"Muse" - ings on Rock & Life

So, we made it to Denver. In our wandering around Estes Park today, I stumbled across a book on the current hit factories in the songwriting world. Most of it seems to be focused on the pop world, but it seemed like an interesting read. I need to spend at least a few minutes tonight looking at lyrics. It was a long day of travel, and there wasn't a lot of time for music, but it was a pretty good day otherwise. Tonight and tomorrow morning I need to try and carve out a bit of time to get some work done.

Today has been okay.  Early post, because we're leaving shortly for Chicago in anticipation of tomorrow's flight to Denver. Picked up the 20th Anniversary re-issue of Son Volt's Trace today.  It's as great a record today as it was when it was released.  I can't wait to get into the demos and the live show that came with the re-release. I'm taking both a blank notebook and the recent Jerry Lee Lewis biography with me.  I'm really hoping that I'll find some lyrical inspiration on the road.  I need to get started working on that side of things, because it will drive the music and vice versa. It's going to be a whirlwind few days, but I'll find something to post about each day we're gone, even if the posts are short.

Today was definitely a better day. I got all my issues with the iPod squared away.  Now it's just a matter of cleaning up artist tags and then filling in some of the albums that (still) haven't made it on there yet.  The first two Dead Weather records jump out as one of those examples. Sat down with the electric for a bit tonight.  It felt good to get back to it. I did some listening, as well, starting to try and get caught up.  Now that things are synced and loaded, it should be an easier task.  And speaking of The Dead Weather, I have their new disc in the car's CD player at the moment.  It's a good listen so far. Here's the other thing that's brewing in my mind at the moment: We're going to Denver for the Packers/Broncos game this weekend.  Leaving tomorrow afternoon.  That will give me time to do some music stuff in the morning, but as for Saturday and Sunday, it might be a bit of a hodgepodge.  I'm not taking an instrument, so it...

So, last night's effort didn't end up working out so well.  Therefore, I'm back at it again, trying to figure out why, if all of the music is on the new computer, it insists on syncing a significantly smaller number of songs (and why the processes for doing even that are taking forever).  All told, even though I finally have all of the music loaded on here, this whole process of switching computers has been a giant hassle on so many levels. Plus, this whole "getting everything new loaded onto the iPod without losing everything off of it" has taken up so much of my energy and thought processes that I haven't really been able to focus on anything studio-wise. This week has really been a disaster where my playing is concerned, and I need to get it straightened out in the next few days, because we're going to be gone over the weekend, and I ought to have at least something to show for the week.  Hopefully tomorrow is a better day.

I've been trying all night to update the iPod. We've had a combination of bad weather and the internet going in and out that has prevented me from getting that done.  Honestly, it's some form of miracle that I'm online at the moment.  It was my goal to get things updated tonight, and so I'll keep trying for a bit here. I got a little bit of playing done tonight, but it wasn't much to write home about.  Tomorrow will be a better day.

Yet again, today wasn't the epic day that I was hoping for, but when all was said and done, I do feel as though I made some progress in pirsuit of the end of the EP. Most of what got done today was working through the ideas I have, looking for fresh perspective on them, trying to feel where the songs really wanted to go.  I made some progress, have a few new thoughts and ideas jotted down in my notebook, and considering the relatively short period of time I got to spend working on things, am happy with what I managed to get done. There were other things I should have gotten done today, but the middle of my day was co-opted with doctor's appointments and other such things.  Those other things I should have done included: 1. Listening 2. Updating the iPod 3. More focused practicing 4. Songwriting

Today was an interesting day. On one hand, it wasn't a day where I spent a ton of time in the studio, but on the other hand, it was a day where the time that I did spend in the studio was probably the most productive time I've had in a long time.  In short, even though I didn't spend all that much time working on the EP tonight, I feel like I got a whole lot closer to finishing it. I've been frustrated with myself lately for not finishing things a bit quicker, and struggling with the fact that, while I have been successful at finding a whole lot of kernels of songs, they haven't seemed to want to sprout into completed works.  Tonight, instead of freaking out and making myself more stressed out, I sat down and looked at a few favorite songs to see if I could sneak a peek behind the veil, if you will. The answers jumped out at me immediately.  I haven't been doing enough with the kernels.  Mostly, I haven't been facilitating the chord changes that will a...