I'm fairly certain that the next few days of updates will sound mostly the same, but still...)

Back in Dubuque today to get the rest of our stuff. Today was exhausting, and there wasn't even any time for music making today. I'm really hoping that I will have a bit of time to get into the studio tomorrow night. We shall see.

First day in the new house, and pretty much all that I got done was moving a whole bunch of boxes down to the studio. There wasn't much in the way of set up today, if only because I wasn't left with a whole lot in the way of time. If I had to guess, though, I would say that, by the end of the weekend I will have a good start on getting the studio up and running.

IT'S MOVING DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today was a long, crazy day in a series of days that will only get more long and crazy.  I finished packing up the studio, because tomorrow is Moving Day! Man, if I thought that I was ready to get everything set up yesterday , today, that feeling is even worse.  Tomorrow and Monday are going to be a blur, though, so we'll see how the next few days unfold.

So, the studio is essentially down to CDs and the recording gear, with a little bit of furniture thrown in for good measure. It will all be done by the end of the day tomorrow, wrapped up and ready to be moved into the new studio. I just can't wait to land and have a chance to get back to some semblance of playing. The last few weeks have been a crazy time, and I am just looking forward to putting some music on the stereo and setting up the new space.

We had my going away party after work tonight. It was a full turnout, so that was really cool. As a result, I didn't get a lot of packing done, but I was able to get a bit closer to done in the studio, and that will definitely prove helpful in the end. I'm pretty sure that one more box will get me through all of the books, magazines, and resources. Then all that will remain is the recording equipment and all of the music. It should all be done in time for the movers to get here on Sunday. I have a feeling that it's going to be a long weekend.

So, I had it in my head that I needed to get everything except the stereo system and the CDs packed up tonight in order to feel like I was making good progress on things. I'll also admit that I thought this would be a pretty easy task. It didn't seem like there was much left to do. I was wrong. While I got a lot closer to that goal tonight than I was when I woke up this morning, I didn't get there. I'll say that I ought to be able to get there tomorrow, though, and hope that doing so doesn't jinx me. I'm just ready to be unpacking and setting up in the new space, but I know that there's a lot of work to be done before that can happen.

Stopped by the bookstore on the way home from work tonight. Picked up what will prove to be the last issues of Acoustic Guitar and Guitar Techniques before the move. They didn't have a new issue of Guitar World on the stand, so I am going to have to figure out how I'm going to get my magazine fix in North Central Iowa at some point shortly after the move. The studio is still bordering on disaster, but I still feel like a good hour or two of work will be enough to push it over the top. Tomorrow is going to be a long day of work and packing, but it should be a good day.

So, apparently the last few weeks have been a good bit stressful, because this is the second time in those fourteen days that I have posted late. We closed on the house yesterday. Took a van load full of stuff over, which means that a few instruments are now sitting in the new studio space. It's not much, but it is a start. Back to the packing  (and hopefully some playing) tonight.

The dismantling of the studio continued in earnest today. It looks better in therethan I was expecting it to, but you can still tell that what has been in place for almost three years is coming apart at the seams. I finally believe that it might all be packed up and ready to go by the time that the truck comes a week from today, though. I have also gotten to the point where I am starting to debate what the few things are that will end up traveling to the new house in my backpack, if only because I am going to want to use themin my last few days in the studio here. We close on the house tomorrow!

Things in the studio are moving a good bit slower than I thought that they would. I was convinced that today was going to be the big day in there,  but after what I was able to get done today, it seems like tomorrow might actually be a bigger deal. I got a good bit packed today, but all that did was make things look worse. I'm really after it feeling like a lot of progress was made, and instead of it looking empty, it just looks torn apart. I did manage to make some progress in the Replacements biography, though, so I guess that counts for something.

Really, what tonight was all about for me was figuring out where I am in regards to getting the studio packed up, and therefore figuring out what all needed to get done tomorrow. Things are looking haphazard in there already, and one shelf is empty. If I can get the second one cleared off tomorrow, and get everything on it boxed up and ready to go, that would feel like a success. In a perfect world, I will get the 99% of the resources I won't use between now and the move packed up as well. I'm already plotting the soundtrack for tomorrow in my head. It really needs to be a big day tomorrow.

So, on top of everything else that is going on right now, I'm starting to get flashes of what, in times gone by, would indicate the start of a writing cycle. Granted, that's mostly based on information gleaned from a couple of different attempts at FAWM, and then the writing sessions from my time in the band years ago, but still, the feeling is there. Didn't make much progress in the emptying of the studio tonight, but the weekend will be a good time to try and get a lot of work done in there. I'm still really needing to carve out a bit of time to sit down and play as well, so hopefully I can find that this weekend.

For the first time in a long time, I fell asleep last night without posting. In all reality, I didn't get much done yesterday other than doing a bit more packing in the studio. Slowly but surely, it is starting to look like it's all coming apart at the seams. There was a small bit of listening yesterday, too, but aside from picking up a guitar for a few minutes here and there, not much got done. I knew that these couple of weeks were going to be hard, but for my own sake, I need to try and find some time to play tonight.