"Muse" - ings on Rock & Life

A couple things tonight... 1) We hit up the high school pops concert tonight.  The choirs are pretty good, and did some awesome stuff, including songs by Fun., Sara Bareilles, and Adele.  The bands, also included, have improved greatly since the fall concert, but haven't quite reached their full potential. 2) I made it through all of the CDs in the Mrs.'s collection, and sorted between discs in cases and those cases which were empty.  There's still a spindle that has discs stacked on it, a big folio with CDs, and a smaller box that has discs in it as well.  I'm guessing that most of the music in these three spots will fill up the empty cases that I've sorted.  From there... we shall see what happens. Started making a list of artists I need to investigate further in a quiet moment at work today... and then proceeded to leave the list at work.  Not the smartest idea.  Shouldn't be too hard to recreate, but still, I wish I had been smart enough to b...

A few quick hits today: I got a bit more music sorted today.  Nothing too substantial, but it's another small step in the right direction, so that's good news. I also stole about a half an hour for listening tonight, but found myself bouncing around a lot and unable to focus on anything in particular.  Not sure if that's a sign I'm headed for a run of writing.  For a long time that's exactly what that meant, but the last few times that hasn't been the case.  We shall see what happens in the next few weeks. Spent more time than I have recently reading the Grohl biography.  Made it through another chapter.  Still a long way to go, but considering I'm splitting time between a couple of different things, I'm feeling better and better about that. Also, finally saw the SNL performance with Paul McCartney and the remaining members of Nirvana.  I wasn't impressed.  I wanted to be.  Really wanted to be.  And yet, to me, it sounded like "H...

Today was a decidedly unfocused day. After making such big progress last night in sorting music, I was pumped this morning to come home tonight and keep plugging away at the project.  And, yeah, that didn't really come to pass. I did teach today, but that was frustrating, too, as my student was decidedly unfocused.  I tried to keep her on task, but it never really seemed to take hold today. So, instead, I controlled the only thing I could... I came home and read the Grohl bio for a bit. All told, it was a highly uninspiring day for music.  I'm hoping tomorrow will be a better day, with more time for listening, and sorting and successes.

So, I started in on sorting music tonight.  All told, it's a project that would probably take me an afternoon, if I had uninterrupted time to work on it.  The way it's looking right now, I'll be lucky to have it finished by the weekend. I love my wife dearly, but she hasn't taken nearly the care of her music collection that I have of mine, which makes me sad on some level... but with me in the house, that is going to change. There were so many cases filled with CDs... I've made it through about half of them, sorting based on whether or not the disc was actually in the case.  Overall, more music was in cases than not, but that trend only developed after I got a ways into my sorting.  What wasn't in cases is either (or so I assume) on a big CD spindle that she has, or in one of a few soft cases/booklets that are designed to hold music.  My plan is to: 1) Finish sorting in the case/not in the case. 2) Put all the discs with cases into the bigger boxes she ...

So, um, I'll say it... for an Oscars that was hyped as "celebrating music," I thought the performances were less than stellar. And, moving on from that... one of my favorite things about wading into the Mrs.'s music collection is the sheer number of live shows that she has.  So much live Counting Crows, and rarities, and whatnot that it makes the slightly (ha ha) obsessed fan in me excited just to have a chance to wade through it all, much less listen to it .  It's the interplay between the band and the changes they make on the fly that has me pumped about the live stuff.  There are some bands that you fall in love with while they are in the studio, and some that you fall in love with when they're on stage.  For me, I love both sides of that band, and they are one of the bands on my (short) list that can get away with changing arrangements and/or instrumentation in concert. Admittedly, there wasn't as much time as I had hoped to have to sort music toda...

Two really exciting things happened in my musical life today, and if you want to be technical, neither one of them had anything whatsoever to do with anything musical that I actually did today. 1) If you've been following me since at least the middle of October of last year, you'll know two things about that time in my life.  First, I got married.  And second, my wife moved her extensive (but not as extensive as mine) music collection from the house she lived in before we were married into the house we now share.  I had moved in first, but that's not important to the end result here. I remember getting a few quick glimpses of everything she had, music-wise, and writing a string of excited blog posts about all the new stuff I was going to get a chance to hear/burn/bring into my life, thinking at the time that it would happen quickly.  Well, between the wedding and my new job and the holidays and everything else life has thrown at us in the last four months, today ...

So, I don't know what it is about EP's this week, but for the second day in a row, an EP is being released in conjunction with a full-length that I'm really excited about.  Tonight's discovery is that, The Airborne Toxic Event are releasing an EP called The Secret on the 11th of March, before their full length comes out later in the year (date still TBD). It's enough to make me want to start work on one this weekend, but then again I'm always pretty good at laying out challenges for myself that I can't quite meet in the time allotted, so I'll hold off on any grandiose proclamations just yet. I'll tell you what I do know, however... some part of tomorrow needs to be spent with a guitar in my hands, if only to make up for the utter crappiness of this week at work. So, tomorrow, rock and roll.   

So, just stumbled onto something cool.  I know I've mentioned the new Alkaline Trio record, My Shame Is True, due out on April 2nd, in this space before, but tonight, as I was looking up new releases that are set to come out soon, I stumbled upon the fact that Alk3 are also releasing an EP, called Broken Wing , on the same day that the new full length comes out.  Now I really can't wait for April! Talked to my brother twice today, and didn't mention music once .  Felt strange to have no musical discussions. Read a bit on Grohl today, and played for a little bit, but not enough to suit my taste.  So excited to have the weekend off, though, as it should give me a chance to get some serious music stuff done.  Feels like it's been a while since I've been really and truly productive where the music is concerned, which really bums me out. I'll dominate this weekend.

Some of my favorite musical moments are the stolen ones.  The times in my week when I'm able to take a few spare moments here and there for something, anything musical. Tonight it was taking three minutes and twenty one seconds before youth group craziness to listen to "100" by Brandi Carlile. Monday it was sitting with the acoustic for a few moments before I taught, and just letting my fingers go where they may. Yesterday it was those same fingers tracing out a scale I had gone over with my student the night before. I think those moments border on the sacred because they're the moments when our true talents and connections really come out to play.  They show us the beauty in what could be, in what's coming (we hope) on a regular basis soon, if only we keep at it.  They're the moments I know I need to hang onto when the winter feels like it's closing in and progress feels hard to come by, because they're the moments of hope that always keep me ...

Taught tonight after work.  This evening's student was distracted, but I still feel like we made a bit of progress, which is cool. I need to change up what I'm listening to in the car sometime soon.  I've had The Tallest Man On Earth in the car for a little while now, and I'm ready to move on to something else. Didn't really get all that much time to play tonight... we ended up going into Sioux City after I taught tonight. Did, however, take a few minutes to read a bit of the Grohl biography. I feel like I need to get a lot of something done tomorrow night after youth group, whether it's practicing or songwriting, it just needs to happen. Oh, and the Mrs. has been kicking around the idea of doing more music stuff on Wednesday nights, so we talked about that a bit on the way home from the big city.  What it would take to get things started.  Real basic stuff, but still exciting. That's really all for today.

So, tonight's lesson/exploratory meeting (because let's be honest, the first lesson is more about figuring out where to go from there than it is anything else) went really well.  My student wasn't kidding when she said that she really only knows three chords.  And yet, I feel like we got somewhere concrete tonight.  She's had her guitar for 12 years, and has learned 1 chord for each 4 years she's had it.  Of late she's been learning out of a book/DVD combo pack that lost her immediately by having her learn a version of "Tom Dooley," or as she put it "some really ancient folk song I don't care about."  I may have showed my nerdiness by mentioning that the Kingston Trio did a great version of that song. The other great question I got tonight?  "The guy from the DVD thinks I need to learn scales too, what do you think?" It's always interesting to have to defend learning at least a few scales.  I suggested that it might be a...

We played bells for church this morning.  I know I've said it before in this space, but I really enjoy being part of an ensemble again after all these years. Watched some Austin City Limits today, too (finally).  Finished off the one with Mumford & Sons/Flogging Molly, and started in on the Civil Wars/Punch Brothers episode.  The Civil Wars did an awesome cover of "Billie Jean" that I enjoyed even more than I did Chris Cornell's cover from a few years ago.  They opened that set, however, with a song called "From This Valley" that was on a compilation record called   Mercyland: Hymns For The Rest Of Us .  It's a fairly straightforward song, capoed at 3, and it may well be the most upbeat, cheery song in their entire catalog, but it's fantastic. Getting together for that lesson tomorrow night at 7.  Tomorrow I'll need to set aside a bit of time to put that folder together.  Pretty excited about that still. Read a bit more of the Grohl bi...

In the few quieter moments I've had this last week, I've turned to the blues as a way to let some of the stress of the day seep out of my shoulders.  I've used it as a way to wind down, and as a way to psyche myself up.  Mostly it's been classic stuff.  Mostly it's been Clapton.  "Key To The Highway" more than anything else, really.  I made one brief, quickly aborted effort to learn the Derek & The Dominos version of that song so many years ago that it's hard to remember exactly when it was.  Regardless, it goes down as another one of my infamous beginnings that have no real end.  I'd like to try it again sometime.  Maybe soon. Still, it was great fun to sit down tonight, and play through some blues scales and riffs.  It may not have been "Key," but it was still a lot of fun. And yet, what I'm thinking about most often right now is my upcoming lesson on Monday night.  I know what my student is in at least some command of going...

Uploaded all of the T. Swift into itunes today. In other news, I'm pretty sure I've got a new student coming in on Monday night sometime for an initial sit down.  My first adult student.  Should be fun to sit down with someone who is on my level, age-wise. Getting that piece of news tonight inspired me to sit down with the guitar for a while, and take a quick peek at a couple of things I haven't looked at much in the last few years: 1) Pearl Jam's "Yellow Ledbetter" and 2) Jimi's version of "Little Wing." I've spent so much time in the last few years obsessed with Stevie Ray's take on that song, that it was fun tonight (and will be for the foreseeable future) to sit down with the original version of it. That's the big news for today.  Looking forward to tomorrow afternoon, when I'll have a bigger chunk of time to play.

So, I did something today that I've only done twice before in my life: I bought an artists entire discography in one shot.  Minus a live album in this case, but still. There's something special about doing that.  The last two times I've done it, both bands turned out to be bands I absolutely love.  They were: 1) Dishwalla and 2) The New Pornographers Tonight's purchase was spurred on by a song that the Mrs. couldn't get out of her head for days , and we both figured that we should just take the plunge.  So we now own all of T. Swift's studio records.  We listened to the new one on the way home tonight, and it's so poppy and so much fun.  I can't wait to listen to them all in reverse order, and hear the country influences come back to the forefront. Other stuff from today includes two purchases of a musical nature: 1) Dylan's classic 1965 concert film, Don't Look Back . and 2) Big Easy Express .  The film starring Mumford & S...

I might finally have a slight break in the lyrical block that has existed since the beginning of the year!  I got a song title today that seems like it might be an opening to something... in particular, the song I was working on in January.  Definitely going to explore that one in more detail over the next couple of days. Got in a little bit of fretwork tonight, as well, which was a refreshing change of pace from the last couple of nights. Also, I did a bit of reading in the Grohl bio. The other cool thing that happened tonight was that some of us sat around and talked about better alternatives to the Praise Band that I was going to play with at the church.  It felt like there was some real momentum to get some kids involved with it, and see if we couldn't do what the others haven't been able to: i.e. find a group of people who care enough about the music to get together and, y'know, practice once in a while.  We shall see. Either way, it was a good day today...

Cancelled my lesson for today, and almost stayed home from work, on account of feeling like death. That being said, not much playing got done today. I did , however, help out a co-worker by hooking them up with copies of both Fun. records for a road trip they were taking, so in my head that counts for something, at least. I also made it through at least a few pages of the Grohl bio in between naps on the couch tonight. I'm feeling better tonight than I was this morning, which is good news as it pertains to tomorrow, because hopefully I'll be a LOT more productive then.

Oh, The Grammys... It's going to be easier to do a list of some sort than it is to post something gigantic and rambling, so here goes: 1) Taylor Swift... what can I say?  Every time I see her in anything, I'm more and more impressed.  Whether it was the shots of her rocking out to Mumford & Sons and Fun. or whether it was her show-opening performance, I'm really becoming a convert. 2) Fun. - As someone who has been in on them essentially from the beginning, and someone who was lucky enough to see them at the Blue Moose Tap House in Iowa City last year (and be about a foot from the stage), it was so awesome to see them get their due in front of a national audience.  To see them win both Best New Artist and Song Of The Year was great... and it totally raises the stakes for their next record. 3) The Black Keys... simply amazing.  Such a powerful band. 4) The Levon Helm Tribute... so many great acts.  Mavis Staples, Brittany Howard (from Alabama Shakes...

So, yes, the Grammys were tonight, and yes, I'm going to hold off on my post about them until tomorrow. Tonight's post is all about how I redeemed my weekend by sitting with a guitar for most of the day, making song decisions, finding cool riffs, and reading. I was determined, at the start of the day, to make something positive out of my weekend from a musical perspective, and I feel like I did.  I had a guitar either in my lap, or within arms reach all day long today, and it was wonderful. I ran scales and uncovered a cool bluesy riff while watching TV this morning, and I finalized the chord progression for the song I'm going to finish this month.  The verse progression, while mostly set, has had me wondering whether it needed another chord change, and I'm delighted to say that it was  perfect the way I wrote it initially.  Now words and bass and drums are all it needs. Sat and read for a bit tonight before dinner.  Finally feeling like I'm making at le...

So, last night as I was blogging, what I was picturing for today was this:  Spending a good portion of the afternoon sitting in a patch of sun with an acoustic guitar in my hand and a notebook spread open in front of me, hashing out whether to switch specific chords in the current song for slightly altered ones or just leave them be.  After that, I was going to find some kernel of lyrical (quasi) brilliance that would at least inspire me to try writing some words. Once I had burned that candle at both ends, I was going to stretch out my fingers with some scales and theory before falling into something bluesy (Clapton, perhaps). Instead, I got The Lone Bellow imported into itunes, noodled a bit with the electric, and spent the rest of the day cleaning up after cats who decided today was the day to tear the house apart. Essentially, it was a bust of a day, and now I find myself writing and being frustrated, which will lead into me going to bed frustrated, and waking up v...

So, I finally sat down tonight and sorted through all of the CDs I brought in from the car the other day.  Somewhat to my surprise, everything matched up!  Well, everything but the latest Marcy Playground disc, the case for which is still in the car.  Hidden underneath a seat, I believe.  I'm going through and importing selected things tonight, with a more thorough run through things set up for tomorrow afternoon. In some ways, I took most of tonight off from doing much that was musical.  Don't get me wrong, I'm still struggling internally with lyrics, and I most definitely plan on reading some of that Grohl bio before I drift off to sleep tonight. I'm planning on making tomorrow afternoon a big music push.  On the list is: 1) Songwriting & (maybe) Recording 2) Scales 3) Theory 4) Work on learning something new (or old?) Oh, one more thing: I made it all the way through that Tallest Man On Earth disc over the last few trips to and home from w...

I had another of those great moments today, where I went to move something in the house and found musical goodness. Today it was a CD by The Tallest Man On Earth that I had picked up a while back, and the DVD performance of Alanis Morissette's VH-1 Storytellers gig.  Again, things I remember picking up that never made it anyplace concrete. Finding that CD was cool, because it gave me something to listen to in the car today, and it gives me further reason to spend at least some part of my weekend sorting the music I hauled in yesterday and uploading as much of it as I need to. The Mrs. will be judging debate this weekend, so in between my Friday shift and my Saturday shift (and subsequently after work on Saturday), I should be able to get some music stuff done.  Hopefully some songwriting and/or recording. Also, I really want to get back to that Dave Grohl bio.  It's been a couple of days.

A few quick hits today. 1) Brought all (or at least what I think is all) of the music in from the car today.  Haven't sorted through everything yet to match discs to cases, but that will definitely happen tomorrow night, as there's some stuff that definitely needs to be imported into itunes.  That means you, Lone Bellow, Dave Brubeck, and Phillip Phillips. 2) Watched some of a Paul McCartney special this afternoon.  "Good Evening, New York."  For a guy in his 70's, Macca still has it.  He's lost a bit off of his voice, but then again, who at 70 wouldn't have?  Pretty cool special.  I'll definitely finish it up in the next few days. 3) Uncovered a book today while doing some organizing in another part of the house.  It was the Idiots guide to teaching music for yourself.  One of those things I remembered buying at one of the Book Warehouses along the way from here to WI, but had lost track of.  Good to have found it.  Should he...

So, Alkaline Trio released the first single off of their new record today.  "I Wanna Be A Warhol" is off of the new disc, My Shame Is True , which is due on April 1st of this year!  Here's a link to the track listing and the video for the new single: http://www.rocksound.tv/news/article/alkaline-trio-will-release-new-album-01-april As for the single:  To me it sounds like Good Mourning- style song structures on top of Crimson -era music with a little bit of Maybe I'll Catch Fire thrown in for good measure.  Was the single their catchiest, best foot forward?  I'd have to listen more than once to say for sure, but it wasn't as much ear candy as "This Addiction," the first single from the last record.  Then again, I felt that way when Agony & Irony came out five years ago, and now I love that record, so needless to say I'm not worried in the slightest. In other news, Reg Presley died yesterday.  Voice of The Troggs, he's best known as t...

Didn't get that CD imported today either... so I took it with me in the car for the trips back and forth to work (and the Wellness Center).  It's pretty great so far.  Very old school, gut-bucket bluesy sounding.  Feels almost like it should be coming out of a transistor radio as opposed to a car stereo, but I'll take it either way. Let's see, what else? Got a somewhat proper start on the Dave Grohl bio, finally.  I had put it down for a few days to finish up something else I had started reading.  Still in the first chapter, but still pumped about it. Also, started reading what seems to be a really cool article in the latest Guitar World about the "secret formula for hard rock success."  After all those years chasing that hard rock record, I was curious.  Again, haven't finished it yet, but it's an interesting read so far. Excited to teach tomorrow.  After last week's "great leap forward," I'm curious to see what my student do...

Well, I was hoping to get the Ben Harper/Charlie Musselwhite disc imported into itunes and listened to today, but that never wound up happening. Really the biggest music news I've got today is that I sat down with my Dave Grohl Challenge notebook today and played through the chord progression I have written down for February's song.  It's good.  And it holds together a lot better than the one for last month does. I got through it a couple of times before church this morning.  Enough to get a brief feel for it and start hearing a few flashes in my head, but not enough to have a complete picture of what I'd like the song to be by the time the 28th rolls around.  Between that and finishing up the first song of the year, I'd say I've got my work cut out for me, but it will be good. I snuck in a little bit of listening today, too, but not enough for my liking, so hopefully tomorrow will have both more playing and more listening.

Oh, so many things to talk about today! And out of all of it, I'm going to start with the one thing that could probably stand to have a blog post of its very own.  So, we're on our way to Sioux City today, and Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl" comes on the radio.  At this point the Mrs. says two thing which blew my mind.  The first: "is it okay to admit that I like Billy Joel?" seems like a fairly normal question (because it is), and the answer is yes, it IS okay to admit that.  The second statement, however, that was the real keeper, and it was... "I always considered him to be a poppier Bruce Springsteen." And THAT, my friends, is a statement that feels like it needs scholarly research and a series of articles written about it.  Especially since the new issue of Rolling Stone has an article about Billy Joel being ready for a comeback.  Previously, that would have been an article I'd have glanced at with some interest.  Now I'll read it m...

So, I finally broke down and started figuring out all of the music that has taken up residence in the car over the last month and a half or so.  Been meaning to do that for a while now.  There are a few records out there that haven't made it into the bag I'll use to bring them inside yet, but that can happen tomorrow afternoon, when temperatures are warmer and the notion of digging through the car for CDs is more pleasant. In the spirit of music that hasn't been indoors for a while, I kept rocking my way through King Animal today.  That's a really great record. And in the spirit of putting the cart in front of the horse, I've already decided which song idea I'm going to finish and record this month.  I'll finish up the one for January as well, mind you, but I'm glad to have that decision made early. Headed into Sioux City tomorrow, and along with the usual stops, I'm hitting up MidBell Music.  Haven't been to an instrument store since our ...