Category: Music

2024 NaSoAlMo Day 5/30

Look at me, acting like nothing happened. Just whistling past the fucking graveyard.

I added one more song last night. I’m up to five. They all have a complete form but currently are just midi bass and drums. No guitars, no lyrics, no vocals, no hope, no belief in a better future for our kids, just midi bass and drums.

2024 NaSoAlMo Day 3/30

I added another song yesterday. MIDI bass and drums are done. That’s all I had in me yesterday. I don’t expect much different today. I had a covid shot two days ago and it kicked my ass yesterday. I still feel less than wonderful today.

2024 NaSoAlMo Day 2/30

I did not play any guitar yesterday. I did try to fix a problem with some buzzing on my ES-335 and I think it worked. Once I actually plug in we’ll see if my optimism is warranted. In 38 years of guitar playing I had never adjusted a truss rod myself. Now I have, and I don’t think I broke anything.

Back on the main topic though, I did not record any real human being instruments, but I did add two more songs to the queue. Both have (midi) bass and drums and one has a (midi) guitar guide track. That brings me to three songs and strangely, they are all about four minutes long. Is that a trend this year?

We will see.

2024 NaSoAlMo Day 1/30

National Solo Album Month is underway. Write and record an album and do it all without any help. Fly solo on the whole thing.

I’ve had some vague ideas of a prog-like super long song or two but I think I am just going to write the usual batch of the usual length rock songs in 7/8 time (mostly) strung together in a big medley. I’ve done that before on one of these projects. Who knows.

I started one song. Bass and drums (midi) are done and there is a (midi) guide track for the guitar.

We are underway.

New Music Project Coming Soon

Today is Tuesday October 29th. This coming Friday is November 1st.

A new annual, internet based music project begins on Friday. National Solo Album Month, NaSoAlMo. Write and record an album’s worth of music all within the month of November, and do it all yourself. No collaborations. Just you.

I had a thought about trying to write two songs of approximately 20 minutes in length, like a good Prog Rock nerd. I said two 20 minute songs, not four. What do you think I am, Yes? Sheesh.

Something tells me that once I start rolling on this (assuming I actually start rolling on this) I will just do my usual 10, 2-3 minute rockers and call it a day. We will see how (if) it goes. I’m sure I’ll post about it 20-30 times a day, or some crap like that.

Random Sunday Night Thoughts

This week’s episode of The Penguin doesn’t launch for another 40 minutes so I am going to write a blog post to kill some of that time.

You ready?

Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith posted a picture on instagram today (at least I think it was today) that was taken backstage at a Maiden show in Toronto. In the photograph is one Mr Alex Lifeson who apparently is an Iron Maiden fan? Larry and Mike and I are going to see Maiden in less than two weeks. Do you think there’s a chance that Alex Lifeson will be at that show too? I hope so! I think it would be the best thing ever to watch Big Al air guitar to The Trooper. That would freakin’ rule.

Tomorrow is Monday. Back to work for everyone. Sad, painful, depressing. All that stuff. I have a small mountain of paperwork to do this week. I need to find a way to not be distracted by other work responsibilities so that I can get it all done as soon as humanly possible. I have the day off on Thursday because I wanted to be home and off the clock in time to run our house’s Trick or Treating.

I have one very important non-work responsibility that I have to take care of tomorrow. Well, two actually. I need to pick something up at the drug store for Jen tomorrow before work. That’s not what I am writing about, though it is important. The thing that I am writing about will also hopefully happen before work. I need to buy five tickets to an NCAA hockey game. UMass Lowell (my and my wife’s old school) at University of Vermont (my step daughter’s old and my step son’s current school). Harry and I went to a game last year. This year Jen and Bellana and Harry’s girlfriend are going to go too. I need to get the tickets in advance because I am crazy and don’t want to wait.

Hockey… as a family… how cool is that?

While on our day trip to Burlington, Vermont today, I took a camera with me. A film camera. Dad’s Pentax K1000 with a roll of Kentmere 400 (black and white) film. I shot about two thirds of the roll. I know for sure that I completely and utterly mangled a few of the photos, but one or two might come out okay. If the weather is okay on Thursday (Halloween) I might use the morning portion of my day off as a photo morning. I keep talking about Boston…. maybe I could go to Boston for a little while?

Okay, we’re now 25 minutes away form a new episode of The Penguin. I think I am going to post this literary masterpiece now and listen to some music until the show is released on the MAX app.

Happy Sunday, everyone. Have a good night.

Phil Lesh

The world of 80’s metal lost Paul Di’Anno a couple of days ago, and now the world of 60’s San Francisco psychedelic rock has lost Phil Lesh.

Again, making it all about me (friggin’ narcisist), I was a Jefferson Airplane fanatic (still am) through high school and beyond. Some of my friends were full blown Dead Heads. I struggled with The Grateful Dead. I liked literally everything I heard, but I couldn’t help but compare it to the Airplane and it always came up short.

A few years ago I decided to finally decide if I liked the band or not. Streaming services were a thing so I took the deep dive. What did I learn?

I learned that I really liked the band. I knew I was going to enjoy the guitar playing. I did not expect to be so impressed with the bass playing. Phil Lesh was fantastic. I mean, he was no Jack Cassady. He was no Jack Bruce. He was great though. Good enough that I wished I had gone down that musical road much earlier than I did.

Rest in peace, Phil Lesh.