A Flat Miner

Can't Change The Weather

2008-02-10T20:22:00.000-08:00

This post is about the latest recording. I usually don't record any song for any other holiday than for the December holidays. But this time around I actually recorded a valentine's song, but it's more of a personal gift to Dawn.

Can't Change the Weather

Speaking of weather though...

The weather here in Iowa really has been terrible. I hate it more and more each passing year, living in this shit hole.

On to some musical stuff. I had meant to post this when I read about it the first time, but eh, time flies. I heard of this guy in Columbia that made Ak-47s into guitars. Pretty cool. Then I did a little more investigation. Turns out Peter Tosh had an M-16 guitar given to him earlier than this. In either case I think that I'll be on the lookout for something like this... Perhaps a remington 870 sawed off 12 string gauge?

Winter NAMM show - A Call 4 Help (Acoustic)

2008-01-22T19:55:00.000-08:00

Twice a year there is a major event for music retail and manufacturing businesses. This event is a showcase of new products and a platform for the industry to make major announcements. It often involves elaborate tutorials by experts in the field, celebrity musician endorsements, and other swag propaganda handouts. It is called "N.A.M.M". Which stands for National Association of Music Merchants. I always look forward to this show, because typically there are some pretty sweet pieces of gear that come out of it. Here's a video summary of this years winter show that just completed.

A Call 4 Help (redone acoustically)

This is the song that I recorded on the last post, but this time I did it acoustically. I just did a 1 track recording of me singing and playing the acoustic Taylor 314 guitar. It's a little rough, but you get the idea.

Call 4 help

2008-01-20T17:17:00.000-08:00

Recently I hit that "dead zone". Where lyrics somehow don't seem to exist for a particular riff or arrangement on the guitar. I call it dead zone, because it's synonymous with that spot in the gulf of mexico that doesn't harbor life. It's just this vast area of nothing, including no life. That's what writer's block is for song writers. It's a dead zone. Terrible.

One strange thing is that I can be going strong on riff or guitar writing and then sit down to fill out the song with lyrics and nothing. That's the worst. It's totally makes the guitar stuff seem worse than it probably is. Song writing is a strange thing. I don't personally like matchbox 20, but I heard an interview with Rob Thomas the other day and he said that to him song writing is like having a radio that he randomly tunes to the creativity channel. Occaissionally he hears something that sound good so he quickly writes it down. I would have to agree. To me there's no reason for a good song or lyric, it just happens. Much like fishing.

Call 4 Help

Although, the luck of fishing and the luck of song writing are similar in that they share sweet creative spots. "Secret fishing holes" or "Song writing nooks" that bring "dead zone" to life!

A Call For Help!

This song relates to something I'm sure most people have dealt with. A friend who calls who is going through some hard times asks for help or advice. I think this is self-explanatory. I'll probably record the acoustic version of this song next

Where are my fucking keys?

2007-12-31T18:57:00.000-08:00

Ok, it's almost the end of 2007. It's been a very interesting year. I'm almost sad to see it go. Anyway, I just recorded a song called:

Where are my fucking keys?

Yes, it's about just that. Misplacing things. I hope you can catch the hidden meaning though. It's not a faux song. It really is a serious one. "Keys" often signify many things. In practice keys provide security and act as a tool to get something opened or started or closed. Metaphorically keys have often been given to a person or group to a city as if cities had gates any more. It's often a prestigious thing recognizing the accomplishments of the receiving group. Keys are often portrayed as more than that though. Anywhere a door can be thought of in an abstract sense a key can be thought of to open this door.

Speaking of being given keys to the city... I'm not sure but perhaps it's related to British Monarchical history. In any case it's become a term synonymous with welcome. I found these stories interesting regarding musical acts. Did you know that Alice Cooper was given the key to the city from a town in North Dakota named "Alice"? That's pretty cool if you ask me.

Moldy Buns...

2007-12-16T22:22:00.000-08:00

Here's a riff that I've been struggling to figure out how to use. Should It be in a major key like this:

Major!

Or a minor key like this:

Minor.

Which one do you think sounds better? I think I've already moved on to the next stage of the song, so this might already be too late.

This sort of difference illustrates a part of music theory that is often taught to the most elementary of students. I grew up with a music teacher as a parent and would always hear student lessons including the song "hot cross buns" shortly followed by "moldy buns". "Hot Cross Buns" embodied the major key, while "moldy buns" embodied the minor key. Who knew right? Moldy is minor, scary, sad, dark, flat. Hot is major, proud, resilient, bright, levened. In general terms it's quite evident to the listener, but why does the sound feel this way? I won't delve into music theory here, but it's an interesting topic none the less.

Make it Happen

2007-12-06T21:08:00.000-08:00

Here's a track that I put together with a mumble vocal. This song really isn't my style, but I couldn't leave the main guitar riff alone and decided that I had to record it.

Make it Happen

I think the term art is misinterpreted a lot. Casually it's often in reference to visual art. Music is often referred to as music and food as food rather than aural art or culinary arts. Many other genres are viewed as objects and actions rather than manifestations of artistic expression. I have to admit I haven't readily accepted dance as an important part of the art of music. I have reviled it really. To put it more effectively I'll quote someone from when I worked in the music store. A patron was telling of an experience where he was in a Florida night club and was asked to dance. To which he replied, "I don't dance. I'm a musician." I believe this is common among rock musicians.

I used to know some people in college that studied dance. They'd speak of choreography and forms. This was all too classic and/or conformed to be of any artistic relevance to me at the time. Recently though I've thought about it and believe that even the music I play uses rules or boundaries and that it's different in many ways from classic forms, but shares many attributes. I think dance is the same way in rock, punk, and alternative music.

Many local bands that I have watched don't do any sort of dance. They stand still and stare at their hands, but even this is a form of physical expression. The "classic" form of metal dance expression is called "head-banging" where an individual does a basic back and forth shaking of the head or a circular motion in order to cause the hair to appear as a mass of frenzy. If you've ever seen "school of rock" than you've seen some additional rock moves that musicians do... "rock face", "goblet of rock", etc. These are truly physical expressions of the music. There have been famous rock-moves that have been created over the years. The "Ian-stomp" made famous by Anthrax guitarist Scotty Ian where he makes emphatic foot stomps to the syncopation of the guitar riff that he's playing. The "Angus-duck-walk" made famous by Angus Young of AC/DC where he does a single footed kick walk comparable to a duck. There is the "Stevie-Ray-Behind-The-Back", the "Hendrix-crash-and-burn", the "Vai-guitar-spin", or even the notorious “Axle Rose” which really just embodied the character of the performer. There are countless others, but are not typically considered dance.

I'm reminded by the recently famous "dancing with the stars" show that judging goes into many dance exhibitions. This is comparable to the "stage presence" criteria used to judge a band during a battle of the bands competition. One fact is that having a guitar in one's hands limits the movements of a performer. I think it would be an interesting genre of dance to see a style that uses a fixed prop (not like a pole). It's important to note that the most viewed youTube video is that of a wacky dance clip. I see dance and music as universal languages. M.C. Hammer stated this as well when presenting his business case to Silicon Valley to begin the startup of his online video "dance jamz" site. I believe it may be part of what makes a music performance consumable and will only become a more important part of online music content.

seven days...

2007-11-30T21:59:00.000-08:00

Here's a song that I've been working on for a while that I had originally thought could use some vocals, but the more I heard it I thought it sounded good without...

seven days

It's getting close to that time again where I usually start to make a list of song ideas for my holiday recordings. Many people often complain when they hear holiday music at this time when entering a shopping center. I can't disagree, but it reminds me of what it must be like for the composer/arranger of such pieces. These songs usually don't get written, arranged, performed, recorded, produced, and distributed over night. This process takes time. I often think about that when I see advertisement for a holiday seasonal movie premier. Did they actually film that in the winter? The answer is undoubtedly no. So I must endure this a little more than most in order to reward those to whom I give this gift of the season.

I hope that this year I can actually write at least one piece rather than only arrange traditional songs. I tend to use secular songs when I arrange. I have done this because I originally found vanity in purely religious songs of the season. I would often hear "Merry Christmas" from pure strangers who had no knowledge of my religious background. This made me think that such naivity is rather imposing at times. What if I were athiest, jewish, or muslim? I have since softened my ideas about this, but I still believe that even for those who do not share religious beliefs it is important to know that each has something worth celebrating and worth studying. I also found it funny how many of the popular 'Christmas' songs over the years have been written by jewish composers.

"White Christmas" by Irving Berlin
"Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" by Johnny Marks
"Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow" by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne
"Silver Bells" by Livingston and Evans
"The Christmas Song" (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) by Mel Torme\

I've been doing this for 7 going on 8 years now. I hope this year I can have it done before Christmas Eve!

Most proven and cost effective : Part 3

2007-11-18T17:58:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the long delay on the blog. Honestly I've had about 5 posts written, but haven't put together the audio to go along with it. I decided to put up a new music track with a mumble vocal track.

Divide By Zero

Extension Chord - Throughout the years I have lost dozens of extension chords at venues. Some people might not even consider them to bring to the gig in the first place, but I can't overstate the necessity. Extension chords are cheap and readily available at numerous stores, but when setting up for a gig at the venue at 9 pm they can be hard to find if not properly prepared. There are various types of extension chords. Some offer thicker insulation and thicker gauge of wire to support larger electrical loads. In my opinion bigger is better, but not in terms of length. I would suggest a minimum 30 ft. and a maximum 50 ft. It is also a good and cheap idea to include a power strip outlet too. Having these prepared and packed for a gig can be a lifesaver and prevent a lot of stress and headaches in many situations.

Dunlop Crybaby Wah - Though I don't currently own one. (I have since moved on to a more powerful pedal "Dunlop Dime Crybaby from Hell" Wah pedal) When I first started experimenting with various guitar effects pedals I would peruse the used inventory at a store near Coe College on Oakland Rd. in Cedar Rapids called "Somewhere in Iowa Guitars". The store had an almost pawn-shop atmosphere that was enriched with a thick scent of soiled cat-litter and stale smoke. I don't think any white guitar would last a day in that shop without turning a shade of almond or ivory. I loved this store though. I bought my first Crybaby Wah from here. I paid somewhere around $30 for it. You can buy them new now for less than $70. It is a very powerful and useful effect pedal. It works by allowing the operator to rock a platform back and forth to "open" and "closed" positions with the foot, with each rock producing a "wha-eh-wah" sound. These pedals can make an average guitar solo sound amazing, and also they can just change the overall dynamics of any riff, making a song much better. I've noticed one peculiarity with the pedal through the years. On the pedal there is an input and an output connection. The pedal output is supposed to be connected (by a guitar cable) to the input on the amplifier. Also, the guitar is supposed to be connected to the input on the pedal. I have discovered that if you reverse this and connect the amp to the input on the pedal and the guitar to the output on the pedal it will behave strangely. This might be only old pedals that do this, and there may be potential damage that can be done, but it's interesting. Under this configuration when the wah is "Open" (vs. "closed") a rising siren sound will occur from the amp. It's a cool sound effect. Aside from this anomaly the pedal behaves as it should and for the price it is a must have for a performing guitarist.

The Roads Are Winding...

2007-10-25T20:56:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know I like to put lists together. Whether it's to-do lists, or set-lists, or lists of preferences, lists are a sort of vice for me. When I talked a few posts ago about an argument that was raised during a church youth meeting about which guitarist was better, "Rhoads" or "Van Halen", this planted the seed in me to find my choices for top guitarists. I won't get into my lists in detail here, but will just discuss the topic in general.

Here's a song I am working on that I just put a quick arrangment together of the verse. I don't normally play synth, and I am not very good at it, but I think it fits here...

Roads are Winding...

Many factors go into "why" and "how" lists are made. Some are straight-forward and others are hidden. Some lists are based on facts and others based on opinions. The latter is the hardest one to validate. The lists of best guitarists are of this type. There is no simple fact or rule about art that makes one better than the other. Some skill sets allow artists a wider palette to articulate their artistry more than others, but the art may not be quantitatively better than something simpler. I find this akin to lists similar to "Best Places to Live" or "rankings of ugliest people". One sort of list that garners a lot of attention annually is Newsweek’s collegiate rankings. This list is also similar to a list of top guitarists in that it tries to objectively evaluate a reputation and utility in specific fields. Many educators would scoff at this list because it doesn't take into account the intangibles and tends to ignore tiny details. These tiny details we all know are really what make any experience memorable.

Details get lost in the translation of a list unfortunately. Take for example this list:

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5937559/the_100_greatest_guitarists_of_all_time/

This is considered a fairly credible list and is made by a highly influential publication in Rolling Stone. I have my disagreements with some of this list. How can Van Halen be #70? Lower than Roy Buchanon and Mick Ronson? That doesn't seem right. I don't even see some of my favorites including Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, or Eric Johnson. No Marty Friedman, John Petrucci, Robben Ford, Pat Methany, Allan Holdsworth, Chet Atkins, Steve Morse, Joe Walsh, Nuno, Yngwie, or DimeBag? I can't say this is a very credible list, except they got #1 right. Jimi Hendrix. I would have to say that should be about everyone's #1.

I would have to say it's not easy to make an all encompassing list like this. It's hard to even recognize the origination of the instrument itself, or what truly is the limit of the term "guitarist". Who knows, maybe some guitar prodigy who lived in southeast Saskatchewan in 1870s is meant to be #1 but is lost to the annals of time. It's hard to say, but it would be cool if there was a guitar play-off like March madness in basketball where guitarists would win their way to the title of best guitarist world champion.

No.... wait.... that would be like "American idol". That would be a travesty.

warp zone

2007-10-20T20:06:00.000-07:00

So recently there was this news story glorifying a ban d that "hit the big time" at the famed "Penny Arcade Show" in Seattle, Wa. I don't know why, but I clicked on the story link and read it. I felt myself becoming irritated by it so I wrote this post. It's not that I hate cover bands such as the "Oneups" or the "NESkimos", but I really think the fame is a product of a gimmick.

super mario warp

..."It was a particularly sweet moment for OneUps founder Mustin, who also plays bass and keyboards. He had been working a long time to get the band — and video game music — the respect he thought it deserved. " I can't say cover bands deserve a whole lot of respect. I have many friends that play in cover bands. Personally I see a place for them in the entertainment industry, but as far as respect...? I think they should be respected as cover bands, but not on the same plane as original artists. I find this recent rash of stories covering this particular band strange because just about every band I've ever known has played video game music at some point. If you do a search on Google or YouTube you'll see they are NOT unique in the material they display. For example googling "super Mario band" will result in 5.5 million matches. That's not all that unique. Here's one of my favorite video game arrangement videos from YouTube. The true respect that the "Oneups" are garnering should really go to the true composer of the music, Koji Kondo (Super Mario Bros).

Though this is a rant I will say I think it's cool that bands take video game music seriously. It is much underrated. I give the "Oneups" props for bringing awareness and respect to the true artists of video game music. Some of my favorite musicians have roles in the video game music composition. Steve Vai had a hand in Bungie's Halo games. Fear Factory has arranged instrumental tracks for PC and console games. In fact all of these recognized chart topping artists have all been part of video game music as well: Eminem, Brandy, Metallica, David Bowie, Queens of the Stone Age, among others. The genre itself has become bigger than the games they are a part of. Sales of video game music are no longer something to ignore.

Ring tone sales, although not a hefty consumer investment, are an emerging market that has large growth potential. With the likes of Koji Kondo (Video Game Music Composer) being ranked so high (current #5, peak #1) says something about the influence of this genre on the general public.

Honestly, I think it'd be about the best gig ever to have a job as a composer and arranger for video games.

Any Old Time...

2007-10-14T22:03:00.000-07:00

This is something I put together as a mumble track. I have a few other riff/vocal ideas that should match up with it. I’m reversing my audio clip portion of my blogs because it seems that many people don’t last through the entire blog posting and/or click on the audio link. That’s really the whole purpose of my blog; to serve as a musical journal as I continue writing and performing. In case you didn’t notice each one of my blog posts has a different audio clip of something that I was a part of.

Any old time

Now for the literary portion…

I was raised in a semi-observant Lutheran family. In my youth I attended church regularly and often participated in various church groups and activities. When I hear of an accomplished singer say something about how they started their singing career in the church choir (Whitney Houston), I think back on my experiences with church. I didn't get a whole lot musically from church. Songs were archaic formalities relating to a wide demographic including people who were typically back row Lutherans.

Being expressive in church was not understood or practiced. It was always quaintly formal. So I always wondered what it was like for the Whitney Houstons of the world. I'll get to that in another post, but for now I'll stick to what molded my musical world. When I was around 6th grade I was involved in "confirmation" classes generally the same as Catholic "CCD". It's basically lessons of the core principles of the Lutheran faith. It's also associated with the affirmation of the sacrament of baptism. These lessons were held on Wednesday nights throughout the school year. On one night, before class, the students were finding places to sit before Pastor L. came into the room. Some of the kids were in the middle of a discussion about who was the better guitarist. Vincent H., a seventh grader, said, "Randy Rhoads has to be the best guitarist ever."

Then Patrick M., a seventh grader, said, "No it's Van Halen".

There was some back and forth typical of the "less filling...tastes great" dialogue of commercials in the late 1980s. Then after a while someone said, "wait, hold on, ask Kevin C.!"

Kevin C. was an eighth grader who was fairly quiet, but seemed trustworthy, and had knowledgeable charisma. Kevin C. waited for a bit and then gave his answer, "Van Halen, because Rhoads is dead."

That started a whole bunch of other questions, "yeah, but IF he was STILL ALIVE...",

"No, you can't do that. He isn't alive so you have to judge them at their peak",

"…but what if Van Halen hasn't reached his peak yet?",

"but...",

"but...".

It really had an influence on me, because I had never heard of these names before. I think I had a Bon Jovi, Skid Row, and Metallica tape, but I didn't know Randy Rhoads or Van Halen. It wouldn't be until years later that I understood the seriousness of such a question.

Wrigley's Lament

2007-09-30T21:14:00.000-07:00

I’ve been a Cubs fan since the early 80s. In all these years I can name all the times the Cubs were playoff contenders: 1984, 1989, 1998, 2003, and 2007. That’s not all that frequent really, especially considering the Cubs haven’t even been to the World Series in my lifetime (1945), let alone won it (1908). Coming close to the end of this season it appeared almost a sure bet that the Cubs were headed to the playoffs, but they ran into a rough patch in the final six games which inspired me to write this sonnet.

Wrigley’s Lament:

A loyal fan since days of yore I’ve been
Each year it comes and goes without a win
But this time seemed it was a different year
For this season there was reason to cheer
First place ahead three games with six to go
Only to lose the next three in a row
Through injuries and mulligans we fret
As spectators we worry and we sweat
Each time our bullpen takes the ball we pray
With runners on we need a double play
Will we be able to control our fate?
Or will we have to watch the scores and wait?
I guess I’ll have to use my lucky charm
In hopes that it will do the team no harm!

I know it’s a strange format for a song. I don’t know why I chose a sonnet, but it gives you the idea. Luckily this song didn’t foreshadow an epic meltdown (like the 2007 New York Mets), but I think it’s a good one to keep around because even though I love the Cubs they continue to tear my heart out.

This year the Cubs started a new tradition of playing a song after home game wins. The song is called “Go Cubs Go” by Steve Goodman and really is a dumb song, but it’s magic has made a tear come to my eye and a chill rise in my soul on several occaisions throughout the year on miraculous come-from-behind victories. I hope that in the future when Cubs fans commiserate their all-too-familiar tragedies they use this song as a way of healing.

October is right around the corner and the Cubs are playing for a title. As a Cubs fan there is not much more that I can ask for. I’m sure fellow musician and Cubs fan, Eddie Vedder, would agree.

Censor This...

2007-09-20T22:03:00.000-07:00

There's been a lot of news recently regarding a disorderly spectator at a John Kerry forum who was disobeying security, obstructing their attempts to remove him, and inhibiting public discourse by physically thrashing about, waving papers, arms, and screaming. This was well after he exceeded his allotment of time during his turn at the microphone for this event. Not only do I get disgusted watching the video clip of this, but it's not for any of the reasons I've heard on the various news sources and blogs. This guy obviously thinks his voice should be heard, and is willing to force others to listen. Not to get all cold on you here, but the disgusting part of the video wasn't the tazing, it was listen to this guy throw a fit. I was glad when they finally tazed him, although that's what he wanted. Now he get's to be on CNN and has his name on a billion web sites. I really don't see how this guy's first amendment rights were violated here. There's no free speech in causing a civil disturbance. The event wasn't a Andrew Meyer event. That's ridiculous. I advise those who think his free speech rights were robbed to read the constitution, because that's not what free speech is.

Using that as a premise... I remember growing up watching TV and hearing far less swear words on tv. Once in a while I'd hear a "damn" or a "hell", but never a "shit" or god forbid "fuck". Now you hear "bastard", "bitch", "ass", "damn", and "hell" all on network TV. Not that it matters much. Words don't really amount to the gross indecency of the media anyway, but I do believe it has changed. A few albums ago The Deftones released a song called "7 words".

The title sparked my curiosity so I researched it more and found an interesting case regarding the FCC and censorship. In 1978 the case FCC vs. Pacifica Foundation became the standard for censoring "indecency" in broadcast media. I started to think about the seven words and the idea came to me to write a concept song where I used all the words, but it could still be meet indecency guidelines. So I did, if you notice I say all the explitives in 'pig latin' something I don't think I ever thought I'd do in a song...

Pig Censura

Credit Where Credit is Due

2007-08-27T19:42:00.000-07:00

When my "Metallica - Ride The Lightning" cassette tape was new I would read the insert carefully gleaning every fine detail. I'd find answers to various questions. Who were the members? What were the lyrics? What products were endorsed? Who did artwork? Who did they thank? Where was it recorded? Who produced it? Who wrote it? This last question always seemed the most mysterious. It is obvious there are certain attributes each band member possesses defining Metallica as a whole. There's a drummer, a bassist, a lead guitarist, and a rhythm guitarist/vocalist. What seemed mysterious about the song writing credits were that in some cases only a few members received credit even though all had taken part in the recording.

Take for example the song "Motorbreath" from the album "Kill'em All". The writing credit is given to Hetfield and no other members. There is definitely drums, bass, and guitar solos on it. So what gives? I can't imagine Hetfield charted out the drums, bass, and guitar solos and said, "Ok guys play these parts as they are written".

I'm guessing he wrote all the lyrics and rhythm riffs and the other guys came up with parts that fit with what he had arranged.

So what does it take to get a song writing credit? Here's a link to an interesting piece. The author of this article states that song writing credits are often open-ended and not necessarily adhering to a universal standard. Often times credit is given to someone who may have agreed before hand to be a part of a writing group (like an LLC) and then they get credit whenever the group produces something. Other times it may be as simple as being able to convince an artist to change a word in the lyric or title of the song in order to receive credit. This seems the cheapest to me. What really is interesting about this is that if someone is given song writing credit they may also be able to receive royalties from the recording sales. Here's a link on songwriting credit lawsuit involving the Violent Femmes members. As you can see from this when money is involved people can become quite upset about the subject of song writing credits.

What then constitutes ethical song writing credits when dealing with sampled music? Take for example the case against 'The Beastie Boys' where they were sued for using a sample of a flute on a recording.

As thier arstistic style dictates, they often reuse samples of recordings interpolating them into a "new" recording. Does that make them infringers of other artists material when they use samples the way they do? Basically when they sample they are turning the recording into an instrument. So then the question becomes, if someone creates an instrument can they copyright what someone does with that instrument? I think there is a "yes" and a "no" answer to that question, but I'm thinking it has to be handled on a case by case basis.

I think it's interesting to think that it may be the influence on a song that should be also cited in the credits. An etmology of sorts. That if anything would give fans, historians, and academics more to understand about the music itself.

Think if the credits for the "Star Spangled Banner" were: Frances Scott Key, fingernail clippers. That seems unlikely, but why not? Sometimes the strangest of ideas lead to the next, and to the next. Eventually leading to the end. Makes me wonder if sometimes the songs are already written and we are just interpreting them and using them for our own benefit. That'd be sad if it were true.

For Now... (Adam, Scott, Trains)

Here's a song that isn't finished yet, but is something I started over the summer with my friend Scott. I have to put some more lyrics that he wrote to this and record a different arrangement.

Bowzer's Law

2007-08-23T20:42:00.000-07:00

If you need another reason to write original music, look no further than NY governor Eliot Spitzer. He’s carved a career out of prosecuting fraud, racketeering, extortion, and focusing on consumer rights. Of course these consumer rights include music consumers and this subset is not without exception from his activities. Until recently these are a few of his notable music industry dealings:

Music Royalty Settlement (2004): Through an investigation of music industry practices, Spitzer's office uncovered $50 million in royalties owed to musicians whose record labels had failed to keep in contact with them. Under New York State's Abandoned Property Law, those royalties not being sent to their rightful owners would have to be surrendered to the state. Under a settlement, the labels were required to take measures to contact artists owed royalties.

Payola Settlement: The office of Eliot Spitzer served subpoenas against record labels in an investigation into "payola," the illegal compensation of radio stations for playing certain songs. These subpoenas uncovered deals for disc jockeys to receive gifts from promoters in exchange for playing the songs a certain number of times during the day. On July 25, 2005, Spitzer announced an agreement with Sony BMG Music Entertainment to halt the practice. In November 2005, a similar settlement was announced with Warner Music Group.

Just recently he signed into New York law what is known as Bowzer's Law. It was named after Jon “Bowzer” Bauman of the popular group Sha Na Na, who advocates protection for the “real” artists from knockoff impostor groups.

..This is from the NY Legislative Assembly page:

BILL NUMBER:A8089

TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the arts and cultural affairs law, in relation to prohibiting the advertising and conducting of certain live musical performances and productions

PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
Makes it unlawful to advertise or conduct a live musical performance through the use of a false, deceptive or misleading affiliation, connection, or association between a performing group and a recording group.

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
The "Truth in Musical Advertising Act" Creates a new Article 34 of the Arts & Cultural Affairs Law which defines: performing group, recording group and sound recording. When the Attorney General has reason to believe that any person is advertising or conducting a live musical performance or production in violation of the act, the Attorney General may bring an action against the person to restrain by temporary or permanent injunction that practice and seek civil penalties of up to fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) and no less than $5,000 for violations thereof. There are five (5) exceptions: (1) the performing group owns the service mark for the recording group; (2) at least one member of the performing group was a member of the recording group and has a legal right to use the name; (3) the live performance is identified as a salute or tribute; (4) the advertising does not relate to a live performance taking place in New York; and (5) the performance or production is authorized by the recording group.

I find this to be very important to keeping music as a pure art and less of a grotesque commodity. Cheers to Spitzer for getting this done!

Wedding #3

Here’s another recording from the wedding suite I posted earlier

Zen and the Art of Guitar Maintenance: Part 4

2007-08-15T21:09:00.000-07:00

Guitar Handling and Environmental Concerns

This is probably an area that I overlooked for the longest time. I’ve learned that it does have a major impact on the sound and playability of the instrument.

The guitar is a stringed instrument and is made from wood. These facts stress that it needs special care in terms of handling and environmental concerns.

Proper Handling

Guitars are liable to dent, scratch, burn, warp, or fall victim to problems any wood object would. It is essential to note this especially during winter months where one might wear an overcoat with metallic buttons or zippers exposed on the front of the jacket or other article of clothing which could scratch the back of the guitar while playing it. This also includes piercings and other forms of jewelry. Being asked to remove a coat before playing a guitar in a store is not always meant to be discourteous.

It is not a good idea when finished using the guitar to place it anywhere other than a stand or its case. I’ve been guilty of this quite a bit. For the most part it doesn’t cause trouble, but one time out of a hundred could be very costly. I’ve seen many people lean guitars up against a table with the heel of the guitar body against the floor. This is more often a matter of convenience and is not suggested for long term storage. When doing this it is advisable to lean the string side rather than the neck side up against the table surface. This is because the neck of the guitar might become worn or scratched over time making playability worse. The strings can always be adjusted. I often see, and used to do this myself, people placing their guitars on guitar stands for extended periods of time (days-months). This is not advisable. This is only done if no case is available.

There are many reasons to keep the instrument in its case, even when it’s played on a daily basis. The case protects against dust and other unexpected spatter and wear and tear. The case should fit the guitar firmly, snuggly, and comfortably. Having a loose fitting case or smashing the guitar and other objects into the case is not good for the guitar. The case also provides a structure support and humidity control for the instrument. This becomes evident living in a place that has changes in humidity through the seasons. In the case of the Midwest where I live humidity can change from virtually 0% in the winter months to 100% in the summer months. Normally stringed instruments such as the guitar are at their best in a 50% humidity controlled room. Many guitar stores have a humidity controlled room for acoustic guitars. I don’t believe a humidity controlled room at home is a necessity, but it is helpful. This is the most helpful for acoustic guitars, but also hollow-body guitars, and even in the slightest way for electric guitars. Making a humidor may be a future post for me, but making use of a humidifier/dehumidifier, instrument humidity controllers, and monitoring equipment is a cheaper way to keep up with this part of guitar maintenance.

Additional handling advice

A cable plugged into an electric guitar placed on the back of an amplifier case doesn’t stop the guitar from being knocked to an unforgiving cement floor after someone trips over the cable. Setting a guitar down on the floor on its heel where the input jack is may cause the cable to become worn or the input jack itself to eventually fail. It’s always a good idea to unplug cables from guitars that are not in use. It’s advisable to firmly secure any adjustment fittings or bolts because in the event that one becomes lost they are sometimes expensive to replace. In some cases not properly tightening bolts such as the strap bolts may, after heavy use, can cause the bolts to wear deeper holes into the body of the guitar. Heavy drinking and proper guitar handling do not mix. Not only does this mean the obvious of tripping, falling, dropping, knocking, or other physical absurdities, but beer itself is very corrosive to electronics and other materials used in guitar construction. Water and guitars do not mix well either.

wedding songs #2

This is another few songs from the wedding songs played in July.

Wedding for Andrew and Jasmine

2007-08-06T21:49:00.000-07:00

Last time I talked about one part of a busy weekend in July. This time I'll get to the other part of the busy weekend.

I had been working on arranging a set list of contemporary secular songs by rock and acoustic artists into a completely instrumental section of guitar music. My friends who were getting married didn't want standard wedding music and wanted guitar. They chose artists that meant something to them and wanted me to arrange them without any vocals or accompaniments. I did this. In some cases I made use of my looper pedal to give the sound of a backing track. I got to learn a few songs by some artists I would've normally not paid a second thought to, but it was good for me. Good because it was actually a live gig (my first one this year).

During the performance I had to try and run through the set list until I was to receive a signal from the usher that the bridal party was beginning their procession. At that point I was to begin playing a predetermined song. The signal was supposed to be a simple "wave" of the hand. The problem with this signal is it's not clearly unique so while I was playing through an arrangement of Blackbird by the Beatles I thought I saw the usher give me the "wave". It was not! This caused an abridged version of Blackbird. At that point I had to improvise through a few minutes to make it sound like it was planned and serene. This was my only "mistake" and it really wasn't bad.

The ceremony took place in the Czech and Slovak Museum in the lobby and I was positioned at the front of the ceremony to the right. I bought an amp stand to position my new marshall acoustic amp in the air projecting toward the seated people. I was worried before the ceremony started that there would be echoes because during rehearsal it seemed very echo-ey, but during the ceremony there wasn't much of that, and I'm guessing it was because of the amount of people absorbing the sound.

In the end I was happy with my performance, and I think the selection of songs worked well for the service. It think for some and me included the songs heightened the uniqueness of the service and reflected the people involved and made for a lasting memory. I was very happy that I was asked to do this for such friends and also glad that it sounded well.

arrangement #1

Here's an example of what the songs sounded like. These are some songs recorded to give a sample to the wedding party what the performance was going to sound like before the wedding day.

Aunt Deb

2007-07-26T19:11:00.000-07:00

It's been an exhausting last several weeks. For many reasons, but I can't say I regret it.

This past weekend in particular was very memorable. In this post I will concentrate on one part of the weekend, namely the first part.

Remembering things can bring a smile, a tear, a sweat, a fear, a laugh, a delight, a low, or a height. In the strongest of memories all these come through and then some indescribable with words or wit.

My Aunt Deb, Deb Largeteau, was buried on friday morning. It was a sad day, but not only that it was a day of rememberance. Recollecting her life, I couldn't help but become consumed by her family and my memories of her and her impact on those around me. I look forward to making her Hawaiian Chicken recipe and sharing my experiences with her with my family as the time goes by.

On thursday night I spent several hours using my recording expertise to help my cousins (Deb's children) record some memorial songs for her graveside service. They were songs written by Chris Rice. It was a semi-typical family experience. Typical in that my family always shares music, but not typical in that it was with a heavy heart that we did this. The first song was recorded by my cousin Sarah and her Aunt Connie. (not related to my Aunt Connie) The second song was performed by my cousin Greg (on vocals and guitar). They both did it in minimal takes (Greg in 1). It's so moving to hear such powerful songs played by such close family on the most sacred and personal of occaisons. It was a beautiful memorial for thier mother and my Aunt. I will remember this experience forever.

Come To Jesus

Save Me A Place

The Stomp box: The Analog and Digitals of Guitar History

2007-07-17T22:48:00.000-07:00

Most people who have ever played guitar have used one or at least have heard of one. The stomp box is not really a box, but a floor based unit that is controlled by “stomping” on a lever or button with one’s foot to turn an effect on or off. That’s the most basic description, but of course there are countless variations on this theme.

There are stomp boxes for various effects, and some stomp boxes incorporate multiple effects. Some stomp boxes have become notorious for their applicability and have become staples in the greater guitar world. (Wha, Distortion, Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Delay, Whammy, octaver, harmonizer, … Big Muff Pie?) Others have withered with time. Some have been endorsed by great guitar virtuosos, and others have become a surrogate to some career guitarists.

When I was getting serious about playing in my first “successful” band I heavily used digital effects and effect processors in my setup which was not widely accepted at the time. I think some may have thought it was a cover for musicianship, while I just thought it helped broaden my musical toolset. For most that have played through a stomp box there is an initial experience in which the stomp box actually seems like it improves a guitarists abilities. The sound becomes so wonderful that the stomp box actually makes the guitarist a better guitarist.

That’s the conundrum I’m wondering about. For those who become masters of their instrument, does the stomp box make them a better guitarist? Musician, sure, but guitarist? I would guess this is more of a chicken or egg sort of question, but I’m not so sure. The chops of playing guitar shouldn’t be attributed to the modeled or fabricated sound of a stomp box pedal, but I think as a secondary effect that it might be. Take for instance the idea that Jimi Hendrix may have decided without his wha pedal or fuzz box that he’d stick to blues music. Would that make him less of a virtuoso? I think in some ways it might. He might have turned the blues world upside down (as he did anyway), but truly it was because he was able to experiment with the new worlds he was able to discover through his stomp boxes that he truly refined his craft as a guitarist. That’s my take on it, but I bet there are others that disagree.

Here’s a clip of a known baroque composition, Pachabel’s Cannon in D major. I did this real-time with a Loop Station stomp box. I do think playing with this pedal has made me a better guitarist, but I don’t think if I were to lose it that I’d become a worse guitarist.

Cannon in D

Most proven and cost effective : Part 2

2007-07-06T21:07:00.000-07:00

Here are some definite winners for their reliability and sheer necessity to the performing musician.

The first one I’d have to say is Tortex picks. The Dunlop (Jim Dunlop) company manufactures this product. I’ve played with them almost exclusively for the past 10+ years and they never let me down. I use the green Tortex model. (.88 mm) I think this is the officially sanctioned “Metallica” pick. The thing about Tortex is that it has a material that makes its surface always seem dry and grip-able even during the sweatiest moments. That’s why I prefer it over standard nylon picks. I’ve found some nylon picks that are ok, but they also tend to warp after extended use and form a sort of curve or crease where they are pinched. Tortex picks always keep their shape. They are a bit pricier than other picks, but they are built without any frayed edges, which is not always the case with standard nylon picks. Dunlop also makes a “gator grip” pick brand which is very similar to Tortex. I’ve also used this product and it is noteworthy, but I still side with the Tortex picks. I would say they are well worth the extra cost.

The next reliable and cost effective piece is Water. I know it seems trivial, but if it’s not available and is needed it can be a show stopper. It’s essential for the performing artist, is often free of cost, and solves many problems. For the vocalist trying to stave off bronchitis in a smoky bar water might be the only refuge available. As a matter of fact water is always a good choice for the band to indulge in while performing on stage. It will save vocal chords from rupturing and also keep tired bodies hydrated for the last and most crucial song. For the band who downs a few rounds of beers before performing water will help keep the vocals a lot closer to pitch than continuing with beer consumption. Water is also good for other reasons. Cleaning, staying cool, and putting out fires. I’ve had to use water to douse an overheated engine on an out of town gig and to put out a speaker cabinet fire. I made it a practice the last 3 or 4 years of playing out to ask for a pitcher of ice water before going on stage at each of my performances and it never let me down. (Warning, water is a conductive material and can short circuit electrical components)

Radio # 11 Rev A

This track is based on last posts track, only this time I arranged it on guitars. Still in it's infancy, but perhaps you can see how the last post audio wasn't so lame.

Setting The Stage

2007-07-05T22:44:00.000-07:00

I guess it's like searching for the Holy Grail. To find the perfect setting for song writing. It's not a substance or a tangible thing, though it can manifest itself in physical form. The setting is more of a feeling. A zone, if you will which closes all doors to the distracting outer world and opens all windows to the soul and to the music within. I'll try and describe here what the band did and what I have done over time to enhance the setting with various props and actions.

Lighting:

Lighting is probably the most important factor in setting the stage. Back when I was just out of high school in my first apartment I remember lighting a candle next to my fostex 4 track analog tape recorder while writing guitar riffs and writing lyrics on note cards. It was sublime. Later I'd use candle-light to support the most personal of songs. As I've alluded to in my lyrics writing songs around a bonfire or outdoors under the moonlight is very moving and zone-worthy lighting. I'd also have to say that with the band we'd also try and play with as little light as possible as to experience in practice what it would be like live. Stages live are some of the poorest lighting conditions possible. As a band we'd also turn on the strobe light and turn every other light off when we'd jam through a section for tens of minutes at a time. I think the idea that lighting is important is related to the best lighting being dim lighting because it takes away focus on using the visual senses and redirects the emphasis to the auditory senses.

Incense:

I always liked to light incense, or something fragrant while writing. I know people who smoked that like to light a cigarette or a cigar, perhaps something else like a campfire would help too. Again this idea is that the smell would detach the writer from their normal setting into a new one where they would feel comfortable writing new material.

Drink:

Well perhaps this needs it's own post, but Often times after finishing with a recording session people would share in a round of drinks, or perhaps a stout shot of something harsh like a whiskey. Sometimes a shot of the hard stuff would kick off the session, or perhaps a cup of coffee or tea. Its strange how, just like in gourmet cooking the palette must be cleaned prior to indulging in a new taste. This is also true in music, and so often times the palette would be cleaned with a shot of courage or Jack Daniels.

Here's something that I recorded on my radio shack digital voice recorder a few days ago that I'll turn into a song soon. I went through my listed number of different recorded tracks and randomly selected this one. It's more of a major sort of riff, but it still should be cool. I envision vocals as the melody!

Radio # 11

2007-07-03T20:55:00.001-07:00

It is such a small world isn't it?

Recently I met a fellow blogger from europe, but truly he was an Iowan blogging from europe.

coincidentally...

Now I have a close friend coming into town who is exactly that.

I'm pretty excited about that, but jet lag will probably kill his excitement!

Anyway, since my blog is based on my musical endeavors I should say something about my purchase today.

I have been talking/working with some friends of mine for whom I've agreed to play guitar for thier wedding. I decided that I should have a guitar amp for my acoustic guitar for this gig, so I went out and played several before deciding on a particular model to purchase. I played the Crate, Roland, Fischman, Fender, and also a Marshall.

I wanted to spend less than $300. I found my match tonight. I ended up buying a Marshall AS50R for $293. I got a floor model at a discount price. I tried the other amps, but I found that 30 watts was a little light and the marshall had 2 speakers, 2 channels, and onboard effects. The Fender was probably a better choice, but due to it's price (close to 5 hundred) I decided to pass on it. I will be able to use this piece of gear for many applications. It compliments my 314 Taylor guitar for acoustic gigs, and has an additional input for a microphone or keyboard.

On some of the songs my friends want me to perform at thier wedding I'm having to rearrange them so they are instrumental rather than vocal styled songs. This means that I'm going to use a Boss RC-20 loop station to give me the flexability to have a second track available to me live while I play melody on my guitar. It should end up sounding pretty cool.

This of course is another piece to my world domination.

(Totally Joking?) I have several other pieces that I need to purchase before this concept is even close to happening, but the others are... (candy apple red Fender stratocaster - [haven't decided on a maple or rosewood fretboard, but maple is winning], 12 string acoustic, martin 6 string acoustic, 7-string guitar, heil talk-box, and a gibson les paul)

Here's an audio track that I did with my vocals to track something for a guitar riff that I have yet to do anything yet with. This is a common occurrance for me. I often use a digital voice recorder or my main studio recorder to record an idea in the form of a vocal recording to just have something to go back on if I ever need help developing a riff or a song. My main problem is organizing them once they are recorded...

Enjoy!

I know a place where... (quick take)

2007-06-28T23:17:00.000-07:00

This is probably the simplest post. Just audio. Something I was writing tonight. At first it reminded me of "needles-I" style, then I came out and made it "adam" style.

It's a rought draft.

I know a place where...

Do you ever have dreams and remember them like they are part of your last or next existence?

Building the Home Studio

2007-06-24T23:35:00.000-07:00

I’ve recorded at more than a dozen semi and fully professional studios in my life. I’ve also spent thousands of dollars on recording gear. My next attempt at recording equity is a plan of a home remodel and gear splurge with materials and gear never before heard of in my recording experiences. I may fall short of the mark on some, but I doubt on others.

Recently I’ve been researching sound-proof drywall materials. When I was a kid I was fascinated with wristwatches that were “water-proof”, of course there were some that were “water-resistant”. My dad always said “water-resistant” was mechanically sound, but “water-proof” was like an apple compared to an orange. That’s kinda what I’m finding out about sound proofing materials. There are several different commercial grade products that work for sound proofing walls when considering drywall and wall based boards according to the “web community”. I recently spoke with a family friend who used one of these materials on a locally contracted install and noted how well it worked. I have no doubt of these products ability, but what really scares me is how much it costs to incorporate it into the remodel.

The first type is a product called QuietRock. It’s a sheet-rock board made with a sound-resistant polymer layer. It’s probably has the product model with the highest STC rating that I’ve seen (at least in my limited searching). This STC (sound-transmission-class) rating of 80 is so effective that a garage band playing in a room adjacent to a listener with a wall with 2 boards of this Quietrock material would seamlessly eliminate the sound altogether. This is the type of sound isolation recording engineers drool over. Of course the advertised cost of this material is 39.99 USD compared to the average drywall sheetrock cost of 5 bucks. So it’s not all that bad, but then when you try and locate a local dealer and get and estimate on board pricing the price jumps to 140 or more dollars. It’s amazing.

The next type of material is called “Suppress” drywall. It’s basically the same thing as quietrock from what I can tell but it goes about sound absorption in a different way. From my understanding it appears they have an optimal STC range of 78. (close enough to 80) This means it’s also a viable product as well, but again the price is about the same as quietrock.

Both QuietRock and SuppressSolutions are from California so distribution is somewhat limited in eastern Iowa and so the cost is higher.

The third product is called “GreenGlue”. That’s what it is. It’s a polymer that has sound proofing qualities. This polymer adhesive is to be applied between sheets of normal sheetrock, like glue is. This glue when compressed becomes a thin sheet of sound resistant material close to the effectiveness of Quietrock or Suppress. I would say the cost of “GreenGlue” is a little cheaper, but you also have to buy sheetrock when you use it and the time involved for hands-on work is also higher.

I haven’t decided what I’m going to do yet. There are user forums out there that I will probably become a follower of, but it doesn’t really matter. Any of these will do wonders, and I hope I’ll be able to incorporate them into my basement studio remodel.

Pheadrus Alternate Ending

This is a track also part of the “phaedrus ghost” series. It was some sort of ending I envisioned that I didn’t really get around to using. Enjoy.

Unexpected Turns...(Feels Like Home)

2007-06-21T22:08:00.000-07:00

I really am tired. It's past midnight and I've got to get some rest for work tomorrow, but I thought that if I put forth this much effort I might as well publish it to the web. I had about 4 different songs which I had hoped to record on my way home from work this evening (5-6 hours ago). I was excited. I may be jamming on these "new" songs with a friend soon, so I wanted to record them out so we could listen to them once over before practicing them. Unfortunately I had to do all sorts of other things until about 9:30 pm. That's when I picked up my guitar, a keyboard, and the recorder. I went through several arrangments of several songs, but I didn't make it through all the songs I had wanted too. Lucky enough for me they are recorded my my grey matter recorder. Though it is a very volatile memory type. which leads me to the main part of this post.

My experiences have proven to me more than I can count that when it seems that I'll remember something without writing it down I'll surely forget it. That's true even for the coolest riff or lyric. So I've learned to compensate with several ad-hoc methods of transcription and recording. I won't detail the transcription method because it's worth it's own post, but I'll just say I created a mathmatical music/tablature notation that I use to write rythms and melodies for new riffs. I also use (in the vehicle) a radio shack digital voice recorder for mental vocal notes when I come up with a riff or lyric in my head. This is probably the best 20 dollar gift ever given (from my youngest brother gus several years ago). I use it all the time. One time however I had to clear out the memory for someone else to use for something and I think I lost some pretty good guitar riffs, but that's just the way it goes. I'll use that in another post too. Those riffs I can't dwell on. I have to view them as "old" and move on, which leads me to tonights audio...

Feels Like Home!

This song was manufactured through perserverance. I didn't even think of vocals until the end and then only did this because it was easy. I was actually surprised becase I thought the idea of vocals over the piano and guitar would sound terrible, but it has a very organic sound to it. Tell me what you think, because I know the last post had some bad recording.

p..s. Don't worry I'll re-record that and it'll sound good!!!

Student , Student, Teacher, Student, Student, Sit down class!

2007-06-18T21:56:00.000-07:00

Taking a look back I forgot to mention something I should have. I don't know how many times I have heard over the years about people taking "lessons" for instruments they learn. Then others that seemed to be virtuosos at their instrument who never took one lesson. Is taking lessons important? I can say that it definitely is. I only wish I would have done it more.

I took guitar lessons from one teacher for whom I paid to take lessons. I think I must have been 16 because I remember driving an old Chevy caprice through Marion at mid afternoon. I must have been 16-17 years old. This instructor J. Dowdall was in his own right an accomplished musician and his wife played flute in the Cedar Rapids symphony which is why I got pushed in his direction. (My mom played violin in the Cedar Rapids symphony orchestra) They (he and wife- A. Boland) also played together in a medieval guitar/flute duo which was somehow funded by the state because it fell into the "resurrecting the dead arts" part of the state's budget. At first I took lessons from him at a classroom at Coe College and then later at his home in Marion. He taught me finger style playing. More specifically he tried to teach me flamenco guitar. It's more of a rhythmic Spanish style guitar which embodies percussive right hand technique. I learned a lot, but I forgot just about as much. I wish I would've kept it up, but I really wasn't the type to assimilate myself with that type of formalization. I learned a lot later from other teachers when they weren't really in their "teacher mode".

I remember I tried teaching guitar lessons a few times. I taught my friends K. Dodd and C. Anderson to play some things on guitar over a period of lessons. They always paid in beer, usually MGD, which was quite affordable for college aged guitar students. I also taught my younger brothers’ friend Travis some things. I spent a bit more with him on theory. (Diminished scale and its uses, etc.) Altogether I could probably do that again, but it's not my strongpoint.

Tsunamis vs. Sand Castles

Here's a track I put together quick tonight. Sorry for the weak parts, I really just wanted to get this one out of the way before I forgot it. I wrote these terrible lyrics and so-so melodies and rhythms and recorded within a half hour. Not bad!

Most proven and cost effective : Part 1

2007-06-16T21:45:00.000-07:00

This will be the start of my "Most proven and cost effective..." series of posts. These will pertain to tools and/or items related to writing/recording/performing and/or the instruments involved in doing so.

There are several levels of this topic. For one, cost effectiveness is still a relative term. For example, what would be cost effective for me might be over-indulging for someone else, so I'll include several items for each post which should cover the lowest tier of cost.

An item that should be at just about anybody’s disposal which is essential to recording or playing in a band is adhesive tape. The most proven and effective types of tape needed by the performing/recording musician are (in order of importance...) masking tape, Duct tape, and electrical tape.

I'll describe Duct tape's uses first. Duct tape is a heavy and durable adhesive tape. It's also bulky and hard to ply and prepare. The most identifiable use of Duct tape is to secure loose cables to a floor or wall to prevent pedestrians from tripping over them during a gig. Another use of duct tape, of course, is to fix a tear in a fabric or to secure a loose or broken fitting on a stand or support structure. I've used duct tape on microphone stands, and clips, on drum and cymbal stands, and on loose fittings among other things. Recently there are various forms of "Duct Tape" including clear, gaffer, and camo. I think the "camo" would be well worth investing in!

Electrical tape is also a very essential and cheap tool for the performing and studio musician. Its worth cannot be measured when rewiring or adding components to a system. I've needed electrical tape to bind wires when splicing a problem instrument cable or guitar pickup wiring harness.

Having a roll of electrical tape is priceless when you use it, but usually it costs only a few dollars.

The last type of adhesive tape is probably the most proven and cost effective. Masking tape has so many uses it is a necessity for musicians. I've used it for nametags for my equipment (along with a sharpie) and cables.

It's very useful when there are cables that need to run from one output jack to a different inlet jack. In the recording studio masking tape is useful in quieting resonating buzz of drums and/or other acoustic surfaces. I've used masking tape on bottom heads to deaden their surface sound so that it doesn't bleed into the top head microphone capture. The probable cost of a good role of all three of these tapes would cost less than ten U.S. dollars currently and it's well worth the investment for the musician.

The second tier of my "most proven and cost effective" items will now switch to microphones. I have to say that when it comes to microphones cost is the most limiting factor for quality, but that's not always the case. Over the years I have found that there are 2 reliable, proven, and cost effective models that are well worth their price. These are the Shure SM-57 and SM-58 microphones. I would give more respect to the SM-57 than the SM-58, but truly either one is worth the investment. For an all purpose instrument mic the SM-57 is cost effective and well beyond reliable. They are built like a tank and I've known them to be completely submersed in water and still work like a charm days later. They do not have a complicated design so they tend to NOT need any maintenance or component replacements. The SM-57 has a great frequency response and is very directional. I would be happy if a sound guy only had them for mics.

In my recording experiences I've used SM-57s for vocal recordings on many occasions. I would say of any mic it's the one I would need if I were left stranded on a deserted recording studio island.

Phaedrus Ending 1

This track was put together not really related to the "Phadrus Ghost" track from last time. It was more of a guitar idea that I felt channeled some Satriani rhythm feel when I composed it, but then later felt it could work with "Phaedrus Ghost" recording. Honestly I can't see any vocals working with this idea, but I do see some different guitars. I'll probably let this sit, because I have so many other ideas to use for songs, but it's worth a post.

Backstage Graffiti

2007-06-13T21:16:00.000-07:00

All venues are unique. Maybe it's the clientele or architecture that is memorable. Sometimes it's the dim lighting, the famous mushroom Swiss burger on the menu, how smoky a place is, or how many burn holes are on the pool (billiards) tables. It could be the tin ash trays, fake oak paneling, or the cigarette butts in the urinals. It might be the expensive bottle only beer or the polo pressed shirt on the bartender to the blue collar types. It could be the paint chips falling off the ceiling, the non-functional toilets, or the Golden Tee game in the corner. These were all distinguishing marks of venues that I played at over the years. Whatever it is there is always something that makes a venue unique. This is also true for musicians.

Nearly every venue that I have played had some sort of way for the bands to advertise them selves. Many places had a bulletin board that served as a calendar of events for the venue. Often times there would be the resident dart league's standings or tournament schedule visible to the public. Sometimes there'd be advertisements for "wing night" or "karaoke night". This is common in small town Iowa bars. Some places would allow a band to post flyers (concert posters) on the windows of the main doors to the establishment.

Some other venues would advertise in the local midweek periodical called "The Penny Saver". This often placed a graphic of the venue along with some text about weekly and upcoming events. In order for a band to have its logo posted in the publication the band would have to have it submitted to the editor no later than the preceding week of the Wednesday delivery. Occasionally the Penny Saver would do a spotlight on a local artist. This meant several hundred words would be printed in the format of an exposé/interview with the band and their origins and meaning behind the music. Usually a picture would accompany the article. Perhaps the most prestigious method of advertising was through the local radio stations. In the late 90s and into the early 2000s there were two rock radio stations locally. (KFMW out of Waterloo and KRNA out of Cedar Rapids) Solder was lucky enough to have several ads played on air over various concerts with small sections of audio clips played of the bands songs.

The most memorable area for a band to advertise its name was in the backstage area known as the "green room". Not every venue had one, but the ones that did seemed more hallowed than the others. "Gabes" in Iowa City had a side-stage room about the size of a broom closet that was a notable area for touring bands to tag their name. It was interesting to enter this room after a gig with a sharpie in hand armed for a territorial pissing only to see the names of "Dinosaur Jr.", "Nirvana", or "L7" scribbled on the wall. Yes, this is part of history and it's probably been painted over by KILZ primer by now. In Cedar Rapids "Big Dogs" had the same sort of room although it was a bit larger and up a set of worn stairs. There were all sorts of signatures on the wall from the likes of "Poison" to "Sepultura" and there were all other sorts of comments common to bathroom urinals. With this stroke of the pen or sticker a band took immeasurable pride advertising itself along side the greats of rock history.

Phaedrus Ghost

Here's a song that I tracked a little earlier this year. I didn't end up putting any lyrics or vocals over it. Actually I tracked a guitar as the melody instrument, but the vocals were supposed to take this line. I sent this to my friend Scott to see if he could find anything to add to it. I haven't taken the time to do anything with it so this is where it stands. I named it after a reoccurring theme in a book I was reading at the time.

Zen and the Art of Guitar Maintenance: Part 3

2007-06-08T20:56:00.000-07:00

Neck adjustments

This is probably the area that I have the hardest time with.

The structure of the guitar at first glance may appear rigid, fixed, and straight. This is not how a quality instrument is supposed to behave. The neck of the guitar is supposed to have a natural curve to it (like a bow and arrow). Depending on whether the guitar is a neck-thru or bolt-on neck it will change how the curve is affected. Guitars made out of wood will have neck curves that change with varying conditions of humidity and/or string tension. Sometimes heat and age can also affect the curve of the neck.

To address this issue guitars are equipped with a truss-rod. It's a sort of vertebrate or structural stabilizer for the neck. The truss rod is typically a bolt that runs the length of the neck which connects to a torque plate or base fixture. Tightening a truss rod will push the curve of the neck away from the strings and loosening the truss rod will allow the string tension to curve the neck towards the strings. The curve is not supposed to be too exaggerated though for it will cause the fret board to lose intonation. The curve should provide enough space for the strings to have enough room to vibrate in their natural elliptical pattern, but not too much space otherwise the overall length of the string from nut to bridge will be affected and will alter the pitch accuracy of the fret board.

The action of the strings need to be considered when adjusting the curve of the neck, but a good rule of thumb is to notice a distance of no less and no more than 2-3 playing cards between the string and the fret board at the 3rd fret when pushing the strings down to the fret board at the 6th fret. When making adjustments to the truss rod 1/4 to 1/2 turns should be made at a time. Applying pressure on the neck with the hand is also needed to give the neck an added push to adjust to its new position. (Full adjustment may take from 1-12 hours - sometimes it's best to leave it overnight). Although truss rod adjustment is a painful maintenance procedure it is vital to having a beautiful sounding and playing instrument.

When I worked at the music store I would get many requests for guitars that have terrible action or bad intonation that were bought at a chain retail store like Wal-Mart or Sears. From these experiences I have seen that these guitars are often manufactured from cheap or veneer materials, sometimes not even wood, and usually have no truss rods. They are not meant to be a usable instrument, just a toy. If you may own one and think it needs an adjustment just save your money and buy a real guitar and throw the old one in the toy box or sell it at your next garage sale.

Here's a version of a song that I recorded recently during one of the first few jams with a friend of mine Noah. We haven't done anything since with it, but it's pretty cool, and quite different from what I usually do in a band.

F#maj7add2

I guess it's an attempt at fusion. Noah's on drums and I'm on guitar.

Visualizing Sound...

2007-06-06T23:12:00.000-07:00

The other day I was listening to a radio segment about counter culture art. Hippie, Acid, Tie-Dye, etc. A portion of it went into the nature of art exhibition as transcendent to the physical nature of the object we commonly refer to in visual art. Though this is an interesting topic of its own I will continue with something else the story brought up. According to this program people would often experience "Synesthesia" when high on drugs. This phenomenon is described as the ability to see sounds or music in the visual spectrum. Some describe it as seeing colors when listening to music or some even attribute other sensations not attributed to the auditory senses. I found this topic interesting, but was also a bit concerned that they mentioned drug use as a prerequisite for this ability. I have always thought of music in visual terms and, unless I'm completely oblivious, am not always high on drugs. I've always seen notes as colors and harmonies as blends or mixtures of colors. I have always seen musical dynamics as shading and tempo as movement. I don't view paintings or pictures when I hear music, but I see scenes of color. In the basic chromatic scale I see the following colors:

A : red

A#/Bb : orange

B : brown

C : yellow

C#/Db : Dark Gold

D : Blue

D#/Eb : dark Blue

E : Black

F : Grey

F#/Gb : Silver/White

G : Green

G#/Ab : Olive

This may seem abstract. I would guess that psychologists would have several arguments about the nature of this belief or behavior. Is it a learned or intrinsic belief/behavior? Is it a projected behavior? Is it a perceived behavior? Is it associative behavior? Is it coincidence? These are things I can't say I have an answer for. In some senses it may be associative. When changing strings on the guitar some of the string beads are color coded and often they correspond to this color scheme I described above, but I don't know exactly if that's an adequate explanation. It's not like colors stream through my conscious mind and alter my visual perceptions of reality. At least not in a direct sense. I don't feel that's the case. I feel it's very much a part of how I view the world. I'm always looking for a new way to look at things. Not that I'm strictly a visual person, but I do find hyperbole, metaphor, and abstraction in most of my experiences.

It's almost always in my creative approach to music that these colors seem most vibrant. In fact when I'm listening to a piece from a composer who's trying to paint a picture I can often see that picture and colors without using my own color scheme. For example when I listen to George Frederick Handel's "Water Music" I don't see Green Water or Grey water for the movements in the key of G or F, but it is a bit interesting how the keys Handel uses for this work is what I would consider the Earth colors of my scheme above. (G-Green/Brown/Blue, D-Blue/Silver/Red, F-Grey/Red/Yellow)

I think it's important for artists to be able to think in these terms to express themselves. Music and sound is much more than frequencies and volumes. It is the ethos, the passion, and the magic of the soul.

I might expand more on this at a future time, but for now I'll try an experiment. I'll write a small piece in the Key of G and I'm wondering if anyone will see any of the colors I listed above. Yes, I wrote it with the idea being that it'd be in the Key of G and I'd use a minimal number of instruments, 1 guitar track, 1 piano track , and 2 vocal tracks. It's rough, but I actually like it.

Earth

In the Garage

2007-05-29T21:51:00.001-07:00

I just bought a Korg X50 synthesizer. It's an amazing keyboard synthesizer. I'm not truly a keyboardist, but I can play a little. I bought it as a song writing and recording tool, and perhaps it will evolve into a performance instrument as well.

I had it set up in the living room on a keyboard stand. Yesterday I watched my dog rush by the synth and somehow pull on the power cable knocking the synth to the floor. I was stunned. I placed it on it's stand and pressed the power button... No lights. No sound. It wouldn't power up. I was so upset. I just spent over 700 bucks and it was broken. Well, I am an engineer and my job is to figure out problems and solve them. I ended up going through the tedious process of unscrewing about 50 screws and finding the power adapter circuit board with a component that had a hairline break on one of the anchor wires. I had to re-solder it (no pun intended) and eventually it worked. I felt better, but now instead of having a solid wire there's a piece of solder holding it together. I hope to find a replacement component or board from Korg.

When playing in a band long enough situations arise that include failures of equipment that can turn a gig into a nightmare. I broke guitar strings during gigs, Thomas broke drum heads and sticks countless times. I changed strings before every gig because anything less than a fresh string would probably break during the gig. There were several gigs where this came back to haunt me. Once in Gulfport, Illinois this was true. (This was during the Solder timeframe) In Gulfport bands didn't start to play until after midnight because of the liquor sales code. The 'last call' was 4 a.m. in Gulfport instead of the 2 a.m. for Burlington. So people would cross the river from Burlington to continue thier partying into the early morning hours in Illinois. Since I had more time before the bands were to start playing I chose to change strings. Unfortunately the guitar had a floyd rose system and I must have chosen to change gauges of strings because the angle of the bridge kept creeping higher after each tuning. We were scheduled play within a few minutes and I still hadn't gotten the guitar in tune. Eventually I did, but it took more than an hour. It is extremely advisable not to change string gauges the night of a gig, it takes a day for the guitar to acclimate to the new string gauges.

We finished the gig and it was a late night. We were done at close to 4 a.m. well after load out and had a one and a half hour drive ahead of us to get back home. During the drive home I was getting dilerious from exhaustion. Thomas and I drove together. We tried playing the radio really loud. We tried driving with the windows down. We did this to try and stay awake, but it wasn't working. We were falling asleep while going around a curve in the road as it sloped off into a cavernous gully only to wake up jerking the wheel back to the road. We used this adrenaline to make it to the next available pull off to try and sleep a few winks.

(Some of these events may have taken place over several trips to Burlington or Gulfport) The next day I couldn't seem to locate my guitar among the gear we brought back. I called Gary and asked him and he said he didn't have it either. I felt the color drain from my body. I know I must have looked like a ghost. Gary had the phone number of the guy who'd set up the gig so we called him. His name was Rich M. We asked him if he happend to find a blue Ibanez guitar at the bar and he responded, "Dude! You lost your dick!" That's about what it felt like. Luckily he had kept it safe and sound in his bar office. I think this shows the goodness of humanity. Gary and I drove down there the following night and listened to 'Powerman-5000' most of the way.

This following audio track is a song I started to write in early 2007. In fact it was probably early January 2007. I call it 'In the Garage', because that's where I came up with the melody. I was looking for some document that somehow got thrown in the trash and was sitting under heaps of garbage in a sack in the garage waiting for trash pick up. (probably a late invoice or bill of somesort) I don't know but this is a story that most people can relate to so I'm telling it. I spent several hours going through the garbage piece by piece looking for document only to realize that I'd placed it somewhere else. During this episode though I sat on a chair in the garage whistling a tune that I thought I could turn into a song. In the garage it sounded beautiful. The natural reverb of the garage made the melody sound like a chorus of angels from heaven on high. It's almost like singing in the shower... well actually the bathroom in my house is a very vibrant acoustic room too. So I decided to track down a few riffs and see where it took the song. I haven't done anything with it since. But here it is...

'In the garage' - Adam 2007

Flashbacks and other things...

2007-05-21T21:53:00.000-07:00

Yes 2006... You may have noticed that the last several posts have been different from the rest of the blog. This is by design. I feel there's so much about playing in a band that can't be revealed through a memoir approach, so I chose a side story in the form of a descriptive exposition. I'm going to go back to the timeline of musical experiences for now to keep up with where it should be.

In 2006 not a lot happened with me musically.

I forgot to mention a few things about 2005. This was the year that Dawn formed her current band "The Jodie Foster Connection" and the year they played their first private and public gigs. I should say that after their first public gig with a local band called 'Fresh White Bread' at a bar in Czech village called 'Czech Quarters Pub', and after most of the band members left after playing, I somehow began playing guitar with a drummer of another local band "Neutral Red". (After drinking way too much) The mixture of mistakes and riffs sounded like... crap, but nobody was there to really care. At this point I became more of a 'Roadie' than a band musician, but it's still being involved in the scene.

After my Uncle's death in 2004 (love you Uncle Marshall!) Our family began a tradition of playing various religious songs each August at Ellis Park in a pavilion that was used as a nave for religious services. We'd play church hymnal songs and other spiritual songs with me on guitar (acoustic) and my brothers (both Kyle and Gus) on violin (and my mom too). Aunt Steph would play too. Sometimes she'd play acoustic guitar and others she'd strum the autoharp and/or sing. Family practices would involve my brother totally extrapolating a nerdy vocal approach to the song which meant some relative going into cardiac arrest due to laughter. So this started in 2004, but followed each year.

As far as writing was concerned I was still in the vagabond stage of an artist. Sure I had been using my mind to create musically, but I hadn't built anything as far as songs. I had tons of "riffs" or vocal ideas, but truly nothing came out of 2006. About the most fun I did in 2006 was go on vacation with Dawn and my son Jacob to Colorado to visit Thomas and play songs and riffs on the acoustic guitar in the mountains. We were searching for an access road to a mountain spot, but it seemed like every road in Ft. Collins was underconstruction. Eventually we found our way (after stopping at a liquor store). Later we drank a case of beer high up in the mountains overlooking the Horsetooth Reservior. Gosh I feel bad about that because I relied on Dawn's driving (because she was a DD that night to go through the mountains, and some of the roadways in those areas were narrow and scary). Altitude drops and tiny city lights in the valleys below are both beautiful and frightening. It was good and musical.

One area of note in 2006 (at least I think it was 2006) was my involvement in recording the demo for Dawn's band. Although it's not my playing or music it is something I did musically for that year, so I'll link it to my blog. Here's a link to their myspace page. On this page they have the songs used on their demo which I recorded for them using the Roland VS-1680 which shortly there after I sent to Thomas who uses it currently as his recording tool.

JFC Demo 2006

Zen and the Art of Guitar Maintenance : Part 2

2007-05-14T21:15:00.000-07:00

Cleaning, Conditioning, and Polishing

Because the guitar is made from wood it tends to need periodic conditioning and cleaning. Keeping the surfaces clean and maintained will improve the sound and playability of the instrument. The fret board is crucial to a rich sound from the guitar. If the fret board is dirty or dried the sound of the guitar will become muted and empty. To fix this or prevent it from happening, the fret board should be conditioned periodically. A good time to do this is when changing strings. When the strings are removed the fret board is ready to be cleaned and treated.

First it needs to be cleaned. A good method involves using a PH neutral (or slightly basic) surface cleaner such as a Windex and spraying it on the fret board and letting it sit for a few minutes to work out some of the dirt and oils that have become enamored into the grains of the fret board. This subject is quite controversial among guitarists like Coke vs. Pepsi, or Ford vs. Chevy. Some would say my suggestion is actually bad for the fret board. Some suggest using orange or lemon oil to clean. It's not uncommon for the first few frets near the nut to be the dirtiest (these are played most often with the left hand). After it has sat with the cleaner for a few minutes a cleaning pad or rag should be used to work out the rest of the uncleanliness. (Some use scotch brites or cleaning wool, but depending on the hardness and treated nature of the fret board, this could bleach or cause unwanted markings on the fret board) After this has been done it should be wiped clean and allowed to breathe for a few minutes. The wood is an organic material and shouldn't be left dry. If it is it will eventually warp, shrink, or crack. It is essential to treat the fret board throughout its life. For many players the natural oils from their hands and fingers add this treatment, but there are products designed specifically for this purpose.One I use primarily on rosewood or ebony (dark) fret boards is called "guitar honey". I put a drop or two on each fret spacing and massage it into the wood with my fingertips and let it sit for a few minutes to let the wood absorb the oils. After a while I wipe free any non-absorbed oil (guitar honey) and move on to putting the strings on. Like I stated before, some use orange or lemon oil for fret board treatment. I use lemon oil for maple necks. The best body surface treatment is usually a clean wipe with a chamois, but occasionally a good polishing is needed. "Martin" makes a good polish. Conservatively sprits it on the body and chamois it in using circular patterns with the cloth until the polish disappears and a clean finish is left. (Be sure not to put the polish on the fret board or the electronics).

Sometimes the polishing cloth can't make it into every crack or corner. It is a good idea to have canned air around to detail out any dust cracks. Some wax their guitars for added shine and luster. I don't really do this, because it seems a waste of time, but it does make the guitar stand out. There is a specific wax recommended for guitars called Carnauba wax. This should be waxed on like a car with smoothed and polished coats circled on to give a clear shine.

...

I know it was also sometime in the spring of 2006 that I played around with arrangements for some 80s songs. I recorded a heavy version of a Susan Vega song, "Luka". I can't seem to find this. I also worked with Dawn on an arrangement of a 80s theme song for the television show "Facts of Life". I can't seem to find this either. here's a quick version of "Luka" that is similar to what I recorded then. (Yes! This is someone else's midi version, I spent a few hours going over trying to record a remake and thought it wouldn't measure up. I'm sure I'll do it again. It's a good song.)

Luka (Audio Link)

Zen and the Art of Guitar Maintenance : Part 1

2007-04-26T21:12:00.000-07:00

Playing guitar takes more thought and preparation than fretting and strumming. Mastery of the instrument includes understanding and maintaining the physical structures of the instrument. I got the idea for this theme from a great book I just read a month or so ago, 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' by Robert Pirsig. I won't try and go overboard with details, but I'll attempt to give a general and yet thorough description of maintenance tasks for the guitar.

What is the Guitar?

The guitar is a musical instrument. As a musical instrument its purpose is to produce sounds that are controlled by a musician. The guitar is more precisely a 'plucked' stringed instrument which means it produces sound through the vibration of strings in the general form of 'plucking'. A Guitar is made up of various physical identifiers. It nearly always has a neck, a fret board, a body (sides and back), a set of strings, a bridge, and a nut. It generally is made from wood and has a resonance system, frets, a headstock, tuning pegs, and strap pegs. It is likely to have a pick guard, a case, a truss rod, and a heel or neck-joint. Depending on its type or style it may also have a saddle, inlay, a whammy bar, tension strings, bindings, lacquer finish, or a rosette. In some instances it may even have the aberratious additional neck or some other strange physical attribute that doesn't allow it to be easily categorized by the before mentioned terms.

These attributes can be sub-categorized into systems because of the way they work together to contribute to a common purpose. The guitar has the following systems. The resonance system is responsible for the natural "non-electrified" sounds of the instrument. This includes the sound chamber of the body, the sound hole, the type of woods and finish, the type of strings, the type fret board, and sometimes additional features as well. The tension system is responsible for providing a balance of tension between the strings of the guitar and the body and neck of the guitar. This helps keep the strings in tune and the instrument playable by keeping the intonation correct. This system includes the types of strings, the style and size of the body and neck, the height of the bridge, the tension springs (on a Floyd-Rose bridged guitar), the nut settings, the tuning pegs, and the tension rod. The electrical system is responsible for any electrical traffic on the guitar. This includes the pickups, any switches, knobs, input jacks, batteries, circuit boards, and wires. Knowing these parts and systems of the guitar and how they work together is important to keeping a guitar properly maintained.

Changing the Strings

One of the more typical types of guitar maintenance is changing strings. Changing strings become necessary when a string breaks or becomes rusty from humidity or exposure to oils from skin contact. It's a good rule of thumb to wipe down the strings with a dry cloth after each use, and store the instrument in a case rather than let it sit on a stand where the elements can affect it over long periods of time. Changing the strings is also necessary when cleaning the guitar or when switching between string gauges. I always put a fresh set of strings on before each gig when it was possible. Guitar strings are fairly inexpensive. (< $10) The tools needed for changing strings are minimal. A needle-nosed plier, a wire cutter, a rag or cloth, a set of Allen wrenches and for Floyd-Rose bridges a shim. It's good to have a clear, well lighted work area to change strings, but it's not necessary. I often clear off a spot on a flat surface and lay down a beach towel for protection. Changing strings usually takes 2 steps, and depending on the bridge type may include going back and forth between these steps for each string or all at once.

The first step is the removal of the old strings. On a standard guitar with a fixed bridge all the strings can be removed at once. For acoustic instruments this means placing a thin cleaning cloth on the bridge pegs that hold the strings to the bridge and using a small pliers (sometimes a needle nose works best) to clamp around the pegs with the cloth as a buffer to no scratch or mark the pegs and wiggle them back and forth until they are all free. On Floyd-Rose bridges the strings should be removed 1 or 2 at a time by using a shim, pencil, or eraser and placing it under the bottom of the bridge to set the bridge in an artificially fixed position. To get clearance the whammy bar may have to be used by pushing forward to allow the shim to be slipped under the bridge. After the shim is in place the Allen wrench will have to be used to loosen the anchoring bolt at both the bridge and the nut of the guitar for each individual string. The string usually comes off after a minimal number of turns.

Each new string will have to be placed into its anchor position of the bridge. For acoustic and standard bridges this means threading the string into the bridge so the strings anchoring bead or ball is behind the bridge plate. For acoustic instruments the bridge pegs will have to be pushed down to keep the string anchored. (The excess string will have to be pulled snug against the peg or during tuning the peg will be forced out of its hole) On Floyd-Rose strings the anchoring bead or ball should be clipped off using a wire cutter. The cut tip of the string should be threaded into the string clamp of the Floyd-Rose Bridge and then tightened using the Allen wrench. (For Nylon string instruments the proper method for fixing strings to the bridge is quite complicated and I won't discuss here.)

The next step for each bridge style is setting the other end of the string on to the tuning peg and winding the slack of the string. The string should be threaded through the eye of the tuning peg without winding at first completely pulling slack to a taught tension. The amount of slack can then be determined for each string by putting a hand sideways at the twelfth fret under the string so that the pinky finger is resting on the fret board and the thumb is pushing against the string. This is an adequate amount of slack for winding around the tuning peg.

With this amount of slack the first turn of the string should be done by manually wrapping the string around the peg. On the first wind the direction of the string should determined so that the wind puts the least amount of stress on the nut of the guitar. The peg should end up with the string wind coming off the side of the peg so that the string has the straightest angle to the nut parallel to the strings on the fret board. The first wind should be pushed so down so that each additional wrap occurs above it on the peg. (This keeps the string less likely to fall out of pitch once it's tuned) Then the tuning pegs should be wound until the string is again taught and ready for pitch tuning. This should be done for all strings. When this is done the strings should be manually stretched.

This can be done by pulling on the string with a free hand at the 12th fret out several inches repeatedly. After several iterations of this the string becomes set and is now ready to be tuned using a tuner. On a Floyd-Rose bridge guitar the anchor bolts for the nut need to be tightened using an Allen wrench and the shim needs to be retrieved from under the bridge. The strings should be manually tuned using a tuner and by making manual adjustments with the tuning pegs. This should conclude the changing of strings.

...

For the audio this time around I'm going to cheat a little. I posted my holiday music that I recorded in 2005 in an earlier post, so I won't repost it. That was probably the last thing I recorded from 2005. In the spring of 2006 my mom asked me to record one of her students playing violin for a portfolio resume to be used to get into a music program at a private college somewhere in the Midwest. Here's this recording. It doesn't really have anything to do with my writing, but it should give a little idea of other musical jobs that crept into my life at some time or another.

Violin Demo (Audio Link)

Guns, God, Gays...

2007-04-20T19:43:00.000-07:00

This post is probably best described as an extension of the last one. Another ounce of creative discharge was emptied into the recorder a few weeks later. I used a filter on the vocals to add a little warmth and focus. This filter was a 'bull horn' emulator. It basically was a distortion setting with a small speaker emulator giving the sound a sort of retro 'AM radio' feel. I often used this to record scratch vocal tracks because it made the vocals stand out without having to mix them or go through the tedious process of EQing, filtering, mixdown, and retracking that costs a lot of time. I tentatively called this song "GGG". Which represented "Guns", "God", and "Gay". I just had inspiration strike when I was thinking about the hypocrisy of so many religious platforms. (warning : link is disgusting)

GGG (Audio Link)

After GGG I didn't do much recording. I did a lot of riff writing and jamming around on the guitar by myself. I actually worked on my chops quite a bit. I found that I was really in need of a right hand tune up and I needed to work on smoothing out the transitions from different positions on the neck. I also worked on various stretched arpeggios and string skipping techniques. This cost me some writing and recording, but it was necessary for my evolution as a song writer.

A month or two later Dawn had a band that was just forming. In fact they were having trouble finding the last few people for the band. Dawn wasn't entirely excited about this band, but wanted to get something going in order to network in the music scene. The bass player was naive when it came to the workings of a band. It's hard to explain this without sounding outright rude, but here goes. He thought it was ok on drums if you didn't have a bass drum if you were playing a rock beat. He'd do stupid things like plug a cable into his bass after the amp was at full volume causing the cable contacts to send excruciating clips and pops through the speakers. He didn't know how to count to 4 (this is important for syncopation). He often switched keys even though the song didn't. He was always complaining about someone else in the band wasn't doing something right even though he was the one making the mistakes. He complained the volume was too loud. He complained the volume was too soft. He complained the guitar tone was too distorted. He complained the arrangement was too fast, too slow; too much whatever he said was just the opposite from his previous requests. If I were to make a generalization I would say that he really didn't know what he wanted when it came to sound, but he just wanted to be in a band. (A band that he could be in charge of.)

This band had a gig coming up and Dawn was becoming worried that they wouldn't be ready to play because they didn't have a guitarist yet, and they hadn't practiced with their saxophone player even once. I offered to play guitar and joined 3 practices and one gig at Gabe's Oasis in Iowa City. The band was called 'The Almighty Handclaps' and I was there for the beginning. The song selections were terrible and the bass player was bad. The vocalist was pretty good. She had more of a lower range, but also had a powerful voice. The saxophone player was amazing. I mean the best I've ever heard and she could improvise at will. For this gig, the band was setting up on stage to open up for a local Iowa City band, "The Bent Scepters". The P.A. system was playing some strange hip-hop/jazz/progressive-rock song and the saxophonist just belted out some amazing phrase that worked with the song through her instrument just matter of fact-like and continued to warm up. Our set consisted of maybe 5 or 6 songs. It wasn't a bad gig. I pretty much ignored the bass player and tried to stay low key. After it was done I was done with that project and set my sights on 2006.

Leaving Gomorrah

2007-04-18T16:55:00.000-07:00

After things quieted down I still had some 'leftovers' so to speak that had to be drained from the swamp. I had to do this in order to completely clear my mind as to what I would want to do next. I thought at the time that it was part of the 'deciding which direction to go next' with the music, but I think that it was necessary in order to move past the past. It was summer of 2005 when I recorded rough drafts of these 'leftovers'. I basically used everything on the recorder and didn't plug into an amp. I used all of it's emulators for the guitar amps and vocal effects. I used the old mkII drum machine and tracked some generic tracks for a song I thought might be the foundation of the next band I'd form. This didn't happen. This song is cool because it departed from the form I was used to in Needles-I where I'd structure a riff around a particular key. Needles-I songs were in all sorts of keys,

F/Dm,

Trail Of Tears
Sick Of It All
Surreal
Free Yourself

C/Am,

Sands of Time
They Ask Me Why
Down In My Pocket
Jump off the World

E/C#m,

Fishing Song

Bb/Gm,

Not My God
There Comes a Time

D/Bm,

So Crazy
Sunflowers
Story Goes

G/Em,

Over And Over Again
What Is the Meaning of Life

A/F#m,

Blood on Your Hands

and some mixolydian and other modes that aren't exactly attributed to any one 'western' key. For the most part the songs when they had any notes that were accidentals (Free Radicals) these were derived from a diminished root chord and often were performed in a percussive nature so the melody was more eccentric than the rest of the song. This was the style. On these 'leftovers' the songs used a departure from this often making use of melodic minor keys (augmented 7th) and other accidentals that were part of the root structure of the rhythmic guitar sections. This gave a sound to the guitars that was more 'metal' and less 'organic' and also added a level of dissonance that seemed artificial. In either case when the melody made use of the melodic minor or other accidental it sounded richer and more poetic. So in a sense even though these were 'leftovers' they also reflected some evolution on my part as a song writer. This one is the first 'leftover' probably written in June of 2005. This is called 'Leaving Gomorrah'.

Leaving Gomorrah (Audio Link)

Half Full... Half Empty...

2007-04-16T20:30:00.000-07:00

It's true that the writing was on the wall sometime in February or March, although it was in invisible ink. There were certain strains on the band members from various areas of life. Work, family, finances, alcohol, and probably the most powerful of all were the artist's palate. The term 'starving artist' has been used before to describe those who produce art for seemingly no livable wage. I would contend that the best art comes from the hungry artist. The desire to produce is what makes art great. Often times success makes an artist lose sight of this get caught in the vanity of their craft. This hunger to make something that settles the soul is paramount to the hungry artist. Most artists that I've known tend to be their own worst critic and often times throw away their efforts because they feel their work is garbage or that any attempt to continue with it would be futile.

I think the band at this point was at a crossroads. We had cycled through our recordings and were now at a point where we'd either have to start the process all over again and see where it took us, or push ahead with what we had using a different approach to reaching a wider audience. This is where we sort of let the embers burn out and decided not to throw another log on the fire. You know when I heard a report about a band going on 'hiatus' I always wondered what that meant, but now I know. Sometimes an artist needs to detach themselves from their work to find themselves again. Sometimes this takes months or years. I mentioned that the band cycled through the recordings. What I mean by this is that bands often produce 'demo' recordings. Sometimes these are just a few songs, but we often treated it like it was a full length production. In any case I believe most bands have cyclic writing and recording periods. Our latest cycle started with 'sick of it all' and included 'selling people'. Like the weather seasons some of the cyclical recording sessions have overlap and because we had several of the new songs for the new cycle we could see the ending of the last cycle.

Our last band practice was not typical. Brent and Thomas showed up at the house and I was feeling burned out by work and not really excited about practicing that day. I could tell something was up with the guys though. It turns out there were some things that the band needed to talk about. It was about the future. It was about the present. It was about the past. It was hard to find the right words. Thomas requested the bottle of tequila from the liquor cabinet. It turned out that it wasn't all bad. Like any drastic decision can be, this was not mixed with hard feelings. There were feelings of loss. I guess playing in a band is like being in a family. When a band decides to break up or separate sometimes the band members feel like they are breaking trust with their family. We all assured each other that this wasn't the case. Then we drank more Jose Cuervo. The bottle ended up remaining on the outdoor patio until the next day with about 2 ounces remaining.

Over the course of the next several weeks it was like cleaning out the house of a dead relative. When I'd see people around town that recognized me from the band I'd get awkward condolences like, 'dude that sucks'. I had to post final comments on the web site, and close out that account. Brent came over and took his gear off to his house. Thomas was planning his move to Colorado. He came and packed his stuff. It was bittersweet. We all hoped to find the next greatest thing. I also felt at this point that a large weight was lifted off of my shoulders. I had the time to reflect and think about the future, the present, and the past. The audio for this post really should be blank. I think it would be only appropriate to post a neutral sound for this chapter.

~~No Audio Link~~ (Silence)

Selling People

2007-04-13T20:25:00.000-07:00

I have the date written with a sharpie on this CD-R for the bands last written song and its recording of March 10^th, 2005. I believe that the band played this song at 2 gigs. These gigs were probably both at “Tornado’s”. This particular song made use of a new piece of gear that allowed me to overdub guitar parts live. I know this sounds strange, but anyone who’s seen someone do it can understand. Artists like Kt Tunstall are known for this.

This piece of gear is a Boss RC20XL ‘Loop Station’. When I bought this unit it was a brand new product line and very few other products were on the market that did what this did. There was the Line 6 Delay Pod and the Boomerang phrase sampling pedal. There was a Digitech pedal that was just coming on the market too, but I stuck with Boss. Boss is a subsidiary of Roland Corp. and I’ve never used a Roland or Boss product that wasn’t high quality. The unit wasn’t cheap. It cost me $300. This was in 2005. Now you can find them for $250. The idea of this unit was that it could record ‘real-time’ samples or tracks and loop through them. The pedal had a record/play start and stop stomp latching style foot controls. On this particular song the main verse riff was a clean guitar arpeggio. When playing this live I would count in my head the beat and on the down beat of ‘One’ I’d step on the record control and begin to play the riff. The riff would end on the ‘One’ beat again and on this beat I’d step on the stop control. Now the sample was stored in memory and could be ‘looped’ and played anytime using the play and stop controls. I would do this during several parts where I wanted to play additional chords or guitar parts on top of the main rhythm track. I even tried splitting the wet/dry signals to separate amps. In the end this song wasn’t completely worked into a finished product. It is still more of a rough draft, but It gives you an idea of what it ‘could have’ been.

Selling People (Audio Link)

They make everything wrong then call it right
They sing peaceful songs then cause a fight

What they say is a lie because they’ll sell you a river, and they’ll give you desire
Was is something that I could have done
Was it something that forgotten
What they do is a farce because they’ll promise you warmth, and they’ll douse your fire
Was it something that I wanted to do?
But it was too late for me and you.

No Covers Aloud

2007-04-10T21:50:00.000-07:00

I guess it's beneficial to go over what normally 95 percent of all bands ever do. That is playing cover songs. Most bands, if not all, at some point play someone else's compositions. Most bands from Iowa exclusively play other people's compositions. Then there are some who think they write viable material, but play cover songs to get some sort of crowd response. In Iowa, typical audience members do not appreciate what they are listening to unless they find it familiar to them. This is why when a music group writes and performs their own songs most people find it foreign to them and don't pay much attention to it. I find this is a strangely Iowan phenomenon, but not exclusively. When we'd play out of state audience members were far more interested in original composition over cover songs. I've talked with other musician friends that say the same thing. In fact, rumor has it that Frank Sinatra vowed never to play in Iowa again after his first and only performance went underappreciated. (This was supposedly before he had made his name in the business) I don't doubt this rumor.

When I said that cover songs are all 95 percent of bands ever do it's because most bands are short lived. They last a concert, perhaps two then it's over. The musicians go back to their formal places in society and put it all behind them. These are the bands that usually play cover songs and occasionally a single original tune. Then there are the bands that last for years and change names and sometimes change members. These are the bands that play mostly original compositions and throw in a cover tune from time to time. We were the latter. My understanding of the music scene locally made me aware that it was essential that we have some sort of cover song playbook to use in case it was needed. In Iowa it's not uncommon for a band to play all night from 9 until the bar closes at 2. This means playing more than 4 hours worth of material. On occasions such as these the cover song playbook gets opened and used. I was always apprehensive to play cover songs. I felt that if the band was to 'make it' so to speak, then the bands original material should be what the band focused on. I guess that's a bit naive in some sense, but I actually had a "Cover Songs" with a not-allowed symbol covering it on a chalk board in the rehearsal space. Needless to say playing a cover tune in practice can let the stale air out of a session that doesn't seem to be going anywhere and let the fresh creative air back in. I don't know if this is because of the synergism or if it truly inspires creativity, but it often seemed to do this.

Over the years we covered dozens of different artists. Our favorites were Tool and the Beatles. In fact we covered a Beatles tune while Chuck played in the band and through the end of Needles-I. This song, "I want you (She's so heavy)" I couldn't find a recording of, so I decided to do a rendition on the banjo and mandolin. Our version was much heavier, but it's a cover, so I can't really say it was ours anyway.

She's So Heavy (I want you) -- Beatles, (Audio Link)

Another example of a cover song/riff that we did towards the end of Needles-I was the outro riff of 'Freebird' by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Anyone who's played in a band in Iowa has heard the requests from the crowd and almost always someone yells, "play some Skynyrd!". We worked this up more as a joke than because it was great music, and it was hilarious. This riff can literally last hours. It usually ends after changing into some sort of blues groove and then someone get's tired or thirsty and the zenith is followed by a denouement power chord.

Needles-I worked hard to get interest and appreciation for our original songs and performances. I believe our hard work paid off. Towards the end of Needles-I we had a fan base that new the lyrics to the songs and interacted heavily with the performances. I think that's probably the best thing an original band can ask for.

Vowel Phonetics Law

2007-04-08T21:56:00.000-07:00

For this post I think I'll cover a somewhat benign topic. During all those recording sessions I was very aware of a "law" that Dawn created. I don't know if she knows, but really one day I was discussing vocals with her and she mentioned how a certain vowel sound was less appealing than others. This sound was the "eeeee" sound. I began to think about this and concluded that she was right. There were some vowel sounds that were more obtrusive to the ear than others. Just like "ohm's law", or "Moore’s law", this "law" is just as pivotal to understanding the world of aesthetic vocal recordings. Our conversation covered other vowel sounds and eventually through the course of several more recording sessions I found that the law had a somewhat developed depth to it. Of the basic phonetic Germanic language vowel sounds probably the following chart displays it best.

This chart (if you click the link) displays the vowel sounds and provides links to their audio clips. "Dawn's law" for it's most basic principle is that for the typical western audience the "high-er" and "front-er" the vowel sound is on the chart the less appealing it is to listen to. While the "low-er" and "back-er" the vowel sound is on the chart the more appealing it is to listen to. This means sounds like 'aaaah' are better to hear than 'eeeee' on a recording. The next part of this law is the "vowel substitutions can be made from one side of the chart to the next". This means that an "ay" sound such as "hey" or "pay" can be turned into a "huh-ai" or "puh-ai" sound. This changes the delivery of the word and can sometimes make it sound like a different colloquial accent on the recording. This doesn't change the definition of the word. Recording is art and changing the delivery to make it sound better is part of the artist’s toolset. Looking back on Needles-I recordings after I understood this law there are plenty of examples of this:

Chorus to ‘Sunflowers’:

"I wonder why": Both the "I" and the "why" words have the "eeeee" vowel sound, but during the recording the "aaaah" + the "ai" were substituted to make them sound better. Imagine if "Ieeeeeee wonder whyeeeeeee" was recorded. That would sound terrible.

For the audio this time I'll provide a link to several of the songs/riffs we worked on that I described from last post. These were instrumental songs... Enjoy.

Various Riffs/Jams (Audio Link)

Sick of it All

2007-04-03T17:53:00.000-07:00

Now the band was back to its 3 piece form with Thomas on drums, Brent on Bass/Vocals, and Me on Guitars/Vocals. It felt more comfortable like this to me, but after loosing that extra sound of Chuck it took a little getting used to. We had to rediscover the songs from our set list again and also write new ones. We did this with 'Fishing Song'. We even used 'Fishing Song' twice in our set with Once as a clean style, and the second time as a "heavy" version.

During times like this the music in its "instrumental" form became a therapeutic type of healing for the band. We would jam for tens of minutes on a riff or a few riffs and often embellish parts on drums and guitar. We had so many of these types of jams that in essence that's all they became because that's how they seemed to fit musically. Probably dozens more songs could've been made out of that material. We'd often have friends come over to our rehearsal space and listen and drink beer and have a good time. One especially was Brandon S. We also incorporated this instrumental/jam material into our live sets. Often times we'd designate a part in our set list where we'd say we were going to "jam out" a part, or we'd say that there'd be a drum or guitar, or even vocal improvisational section.

On the set list you see here there are markings on the sides. These indicate how we were going to string together the songs and whether a "jam" section or "break" between songs was supposed to happen.

You might notice a song title on the list that's unfamiliar. One of the newer songs we wrote sometime in Jan/Feb 2005 was called 'Sick of It All'. Here's a link to a version of it:

Sick of it All (Audio Link)

This song was never polished up and multitracked. It was basically a rough track that we incorporated into our set list. I'm guessing if we would've spent the time recording it like the other songs it would sound just as good. We played several shows with this song. The shows were located at Tornados.

I should mention one part of playing in a band that's not any fun. This is called "Load In" and "Load Out". These terms refer to the moving of the instruments and other equipment to and from the rehearsal space and the performance venue. Specifically "Load In" refers to the loading of the gear into the performance venue, and "Load Out" refers to the load of gear out of the performance venue. But intrinsically this also meant loading of the gear out and back in to the rehearsal space too. Our rehearsal space was in my basement and we had to walk up and down stairs to load our stuff in and out. I had a truck so I took the big stuff, but not all the big stuff. Load Ins/Outs are especially unpleasant after a long night of playing and after a few drinks. At 3 in the morning being exhausted and unmotivated in a cold Iowa winter's night a truck full of gear is intimidating enough to sometimes ignore until the morning. I would say that over the years of playing the worst places to load in and out of are probably 3rd St. Live (rickety fire escapes in the back) and Gabe's Oasis (now called the Picador) in Iowa City (because of the poor vehicle access and also the rickety steel back stairs that often had a slick coating of ice on them when we played there.)

Peaks and Valleys...

2007-03-31T22:23:00.000-07:00

Now to the last memorable gig of 2004...

This would be our last gig with this line-up. After the 3rd St. Live gig we thought it'd be a good marketing idea to put 'Too Loud For 3rd. St.' on our concert posters. Chuck did so and put together some interesting flyers. This last gig was at Tornados. It was a cramped show as usual, with great crowd response. This gig was a New Years Eve show with the band TenFold who was a local band and friends of ours. What's most memorable about this gig wasn't the music though, but the events that followed. Often times during these events bar patrons become involved in arguments usually prompted by misunderstandings because the rational thought processes are clouded by alcohol and emotions. I am more of a peace-maker and try to diffuse arguments and stop fights before they happen. At this particular show there was something that would push me over the edge. There was an individual who, rumor had it, just got out of prison and was touching women inappropriately throughout the bar. This included a lot of people that I knew and considered close friends. This also included Dawn. At some point I went over to the area of the bar where this guy was and noticed Thomas was heatedly arguing with this guy and it was almost coming to blows. I walked up to this guy (he was much bigger than I was) and screamed at him calling him some name. My screaming was loud enough the bar quieted down to see what was going on. Then a group of people grabbed hold of me to stop me from getting any closer to this guy. I probably looked like some sort of animal, but I didn't care. I totally hated this guy. I think this scared him. At this point a majority of the bar patrons became curious about what was going on and because a lot of them were friends of the band they had began to voice their anger at this individual. Eventually he went outside where more people were confronting him. Eventually there were several punches thrown by various individuals, but I didn't get involved in that. It took a while to calm down, but eventually everyone went on their way home and off to bed.

The next day we came back to pick up our equipment that was still in the bar and I apologized to the bar owner for my behavior. He said there was no reason to apologize and he actually apologized to me for the other guy’s actions. That bar owner really was a nice guy to work with. Honest and trustworthy and very supportive of local music.

Not too much later I came to the conclusion that song writing with the new line-up was more challenging than I originally thought and I really wanted to get back to my roots of a 3 piece band. Thomas, Brent, and me all decided it would only be fair to Chuck if we told him about this. I took on this responsibility myself. On a Saturday afternoon Chuck came over to rehearsal and we were awkwardly hesitant to set up our equipment. I pushed through the prickly situation with my thoughts about moving forward with the band to Chuck. There's no real nice sounding way to do it, but I tried. In my mind Chuck's music is great and his talents are unmatched, but telling him this and telling him we wanted to move on without him probably sounded contradictory. None the less Chuck took the news well. There was some uneasiness, but there weren't hard feelings. Chuck continues to be a good friend. He's now part of several musical acts, including an acoustic project.

I couldn't find a copy of the 1 song we wrote as this line up. I know some of the riffs, but I don't know how it was arranged . I'll post another practice session from that time for this posts audio link.

Practic Session (Audio Link)

Too Loud For 3rd St.

2007-03-25T19:27:00.000-07:00

Another memorable gig from late 2004...

Gary's band Leven was playing at 3rd St. Live in November and had an opening slot open. We took the gig.

3rd St. Live has been through many iterations over the years. It's been The Pyramid, Big Dogs, 3rd St. Theater, and then 3rd St. Live. The bar was always changing, but it was pretty much the same place. The sound system was excellent. The clientele was shady, but it was a rock/metal venue and leather and long hair were commonplace. After the switch to 3rd St. Live the place changed direction. The place lost the ambience it was known for. The bathroom stalls were fixed, but the bar used plastic cups instead of pint jars of draft beer. The back stage room had been painted over where virtually every band had signed their names over the years (like a bathroom stall). The one good thing that remained was the sound system. This system used 30,000 watts of power through EAW cabinets with subs that could shake the paint off the ceiling. The bad thing was the sound technicians (in this case sound guy) changed and didn't know how to run the system.

As we arrived for this gig I got a bad vibe from the sound guy. He was a little self absorbed and clueless. (For example when plugging a cable into the amp the power should be turned off to reduce the chance of wire contacts touching causing a 'pop' and severing the speaker cone from the coil.) This guy didn't know this. He boasted about being offered to run sound with the band Poison.

Thomas, Chuck, and I had played there dozens of times and knew appropriate levels for stage volume. This didn't jive with the sound guy. During our sound check he turned our volume levels down. He was trying to make us turn our amps down, rather than turning up the volume of the P.A. This could have been due to the unwritten code of running sound. It's not even really spoken of and to write it down is kind of sacrilegious. The point of it really is that the sound guy is supposed to make the first band sound like crap and the headliner sound great. I will talk more of sound guys in a future post, but I'll leave the generalities of the craft at this for now.

The guy didn't even know how to make the headliners sound good. We had a few beers and talked to some of our friends. When it was time we took the stage for our set and tested the mics. We started into our first song, Trail of Tears, and part way through noticed the sound system had turned off. When we finished the song the sound guy came on stage and said to us, "you guys are done."

"?"

"I asked you to turn it down and you were too fucking loud. You guys are done", he said as he wrapped up some cables on stage.

I started packing up my stuff. The rest of the band didn't take it so well. They eventually moved their gear, but this almost started a riot. People that paid to hear the band were yelling and provoking aruguments. They were confronting the sound guy. They were at the bar yelling at the bar tenders. It was really out of hand. I think there were several beers that were thrown at the sound guy actually. In all honesty I was pissed off as well. As much as the sound guy didn't like the stage volume, telling us to quit was way out of line. He could've refused to run sound, but he shouldn't have told us to go. It was at this point that some how Thomas and Chuck were talking to the sound guy when the bar manager supposedly kicked us out. I stayed to support Gary's band who was probably embarrassed of the whole situation. I can't say we were completely innocent of all blame, but I do think the sound guy was the root cause of the problem. Later that night there was some sort of altercation between various people related to our band and the bar manager. The police were called, I think there were arrests, and we were told that we weren't allowed to come back to the bar in the future.

I posted a rearrangement of a song called 'save yourself' a while back because I couldn't find the original recording. Actually I came across this the other day and decided that I should post it so here it is.

Save Yourself (Original Version - Audio Link)

Halloween '04 / Battle of Sparta

2007-03-20T20:17:00.001-07:00

It’s here that I should mention some memorable gigs that the new line up played. One gig was a Halloween gig at Tornado’s. This gig everyone in the band dressed up. Chuck was a half Satan and half Jesus, ‘Devus’, character. I was a mountaineer prospector (with fake beard). Thomas had detailed creepy face paints that made him look like a supernatural dead person. Brent did a last minute make-up job.

That night was our first in-state gig with the new line-up. Tornado’s was a very cramped bar to play in. There was no stage. And there were fixed bar tables on the sides of the performance area so that when band members would set up they would either have to set up directly in front of a P.A. speaker which sat on the tables (headache for 2 weeks), or in a back corner making it hard to know anyone was there. When we were a 3 piece band we barely fit. With Chuck there was less space. Not only did we have to worry about another person holding an instrument, but also the amplifier took up space.

We played through our set with a good crowd response and with no big mistakes. Then we took part in the costume contest. I actually made it to the final round. Some statement would be made about the costume and then people would cheer which the judge(s) would score. Since it was the last weekend before the Super Tuesday presidential election I said ‘Hi, I’m the prospector and I approve this message’. That was good enough for winning runner up or something and I got a round of free drinks. Chuck actually won 1^st place and his prize was a free keg party for a future time.

Here’s an audio link of the band practicing with the new line-up. This is just an alcohol induced jam session. Not worth mentioning otherwise. But timeline-wise probably indicative of what practices sounded like.

Band Practice (Audio Link)

As I mentioned last time we put together a press kit for the band which was needed for entry into an out of state competition. It was a metal battle of the bands in Sparta, Wisconsin. This was the week prior to the above mentioned Tornado’s gig and was actually the first gig for the new line-up. Sparta is off of I-90 about 45 minutes north west of Madison. It took about 3 hours to get there and the gig was on a Friday I think.

We were the 2^nd or 3^rd band playing that night, and like most gigs when the band is from out of town there weren’t a whole lot of people in the audience. It really didn’t matter though, for one it was a gig and secondly it was out of state. These were 2 feathers to put in the bands cap, especially since we had a new member.

This place had a cramped stage as well. It was probably a square 15x15'. (That’s not very much) We stayed at a local motel that night with a good friend of ours Brandon S. We ate beef jerky, drank beer, and snacked on Wisconsin Cheese Curds. The liquor laws are weird in Wisconsin. Sparta had about 1 bar to every 12 people and the law stated that you had to purchase all alcohol through the bars after 10 pm.

The one memorable thing I remember from that show had to be about politics though. Like I stated above this was 2 weeks prior to Super Tuesday 2004 presidential election and there were some outspoken George W. Bush supporters there. Somehow the topic of politics and ultimately reproductive rights was raised with a few people around the bar and an argument ensued. These supporters (a couple) had some sort of “Vote W ‘04” campaign sign. In the heat of the argument Thomas took the sign and slammed it on the floor. He then wiped his feet on it like it was a floor mat and went to tear it up before the supporters reached for it mortified.

When we woke up for the drive home we stopped at McDonalds for breakfast. McDonalds always tastes better when you’re on a road trip. Then it was time for home. Brent rode with me and Thomas and Brandon rode with Chuck. Those guys stopped in Boscobel, WI to take pictures of some insect and animal sculptures. On the way up it was too dark to notice, but on the ride home on almost every other front yard there were signs supporting various political candidates. In all it made for a good story.

Plum Full / Demo part II

2007-03-14T17:07:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed my departure from describing performances with this lineup. I wanted to put the focus more on the songs themselves. In some cases I did an adequate job in describing them. In others I failed miserably, but the reason I wanted to focus on the songs is because they were a higher priority for the band rather than playing shows. We did play lots of shows however and most of them were at a bar in town called 'Tornados'. Sort of a dive, but the owner of the bar was very supportive of local original music so we became regulars there. We built up a loyal fan base and had great turn outs.
It was about August/September of 2004 though Thomas got another itch to change things. He had already discussed his idea with Brent and so I was the odd man out. His idea was to have a new guy join our who could add harmonizing vocals and a second guitar to make the sound fuller. This guy was Chuck S. One of the first things we did was to go over all the songs that were part of our set list to see how they'd sound with additional guitars/vocals. It made the sound different. I think for the most part it became hideously loud in our rehearsal space. Chuck played a Mode IV Marshall head and I played a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier. Both those amps even just on 1 would rattle the foundation. After we had the basics down Thomas talked to me about songs that Chuck had written and recorded on his own that might be good to use as material. We listened and he had some good ones. We picked one to incorporate into our set. Here's the audio link of chucks recorded version.

Plum Full - Chuck's song (Audio Link)

We played a few shows like this and then had an opportunity to take part in a 'battle of the bands' even in Sparta, Wisconsin. This even required an entry fee and some press kit. Chuck was much more organized on this front and put one together but we needed to have a new demo due to the line-up change so he put forth the idea of recording at a friend’s studio in Toddville. The studio was his living space which he rented that was actually an abandoned church. This guy was someone we went to high school with so we knew him. His name is Tucker B. He used pro-tools and had a nice set up. We put our gear in the sanctuary of the old church and the control room was used as an office or some other church necessity. We took 2 days to record the demo and it turned out pretty well. Here's the link to this demo.

Demo Part II (Audio Link)

They Ask Me Why (Helicopters in the Sky)

2007-03-12T22:35:00.000-07:00

One of the last songs put on the original demo with the Me, Brent, and Thomas line-up was a song called “They Ask Me Why (Helicopters in the Sky)”. This song actually had a riff in it that had been thrown around during practices with Joe K. on bass.

The song itself underwent a lot of change since then. One major change was the “A” section (ABABC), but we also developed the bridge (“C”) section. There was also a portion that included two-hand tapping on guitar. I didn’t really go overboard when it came to guitar technique. A lot of the stuff I played was a higher difficulty level but didn’t sound like it. This was similar. The tapping in this song probably could’ve been done by one hand, but I use two hands to add a distinctness to it that wouldn’t have been there with picked notes.

Do you remember the post about calling the police because they stole my car? Ok that’s part of this songs meaning. At its core this song is about the government having unchecked power. This is particularly in reference to when Dawn and I were living on 8^th Ave. I remember being woken up nightly for some time. Usually at 1:30ish then later at 3:30ish.

The Cedar Rapids Police Department had a helicopter flying overhead. I’m not a light sleeper, but every night? I don’t think they were just trying to locate some 'on the run' suspect. This was too often. I think they were having fun and it pissed me off. It made me think about how the government is abused. This is happening more and more and right under the populous’ noses. The ironic thing is the religious community doesn’t see how it might limit their rights to worship. This is the longest of the recorded songs on the demo. We played a lot of songs like this though. 8… 9… 10… 20 minute jams. This was our mantra. This became our signature so to speak as a band. We synergized throughout the set.

They Ask Me Why (Helicopters In The Sky) (Audio Link)

Bullshit they say they’ll try
Repent they’ll tell you lies
The records that they seek
They steal my privacy

They knock down my door
And now they just want more
They say they’ll win the fight
To kill the way you rise

They listen when I whisper. They watch me in my head
Their finger’s on the trigger and I’m as good as dead

Good night and say your prayers
Big brother’s everywhere
Be careful how your pray
They’ll hear each word you say

On nation under their god
Their justice is a fraud
Make sure you trust them well
Or else you’ll go to hell

They listen when I whisper. They watch me in my head
Their finger’s on the trigger and I’m as good as dead

Helicopters in the sky, they’re watching you
They’ve got mud in their eyes, but you’re clearly in their view
Helicopters in the sky, they’re watching you
They’ve got dirt in their eyes, but you’re still in their view

Helicopters they’ve got you in their view
Helicopters have got their eyes on you

They ask me why
I tell them everything
Still they ask me why
I wonder why
They ask me everything
No matter how I try
They ask me why
Still they ask me why

Helicopters in the sky, they’re watching you…
They’ve got mud in their eyes, but you’re clearly in their view
Helicopters in the sky, they’re watching you
They’ve got dirt in their eyes, but you’re still in their view
Helicopters they’ve got you in their view
Helicopters they’ve got their eyes on you

Not My G-d

2007-03-11T15:32:00.000-07:00

Keeping with the political theme… In the early part of 2004 the band formed a new song which would be added to the demo recording. The song lyrics though were actually put together by both Dawn S. and Me. During this songs infancy I came up with a generic vocal line for the verses and repeated the chorus line over and over again. Through the walls the translation of my pseudo-lyrics inspired Dawn to form a lot of the content for the verses. It’s really strange how that works, but it’s almost better not to try and figure it out.

During live shows when performing this song we'd go into an extended beginning to the song where Thomas would get a cymbal variation going on drums and I'd have some sort of delay effect on the guitar repeating the opening sound. During this extended beginning I would pontificate about my disillusionment with various government figures such as my favorite target at the time John Ashcroft. Usually people like to complain about government so it got the crowd pumped.

This song is about the perversion of government through belief system manipulation. In more general senses it is about involving religion in politics to find a way to a means even by hypocrisy. Manipulating people by questioning their loyalty to their country or God is despicable, but it works.

Not My God (Audio Link)

It was another day
You took my choice away
And now you’ve charged me
A fee of liberty

What once was mine (love me)
And now is gone (hate me)
Will never return to me
My rights withdrawn (obey me)

And just the other day
You took my voice away
You teach misogyny
Free Speech a mockery

An oath was made (love me)
But you forgot (hate me)
You hold our destiny
But not our thought (obey me)

What gives you the right to tell me you are my G-d?

It was another day
You took my choice away
And now you’ve charged me
A fee of liberty

You laid a path (love me)
That you don’t walk (hate me)
You are hypocrisy
You’re not my G-d (obey me)

What gives you the right to tell me you are my G-d?

You’re not my G-d!

A long with the theme of this song I took part in a political march in Washington D.C. in 2004 it was an amazing experience. Viewing the architecture and landmarks so rich in our nation’s history up close and personal makes the context of the individual’s relationship to the country just that…. At least for now.

Over and Over Again... Again

2007-03-10T23:42:00.000-08:00

The timeline is now as far as 2004, and if not then late 2003. A song that was previously recorded when Noah joined that band (Solder) I had developed lyrically into a new song. The song was “Over and Over again”. This time around I formed the lyrics around the abandonment and disassociation of the political system to Howard Dean as a candidate for the presidential election in 2004. I personally had a lot of respect for Howard Dean, but understood the consequences politically to the whole scheme when he became a lamb on the road to Jerusalem… New Hampshire… South Carolina… Oklahoma… Arizona… North Dakota… New Mexico… California… Texas… New York… South Dakota… Oregon… Washington… Michigan… and then we’re going to Washington D.C. to take back the white house! This new version of the song was based on the idea that center of ideas of the party were rejected with Dr. Dean after he became political baggage. It’s sad because he stood for something and his voice was whitewashed across the board. I’ll leave my soapbox up to song itself and those who want to parse the words.

Over and Over Again… (Audio Link)

Burn your bridges behind you….

It’s not worth their time
An honest mistake
And now they’ll make you pay
They will get you high
Then crash you down
And take it all away

Over and over again
They see it and yet they’re blind
Honestly I’ll never win
I’ll be there but left behind
Sell me down the river

They will make you bleed
Until you’re dry and feed you to the flies
They’re not worth their words
Their worthless words are worthless fucking lies

Over and over again
They see it and yet they’re blind
Honestly I’ll never win
I’ll be there but left behind

Sell me down the river

We also redid a version of a previously posted song ‘Sunflowers’. This version had a different vocal part for the verses and different guitar parts for the verses.

Sunflowers (Audio Link) redux

Was that a sound you hear
Or maybe the worst fear
All in the darkest of hours

Do you see the worst or do you see sunflowers

And so do you gain strength
From all the hours at length
From all the thoughts on life
And death

Do you know of a time you will take your last breath

I wonder why
The less things change the more I try
I see your apathy
You care for you but do you care for me?

So do you have the right
When you become the blight
Repentance for your sould you seek
How can I forgive
How loud does silence speak?

I wonder why
The less things change the more I try
I see your apathy
You care for you but do you care for me?

Trail Of Tears

2007-03-09T20:09:00.000-08:00

I was working on a song that was recorded without vocals. It was the 4rth of July 2003 and I was on my way over to Thomas’ house on F Ave. to help finish up the vocals for it. I heard this NPR radio program called, ‘This American Life’ with the narrator Sara Vowell during a segment. She had an eccentric voice that made her sound more authentic.

This particular day was a rebroadcast, but the theme was patriotism. The narrator spoke of how she found the bitter truth of her relationship to the land of America. She discussed how she discovered her heritage as ‘Jawrokee’ or Cherokee (a nation within a nation – ironically fitting on the day of independence for our nation).

The Cherokee like many other Native American peoples were a displaced group. Their plight was the product of the social conditioning of Americans during the times and by the ignorant arrogance of the U.S. President, Andrew Jackson. (In my opinion the worst) Mr. 20 Dollar Bill was responsible for a lot of Native American hardship, but particularly because he betrayed the Cherokee nation by allowing the systematic lottery distribution of their native lands after offering sovereignty deals to Cherokee representatives. He sold them off into exile in what is the present day dustbowl state of Oklahoma from their original territory in the southeast. (Western Georgia).

On their trek from the southeast to the reservation in Oklahoma many of their people died from exposure and starvation. This trek would be known as the “Trail of Tears” and is memorialized by various landmarks. I encourage anyone who’s interested to listen to Sarah Vowell’s piece. In many ways it sounds apathetic and sarcastic, but in so many other ways it has a depth that touches the soul.

Trail of Tears (Audio Link)

We’ve lost the will to follow
We’ve left behind tomorrow

Where is your will to fly?

Walk in line, Take your time
Turn to tears and wash away

Sacred graves, I left you
Melted heart, I bade adieu

Never joy, the memory
It has the power to renew

Walk in line, Take your time
Turn to tears and Fade away

I recently heard of the Cherokee nation voting on the issue of tribal identity and the expulsion of various groups of slave descendants who had been granted tribal status over the years. It seems like a position neither group would have to deal with were it not for the ignorance of the nation which allowed these injustices to take place. America: Land of the free.

At this time Thomas had a big collection of fireworks. We lit off a bunch of bottle rockets, m80s, and some lady fingers. There were several other people on the same city block doing the same. We happen to get a visit from the police telling us to stop it. Just as they were talking to us several bottle rockets exploded behind them fired from various directions around the block, it was surreal. They told us just to stop and that they had other business to take car of.

So Crazy / Instrumental

2007-03-08T21:24:00.000-08:00

A few posts ago I admitted about how I have lost recordings and coherent memories over the years of songs and riffs I have been a part of musically. I was struggling to remember songs that I/we (the band) had jammed on while working with Noah 2.0. There were many songs. Saying that really doesn’t do justice to the term though. The casual blog reader would think “LOTS!” and then see that I linked 1 or 2 audio tracks and then think “lots”. The truth is I’m thinking we probably wrote somewhere between 6 and 26 songs in that short amount of time. Each one of these songs was probably played a dozen different ways and recorded 3 or 4 different ways. So… That would make anywhere from 18 to 312 different songs. I could only think of 1 or 2.

Funny thing is I just got an email from Thomas saying, “Hey check out my website, remember ‘so crazy’?” At first I didn’t. I usually didn’t write song titles that were overly simplistic unless there was something about it that stood out that I could remember easily. “So Crazy?” No, still couldn’t think of it, but then I listened to the song and immediately it came back to me. Thomas did a good job of recreating this song that was written 4 years ago now. Here’s the song:

So Crazy (Audio Link)

Lyrics: not complete

Inside….

I'm so alive

I’m so crazy….

…in love

I should keep up with where I left off from last time. On the Needles-I demo with the previous audio links there was also an instrumental song. Actually it was almost an instrumental. The whole song was without lyrics until the last few bars. This song too is about the war in Iraq. Here are the Lyrics to the “instrumental”.

Blood on your hands (Audio Link)

So far away...

There’s blood on your hands

Jump Off The World / Sands Of Time

2007-03-05T21:31:00.000-08:00

Generally recording took several days because we'd record each instrument separately. First we'd set up an enclosed environment to record the drums. This meant hanging blankets or carpeting from the ceiling around the drums to deaden any external sounds.

This made playing the drums like playing in a cave, a really hot one. Usually I liked to record drums with six mics. One mic on the kick-drum (close to the beater pad). One on the snare (usually a shure sm-57). One between the rack tom-toms. One on the floor tom-tom. The last two being a split pair of overhead condenser mics for the cymbals. Sometimes we'd add an additional pair of mics if we wanted to record 8 inputs. (One on the high hat, and 1 on the each rack tom-tom rather than between the rack tom-toms) The drums were always the most challenging to set up for recording.

In order not to have any bleed-over (sound from other instruments on the drum tracks) we’d either set the guitar and bass amps up in another room, or plug directly into the headphone mix to lower the guitar sounds. We would wire in a set of headphones for Thomas to listen to while drumming. This wasn't always the most natural because during regular rehearsal there was more freedom to move around. By the time drums were finished we'd be done for the day and next we'd record bass tracks which usually was the easiest to record.

During the week I multitracked guitars. The next weekend I spent recording vocals. I was under pressure to get it done and bring the recordings over to Thomas' house so they could review them. My recording sessions were very intensive because I was writing a lot of the lyrics. I still have a lot of yellow post it notes with lyrics on them from these sessions. (I’ll post them next). Here's a version of a few older Needles-I songs. The first one was known as 'Djin-Djin', but was changed to 'Sands of Time (Colorado)' after adding the vocals.

This song was about looking forward. The song would be good inspiration for Lots wife not turning to a pillar of salt. The reference to 'Colorado' was heaven on earth to the mountain lovers. I don't want to spend an enormous amount of time rehashing the concept here, so here are the lyrics so you can see for yourself.

Sands of Time (audio link)

Out from the night, out from the shadows
On to the light, on Colorado

On and on, what's done is done...

Out from the rain, out from the shallows
On to the day, on to tomorrow

On and on, what's done is gone...

Waiting...

Any given day life can change

The sands of time slip through the cracks
They've gone away and won't come back

Out from the pain, out from the gallows
On to the day, on Colorado

On and on, what's done is done...

Any given day life can change

The second is the newer version of 'Jump off the World'. It almost has rap style vocal line. This song has a bunch of different meaning. I don't want to kill it for anyone who's thought of their own idea, but some of it had to do with my diagnosis with cancer in 2002 and life’s final moments. That's not what happened to me, but it made me reflect on it more.

Jump off the World (audio link)

Jump Off The World

...Had to make a decision the other day
One foot in the grave
...The consequences of which were just hard to say
Time will make us slave
...Do we want to go or do we want to stay?
How will we survive?
...I want to go I want to stay, but if it were up to me we'd fly away
When will we get high?
...We fly so high to the edge of the sky
Why just waste goodbyes
...We look back down and we wonder why
Chances will arise
...How will we know if the truth survives?
Cancer tells us lies
...Are we so high yes we're so high?
It withers and dies

One wish...

...Photographic memories full and bright
Looking back it's clear
...Color pictures fade to black and white
There's only fear to fear
...The clock is ticking and makes us slave
(Yeah...)
...The diggers digging to dig our graves
...The clock is ticking and makes us slave
Justice tells us lies
...The diggers digging to dig our graves
It withers and dies

One wish...

Then one day
I left it all behind
The world changed
I left without my mind
The color drain
I left without...
Turn to grey

Jump Off The World

...Had to make a decision the other day
One foot in the grave
...The consequences of which were just hard to say
Time will make us slave
...Do we want to go or do we want to stay?
How will we survive?
...I want to go I want to stay, but if it were up to me we'd fly away
When will we get high?
We fly so high to the edge of the sky
Why just waste goodbyes
...We look back down and we wonder why
Chances will arise
...How will we know if the truth survives?
Cancer tells us lies
...Are we so high yes we're so high?
It withers and dies

One wish...

Then one day
I left it all behind
The world changed
I left without my mind
The color drain
I left without...
Turn to grey

I don't even hear the words they say
They would never listen anyway

I don't even hear the words they sing
They would never listen...

Down In My Pocket

2007-03-04T18:07:00.000-08:00

We went to work writing new songs, and rearranging old ones. We practiced at Thomas' house until getting noise complaints so then we moved over to Dawn and my house. One of the first songs we wrote with Brent on bass was a song called 'Down in my Pocket'. Here's a recording with a mumble track. It's strange somehow in the heat of the moment inspiration strikes and interesting lyric ideas come out. In this case the bridge section of the song revealed some interesting lyrics that would contribute to a future draft of the song.

Down In My Pocket (Audio Link)

(Lyrics from a mumble track...)

Down in my pocket
I'm searching for change
I'm walking on nails and bleeding
And nothing has changed
Down in my pocket
I'm searching for change
I'm looking for something to lead me
But they're all insane

It’s all about to change...

This was about May-June of 2003. There were a number of other songs written and recorded during this time. About a month after this we recorded our first serious demo together as the new line-up. On this demo was a developed version of 'Down in my Pocket'. This song is probably mostly about what I felt was apathy of the times in regard to the war in Iraq. It's kind of like those surveys that report some preposterous finding like 20 percent of middle school kids can't locate the Pacific Ocean on a map of the world. I feel on so many levels that the seriousness of war was incomprehensible for many Americans, including those directly responsible for orchestrating the process.

Down In My Pocket (audio link)

Lost my mind
Lost my time

Look into the mirror
And all that you see is all you fear

It's all in your head... your mind... your soul

Scared into your place
And all that you feel has been erased

It's all in your head... your mind... your soul

Well before your time
Cost of someone's crime

Down in my pocket
I'm searching for change
I'm looking for something to believe in
But they're all insane
There's a leaking from my heart - what else is left
The reason for living has escaped me - and now I've confessed

It's all about to change
And soon will be erased.

Well before your time
Cost of someone's crime

What is the Meaning of Life?

2007-03-01T21:34:00.000-08:00

I was beginning to think about what would be a good next step for putting together a new band line-up. At this point I had been conversing with several candidates through email and hadn't pulled the trigger on scheduling a rehearsal session. One of the people I'd been considering asking though did get an email from my email address, though I didn't write it. My partner Dawn actually wrote this bass player through my email saying how 'I' wondered if he was interested in jamming. Well normally I might not like that, but in this case it probably wouldn't have happened any other way. I got an email back, then talked on the phone a few times and discussed getting together over at Thomas' house to see how things felt maybe jam a bit and just talk and see where we stood on things. This guy I'm talking about played in another band at the time 'Redline'. His name was Brent E. I was friends will all the guys in that band, but didn't want to jeopardize what they had going so I was apprehensive to ask him to jam with us, but he stated up front that it wouldn't be an issue.

Fast forwarding to the weekend... I showed up at Thomas' house and Brent was already there. They were hanging out watching kung fu movies so I sat down and said 'hey'. We just hung out for a while and then after a while Thomas and Brent passed around a smoke. I passed on that, but cracked open a beer. Then we decided to show Brent a few things we had been working on around that time including the 'Jump Off the World' mix and a different song called 'What is the meaning of Life'. After some more discussions Brent pulled out his bass and we decided to try and jam on a riff or two. We worked through 'What is the meaning of Life' and it sounded pretty 'tight' for a first jam so that was a good start. We then just hung out some more and discussed music, but that was the introduction of Brent to Needles-I. I couldn't find a recording of 'What is the meaning of life' so I decided to re-record an arrangement of it on the acoustic to show what it sort of sounded like...

What is the Meaning of Life (audio link)

What is the meaning of life...?

(freestyle verse)

So I ask myself What does this mean?
To live this life that I have lived.

In the Wheelroom...

2007-02-27T21:10:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd try something a little different tonight. I was reflecting back on the short time between Noah leaving the band and Thomas and I actually looking for new musicians and I remembered an actual gig that we played, just the two of us. During the late winter and early spring time of 2003 right about as our nation was to march off to war Dawn was involved with some student groups while she was in college. Being involved I mean she had to organize some things. One such thing she organized was a fundraising concert of some sort in the University of Iowa IMU wheelroom. There were a few different bands there, but to kick it off Thomas and I played a few songs. One of these songs was a new creation, just penned a few weeks earlier. Like I posted a few posts ago there are many recordings which I can't find or have simply disappeared. This song is one of those recordings, but not to fear! I spent a few minutes tonight and relearned a different arrangement of the song and re-recorded a quickie version of it for this blog! I know Thomas will remember this song. It's called 'Save Yourself', and here's the mp3.

Save Yourself (Audio Link)

Flushing the World

2007-02-26T19:45:00.000-08:00

The ambition and drive that I put into the band after Noah rejoined was with arrangement and acoustic experimentation. I didn't focus on marketing the band or book gigs. I didn't feel it was right until we made something that was unique with our current line-up. After countless rehearsal sessions on the acoustic instruments, and philosophical discussions we started playing out again. One of these gigs was significant regarding my experiences in music. This gig was at the Left Bank Bar and included an entire set of acoustic songs. This was a magical experience because gigs like this make the music seem more ethereal and illustrative because they focus on the blend of the vocals, lyrics, and instruments together rather than plugged in where the focus is directed at the pulse and power of the sound. We continued to write songs for the 'plugged in' version of the band.

(Jump Off The World - Audio Link)
Lyrics: Jump Off The World

One of these songs made use of odd time signatures with mystical and airy verses sandwiched between palm muted distorted heavy riffs. This song would be known as 'Jump Off the World', and Thomas would write the initial lyrics for this song. We wrote and recorded the initial version of the song in Thomas' house. I laid down the basic rhythm tracks and put down some hypnotic repeating guitar bends with delay and reverb that gave a ghostly backing sound to the verse. Noah tracked a staccato style bass line which worked well with the drums. At this point the verses had no lyrics. In the change to the heavier riff Thomas' lyrics were recorded with a repeating screamy type of vocals. I had an idea for a clean vocal on the outro of the song to record. We placed the mic in the stairway to the attic in order to isolate any exterior sounds. I was there listening to the playback with headphones clasped around my ears waiting for the last 30 seconds of the song. I harmonized a vocal part for the last word of the phrase.

There was a feeling that something needed to change in order to move forward with the band. I felt the band reached a static point. This point was something I couldn't find a way around without knowing it had to be purged. Like a radiator needing to be flushed. Thomas and I discussed that we needed to start over anew. This meant that we'd part ways with Noah and work on finding what future sound we wanted. I realized that this meant I'd have to give this news to Noah. I didn't like having to do this because it was based more so on a gut feeling rather than logical deduction. I was sitting at home playing 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets' on the Gamecube dreading having to give Noah this unfortunate news. I called Noah and somehow discussed the matter and Noah gave his insights as well which was what I would expect from a good friend. He didn't have the same feeling that Thomas and I did about the band. He did voice concern about it, but offered his best as he set sails for greater seas.

Where did I put that...

2007-02-25T21:25:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the delay in posting over the past several days. I have been disconnected from the outside world due to an ice storm that took out power from our residence for more than 24 hours. I feel that I should stray from the timeline a bit and discuss something that I think all people who strive to create as artists experience over time. I have found now that looking back over the experiences and events of my life with music and in the bands I've played in that I don't have the recordings of material I know at one time did exist. I think of material I had just a few months ago on a flash drive which I zeroed out because I didn't think I'd use it or I could 'remember it' mentally. This of course is a recipe for disaster. I don't know how many hundred, perhaps thousands of recordings I've done which are now lost to the annals of time. It reminds me of an etch-a-sketch where the recording is there and then poof, gone like the wind. Not that this is very substantive, but I think it's important to write about, if not for the substance, than for the substance that's lost and gone. Here’s a riff that would normally be lost but I found a CD so I’m putting it on digital storage, hopefully they back the drive up…

(Audio Link)

Noah 2.0

2007-02-23T20:51:00.000-08:00

Over the course of the next several months we wrote and recorded musical ideas. Thomas moved from his apartment on Aussie Lane to a rental house on Fruitland Blvd. Dawn and I actually bought a house on the very edge of town (rural, but not too rural, one neighbor 300 yards away). The rehearsal space became Thomas' residence on Fruitland Blvd. Since we really didn't have a bass player at this time a lot of the practicing was on acoustic guitars or through the actual recorder(s) emulators. This emulator allowed us to plug instruments directly into the recorder giving the sound of various guitar amplifiers. This was a nice shortcut for song writing purposes. It became evident soon enough that we really needed to find a third member to join the band. In this case, 'rejoin' would be the proper term. This member Thomas discussed getting together to jam with again was Noah S. This time around the music was more personal. I did discuss this recently with Noah and he said it was a bit intimidating joining the band after Joe K. left. I can see why to some degree. I think it's a hard balance to find harmony in a three piece band. I remember hearing an uncle of a friend in my youth describe how a third friend will test the best of friends. He said that when there are two friends there's balance, trust, cooperation, and support. When a third friend comes along sometimes the best friends become divided. They work against each other and learn to distrust, pressure, and exclude one friend over the other. In essence the balance becomes much harder to find between three people. I think this is true of bands. There are bonds that are forged that are beyond the normal scope of workplace relationships.

After the ‘Sunflowers’ post I talked with Thomas and he reminded me of a ‘slow-down’ version of the song. I’m not entirely sure who played bass on it. I didn’t think I could find the recording, but I did, so here’s the audio link…

Sunflowers (slow-mo audio link)

When Noah started jamming with us this second time around we rehashed various Needles-I songs to see how they'd sound with the new line-up. We also experimented with acoustic jams. Sometime in late fall/early winter of 2002 we got together for a rehearsal in the 'music room' of Thomas' house. We worked through a bunch of songs. I remember a very raw and clever version of 'Fishing Song'. It had an extended second half to the song making the song almost 20 minutes when we were done with it. I'll try and post it if I can find it. During one of these acoustic rehearsals Thomas lit numerous candles in the 'music room' to enhance the mood and add to the ambiance of it. When candles burn they melt wax. When I arrived for practice I put my coat on the floor behind my speaker cabinet. One of the mood candles was placed on my speaker cabinet and like Murphy’s Law dictates Thomas knocked the candle and its melted wax off the cabinet and onto my coat. At some point the vibrations from the speaker cabinet would've knocked it off anyway. To this day the wax is still a part of my coat (2007).

Just for fun I found this old link of solder garageband account

Moving On...

2007-02-22T19:17:00.000-08:00

When we'd write a song that didn't have a finished lyric we'd name it based on something memorable from a rehearsal. It turned out with one of these songs we actually kept the pseudo name for it and put on the demo. This song was called "DJIN DJIN" or "GIN GIN" for a phonetically friendly description (based on the palm muted guitar riff in the intro). There were two important aspects to this song. One was the simple vocal part over the simple guitar riff in the chorus. The reason this was important to my song writing is because it taught me that sometimes simpler is better. I found that the melody of the chorus would stick in my head if it was simple, so I took this approach in the future. The second important aspect was the bridge section which exaggerated dynamics. It used a modal key switch which would be something I'd use heavily in future writing. The song lyrics would change in future iterations of the band, but during this time period this is what they were:

DJIN DJIN (audio link)

From this place
Not far away
I know of perfection
Distance close
Time began
Familiar reflection

I can feel
From beyond
Moving through me
It becomes
An essence
Within a river

Waiting, waiting, waiting...

Any given day
Life can change

Earth becomes
The sky
Ways to break the tide
I'm drowning
Me in you
Serenity inside

Any given day
Life can change

We continued to play a handful of shows. Often with Chuck's band 'Corado'. But eventually we came to our first bump in the road as a band. Joe was really pressing to incorporate riffs that he had written that to me sounded a little too much like 'Creed'. These riffs weren't bass riffs, these were guitar riffs he wrote. After a while He wanted to try and put Chuck in the band to see how it'd work. I tended to be a little more than apprehensive about this. Not because I didn't like Chuck, but more because I had grown so used to a 3 piece band that I didn't know how to use another guitarist. After several trials I still didn't feel comfortable about it.

At that point Joe said that he needed to move away from Iowa because the cold weather made a leg injury stiff and painful. He talked about that if we (meaning Thomas and Me) could relocate somewhere south or south-west then the band could have a better chance of making it. In all honesty he was probably right. Not that Iowa means there's no chance, but I think to make it based out of Iowa a band would have to work a lot harder. It wasn't too much later that he finalized selling his house to his younger brother Pete, and he moved out to Sacramento, California along with Chuck. So this caused Thomas and me to go back to the drawing board. This was probably sometime in early spring of 2002.

Nicknames...

2007-02-20T20:32:00.000-08:00

There were occasions during this period where we'd write or record something and celebrate by going to the local Handimart to purchase refreshments. This consisted of the vilest of drinks. Namely, Mad Dog 20/20 and/or Old English 40 oz. Either was just as repulsive, but it was part of the celebration of a song well done. It was appropriate to keep the drink in the brown paper bag it came in to add to the "filthy swelt" of the blue collar atmosphere.

While listening to remixes of a song or rehearsing through it for the thousandth time we'd discuss how "this part here" or "this part coming up" was the sweetest sound. These discussions gave credence to nicknames we had penned to one another during this time. Mine was 'Black Diamond'. This came from a time in probably 1997 or 1998 where I was living with my parents while in college and Thomas, Gary, myself, and a friend or two were in my room checking out a mix of some song we were working on. I don't entirely know why, but I at some point kept repeating the phrase "black diamond", then louder "black diamond", until it couldn't be forgotten. For some reason this name stuck with me through this time.

Thomas' nickname was 'Junebug' because of the time when outside near a porch light on a summer's night it seemed like Thomas was attacked by these creatures repeatedly much to his dismay. I don't even remember how Joe got his nickname of 'Bow-n-Arrow', but it was probably something dumb as well.

For this post's audio I went back to a garage sale's worth of riffs. These though I overlooked earlier. I pulled these again from a few CDs of 2004 riffs. On these two I found a few riffs/songs that actually could be made into something usable. Who knows, maybe I will...

(audio link)

On these riffs, most distinctly the second one, which band do you think it sounds more like? I named the riff on my local hard drive based on this bad (it's a rock band from the grundge era) I just want to know if you are on the same page! (p.s. it's not Nirvana)

Surreal

2007-02-18T13:51:00.000-08:00

I was blessed to play with two great musicians during this time. Thomas was one of a kind. He had great foot control, but I think what set him apart from others was his use of cymbal variations. He had a very picky approach to his hardware and drum heads and his playing sounded like no other. For several reasons Joe's abilities were unmatched. Not to say that Noah wasn't as good as Joe, but that's like the question, "who's better, van Halen or randy Rhoads?" He played a fretless bass. He had mastered the slap style right hand technique and had a good grasp of music theory.
There was one gig in particular that this became obvious. I had booked this gig through a friend of mine, Don K. at the Hiawatha Community Center on Center Point Road. It was an all age’s show which meant most of the crowd was 16-19 years old. We were probably 2nd or 3rd of 5 bands. As we set up I had the hardest time getting my guitar to stabilize. It was an S-series Ibanez with a Floyd Rose floating Tremolo Bridge. On this occasion I made the dumb mistake of changing to thicker gauge strings just before playing. Normally this isn't much to worry about, but on a guitar with a Floyd Rose bridge all bets are off on how long it will take to adjust. I quickly found this out. While getting set to play I thought that I was getting my guitar in tune only to find out that after doing so the tension springs on the back of the bridge had loosened bringing the guitar out of tune. I don't think I got it to stay in tune for a whole song that gig.
Luckily people weren't that focused on my playing because Joe and Thomas seemed to soak up most of the spotlight. They cranked it up a few notches improvising the hell out of our songs. I remember seeing jaws dropping in awe of this display of musicianship. I could hear whispers between songs like, "holy shit dude, that bass player's amazing!"
It was truly surreal to experience this. It was like an out of body experience. Speaking of surreal... That was a song title of a song the band wrote and performed during this time. I'm particularly proud of this song. It expanded my song writing template by using simple vocal melodies over oddly rooted rhythmic arpeggios. Here's the lyrics and audio link:

Surreal (Audio Link)

Some how. Some way
Somewhere. Some Day.

When will I wake up?
From this sleep to better days?
When will this all be done?
Forget the past and fade away?

So Surreal

When I try to walk
seems as though I crawl
When I try to stand
seems as though I fall

So Surreal

When I try to breathe
I suffocate in deep blue skys
When I dissappear
from this place my spirit dies

So Surreal

Roses in the sand
Sewn by jealous hands
When it comes to bloom
Can not be too soon

I think the title explains the song enough. On the topic of expanding my song writing template and instrument virtuosity there's another song during this time period that exhibits this. Unfortunately I don't have a recorded version of this song, so I'll stick to a verbal description. It was known as "Tappy-Tap" probably for several reasons. One, because of the Adam Sandler scene in Happy Gilmore (a running joke during rehearsals), and Two, because when writing songs that didn't have a finalized lyric we often times referred to them on the set list by a name that sounded like a riff in the song. In this case "Tappy-Tap" is in reference to the guitar riff which made use of a guitar technique known as "Tapping". When someone mentions "tapping" to me the first thing I think of is some shredding on a metal guitar solo. In the song "Tappy-Tap" this is quite different. I incorporated a right hand technique that exploited the "tap" to make use of a slower accompaniment on the guitar to the vocals. The left hand emphasized the root notes of the chord while the right hand 'tapped' an ornamental or high note in the arpeggio. I also did this in another song that I recorded on the Solder demo. ( "Eyeowa" track #4)

So The Story Goes...

2007-02-17T13:25:00.000-08:00

There were a few months where we played only a few shows at the Left Bank. Mainly we worked on writing. We tried to extend our set list and re-record parts of songs we didn't like. Most of the winter was like this going on into 2002. One of these songs was part of the last songs that I had wrote in the guarantee bank and trust rental space. It was with Noah and Thomas. At Joe's house we worked on a little different arrangement and changed the lyrics. Here are the lyrics and audio link to the song:

Story goes (audio link)

Once upon a time everything was fine
Just like yesterday I remember it just the same (as)...

There we were a model of perfection
Getting lost within each others eyes
Staring off each others direction
Discovering more, more that never dies

So the story goes
There must be something missing
A secret no one knows
There’s something I've been wishing

Promises... promises...

Once upon a time everything was fine
Just like yesterday I remember it just the same (as)...

There we were a model of perfection
Getting lost within each others eyes
Staring off each others direction
Discovering more, more that never dies

So the story goes
There must be something missing
A secret no one knows
There’s something I've been wishing

Promises... promises...

So the story goes
There must be someone missing
A secret no one knows
There’s someone I've been wishing (here)...

So the story goes
There is a happy ending
A secret no one knows
Promises... promises...

There were a couple of memories from this time period that stick out in my mind. One was Joe's ability to improvise. He could play some guitar, some drums, bass (of course), but also he could play keyboards very well. I remember him playing songs from Beethoven’s Moonlight to the Monday Night Football Theme. (He’s a Raiders fan) He could change styles while jamming on the bass from metal to funk in the blink of an eye. It gave the band enormous freedom to write songs in ways that hadn't been attempted before. We, as a band, did a cover of the 1980 television show Knight Rider. That too was the brainchild of Joe.

Free Yourself!

2007-02-15T19:07:00.000-08:00

The band itself really needed a name. As little as it seems at times, a band name is a major identifying factor for a band. I remember the conversations between Thomas, Joe, and me about this. I came up with the name Needles-I. I liked it because it was a sort of infinite regress.

"I cross my heart hope to die stick a needle in my I? "

There are about a thousand and one different metaphors throughout humanity referring to needles. I remember Joe coming up with variations on the name like Needelzi, or NeedlezEye, or others. We stuck with Needles-I and started to brand a symbol for the name. We continued to write and record songs. In fact we did that over and over again to get the right mix or arrangement on some of the songs. This was a newer concept to me. Most of my writing style included writing a song or riff and if I didn't like how it turned out I basically junked it all. Now I was modifying parts and changing out sections all together, sometimes using riffs that I had junked earlier because they fit. You can see from the following song how this worked. This song was written as part of the bands original demo. The lyrics were from the final draft:

Free yourself (audio link)

Free yourself! Free yourself!

Look at the world through unfocused eyes
Notice the worlds true shallow disguise
Trapped down within a spinning wheel
How else am to try to feel

I'm so sorry but I told you so
now you've got what you came for
and now you're broke
I'm so sorry but I told you so
now you've got what you paid for
and now you're broke

It seems as though I have no time
or maybe I'm just loosing my mind

I'm so sorry but I told you so
now you've got what you came for
and now you're broke
I'm so sorry but I told you so
now you've got what you paid for
and now you're broke

We had a modest set list now, but long enough to play shows. Thomas and Joe knew the owners of the Left Bank bar in town. They booked shows there and after a few gigs it became our home turf. It was a very small bar, but fun to play because you could get away with setting up a show with a powered mixer as the PA system instead of hiring a sound tech or hauling a ton of heavy gear. It was about this time too that Chuck S., Joe's roommate started a band named 'Corado'. I remember a song he wrote with the band and it had the lyric 'Drinkin beer with my friends', pretty fun song. We started to get a small following of people that recognized us as 'Needles-i'. I don't know if that's a measure of success, especially when it's long forgotten now except for whoever reads this blog, but that's a part of playing in a band so I thought I should mention it.

There Comes A Time

2007-02-14T19:51:00.000-08:00

It became evident that we needed to switch the practice place over to Joe's house. We did this and turned Saturdays into the practice day. In Joe's house I was stationed with my amp just outside of the bathroom, my floorboard and microphone was in the corner near the doorway to the kitchen. To my left in the corner near the kitchen was Thomas, and kitty corner from me and to Thomas' left was Joe's Amp. Joe was able to stand while playing in the TV room. Altogether it was a tight fit because Joe's roommate Chuck S. also had a halfstack and other gear in the room as well. Joe had a house on the corner of the block so we could get away with playing louder and later. We spent a lot of hours working on music. In about a months time we had a small collection of songs. This was September of 2001.

One of the last songs I wrote in the 8th Ave. house prior to moving the practice space over to Joe's was a political song. Up to this point I really hadn't written any songs of that nature. This would become an important part of my writing in future songs. Earlier that year there was great anticipation about President Bush's decision regarding federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. After his completely politically minded decision was made public I felt the need to write this song. Being a type 1 diabetic since the age of 4 this issue was more relevant to me. I won't write the merits of my stance in this blog, for it would be very lengthy, but here's the song and its lyrics:

There Comes A Time (Audio Link)

There comes a time when a decision will be made
It's life and death for some while others made afraid
The opportunity to make has been erased
While all that's left is just the debt that's to be paid

Led a stray, sold away, for a gain, struck with pain

While broken souls endure the promises remain
The future holds the cure our destiny has changed
Tomorrow could be ours for all eternity
It's all expendable it's wasted charity

Led a stray, sold away, for a gain, struck with pain

We don't know where it began or where it will end
Reasons why it's important to see all that matters to me

It isn't will there be but when there is a cure
The time has gone away forever that's for sure
And when the time has come look back on days gone by
We're going to place the blame until the day we die

Led a stray, sold away, for a gain, struck with pain

We don't know where it began or where it will end
Reasons why it's important to see all that matters to me

Now Joe was getting the itch to play. He booked us a gig at an old high school buddy's party. His buddy was an electrician who ran his own business. He was very much politically conservative and would probably be proud to say he's a red-neck. When we arrived at his place we were going to unload into a very large workshop. There were countless Ford (strictly Ford) vehicles and children's toys cluttering the yard. There was also a very intimidating Great Dane lurking about. We set up in front of an older Ford Mustang which was hoisted up on a car lift. The shop had several card tables set up with crock-pot cuisine including baked beans, potato chips, burgers, and hot dogs. There were some little smokies in barbeque sauce, and some potato salad. There were also kegs. I'm guessing they were Coors Light. As a crowd took shape we started to play. Honestly I don't remember very many details about it. I think we played a short set (probably only had 5-6 songs at this time). I remember Chuck S. playing "Nutshell" by Alice in Chains on his acoustic guitar after we were done.
What were just as memorable were the events outside. The electrician had downed quite a few beers by this time and was now shirtless. (it was sweatshirt weather) He was calling people to gather to witness his spectacle. He had built a rudimentary wooden hut and had written "Bin Laden's Palace" on it. He doused it with gasoline and then while yelling various epithets he torched it turning the wooden pile into a massive inferno. Then while drinking another beer he rubbed his gut, grabbed an American flag, and like an overzealous soccer fan waved it wildly screaming "he haw" sounds.

Sunflowers

2007-02-12T20:19:00.000-08:00

Towards the end of the Solder era, while I was still mixing tracks for the Demo CD, Thomas came over to the house on Ellis Blvd next to the A&W with his cousin Joe K. I remember them both listening to the tracks and Joe saying things like, "it'd be cool here on Bass with this riff." They made comments like that. I think this was a foreshadowing of things to come, and of course hindsight is always 20/20.

In August of 2001, while it was me and Thomas writing songs in the 8th Ave. house Tom brought up "a guy he knew" that wanted to jam on bass. The 'guy' was Joe K. Thomas always seemed to do this. He'd try and feel me out to see if I was for or against an idea without telling me straight up what it was, because he wanted to sell me on it. I was in, so we decided to jam at the 8th Ave house. (The one where the neighbors call the cops) Joe came by in an old Ford F-150 brown 1980 pickup truck. I'd later go on to buy this truck from him. He unloaded his gear into our living room in the house to start jamming. In general it's always awkward those first moments of an initial jam session with someone you've never jammed with before. But with Joe it was a little different. I'd known him from before, so that wasn't so bad. We drank a few cool ones before we jammed and talked about gear and stuff. Thomas and I showed him a few things that we had recorded that might be
something to jam on. Then we plugged in.

I remember the first song that we jammed on and really the only one that we worked on from that opening jam. In general it was a completely new style for me as a guitarist and song writer. Most of the songs I had written up to this point were in minor keys or pentatonic type riffs on guitar. On this jam the riffs we wrote and developed incorporated a key switch from a minor key to a major key over a chorus riff. I remember the vocals as well really stretching my range. Though the jam only lasted an hour or two at best it was a great jam. It signaled that we had a new nucleus to build on. Joe was a great bass player. I will discuss this more later, but the three of us had a solid foundation and approach now to write great new material for the next band. I now had action items to commit to for the next practice. I'd have to go on and write lyrics to this new song, and work on material for others.

This was about the time that I had been reading some books that had been recommended to me by a local Rabbi. They had a profound affect on me and so I guess I needed to write a song about it. This song entitled ‘Sunflowers’ went through several iterations. Here are a few with Joe K. The song in its original form had these lyrics:

Sunflowers (audio link)

Was that a sound
in the darkest hour?
Do you see (fear) the worst
or do you see sunflowers?

Do you gain strength
from thoughts on life and death?
Do you know of a time
you will take your last breath?

I wonder why
the less things change
the more I try.
I see your apathy.
You care for you,
but do you care for me?

Do you have the right?
True repentance you seek.
How can I forgive?
How loud does silence speak?

I wonder why
the less things change
the more I try.
I see your apathy.
You care for you,
but do you care for me?

This song is loosely based on the book "The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness" authored by Simon Wiesenthal a survivor of the Jewish holocaust of WWII. The song was also inspired by the book "Night" by Elie Wiesel. I read "Night" one Saturday morning in an hour or two before I left to go to band practice. It's a quick read, but very moving. (I'm sure you could find it for a few bucks at a local bookstore) I recently heard of a disturbing incident where the author was accosted at an interfaith conference in California. I guess I still find it hard to believe that people can be so driven to hate. In its many forms hate comes from ignorance and this ignorance isn't defeated through hate, but through many other factors, including education. If you'd read either book, please leave a comment about your thoughts on the book(s) and my song(s).

Fishing Song

2007-02-10T08:23:00.000-08:00

Trying to tie up some loose ends here…

Thomas sent me a tape a short time ago. I listened to some of the recordings on the tape and realized that there were 2 different time frames that they came from. One was from the old rehearsal space in 2001, and another was from the 8th Ave. house a short while later.
In the Guarantee Bank and Trust Building rehearsal space, when the band consisted of Thomas, Noah, and me, we wrote and recorded a few different songs. One of them would be the foundation of a future song used in my last fully dedicated band. Here's the recording of it. If you've been following the recordings on up through now it’s evident how the music evolved. I remember the part in the middle, going in to the bridge section, where there's some sort of spoken words. This part Noah didn't like. I remember him telling me it sounded like Korn. Not the good Korn, but the bad Korn. I thought about it for a while and agreed with him. That part was dumb. The future version of this song would not include this section.

Another recording on the tape was of a song I put together originally using a guitar synthesizer for a grand piano sound, A Line-6 preamp/processor for the guitar sounds, and a drum machine for the drum tracks. I still haven't found the original recording. Shortly after this Thomas and I decided to record the song with real drums instead of the drum machine. Here are a few different examples of the song. This was probably one of my all-time favorite songs that I wrote. It's so simple and easy. I think what I like about it most is the fact that it's something I can relate to on a personal level. Here are the lyrics.

Fishing Song(Audio Link)

Get away to a place far away from anything that you know.
Never care when or where. Just as long as there is empty spaces there.

Staring at the flame.
Never be the same.

Breathe the air. Touch the sky. Walk on clouds that float across the mountains.
Fall asleep to a dream. Never know if this is just reality.

Staring at the flame.
Never be the same.

Have you ever been there?

This song is titled "Fishing Song" and it was inspired by a trip with Dawn in 2001 to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and Glacier National Park in Montana. It was also inspired by all the good experiences of fishing and camping in my life. What the song means to me is that there is a peaceful place somewhere in this world. Whether it is in the memories of life, the beauty of nature, or the constructs of the mind. I think that it's almost a religious experience; a transcendent necessity just to explore these places, to reflect on them, to share them when possible, and to respect them as important parts of life. Hopefully I can find the original version of this recording. I'm still searching for it. I'm also searching for the recording that included a real piano arrangement of the song by Joe K. That story will be next.