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.

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... ;)

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

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.