"Muse" - ings on Rock & Life

Three things I'd like to touch on today.  No particular order to them, really, so I'll just dive in. 1) Tomorrow is the 1st of November.  A year ago I started in on "Stairway To Heaven."  This time around, I'm debating between two songs:  "Classical Gas," by Mason Williams (the solo acoustic version from Handmade ), and Laurence Juber's version of "Maybe I'm Amazed."  Both are acoustic showpieces.  If I really wanted to get adventurous, I'd add the acousitc version of "Layla" to that potential mix of songs.  And, just for the record, if you made me pick an electric song, it'd be "Red House."  I've wanted to learn that fully for years .  I guess I'm really picking between four songs then, aren't I? 2)  After the rah rah nature of yesterday's post, I did get serious about working on the Vai Workout.  I started in on what will make up the 1st, 11th, and 21st hour of his 30 hour workout.  Not ...

I expected to hear from J. today.  Mostly, that was because I had told him there would be tracks waiting for him lat night.  I was fully prepared to use that feedback as the crux of my blog post.  As it happens, I didn't hear from him.  Admittedly, that threw me a bit, but that's okay, because it led me to a different topic for tonight's post. Tomorrow will be the 100th day of the second year of the blog.  That seems like a fitting time to stop for a moment, look around, and take stock of where things are.  I'm almost a third of the way through the second year, and my initial reaction to that is this:  If the stated goal (Berklee) is still the goal, I don't feel like I'm making the progress necessary to be advancing on that goal with any sort of speed. I'll admit that we're making slow progress on the rock record, but the progress on my playing has been slower than that.  Lately, most of the work I've done with the guitar has been in response ...

Got a chance to talk with J. this morning before heading off to work.  Shockingly, he thought the song also called for a clean electric part in both the intro and the verses.  Honestly, the fact that my producer agrees with me kinda freaks me out a bit, even though it's a really good thing.  One other quick note about his definition of "clean."  He wants the guitar straight into the board, with no effect on it whatsoever.  Other things he mentioned include the following: 1) At first, he'd rather have too many tracks/too much noise than not enough.  That way, he says, we can pare down until we get it just right, as opposed to figuring out that we need more later and not knowing how to add it in.  I'm supposed to, in his words, "throw the kitchen sink at it."  Fine by me.  That just gets me more comfortable with the process, which in turn, will make things better the further along we get. 2) I'm also supposed to send the tracks in mono...

That didn't take long.  Got a response from J. in regards to the tracks I sent out yesterday.  It was as follows:  Excellent.  Still trying to figure out the verses? To a certain extent, yeah, I am still trying to figure out the verses.  One part of me thinks they should just be acoustic, but that same part of me thinks that, if this is the case, the acoustic part that's there is wrong.  The other part of me sees clean electric verses as an option.  This may be the more practical part of me, as I can see a situation where, live, we'd need to do the clean electric thing to make it work.  I'll try it with the clean electric in the next couple of days and send him the results.  See if that might allow us to pull the acoustic part all together.  If we're not careful here, we might just be able to work on a different song sometime soon. The other news of the day:  All my stuff finally came in at work!  Well, okay, not the Miles ...

I bit the bullet tonight and uploaded the guitar parts to the dropbox.  I'll leave a note on Skype later, letting them know what's there.  Hopefully that will get things moving forward. Discovered a new solo record by Miles Zuniga has come out this fall.  He's the lead singer of Fastball, and this is his first solo record.  It's called These Ghosts Have Bones , and apparently it came out in September.  You can preview a track from it on NPR.com right now.  Here's a link to the article: http://www.npr.org/2011/10/26/141722412/miles-zuniga-turning-therapy-into-sweet-sounds I met Miles last year at a show here in the DSM.  I suspect that I was one of the only people in the audience who knew who he was.  He's a really cool guy. It goes without saying that I ordered it. Also, I discovered that Deer Tick has a new record out.  It's their 4th album, and it's called Divine Providence .  That one will either be put on a Christmas Lis...

So, all of my Mike Doughty stuff came in today.  I didn't pick it up yet... waiting until Friday when I get my check, but it's kind of a cool feeling to know that an artists entire solo catalog (or at least everything that's avaliable from it) is waiting for me to bring home and absorb.  The last time I had an experience like that was with Dishwalla, and what an amazing discovery that one turned out to be.  If the Mike Doughty/Soul Coughing investigation is as musically and emotionally rewarding as my discovery of Dishwalla, that will be incredible. I listened back tonight to the tracks I cut last night, and was pleasantly surprised to find that I was happy with them.  I haven't bounced them down and sent them off yet, but that's only because my night didn't quite have the flow that I wanted it to.  It'll happen tomorrow after work, though, I promise. Haven't heard anything from the crew in a while.  I wonder if it's due to something silly lik...

I got some recording done tonight!  It didn't take me all that long, either.  This, in reality, isn't too surprising, considering all I wanted to lay down was the electric parts in the chorus, but hey, progress is progress, right?  J. might be annoyed that I did both the clean electric of the intro and the dirty electric of the choruses on the same track, but the way I see it, that just saves me from having to burn multiple CDs until I can afford my interface.  Even if he is annoyed, I thought the tracks came off well on first listen, with the second chorus having enough feedback at the end of it to usher in the switch to the solo.  We'll see how I feel about it tomorrow night before I go sending it off, but even if I listen back and cringe, it's not as if it would take me all that long to crank out another take. Stopped at Half Price Books today, looking for non-music related stuff.  Got some of that, but also walked out with a Tom Waits bio ( Low Side O...

So, I'll admit right off the bat that I spent a good chunk of the day focused on the "other" stuff that needed to get done during my two days off.  The thought on this being that, if I could get most/all of the other stuff out of the way today, it would free me up to devote all of tomorrow to musical pirsuits.  That being said, I didn't ignore the music entirely.  I picked up the electric for a little while to run some scales and just play a little bit.  That crossed off a small bit of the "practice" part of yesterday's goals.  I also did a bit of listening... most of it from things that I had already heard. Tomorrow needs to be spent on recording, with more practicing, and some reading.  Tonight, before sleeping, I can start in on some of the reading.  I didn't do as much as I hoped to music-wise today, but I did set myself up for a lot of time for it tomorrow, which I'll take as a victory.

Spent fifteen bucks today on a couple of music magazines.  One is a blues-related mag with a DVD included, and the second is the latest issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine, which came with a bunch of free lessons. I've got the next two days off, and I'm really excited to have some serious time to focus on my music.  Here's what needs to get done in the next 48 or so hours: 1) Recording.  I've got to nail down the electric part on this song we're working on.  I know I've got the intro right, now all I need to do is get the rest of the song recorded.  It shouldn't be something that takes me that long.  Once the playing part is done, it needs to be sent off to the Dropbox. 2) Practicing.  I'd like to not only hit the magazines I picked up today from a practice perspective, I'd also like to get back to some things I had started in on a while back: Vai's guitar workout, and a few other things that have been sitting on a pile in my living room ...

I've been thinking about something for the last week or so, almost completely on the back burner, but there just the same.  It's getting closer to November now, and that means that I've got a decision to make:  What classic rock song, if any, am I going to try to learn this year?  Last year it was "Stairway," and I got everything but the solo down pretty well.  Then I proceeded to ignore it for a year.  Some part of me thinks I ought to go back and revisit it this year, because even with a year off, I bet it would be a lot easier to pick up and refresh my memory this time around.  Still, some other part of me wants to move on to "Little Wing," or "Free Bird," or something. Today was a rotten day at work for various reasons (which I won't mention in specifics for fear of violating our blogging & social networking policy).  I kind of snapped and did the one thing I usually do as a way to make myself feel better after something stressful...

Two musical things of note today. First of all... after yesterday's post I couldn't stop thinking about solo stuff and recording and looping pedals.  So much so that I researched them for a little while this afternoon.  It would be an expense that I can't really afford right now, but then again, so would the recording interface and ProTools that J. has told me I need for the last 4 months or so.  If I get to the point where I can afford and/or justify those purchases, I'll also need to refurbish an old laptop that I have lying around, expressly for the ProTools setup.  Also, I just think the looping pedal would be cool for songwriting. And secondly, I watched "Eddie & The Cruisers II" tonight with SL and her Mom.  Not as good as the original, but then again, I wasn't expecting it to be.  It was a fun movie nevertheless, and I enjoyed it enough that I will now need to pick up the double pack with that and the original film.  Both of those movies...

Had a customer mention the name Mike Doughty today.  Truthfully, they bought an album, and I thought I recognized the name.  Turns out, the reason I recognized the name is because he was the lead singer of Soul Coughing back in the 90's.  They were sort of the beatnik poet's answer to grunge.  I've never owned anything by them, but I think that will happen soon, even if it has to come as a byproduct of checking out (and purchasing) all of Mike Doughty's solo work.  I previewed it all when it got slow today, and the things he does with loops and electronica underneath acoustic guitars and sweet melodicism puts someone like Everlast to shame. Interestingly enough, that sort of mix is the sort of thing I envision for a solo acoustic record that will be happening at some point.  I need a looping pedal if I'm really going to get serious about that, though. I've started following a blog called "Slugs On My Refrigerator."  It's written by a customer...

So, I promised last night that I would drop album titles from yesterday's CD gathering... here goes: Little Bird - Kasey Chambers Rabbits On The Run - Vanessa Carlton For True - Trombone Shorty Little Red Boots - Lindi Ortega Dedicated - Steve Cropper The Zaz & 2Cellos records are both selftitled. I sat with the electric tonight, but not for long enough.  Found a progression up the neck that seems cool at first glance, but time will tell on that one. Really not much else to report today.  I apologize for the slow day, and will try to do better tomorrow.

Today was an awesome combination of two music related activities. 1) I got a Spotify invite.  Haven't quite figured it all out yet, but there's time.  Can't decide whether not being able to figure it all out immediately makes me old, or whether I just haven't played around with it enough to figure out all of the features. 2) I closed tonight and open in the morning.  In this instance, what sounds like a rough night turned into a bounty of awesome.  The music manager at work has this policy wherein, if we end up with a schedule like I have tonight and tomorrow, we can borrow some of the in-store plays overnight for "closer listening/copying."  That being said, I wound up with 7 CDs at home tonight, and as long as I remember to bring them all back in the morning, I won't get in trouble.  They are albums by: 1) Kasey Chambers 2) Lindi Ortega 3) Trombone Shorty 4) Steve Cropper 5) Vanessa Carlton 6) Zaz 7) 2Cellos. All great stuff.  I'll drop...

Listening to the Ben Folds as I type this.  Strange day today.  The things I got done were small things, and there was never much extended productivity.  My whole day felt like it happened in fits and starts.  Kind of tough to finish anything on a day like that. I started finding songs for the mix I promised SL.  At this point it will be at least a 2 disc set.  This makes me happy.  The other thing I find interesting?  Knowing how much awesome music I passed by because it didn't fit the feel I was looking for.  That's one of the cool tings about meeting someone new and integrating them into your life... sharing your musical discoveries with them. Started reading one of the new Guitar World's tonight too, and did a little bit of playing, but never got around to doing any recording or work on the record.  Considering what I hoped to get done today, that feels like a major disappointment.  I go in late tomorrow, so if I can make m...

Finished up reading that issue of Rolling Stone tonight.  The articles on Floyd and Tom Morello were really cool. I'm in between books right now, and pondering reading something involving music.  Maybe the big Hendrix book that I toyed with starting a few months back, or maybe the one I just picked up the other day.  Not sure.  I've got a few other books on the business of music, but considering that the band is a good distance away from having to worry about any of that stuff, I may well hold off on those. I'm excited to have the time to sit and listen to that Ben Folds tomorrow, hopefully in its entirety.  There hasn't been much time in my life of late for an extended listening session, so I've got to take that opportunity when it shows up.  I'd also like to spend some time working on the record.  See if I can't get an electric part that runs throughout the song we're still fighting to finish off, and then take a look at some of the songs we ha...

Got the Evanescence imported tonight after work.  Haven't gotten around to listening to the Ben Folds yet.  Going to need a bigger chunk of time for that than I've had.  I'm off Monday, so that will likely be the time that happens. Apparently, when I picked up the new Guitar World issue the other day, I was right at the end of the run for the last issue, because a new one came out today.  Picked that up as well.  I've got to cut back on my music spending for a bit, listen to what I've already got, but the magazines will continue to be the addiction I feed regularly. And now, for possibly the dorkiest thing I've ever admitted here: I created a playlist in itunes with all of the songs that have yet to recieve a single spin.  Set it up so that, as one of them plays, it removes itself from the list.  Currently, there are 10,263 songs in the list. Apparently B. was looking at some of the newer songs tonight.  She suspects we'll need to add a few ...

Headed into the studio tonight after I got home from work.  Had to see if I could knock out that intro.  See if it made a difference.  Well, not only did I get it, but it did make a difference.  Now there's part of me that wants to have the clean electric running through the whole song, or at least through the intro and the verses.  Distorted electric in the chorus.  My gut feeling is that it would make things sound as cohesive as possible, which would be a good thing at this point.  Still, with the intro right, the acoustic part works better.  B. was right about that one. Found a cool book tonight at work by a guy named Robert Jourdain.  It's called  Music, The Brain, & Ecstacy: How Music Captures Our Imagination .  It covers everything from performance to composition to listening to rhythm and everything in between.  The book just looks fascinating, and it came with a positive recommendation from a co-worker, so that's ...

Grabbed the latest issues of Guitar World and Guitar Techniques at work today before I left.  That's always $17 well spent. Had a good conversation with B. tonight as well.  It started off with me ranting about how slow things have been going, and how the guitar parts weren't coming together as well as I had hoped.  She did exactly what I needed her to: she reassured me that the reason things aren't moving as fast as we would like is because we aren't doing this as a full time thing, and we have a considerable distance between us. She went on to say that she believes that, if the intro is nailed down on electric, that it might just be the thing to hold the song together.  Also of note is the fact that she likes the acoustic part enough that we can make it work. All that did was make me want to work on this thing enough to get it right, and have that happen soon.  Otherwise, we'll need to start working on another song.

So, I promised a bigger post today, and boy, oh boy will it be a bigger post.  I got up late today, and getting up late always kicks me into gear quickly, because it makes me feel like I've lost half of my day. I started off by cracking open the new Evanescence record.  I got all the way through that, liked it, and moved on to the DVD that comes with the record.  There's a cool (albeit short) making of documentary, and then a section where Amy talks about each of the songs on the record. That whole process got me thinking about the issues we've had with getting the songs recorded for the band.  This, in turn, led me to go back to the demo and trying to re-trace our steps, to see if I couldn't find the problem between the demo version and the newly recorded version.  Taking that step led me to drop J. a note asking if he was going to be around at all tonight.  Ended up talking with both he and B. before the night was out.  All three of us agr...

New Release Tuesday today.  And for me it included the new Ben Folds retrospective, and the new Evanescence record.  Haven't had a chance to really dive into them yet, but seeing as I have tomorrow off, that shouldn't be much of a problem.  The Ben Folds will be a bigger journey (3 discs, 61 songs), but the Evanescence record is the one I'm most curious about.  Partially because it's been 5 years, and patially because I want to see if the band demos sound more or less like their current sound. Really short today, I know.  But trust me when I say that tomorrow will be filled with a lot of listening and guitar-work, and that there will be a rather long post discussing all of it.

Started in on disc 1 of the two disc set of mixes today.  Got, like, 9 songs in.  Not terribly far, but far enough to know that I loved everything I heard.  Started to suspect that the rumors others have told are true.  SL may well be a mixmaster (mixmistress???) of the highest order.  This is good news. Also of import today, my brother sent me a website for something called Jamlink.  It's a program where, in real time, you can play along with people who are up to 500 miles away.  This would work well for B. and I, but being that J. lives farther away than that, I suspect he'd be left out of that party. Scored some more free music from SL as well.  Doo Wops & Hooligans by Bruno Mars, and the latest Kings Of Leon record.  So, that's a total win for me.  I really need to get off my butt and start making her some mixes.  Can't believe that hasn't happened yet. Not much time with the guitar today.  Stole a few minutes an...

After yesterday's awesomeness involving in-store plays, today contained just about the only experience that surpases it: I recieved a trio of what passes for a mixtape these days.  There was a two volume set that SL made just for me, and then a single disc that she passed on because others have called it her best work in the medium. Best part of the whole thing?  All 3 discs have: 1) songs I know by bands/artists I love. 2) songs I don't know by bands/artists I love 3) songs I don't know by artists I am unfamiliar with. This, to me, is the key to a successful mix.  There need to be a few touchstones... things the other person will already know, then there needs to be a few things by those artists that are either less familiar or totally unfamiliar.  Those are the songs that will set the table for the completely unfamiliar songs on the mix. That doesn't even consider the other aspects, like track order and pacing and emotional content/reaction.  Those t...

Today was my favorite post-changeover day at work:  the day when the bossman goes through the in-store plays and looks at what has gone offsale.  This is the day when, if we have our name on something, it gets to go home with us.  I walked away with 2 CDs this time around:  1) Bella - Teddy Thompson 2) Low Country Blues - Gregg Allman On top of that, I misbehaved a little bit and bought a couple of records.  Only spent $25 though, so I didn't feel too badly about it.  Here's what I got: 1) The Best Of The First 10 Years - Elvis Costello 2) Burning The Days - Vertical Horizon Other news tonight as well.  Band news.  Apparently J. got around to listening to and working with B.'s most recent round of vocal tracks today.  According to him, they turned out great.  Now all that remains is my pesky electric track.  Also, J. mentioned that, at least for the time being, it would be easier if I sent him the tracks wit...

What struck me the most about the Wilco show as a whole was just how much like the records they sounded live.  It shouldn't really have been a big surprise, after all, the same lineup has been together for 8 years now.  It's not like it used to be, where the band members changed after every record.  It only makes sense that they'd be a finely tuned, well-oiled music machine. They played so many of the longer, let's stretch out and just rock for a while, kind of songs: "Impossible Germany," "Art Of Almost," "Bull Black Nova," "Handshake Drugs," "One Sunday Morning," etc. and yet, the show seemed dominated more by songs than by extended jams.  This, I suspect, is also a product of superior musicianship and a well written setlist.  There were oh, so many things that I would have loved for them to play; "Casino Queen," for example, but at the end of the day, I didn't leave disappointed, because I couldn't...

First off, I'd like to thank my brother for posting a quick note yesterday. Secondly, Nels Cline is a freaking GOD!  I mean, I've watched him on DVD and listened to him on record, but watching him live was astounding.  And not only for his fretwork.  It seemed to me that he is also in charge of the various computer driven effects that make up a lot of the background sounds for a lot of later period Wilco.  Before I get too far ahead of myself, here's the setlist from last night: Capitol City One Sunday Morning Poor Places Art Of Almost I Am Trying To Break Your Heart I Might Black Moon Bull Black Nova Impossible Germany Born Alone Jesus, etc. Handshake Drugs War On War Box Full Of Letters Standing O Via Chicago Dawned On Me A Shot in the Arm ----------------------------- Whole Love 36 Inches High [Jim Ford] (w/Nick Lowe on lead vocals and electric guitar) I Love My Label [Nick Lowe] (w/Nick Lowe on vocals and electric guitar) I'm...

Hello all you followers of this awesome blog, it is I, the better half, again back to inform you that The Goodman is on his way to Wilco and will post when he arrives. 'Nuff said, Sud for pres y'all, I'm outie.

So, I was tempted today to go back and see when it was I saw Brandi last year.  It's been just under a year if memory serves me.  I checked today, and she uploaded last night's setlist to her website.  I'll post the order there, and then post the picture of the setlist I got from the stage. Here's the one from her site... Setlist What Can I Say Dreams Closer To You / I've Just Seen A Face Dying Day Keep Your Heart Young Promise To Keep Way To You Raise Hell Before It Breaks Turpentine The Story Encore Sound Of Silence Pride And Joy And here's the picture of the list I got from the stage... The only deviation from the setlist was "Throw It Away," which happened right before "Dying Day." She's got three spots where it just says ME (although I think there were only 2, in actuality)... those were solo spots, and I suspect that she just lived in the moment and played whatever her heart desired at that moment.  The first on...

So, Brandi Carlile was AMAZING!  Even better, if possible, than she was last October in Cedar Falls.  Just a few quick hits tonight, though.  Too exhausted to do the full review tonight, so that'll have to wait until tomorrow, but... 1) I GOT A SETLIST! 2) Lucy Wainwright Roche opened, and was great. 3) They played a bunch of new songs!  Apparently they are almost done recording studio album # 4. I'll post the full setlist tomorrow.  And a picture of it. Been messaging with J. & B. a lot more this week.  Feels like the gears are cranking up again.  Hopefully for good. Played some acoustic today too.  Got out the binder with all the songs in it that had been ritually ignored for a long time now.  Started to ponder some (maybe) open mic stuff.  Picking songs is always an adventure, but it's a fun adventure.

Heard from B. today.  She uploaded vocal tracks for the song we've been working on for far too long.  There were 4 tracks.  I haven't listened to all of them, but the one labeled "performance version" I listened to the first half of, and in all honesty it seemed a little slow in regards to the rest of the song.  I'll have to listen to the other ones, and try to figure out which vocal works best for the tune.  We'll figure this thing out one way or another. I really am just dying to start working on something new.  I'm almost to the point of telling J. that we need to start working on something else as well, just as a change of pace. Still haven't... 1) uploaded the Counting Crows rarities. 2) finished listening to the CD that I bought from that regular customer the other day. 3) really had a hardcore evening of playing. Off tomorrow, so maybe I'll do that during the day before THE BRANDI CARLILE SHOW TOMORROW NIGHT!

Up early today.  Worked at twelve.  Played around in studio a little bit more, but still didn't crack the effect issue. Had an interesting conversation with a customer today, as well.  I hyped Monte Montgomery to him, and he returned the favor by hyping Andy McKee to me.  Apparently, McKee's a jazz guitarist, or at least that's the way he comes up in our system.  Not much was available to order, but it looked like there might be a couple of albums.  I'll have to check him out on YouTube before I make any decisions, but either way, it's always good to have a new recommendation. The other fun customer of the night was also a recommendation:  The Pomegranates.  They're an indie rock band out of Ohio that sounded pretty cool.  Normally, when someone recommends an indie rock band, at least of late, they end up a bit too "spacey" for me.  But these guys, they had active melody lines and forward movement to their music.  I'm definitely...