Tuesday, June 29, 2010

What I Did Today at Work:

I read this book. All 272 pages.

Friday, June 25, 2010

If You Are The Person Who Picks the Music in Ipad Commercials, Please Read This Post.

Well, here's the latest version of the song. I'm now debating whether or not I should come up with actual lyrics or just leave it like it is. Here's some reasons why:

1. I like songs with nonsense lyrics.
2. Sometimes lyrics can ruin an otherwise perfectly fine song.
3. A lot of great songs that I really love I listen to over and over again, until one day I finally start to learn the lyrics and then I get tired of the song and stop listening to it over and over again.

Anyway, let me know if nonsense lyrics really piss you off.

Actually this whole thing reminds me of a debate that my friend Doug and I used to have when we were about 13 or 14. U2's song 'Elvis Presley and America' was recorded, and Bono sang some nonsense lyrics as a placeholder until they could go back and write and record some finished lyrics. When the time came to record the finished lyrics, producer Brian Eno said, "Nope, we're leaving it as it is," much to the surprise and consternation of the rest of the band. I always took the position that Brian Eno made the right decision, that the song is much more unique and mysterious with unfinished vocals, but Doug used to say, "The song is good now, but imagine how great it could've been with finished lyrics and vocals." Hmmm. My opinion hasn't changed. I still think that the song is still interesting to me today (25 years later) because the words are indecipherable and meaningless.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Triumph of the Human Spirit (or See, You're Vote Really DOES Count!)

The Jeanners and I just got back from a nice summer walk. A nice walk, but then it felt hotter than a crack pipe inside the house when we got home. It's amazing how many walks we've been on since we finished watching all the available episodes of Big Love. I must say, it feels nice to use that hour of free time that we have after dinner for something more interesting than hunkering down in front of Bill Paxton.

Today a serviceman from the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company came to our home to install a programmable thermostat as part of the PeakRewards Smart Energy Savers Program that we enrolled in a few weeks ago. Basically, it means that the power company can turn off our air conditioner a few times during the summer, but they pay us for the privilege. Since we don't use the ol' AC much anyway, we figure it's worth a shot. Plus, we get to keep the thermostat even if we opt out later. Anyway, the thing is now installed, and it is very strange to see a shiny, space age piece of electronics amidst all the wreckage that is the backside of our house.

Well, now that the Jeanners is back from her trip (during which she had possession of our workhorse laptop), I was able to tinker around a bit with the song that I said I wasn't going to tinker around with, and I'm pleased with the results. It sounds basically the same, but it's expanded a bit and it's more gay disco-y. So thanks for the encouragement, everybody!

I had today off work, and my car is in the shop. I cut up some wood, worked on music, and did some laundry. And sweated. Tomorrow I am off work again, and my car will still be in the shop. What should I do? Maybe go for a run since my recent illness has kept me from any exercisical exertions. Perhaps tinker around with the song some more, make it even gayer and disco-y-er. Maybe try to come up with real lyrics. Shit, I meant to pick up some bananas but I forgot. Perhaps I will pick up some bananas tomorrow and make a smoothie. The possibilities are literally limitless. Except that they are limited to things that I can do without a car. But shit, I can sure pick up some bananas!

Sure!

Yeow!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Sick Rick

I have been sick like the proverbial doggy lately. Nasty summer cold, and for some reason the NyQuil would randomly choose to not knock me out but rather get me all hopped up, and as a result I had a couple of rough nights. But it seems to be on its way out, leaving me with nothing but a bad sore throat. Thanks to the Jeanners for taking care of me and getting me some non-expired Nyquil last night. I still owe you that date.

Been on a Tom Waits kick lately.

It's been warm here, and humid, and there isn't really a break in sight yet, but it hasn't been unbearable. A little uncomfortable at night, though. I wonder if we'll have to break down and turn on the AC at some point. I'm not planning on it, but I guess we'll have to see what it's like in July when it starts getting nasty hot.

What to have for dinner tonight?

What to do tonight?

Now that the Jeanners is back in town and I'm starting to feel better, I'm guessing we'll finish up painting the bathroom and then start on some wiring. Looking forward to it. I've been reading up, and think I should be able to not burn the place down. Anyway, we'll see.

Boring post. Not much going on.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Upon review, it appears that your vote does not actually count.

Well, thanks to everyone who voted for the fate of the as-yet-unnamed song. And, although public response was 100% positive, I discovered last night that one of the drum tracks used in the song I never actually saved, so I would have to go back and rebuild that track from the start, which would be entirely more difficult than just remixing and rearranging existing tracks, and blah blah blah. Plus, I've already kinda moved on to other stuff. So it seems that my subconscious mind has already made the decision to put that one on the shelf and leave it for the days after I've been given my million dollar record deal (do they still have those?) and I'm scrambling for material for a doomed-from-the-start second album. Then I'll pull it down from the shelf, dust it off, rebuild that drum track, and make up some proper lyrics about rain, use it in a deodorant commercial and live happily ever after reading Walt Whitman and playing Civilization III in the bathtub all day.

Am I getting a cold or is this just allergies or is it the beginnings of cancer?

In the positive news category, I was downstairs last night farting around with the recording equipment, and I was able to produce the guitar tone that I have been trying to produce for literally 22 years. And I saved the settings, so I should be able to dial it up whenever I want. Just the right amount of distortion, just the right amount of echo, with a little bit of modulation on the decay so it sounds like the note just kind of lumbers off to die somewhere in the distance. Good stuff. I had forgotten that when I work on music like that I tend to lose track of time, and when I finally went upstairs it was almost midnight. Which isn't that big of a deal except that I had to work this morning and I was a wee bit sleepy for the day. Luckily, I have a job that requires nothing.

The Jeanners gets back tomorrow, the Jeanners gets back tomorrow!

The other day I was on the phone with Jeannie and I saw that our old realtor pulled up in front of our house and came up to the front door. Because I had just gotten back from a long run (more later) and was pretty disgusting, and the house was pretty trashed, I pretended to not be home and hid until she went away, for which I feel a bit like a coward and kinda stupid, but it just wasn't a good time. Sometimes it's just easier to hide.

So the other day I decided to go for a long run and I headed out on my now-usual run to Herring Run park and I was able to make it all the way down to the park, around the park, and back home. I'm thinking it was about 6 miles, which is by the far the farthest I've run since my being-in-good-shape days of 2008. It felt good, like maybe the being-in-good-shape days of 2008 might be coming back. I do hope to surprise Jeannie with my sexitude when she gets back.

Yesterday I went to the Rec Room with BJ for a tasty burger. We also played spades. I never beat BJ at spades, but yesterday I did. I made him sign the score sheet and I plan to keep it forever. In fact, let's make it a thing of public record:



It should also be known that BJ wins 99.9% of the spades hands that we play.

Did I mention that the Jeanners gets back tomorrow?

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Your Vote Counts!

So I've been working on this song for the last few days and had gotten pretty unhappy with it, then this morning I burned it to a CD and listened to it in the car on the way to work and I started to like it again. So now I don't know if it's worth putting more time and effort into it, finishing the music, writing lyrics, etc. -- or if I should just scrap it and start on something else. Let me know.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Ain't No Sunshine

I am sitting here sweating a bunch, as I just got back from a nice, long run. Ran down to Herring Run park and then ran around the park. Eventually I will work my way up to then running home as well, but I ain't there yet. While I was out on my run, I saw my twin. It was a guy who looked a lot like me, dressed a lot like me, running the other way. So if you're ever driving down Walther and see some dude running down the road, don't spit on him cause it might not be me.

The J-Dog is out of town. For a week. It sucks. She left on Friday and she'll get back this Friday. I would love to say that I'm going to surprise her when she gets back by doing a lot of work on the house while she's gone, but it seems that I'm actually filling my time by running, sleeping, and sitting in the bathtub reading. Currently reading Walt Whitman's prose recollections, Specimen Days. I think that anybody who has a blog should read it. He kind of reminds me that there's always something to write about, and there's always a more interesting way of doing it. To wit: if I didn't know what to write about on a particular day, I would probably write something like, "Today I went for a walk and sat in a field." Then a new paragraph about something else. WW would write about 3 or 4 pages about the walk, talking about the sights, the sounds and smells, and about memories and feelings that the walk stirred up. That's what good writers do. Really, the only thing that makes my blog better than Walt Whitman's writing is that he rarely writes about his poop or stinky farts. Oh well.

It's hot in here, but not unbearably hot. Used to be a lot hotter in our place in Charles Village, both because it was on the 3rd floor and because it was in the middle of the city and surrounded by not much else other than concrete. Last night after I got home from work (around 11) I sat out on the front porch and had a G&T, and it was nice and cool, with a little breeze, and quiet. I walked around the garden to check it out and saw that one of the tomato plants has sprouted 2 little tomatoes. We've also got a cucumber that's growing nicely, almost pickle-sized already. I would also like to point out that BJ is also almost pickle-sized already.

I came up with a pretty decent band name yesterday: The Judy Blooms. However, I just googled it and see that there's already a band with that name on Myspace. Damn them! And damn you!

Worked on a song a few days ago that seemed promising when it was just a guitar and drum track but after working on it for a few days it has grown, floundered, and died. But it feels nice to occasionally work on music again, plus it's nice and cool down in the basement where all the recording stuff is set up.

Alright, that's all I got!

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Hamilton Poot Cafe/Giovanni, Son of Flippy

Well, another week has gone by and what do we have to show for it? Well, Drew and Felicity had themselves a baby boy, for one thing. Which is pretty exciting stuff, although the idea that Drew has offspring is still a bit of a surreal thought. Nonetheless, I think they'll be great parents, and I look forward to meeting the young man someday. Huzzah!

The Jeanners and I walked up to Herring Run park yesterday evening and went for a really nice run and then walked home. It's pretty cool to be able to go for a 15 minute walk and end up somewhere that feels like the middle of the woods, with water flowing nearby. I'm thinking this is something we'll do quite a bit this summer.

We've been getting some good work done around the house. The dryer broke, so I took it apart and looked around in it and then ordered the part and put it in and now it works again. Which is a nice feeling because I knew exactly zero about dryers before all this occurred. The Jeanners did some nice wainscoting painting in the bathroom, and we're pretty close to picking out a color for the walls. Also got a towel bar up last night (woo-hoo!) and will probably put up a toilet paper holder tonight (double woo-hoo!).

The J-Dog will be leaving town on Friday for 9 days. What the hell am I supposed to do with myself? Luckily, I will be able to communicate my innermost thoughts and feelings to her while she is gone via this blog. Lookout.

BJ needs new glasses. Last week we were walking to go eat lunch at the Hamilton Tavern (note: not open for lunch!) and he saw a sign for "Hamilton Foot Care" and he thought it said "Hamilton Poot Cafe." Idiot.

Wednesday, June 02, 2010

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

It's been a pretty good week so far. The Jeanners and I got some decent work done on Sunday, hanging the bathroom mirror that we got from her grandma, framing up the bedroom closet ceiling, and testing our downspouts (which go right into the ground) to see where they discharge all the water. The results of that last one are still inconclusive, although it looked like they don't empty into the sump wells (as we had previously suspected) and they're not leaking into the basement, either. Nor are they piped underground to the street.

Also had lunch with the Beej last week, which I see I already wrote about so I will not waste your time by re-writing about it. If you have forgotten and/or are interested in re-reading about it, please feel free to re-read the post from Thursday, May 27th. You could also check out August 6th, 2009. Or June 8th, 2006. Because 2006 was such an awesome year, you might wanna check out May 11th, 2006. But then delve deeper and re-read August 15th, 2005. And if you want to go back all the way to the beginning, you'd have to see what happened on June 3rd, 2005. Thus reads the tale of lunch with BJ at the Rec Room.

Yesterday after work I headed out to the PFI to help build the set for the summer shows (Hamlet and Much Ado..., tickets on sale now) and it was hot and a lot of heavy lifting but a lot of fun, too. PKP and BJ were there working, and it's always fun to watch the Beej sweat. Stayed there till around 9pm and then headed home for a quick shower and then back up to the Rec Room for a going away party for Beth at the B&N. It was a good time, I spent most of the time chatting with Abbey and Carl, who I decided is a cross between Brian Eno and Corky St. Clair. This morning I stand by that decision. Anyway, it was fun. Ate nachos, stayed longer than I planned, etc. etc.

The other night out of the blue I decided to call Bosco, although it wasn't entirely out of the blue because I had had a dream a week or two ago (which I don't remember) where he showed up, and I've been thinking of calling him for awhile. Cause it's been at least a year since we'd talked, and it's been almost 6 years since I've seen him. But it was really great to talk to him, somehow whenever we talk we're always able to jump right back in as though no time has passed. I think it's probably because our background and childhood stories are nearly identical, or at least pretty damned close. We each understand where the other is coming from, and we were with each other for a lot of the major stops along the way. Or something. His phone was dying throughout the conversation, and eventually gave up the ghost in the middle of our conversation, so he still owes me half a conversation at some point.

Other random notes:

- we bought a dehumidifier for the basement. It seems to be doing good work. Like Mother Teresa.

- I've been on a mini Kerouac trip lately. I picked up his first novel The Town and City not too long ago and have been slowly making my way through it. I've been enjoying it, although it's not much of a page-turner. Instead it's more like eating little morsels and letting them dissolve on your tongue. Anyway, also picked up a cheap 'history of the Beats' with lots of pictures, and I'm planning on picking up the 'original scroll' version of On the Road later this week. Despite my love for a lot of DFW's stuff, I think that when you compare their bodies of work in their entireties, Kerouac is still my favorite writer.

- what's on the agenda for today? Eggs, dishes, a phone call to the folks, perhaps some spades with the Beej. Sometime during the Beej's two-month stay in the Baltimore/DC area we're going to broaden our burger horizons, and I'm going to take him to lunch at the Hamilton Tavern where he can experience the Crosstown Burger with bacon, which I think is my favorite burger. And, although I totally endorse getting it with the bacon, every time, neither the Jeanners nor our friend Katie ever does. But I swear to God, the secret is in the bacon. So if you're ever in Hamilton Tavern and you're thinking of getting a Crosstown Burger, do me (and yourself!) a favor and get it with bacon.