Category: Uncategorized

#RPM2017 — Proof I Haven’t Bailed

Just to prove to everyone who is(isn’t) reading these stupid RPM Challenge posts that I haven’t given up on the project (the way I told the RPM website I was), here is the first mixed song.

It sounds like dog shit in every measurable way.

RPM Challenge — Day 25/28 #RPM2017

On Thursday I resigned myself to the fact that for the first time since 2011 I was not going to complete the RPM Challenge. Two days later, not only am I sure to have something to turn in for RPM, I will have 14 songs for FAWM as well.

I cut a lot of corners. The biggest one being that I don’t care if all the lyrics read the same. They are almost all written about the same thing. At best it hits the same topic from a few different angles, and at worst I probably re-used entire lines. I don’t care at all. I just want this thing done.

The second corner I cut was no harmony vocals and no doubling. Just one vocal track per song. I was kind of considering that as an option even before February started. I have felt like I keep doing the same thing over and over. Doubled vocals and two part harmonies everywhere. The decision not to do that was definitely made in an attempt to save oodles of time and energy, but it could have been more than that.

I haven’t started mixing anything yet, though I do have a few songs that are ready. I expect the mixes will be quick and dirty just like the vocals, but that is sort of fitting for this year’s pile of crap. Some of the songs are almost decent, but I am doing a really shitty job of putting it all together. I’m wondering if the troubles I’ve had are the universe’s way of telling me that this is my last RPM. Could be.

Press Pass

I am thinking of declaring this blog as a legitimate news service. Once done I will submit for access to the White House press conferences. I won’t be mainstream media, so in theory they will look favorably upon my request and grant me access.

After a few stories from me those fascist pieces of shit will learn what a negative bias is. CNN and the New York Times will look like Trump’s best buddies when I get through with them.

The Trump Fascist Regime thinks the courts are wrong when they do their Constitutional job in checking the Executive Branch. Yeah, okay. The Trump Fascist Regime thinks that the free press is wrong when they exercise our Constitutional right to a free press. Still though, his supporters drop to their knees, give the fascist salute, and open wide over everything he does and says. Read the Constitution. Go on. I dare you.

Now all we need is for the Legislature to actually do their Constitutional job and act as a check on the Executive branch, but we all know those fascist collaborators are on their knees with the rest of the them.

Long Weekend

After two straight foot-plus snow falls we limped into the three day President’s Day weekend. I’d wish you a happy President’s day, but the current president is a fascist and I’d rather not wish anything related to him upon anyone.

My goals for the weekend were simple. Clean the bedroom, do all the laundry, and work on RPM. Simple enough, right? I thought so too, until I walked down cellar to put that first load of laundry into the dryer and my basement was underwater. Yeah, thanks washing machine. I had to run a second load in order to figure out where the problem was. It’s not the washer or any of the hoses. It’s the pipe the outflow hose drains into. There’s a clog in there somewhere and it backed up something fierce. Calls to the plumber have been made.

So my wet vac and I rekindled our old friendship and I carried about a thousand gallons of water (give or take a few) out the cellar bulkhead. Granted, I had to shovel out the cellar bulkhead first, which just added insult to injury. My back is not thanking me at all. Clearly I wasn’t going to finish the bedroom on Saturday, and I was just too sore from all the liftin’ on Sunday. I’m working on it today, a little at a time.

I took all of our remaining laundry to a laundromat with a wash/dry/fold service. It’s way too expensive, but it makes my life a little easier today. I also get to help out a small local business, which is nice once in a while.

I did some RPM work, but not enough. I still don’t have any lyrics and I only have eight days. There are 14 songs and all the rhythm guitars are done. Vocals next… I just have to write the parts. I’m not giving up though, just in case you were wondering. Onward and upward.

I am a little disappointed in myself. Politically, I should be doing more. There was a rally in Boston yesterday demonstrating against anti-science. Now that on the surface just sounds friggin’ ridiculous… as if science, the search for truth, could ever be attacked. Well, when you live in a fascist state you have to do some weird, crazy shit. Rallying in support of science is one of them

I didn’t go. I could have. I should have. Actually, I couldn’t have. I had too many other things going on. That’s not the point. I feel like I need to do more. I need to say more. I need to speak louder and more confidently to a larger audience. I rant on twitter a bit. I get some responses from both sides, but it’s pretty impotent when you come to think of it. I don’t rant enough on Facebook. I should do more there. My wife is amazing. She lets Facebook have it with both barrels. No holding back at all on her part. I wish I had the stones to do that. She’s been my hero since the day we met and this is just another example.

I don’t know. I feel like I have to get my voice into the growing crowd of people who are fed up with the fascist bullshit. He’s only been in office one month and already the country is spiraling out of control. The President declared the media an enemy of the people? Does he know that the press is protected by the constitution? He rails against the courts. Does he know that the constitution created the courts specifically as a check against the president and the legislature? Does he even realize that the constitution exists? If he does, does he care?

I need to do more. I want to do more. I don’t know if I am physically capable of doing more, but I want to. Maybe come March I’ll start keeping a closer eye on the goings on in Boston and maybe try and add my tiny voice to the growing chorus. I have to do something. If we want this fascist nightmare to end, we all have to do something.

One month down, 47 to go.

Two Twitter Politics Thoughts

I posted something to twitter last night that got a little bit of a response. I replied to a CNN post saying essentially two things. First, Trump is a fascist. Second, what Trump labels fake news is not in fact fake news.

There were about five responses from conservatives. Four of them swore at me. I’ve never met any of these people, I just don’t agree with their political ideology. Yet they felt the need to swear at me. Okay, that’s the world we live in now. The CIVIL in CIVILization is clearly lost on much of our society. What can you do though, hate is just so in fashion.

The other response is probably notable because it came from the first two conservative responders, and because I found it really hysterically funny. They both commented about how CNN is fake news. They didn’t react to me calling the president of the United States of America a fascist, they commented about CNN. So obviously they agree that Donald Trump is in fact nothing but a dirty, disgusting, orange pile of fascist goo.

The movement is spreading, folks! Resist!

Happy Valentines Day

It’s Valentines Day. I hope you are with the one you love on a night like this. Here I am, sitting in my living room, watching the boob tube with the one I love. Jennifer is sitting right over there. We are together, and that makes me happy. Happier than I could ever explain.

Here’s a picture of our cat because cats are cool.


Holy Shiznits!

This post will cross post onto twitter and my step son is now following me on twitter… so I need to cut down on the swearing. I need to try to stop saying shit, you know? Oh…. whoops.

So twice in less than a week we have been given the wintry gift* of a snow fall that piled up over a foot deep. I shoveled the first storm on Thursday night in about an hour. It was deep but very light. It was also super cold and superer windy.

Tonight, after work, I went outside to shovel storm #2 which finished early this morning. The second time… well, there was more of it… it is significantly heavier… it’s not as cold, but it’s almost as windy and the wind chill is downright oppressive.

I had to stop part way through to give my back a rest. I just took 1231246 extra strength Tylenols** so hopefully I will have some degree of movement when I go back out in a couple of minutes.

I think I read today that it’s 48 days until Major League Baseball’s opening day. It can’t get here fast enough.

*When I say “gift” what I really mean is “kick in the balls”.

**When I say 1231246 I really mean three. I’m 6’5″ tall and way (REDACTED) pounds. I once had a doctor tell me that it was safe for me to go a tad above the average over the counter medication’s recommended dose. I usually don’t, but when my back hurts like this I will hold that doctor’s statement in front of me like a shield, and I will also wield it like a sword.

RPM Challenge Day 11/28 — #RPM2017

I haven’t been keeping up with the updates, but I have been making progress. Not a huge amount of progress, but we’re getting there.

Let’s take a look at the Trello board, shall we? There are currently three active columns: Idea Stage, Ready for Rhythm Guitar, and Ready for Lyrics and Vocals. you can tell that I put a ton of thought into my naming conventions.

The Ready for Lyrics and Vocals column has three entries. Each one consists of a sketched out song form made up of fake bass and fake drums from GarageBand, and a couple of tracks of rhythm guitar. There is also a photo of my amp settings for each song, just in case I need to revisit it.

The Ready for Rhythm Guitar column has six entries. Each one represents a full song form made up of fake bass and fake drums from GarageBand. It is my sincere hope that each of these will be moved to the ready for lyrics column by the end of business today.

The Idea Stage column has five entries. Each one represents a little guitar noodle recorded into my iPhones Music Memos app. I haven’t listened to any of them in about a week, but I believe two of them are similar to things that were used already in one of the songs.

To sum up, I have nine songs in various stages of progress, and three to five little ideas that might become songs at some point down the line. The running time for the nine songs is currently 31:38 (according to my works in progress soundcloud playlist) and that means I have yet to hit either of the RPM Challenge goals (10 songs or 35 minutes). I haven’t given much thought to the FAWM.org (remember, .org. Never .com) goal of 14 songs, but I usually don’t really worry about that until I get closer to the end. My main focus is always on RPM.

My unstated personal goal for the year is to do what I almost did last year. That is to finish off two RPM albums. I ran out of time at 18 songs last year (although there was a leap day to work with, which helped me get that far) and I would like to have 20 finished songs and then pick the 10 best for my submission.

So that’s where we stand right now. What is the plan from here?

Well, we got a little snow this past Tuesday. Some ice on Wednesday. A ton of snow on Thursday. A little snow last night. It’s snowing right now. The forecast also calls for another decent storm tomorrow night into Monday. In other words, the weather sucks right now and I don’t want to leave the house. That means lots of time for music (theoretically at least). If the storm holds off tomorrow I will have band practice, and I probably have to go grocery shopping at some point. There’s also a truck load of laundry to do. Other than that? I want to get the ideas turned into songs and the six songs that are guitar free to have at least some rhythm guitar done. That’s my minimum goal for the weekend. I’d also like to kick off at least a couple more ideas and get them up to speed as well.

What are the chances of me completing all of this work by tomorrow night? I’d say… 3%. Maybe 2%.

Bring it. Let Us Rock (or something similar).