Little Lambs

What I'm about to say is split with pride and embarrassment.

I played live music to the largest crowd I have ever had tonight. That's the good news.

The bad news is: it was for the Miniapple Christmas Program at St. Lawrence Church. The church was packed. We played Beatles songs: "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "Hey, Jude". The crowd loved it.

My biggest crowd has been a goddamn preschool program. Sigh . . .

Still, the little tykes were cute. And I had fun fraternizing with parents, staff, and a post-program wine convo hit the spot. It was a good night.

Belles of Skin City -- "Like Lambs to the Riot"

The Transition of Madness

November has been the busiest month of the year.

It started off with lunch meetings and random sitdowns with different musicians. It then snowballed into planning. Then sample work. Then computer problems dealing with editing software in order to do sampling and recording. Setting up the practice area in the back to function at the most basic level for the band during auditions. The actual auditions (drummers), with my anxiety to do the right thing, be a good band leader, stay organized and on top of the game. Walk the line between professional and amateur band, where does the money go, who gets paid, when and where do we play? Find a drummer but then lose a guitarist, write new material, write tabs . . .

The day job has been hectic, too. There's always a reason to stay late, especially when working the closing shift. So, it bites into ample Patch time. I wish I could become an assistant again. More responsibility, but more time afterward. I'm content with Miniapple currently. It beats any other job, right now. There's hardly any preparation, it's pretty low key. It's fun to play with the kids. Unfortunately, if you're sick and needing personal time, or just some space, the job doesn't afford you that. So, stress accumulates, I get depressed, yaddah yaddah yaddah.

How to fix that? By finding new romance. Unfortunately, I haven't been very present. I feel bad. My mind is elsewhere, tired, stressed, and broken. Things are picking up careerwise, which is to say Patch is turning into an entity now. It's only going to get more insane.

December should prove to be more of the same. Constant work work work. On top of that, Christmas' hullaballoo will throw down a ton of stress on top of the Patch stress pile.

Am I ready for all of this?

Liars -- "Mr., You're On Fire, Mr."

Life's Lemons

Tarot cards, cheesy records, ukes, and Saul Williams . . .

The best damn expensive pasta dish I've ever had in my entire life . . .

Rogue Dead Guy ale . . .

Talking about the nitty gritty, no holds barred . . .

This has been a good weekend.

Again, the affirmation that good people are in my life. I was setting up the drumset in the Patch rehearsal space. The space is still filled with roommate materials. The end of the month should see an instrument only space. Without really even telling me, Dustin, a great, great friend and musical companion (and most likely lead guitarist for Patch now), came over spontaneously. I heard him ask property manager Rick McCoy outside "Is Peter here?" I looked up with a shock. I thought he was around for my roommate. He came into the room and immediately started organizing cables and cords, power strips and instruments. It was one of those seemingly trivial moments that I'll take with me to the grave. People care about this project. People care about me. People know I care about them.

You want to help people out, Dustin? Just keep doing what you're doing. You're fucking number one in my book. All the guys in Patch so far are. Greg, Adri, Dustin . . . and one more that I'll be meeting tomorrow, hopefully . . .

Post-setup, I went out to St. Paul and took in the Selby neighborhood with Ashley, who truly inhabits the Karmath vibe. Combining logic with spirituality, all night long we conversed about the vessel and the soul . . . and I realized that the Dulcimer is one of the most awesome instruments to just sit down and play . . . and it's great for interrogation purposes, as well. Not saying what.

Life is good. Watch, I'll be struck with a fatal illness this week.

Pearl Jam -- "Soon Forget"

Body Heat

Summer is in full force.

This weekend, after the Old Peeps Party, we went to Taylors Falls to canoe down the St. Croix river all afternoon. After that, we went to Greg's Zombie Movie Marathon (fell asleep twice, due to only three hours' worth of sleep the night before). Sunday was nothing but a crash day.

And now, the temp is the same as body temp. Sticky, wet . . . awesome.

Franz Ferdinand -- "No You Girls"

Letdown High

I've weaned off coffee successfully. I only dabble in it when doing research, writing music or essays, creating music, etc. Basically, if I'm going to create, I chug a cup of joe.

Today I got a mocha at Starbucks (my coffee maker had mold in it. Yeech.). After a half hour I crashed. I thought that being off coffee I'd be freaking out with ideas. Not so much. I finished doing what I needed to be do, but I'm so tired.

Waste of $3.50 if you ask me . . . yes, this is the most interesting thing that happened today. That, and we found out that the Lizard People show on the 25th fell through. Thhhppp!

Steve Roach -- "Further Inside"

Coma Blackout

I sat down and ate spaghetti with a new soulmate tonight.

Topics of conversation:

1. Real Jewish mothers. They live up to the stereotypes like you wouldn't believe.

2. The Art Farm . . .

3. Why "Rent" is now a victim of modernist classicism in theatre. Fuck "Rent", move on, make something new and profound like "Rent" used to be.

4. Watched an awkward rendition of the theme song to "H.R. Puffnstuf" performed by a drunken third party intruder complete with lots of drunken burping, flubbing of lines, slurrage, and sweaty brow. I honestly don't know how it started, why it occurred. It's just one of those things that seems slightly appropriate only after a little wine intake.



The fun will continue throughout the weekend . . .

Michael Jackson -- "In the Closet"

Krohn's Disease

With the first swig of morning coffee comes a plethora of thought processes . . . all adding up to zilch in terms of subject matter and coherent bondage.

The thaw is starting. Our backyard has a large river flowing from the back door to our parked cars due to the raised temperatures. I'm actually looking forward to going out to the bank today to deposit my most recent paycheck.

On my Yahoo homepage, I saw a link to a 14 year old conservative commentator named Jonathan Krohn, who wrote a book called "Define Conservatism". Nevermind the fact that he has a different political affiliation than myself, but this adds to my discomfort. The kid's 14 fucking years old and already he's as annoying as a 50 year old politician!!! Add in the novelty of it all, add in the ignorance he has for being only 14, add to it the fact that his voice is now in the middle of a vast political movement that recently had America take a combined shit all over it -- this guy really irritates me. He is the poster child for the failed Conservative movement. It is all personified in him.



Another week of "In Hope" work. It will be constant work work work, no break, in order to meet my deadline of Tax Day for the raw demos. I hope it's fun. I'm delving into the louder aspects of the song, full of guttural screams and chaos. That's always hard to do in my little studio. In preparation, I've been singing to my random favorite tunes from favorite artists, screaming my little head off. Warming up. Expanding the throat. Otherwise I'll blow it on the first take and won't be able to work on vocals for a day at a time. The next day I'll blow it again, same story. Snowball effect of failage.

Half the house is empty due to Spring Break. Last year everyone went to Florida, taking my camera with them. They returned with awesome footage that made me jealous to no end. This year they went to the east coast, Rhode Island, and New York City, also with my camera. Next week will bring jealousy once again, I surmise, when they return.

The riverboat trip is a go, most likely. I think we've figured out monetary situations. Late May, early June.

Not much else to report. March has shown signs of promise, coinciding with the thaw, for the upcoming events of 2009. Things are starting to ramp up in intensity and work. Changes are afoot.

A full day of recording today . . . time to get creative.

Alberta Cross -- "The Thief and the Heartbreaker"

Snotberries

Most likely due to a lack of sleep the week prior, and the fact that I consumed vast amounts of Tequila Saturday night, my immune system has weakened. I am now stricken with a cold.

Although, it's a weird cold. It came on so fast, out of nowhere. No coughing, no scratchy throat. Well, maybe. I thought it was mainly due to too much yelling at the Mustache party. But today I was so stuffed up. Wanted to record some high vocals today, too. Guess I'll have to take a rain check on that.

Tax Day is basically the ending deadline for the raw tracks. Otherwise I'll have to sit on the unmixed/unmastered tracks until the end of summer. Schuyler will be in Hawaii and Romania. This is good, since it gives me incentive to finish. I actually have a due date.

It shall be a busy couple of months in my room . . .

Passion Pit -- "Sleepyhead"

Bulletpointed Wholesomeness

A splendid weekend. Here's a quick overview:

FRI: 1. Watched "Mr. Show" with Marta's photo subjects. They were also subjected to my "ostrich strangling" singing practice session through the living room wall. Again, I'm sorry for the discomfort.
2. Got drunk by myself, recorded myself reading blog entries (read previous blog entry).
3. Watched "Juno" with Taylor and Marta. Sobered up.

SAT: 1. Lizard People practice. Long, but worth it. Realized I now have muscle memory on the drums. I covered my face with my knit cap keeping my hair in check post-shower, and played the fastest song of the set blind. The Force was with me, apparently.
2. Took a Lizard People promo photo in the living room. Our faces will become masks.
3. Took a much needed nap after watching "Rabbit Proof Fence" -- an interesting movie about some "half-caste" Aborigines who escape from an "orphanage" designed to turn them into full out Westerners in order to wipe out all "brown" traces of their heritage in generations to come. Fear for the Mulatto. It didn't hit too hard on my emotions and empathy, not as much as "Hotel Rwanda" or "Schindler's List", but I dug it.
4. Almost called it a night, but I gathered my strength and went out to Angela's birthday party at the Kitty Cat Klub with Taylor. We were surprised to find out that some "personal friend" bands were playing that night: Faux Jean, Idle Hands, and a band that wasn't "personal", First Communion Afterparty. This last was pretty good. I kinda fell in eros love with the bassist. Talked with her after the show. She wanted me to buy a $3 poster of theirs. Internally I thought this was ridiculous. But I played the game, I said, "I don't have three dollars on me, but I'll give you something else. I'll spread the word around about your band. I'll tell at least ten people about your upcoming shows." I'll write a band plug entry later in the week once I do more research.
5. Going to the back of the Kitty Cat where the party was happening was both a reminiscence into my theatre past and a good time to catch up with old friends, gossip about the horrid Guthrie Theater and the way they treat ensemble actors (apparently a dog in the cast makes $750 dollars a week -- the ensemble cast makes $100 for the ENTIRE SHOW, not a weekly pay, but for a two month run). Met some new people throughout the club, talked about Brazilian martial arts, left.
6. Had some much needed Taco Bell while watching a Lon Chaney Jr. serial called "Underwater Kingdom". Terribly awesome movie. Crashed hard into sleep.

SUN: 1. Sledding Ambush No. 2. Columbia Heights Golf Course and Como Park. Lots of faceplanting, daring eachother to do massive jumps (one was constructed for snowboarding -- I kept coaxing Marta to go over it, but Taylor was the first to brave it. I then yelled at myself to grow a pair, tried it myself, landed on one knee, bruised it horribly, Taylor landed on top of his head on another try). Tired, sore, abused . . . well worth it.
2. Some "Big Lebowski" watching. This movie will never get old.
3. Lizard People dress rehearsal. Also sore and tired after doing this. I think we're ready.

That's all to report. 'Twas a fulfilling, wholesome weekend. Made me think about the upcoming departure of Taylor and Marta in the fall -- I'm really going to miss them.

Rage Against the Machine -- "People of the Sun"

Nexus

Taking a quick break from "In Hope". Just finished recording a number of takes with my completely destroyed violin from my middle school/high school days. Makes for some interesting sounds. Next up: chorus soundscape sculpting. Ick. Been sipping coffee to keep up for another three-ish hours before slipping off to bed.

I'm back full time at the school. This allows for double the cash, which makes it possible for me to start putting money into savings. Savings for trips, equipment, hospitals. Patch has now been committed to "Seven O'Clock Sessions" -- four hour blocks of time starting at 7:00pm on the dot every weekday. By 10:30 I'm pretty out of it. My brain is completely fried.

Less than a week until I'm back onstage. Kinda nervous. Just thinking about it makes my loins swell. You know that feeling you get when you know you're about to get laid by someone completely new for the first time, especially after a discussion with that person about doing so? I get that whenever I think about being on a stage performing. God, that's it, right there. That's all I need.

Well, that, and getting laid, too, I guess.

Jane's Addiction -- "Summertime Rolls"