Only in America

Via Kevin Drum of Washington Monthly, a 911 recording.

The emergency? Wrong hamburger.

FC

I was listening to Fairport Convention's first album, good stuff. Combined with my listening to the Mamas and Papas, I guess I'm on a '60s folk-rock kick, or something like that.

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Perpetual Twilight

I'd say in the area where I live, it's cloudy more often than not. As a child, I didn't like it, but now I actually think I do.

When I was in Europe, during December and January, it got dark around four o'clock, but it didn't seem to bother me. It was pretty cool, wandering around those old streets at night.

Letter to the Editor

Mark Perkel writes->

There are those who question if Congress and President Bush inserted themselves into the death of Terri Schiavo as a mere political stunt. This case, however, hits pretty close to home with a lot of members' personal lives when it comes to withholding food from the brain dead. That's an issue they relate to personally and something they worry about. If a judge can withhold food and water for Terri Schiavo because she's brain dead - a judge could close the cafeterias in the Congress and the Whitehouse as well for the same reason. Something to think about!

Michael Chabon

I'd say that he's my favorite contemporary author. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh is definitely one of my favorite novels.

I bought a cheap DVD of the movie Wonder Boys (based on Chabon's second novel), and remembered how much I liked it. I was surprised it didn't get more recognition, it's one of Michael Douglas' best performances in recent years.
Then I compared it to another movie which I've watched repeatedly, Lost in Translation, and realized that they have some similarities. Both are about 50-something men with past greatness, but who find themselves unsure of where to go or what to do next.
Also, the cities in which the two films are set (Tokyo for Lost, Pittsburgh for Wonder Boys) play an important role in each. I suppose I like Wonder Boys in part because I used to live in Pittsurgh, and I think the film captures the gloomy beauty and uniqueness of that place.
There's even a special feature on the DVD where Curtis Hanson describes the background of various places throughout the city where the scenes are set. Pittsburgh has more bridges than any other city in the U.S., and they serve as a metaphor.

I saw Lost in Translation last year when I was going through upheaval in my life, and it actually inspired a song--one of those kind that you write in less than 30 minutes.

Demo

Getting back to "work", almost finished with a demo tape. Crappy, but better than nothing at all. I've wasted so much time in my life, some of the tunes go back almost ten years now.

Anyway, after various distractions, some of my own making, I think I'll accomplish my mission this year. I'm trying to record something, anything, each day.

Don't know why, but I like the sound of my voice double tracked.

I watched a PBS special on the Mamas and Papas, and realized how good they were as a vocal group, and how they were one of the first to use multiple tracks of vocals to create an amazing new sound. When you think about how limited the technology was during their time, it's impressive.

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Driving Rain

I hate driving in the rain at night. But as long as I'm not driving, rainy nights are great.

Name

I named this site after a little instrumental thing I wrote, kind of a circular chord progression. Then I thought it would work as a title for the weblog, reflecting the cycles, ups and downs, that everyone goes through in life.

So profound.

Bob, Magnapop

Reading the weblog of one of my all-time favorites, Bob Mould, and I discovered that the group Magnapop is still recording and touring. Wow, I thought that they were over and done with years ago, one of those good alternative groups from the nineties that just "disappeared".

Although, checking out their website, it looks like there's a multi-year gap, so maybe it wasn't just me not paying attention. I have their cd Hot Boxing, which was produced by Bob(that potent guitar sound is certainly familiar). It came out back in 1994, while I was still in college, although I happened to be listening to it just recently. Funny coincidences.

Now I've got to go check and see if Velocity Girl is back together.

Zen Guitar

Something I've been reading is Zen Guitar by Philip Toshio Sudo, who sadly passed away a couple years ago, much too young.

The book is great, well written and easy to read, with useful pieces of wisdom on every page. I highly recommend it for anyone who plays guitar.

Visit the online dojo. I also added a link to the right.

"Mission Statement"

Okay, maybe not that definitive, but I'm thinking that I want this to be focused on music, along with some other arts and current events stuff, and especially on amateur and independent musicians and songwriters(such as myself, if you define those terms broadly). I'm especially interested in those who are trying alternatives to the dying corporate/major label framework.

Of course, there are many people who are already doing this--one such person in my area (Lancaster County Pennsylvania) is Jeff Coleman, the proprietor of Steam Powered Studios. His idea, which I think is great, is to ask for people to sponsor him--sort of like art patrons. Well, exactly like art patrons, I guess.

My goal is to record and post, for people to download free, an online "album", or something like that. Then maybe go the sponsorship route, or proceed to sell a real cd through an independent label. I learned about the Cafe Press service after an internet friend of mine, Julia Skye, issued her own album that way.

Anyhow, that's what I'm thinking of so far--I'll be adding links and fleshing this out as time goes on.

Huge

The La's, who released one great album in the early '90s and then broke up, are actually set to re-group.

If you listen, I'd say it's quite obvious that they influenced britpop groups like Oasis, among others.

I figured that the lead singer/songwriter was permanently off the deep end, a la Brian Wilson, so this is surprising to me.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

...or, as I call it, "Thursday".