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Day Two Hundred

I can't even begin to say how glad I am to be able to commemorate 200 days, not only for the accomplishment involved, but also considering the computer issues that have wreaked havoc in the last ten days.

I'm not sure if I can pull this off or not, but I'm going to try and make Day 200 a giant Top 5, focusing on all the stuff that's happened since my computer died. Or maybe a Top 3, we'll see. Here goes nothing...

1) I'll start it off with the new album that came out right before my computer died... Gregg Allman released his first solo album in 14 years on the 18th of January, and oh, what a record it is! True enough, all but one of the songs on the record is a cover, but it's classic blues at its best. The one original was co-written by Gregg and Warren Haynes. We got the record as an in-store play at work, and I kid you not, every time we play it, it leaves the store steadily. Pick it up, and be amazed.

2) February 3rd came and went while I was away. This year was the 52nd anniversary of the plane crash that took Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper), effectively bringing to a close the first, great burst of rock & roll. Now that I live in Iowa, I'm almost ashamed of myself, in that I haven't been up to Clear Lake yet to visit both the crash site, and the Surf Ballroom. I cranked up Buddy's music all day on the 3rd. Then I listened to "American Pie" by Don McLean and cried. Then I learned "That'll Be The Day" and all was right with the world. It's Capoed at 5.

3) I got a lot of work done on the hard rock stuff in the last week too. I didn't make my original goal of having an EP completed for today, but I sorted out some issues with a song that have festered for close to three years now. In the end, it came down to eliminating a section that, while good, didn't fit with the rest of the music, and tightening up the rest of the progression. I haven't recorded the new structure yet, but I have it in my head to do so soon. I'm sure there will be a few more changes as it goes along, but getting past that initial wall feels like a big step.

As luck would have it, I got a new progression too. One that may or may not play well off of something else I've had seemingly forever. All told, both ideas feel like they are true to the tenor of the music we had started all those years ago. Oh, and I had a few conversations that might have shed light on some lyrics.

There you have it... turns out I was right about the Top 3. It's funny, y'know, the music continued without the ability to write about it every day (which is a good sign), but I felt so lost not being able to write about it every night. As I said earlier, it's good to be back.

"And in the streets, the children screamed, the lovers cried, and the poets dreamed. But not a word was spoken, the churchbells all were broken..." - "American Pie," Don McLean

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