Tag: Music

Another Screwy Day

Today is Thursday and much like yesterday and the day before it is turning out to be a screwy day. Fun.

I overslept this morning. I had a bunch of things I wanted to do before the work day started and then I overslept and screwed up all of my plans. I did get the big things in, my day’s worth of goofy exercise, breakfast, routine stuff like that, and I managed to sneak in a little bit of guitar playing. I put rhythm guitars onto one RPM Challenge song. Not much but better than nothing.

We got a little snow last night. Probably less than an inch. The snow turned into rain and now we have a driveway covered in a nightmare of slush. At some point later today the temperature is going to drop and that nightmare of slush is going to turn into a nightmare of ice and I don’t know if I am going to have time to clear any of it before it freezes. I am super happy about that. Really. There’s not an ounce of sarcasm here. I am thrilled to the teeth by this potential outcome*.

It’s not even noon yet and the work day has been just as crazy as yesterday. Not bad, but a weird combination of hectic and frustrating. It’s looking like tomorrow will be similar, but after that things should settle again. Here’s hoping at least.

In closing, here’s a few guitar pictures from this morning because I am insane.

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*Contrary to the above statement, I was in fact being sarcastic. Extremely sarcastic. My words were dripping with venomous sarcasm. Just call me a sarcasm machine.

RPM Challenge Day 12/28

Nothing. Again. Two days in a row with no progress at all.

Day 13 has already been a little better but I’ll spell that out another time. Am I running out of steam? Yes and no. I think my internal, gimmicky challenges (10 electric and 10 acoustic songs, and using two different guitars for the rhythm tracks) are probably about to be toast, but the project as a hole is still on, though getting to be massively behind schedule.

Genesis Birthdays

Today is Steve Hackett’s birthday. Tomorrow is Peter Gabriel’s birthday.

Let’s listen to some Genesis while wishing them both a happy birthday.

I’ve probably posted this video before. It’s actually pre-Peter Gabriel wearing costumes on stage. Not by much, but it is. Weird, huh?

RPM Challenge Day 10/28

Not a lot of progress on day 10 (yesterday) but a couple of noteworthy things.

First, I added song number 12. We’re hoping to hit 20 this year. Not sure if that’s in the cards or not, but every little bit helps.

More importantly, I added lyrics to one song. Just one. I am hoping to have 4-5 ready to go by Thursday morning so I can sneak in some singing in the car before work. Vocal tracking is always the sticking point for me on these projects so anything I can do to make that process a little easier is a big deal. One vocal part written, at least 11 but hopefully 19 to go. Yikes.

Muses

Throwing Muses stopped being a full time thing in… 1997? I think? Every few years they pop back up again with a new record and I go berserk for a while. For me there are two bands that I would take a bullet for. Rush is one, Throwing Muses is the other. It doesn’t make sense, it’s not rational. I don’t care. I’ve been obsessed for decades and there is nothing I can do about it.

There is a new album due to come out on March 14th. I am beside myself with anticipation. They’ve snuck out three of the songs already and I’m literally losing my mind over them. The last record they gave us came out in 2020 (Sun Racket) and it is fan-freakin-tastic. This new one… Moonlight Concessions… I cannot wait. I absolutely cannot wait.

The only question left is, are they going to tour. The answer is yes, but as of right now the only shows they’ve announced are in Europe in May. I don’t think I can get to Europe to see them so I am going to have to just sit (im)patiently and wait to see if they announce North American shows. I need to see them. I NEED to see them. The last time I saw them was August 11, 2006 and if I don’t see them again I am going to mentally fall apart forever. No exaggeration at all. I will lose my skull.

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But wait, there’s more! Possibly… I don’t know for sure.

Remember that sad time in 1992 or so when Throwing Muses split in two? It was sad at the time but the end result was two bands who were operating on very similar release/tour schedules. We had Muses proper, and we also had Belly. Remember Belly? Gold record, huge hit single, grammy nominations, round the clock MTV airplay. Yeah, you remember. It was almost (not quite, but almost) like having two versions of one of my favorite bands operating at the same time.

Well it turns out Belly is coming back again this year as well. It’s the 30th anniversary of their second record (which should have been a gigantic hit but wasn’t) and they have announced that there will be live shows. We don’t know when or where yet. I never saw Belly live. Even when they got together for short stretches a few years ago, I still haven’t seen them. I saw Tanya Donnelly on her own shortly after they broke up, but I never saw Belly.

This is the year. I don’t know where, when, or how but I NEED it to happen.

I haven’t seen any Muses related artists live since October 6, 2007 when Jen and I experienced the magic of Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donnelly on the same bill at the Brattle Theater and they did a set together and it was amazing. Remember that day?

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I need NEED both bands to announce Boston area shows and I need it to happen soon before I go insane and I also need them to be on consecutive days so that they both sit in with each other because that would be pretty much the only thing that could make me feel better as the United States descends into fascism.

Pretty please

RPM Challenge Day 9/28

I put rhythm guitars onto two songs. Still playing the Les Paul Custom in your left ear and Les Paul Standard in your right game. We’ll see how long that lasts. I also added two new songs. Both have complete MIDI Bass and Drums.

The two new song ideas are numbers 10 and 11. I have a new mini-challenge in mind and song 11 kicks it off. The first 10 songs will be electric guitar focused. Everything after that, hopefully the second batch of 10 songs, will be acoustic guitar focused. I’ll still have electric guitars on those songs, probably just the lead guitar parts, and I still want to play some sax on them, but the rhythm guitars will for the most part be acoustic. For now. Once I actually take my acoustic out of its case and remember how much of an absolute bitch it is to play, I will probably give up on this particular mini-challenge.

We’ll see how day 10 plays out. I don’t expect to have a lot of time for anything over the next three days, but I do have seven songs ready for lyrics so… maybe.

On the Hunt

The cats are hunting their little toy mice right now. Well, Robin is hunting. Lily is watching and clearly being very judgmental. Oh well. They played nicely together earlier. It was nice.

I had a musical idea tonight. What if I shoot for 20 songs this year (I always shoot for 20 songs during the February RPM Challenge) and have 10 of them be electric guitar focused, and 10 be acoustic guitar focused? I could try to do that. I’ll probably follow that plan for a few days and then just make it all electric anyway. That’s what usually happens when I try to get clever. Let’s see what happens.

Ouch

I’m too old for this shit.

Shoveling, I mean. I felt okay when I first came back inside after shoveling, but now that a few hours have passed… Ouch town, population me, bro. Every inch of me is sore, and despite having two of the best nights sleep I’ve had in ages over the last two nights, I am completely exhausted.

I don’t know if I have the energy to do anything other than sit on the couch for the rest of the night. I think we were already planning on ordering out for dinner tonight. Maybe I’ll be able to crawl to the door to bring the delivery in.* I mean, really… that’s asking a lot.

It is a good thing I managed to put rhythm guitar tracks onto two RPM Challenge songs this morning before I shoveled. I don’t know if I will be able to do any more than that tonight, though I really need to. We’ll see how the pain goes. For now though, it’s just couch time. Much needed couch time, believe me.

Here’s a few guitar pictures to hold us over until next time.

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*Obviously I exaggerate. I mean, it’s still laundry day after all.

RPM Challenge Day 8/28

Okay, figuring out what I did yesterday might take a second. I did a lot and I didn’t keep the best notes. Let’s see….

I put rhythm guitars onto five songs. That’s the big deal of the day. Lots of guitar playing after a long time with almost no playing means my finger tips hurt like hell, but it’s okay because progress is good. I also added song number nine complete with MIDI bass and drums. I redid a MIDI drum part on one of the songs that got guitars but I don’t remember which one. I also just realized I have another song that needs the drums redone but I haven’t gotten to it yet. I also worked out the song form, and the bass and drums for two additional songs. Those were numbers seven and eight, I think.

I’ve already recorded some more guitar tracks this morning, but you’ll have to wait until the day nine recap to hear about all of that ultra fascinating shit. My finger tips need a break though, so it’s time to go shovel. Wish me luck.