Rock * News

So I have almost a copy of my ep--sans drum tracks. It is being "shopped around" to drummers, which means I am trying to find someone I know who will record my drum tracks for free. Someone with really excellent rhythm. I've discovered recently that not everyone that plays the drums has really excellent rhythm and i need really excellent rhythm since . . . well . . . MY rhythm is not always excellent. There, I admitted it.

All the other parts are on there: rhythm guitar, vocals, backing vocals, lead guitar, sometimes more filler guitar, keyboards, bells, harmonica, etc. They just need to be mixed a little better. Another thing I have noticed for you novice recording engineers: The same song can sound completely different on a different stereo. So, though most of my songs seem pretty well-mixed on the "studio" speakers that is not the case elsewhere.

In fact, it is crazy all the stuff you have to do to make a recording sound good. Every one of the following makes a huge difference: the type of equipment, how/where it is miked, how well everything is tuned (duh), how much the level varies during the performance (less is more, I've learned), the settings for "tone," reverb, effects, etc. on the instrument and/or primary equipment like amps, the effects on the recording device including compression (this is to keep the volume or level from varying so much) and a whole myriad of other things that mess with the EQ, then the mixing of the tracks after they are recorded including overall volume, overall bass and treble and mid-range, and effects like echo or reverb or what-ever, then the mastering which is like the detail work of bringing sounds into the foreground and background and I don't even know what else.

I myself am such a novice at this but I feel like I am becoming less stupid, slowly but surely. I will be sooo excited when I am done and proud of the finished product.

Jareth

Last night I saw the movie Labyrinth on the "big screen." It was thrilling, for sure, though I don't have quite as much love for the show as most of the people who were in the theater. I feel like it's important to support your boyfriend in his obsessions. It had been a long time since I had seen the film and I was quite a bit younger then such that it had never registered to me just how tight david bowie's tights are in that movie. It's like his pants are a character unto themselves. But let's not dwell on that and instead talk about the acting chops of Mr. Bowie. Though this is clearly his definitive role, he also played some other memorable characters in recent memory. My favorite may be his portrayal of Andy Warhol in the film Basquiat.
He also played a key role in the recent movie "The Prestige." What is your favorite role of David Bowie's?

a paragraph

For someone that walks like a turtle, Mavis is pretty agile when you throw a sweaty sock at her. I did it once, just to wake her up. Mavis is truly a force, though, when she holds a bb-gun. I half expect her to be carrying one when she comes to the door. “Hey Mavis,” I’m shouting as I pound on her door. "Mavis, come open the door. I brought you clean socks."

I finally hear the icy roll of her wheels and the low bump-shuffle as she moves across the wood floor with her walker, cursing me under her breath for making her get up. I can picture the little rose circles she paints on her face to pass as a skin tone and her big pink glasses to match, but then i remember she hasn't had her hair done for months, and when her hair isn't done she can't be bothered with anything more taxing than flipping the channels from "The Price is Right" to "Highway to Heaven" re-runs to any other number of shows that are really viewed best while snoring and half one eye open.

google maps

What's the deal with UPS not being able to find my house? Like i don't have four other roommates that have ordered stuff plenty of times. Like we didn't affix nice bright new numbers to the mailbox. Like any doofus with a computer couldn't view a satellite picture of my house. Those little mischevious fates: discount footwear I ordered does not save me the trip to pick it up after all.

Meanwhile it's lovely when a little annoyance is the only thing standing in your way. I revel in the calm after the storm at work. The calm before the storm is heavy with dread. The calm after the storm is like happy-friday-everything's-gonna-be-alll-riiight time. It reminds me of a song some former cult member friends of mine used to sing:

This whole world is screwed up
And we got no place to go
But I know
It's gonna be all right

Cuz I got my blessed brothers
And I got my beautiful sisters
And everything's
Gonna be all right . . .

Is that even right? Maybe my old friend Buddy is stalking me on the internet and can let me know. That would be kind of delightful in a way.

Arizona, continued

Opportunities abound:

Including the opportunity to see my little brother grow a full moustache and then keep it thoughout the wedding so it would be pictured for the sake of posterity. And of course the chance to see him find a good girl and make a commitment. My sis-in-law is a pretty down-to-earth hip girl. Also, she agrees that an amusing photo opportunity serves as justification for many things. A good match.


These are my nieces, again, as photographed by my older brother, their uncle. They are growing up and will have a little sister in a couple months. It is a cool thing to see my middle brother's family grow and increase. It is also cool to see the photographer of this photo enjoy being an uncle.

We had the chance to view some completely different natural scenes to what we are used to seeing every day in the eastern US. LCD is a big fan of the desert so he was excellent at humoring me when I was trying to identify plants and learn new ones. This photo is from a hike in Sedona among the red rocks. It seems to me that living in Sedona must be like living in a post card. Or a vortex (see post below). It was beautiful indeed.

This may be the real winner as far as natural wonders go. This was from us hiking a mile or so down into the Grand Canyon. It is in-de-scrib-able and it can not be captured in 2-D. But I tried anyway. I thought the foreground rock wall contrasted with the background canyon might give some perspective. If you click on the photo to see the big version you can see the people coming down the switchback, which are my people: My parents, my brother and sweetiepieface raising both arms in exultation. Exultation was called for on this expedition.

Vortex et al

This is my little brother with his new wife as they experience the female energy of a vortex in the spiritual power center that is Sedona, Arizona. As we learned by eavesdropping on the guy giving a tour to one or two people, the female energy in this vortex makes it a place of healing (male vortexes are for strength). I'm not sure whether you can sense anything from just seeing the photo, but according to the guy, your experience in the vortex is determined by how open your heart and mind are.

My batteries were dead on the actual wedding day. My recent trip also afforded all other kinds of great opportunities:

Like this time when my youngest niece began foaming at the mouth after an overfed rabid grand canyon squirrel had been gnawing on her leg.

more to come . . .

the fire

i pretty much don't have a blog.

anyway, i went to a rock show last friday. some of my friends and i had gotten tickets the day they went on sale like pre-teens for sanjaya or something. (i seriously do NOT know my teen pop stars. just last night i was talking about a song by christina aguilera that lcd told me was actually beyonce.) the show sold out in maybe like an hour. this was back in march. flash forward to may 4 and lcd and myself are strolling into dar constitution hall for the ar-cade fi-re. this was my third experience with the arcade fire and it was grand. it's the sort of band you would really like to be in if you're going to be in a band. you get to shout stuff and bang on things and play every instrument. speaking of which i have a girl crush on regine. she can play EVERYTHING. and her harmony vocals are out of this world sometimes. she makes me want to be a soprano.

anyway i recently got eager about recording again. lcd and i wrote bass and keyboard parts for "picture" and "rosa" and we tried out a few different bass parts for "david brown" and just couldn't get satisfied. i'd like to finish "rosa" in time to give a completed copy to my brother when we go out for his wedding. i need a stellar volunteer drummer. i can dream. and i can live the dream. just you wait.

Hope, Joy and Peace on the web

I thought you might like to know the results of my internet search on the .com versions of Hope, Joy and Peace.

Hope: Lame, lame search engine where all non-crude junk mail goes to die
Joy: Mining machinery
Peace: Interactive computer systems for utilities (like gas, electric) consumers

I was bewildered, but it's my own fault since I used .com

In other news I am wearing a bright orange sweater today, of which my Grandmother would be proud. I am forcing spring.

Your kindness is a terrible burden to me

I was just reading on sj's blog about opening doors for people and I was thinking--Have you ever held a door open for somebody and they speed up sooo fast they are bascially running? It's as if to say, "Please do not deign to show me your courtesy. Fie fie on your courtesy." Of course one shouldn't go extra slow but people p-lease. It's just a door I'm holding--It's not that heavy. I have been a fast walker in the past and I get the idea. You THINK you're showing appreciation. I've decided though, that what you are showing is a la the blog title.

My ep

Slowly but surely i am recording an ep. My dear lovely boyfriend is helping me every step of the way. He is a patient man. You see, i don't practice enough.

Those who care to know-- this is the tracklist, not necessarily in this order

Picture
The Weight
Rosa (by the Curators--i.e. written by me AND my brother)
David Brown
Zen and the art of software maintenance*

I also might might include my latest one: Got you where I want*

*actual recording has not started on these tracks

I'm excited. We were working on "The Weight" tonite. I confess I might be fondest of that one currently. It's about Ken Lay and some other things.

OK that's all I'm going to say. I mostly wanted to move the political post down the page because I weary of politics.

I also weary of capitalization rules, i guess. I edit all the livelong day and just am not feelin it right now.

Minimum Wage! Eeyaaahh

This is what I wrote as my commentary on the Minimum Wage petition on Harry Reid's site. It's not brilliant or anything, but it is true:

I am a young single professional and though I have not worked for minimum wage in about ten years, I did try and support myself on a very small adjunct professor salary when I got out of graduate school. Finding it utterly impossible and watching myself sink further into debt, I gave up teaching, and found a much better paying job as a government contractor. I had no children to raise but I still could not pay my rent or buy enough food to eat to be healthy. It is inhumane that anyone should not be paid a living wage in this country of great excess. Children whose parents work at minimum wage jobs are at an extreme disadvantage. The minimum wage needs to be raised in order to reduce crime, poverty and hunger and put children on a more equal footing to maintain our peaceful and productive society.

Latest ROCK song

I wrote these song lyrix a little bit ago, but thanks to president number 38 i now have some free time today to post them. It's a pop song, which is probably called "Got you where I want" or some variation on that.

I got you where I want--
right next to me
But then where else
would you want to be?
I don't ask for much,
just some infinite love
in a needle point.

Give me a sweet expression
that shows how you feel
so I can see your heart
is beating for real.
Then when you get stuck
in one of your funks,
I can wait it out.

(Chorus)
I know how it is
Baby I know just how it is
but even so
I still ask for everything
you've got

I know I've got
a lot of nerve
to set out
my demands
How about a million dollars
in unmarked bills
Or just a wink from you?

Got you where I want
(this time I'm for real):
On a skyscraper
on top of a hill.
We're a couple base jumpers
with never-before-
tested parachutes.

(Either Repeat Chorus or the following alternate Chorus?)
But we know how it is
Baby we know just how it is
But even so
It's going to take everything
we've got

You know how it is
Baby you know just how it is
So then why
you wanna take everything?
???
----------------------------------------
I'm playing with the choruses and am undecided on them.

Aperture

So anyway, I was in the Tennessee Mountain Home for Christmas. The big news is that my brother and sister-in-law are having another kid. The two they have already are pretty darn cute.

Sarah is obsessed with all things princess (she's almost three) but her mother has made her memorize the age she must be to get married: 22. Megan is the cutest smiliest kid ever who toddles around and gives kisses. She gave me the cold I have currently. It was a good time to be with the fam and chill.

Stuff that happened over the week:
Family slide show
Dollywood:
--the Smoky Mountain Christmas Production
--Grandma's motorized wheelchair
--Sarah c-racking up about the existence of such a thing as a DOG-wood tree
Little brother made us Peppermint Milkshakes
Festival of presents
Hot tub
Hiking in the snow
Hiking in the not-snow to the classic waterfall.
Roadtrip to pick up lil bro's girlfriend in Nashville.
Guitar concert
Bar-B-Q
Walks with the dog
Tennessee-style Christmas light displays
Going to the movies
Watching videos and episodes of the Office and Seinfeld
Games! Settlers, Pictionary, Imaginiff (ha--the fam did not enjoy this one)
Eating the yummy bread my boyfriend and I made before I left.
Missing him
Playing with the kids

2006 was a great year--and several big things I predicted happened: I fell in love, I got more and more out of debt and I got a new job. One thing that did not happen was my band did not record. In fact, we split up due to regional differences. But we wrote a few good tunes all the same. Also, I did not run a half-marathon. I predict this year that I will complete recording enough songs for an EP, that I will go on an extended backpacking trip, and one more thing that I do not care to put on this blog.

Cellular Meiosis

Here's what I wrote when I arrived home today. I write fiction, remember? So don't think I'm morbid. I am not sure what it is part of:

I die laughing.
Not out loud. Not bursting guffaws in a public setting. It's not whimsical. It's not a mass death.
I die alone.
Laughing to myself about something I read in a book. That I think of telling you about later. It was the funniest thing—this book I'm reading. And I know the smile you'll have. The one that admits you really don't care, but it also says you'll listen—because you love me.
I die crossing the street in rush hour.
The cross walk is awfully far away.
Awful.
And I'm laughing anyway and I start to run with that rush of adrenaline. That momentary what if. What if this car speeds up and doesn't see me in the dark of winter solstice.
And I die.

Inquisitivity

58% inquisitive. I cheated by doing one of those personality tests. FYI, Google is my current favored mechanism of learning. But i found the site for this personality test from Sherpa's blog.

Big Five Test Results

Extroversion (46%) medium which suggests you average somewhere in between being assertive and social and being withdrawn and solitary. Accommodation (58%) moderately high which suggests you are, at times, overly kind natured, trusting, and helpful at the expense of your own individual development (martyr complex). Orderliness (44%) moderately low which suggests you are, at times, overly flexible, random, scattered, and fun seeking at the expense of structure, reliability, work ethic, and long term accomplishment. Emotional Stability (62%) moderately high which suggests you are relaxed, calm, secure, and optimistic. Inquisitiveness (58%) moderately high which suggests you are intellectual, curious, imaginative but possibly not very practical.

Take Free Big Five Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

Tailor-Made

Later, I'm going to write a post entitled: "Pop goes the cranberry" and it will be about when I get my bridesmaid's dress altered for what'sherface's wedding. Therefore this post has to be about cranberries.

So, I bought cranberries at a certain hipster meets organic meets cheapskate grocery heaven and I decided I love cranberry season. I am a cooking nerd in this post. I made cranberry cream pie and cranberry sauce so far. The pie was fantastic and the sauce good clean yummy fun. You see, fresh cranberries, for those of you that don't know, are horrifying to eat as is. But if you simmer them in water they POP and let out their juicy goodness and the water slowly turns this gorgeous color somewhat reminiscent of blood but with more pink. You also generally need to add some sugar to make them delicious. I personally enjoy being festive, less by decorating and more by an appropriate activity. Like when we went to see the Al Gore movie on the hottest day of the year (not that it isn't also serious, but hey--festive). Why not be festive about cranberry harvesttime?

I feel like I am in an episode of either Reading Rainbow or Mr. Rogers. You tell me why.

Savory Nuggets

This title comes from the phrase used to describe the cat food we used to feed my cat Fiona. Since then, the cat has moved on and so have I. She was a good cat for a time. I realize a lot of people have no love for cats, but I'm actually not that interested in what they have to say--I've heard it plenty. Nor am I terribly interested in espousing the virtues of cats in general and collecting figurines--except when it's just plain funny. I'm just not that interested in generalizations about entire species. I like specifics. I liked Fi, anyhow. And she did send her spirit out to us so we had to go find her at the Humane Society. It's not like it was a random decision born of cat love. It was just something that happened.

The following may or may not be savory but it is a nugget. You see, I am a fiction writer. But I am way out of practice. So I am going to force myself to write story ideas and plots every day. OK, every chance I get. Here's what I've done so far:

How do I write a story? I need a character, I need a something like a problem, I need a setting, I need a beginning middle and end, I need a rhythm and a voice and "the love." And kick-A dialogue.

Character: the boyfriend. Why the heck not? Not mine or anything.
A Something: He has to take his girlfriend's cat to the vet, but he secretly hates the cat.
A setting: They live in the exurbs. He lives in a condo, she lives an apartment her parents are paying for.
The beginning: In the vet's room waiting for the vet, the cat on the table.
Middle: something is wrong with the cat and he has to decide what to tell his girlfriend OR the cat pees on him OR the vet asks him if he's been abusing the cat
End: He realizes why he resents the cat so much, because it symbolizes the loss of his autonomy or something, but this realization probably propels him to a new awareness of l-ove.
A rhythm: Jazz, the cat's name
A voice: a man that is trying very hard to not throw a cat off a bridge
The love: What is it about this man???

Feel free to answer my last question or suggest some more details.

Asparagus

This was going to be about how asparagus makes your pee smell but only forty percent of people can smell it and only forty percent of people produce the smell so, you know, do the math. But instead it's going to be about making relationships work. And compromise. And giving your input. Later. When I'm not late for work.

11/7: Maybe when I'm staying home from work illin'. So I will do a quick summary of the backstory so as not to wax too mundane/personal. It is about a trip to the grocery I took with my dear sweet bf. We were supposed to make a side dish for someone's birthday dinner and he, being the amazing cook that he is, generally takes care of that sort of thing. But then he had this whole thing about why do I always defer to him and I had this thing about well you usually don't like my ideas and you're the cook anyway. blah de blah I was suddenly in charge and wanted to do something with asparagus but the asparagus at the store was gross so we went back to his original plan anyway.

The moral is that communication is hard. And taking turns at making decisions is a bit hard, too. And sort of harder when you love someone. Because you don't want to hurt their feelings and because their feelings can be quite fragile. And a contract like "you get to choose every time it's food, I get to choose every time it's music" probably won't work because people are not segments. But it's really important to learn how to listen. I don't mean normal listening like you're taking notes in school, but gracious and understanding and empathetic listening. It's also really important to learn how to talk. Not just spout off your ideas, but the talk from honest self evaluation, stripped of pride. Totally naked, like asparagus after you peel the outer shell to make spargel suppe. It's hard.

Tetotaling

I am a terrible blogger. Do I care? I am also a cheater. Meanwhile East of Eden is a really good book. And I wrote a new not very good rock song. It's kind of a rock song. It stars LCD and my little bro.

Here are the words:

My boyfriend didn't like this song when I first played it for him
Made it a mockery because he's so smart
He then apologized--it was sincere, so I forgave him
I have some spite left over so he had to forgive me too

I told myself that I wouldn't
succomb to spite
I guess I lied
You see I am just a person
and so much is enough
but I will still try

My little brother's in the desert round a fire circle
There are some things that he would like to learn before he's ready to find his June Carter
He shows the teenagers another way to live that doesn't hurt so bad
Sometimes we all fall down it's in the rules forgive and forget it.

Maybe next time I won't
succomb to spite
over my wounded pride
Though I am just a person
I can do what I want
If I put up a fight

Kindred Spirits

I am so tired. Darn job. Requiring actual hard work. What is up? Anyway since we're talking Kindred, I'll speak of my kinfolk and how bout my little brother and his plan to have a 48 states in 48 days trip sponsored by some beleagured american car manufacturer next summer? maybe this guy is ripe for the picking. i think he'll take other sponsorships too. soft drinks. wireless mobile devices. whatever. the kid likes the open road. and he likes coming up with ideas that JUST MIGHT WORK.