Skip to main content

Day Two Hundred Two (Year Three)

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), the Mumfords, Sir Elton John, Zac Brown... a great cast of characters playing a great song in honor of a great musician.

5) Mumford & Sons - They won less than I expected them too, but Album Of The Year was huge... if overdue.  Babel was good, but it wasn't as good as Sigh No More.  Then again, the Grammys are always a step behind in honoring people who deserve it.

6) The funniest part for me, however, happened today, when all of my co-workers had no idea who any of the people on the Grammys were.  It made me sad.  And it made me miss B&N.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

DayOne Hundred Sixty Nine (Year Eight)

Today was another good day.  I spent all of it with my brother, which I needed a lot, even though I just saw him over Christmas. Tonight we finally got around to some music discussion.  He took a look at my list of goals for the year, and sees it as a really good set of steps to get me where I'd like to be from where I am.  I picked his brain about a few of the nagging questions I still had as I get started, and he was able to put my mind at ease. Having a chance to sit and chat with him is always good for my musical soul, because he constantly drives me to be a better, more well rounded player, and I'm pretty sure that I can never thank him enough for all of the advice, support, and encouragement he offers every time we chat.

Day Two Hundred Six (Year Four)

Today was the first official day of the second half of my "album-in-a-month" challenge. As for today's goals, I wanted to see what I could get done in regards to track order, and get at least a little bit of a start on the lyric writing process. I spent more time working on the track order question than I did on the lyrics today, but as a result of that, I ended up with something that I think will work in terms of order. I did sit with the notebook for a few minutes at the very end of the day, and got a solid starting line of lyric and some other ideas that I hope will be jumping off points for lyrics. What I'm thinking I might do, however, is switch my focus from the lyric writing part of the process directly to the recording part of the process.  That way, if I can get the music recorded and burned onto a CD, I can take the music with me in the car, and listen and try to see what images and thoughts the music brings up.  It's a tactic that has worked for...

Day One Hundred Thirty (Year Five)

I got more time in the studio today than I have in a long time.  It wasn't quite enough for me (as always), but it was a productive re-introduction, I thought, to my life in the studio.  I: 1) Got a bit of reading done in Songs & Solos 2) Dragged out the tab book for Recovering The Satellites in preparation for the Counting Crows shows that are coming this month.  Worked on a bit of "A Long December," and a bit of "Have You Seen Me Lately."  What struck me, in taking a closer look at the tab, were the fills and arpeggios that make up a lot of the non-vocal melody.  It's fun to play, and it comes as a teaching opportunity when it comes to songwriting. 3)  I decided on the Tom Waits Biography, Low Side Of The Road for my music reading this month. 4) I didn't get to as much of the lead guitar & fretboard work as I would have liked to, but that will give me something to focus on as the week goes along. All told, it was a really good day....