"Muse" - ings on Rock & Life

Wasn't feeling very much like myself today.  Made a bit of progress in the studio, almost in spite of myself, however. I finally got all of the assorted posters & artwork up on the walls.  The room feels more like a messy, creative space (in the best sense of the phrase) for having done that. Tomorrow really needs a number of things in it: 1) Listening 2) Uploading some of the newer music & syncing the iPod 3) Finish watching John Mayer's Berklee speech on YouTube 4) Practicing 5) Songwriting/Work on the EP project(s) 6) Getting some CDs put away 7) Uke And, yeah, if I make it through all of that, it will be a huge victory for me.

I got the bookshelf put in the right place today.  I only started to get things put away on it, and I can already tell a difference in the studio.  That shelf, as small as it may seem, truly feels like the missing piece for getting the rest of the room set to rights.  Granted, there is still work to be done in there to get things where they need to be, but just feeling like I have enough places for things went a long way for me today. I got a bit of listening and a bit of playing done today, but not as much on either front as I had hoped for heading into the day.  Tomorrow will be a big day of focus for those things, as well as (hopefully) finishing off the organizing, and getting some CDs put away. Watched Jason Isbell on Austin City Limits today, too.  A great set, definitely one that I'll be saving to watch again.

Got the bookshelf moved into the studio tonight.  Don't have its location squared away just yet, but I got it in there, and that feels like the biggest step in the whole process.  This way, I have a really good reason to get into the studio early in the day tomorrow. Got out for a few minutes tonight, and picked up the latest disc by The New Pornographers in the process.  This way I'll have something new to listen to while I'm moving furniture around in the studio tomorrow. Aside from that (and watching the latest episode of Linda Perry's music-based reality show), it was a pretty quiet night.  Going to be a great three day weekend, though.

Back into the studio tonight, and another good night was had. I, 1) Learned a bit of Jim Croce on the ukulele ("Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown") 2) Worked on the songs for the EP project for a little bit tonight.  I feel like I'm getting closer to figuring out how the first song is supposed to be structured, but I'm not quite there yet.  Hopefully the weekend will provide some clarity and guidance in that regard.  In a perfect world, I'd also like to get started on climbing at least a bit of the lyrical mountain that is in front of me. 3) I did some listening tonight, as well.  Not as much as I have the last couple of days, but it was still something. Really looking forward to the long weekend, and the opportunity it will bring to get a lot done in the studio.

Tonight was awesome.  In truth, tonight's goings on were what I had hoped for out of last night , only to have last night come up short.  Anyway, I: 1) Got a bit more listening crossed off of the list today.  Slowly but surely I am making my way through all of the new purchases from our Wisconsin trip.  I'm cautiously optimistic at this point that I might get through everything by the end of the weekend. 2) Learned "Stand By Me" on the ukulele tonight.  Not only is that a classic song, but it's a fairly simple one to rip through, and it's a whole lot of fun to play. 3) Things started to get better when it comes to the mess that has been the studio for the last week or so.  I don't have all of the posters and artwork hung up yet, but I scouted places for most of it.  I also got a lot of the resources and books that have been lying out in the open put back into the closet, which frees up quite a bit of floor space.  I haven't moved the bookshe...

If you read last night's post, it included the phrase, "things always look worse before they look better." Tonight followed up on that statement in a big way, although I think I may have solved the extra bookcase issue in the process, which is a good thing. There wasn't a whole lot of time for playing tonight, as we had a lot to get done in other parts of the house, but with the progress I've made the last few days, I'm feeling pretty good heading into the middle of the week.

Okay, so, tonight's post is somewhat of a follow-up to last night, except that I didn't have a whole lot of time to spend in the studio tonight.  No, I didn't get any of the posters up on the walls.  I did , however, manage to get at least a little bit farther down the path. I've got a pretty good handle (or so I hope) on the way the rest of the studio is going to shape up, and I've got tomorrow afternoon off and a three day weekend ahead of me.  By the time Friday comes around, I need to have gotten the posters up on the walls, and scouted for a small bookshelf to go in one of the corners.  I have officially hit that "things always look worse before they look better" stage again, although things are in way better shape than they were a year ago at this time. I got some more listening done tonight, and got to spend a bit of time with the electric as well.  Not as insanely productive as yesterday, but still okay in the grand scheme of things.