Category: Music

One Crazy Friday

It’s 3:59pm and I am more or less free to break for lunch for the first time. What a day!

The kids are back to their dad’s for the weekend. It’s sad. Bellana will be coming over for some of the weekend so that’s good, but she’s off to study abroad next week so that’s sad but it’s also happy. This empty nest stuff just messes with my head in the worst ways.

I did a little shoveling this morning. Bellana did more. She was able to make it to her appointment and everything went safe and well. I expected that she and Harry would have to do some shoveling so they could get out to head to dad’s but wouldn’t you know it, some guy was going door to door asking to shovel driveways. If he wants to do it, then go for it. I had enough cash on hand to pay him, so off he went. He didn’t do all that great a job, but every snow flake he moved is one that I don’t have to move so it’s a win for me regardless. Also, who still carries cash? What’s the matter with you, Robert? Get with the 21st century, would ya?

91 minutes until the weekend. I can make it, I know I can. Here’s hoping I get to play a lot of guitar over the next couple of days. Every time it snows I feel like I should play to balance out the snow hate with some music love. Just keep me right in the middle, like lukewarm water*.

*If you haven’t seen This is Spinal Tap then we really can’t be friends. I mean, we can still relate on some level, but we really can’t be besties or anything like that.

Lerxst Demo Archive PT. 1

I finally got around to listening to the newest demos on Alex Lifeson’s website. Three songs, Kroove, Banjo Bob, and Serbs. These are in addition to the two songs he posted when the site originally launched, Kabul Blues and Spy House.

As I sit here grooving like my life depends on it I start to wonder what it must be like to have actual talent.

I miss Rush.

The Kids are Here

The kids got here a couple of hours ago. That makes me very happy.

Lots going on at work. Changes coming. Small, low level reorganization. Good things on the way. I just can’t talk about it, not that I would say anything outside of the most vague references the English language will allow anyway.

The Book of Boba Fett is on tonight. I don’t know if anyone will want to watch it with me. I liked the first episode, but I think I might have been the only one in the house who did. A co-worker said the second episode is excellent. Fingers crossed. Hopefully it has Han Solo coming around for some pay back, you Boba Bitch. A boy can dream, right?

I did some music before work this morning. I put a MIDI bass part onto one of the two new January song ideas. No melody yet. Nothing to sing. I have a few re-records ready for vocals, but I want to have something new to sing before I go for the drive again.

The Bruins won last night. They are 3-0 since coming back from the Covid shut down. They play Minnesota tomorrow. Keep the streak going.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland gave a speech on the investigation into last year’s treasonous terrorist insurrection at the US Capital. Remember that? When a bunch of trump cult maga terrorists tried to violently overturn the 2020 presidential election? The speech boils down to this: We’re working on it. That’s all I wanted to hear, Merrick. Well… maybe that and you’re planning on picking up the pace. Fascist heads need to roll.

17 minutes until the end of the work day. I’m ready.

Guitar Pain

I hid away in the cellar tonight playing the guitar. I came up with something new for the Record Every Month thing for January. I came up with something last night but tonight’s is probably a little better. I’ll probably finish them both. The thing I worked out tonight was really hurting my left hand. Lots of cramping (arthritis, maybe?) painful pain.

Next I worked on a re-recording. I hadn’t done anything accept setup the GarageBand file. It’s the same file I used when I wrote the song last February. I pulled apart the mix and left one rhythm guitar track and one vocal track as guides. Normally I replace the MIDI tracks, drums and bass, before I replace the guitars, but this time I started with guitar. Why? Because I just didn’t want to stop recording tonight, that’s all.

I probably should have picked something easier because this particular re-recording took my already hurting left hand and amplified the pain by a factor of 50. Damn, was I hurting. I got through everything, though I am not entirely sure I’m happy with it. I’ll have to live with it for a few days before I decide if I want to do it again.

My hand is still a little sore, but mostly I am feeling better. It was really hurting tonight. I don’t like when that happens. I don’t like it at all.

For the record, here is the already super messy desk I’ve been using, complete with the Bruins game (second intermission, leading 3-2 over New Jersey) on my iPad.

Watch an Artist Work

I post about the Youtube show That Pedal Show a lot. I’ve learned a lot from watching those two guys goof off, but their latest posts are something that is practically unbelievable.

A couple of years ago the two hosts took their #1 guitars to a Luthier who did various maintenance on them (mostly dealing with frets). One of the hosts mentioned that this particular Luthier makes his favorite acoustic guitar and he was going to bite the bullet and order one. The build takes a couple of months and the wait list is a couple of years. Yikes!

Over the last four days the show has posted one video per day (there will be a fifth tomorrow) that is just watching this Luthier build the host’s guitar from scratch. He starts with a couple of thin planks of wood and goes from there.

It is freakin’ FASCINATING. I mean, I knew it was an art, but the guy is shaping the guitar’s neck with a friggin’ chisel! A CHISEL! It’s just amazing to watch.

I’ll post the first video (number one of five) and links to the next three. When I get a chance to watch the fifth video (hopefully tomorrow) I’ll post that one too. The whole thing is going to be about five hours long, but it is just ridiculously satisfying to watch. Give it a try, a bit at a time. It’s so worth it.

Video number 2/5.
Video number 3/5.
Video number 4/5.

Everything Works

I have used the cellar music nook. I put rhythm tracks on two songs, leads on one, and started noodling some changes for one more.

The new wah and vibe pedals are awesome.

I only used the big Fender amp and only on the lower watt channel, but the only thing that wasn’t sounding sweet was the ugly paneling on the walls, babie.

Back to Work

Well… I knew I couldn’t fight it. I punched into work a little before 9:00am and stuck the final nail in this year’s holiday season’s coffin. It’s over, folks.

The kids are still here. I figured they would have left by now so I am pretty happy. They did both sleep really late though so that might be the reason. I don’t care. I love it when they are here. Even when I am working and can’t go hang out with them.

Today has been really quiet overall. Not much to write about. The Bruins played twice over the weekend, finally coming back from the long Covid-19 shut down. I watched a few minutes of Saturday’s game against Buffalo and the little that I saw looked pretty awful. They straightened it out and won in overtime. I didn’t see yesterday’s game against Detroit but they spanked them pretty thoroughly. Here’s hoping that’s a sign of good things to come.

Major League Baseball is still locked out. I keep seeing stories tweeted out from all sorts of sources talking about the things such and such a team needs to do to improve and yadda yadda blah. I haven’t been reading the articles but I am really hoping they all boil down to something along the lines of “don’t be locked out.” Everything else is sort of superfluous* until that happens.

What else, what else… did I mention that all of my workout time that my Apple Watch tracked last week was on the exercise bike? I’m pretty sure that was a first for me. Does it mean anything? No. No, it does not.

I haven’t given much thought to the RPM Challenge this year. The only thing that’s come to me for something different to do is to use two guitars. I always double track my rhythm guitar parts. What if, instead of just tracking everything twice, I use a different guitar for each take? My Les Paul Standard would be playing in one ear, and my SG would be playing in the other. What about that for goofy nerdness? Maybe even use a different amplifier with each guitar. I’m thinking about it.

Okay, 2:00pm approaches. Time to wrap up this lunch break post.

*I had to pay $0.10 to use that word.