Harry and Jen and I just drove up to the ocean and back while listening to Pink Floyd. It was epic.
The Wall and Dark Side of the Moon all the way through.
Epic.
We all needed to get out of the house. You know how it is when you’re 2.5 years into a pandemic. Sometimes you just need to get out of the house…
…and sometimes you need to blast The Floyd while you’re toolin’ up route 495 North.
I went to visit my mother today. She slept the whole time I was there.
I had forgotten that Sunday morning was sing along time hosted by the son of one of the residents. He plays beginner song book kind of songs on an accordion and sings along. The residents get together and listen and some of them sing along too.
I think the experience taught me that I am seriously starving for live music. It’s pretty bad.
I wrote down the set list, in case anyone wants to make a playlist on the streaming service (not Spotify) of their choice.
Accordion Guy’s Set list:
Car music ain’t happening today. Given the choice between getting up early and sleeping late, sleeping late won’t out, as it usually does.
Car music tomorrow!
Why yes, Virginia. There will be car music tomorrow. Assuming I can get up early enough. It’s been over a month. Maybe closer to two months. I wrote a melody and some ultra shitty lyrics to three of the six songs that are in progress right now. I will try to add vocals tomorrow.
Wish me luck!
It wasn’t really a long week, but now that we’re up to Friday it suddenly feels like a long week. Eight hours and 11 minutes to go until the weekend. Who’s ready?
I was hoping for some car music today but I didn’t get a chance to write any lyrics last night. Maybe tomorrow. The plan as it stands now is to go to see a matinee of the new Thor movie tomorrow. That is both exciting and nervy. It will be our first visit to a movie theater since the pandemic started. That’s why we’re going to the first showing of the day. We’re hoping the place will be empty. We’ll see.
I thought about asking the bariatric surgery facebook group about the pros and cons of small amounts of popcorn, but then I re-declared the facebook boycott so… yeah. I’ll stick to water, thanks. Wicked smaht there, Robert.
I am going to visit my mother tonight. Hopefully I’ll get there once or twice more over the weekend. I need to stop by Dad’s too. We’ll see how things shake out.
I want to do some music, preferably car music and guitar playing and some lyric/melody/riff writing. The faux 50/90 is still happening, but I am about an astronomical unit* behind schedule. There are only six songs in the pipeline right now and none are even remotely close to finished. Also, July ends next week. I should have 13 songs complete by the end of the month. Not happening. Not even close. Still, it’s fun. I just need to get into the groove somehow. I was feeling pretty good on Wednesday. Let’s channel that and do some more.
Photography… I don’t know. Downtown Andover? Downtown Lowell? Boston and Cambridge? We’ll see. I want to have one or two more rolls finished (I have two finished now and one in progress) before I ship off to a lab somewhere, but that could take ages at this point. We’ll have to see.
Okay. Let’s get through the work day before we worry about any of this stuff. Happy Friday, folks!
*An astronomical unit is defined as the average distance between the Earth and the Sun. That is a perfectly accurate description of how far off the pace I am at the moment.
I played guitar this morning before work, and I played guitar tonight after work. My finger tips are burning agony. My kingdom for some calluses!
I am so happy my Deluxe Reverb is home. I am so happy!
I haven’t had my breakfast yet, but I did play guitar for an hour. I put rhythm parts onto two faux 50/90 songs.
For the first time ever, my new favorite guitar played through my favorite amp and it was glorious.
Well… the second song was glorious. The playing was sloppy as hell but the tone was epic. The first song… I might want to try that one again. It’s sounds good, but I think I can get it to sound better.
Lunch break project number one was finally unboxing the folding card table. It’s been sitting here waiting for me since early May and now it’s finally setup and useable.
Lunch break project number two was merging the two stay-at-home pedal boards.
For the first time ever I have mounted a power supply underneath.
The chain currently runs:
Now I just have to plug this sucker in and see how it all sounds together through my Deluxe Reverb. The Deluxe Reverb that is finally home!
No, I didn’t play it, but I did set it up so I can play it later. I don’t know when I will get the chance, but soon.
New Les Paul, meet the Deluxe Reverb that has been away for 2.5 years. You guys are going to have some fun together. The pedal board that you can almost see in this photo will also change. I brought home what I used to call the stay-at-home pedal board that I also left at the band’s rehearsal space back in January 2020 (irony). I want to take two pedals and the power supply off of that board and add them to my current home recording board. Once that’s done I will be ready to get back to work on the fifty songs thing.
Oh happy day.
See that black thing with the word, “Fender” on it?
Know what that is?
That’s my favorite amplifier. That’s my Fender ‘65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue. It’s been at Mike’s house since late January 2020 and it’s finally back home where it belongs.
Kevin, Mike, and I were pretty terrible tonight but not nearly as terrible as I expected. We took turns throwing out song titles and then hoping muscle memory would kick in so we would remember how to play them. For the most part we did.
For most of the night my signal chain was 100% things that had never been to a Lizardfish practice before. My new Les Paul into the Ryra The Klone into the Malaise Forever Black Lives Matter into the Vox AC15. I sounded okay. A little too toppy but okay. I mostly did the Clapton Les Paul thing (not “Woman Tone”, the other thing) where you run both pick ups but lower the volume on the neck a little. It sounded pretty good.
I was pleased with the AC15. I had been a little concerned that the little 15 watt guy would struggle to keep up with the bass and drums. I need not have worried. It cooked right along with lots of headroom to spare.
As well as the Vox preformed tonight, the biggest take away is still the Deluxe Reverb coming home. At last.
Inside the Red Head's Head 