I need to fix what’s left of my band. I don’t know how. I think we need to come up with a plan. Something we can work through that will result in getting everything moving again.
We need a singer. I tried craigslist and got a surprising number of responses, but we weren’t organized enough to act on any of it. Here’s what I am going to suggest to the other two guys…
The three of us pick a handful of songs. Maybe 5-10. They will be our singer-audition songs.
The three of us start practicing again. Once a week. We rehearse the holy hell out of those 5-10 songs for a month or so, maybe a little longer. We get them to where we can play them in our sleep.
We put up another craigslist add. This one will have the responses forwarded to all three of us. If anyone answers the add we immediately schedule an audition. We give them the list of songs and give them a week, two weeks tops, to work on them and then we all get together.
Eventually we offer the job to one of two people and then we’re off and running.
I am going to send this list to Mike the Bass Player and Kevin the Drummer, probably tomorrow at some point. Hopefully they’ll be up for it and we can get things moving in the right direction again.
I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you.
Liam Neeson in the movie Taken
Skills that I have, or wish I had. That’s two questions in one right there. I’ll take a crack at both.
We are talking about super powers here, right? Well, I am at least. I don’t know what you kind folks are focusing on, but this i smy post so it is super powers. Spoiler alert.
In Star Trek: The Next Generation, everyone in the fandom (mostly) hated the character Wesley Crusher. He was in the original cast but after a few seasons he was gone. Then in the final season they brought him back for an episode to wrap up his story. In that final episode they gave him a sort of super power that I have always been very jealous of. It was kinda neat. Sure, things like invisibility and flying and super strength are cool, but Wesley Crusher could pull himself out of time. Essentially he could stop time’s forward progress for everyone around him but not for him. The universe would freeze in place but he could still move around and interact with everything. How cool is that? Imagine you’re about to get in a car accident. You hit pause on the universe, move out of the way, and then hit play. Accident avoided. Say you needed another few minutes to prepare for a meeting or something. Just hit pause, do what you need to do, hit play and give a killer performance. If I could have a super power, that might be what I would want. That’s a pretty cool skill.
What about a skill that I already have? Well, there is one thing. One super power-esque thing. Based on the name of this little blog site, you already know what it is. I have red hair. I was born that way and at 52 years old I am still a red head*. This gives me a hidden super power. No, really. It does. I have the power to affect the universe around me in positive ways. Most people don’t know this, but there is a type of positive energy called “red head vibes” that only people with red hair can control. My sister and I used to send out these magical red head vibes to people we knew who needed a little positivity boost. Anyone can send happy thoughts, or positivity, but only red heads can send the super powerful red head vibes.
I expect that the Illuminati’s council of red heads will be very upset with me for sharing this information with the universe, but call me a rebel because I am about to hit publish and let you all know what’s what.
*I am 52 years old and I still have red hair, but my days are very much numbered. I see more white in my hair every day. I’ve held on for a lot longer than most people manage to, much longer than my big sister did, but the end is in sight. I’ll enjoy it while it lasts though.
Remember the Jedi Knight I used to do? I had to go to a new AI image generator, but the Jedi’s are back… for today at least.
generate an image of a jedi knight with red hair using the force
That’s not a Jedi though, that’s a Sith. The red lightsaber is fitting though.
Okay, so how much music did I work on today? I already mentioned in a previous post that I put vocals onto three songs and bass guitar (MIDI) onto one. After posting that update, I added bass and drums (both MIDI) to one song and rhythm guitars to three.
That’s not even close to what I was hoping to get to today, but I’ll take it. The guitar tracks I recorded used my Fender Deluxe Reverb at a slightly, borderline absurd volume. It was louder than my usual gig volume… and it was awesome.
When I pick up where I left off I will have to go back to direct signal out of the amps into the USB interface. It’s still fun and it still sounds good, but it’s not as fun. It’s not as epic. It’s not as awesome.
Maybe more tomorrow? Maybe some car vocals? We’ll see.
I haven’t played guitar yet today but it’s still on the agenda. What I have done is sing… a lot. I have been working on The Great 2015 Re-Recording Project this morning.
Remember all of those posts over the last couple of weeks where I complained about having a really bad cold? I am more or less over it now but I learned that singing seems to amplify the symptoms.
Sing a line, cough like crazy, blow my nose, repeat ad nauseam. It’s crazy. I don’t feel sick at all but I can’t stop coughing and I can’t stop needing to blow my nose. It’s all singing’s fault. I have managed to put vocals on three songs this morning but I have to take a break. My throat is killing me. I put a bass part onto one song too but that didn’t cause me any physical pain. That’s good at least.
I am going to take a break for a bit and then go get my hair cut and get an oil change. Then I will come home, do one more vocal part and a couple more bass parts, then I will play some guitar, then I will do some more vocal tracks.
Crazy day, kids. Crazy, crazy day.
My wife, Jen, is at a conference today. I miss her a lot.
The title of this post says it all. There is only one answer to this question. All other answers are invalid.
Late Spring, early Summer. 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit. Clear, sunny sky. Low humidity. Warm enough to inspire us to want to jump into a swimming pool or a lake or the ocean or something, but not hot enough to be uncomfortable. Plants growing, everything around us alive and green. Yeah, that last one is more seasonal than actual weather but it helps paint the picture.
So basically the opposite of what Northeastern Massachusetts is seeing right now. It’s cold and snowing right now. Oh good. It’s probably more like a mix of snow and rain, and the forecast is calling for the snow to be replaced by down-pouring rain. Oh yippee.
So there you have it, the best type of weather is my favorite type of weather. Basically… beautiful. That’s the best. That’s the only acceptable answer*. You all agree, I am sure.
*In my humble opinion, right? It’s my blog though so from the blog’s point of view it’s the only opinion. Heh heh heh.
The folks over at the RPM Challenge website have been running a second challenge for a few years now. Record Every Month. Write, record, and submit one song each month, just to sort of keep things warmed up for the next February album in a month thing. I usually play along, but I sometimes miss a month here and there.
I’ve been planning on doing it this month but here we are on the 22nd and I had nothing to show for it. Until tonight that is. Last year I broadened the scope of the thing to record a single every month. Two songs. An A-side and a B-side. Tonight I worked out a song form with MIDI drums and bass for two songs. The ball is officially rolling, folks.
While I was working on these two stink burgers, this happened:
Oh man, are you feeling it today too? Has today been the longest day in ages or what?
It’s Friday but I swear the clock is running slow. I think it’s only actually moving forward in time when I am looking at it. When I am not looking at the clock it is stopping itself somehow. I think the universe knows that I am just a few hours away from the weekend, and that I have a sick day booked on Monday (for a doctors appointment) so it’s actually a three day weekend for me… so it (the universe) is dicking with me.
What a jerk, eh? Hopefully it’s only affecting me and not all of you, dear readers. Hopefully your clocks are progressing appropriately.
Good luck out there, folks. It’s a weird one for sure!
Inside the Red Head's Head 