"Muse" - ings on Rock & Life

So, most of my musical work tonight concerned more catching up on old blog postings.  I'm up through the middle of July of last year, and what I'm starting to notice is this: whenever the exact date was that J., B., and I started working on hard rock stuff, the postings on my other progress stopped entirely.  I think I was somewhat aware of this at the time, but I didn't realize just how complete it was until tonight.  And I wonder why it feels like I didn't accomplish as much as I hoped to last year!  This time around, I've got to do a better job of keeping a balance between working on songs and working on improving my craft. Still haven't gotten to either the Edward Sharpe or the Regina Spektor.  Maybe tonight before I pass out. I need to get back to work tomorrow.  Do some playing.  The last few days have been taken up almost entirely by music stuff that hasn't involved me having a guitar in my hands.  With tomorrow being the 3rd day of a s...

I finished listening to the new Garbage record today.  Overall, I liked it.  I'd have to sit and listen straight through in order to see if it flows really well or if the deluxe edition goes on a bit too long, but overall, it has been very good to have Garbage back, so to speak.  That, and, now that I'm through their record, I can sit down with: 1) Regina Spektor's new disc 2) The new Edward Sharpe Got up through March of 2011 in the blog review tonight.  There's been some definite progress there.  I'm feeling really good about the things I've started, if not the progress I've made since I started the blog, but then again, I'm always looking for faster progress, so. Talked to B. for a little bit tonight, too.  We decided on next Monday as a date for our current "assignments."  That works for me, because I've got a bit more to do where the bass lines are concerned.

Today was a bit of a crazy day for me, music-wise.  I got up early and stopped off at work to both pick up Regina Spektor's What We Saw From The Cheap Seats , and order the LP re-release of August & Everything After . After that, I needed to go out to the mall to check out some wedding registry stuff, but after crossing that off my list, I allowed myself to stop by FYE and browse through their CDs.  I've found some cool stuff there in the last few months, and today was no exception.  I got really good deals, though, so in my head it's okay.  Here's what I wound up with 1) Here - Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros 2) Something To Remember Me By - Ben Lee ($6.99!) 3) Welcome To Discovery Park - Brad ($.50!) 4) The Daddy Of Them All - Space Monkeys ($1.50!) The Brad record intrigues me because it's one of Stone Gossard's side projects.  Speaking of Stone, after the last few Pearl Jam records have been so awesome, I could stand to hear a new one ...

SL and I stopped in at Half Price Books this afternoon in between registering for wedding stuff at Target and trying to register for stuff at Kohl's.  I found a few musical things of note: 1) Circle of Friends - Bob Mould (DVD) 2) Pressure Chief - CAKE (CD) 3) Prolonging The Magic - CAKE (CD) I had Motorcade Of Generosity in my hand as well, but SL already had that one, so I put it back. Also of note tonight: I got all the way through the end of 2010 in my blog review.  Tomorrow I'll start in on 2011.  I'm continuing to find good stuff, which tells me that, as off base as I sometimes get, the process is intact, at least somewhat.  There will definitely be some fine tuning that needs to be done, but I both expected and needed that.  It's why I'm going back through. New Regina Spektor drops tomorrow.  I think that warrants a stop at work on my day off.  I'll probably order the August LP as well, since SL agreed that we need it.  I knew...

Only a couple of things to report today.  First, I earned a little bit of extra cash today helping out a customer.  I tried to convince him that he didn't need to pay me for services rendered in regards to finding a song and getting it put on CD, but when you try that twice and it doesn't work, you are humble and slip the twenty bucks into your pocket all the same. Secondly, SL brought down a copy of the new Counting Crows record on VINYL when she came tonight!  I know in the past that Crows vinyl has been extremely hard to come by, so this is truly cool. And thirdly, while I was at work today, I looked up the Crows in the system, only to discover that they are re-releasing August & Everything After on vinyl on the 5th of June.  That will SO be mine! That's really all for today.  Slow news day, I know.  I'll try and do better the next two days... when I am OFF!

So, I'm about halfway through the new Garbage record.  It's a strong album, and so far, it's a really solid comeback for a band that may have needed to go away for their own reasons, but have sorely been missed in the last 7 years. Had a customer call in looking for a song tonight that isn't available other than on Youtube.  He needed it for a wedding tomorrow afternoon, and so I offered to find the file for him and put it on CD.  Yet another project that I took on for a customer.  I haven't done enough of that in the last year to justify officially doing it on the side, but it has been a handful of people whose events I have been able to save. Made it through another month of posts tonight.  Found a few more things that needed to go into the notebook.  This is continuing to be a helpful process for me.  It's showing me how much enthusiasm I have for this process, and at the same time, helping me to see where it is I go off track.  I need that...

I started listening to the new Garbage record on the way to and from work today.  I'm only three or four tracks into it, but I've got to say, it's pretty solid so far.  A few of the guitar licks sound a bit like earlier songs, but hey, when you've been away for 7 years, you probably tend to rely a bit on old stuff for reference, right? Printed off some blank bass tab sheets tonight.  With "assignments" being handed out last night, it's time I start jotting down the thoughts I've had recently regarding bass lines.  Still haven't heard from J. Got all the way through October 2010 in terms of the backlog on the blog.  Things are starting to clear up.  Lines of progress are making themselves clear.  I'm feeling good about the way this is going.  That's really all for today.  It was a long day that had more listening than playing, and I've got to change that tomorrow.

Talked with B. tonight.  We sort of had it out, and then came to a few conclusions.  I know we're both incredibly dedicated to the project, we just get frustrated sometimes.  What gets to me is her timidity.  I'd love it if she was able to take charge a bit more than she does.  At the same time, I know who she is, and I know that realistically speaking, I've probably got to carry the load when it comes to the push.  She admitted tonight that she works better when she has an "assignment and a deadline." If that's the case, what we need to do is give each other "assignments," as a way to keep ourselves motivated, to keep ourselves in search of progress.  That said, she's had a bridge that she needs to send me for one of the songs we'd like to include, so that's her assignment.  Mine is to work on bass lines on the songs we have.  We've got a week.  She says she'll try to be in touch by Wednesday or Thursday next week. I've f...

So, I emailed B. this morning to see if she can find the time this summer to get a bit of work done.  Haven't heard back yet, but that's okay.  I figure if it goes a week and I still haven't heard from her, then I have my answer. Sent J. a Skype message today as well.  It included the tempos for two of what I feel are our best songs, and the hope that, if he can create click tracks, we can move forward.  It really makes no difference to me which one of us does the bass lines, but I will definitely step up and take a shot at them when he suggests it (because I know he will). The sad part is that I've watched this project go from full record to six songs down to three.  And yet, at the same time, it feels right to me.  It's what probably should have happened a long, long time ago.  Case and point is this: in going through older blog posts today, I found one from the end of September, 2010 that talked about wanting to get this done.  That's two y...

A few things to touch on today.  First, and perhaps most important, I'M GOING TO SEE COUNTING CROWS IN JULY!!!!!  Okay, so technically it's me, and SL, and possibly R. and a bunch of other people (we got 8 tickets).  The show is at the Starlight Theater in Kansas City on the last day of July, and I'm ridiculously, unbelievably excited about it. Secondly, I had a wonderfully long chat with SL tonight about why it is we struggle so much to accomplish the things we dream of accomplishing, and whether or not we spend so much time figuring out different aspects of these things that we wind up spending even less time actually working toward the goals themselves.  This all came up because, somehow, we got onto the topic of the hard rock band, and the feeling that I have about it meaning more to me than it does to B. SL thinks that I should give myself the summer, and then whatever isn't done by the end of August just remains unfinished.  I think she's probably righ...

I made it through an entire month of old blog posts today.  I'm up through August of 2010, and already I've found three notebook pages worth of stuff that I had started in on.  I've categorized things into two categories (maybe three, if I'm technical). The first category concerns theory and technique.  It includes the notes on the fretboard, scales, chords, the circle of fifths, etc. The second category revolves entirely around songs.  The learning of them and the writing of them.  As far as the learning goes, this is the spot for all of the major songs that have stayed around the whole time as touchstones, "Red House," and "Little Wing" being classic examples. The (maybe) third category is really more of a list right now.  It contains all of the moments where I've said to myself, "Hey, that'd be fun to learn." This notebook feels like the missing piece to the project.  I suspect it's the "keep a record of it"...

So, my ears are still ringing a little bit, but... Someone asked me today who it was I saw last night, and when I told them it was Deer Tick, they hadn't heard of them and asked what they sounded like.  Off the top of my head, I said that they were "a mixture of Uncle Tupelo and The Replacements."  The more I live with that description, the more it seems accurate to me. Last night's show started at 9, doors opened at 8, though and R. and I got there early enough that we were able to get a spot right in front of the stage, which was both good and bad. There were 3 bands last night: The Stepkids, The Turbo Fruits, and (of Course) Deer Tick.  The Stepkids were seemingly airlifted straight out of the 70's and dropped onto the stage at Vaudeville Mews.  The whole band was completely dressed in white, and played white instruments.  All of their music utilized clean guitar tones and high three part harmonies.  Then there was the projector that flashed tie-dy...

Just got back from seeing Deer Tick at Vaudeville Mews here in town.  The Stepkids and Turbo Fruits both opened.  So very much to write about... but not tonight, as I am currently half-deaf and all tired. What I can say right now is this.  Aside from the concert, here's the highlights of what I got done today: 1) Finished listening to the new Silversun Pickups record (this merits a posting sometime soon). 2) Kept going on the blog recap stuff that I started working on last night. 3) Played a bit of acoustic. It was a great day. The other thing I can lay down tonight is what I picked up at the show (3 things): 1) The Middle Brother record on vinyl! 2) The CD by The Diamond Rugs (a John McCauley side project) 3) Deer Tick's Tim EP, only being sold at shows. Again, so many reactions to the show tonight, but they will have to wait until tomorrow's post.

I got to check out a bit more of the Silversun Pickups record on the way to and from work today.  I'm liking it.  It's got a more open, ethereal sound to it than the other two full lengths, and to me anyway, it sounds less like the Smashing Pumpkins than their earlier albums. The other thing that happened tonight was that I started going through everything that has come before, just to see how I'm really doing in terms of my goals.  I only got through the first week of the blog, but I started a notebook, and have also started breaking things down between that which is related specifically to Songs , and those things related to Practicing & Technique . It feels good to be starting it.  The other thing I know for a fact is that, eventually, this will combine itself with the practice binder I had started to work on a while back and with the teaching aspects that I hope will be coming up this summer.  And speaking of teaching, one of the things I discovered ...

Heard from R. in a musical context today.  First time in a while.  She sent me a song called "It's Time" by a group called Imagine Dragons.  She thinks they sound 80's.  To me, they remind me of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes, and a band called Hockey who had a great song in the last couple of years called, fittingly enough, "Song Away."  Either way, "It's Time" is catchy as hell, and will be all over radio if radio knows what's good for it. Also of note, Sara Bareilles apparently has a new EP coming out next week, but I can't find it in the system at work for the life of me.  I'm sure it'll drop right before the release date, but I feel like that might have to be shortlisted in order for us to get it. I played for a little bit today before work, and tried to do a bit more sifting through of resources.  It wasn't enough for me, but I'm excited to see what the week brings with this blog look back that I need ...

I'm not sure if I've undertaken what I'm about to lay down here, at least in the last year and a half or so. I think, as I approach day 300 of year two, that it's time to go back through the blog, perhaps from the very beginning , and make a list of all the various aspects of my playing that I have openly stated need work since the project started. What's my plan beyond that?  Easy.  I feel like I need to assess how my progress has come in each area, and then make a more concerted effort to improve in each area, doing a better job of documenting my improvement as it happens.  I'm not off again until Monday, but between that day and Wednesday, I should have a chance to poke through everything.  I know that's a bit of a long-term goal, but I figure I can get in a bit of work between now and then as a way to get started.  It's something that (I think) is going to take a good chunk of time, and is better spread out over a couple of days. Not that the...

Finally made it to the guitar shop in Cherokee today!  It's a nice little store that, at present, doesn't have a whole lot of merchandise in it.  Considering the shop is closing in two weeks, this makes sense, but still.  Walking in I saw a spot that, marketed correctly and with the right mix of merchandise, could have made for an interestingly quirky little shop. Searching, as I am, for a job up there, I even asked the girl running the place whether they were only open such limited hours because they couldn't find someone to be there on a more regular basis.  She said, that, no, they were just closing the shop.  Apparently the decision had already been made. It's a shame.  They had a few nice instruments on the racks.  If I'd had a bit more extra cash right now, I'd have walked out with a guitar.  If they'd had a thinner bodied 12 string, I'd have left with one for sure. What the shop really needed was a few things, be it a line of guitars ...

Tried once again to go to the guitar store.  Today they were mysteriously closed.  Perhaps tomorrow. Took a bit of time tonight to sit and play.  Hadn't done much of that for SL, and felt woefully out of shape performance-wise.  Mostly, I was wishing I had worked through a few more songs, so that I could have just knocked out a few things without thinking. I did run through some of the old solo stuff, though, and got an "is that you?" so that's a good thing.  She liked the band stuff too, which made me miss it all the more. Did a bit of theory studying tonight, too.  It was good.  More of that will happen tomorrow morning while SL is at work.  Hopefully there will be enough to merit a full report tomorrow night.

So, I'll openly admit that I didn't have time for much today music-wise, but that being said, I did find a bit of time to play before work this morning.  I was messing around with some open chords up the neck, and stumbled onto something really cool. That something will definitely be focused on tomorrow during the day, as I should have a lot of time to both study theory and work on songs, both my own and those named "Red House" and written by Jimi Hendrix. Going to attempt to get to the guitar store in Cherokee as well.  If I remember right they are open from 3-6 Monday-Friday, so that ought to work either for tomorrow or Tuesday. Counting Crows and Gaslight Anthem for the drive up. That's really all for today.  Check back tomorrow for a longer post.

Relaxing tonight, and trying to get through a bit of the listening that has piled up over the last few weeks.  I've got The Search playing in itunes as I write tonight. I've got to say, Jay Farrar has his moments of brilliance, but of the three bands (Son Volt, Wilco, and Uncle Tupelo), I definitely fall more on the Wilco side than anything else.  It has something to do with both the raw emotion, and the sense of adventure that lay at the heart of their music, I think.  I can appreciate what Jay Farrar does, but a lot of the time it feels like he's preserving something in amber as opposed to pushing the envelope for something new.  That's not always a bad thing, but I do tend to notice that the Son Volt tracks I like the most are the ones where he seems more emotionally committed to the lyric (and subsequently, the playing). What I spent the most time doing today, where music is concerned anyway, was more sorting and examining of resources.  One of the thing...

If you've been following my postings for any length of time, you should know by now that it doesn't take much for me to pick up a CD.  But, if I'm going to pick a day I like buying music that isn't a New Release Tuesday, the day I prefer is always going to be a Friday.  It's payday, so somehow in my head, it seems more justifiable.  That being said, my order of Son Volt's The Search came in today, and I snapped it up when I left for the day. I imported the Son Volt tonight, and wound up doing some other nitpicky itunes organizational things.  Clearing up some naming and tagging issues that had been sitting out there for a while.  Not a whole lot of fun, but with the new ipod, it seemed like a good idea to me. I played for a little bit before work today, but didn't venture into "Red House," because by the time I got started playing, I didn't feel like I had enough time to devote to that.  So instead, I just noodled a bit and played around wi...

Started to listen to the new Silversun Pickups on the way to work today.  Only got through the first track completely, and a little bit of the second, but it was a start. The other thing that happened this morning before work was that I finally started to sit down and look at my situation regarding teaching.  It started with Beatles stuff today.  A couple of magazines devoted to their recording, and the way they went about learning their craft, and then an article on their songwriting approach.  That may seem like an odd place to start when it comes to teaching, but I really feel like everyone can learn something from studying songcraft.  Chord progressions are building blocks for melody and musical ideas, and learning where chords fall on the neck is a step in learning the intricacies if the neck, and therefore, the instrument. I've always believed that, in order to make learning stick, you've got to pick up your music theory in the context of songs, becaus...

Today was a bit of an odd day.  I took my ipod in to the Apple Store to see what, if anything, they could do about my headphone jack.  As it turned out, there was nothing they could do to repair the jack, so with a bit of a heavy heart, I recycled my old ipod, and bought a new one.  The recycling saved me about $25, so that was cool. It was tough, though.  That ipod had 5 years of musical memories in it.  I remember when I first got it, Christmas of 2007.  I had wanted an ipod for at least a couple of years, asked for it at every holiday I could.  When I finally got one, I was thrilled beyond belief.  And then a funny thing happened.  The first few weeks... I almost forgot that I had it.  It hadn't quite worked its way into my everyday life yet.  But once it did, oh once it did, the ipod went everywhere with me.  And it has every day for the last 5 years.  Hell, I feel stranger leaving the house without my ipod now than ...

Picked up two records today: 1) Neck Of The Woods - Silversun Pickups 2) Stop Us If You've Heard This One Before - Barenaked Ladies Haven't listened to either of them yet, but that will definitely happen tomorrow, on my day off. Other stuff that needs to happen tomorrow: 1) Go through those old demos that I produced for B. 2) Get back to work on our music. 3) Look at teaching & theory stuff. I've also got to head out to the Apple Store.  The headphone jack on my ipod is going, and I want to see what, if anything, they can do about it.  That thing has gone everywhere with me for 5 years now, and to lose it will be devastating, but if they can't save it, I already know I'll be getting another one anyway.  I remain hopeful.  We shall see. I played for a bit before work today.  It's been small chunks of that the last few days, but it's been steady.  I'm hoping tomorrow and Thursday morning afford me a bit more time in that regard.

I ordered The Search by Son Volt today at work.  That will finish off their studio records for me.  There's still a retrospective out there that has some live tracks and unreleased stuff, but I can pick that up some other time.  I've really got to be more selective on what I pick up.  I've snagged a lot of stuff lately, all of it good, but I need to be more careful. I waded through the old music stuff from my producing days with B. and the friend of ours that passed.  There's about 7 or so songs.  I think I'm going to go back through the songs and try to see if there's a way that I can remaster the stuff they had.  I know for sure that there's one great, great song in that list of 7.  It's been something I've secretly wanted to use for my project with B. for a while now, even though it doesn't quite work with our stuff.  Might make a fitting tribute to do it up right with an official studio quality recording. I did a bit of playing today...

I'm torn tonight.  What I want to talk about is: 1) Hearing the new Gaslight Anthem single. 2) Previewing a bit of Brandi Carlile's new single. 3) The new Silversun Pickups record that drops on Tuesday. 4) The Barenaked Ladies record that also comes out on Tuesday.  It's demos and unreleased stuff.  I'm stupidly excited about it, and I only found out about it this morning. What I'm going to do instead is write about something else entirely.  It won't be a long post, but it feels like a necessary one. I heard from B. tonight.  Late.  Back in the day before the band, she was doing some music stuff with another friend of hers, who became a passing acquaintance of mine when I started producing their demos.  As it happened, B. called tonight with sad news.  Apparently this friend of ours has passed away.  Not sure of the cause yet or anything (although we do have our suspicions).  It's just very sad.  That was an interesting e...

I had a chance to do a little bit with "Red House" today, but once again, it was more focused on working through what I had already practiced, i.e. the intro, than it was building on anything new.  I learned that, while I don't have it memorized yet, when I've actually got the music in front of me, the playing seems to flow smoothly.  Am I entirely sure it's up to tempo?  Not really.  But if the notes fall right underneath my fingers, I feel pretty good about that right now. I'm looking ahead tonight, trying to figure out how my week sets up musically.  I open tomorrow, but I've got a couple of closes Monday Tuesday.  There should be a lot of time for playing there if I can get up and be motivated.  Wednesday is an off day (like Saturday will be), with a close and a late mid.  I think the week sets up really well for music, at least on paper. That said, I need to focus on the teaching side of things this week, and I'd like to do more listening...

More playing today, by a longshot.  None of it happened in an extended session, it was all in smaller chunks and various fits and starts, but it was good.  Here's what I gathered from my fretwork tonight: 1) I don't have the intro to "Red House" memorized yet.  I was just trying to work through a little bit of it, and I made it through the first 6-8 bars before it dawned on me that I was doing more improvising than remembering.  Don't get me wrong, this isn't all bad by any stretch of the imagination, it's just that I feel like I ought to know it as Hendrix originally recorded it before I go messing about, changing stuff.  Still, what I need is just a good, extended session. 2) While I'm on the subject of intros, one of the other ones I feel I need to learn note-for-note sometime soon is the intro to "Goodnight Elizabeth" by Counting Crows.  I really love that song, and seeing as I already know the entire chord progression, I feel like I ...

It's always funny to me, the ideas that just keep coming back.  The ones that nag at the back of your mind.  The ones that your fingers just refuse to forget.  In sitting down to play today before work, I had one of those spring up once again.  It has always felt like a band idea, but somehow it has never really manifested itself in an idea that has turned into a song we're going to be able to make work.  This gives me pause to wonder why the idea keeps whispering to me.  I found myself wondering today on the way to work whether or not it has to do with the key that the song is in.  The riff is in G, which knowing B.'s taste in songwriting, means it's really in the key of G minor.  That's been a tough write for some reason.  I'm wondering now whether or not capoing at, say, the second fret, and putting the song in A minor would make it any easier to write around. Swapped out my defective copy of Runnin' Down A Dream tonight.  Haven't s...

Working where I do, it happens periodically that I run into various forms of musical awesomeness.  Sometimes those things are on CD, and sometimes they are in book form.  Today, it was book form that won out.  Mike Doughty has a memoir out called The Book Of Drugs .  Some of the reviews online haven't been terribly kind, but I shall reserve judgement and comment once I've finished the book. I got a bit of a chance to play tonight.  Worked on a bit of theory stuff, trying to fill in some of the pieces when it comes to the way that chords are spread out across the neck.  It's working, but it's working slowly.  I really need to step it up if it's going to get better in a hurry. My replacement for the defective Tom Petty DVD came in today, but I didn't bring the one to exchange, so I'll likely take care of that tomorrow. All told, not much else to report.  A good day, but a day that could have been better, too.

So, today wound up being filled with random musical discoveries.  I found 4 things in my travels out of the house today, and spent about $25 in doing so.  Here's the list: 1) Secret, Profane, & Sugarcane ($4.99,vinyl) - Elvis Costello 2) No Stranger To The Dark ($5, CD) - Gregg Allman 3) Paper Monsters 2-Disc Edition ($1.44, CD) - Dave Gahan and then at Best Buy, I stumbled across the DVD of Paul Westerberg's Come Feel Me Tremble .  That's a cool find for me, because I honestly thought that the DVD was out of print.  It was one of those things that, when it first came out in 2003, seemed like it was around for about 5 minutes... and I could never find it in those 5 minutes.  Should be awesome, even if it's just live performances, although I seem to remember something about a documentary being included.  It's gotta be great, it's Paulie. Finished Great Jones Street today.  Strangest music novel I've ever read.  Fascinating.  But ...