sorry folks, i just really have been short on words lately.
however, today is a very beautiful day and i'm chillin' with stevie ray. stevie is always an inspiration. now i have my issues with double trouble, i really am not sold on the ability of the rhythm section but they're not bad... and they stay out of stevie's way. also, no matter who is in stevie's rhythm section its like da vinci collaborating with another professional painter on a work...
so here's the deal with stevie, as i see him. he's convincing. i don't listen to him run across a dozen notes in a split second and think its amazing for the same reason i do when nuno bettencourt does the same, when nuno does it it sounds great but it kind of stops there, when stevie does it he communicates whatever he's feeling. somehow every note matters... it matters when he plays fast, it matters when he plays slow. almost with no regard to how fast or slow he's actually playing. because every note matters.
my extraordinarily talented hero of the jazz world, dan mccarthy, once took me into a club in williamsburg to listen to a jazz band. it sounded to me like a scored classical piece by modern artist trying to communicate rectangles through circles, so perfectly jazz but so tragically not musical that the forefathers of jazz would be utterly repulsed by the pretension and pointlessness of the exploration. dan turned to me and said, 'this is horrible'. i told him i agreed but asked him, as he is the music sage, why he had thought so. he responded, 'i know everything they are doing, i hear the whole thing before they drop it, its fake, its phony, its what some people perceive as jazz, but its not music'.
i think its interesting what people appropriate as music and good music. its about pushing boundaries (ie radiohead) its about moving forward and developing, but the heartbreaking reality is that too often people lose the importance of how much a note is worth, and how carefully they should be spent. i love stevie ray because he spent a lot of notes, but he spent them well. about as perfectly as the count of monte cristo spent his fortune on the destruction of the count de morcerf.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
about last night...
ok, so first of all i'd like to say something about this morning. i listened to two songs... ring them bells and most of the time of the Oh Mercy album by dylan.
good music raises questions... his raises plenty in the writing. like... i know he rhymes for rhyming sake, but how does he get away with so many throw away lines? wait, was that a throw away line? its like it all builds to one crucial line... and so are the throw away lines just rhyming for rhyming sake or building blocks that no one else gets away with? he paints with his lyrics, better than anyone else.
but back to last night.
my good friend JTR called me last night asking me to do a recording project for him at about 8:30 last night. he lives way out in green point and was asking if he could send me tracks to lay a few guitar lines on. i love this sort of thing. in the studio i've always operated better under time constraints and am a firm believer that the fewer takes the better.
so he sends me the track and i set up my sound recorder that i shorted out when doing the demos for the record i cut in rochester and, logically, it still doesn't show any signs of life except a gentle flashing of the display screen which tells me to give up hope.
so anyways, i end up using some freeware and reversing some cables, running to the club to grab a mic, warming up the trace (my little, but monstrous amp), tuning up the les paul and an hour later finally getting to the job at hand. one pass to get the sounds, one pass to track. then an hour to go back and forth with JTR to try and get it sitting just right because of an inexplicable delay that occurred in the recording process so the phrasing was off by a split second... and that was annoying... so then JTR writes me back and asks me to throw down another lead line in just to fill out a few bits... so i crank it up, get that really dirty les paul grind and another quick pass... and again with the delay! so i sent it over and told him to figure it out because now it was about 11pm and i really would like to keep from getting noise complaints if at all possible.
the weirdest thing in the whole thing was that from the moment JTR called i had the song "love is only a feeling" by the darkness running through my head... and the song he sent me really sounds nothing like that... or anything by the darkness for that matter... but it led to some obscure phrasing, so i guess i'll take the inspiration from wherever it comes.
despite the 2.5 hours for the project, i was only tracking for about 10 minutes, but for all the critics out there, i can assure you that these were not throw away lines.
good music raises questions... his raises plenty in the writing. like... i know he rhymes for rhyming sake, but how does he get away with so many throw away lines? wait, was that a throw away line? its like it all builds to one crucial line... and so are the throw away lines just rhyming for rhyming sake or building blocks that no one else gets away with? he paints with his lyrics, better than anyone else.
but back to last night.
my good friend JTR called me last night asking me to do a recording project for him at about 8:30 last night. he lives way out in green point and was asking if he could send me tracks to lay a few guitar lines on. i love this sort of thing. in the studio i've always operated better under time constraints and am a firm believer that the fewer takes the better.
so he sends me the track and i set up my sound recorder that i shorted out when doing the demos for the record i cut in rochester and, logically, it still doesn't show any signs of life except a gentle flashing of the display screen which tells me to give up hope.
so anyways, i end up using some freeware and reversing some cables, running to the club to grab a mic, warming up the trace (my little, but monstrous amp), tuning up the les paul and an hour later finally getting to the job at hand. one pass to get the sounds, one pass to track. then an hour to go back and forth with JTR to try and get it sitting just right because of an inexplicable delay that occurred in the recording process so the phrasing was off by a split second... and that was annoying... so then JTR writes me back and asks me to throw down another lead line in just to fill out a few bits... so i crank it up, get that really dirty les paul grind and another quick pass... and again with the delay! so i sent it over and told him to figure it out because now it was about 11pm and i really would like to keep from getting noise complaints if at all possible.
the weirdest thing in the whole thing was that from the moment JTR called i had the song "love is only a feeling" by the darkness running through my head... and the song he sent me really sounds nothing like that... or anything by the darkness for that matter... but it led to some obscure phrasing, so i guess i'll take the inspiration from wherever it comes.
despite the 2.5 hours for the project, i was only tracking for about 10 minutes, but for all the critics out there, i can assure you that these were not throw away lines.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
discipliine... and how my day used to look
i remember after i started playing guitar seriously at age 14 that my dad said to me, 'some say that eric clapton locked himself in an apartment for a year to learn how to play guitar'... i have no idea if this is true, but father has never been one to mislead me. and regardless of whether this is what happened or not it had a very strong impact on me when i moved to rochester, ny in august of 2006.
i lived with my best friend and he had a normal job where he had to get up very early in the morning where i, on the other hand, had to work all of about 3 hours a day for about 10$/hr and then would gig in the evenings to try and make ends meet. the term 'scraping by' was an inaccurate description that alluded to more luxury than i actually had. but regardless, every morning he'd get out of the shower at about 6:30 and wake me up by playing any number of our 'greatest records of all time' collections and we'd sit around and drink coffee and discuss the inner workings of the bends, achtung baby, mary star of the sea, dark side of the moon, abbey road, etc. usually he had to go before the last few songs to make it to work on time and i'd finish up the record.
about 2 weeks into my life in rochester i met a guitar player named brenden giusti who had played with tower of power and randy travis as a touring guitarist, and then an infinite number of musicians in the chicago jazz scene before he moved back to rochester. he liked me because i had a good feel, i liked him because he was an absolute monster... reading, ear play, groove and 13 gauge strings. while on a gig together we were just jamming while the other musicians took a break and i, in all my shame, got lost in a twelve bar blues while simply comping chords. brendan laughed at me and to this day has never allowed me to live it down.
usually after the record was finished i'd boil up some oatmeal and sit and read. primarily the bible but also history, theology and philosophy books from about 8am until 11am. at eleven i'd bust out the pen and paper and start writing for an hour and then at noon, once our other roommate, keeshon, would arrive to the living room i'd run to my job and work my three hours. upon returning i'd head straight up to a studio we had in the attic of the apartment and at 3:15 begin what was seldom less than 4 hours of practicing.
brad would never arrive home until 7:30 and often times it was after nine that he'd return, and in that window i would work without stopping... generally playing twelve bar blues the entire time. about once a week i'd write and record a song, but after being brutally embarrassed on a gig, i vowed to never get lost in a twelve bar again. to my mother's discontent and frustration i would not eat until brad got home and he almost forcibly had drag me to the kitchen to eat something.
this went on from september until may, every single day. my chops got good. my discipline was in tact and it was really a full time job for me to learn how to be a better musician. about 2 or 3 times a week i'd head out around 9:30 to play a gig with any of the acclaimed muscians in the rochester circuit: kalu james, dan (welch) ryan, teagan ward, nate cronk, brendan, brad or whoever else happened to be playing somewhere in the city. but the important thing was the discipline.
now that i live in new york i work tirelessly to keep my head above water financially and my disciplines have taken a back seat. with the cushion of almost a year with such intense practice and an intense 5 month tour in 2008, my fingers still do what i tell them to on que, i've lost some of my skill but not enough for most people, other than brendan, to notice. but i haven't moved forward and i haven't been getting better.
my writing and my voice have improved, but my chops and my peace of mind have suffered from the lack of this intense structure. unless i do very well with this first album of mine i can't imagine any time soon that i'll be able to block out four hours of rehearsal time and 3 hours of reading time in any given day, but that does not mean that the disciplines should be abandoned... and they have been.
today i have decided to take these back. dollars pay the immediate bills, but the immortal toll of a life freed of discipline has for more lasting consequences. i'm going after it again. the road, the gigs, the networking, the reading, the playing. i'm going after it again. and to embark on this it is not dollars that are most valuable, rather, the discipline.
i lived with my best friend and he had a normal job where he had to get up very early in the morning where i, on the other hand, had to work all of about 3 hours a day for about 10$/hr and then would gig in the evenings to try and make ends meet. the term 'scraping by' was an inaccurate description that alluded to more luxury than i actually had. but regardless, every morning he'd get out of the shower at about 6:30 and wake me up by playing any number of our 'greatest records of all time' collections and we'd sit around and drink coffee and discuss the inner workings of the bends, achtung baby, mary star of the sea, dark side of the moon, abbey road, etc. usually he had to go before the last few songs to make it to work on time and i'd finish up the record.
about 2 weeks into my life in rochester i met a guitar player named brenden giusti who had played with tower of power and randy travis as a touring guitarist, and then an infinite number of musicians in the chicago jazz scene before he moved back to rochester. he liked me because i had a good feel, i liked him because he was an absolute monster... reading, ear play, groove and 13 gauge strings. while on a gig together we were just jamming while the other musicians took a break and i, in all my shame, got lost in a twelve bar blues while simply comping chords. brendan laughed at me and to this day has never allowed me to live it down.
usually after the record was finished i'd boil up some oatmeal and sit and read. primarily the bible but also history, theology and philosophy books from about 8am until 11am. at eleven i'd bust out the pen and paper and start writing for an hour and then at noon, once our other roommate, keeshon, would arrive to the living room i'd run to my job and work my three hours. upon returning i'd head straight up to a studio we had in the attic of the apartment and at 3:15 begin what was seldom less than 4 hours of practicing.
brad would never arrive home until 7:30 and often times it was after nine that he'd return, and in that window i would work without stopping... generally playing twelve bar blues the entire time. about once a week i'd write and record a song, but after being brutally embarrassed on a gig, i vowed to never get lost in a twelve bar again. to my mother's discontent and frustration i would not eat until brad got home and he almost forcibly had drag me to the kitchen to eat something.
this went on from september until may, every single day. my chops got good. my discipline was in tact and it was really a full time job for me to learn how to be a better musician. about 2 or 3 times a week i'd head out around 9:30 to play a gig with any of the acclaimed muscians in the rochester circuit: kalu james, dan (welch) ryan, teagan ward, nate cronk, brendan, brad or whoever else happened to be playing somewhere in the city. but the important thing was the discipline.
now that i live in new york i work tirelessly to keep my head above water financially and my disciplines have taken a back seat. with the cushion of almost a year with such intense practice and an intense 5 month tour in 2008, my fingers still do what i tell them to on que, i've lost some of my skill but not enough for most people, other than brendan, to notice. but i haven't moved forward and i haven't been getting better.
my writing and my voice have improved, but my chops and my peace of mind have suffered from the lack of this intense structure. unless i do very well with this first album of mine i can't imagine any time soon that i'll be able to block out four hours of rehearsal time and 3 hours of reading time in any given day, but that does not mean that the disciplines should be abandoned... and they have been.
today i have decided to take these back. dollars pay the immediate bills, but the immortal toll of a life freed of discipline has for more lasting consequences. i'm going after it again. the road, the gigs, the networking, the reading, the playing. i'm going after it again. and to embark on this it is not dollars that are most valuable, rather, the discipline.
jes' call me moses
south by south-west is a festival that that keeps herself from me year after year and further austin is a destination i've tried to get to since 2007 and her border control constantly keeps me from entering.
i guess i don't really know what goes on there and that intrigues me. i hear the tales of rows and rows of bars and music venues that leave me in a fascinated obscurity for not having dawned said streets this far into a pursuit of something to which austin is so dear and is so dear to austin.
i don't know how long it will be that i'm kept from this promised land of sorts but with so many dear friends and exceptional musicians, whom i know personally, there i do say this with the utmost sincerity and encouragement, i wish i was there.
if you're not familiar with pico vs. island trees, kalu james, dj halo and many others, and you have the privilege of being in my jerusalem while i'm puttering about in the desert, make sure that you catch them and tell them that tommy sent you. if you're still walking about the outskirts of the city waiting for the trumpets to blow, take a moment and google these exceptional artists. i'll get there one day, even if only to the city limits... ;)
i guess i don't really know what goes on there and that intrigues me. i hear the tales of rows and rows of bars and music venues that leave me in a fascinated obscurity for not having dawned said streets this far into a pursuit of something to which austin is so dear and is so dear to austin.
i don't know how long it will be that i'm kept from this promised land of sorts but with so many dear friends and exceptional musicians, whom i know personally, there i do say this with the utmost sincerity and encouragement, i wish i was there.
if you're not familiar with pico vs. island trees, kalu james, dj halo and many others, and you have the privilege of being in my jerusalem while i'm puttering about in the desert, make sure that you catch them and tell them that tommy sent you. if you're still walking about the outskirts of the city waiting for the trumpets to blow, take a moment and google these exceptional artists. i'll get there one day, even if only to the city limits... ;)
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
pop songs
i remember my friend jenn telling me how much she liked the pink song, please don't leave me. and i took a listen, and for once we agreed on music. its a great pop song. now jenn and i don't agree on much when it comes to music. i love dylan, cohen & cave... and she doesn't... and she likes heavy, over produced rock music that makes me giggle... not in a good way.
but from time to time we connect. and its always a joy, and its always over pop songs. but the pop song that has me impressed this time is one i don't think she'll be on board with... i also don't think many people will be on board with me. but i've always enjoyed being daring.
love story by taylor swift.
yep, i said it.
its a song, its a story and a great story at that. its obviously fantasy, but its not a bad fantasy. and with all these teenage girls bouncing about singing songs to try and mia lewis all the hank moody's* out there, this is certainly a breath of fresh air. its a return to innocence. and i like that.
further, she wrote it. further, dianne warren didn't co-write it. further, she uses dense lyrics to communicate a large amount of content. i'm thoroughly impressed.
perhaps my favorite thing about this song, which follows the romeo and juliet story by name until she M. Night Shyamalan's it at the end, is in a comment i read on the wikipedia page:
"However, the story of Romeo and Juliet is intended to be considered a tragedy as opposed to a love story. There are some who feel the song misrepresents the original ideals of the story and creates a widespread miseducation of classic literature."
... because this comment left me speechless.
*californication
but from time to time we connect. and its always a joy, and its always over pop songs. but the pop song that has me impressed this time is one i don't think she'll be on board with... i also don't think many people will be on board with me. but i've always enjoyed being daring.
love story by taylor swift.
yep, i said it.
its a song, its a story and a great story at that. its obviously fantasy, but its not a bad fantasy. and with all these teenage girls bouncing about singing songs to try and mia lewis all the hank moody's* out there, this is certainly a breath of fresh air. its a return to innocence. and i like that.
further, she wrote it. further, dianne warren didn't co-write it. further, she uses dense lyrics to communicate a large amount of content. i'm thoroughly impressed.
perhaps my favorite thing about this song, which follows the romeo and juliet story by name until she M. Night Shyamalan's it at the end, is in a comment i read on the wikipedia page:
"However, the story of Romeo and Juliet is intended to be considered a tragedy as opposed to a love story. There are some who feel the song misrepresents the original ideals of the story and creates a widespread miseducation of classic literature."
... because this comment left me speechless.
*californication
Monday, March 8, 2010
never stop looking
its a funny place i'm in. the transition, the impatience, the foresight. i have spent a lot of my life jumping... not with any sort of calculation, rather, just a quick jump here and there to the next destination. not that i've failed to think through how things should come to pass, but i have jumped with such an urgency that i have failed to see all of the possible out comes and further not focused on multiple sight lines.
i have not wound up face down too often. i've not missed my mark too many times, but oh mercy, it is getting exhausting. i tried to take virtues in stride by holding onto the ones i thought necessary and relevant and leaving the others to the side. i have not shackled myself with regrets, i have not looked back in longing for the chance to make different choices, but i've looked back enough to know how i'd respond to certain questions if asked of me again.
i have saddled up beside patience. i have begun waiting for good things, not forcing them. and now, for the first time in my life, i'm wondering what to do in the day to day. the disciplines are good to me, but the days have a habit of slipping from me. i'm half way through a record and half way through writing the next. there has got to be a way to seize the day and see the days ahead.
right now i'm listening to josh ritter. Girl in the war is a great tune, but only really comes alive on In The Dark - Live @ Vicar Street ... i've listened to 40 versions of the song trying to find one as good as that one.
i have not wound up face down too often. i've not missed my mark too many times, but oh mercy, it is getting exhausting. i tried to take virtues in stride by holding onto the ones i thought necessary and relevant and leaving the others to the side. i have not shackled myself with regrets, i have not looked back in longing for the chance to make different choices, but i've looked back enough to know how i'd respond to certain questions if asked of me again.
i have saddled up beside patience. i have begun waiting for good things, not forcing them. and now, for the first time in my life, i'm wondering what to do in the day to day. the disciplines are good to me, but the days have a habit of slipping from me. i'm half way through a record and half way through writing the next. there has got to be a way to seize the day and see the days ahead.
right now i'm listening to josh ritter. Girl in the war is a great tune, but only really comes alive on In The Dark - Live @ Vicar Street ... i've listened to 40 versions of the song trying to find one as good as that one.
Friday, February 19, 2010
back in new york... and i'm gettin' anxious!
so here i am outside of the record by about 2 weeks. its been a bit of a process getting the whole thing together but i have been learning that patience IS a virtue. i used to mark it up to something less than courageous, but i've been coming around to more sane way of thinking.
so here's whats going on. i've been in steady contact with mike at belly of the whale, he's been keeping himself busy working on some guitar lines that will serve to offer the ever so necessary icing. some times they are simple melody lines, sometimes they are WHO sized chords (not the grinch's minions) and i'm teeming with excitement to hear what the final takes sound like.
i am going to have to go up to finish the record, this is true, but its only half the songs that need finishing, so be certain, before you know it you'll be able to listen to the first few cuts on the record, download them, email them to friends, and get me in to the awards shows for next year... from there i'm sure i'll be able to kanye west my way onto the stage in the most inappropriate methods imaginable.
so here's whats going on. i've been in steady contact with mike at belly of the whale, he's been keeping himself busy working on some guitar lines that will serve to offer the ever so necessary icing. some times they are simple melody lines, sometimes they are WHO sized chords (not the grinch's minions) and i'm teeming with excitement to hear what the final takes sound like.
i am going to have to go up to finish the record, this is true, but its only half the songs that need finishing, so be certain, before you know it you'll be able to listen to the first few cuts on the record, download them, email them to friends, and get me in to the awards shows for next year... from there i'm sure i'll be able to kanye west my way onto the stage in the most inappropriate methods imaginable.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
days 2 & 3
Well its certainly been intense.
I am having trouble grasping it all. Basically I walked into the studio with four other guys that I trust with an unhealthy amount of courage… and my faith in them has proved itself worthy.
These men took one song at a time over 23 hours and now stand on the other side of a record with 12 songs in the bag for all of the instruments other than 3 or 4 acoustic guitar tracks and 6 vocal tracks. It is me that is responsible for the rest of these parts… so they have been released.
I don’t think we made an album in the way that most would consider ‘the best’ way… but we jammed… and it was a little bit magical. This is a fresh album. A series of songs that tell a story and further a band that offers plenty of sub-plots.
We were also graced with the dear Christina Roushey for some background vocals. She was the 5th person involved that was entrusted with this absolute trust that I had applied to the other four.
This was a session where I hit play and joel and joel would do their bits and phil would re-invent rhythm as we know it. Mike would hit record and throw down some gorgeous guitar phrasing at the same time. Christy could 1 or 2 take anything we threw at her and in sum everybody had ideas and they fleshed them out very well.
I miss fresh records and that may be the reason I’m making one… but without my friends it would have been a drum machine and a synth… and that is way too 2005… but the music is good and the grammy committee are into it.
I am blessed to have worked with such incredible players, and while I was the common thread for all of these characters the sense of community and team work was phenomenal. There was not a single argument, it was all about the music being first… and as I was the one who wrote the songs it was one of the most humbling experiences of my life.
I must also mention a very special thank you to scott austin for letting me steal all of his equipment and also the tone he has been working on for the last 2 years and finally perfected. Also Eli Vasquez who has built the most beautiful sounding guitar I’ve ever heard and let me play it. Dorman’s honesty, Josh’s house and Nate for housing the canadians. Couldn’t have done it without any of you.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
day 1...
so today was a good day.
we got out to belly of the whale and mike told us that the only people the studio was open to was friends and it was compliment of sorts... but here is the breakdown.
i've been waiting for years to make an album with joel morehouse. he makes music seem easier than finding a great sandwich in wegmans or a new york city deli. its like it falls out of him. phil johnston is not far behind, if any behind, and joel dawson is to the bass what pino is to the bass.
we started today with drum sounds and mike at the helm made it as easy as any studio pro to get an amazing sound out of the kit in under 20 minutes. keys joel (morehouse) was understandably late because of a rehearsal and bass joel (dawson) and i told jokes in the mean time. we cut a few tracks very loosely and got a good feel for the vibe of the studio.
today was a day to flush out errors and there were none... so we kept cutting. i guess my time of obsessing over notes is, at least temporarily, beneath me and so we focused on the more important elements of a good groove.
with a pocket the size of jokerman we did a gentle acoustic number and mike with us in the spirit of the electric guitar. truth be told, i thought this was a time for me to shine, but i'm enjoying the songs coming to life so much that i don't care much for my own guitar work... rather... in the spirit of keys joel... its the capturing of an essence. good music knows no bounds and i'd rather catch the energy off the floor than trying to craft the perfect lead.
time is of the essence and tomorrow is the real teller, but as of tonight the music is very much alive. i'm excited to see what tomorrow brings. my goal is very high and mike's is much lower, together i'm hoping we find ourselves in the middle of a brilliant record.
i've waited a long time for musicians like these and i'm understandably excited. tommy hawkins music is alive, but it has little to do with him... just a few chords, a lot of editing in the writing process and very very good friends. there is an aura, and that is what i am more concerned with than the perfections. no click... no scores... just simple charts and whole lot of heart.
your ears are in for a real treat.
we got out to belly of the whale and mike told us that the only people the studio was open to was friends and it was compliment of sorts... but here is the breakdown.
i've been waiting for years to make an album with joel morehouse. he makes music seem easier than finding a great sandwich in wegmans or a new york city deli. its like it falls out of him. phil johnston is not far behind, if any behind, and joel dawson is to the bass what pino is to the bass.
we started today with drum sounds and mike at the helm made it as easy as any studio pro to get an amazing sound out of the kit in under 20 minutes. keys joel (morehouse) was understandably late because of a rehearsal and bass joel (dawson) and i told jokes in the mean time. we cut a few tracks very loosely and got a good feel for the vibe of the studio.
today was a day to flush out errors and there were none... so we kept cutting. i guess my time of obsessing over notes is, at least temporarily, beneath me and so we focused on the more important elements of a good groove.
with a pocket the size of jokerman we did a gentle acoustic number and mike with us in the spirit of the electric guitar. truth be told, i thought this was a time for me to shine, but i'm enjoying the songs coming to life so much that i don't care much for my own guitar work... rather... in the spirit of keys joel... its the capturing of an essence. good music knows no bounds and i'd rather catch the energy off the floor than trying to craft the perfect lead.
time is of the essence and tomorrow is the real teller, but as of tonight the music is very much alive. i'm excited to see what tomorrow brings. my goal is very high and mike's is much lower, together i'm hoping we find ourselves in the middle of a brilliant record.
i've waited a long time for musicians like these and i'm understandably excited. tommy hawkins music is alive, but it has little to do with him... just a few chords, a lot of editing in the writing process and very very good friends. there is an aura, and that is what i am more concerned with than the perfections. no click... no scores... just simple charts and whole lot of heart.
your ears are in for a real treat.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
oh how things have changed...
i don't know where it was, i'd like to believe its some college town in georgia but it was the fall of 2008 and we were on tour and it was gameday. we'd lined up a gig and were bound to play to a packed house for four hours and change and i had some songs to learn. so i tucked myself into the back room of the bus and learned a handful of songs and then emerged completely drenched in sweat. it was probably 98 degrees inside that bus.
as the game was winding down we headed to the venue and unpacked the bus. 13 guitars, an army of effects pedals, more amps than musicians and an orange drumset with the band logo on the front. we were fact & fiction, and we were about to have our way with the ears of a few hundred people. and so we did.
but here i am now, i live in new york city and have been working on the writing of this record for over a year. i'd originally planned to cut it in the hamptons last spring, but it wasn't ready. but almost a full year after the originally planned session here i am about to mount a different form of tour bus.
yes folks, i'm about to join the megabus generation. the main differences are as follows:
1. no guitars. no amps. and only a handful of pedals.
2. no 42 inch flat screen or incredibly loud home stereo system.
3. no shower.
4. not two lounges, not even one lounge!
5. its probably going to be air conditioned.
6. i'm told it has wifi
7. i don't have to sleep on it.
8. if we run out of fuel on the freeway i won't have to be the one to get out and prime the engine in the dark.
i'm not sure what to make of the experience, but i'm honestly pretty excited. i'll have details and photos for the session as we go but its going to be 3 days of live off the floor tracking trying to catch the magic that made time out of mind better than any of the rest of the author's work.
with a guitar i haven't touched in a year being shipped down to the studio and a handful of other ones i've never played and further with a couple of amps i've never played and lastly any number of guitar effects i've never tweaked... the impression i'm getting from all this is 'fresh'... but i like fresh.
as the game was winding down we headed to the venue and unpacked the bus. 13 guitars, an army of effects pedals, more amps than musicians and an orange drumset with the band logo on the front. we were fact & fiction, and we were about to have our way with the ears of a few hundred people. and so we did.
but here i am now, i live in new york city and have been working on the writing of this record for over a year. i'd originally planned to cut it in the hamptons last spring, but it wasn't ready. but almost a full year after the originally planned session here i am about to mount a different form of tour bus.
yes folks, i'm about to join the megabus generation. the main differences are as follows:
1. no guitars. no amps. and only a handful of pedals.
2. no 42 inch flat screen or incredibly loud home stereo system.
3. no shower.
4. not two lounges, not even one lounge!
5. its probably going to be air conditioned.
6. i'm told it has wifi
7. i don't have to sleep on it.
8. if we run out of fuel on the freeway i won't have to be the one to get out and prime the engine in the dark.
i'm not sure what to make of the experience, but i'm honestly pretty excited. i'll have details and photos for the session as we go but its going to be 3 days of live off the floor tracking trying to catch the magic that made time out of mind better than any of the rest of the author's work.
with a guitar i haven't touched in a year being shipped down to the studio and a handful of other ones i've never played and further with a couple of amps i've never played and lastly any number of guitar effects i've never tweaked... the impression i'm getting from all this is 'fresh'... but i like fresh.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
tangled up in blue
about a year ago my dear sister came into the city to spend a few days with me. denise and i can sit for hours and do nothing other than listen to music and talk about unimportant stuff for hours... this was pretty much the entire weekend.
anyways, at one point during the weekend i played mississippi by bob dylan. When the song was finished she simply asked, "do you think he even has to try anymore"? i thought about this for awhile and turned it over and over again in my mind over the last year. but then today i was walking down the block listening to tangled up in blue... when i couldn't help but ask the even more important question, "do you think he ever had to try"?
a friend of mine said to me a few weeks back, and i agreed with him at the time, that no matter how hard i try. no matter how good i am. no matter who i co-write with. i will never write a song as good as tangled up in blue. today i celebrated this. if we can reach the ceiling, we stop growing.
And every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burning coal
Pouring off of every page
Like it was written in my soul from me to you
Tangled up in blue
anyways, at one point during the weekend i played mississippi by bob dylan. When the song was finished she simply asked, "do you think he even has to try anymore"? i thought about this for awhile and turned it over and over again in my mind over the last year. but then today i was walking down the block listening to tangled up in blue... when i couldn't help but ask the even more important question, "do you think he ever had to try"?
a friend of mine said to me a few weeks back, and i agreed with him at the time, that no matter how hard i try. no matter how good i am. no matter who i co-write with. i will never write a song as good as tangled up in blue. today i celebrated this. if we can reach the ceiling, we stop growing.
And every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burning coal
Pouring off of every page
Like it was written in my soul from me to you
Tangled up in blue
Thursday, January 21, 2010
my uncle and his cursed house
my uncle seemed to have absorbed all the handyman skills ever to be bestowed to the family hawkins. my father and i, despite our best efforts, have never been capable of taking four evenly cut pieces of wood and putting them together and having a square emerge. at best, it turns inexplicably into a rectangle... or worse... an oddly shaped piece of modern art that is as destructible as a swan made of origami in a face off with a steamroller.
my uncle, however, could take the origami, the steam roller, and turn it into a remote control airplane that actually flies and is powered by wind.
no matter, his house was cursed. for nearly the entirety of my memories of my uncle he lived in the same house made of all wood and on a stunning lot outside of both orangeville and shelburn in ontario, canada. in that time it got hit by a few tornadoes. the advantage to him having all the handyman skills is that while this was a hassle to have his house torn apart, he was given a blank canvas to make improvements he'd likely sat awake at night thinking about long before the tornadoes would roll through.
anyways, last year he sold his cursed house and moved up closer to my folks just out side of flesherton*, ontario. i had more than expected another tornado to tear through and have its last affair with the old manor, however, i was more than surprised to see it succumb to fire. perhaps the new owners have the savvy to recreate this lovely abode, but my suspicions lead me to beleive it may have stood its last stand against nature. as the earth seemed determined to have her final victory over the structure just a few weeks ago. i hope the new owners are able to find a way to carry on living on this property as it seemed that only the house was cursed, not the property itself... and further that it was something of a wonderland when we would visit and play hockey on the pond and go for miles on snowmobiles**...
anyways, i'm rambling. check out the story here
*according to my sister, this is the town where no one flushes their toilet.
** as a child i thought cousin kris was surely to kill me time after time after time, but he proved rather skilled at operating these machines at racecar speeds.
my uncle, however, could take the origami, the steam roller, and turn it into a remote control airplane that actually flies and is powered by wind.
no matter, his house was cursed. for nearly the entirety of my memories of my uncle he lived in the same house made of all wood and on a stunning lot outside of both orangeville and shelburn in ontario, canada. in that time it got hit by a few tornadoes. the advantage to him having all the handyman skills is that while this was a hassle to have his house torn apart, he was given a blank canvas to make improvements he'd likely sat awake at night thinking about long before the tornadoes would roll through.
anyways, last year he sold his cursed house and moved up closer to my folks just out side of flesherton*, ontario. i had more than expected another tornado to tear through and have its last affair with the old manor, however, i was more than surprised to see it succumb to fire. perhaps the new owners have the savvy to recreate this lovely abode, but my suspicions lead me to beleive it may have stood its last stand against nature. as the earth seemed determined to have her final victory over the structure just a few weeks ago. i hope the new owners are able to find a way to carry on living on this property as it seemed that only the house was cursed, not the property itself... and further that it was something of a wonderland when we would visit and play hockey on the pond and go for miles on snowmobiles**...
anyways, i'm rambling. check out the story here
*according to my sister, this is the town where no one flushes their toilet.
** as a child i thought cousin kris was surely to kill me time after time after time, but he proved rather skilled at operating these machines at racecar speeds.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
A time for reviews
John Mayer impressed me!
the first track on his new record, battle studies, basically knocks it out of the park. The song is called heartbreak warfare and is a very forceful step into the direction mr. mayer seems to be going. He starts out at a distance where he's protecting himself with a reserved voice and stays hidden behind exceptional, but timid, guitar work.
i guess one of my criticisms of john boy in years past has been that he is a good enough guitar player that he needn't make himself vulnerable as a player. since he can marvel people without taking chances he really hasn't had a reason to take chances with his chops... for the same reasons, he has been able to keep his writing from having a personal touch.
that being said, something seems to have happened to him. coming out of an epic pause, he bursts forward with a chord, his voice, his passion, and all the music in him for the line, "I don't care if we don't sleep at all tonight Let's just fix this whole thing now" and this lays the ground work for the what the rest of this record is going to be.
there are moments on the record that i can do without. and there may be a little bit too much of an emphasis on his broken heart, however, he's broken through a pretty big wall to put a record like this out. this record is incredibly personal and I don't imagine it was easy for him to put on the old chopping block, but as far as what i can tell it seems to be the best record of his to date... and the guitar solos show a lot of nerve and really work throughout the disc*.
perhaps the most exciting thing about this album for me is that steve jordan doesn't annoy me to death with his heavy hand and constantly flat snare drum. the drums actually sound really good! i knew john had this in him, but the steve thing was a surprise.
while i'm hoping he keeps the personal touch and intensity of the guitar work i also hope he loses a little bit of the solitary perspective.
enjoy
*the one on edge of desire is absolutely brilliant!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
self-destruction and the survival of the most fit
i have a little studio i'm very privileged to use. its up on 33rd st and its home to a few of my guitars, some effects, a laptop and an outboard digital zoom multi-track recorder. now, it seems, it is only home to a few of my guitars, some effects and a laptop.
in a panic to try and finish up the rough cuts for the record i rushed in and plugged in the zoom in hopes of getting straight to work, burning down some masters and touching up some of the vocals and guitar work. however, it is a 12V input and my laptop charger is a 19V output, so when i plugged it in, thinking it was the zoom power supply, it was, in fact, the laptop charger. for a brief moment the screen appeared as normal, and then it started blinking at me. realizing my error, i quickly switched the adapters only to be left with more blinking.
there are many things that blink that perplex me... the red stop lights atop a four way intersection, an open sign in a deli, the lights on a wireless router* and strobe lights**... this one just devastated me.
however, given my endless resolve, and the capabilities of my not so ipod mp3 player, i decided to record direct into the walkman. i suspect at this moment i'd thought i'd try my hand at the formula set forth by the jesus record, and since i don't own a jeep my battle with life seemed to indicate that michael w. smith would not be trying his hand at 'finishing' this disc for me. which is a blessing.
so now, as musicians will prepare to hear the ideas i've set forward, they are to be warned. its noisy, dirty, sloppy, weak at points, but it is honest. instead of going in with complete ideas, it seems that it has become an open book, with endless options for the musicians involved.
this album is becoming a sort of a living thing... lets hope it doesn't own a jeep.
*because they blink when it works and not when it doesn't
**because i always find myself staring into the light
in a panic to try and finish up the rough cuts for the record i rushed in and plugged in the zoom in hopes of getting straight to work, burning down some masters and touching up some of the vocals and guitar work. however, it is a 12V input and my laptop charger is a 19V output, so when i plugged it in, thinking it was the zoom power supply, it was, in fact, the laptop charger. for a brief moment the screen appeared as normal, and then it started blinking at me. realizing my error, i quickly switched the adapters only to be left with more blinking.
there are many things that blink that perplex me... the red stop lights atop a four way intersection, an open sign in a deli, the lights on a wireless router* and strobe lights**... this one just devastated me.
however, given my endless resolve, and the capabilities of my not so ipod mp3 player, i decided to record direct into the walkman. i suspect at this moment i'd thought i'd try my hand at the formula set forth by the jesus record, and since i don't own a jeep my battle with life seemed to indicate that michael w. smith would not be trying his hand at 'finishing' this disc for me. which is a blessing.
so now, as musicians will prepare to hear the ideas i've set forward, they are to be warned. its noisy, dirty, sloppy, weak at points, but it is honest. instead of going in with complete ideas, it seems that it has become an open book, with endless options for the musicians involved.
this album is becoming a sort of a living thing... lets hope it doesn't own a jeep.
*because they blink when it works and not when it doesn't
**because i always find myself staring into the light
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