Category: Music

Record Every Month

I have three songs underway for this month’s Record Every Month challenge. As of this evening two of them are ready for vocals. There may be car music tomorrow.

It’s supposed to be nice and sunny tomorrow morning too so photos are a possibility. It’s going to be cold though. No ocean, but maybe around town? Can I do car music and golden hour pics in the same morning? Maybe we will find out. I have about 18-20 shots left in the roll that’s in Dad’s camera. I’d like to finish that off before I start using the fresh roll that’s in my camera. If I go out with a camera it will be Dad’s with the 50mm lens.

We will have to see what time I get up tomorrow. I’ll let you know.

Rest in Peace Jim Gordon

This is one of the sadder rock and roll stories out there.

Jim Gordon has died. He was a session drummer. He played in Delany and Bonnie and Friends on the tour they did opening for Blind Faith in 1969 which lead to Eric Clapton upending his entire career. Clapton started spending his free time with members of Delany and Bonnie. Then he started sitting in with them for their sets. Then he left Blind Faith and went on tour with them. Then Delany Bramlett produced the sessions for Clapton’s first solo record, which was backed by the Friends. Then Clapton stole Gordon, Carl Radle, and Bobby Whitlock from the Friends and they all backed George Harrison for some of the All Things Must Pass sessions. Then they started playing shows to support Clapton’s solo record under the name Derek and the Dominoes. Then they moved from the UK to Miami, FL, hooked up with Duane Allman, and recorded Clapton’s best work, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. Then the drugs went out of control, Duane Allman died, Clapton retreated to his home in the UK to be a full time heroin addict for a few years, The Dominoes crumbled, and then I sort of lose track of Gordon’s career. I think he played in Traffic for a bit (hehe, I just re-read that… he played in Traffic… hehe) but I believe he mostly went back to playing sessions.

Then he murdered his mother and spent the rest of his life in a mental institution. Now he has passed away.

The guy could play. He was fantastic. Listen to his drum solo on Let it Rain from the Derek and the Dominoes In Concert record. It’s magic. His mental health problems were terrible and from a purely musical point of view, they resulted in a tremendous waste of talent.

Rest in Peace, Jim Gordon. Your suffering is at an end.

Should I Go See Peter Gabriel?

I’ve never seen Peter Gabriel live before. Steve Hackett is the only member of Genesis I’ve seen.

Peter Gabriel is coming to Boston the day before I leave for a week long vacation in September.

I really want to go to the show. I don’t have the money but I really want to find it and go to the show but I am going away the next day.

If we can talk Steve Hackett into sitting in then I’ll 100% go, otherwise I have to think on it for a while.

Slight change of subject, have Steve Hackett and Tony Levin every played together before? That would be friggin’ amazing, with or without Peter Gabriel on the stage with them.

Still Going

The RPM Challenge is over, but I still managed to play some guitar today. I’m up to three new song ideas. I was thinking of trying to do two songs per month for the rest of the year, but I just had to keep going today. I don’t think I am going to do 10 songs in March, but will I? Who knows. It’s just good to play.

186/365

Catching Up After a Couple of Off Days

The last couple of days have been weird, health-wise. First it was the headache issue on Tuesday, then it was stomach issues on Wednesday. Now here we are on Thursday and I am feeling a little like a wrung out face cloth. Here’s hoping today will be a quiet day.

We’re having some HVAC folks come and tell us what they need to do to replace the mini-split in the bedroom. We’ve had it serviced a couple of times this winter, but it’s just not working and we’re more or less unable to heat the bedroom without using a space heater as a supplement. They won’t actually replace it for another week or two, but they are coming for a fact finding mission.

So, television. Yesterday was the premier or season three of The Mandalorian and I could not be at a higher hype level. The first episode was excellent but… I think today’s third episode of season three of Picard might have been better. I did not see that coming, kids. I was just glued to the screen as I was getting this morning’s jogging (yogging) in. The captain vs admiral conflict seemed a little forced and out of character, but everything else? Fan-freakin-tastic. The bad guys behind the bad guy? Fan-freakin-tastic! I can’t wait for episode four. I also can’t wait for episode two of The Mandalorian, but that’s a given. In the Star Wars vs Star Trek debate, I come down on the Star Wars side, generally, but only by a little bit. Regardless of which franchise you prefer, it’s a pretty good time to be a space opera fan, am I right?

For the first time in a year, I am suffering from guitar gear acquisition syndrome. There are two overdrive pedals that I really want to buy, and I also really want to buy an amplifier simulator that I can use as a plug in through GarageBand. Last year I finished the RPM Challenge with a plan to do their Record Every Month challenge throughout the rest of the year. I had a goal of two songs each month that I could pretend were a single. I failed completely. I didn’t write a single song over the 11 months between the 2022 RPM and the 2023 RPM (with the exception of a few failed attempts in November). I am going to try again, but I am probably not going to record guitars through my amplifier on a regular basis. I am thinking I can do direct input more often and I want a good amp sim that I can use consistently. The one I am looking at is only $40, but I just don’t want to spend any money. We have a mini-split to buy after all.

Speaking of gear acquisition syndrome, I also really want to buy a new lens for my new camera. I adore the 40mm lens we bought for Disney, but I’d like a little zoom option. Possibly because the cats are suffering from The Zoomies every night and it just sort of inspired me, you know? I also really really want to buy a 35mm film point and shoot and I don’t know why. I want to buy a 35mm film camera with autofocus functionality too, but that’s going to cost some dough, and I think I can get a point and shoot for pennies. I want to go Nikon, as usual, but decent Nikon point and shoots are stupidly expensive on ebay. I looked for Pentax options yesterday and saw some with the starting bid of $1.00… so yeah, that could be a better option. We’ll see. Maybe I’ll hit the thrift stores more often.

Okay, time to get breakfast and get my day started. I have a lot of meetings today and need to be ready for a long day at the home office. Wish me luck.

A Hiccup in the Plans

Hello and welcome to March 1st, everyone. The RPM Challenge is over. Well… technically working on March 1st is allowed, but I don’t.

Last time I posted here I said I had two songs to mix and then I’d be done with everything that I wanted to have done. I managed to mix one of them and then, around 7:30 last night, it went bad. I had one of those episodes where my vision went blurry and I started getting a headache. I went to bed, turned off all of the lights, buried my head under the blankets, and called it a day. I had just finished dinner when it started, but I was still seven grams of protein away from my daily goal. I missed it for the day, but not by much. I’m not that worried about it.

I slept from 7:45 to 3:30. I woke up, put my watch on the charger (it was at 33%), filled up the tank on my CPAP machine, stepped on the scale for the Wednesday weigh in (more on that later), and went back to sleep until about 5:20. Then I got up, got dressed, filled up my water bottle, updated my food tracking spreadsheet and my weight tracking spreadsheet, jogged in place for 40 minutes or so (pronounced yogged, with a soft “j”), watched the new episodes of The Mandalorian and The Bad Batch, packed up my laptop, and started my day.

Wednesdays are in the office days now so I have to get a move on so I can get out onto the road about 50 minutes from now. I have to prep a lunch and a breakfast, refill the water bottle, shower, get dressed, clean off the car, bring in the trash barrel (assuming the city picked up the trash during the snow yesterday, not sure if they did or not), and get going.

My headache is still there, a little bit, but it’s better after hydrating myself some. My eye sight is normal again too. I just have to watch out for crap like that. It’s not fun at all.

Okay, let’s get a move on.

Winner

I still have two songs to mix, but neither of those two songs are good enough to use on the final record… so I submitted it. I threw together a somewhat logical running order, created a playlist on alonetone.com, and sent it off to the RPM Headquarters.

Done and done.

There I am on the list of winners. I filtered it by people in Massachusetts so I’d be easier to find.

Now I just need to finish those last two songs and I’ll be done with everything for this month. I am pretty surprised I made it through. I’m happy I made it, even if I am not happy with the results.

11 Songs Down, Three to Go

This is song #11 out of 14. I think it’s the only song I’ve done this year that’s in 7/8 time. That’s sad.

At least two of the remaining three will be dropped from the final album. One of them is still on the fence but definitely leaning toward the drop list. I think I have enough time to mix one more before work. Let’s see if I can get ‘er done.

Tracking is Done

I have finished all of the tracking for this year’s RPM Challenge. I added really crappy lead guitar parts to the last two songs and I am done with the recording. Finished, babie!

181/365
181/365. The focus point is on the pickup switch, I think.
DSC_1096
The focus point is on Baby Yoda, babie!
DSC_1095
The focus point is the word “Fender” on the amplifier.
DSC_1094
The focus point is on the guitar, which I think was pretty obvious.

RPM Challenge: The Last Day

Technically the RPM Challenge rules allow you to work on March 1st, but I prefer to stay within February so today is the last day for me.

Four songs left. Two are ready to mix. Two still need quick lead guitar parts before they’ll be ready to mix. I can do it all today. I also need to come up with a running order and drop anything that’s not up to snuff. This year that’s pretty much everything so lots of weak songs are going to make the cut.

I have a doctor’s appointment at 10:00am so I took sick time for the first half of the work day. That should let me get the guitar tracks in once Jen is out of bed. It’s snowing though. There isn’t much more than a dusting right now but we could get eight inches. I may have to shovel this morning, and I’ll definitely have to shovel after work. I also need to do my exercise this morning and I over slept about an hour so… yeah. Dumb ass.

Okay, Robert. It’s motivation time. Get to it. Get shit done!