It was 6:30am. I was about to start my morning fake jog (yog) when I looked out the insanely dirty window and saw that the stormy looking sky through the trees looked super cool. In the four seconds it took to pick up my camera the cool sky went away and I was left with this awful picture through an unbelievably dirty window.
It was worth a shot, I guess.
So I had another migraine last night. I was trying to cook some spaghetti. I reached out to turn on the burner and realized I couldn’t see it. It wasn’t the center of my vision that was missing, it was the right side. Just gone. The headache hit me a few minutes later and it was pretty bad. I laid down a little after 6:00pm and didn’t get up again until about 9:30. My eyes were okay at that point but I still had a nasty headache. I went back to bed a short time later and didn’t wake up until almost 5:00am. There was still a mild headache but it seemed manageable. When I got up to exercise I took some Tylenol and now, an hour later, I am feeling okay.
That’s three migraines in two weeks. I’ll be calling my doctor on Monday. Enough is enough, folks. I’m pretty scared about all of this.
My stomach has been bothering me this morning, but I think it’s because it has been empty for a long time. I had breakfast very early. I had a snack at 11:15 and after a little while I felt better. That is so weird.
Anyway, here’s an unrelated picture. Photo a day photo #191/365.
I saw the cats sitting together on top of the cat tree so I grabbed the camera.
187/365
I took this with the mirrorless christmas camera, the Nikon Z5. I also took one with dad’s film camera. The two new cats have made their first appearance on film. Let me tell you, they almost jumped through the roof when the mechanical shutter clicked. What was that, kitties?
The RPM Challenge is over, but I still managed to play some guitar today. I’m up to three new song ideas. I was thinking of trying to do two songs per month for the rest of the year, but I just had to keep going today. I don’t think I am going to do 10 songs in March, but will I? Who knows. It’s just good to play.
I have spent a significant chunk of my day gagging and hacking and spitting up into the little trash barrel next to my desk. Too much information?
Okay, here’s my shitty and pointless photo a day picture for today. I haven’t taken a candle pic in a while. Maybe tomorrow we’ll do a time lapse video to celebrate?
I have finished all of the tracking for this year’s RPM Challenge. I added really crappy lead guitar parts to the last two songs and I am done with the recording. Finished, babie!
181/365. The focus point is on the pickup switch, I think.
The focus point is on Baby Yoda, babie!
The focus point is the word “Fender” on the amplifier.
The focus point is on the guitar, which I think was pretty obvious.
I told my beloved wife Jen that I was going to take a page out of the Brian Adams playbook today and play it ’till my fingers bled. I didn’t go quite that far, but I am in so much finger tip pain that I had to stop a little early. I put lead guitar parts onto five of the remaining seven songs. My playing on the fifth song was atrocious, not because I suck (though, naturally) but because my finger tips hurt so much I couldn’t make them do anything. Ouch town, population me.
I will finish the last two songs, but it won’t be for a while. I might try again after dinner. I might wait until tomorrow. I can’t say yet. What I do know is that I have finished tracking a total of 12 songs so I am at the point where I could stop, apart from mixing, and call this year a win. I am pleased.
As always, I went into this year’s RPM Challenge with a specific gear setup in mind. Pedal-wise I was going to use my Klon KTR to push my Keeley Super Phat Mod. I never got on with that Keeley pedal and I was going to force it this month. Then the Marshall Bluesbreaker hype hit. Marshall released a pedal called the Bluesbreaker, which was supposed to make your amp sound like the amp Clapton used on the Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton record from 1966 but doesn’t, in the early 90’s and discontinued it after a couple of years. Fast forward to the 21st century and John Mayer uses the pedal on one of his records and suddenly the used market prices are through the roof and every boutique pedal manufacturer on Earth is either making a direct copy of it, or cloning it and modding it. I own a direct copy.
There was a rumor a year ago that Marshall was going to reissue the pedal. That rumor appeared to come true last week though it wasn’t until a day or so ago that Marshall actually verified the rumor was true. All the talk made me want to use my copy. I put it on the board and used the shit out of it. Today I was using it like crazy. Sometimes with the Klon KTR pushing it and sometimes just by itself. It’s not the kind of sound I usually get up for, but I have been seriously digging it the last few days, and for some reason using it with the neck pickup on my Les Paul today was a little slice of bliss.
What does that mean? Nothing. I just thought I’d share, that’s all.
I used my Les Paul on four of today’s five songs, and my SG on one. I was planning on using the SG for the two I didn’t get to as well, but now that I need some time to heal I have no idea what I’ll actually use on the last two. Probably the Les Paul. Either way, I took some obligatory pics.
Also… selfies… because I suck at being cool.
Also, I am rearranging how I keep my work and personal laptops on my desk. My desk suddenly feels very small.
Okay, now I can break for lunch. Maybe watch a TV show for 45 minutes or so and then start mixing again.
Progress, babie. Progress.
Oh yeah, here’s a video on the Marshall pedal. Just so you know what I am talking about.
I’ve already mentioned putting vocals on four songs this morning, and I’ve already posted two songs that I mixed today, but now I am posting about putting lead guitar parts onto four songs. My fingers are killing me. I still don’t have calluses on my left hand and good heavens am I feeling the repercussions of that right now. I still have four more songs that are ready for leads but I have to take a break for a while. Maybe for the rest of the day. Jen and I might be going down to Cambridge for some tech gear after dinner tonight, so this might be it for guitar on this fine Saturday. I still have to write melodies and lyrics for the last four songs as well.
Inside the Red Head's Head 