We’re trying to setup a time for the band to get together this weekend. I think everyone is in. At least we’re all in as of this moment. I need this. I so need this. I don’t even know when the last time all four of us got together to play was. It’s been way too long. So long that I was pretty convinced it would never happen again. Pessimistically I am still pretty convinced that it is never going to happen again but I am choosing to look on the bright side right now, like the ray of fucking sunshine that I am.
My fingers are crossed. Band practice on Sunday. Make it so.
It is just about 2:30pm on Friday January 17th. One week from today I will be post-lunch on the last work day before vacation. How am I going to focus on the real world over the intervening week? The Vacation is becoming an all consuming obsession. Partly because I really want to go, but also because it stops me from stressing about the end of American society on Monday next week.
The first full day of vacation is eight days away. The Florida/Disney World return is nine days away. I can’t wait to go. I can do without the upcoming shit hitting the fan on Monday the 20th though.
It’s Friday. One week from today I am going to be writing about how I only have an eight hour work day standing between me and a full week’s vacation. I am already hyper focusing on it. Crazy.
I just watched the season two finale of Silo. It was very good. I sort of screwed things up though. The show is based on a series of books. A few weeks ago I got tired of waiting to see what was going to happen on the show so I started reading. I’m going to finish the third and final book probably this weekend. When the super confusing twist happened in today’s episode I knew what it was and I knew it was coming. I spoiled myself. I don’t care though because the books are good, the show is good, and the books and the show are just different enough that I can still feel engaged with both.
This week I also watched the season (series?) finale of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew and I am down to the second season (series?) finale of The Alienist which I am enjoying a lot even though it’s creepy as hell. Fortunately season two of Severance came out today. I’ll watch that tonight before bed, I think. Silo is over, but I still have a Friday show to watch out for. That’s nice.
Last night I watched a video on the youtubes. Five Watt World’s Short History of the Les Paul Deluxe. My first “real” guitar was a Les Paul Deluxe. I didn’t learn how to figure out the date on a Les Paul until years later so I have no idea what year it was made. I think it was very late 70’s or very early 80’s. I bought it in 1988 at Russo’s Music in Lowell, MA. All of the knobs had cracked off of it and I never replaced them. I was a kid. I didn’t have the money or even the know how of how to get replacements that would fit. It also had a nasty gash in one of the frets, and I seem to remember that one of the inlays was coming unglued. I didn’t care. I loved that guitar. I adored that guitar.
On a Sunday night/Monday morning in November or December (pretty sure it was December) of 1990 it was stolen out of my car. That was pretty much the end of the world for me. I have never really recovered from the violation of it all. I bought my Les Paul Custom a short time later and that is still my number one guitar… but some days I really find myself missing that Deluxe. I would have loved to have taken it to a good shop and had all of the negatives fixed up. It would have been epic, mini-humbuckers and all.
Watching this video made me feel all the feels. Steve Hackett, Pete Townsend, and me. All of us, Les Paul Deluxe veterans.
Okay. Time to stop farting around and get ready for work. Happy Friday, everyone. The weekend awaits.
With the possible exception of Dune, I don’t think I’ve ever seen any David Lynch work. Blue Velvet… Eraserhead… Twin Peaks… Nothing. I’m not even sure if I’ve seen Dune or not. I know I’ve seen bits and pieces, but did I ever actually sit down and watch the flick? I might have. I’m probably 66.67% sure that I have, but that’s not 100%, you know?
This is a guy who, purely by reputation, I should be very much familiar with. I mean… Eraserhead, right? How can I not have ever seen Eraserhead? Also, Twin Peaks? Eraserhead was before my time but Twin Peaks came out while I was in my first, first year of college and everyone on Earth was watching it. I mean… I was in music school for crying out loud, how did I not watch Twin Peaks?
Now David Lynch has passed away. It’s too late for me to do anything more than catch up in his memory. Somehow that seems very shitty of me.
As always when a celebrity dies, I have written a post about them that was really all about me. I am a selfish asshole that way.
Vacation starts in nine days. Florida trip starts in 10 days. Getting close enough to fog my brain with vacationitis.
Not many people know this, but the Tomorrowland People Mover is THE BEST ride in all of Disney World. By far. Nothing even comes close (other than Rise of the Resistance and Smuggler’s Run). The People Mover RULES.
My lunch break is coming to an end. I was late to work today and had to take some personal time. I took my lunch break a little later than usual and who cares about any of this, right?
There is nothing going on today. There was this morning, but nothing is happening now. It’s turning into a quiet afternoon. I have to go to a store after work and then Jen (my beloved bride) and I are going to get some Japanese take out for dinner. Other than that? Nuttin’, honey.
I was thinking about tomorrow morning. I am working from home tomorrow so I have some time to do stuff before work (assuming I don’t oversleep). Should I take my new/old camera out and finally shoot a test roll or should I track some guitar parts for a song demo or two? I checked the weather. The forecast is calling for temps in the teens around sunrise tomorrow morning. I guess guitar tracking it is!
I have two songs ready for rhythm guitar parts. I just have to remember how to play them. Then I have to learn how to play them in a different key, because I changed my tuning for this round of recordings. I just tuned down a half step but that means I can’t just listen to the original demos and learn the parts. I have to tune back up or I have to change the key on the fly. We’ll see. I don’t think either song is particularly hard. I should be able to re-learn the parts easily enough.
Isn’t home recording fascinating? I can see by the bored, glazed over look in all of your eyes that you’re all just riveted. You’re welcome, really. Any time.
I had a bit of a slow start this morning. Something came up and got in the way of the normal routine, but we’re all back to normal now. So much so that I have a picture of a cat to share.
Inside the Red Head's Head 