Category: Music

Do I Want to See Clapton?

Eric Clapton announced US tour dates. There are two New England shows, TD Garden in Boston and Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. Tickets go on sale on Friday.

Do I want to go? I don’t know.

It wasn’t that long ago (just before the pandemic, I think) that I told my wife I wanted to see him one more time before he’s gone. I know he has some sort of neurological issue that is reducing his ability to play the guitar so the days are definitely numbered. Jeff Beck is gone… how long before Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page are gone too? I really should go see them before it’s too late. Those three guys are, more than anyone else, the reason I started playing guitar. Clapton more than the other two. I should want to go see him one more time, right? That makes sense.

But…

During the pandemic he demonstrated clearly what an absolute piece of shit he is as a human being. Do I really want to reward him for that by shelling out what is likely to be an absurd amount of money?

I honestly don’t know what to do.

Keith Relf and Jeff Beck are dead. John Mayall is dead. Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker are dead. Rick Gretch is dead. Delaney Bramlett and George Harrison are dead. Duane Allman, Jim Gordon, and Carl Radle are dead. Clapton is going to turn 80 at the end of this month. Based on that very long list of band mates (no, Jeff Beck was not a band mate, though they did play together a few times over the years) who have died, I think he might actually be immortal, but that’s just speculation. It could be true.

I really don’t know what I want to do.

PS: I am just thinking out loud. I have zero interest in anyone’s comments on this. None at all. This one is just for me, dig it?

AI Generated Music Videos

Spoiler alert, this post is a tease. It does not pay off.

My wife and I just watched a youtube video about the nightmare that is AI generated youtube videos. The examples it showed were awful and creepy and painful and will haunt us for the rest of our lives.

So naturally I decided to see if I could find a site that would AI generate a music video for one of my RPM Challenge songs.

It worked… sort of… but it was so beyond awful that I can’t share it. I uploaded a photo to go with the song. It was a selfie I took in Disney World while I was on an elevator and it took some of my fave and glued it onto some douche bag’s head and I will never recover from the emotional trauma. I then generated another clip using a face that the website provided. I’m trying to decide if I want to share it or not because… damn is it awful.

Nope. I can’t share it. It’s too awful. Sorry for the tease but damn it was just creepy as all hell. I actually closed my eyes for part of it. Nope. Not going there again. Sorry, AI Charlie.

Crazy Busy Weekend

We did so much this weekend I can’t keep it all straight.

I hung a mirror, two paintings, and two coat racks in the bedroom, put together a big cabinet for the office and a storage rack for the bedroom. Rearranged most of the furniture in the bedroom and added a new cabinet. I took all of the stuff we bought from IKEA for the office that isn’t going to be used and loaded them into the car, though we aren’t sure when we’re going back to IKEA to return them.

What else, what else… I hung some pictures in the living room, replaced some old table lamps with new table lamps in the living room, pulled up two rugs and put down a new one down in the office. Rearranged some of the electronic devices in the office, or at least rearranged how it all plugs in.

I cooked lunch twice and dinner once, went to a whole bunch of stores for various reasons (not on Friday though), listened to the Bruins win one game and lose another, explained our issues to the HVAC guy who we called in tonight and after he started looking at things correctly guessed what the problem was (and the problem has since been corrected and all is well).

Oh yeah, and had the first band practice in forever where we all reiterated our desire to keep things going and hopefully start playing out again before the year ends. I also, for the first time, decided that the signal chain of Les Paul into Klon Klone into Rat clone into Vox AC15 wasn’t doing it for me, though the Les Paul into the Big Muff clone into the Klon Klone into the AC15 was absolutely doing it for me in the most ferociously fuzzed out blissful way possible. Next time I’ll have to bring a different overdrive pedal with me and replace the Rat clone.

Now the weekend is coming to an end. I still need to have my afternoon vitamins because I fell behind in all of my dietary goals today. The vitamins is the only thing still outstanding though. I will be cleared to have a drink in about half an hour. I’ll have them then and be all set with all of my goals for today. After that I’ll try to sleep for a while and then go back to work tomorrow.

That was a busy weekend. A crazy, busy weekend if you will.

Did it Happen?

The car was packed up… did the band practice happen? It’s been so very long…

Yes! Yes it did happen! All four of us were there. The first band practice in ages!

183/365

Yes, we sucked but who cares! It was fun and we weren’t nearly as bad as we could (should) have been. We have tentative plans to try again next week. Fingers crossed, folks. A few practices… get back into playing shape… relearn a bunch of songs… book a gig. That’s the hope. We’ll see how it goes.

Will Lucy Pull the Football Away at the Last Second Again?

I don’t want to feel like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football but… that might be the case.

We have a band practice scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. Will it happen? I keep getting my hopes up and they keep getting canceled at the last minute. Should I be excited about this or should I be resigned to the fact that it’s going to fall through.

I don’t want to feel like Charlie Brown. I am choosing to be excited, but maybe not quite as excited as I was the last bunch of times.

So which guitar should I bring to the practice? Whichever it is, it’s going to need new strings. I’ll decide in the morning.

RPM Challenge Day 28/28

Let’s see… how did I make out on the last day?

I put lead guitars onto two songs. I mixed eight, count ’em, eight songs. I then sorted all of the songs into three lists.

  • Definitely makes the final album
  • Might be okay enough to make the final album if I hide it at the end
  • No way in hell it makes the final album

Oddly, the third list was very short. I think I ended up with nine songs on the first list, seven songs on the second list, and four on the third. After sorting was done I re-listened to everything on the second list to find at least one that I could put on the final album. I ended up keeping four. There were two that were easy decisions. That put me at 11 keepers. I figured 12 was a better number so I went back and forth between two B list songs but I couldn’t decide so I kept them both.

Next, I “borrowed” a photograph of good ol’ Punxsutawney Phil from wikipedia and used an iOS app to turn it into a very lame album cover. Then I listened through the 13 keepers again and came up with something that passed for a half decent running order. From there, the only thing left to do was go to rpmchallenge.com and submit it.

Done and done. See you next year, RPM Challenge fans.

Groundhogs and Top Hats

Done. I whittled the 20 songs down to 13. I was thinking of using 12 but I couldn’t make up my mind between the last two so I kept them both. I just sent it off to rpmchallenge.com and my name is now on the list of winners. Yippee. 14 successful RPM Challenges in a row. What a hero I am. Huzzah and shit.

Now lets see if I can embed a playlist, shall we?

The Last Day

Tracking is finished. I added lead guitars to the last three songs and then started mixing. I’ve plowed through three mixes already but there are still five left to do. The phrase that pays as far as mixing goes is “quick and dirty.” I just want something to upload, it is not going to be anything particularly good but it will exist and that’s good enough for me today.

This was the last song I started working on, and the last song to get vocals, and the last song to get lead guitars, and the 11th song to be mixed.

Also, I played my Les Paul Custom today and it came through for me on this song. I actually enjoy the leads here. That’s not normal for me on this year’s project.

DSC_3757

RPM Challenge Day 27/28

Yesterday was day 27, which means as I type this it’s day 28 and it’s the last day and I am too panicked (musically) to think straight.

I seriously forget what I accomplished yesterday. I know I did two songs worth of vocals, and I know I mixed four songs. I also did some sax parts but was it two songs or three? I also, also did some lead guitar but was it three songs or four? I think it was three parts each but they combined to finish four songs. I think.

It doesn’t matter. I have two more lead guitar parts to record and then I have to mix EIGHT songs, make a cover photo, and pick the running order for the final album submission.

That sound you hear off in the distance? That’s me screaming in frustration.

Yippee, bro.

12 Songs and Counting

I just finished mixing the 12th song for this year’s RPM Challenge. I kinda sorta like it. I think the GarageBand drummer would have worked up quite a sweat if it were a real human being and not a piece of software. Oh well.

12 songs down, eight to go. Two of them still need their last guitar tracks to be recorded. So ridiculously much left to do and I only have tomorrow left to do it. Oh, and I have a full work day to get through too. If I manage to pull it all off then I expect my brain to be a puddle of melted mush by the time I sleep tomorrow.